I’ll Walk With God, backed with a stunning rendition
of the Sound of Music showstopper Climb Ev’ry Moutain was issued
in 1969 on the tiny Palaske Records label of Portland, Oregon, by singer Tony Villa,
credited both on the sleeve and disc as ‘Tony Villa From Manila’.
Ed Palaske was also the proprietor of Portland’s Hillvilla Restaurant,
which opened in 1954 and, later, Palaske’s, which opened in November 1982, when
Ed was 69, but only operated for four months before it closed without warning.
A handwritten note sellotaped to the front door simply announced, ‘Closed for
one month: illness.’
Apparently our boy was ‘once sponsored by Mario Lanza's
mother, the late Mrs. Maria Lanza Cocozza,’ and ‘thrilled thousands of
listeners when his recording in memory of the great Lanza was aired over radio
WJMJ-AM in Philadelphia.’ Ed also reckoned that he had ‘recently been a guest
singer in Hawaii on the "DON HO SHOW" at the Polynesian Palace, and
on the "KIT SAMSON SHOW" at the Kahala Hilton,’ and that the former singer
with the Morgan Baer Orchestra of Washington, D.C., was ‘currently preparing
for his first international concert tour.’ Perhaps unsurprisingly, I can find
little to no evidence to back up any of these claims, although a photograph of
Tony and Don shaking hands backstage was included on the liner to his album.
What I can tell you is, at the time of recording The Sensational
Tony Villa, Tony was working as a technologist in the haematology
department of a Baltimore hospital. He was also hard at work perfecting his
latest invention, a plastic, drip-preventing ice cream cone holder, and working
on several novels. How he and his wife Lydia, who he met at university, found
the time to have three children – Maria-Lourdes Stewart (after Our Lady of
Lourdes), Apollo-Euclid G. Villa-Real (after the Apollo moon shot), and Antoinette-Euclideana
Mora - I do not know, but they did, and they remained married for 57 years. I’ll
bet they had a fun life.
In 1976 Tony issued a second album, Mountain of Love which also included Satellite Mouse as well as several other space-themed tracks, including Moon Cat and Spiral City In a Martian Moon. He resurfaced around a decade ago as Antony Starluck, with his own YouTube channel.
The single I’m featuring today was issued in June 1968, ‘in memory
of Three Great American Martyrs’, drawn for the 7” sleeve by Tony himself. In
case you’re not quite clear on who he’s referring to, the men are, from left to
right, Bobby Kennedy, John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. The back of
the sleeve features another rambling, self-aggrandising message, this time from
the pen of Mr Villa himself, in which he hopes that ‘with Divine Guidance, may
our creative capabilities, courage and spiritual convictions perpetuate the
eternal seed of goodwill’, and he declares that he ‘humbly offer[s] this
inspired recording as a tribute to these Three Great American Martyrs of Our Time’
(his capitals, not mine).
As an extra, I’m also including a track from The Sensational
Tony Villa: the Singing Inventor, Tony’s own composition Satellite Mouse,
which Ed Palaske described as having ‘the beat and the pulse of
electrifying rhythm spearheading a new dance craze ― his own SPACE MOUSE DANCE
that will soon be rockin' the nations.’ It’s bonkers and brilliant, and you
will love it.
Tony died in June 2020, aged 85. He may not have made an
international hit of his Space Mouse Dance, but he left behind an incredible
legacy powered by his boundless hopes and dreams.
Enjoy!
Download Walk HERE
Download Climb HERE
Download Mouse HERE
As Antony Starbuck, YT channel here:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/user/EucliStar999/videos
Oh wow! Thanks, Bob!
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