This is fantastic. John Fogerty had some wonderful things to say about my dad and The Ventures in the documentary "The Ventures: Stars on Guitars." He's a truly gracious gentleman.
The Ventures were my first musical crush in the mid 60s. Saw them many times over the years. Once, about 1980 in a dive bar in a strip mall in upper NW Washington DC. They played on a small riser stage in front of a picture window -- pedestrians walking down the sidewalk behind them. There were maybe a dozen in the audience, including my three friends who I begged to go with me. I was crushed by the small audience and almost left to avoid embarrassing my friends. But we ordered beers and stayed. Well, they freakin' played their guts out -- as good as I've ever heard them -- all my favorites. They played my request "I Feel Fine." They bantered with the audience. No one there could believe how good they were. After the show, they stayed for 30 minutes chatting us up and signing everything in sight -- coasters, napkins, etc. I have never been around more professional, more considerate musicians -- everyone had a great time. True pros. I am so sorry you lost your dad. Maybe assuaged by the great joy his music brought to millions of us, and in the lifelong impression he left on this fan back in 1980. RIP, Mr. Wilson.
@@HAL9007 Thank you! What a cool memory to have. I'm so glad you stayed, too! That was just before their little boost back into popularity thanks to Rodney Bingenheimer playing them on K-ROQ and then the Go-Go's brought their name back into the music zeitgeist with Surfin' and Spyin'. Good times...
@@staci-layne-wilson Thanks for your kind reply. I just finished watching 'Stars on Guitars' -- Absolutely Wonderful. I learned everything I wanted to know, including all that geeky technical and technique stuff. And many cool stories, like Belushi/Akroyd, the Punk connection, the Go-Go's, displayed in the HoF next to Madonna, haha. And the most important thing to me -- they were rock stars without acting like rock stars. The Greatest. Thanks and all the best to you and your family in your difficult time. Heck, who else would thrill an old fan by taking the time to reply to a fan post after their dad died? Your Father raised you right.
So sorry for your loss. What a legend. It's amazing how just a few twangy little musical notes can change your mood...or your life. Thanks to your Dad, may he rest in peace.
My condolences, Staci. As you’ve probably heard a thousand times, my early guitar playing was influenced by your dad and the Ventures. To this day, if I happen to be in the presence of another guitar player around my age (I’m 68), the first song we play together is usually by the Ventures, seems like we all have that in common. Your dad and his buddies live on in all of us.
John Fogerty, our generation Les Paul, does great justice to those who came before him in this tribute to Don Wilson. The Ventures probably out-sold Creedence, making over 60 albums worldwide, mostly in the Far East.
... nobody lives on this earth forever. God did not create man to be snuffed out like a candle wick. What kind of mind do you think created all that we see and can know? Even created those who choose to be liars and tell us their is no God?
@@jackbrumby1892 Of course! If God were real and men were shown it? There will be no one in the Lake of Fire. Makes sense.... if you think about it. Now... try thinking about it. The angels that rebelled saw God. Yet, they still insisted. God knows how to allow for freedom so men believe in Him for only the right reason. If God said, "believe or burn?" That would be Allah speaking, not the God who's Son died on the Cross so all who believe will be saved..... But, then again? Don't bother to think about it. All that ever is is limited to the limits of your own intellect. Nothing exists outside of it.
69 years old and if it wasn't for the Ventures I probably would have never learned how to play the guitar at age 10. They inspired me so much. Walk Don't Run was the first song I ever learned to play. Thanks so much for your music Ventures!!
Me too....but having had a guitar for over 6.8 decades.....the more I know...the less I know.....and Arthur is not my friend, But my Ventures albums are.
how the hell did this comment end up here...Was made on a tribute video of the Ventures Don Wilson...I guess artificial intelligence is really artificial.
Thanks to John for honoring the passing of the last remaining original Venture Don Wilson. They were my all time favorite group and that is how I learned to play the guitar. Everyone should go see the movie his daughter Staci Wilson directed it was a documentary on The Ventures called Stars on Guitars.
The great Johnny Smith wrote 'Walk Don't Run' and all we little guitar pukes learned it to play at sock hops, teen clubs and high school dances. It was a great song to learn, lots of chords, lots of melody, and lots of wang if you owned a Stratocaster. Big hit, big time fun! Thanks Mr. Fogerty,
Johnny Smith lived just a few blocks from me. He also had a music store nearby. I went there for my strings and such but was always too intimidated to say much to him. I was a fool. He also would have a cocktail at a tavern I frequented but he was never there when I was, the place was called The Point. I played there one night an impromptu session solo for a girlfriend since it was her birthday. I did well and we all had fun but if Johnny walked in what would I have done? Apologize to him and runaway? His talent was intimidating. Chet didn't even want to join him onstage when Johnny invited him up at a club in Denver!Young people need to watch Johnny Smith on video, he was amazing.
