Countdown to the LOUIE FEST – 1 day to go..

This morning, the Euro Cafe in Chico, California is the location for the traveling LOUIE REPORT blog. A cup of coffee, a bagel, and some early morning WiFi access is just the ticket for jump-starting my big day of driving. If I wanted to go straight to Tacoma, Mapquest estimates a 10 hour drive. We’ll see how I feel when I get to Portland. Maybe I’ll stop over, or maybe I’ll keep driving. I won’t know until I get there.

Last month, I had problems with a 500GB LaCie external drive that went on vacation. After some surgery, some tender loving care, and a lot of patience, I was able to bring it back to the land of the living. This week, as I was preparing for this adventure, my 2TB LaCie drive also decided to go on vacation. I fully intended to use this drive to create a new demo clip for the LOUIE FEST with new interviews, but with this new headache, it didn’t happen. When I get home, I’ll have my work cut out for me as I’ll have to buy another drive or two to recover these files. Is this my idea of fun? I don’t think so….

Today, as I checked my email, I found a wonderful email from Australia. I quote:

My name is Paul and I am am a young punk rocker from Australia, I would first like to say that I can’t believe there is someone in the world more passionate for the music they love than myself. I have driven many people to near insanity with my constant dissecting, debating and analyzing of music, yet here you are dedicating your life and putting so much time and effort into this page and all because of ONE song…I take my hat off too you, congratulation’s on a wonderful inspiring and informative page dedicated to one of the (if not THE) greatest songs ever written.

Before I even found this page I was obsessed with this song ever since I was a teenager watching a cool movie called “Coupe de Ville” with that classic seen where they are arguing over the meaning of the lyrics to the Kingsmen version, and at the end credits there was a medley of a whole lot of different versions. My love was strengthened also by the movie Mr Hollands Opus when he is almost fired for having the the students play the song in the marching band. But the real reason I have emailed you is because well simply my Youth Group was doing there usual song and dance one day and a new song that I hadn’t heard came up, when the music started and the people began to sing I went hang on “This is Louie Louie”. What had happened is they had taken the classic song that you and I love and changed the words making it Pharaoh Pharaoh and it was about Moses. I then proceeded to say that it was blasphemous not because it’s rock n roll but they destroyed a classic song, the irony being had this been the 50’s and 60’s it would be the church who’d be the ones calling it blasfamous because well we both know the history of the song. But since reading this sight a few times I have come to the conclusion that it is not such a bad thing cos’ I get to rock out in church to one of my favorite songs and besides I always sing the original chorus anyway. And I have made the roots of the song known to my peers, even if nobody cares. I like to think that somehow my group is part of the dynasty that started all those years ago when Richard Berry wrote the song and then the Kingsmen made it a hit. To think you have all these artists, Otis Redding, Iggy and the Stooges, Black Flag, The Clash, Motorhead, and the late great Frank Zappa and so, so many more. And then there’s me and my little humble youth group called Antioch and we have our little version that we sing and dance to and it will be passed down from generation to generation and if I have it my way my grand children will be in church saying “hey this is Louie Louie”

So that’s enough from me now…
G-d bless you
Paul Ross Fletcher

Thank you Paul, for your kind words. I appreciate it, and I will do my very best to make a LOUIE documentary and blog worthy of your attention.

– E.P.