Patrick Hicks is my favorite account on TikTok. I just love his stories about the history behind some of America's greatest bands, musicians, and songwriters.
@jcrabapple I’m not a tiktoker, but I really enjoyed this and the semisonic vid you shared. Great stuff!
@dsmoore yeah this guy is great. He's also on YouTube.
https://youtube.com/@patrickhicksmusicstories?si=JQB0xPnfphHNh1Uj
@jcrabapple Certainly! Here's a detailed alt-text description of the video:
The video starts with a man with glasses and a graying beard introducing the story of two brothers. The man is wearing a black t-shirt with a band's image on it. He says, "The band who did something real." Then a black and white photo of two smiling brothers appears. The man continues, "In the 1940s and 50s in Fresno, California, there are these two brothers growing up together who share a love of music."
Next, individual photos of the brothers appear. The man says, "The older brother is Candido Albalando Vasquez, who goes by Lolly, and his younger brother by barely a year and a half is Patrick Vasquez. And the brothers have an interesting ancestry. Their mother is Shoshone, and their father is a mix of Native American and Mexican, and they have this grandfather who is a Cajun and Mariachi musician who teaches the brothers how to play guitar."
Then a black and white photo of both brothers playing guitars appears. The man says, "As teenagers, they play together as a duo all over Fresno with Lolly on guitar and Patrick switched over to bass. And then in 1963, they decide that they're gonna move to Los Angeles to follow their dreams of becoming professional musicians." A black and white photo of the brothers in suits holding guitars appears. The man says, "And they do everything they can to try to look and act the part of the rock and roll stars that they're familiar with. So they have pompadours, they wear suits, they even decide to change their name."
A black and white photo of the brothers appears again. The man says, "A music industry veteran that they meet in Los Angeles tells them that they should change their last name to sound more white. Their stepfather's name is De La Vega, so they decide to do a play on that, and the Vasquez brothers become the Vegas brothers."
A black and white video of the Vegas brothers playing guitars appears. The man says, "And they actually have quite a lot of success playing in Los Angeles. They play live in clubs all over the city, and they also get a lot of work as session musicians and songwriters." Then a black and white video of the brothers performing on a show appears. The man says, "In 1964 they become regulars on the show Shindig. Shindig proudly presents Pat and Lolly Vegas."
A black and white album cover appears. The man says, "In October of 1965, they even released an album called Pat and Lolly Vegas at the Haunted House, which was a venue in Los Angeles. And through the 60s they have all sorts of projects, not only playing as a duo, but also they're in a band called the Avantis, which are a surf band that actually opened for the Beach Boys."
A photo of three men appears. The man says, "In fact, their drummer goes on to become the Beach Boys drummer later on, and they even write hits for other people. In 1967 their song Nikki Hoeky is a hit for this guy PJ Proby and is also covered by Bobby Gentry on her huge album ode to Billy Joe."
A black and white photo of a man appears. The man says, "But by the end of the 1960s, the Vegas brothers are starting to feel like they need to be doing something more authentic. They wanna start making music that's more real, that's more them. And they're influenced by the civil rights movement in the 60s and also in 1968 the start of the American Indian Movement, a movement that started in Minnesota that was about dealing with native issues like poverty and discrimination and police brutality. The Vegas brothers start having an idea that they should put together the first ever all Native American rock band."
A photo of Jimi Hendrix appears. The man says, "But the spark that really ignites them is a chance meeting with a guitarist at a club in LA. It's a meeting with Jimi Hendrix, who the Vegas brothers jam with. He tells them that he loves Lolly's guitar playing, and they start talking about this idea of starting an all Native American band. There's even talks that Jimi, who has Cherokee ancestry, might join, and it may have been Jimi that actually gave the band their name. They took their name from a Creole word that means mixed race, and the band decided to call themselves Redbone."
A black and white photo of the band Redbone appears. The man says, "So Lolly and Pat Vegas, along with their drummer Peter DePoe and another guitarist who went by the name Tony Bellamy, Redbone was officially formed in 1969. They got signed to Epic Records, and they released their debut album in 1970. And they were pretty prolific. They had their third album by 1971, which is where they got their first hit song."
An album cover appears. The man says, "They had a Top 40 hit with the song The Witch Queen of New Orleans, which was about the voodoo practitioner Marie Laveau." A video of the band Redbone performing appears. The man says, "But it wasn't easy being an all Native American rock band, especially one that wanted to bring their culture into their music. They dressed in native clothes on stage; they did native dances; they incorporated native music; and of course, they wanted to sing songs about the treatment of Native Americans throughout history. So in 1973 they wanted to release as a single this song called We Were All Wounded at Wounded Knee."
A video of the band Redbone performing appears. The man says, "We were all wounded at Wounded Knee. You and me in the name of Manifest Destiny. But their record label at the time thought that it was too controversial; they didn't wanna release it in the United States. It did get released as a single in Europe where it was actually a big hit. It charted all over the continent and was even No. 1 in the Netherlands, but never did anything in the United States. But there was another song on that 1973 album that would prove to be a hit in the United States. In fact, it was Redbone's biggest hit ever. It went to No. 5 on the Billboard charts, a record for a Native American artist. It was a song called Come and Get Your Love."
A video of the band Redbone performing appears. The man says, "Come and Get Your Love became one of the biggest singles of 1974. It's a 70s classic, but unfortunately Redbone were never really able to replicate its success. They also felt like they were blackballed in the music industry for various reasons, and in 1977 the band ended up breaking up. But their legacy has endured and even grown over time as the song Come and Get Your Love continues to be used in tons of media. It was in Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014. It was the theme song to the show F for Family, and it's been used in the show Reservation Dogs."
A black and white photo of two men appears. The man says, "Lolly Vegas passed away in 2010, and Pat Vegas is currently the only living member of Redbone. Looking back at the formation of Redbone, Pat Vegas said, 'My mother was really proud of her Shoshone ancestry, and I was too. He said they knew exactly what they wanted for the band, what sound they wanted to have, and it came out that way, and it was beautiful.'" A video of the band Redbone performing appears.
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