Ventures were a wonderful group and so much fun. When you saw the waves and surfers the music went right along. Life was so much better with the Ventures
isnt it abit ironic that 2 of the greatest instrumental bands ever started at about the same time (late '50s) on opposite sides of the Atlantic and their music is still covered and played, The Ventures and The Shadows - - music legends!
I'm very sorry to hear of Don Wilson's passing. The Ventures were such an inspiration to me trying to learn the guitar in late 1950's and early 1960's. I only had a beat up Kay acoustic guitar my dear mountain Grandma gave me ,then. A few years ago my three piece band played for my 1961 Everett class reunion in Maryville ,Tennessee. We started off with WALK DON'T RUN ,and I had a 6120 orange Chet Atkins Gretsch guitar to play it on.What a thrill for me. My condolences to Don's family.
RIP Mr. Wilson. And thanks John for taking the time to do that at your concert. Listened to the Ventures as a kid growing up. People forget what an influence The Ventures were. They were certainly inspirational to this garage band musician learning to play guitar. "WDR" was the first complete song I ever figured out and played in front of a crowd! I actually played it this AM after hearing about Don.
I still play that song on my guitar. The Ventures originally got that song from Chet Atkins but they couldn't play Chet's version so they made their own version and became a big hit for them. I have meany albums of the ventures and still love their music.
Long before "Green River", in my early days of playing in bands, the "surf" music of the Ventures was our cup of tea. This song, "Walk Don't Run"was one of the best.
Class act that John Fogerty. I’ll never forget when John was inducting The Ventures into the Hall Of Fame. He said , The Ventures recorded 250 Albums. Good Lord , Most if us today just want to SELL 250 Albums. God Bless Don Wilson and The Ventures. 🙏😞
The songs of the Ventures are Immortal. A salute to the departed musicians, Mel Taylor, Bob Boggle, Nokie Edwards, Gerry McGee and Don Wilson.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'll chime in as well. Don, Bob, Mel, Nokie, Jerry, Leon. My music heroes. They played many, many genres all to perfection. All rest in peace. May your music live on and on. I know it will.
Say what? Eternity will have nothing to do with any of us or what we have done. It will all be about Jesus Christ who died on a cross to save the world from their sins. "WE" all deserve hell and then the lake of fire on judgement day. Ephesians 2:8-9 "for by God's Grace are we saved through Faith, not by works, not that anyone can boast of their Salvation."
@@rickysherfy3990 no sleeping permitted in hell or the lake of fire for eternity. There will be no rest day or night. Only torment forever and ever and ever. 😥😫😖😭
Thank you John for the great tribute to Don Wilson & Bob Bogle’s hit song…”Walk Don’t Run”…you & the band did a great job…Kenny did a great opening & middle part you…a fan…wayne
Great cover version and thank you, DON WILSON for doing your part to help tame mankind with your gift and talent. The Ventures was part soundtrack to my once young life. May GOD bless your legacy and surviving family
Say what? Eternity will have nothing to do with any of us or what we have done. It will all be about Jesus Christ who died on a cross to save the world from their sins. "WE" all deserve hell and then the lake of fire on judgement day. Ephesians 2:8-9 "for by God's Grace are we saved through Faith, not by works, not that anyone can boast of their Salvation."
greatest instrumental band there ever was.. i,'ve listened to them for over 50 years and tried to play some of their songs. have some of their albums from the early sixties.
My late brother bought their albums. My favorites from his collection, The Ventures' Christmas Album, The Ventures Play the "Batman" Theme, The Wipe Out Album. Remember, they also covered the Hawaii Five-0 theme, #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969. The Ventures!
The Ventures and John Fogery, two of my all-time favs !! Thanks to both !! PS. John Fogerty and I are the same age (72) and grew up listening to the same music, including the Ventures.
Play it John, play it! Doesn’t that take me back! Back in the day, if you played guitar, you had to be able to play, “Walk Don’t Run!” What a cool tune and awesome guitar piece by a great band and very great guitar player! Well done John! R.I.P. Don Wilson!
