This is exciting. I was "born" on February 15, 1954, with my high silk hat, record and baton. Things sure have changed. I started out being typed on mimeograph paper on a shiny new manual typewriter. I had to be duplicated, folded, stuffed, addressed, stamped and mailed. It took about a week to get sent out with a lot of help from my family. My purpose was to promote music acts. No one else was doing it at the time . . . at least not the way I did. My my first issue was about Liberace, Lawrence Welk and Freddie Martin, and I was the first to get the word out on The Platters.
Over the years I've told you about some great entertainers including The Flares with "Foot Stomping," the Blockbusters in "Rock All Night," The Penguins with "Earth Angel," and Las Vegas entertainment icon, Freddie Bell. It has been a long and interesting ride to say the least. From that first mimeographed copy that went out in what is now called snail mail, I have been sent out on a teletype machine, a fax machine, my own webpage, and now a blog. I think the blog is the one I like best! Type me, hit a button, and I'm all over the world - not just 500 copies to DJs and the juke box boys of 60 years ago. How exciting is that!!
Jean Bennett was my "mother." She dreamed me up and with her business partner, Buck Ram. They designed my logo and developed the acts I would promote. People who promoted music back then were called "pluggers," and Jean loved beautiful horses, but her father would tease her when she saw one she liked and say "That's nothing but an old plug." That's how I got my name. The Personality Plugger.
My look was pretty modern for the time - a high silk top hat, a record and a baton. The kids today don't even know what a record is with iTunes, blue tooth and music downloads so I thought I'd better modernize my look. I've still got my record, but how do you like my tat?
That's it for today. I just wanted to introduce myself in this new format. I'll be back soon with the latest on what's going on in entertainment in Las Vegas - which is now primarily tribute shows and one night concerts. See you later!
