It's Paul Collins' Vinyl District!

I did the Merv Griffin Show with my band The Beat. Our record had just come out and this was one of the first promotional spots we had gotten. I was very excited as I had seen Merv’s show a million times before and I was hoping it would be just the thing to catapult us to stardom.

When we got to the TV studio they told us that Merv was sick and that Steve Allen was standing in for Merv. A bit of a let down but I knew who Steve was too and thought that it would be just as good. We did our first number, Rock n Roll Girl and then Steve came onto the set and did a short interview with us.

Steve is a comedian and unfortunately someone had told him we were what you called a “New Wave” act, which was all he needed to have some fun at our expense. Well, I was young and determined and I had already been from hell and back trying to make it in Hollywood and now I had more or less arrived and my manger was the world famous Bill Graham and I was not going to let anyone make fun of me on national television.


So I proceeded to make a real stink, yelling and screaming back stage to the point were everyone in the whole place knew that I was upset, including Mr. Allen. We came back out for a second appearance to do “Don’t Wait up for Me” and afterward Steve came on stage and said, “Well Mr. Collins what did you do before you became a Rock n Roll star?” That seemed much better to me and I told him I was a parking lot attendant. He smiled and said, “Who gave you your worst tip?” I said, “I can’t say but it wasn’t you!”

All the old ladies in the audience laughed and I felt that I had won the day. But the point of this story is that the whole time this was going on Roy Rodgers was standing in the wings waiting to go on stage, as I walked by him he held out his hand and gave me his million dollar smile and said, “Don’t Wait Up, alright!” Now that’s class!

These are things that have stayed with me over the years and I try to remember them so as to keep a perspective on what I am doing. I want to be remembered like I remember those guys, cool, helpful, and secure in what they are doing. You can learn a lot from people if just give them a chance.



The Breakaways - Working Too Hard (Mp3)
The Breakaways - Little Susie (Mp3)
The Paul Collins Beat - All Over The World (Mp3)
(Downloads authorized by the artist. Got that Google?)