2/3/2022 Wow, I missed Don's passing. RIP Don Wilson Ah yes the memories. This was The Ventures first hit. It hit the air in the summer of 1959. It was responsible for my becoming interested in rock music and the guitar in general. It was the second Ventures tune I learned to play. The first, you ask, It's another legend tune, "The Two Thousand Pound Bee" The tune that introduced the classic "Surf-in music" sound. Thanks John for bringing back the fond memories of my misspent youth, I was 12. John it would have been even better if had played a Mosrite guitar. ;-)
I want to make a correction; Walk Don't Run was the summer of 1960, sorry. My excuse, well it was 62 years ago and my memory is not quite as sharp as it used to be.
I just found this and learned about Don. Someone else said it here, “You don’t live forever but when it hits…..” Don was the last of the original duo with Bob. I’ll always play The Ventures music. Not just because I learned so much from their records, but because the music was great. I don’t know why, but Don’s passing is bothering me more that the loss of the others. You’ll be missed Don…BIG TIME! God Bless you.
The first time I heard The Ventures, I was hooked. They inspired me to take up the guitar, and now it has been almost 60 years. I can still play Slaughter on 10th Avenue, Telstar, and Walk Don't Run, after all these years. They had many different sounds without all the special electronic equipment of today. They were sadly slipping away, then along came Hawaii Five O, and I immediately recognized that sound.
"for the wages of sin is death, (we all die, therefore we are all sinner deserving of hell and then the lake of fire on judgment day) but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Grew up in the 60's listening to my older brother's and sister's music, and listened to a lot of Ventures hits. Thanks for the memories Don. Well done john!
I just went and found a stereo version of the Ventures "Walk Don't Run", which was GREAT, but will never know how it would have sounded with the extra bass this version provided. Thanks, John Fogerty and Band.
Listening to this I just had a flashback to a warm summer day, long ago, in Minneapolis. A guy drove past me in a '57 Ford convertable. WDR was playing, and he had it cranked. I could hear it for several blocks as he drove away. It was as clear as the day it happened.
Some songs are just immortal in their genre. "Walk, Don't Run" is one of those. I've always been a Ventures fan and we even did some of their stuff back in the local band days. No place in instrumentals for me ☹'cuz I was the front man 😎 Poor me, having to struggle a microphone from the car to the stage 😫 😵💫 I'm 75, soon 76 end of summer but I remember it all like it was yesterday. Excellent music. John, our lead guitar had WDR nailed cold the second time he played it but he was like that with all the songs. The rest of us had to haul it to get the music up to speed. A lot of other local bands did it too, but we did it best. All this to say that the Ventures were an giant inspiration in those days and I wouldn't trade those memories for anything, literally. Thank you Don. You live on in our minds but mostly in our hearts.
Man, it’s hard to not get emotional over this. My family and I came to America in 1960, and this was the first music I heard and loved. Surf music wasn’t ‘surf’ music, it WAS music, period.
Got framed, personally signed to me Nokie Edwards autograph hanging prominent in my jam room/mancave here. Been a diehard since early 60s, Perfidia days; I'm old. RIP, Nokie & Don; you guys literally made me buy a guitar, when a youngster; no regrets today!
When someone says instrumental music Walk Don't Run is the song that comes to me. I spent almost every day of the summer at the pool and Walk Don't Run was played about every fifth song to remind us to walk, not Run.😁 Walk Don't Run lives in my heart as Summer, laughter, dancing, friends and just joy in general. R.I.H. Don Wilson... you and the Ventures created so many wonderful songs to remember you by. Soundtrack of my youth 🎼 🖤
John Fogerty, is a gentleman in all the extension of the word paying tribute to Don Wilson, Founder of The Ventures and who passed away on January 22, 2022. I remember him in the Hall of Fame when he had the honor of introducing The Ventures a few years ago, which demonstrated the great feeling of admiration he had for the great No. 1 instrumental music group in the world. Now he chose the best Theme Walk Don't Run in tribute to Don. What a great performance, admirable!
Excelente tributo a un legendario grupo The Ventures de parte de este maestro y leyenda del rock Jonh Fogerty alma voz y escencia de CCR !!! NO ME PUEDO MORIR SIN IR A VERTE , VEN A MÉXICO MAESTRO !!! ACÁ TAMBIÉN ERES UNA LEYENDA !!!
I remember listening to a 45 record from RCA with Walk Dont Run on one side and Elvis Jailhouse Rock on the other. It was 1962/63 right before President Kennedy was assassinated, interrupting my favorite cartoon of Felix the Cat on TV. Dad was stationed at Ft Buchanan in Puerto Rico then . Good memories as well as bad…. I wore my brothers record out practically 😁
This was the very first instrumental piece for guitar I ever learned, in 1975, from my buddy's 8-track "The Very Best of the Ventures". I'd been playing less than a year, mostly learning chords and rhythm parts. That Ventures album opened my eyes to the structures and patterns of lead playing, and helped me figure out the pentatonic scale, all by ear, long before I knew what that was or understood why it is the dominant force behind rock guitar soloing. Still playing today, delving into far more complex chords and scales, but all roads eventually lead back to that old pentatonic.
Like so many of a certain time, I learned to play guitar in part by hearing the Ventures songs of the early 1960's As a band, they defined what an instrumental Rock and Roll band should sound like. And because they didn't do vocal records, their records were universal across the world. Even though their version of "WDR" is twice removed from the Johnny Smith original, it is their arrangement that people remember over sixty years after it was recorded. RIP Don Wilson, the band can play again in the next life.
And it was *universal*. All across the globe those wonderful guitar groups were loved and emulated. PIpeline, Telstar, Walk, Don't Run, Apache, Savage.. they echoed through every continent, every city. They made you happy then - they still do now. And the Ventures and Shadows rode that wave into our lives. Sigh. Magical music, indeed. 🎸☮
What a great tribute by John Fogerty!!! Always a gentleman. I grew up listening to the Ventures. Walk, Don`t Run was the first rock`n roll song I can remember. Listened to them on WLS a m radio in Chicago. R I P Don Wilson. Your music is timeless!
Some of my sweetest musical memories growing up were listening to the Ventures. Where The Action Is was the second album I bought in my life, and I've had a playlist of my favorite Ventures songs on my iPhone for years. Great musicians and gentlemen.
Until judgement day. Then eternity will not be about any of us or what we have done. It will all be about Jesus Christ who died on a cross to save us from our sins. "WE" all deserve hell and then the lake of fire on judgement day.
@@geezer4338 Amen???? You cannot play for your salvation. Making people happy will not save your soul. Only by faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins can we be saved.
@@geezer4338 Give praise to Jesus Christ only. Jeremiah 17:5 New Living Translation 5 This is what the Lord says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord. Are you cursed??? hell is nothing to lighten up about or the lake of fire on judgement day. Eternity is serious business.
Fantastic tribute. Don Wilson is a rhythm guitar god!!! I have a couple of autographed photos and Christmas cards from the Ventures when I used to publish a Ventures fanzine in England - The Ventures International Review.
I just turned 70 and have been playing the guitar since the Beatles. Always loved the Ventures and owned so many of their albums. Great, great music. Finally got to see them live at Disney World many years ago and it was incredible. I remember being so impressed with Don's driving and steady rhythm. He was a rock. Condolences to Staci and her family and the legions of fans who loved their music. Thank you for the music and inspiration. You guys made made a huge contribution to the music world and will always be my favorite instrumental group.
and we will all die because of sin. It is our destiny and our payment for our wages of sin is death. But the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
John is a true legend and a nice humble man. I can't imagine a world without his music. Kenny Aronoff is a killer drummer. They lighted my youth ! Love them both !
Very cool. I didn't know John Fogerty is still playing. Awesome. Rest in peace Don. And Nokie Edwards, 2018. What amazing talent on the guitar! If you don't know, just look up the Ventures versions of "Hawaii Five-O" Pure amazement !! Thanks for posting this Jim.
Thank you to THE VENTURES . Millions strongly influenced by the wonderful music of The Ventures . The dedicated and talented men , and their families , should be extremely proud of the impact, inspiration and gift they shared with the world. Bravo!
Brilliant just fantastic and well and truly to the original. Thanks and well done. Really good 👍 rendition. Being 71 now, and remember that coming out in the 1960s. Superb. Rock 🎸 🤘 on credence. All the best 👍 from lefty Jeff.
I don't know how this popped up on my RU-vid, but it brought back great memories - This was the first song I taught myself on guitar HAHA I send my prayers and condolences to you are your family and sorry for your - and the world's - loss.
Here in Japan, contribution of Ventures to pop music was so huge, they released young people. I experienced their live performance, and surprised Mr. Don Wilson’s rhythm guitar, just like a flood from the stage! I believe he is one of the greatest rhythm guitarist in the world. RIP.
When I first picked up a guitar the Ventures offered 2 or 3 LPs with a book with the songs on the album. A couple years later I was in their office on Sunset. I grew up in bicycle distance from the Strip. Interesting world.
Ahh, the memories. One of the first three songs I learned to play on the guitar back in the day; along with Gloria (Them) and House of The Rising Sun (The Animals).
Very cool cover by John Fogerty and his band. We loved the Ventures when we were kids, and almost very rock guitarist I have met talks about being inspired by their great music.
