LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-MARCH 23, 2019… RIC OCASEK WAS BORN IN 1949, WHICH MEANS TODAY HE’S CELEBRATING HIS 70TH BIRTHDAY.
HERE ARE SOME QUICK NOTES ON RIC OCASEK
-OCASEK IS A FOUNDING MEMBER OF THE CARS
-THE CARS PUT TOGETHER A STRING OF MONSTER HITS FROM 1978-1988
-HE PLAYED RHYTHM GUITAR AND SANG THE MAJORITY OF CARS SONGS.
BASSIST BENJAMIN ORR WAS LEAD VOCALIST ON THE REMAINING TRACKS.
-HE MET THE SUPERMODEL PAULINA PORIZKOVA ON THE SET OF THE VIDEO FOR DRIVE IN 1984. THE GOT MARRIED AND HAD 2 KIDS TOGETHER. OCASEK HAS 4 OTHER CHILDREN FROM 2 PREVIOUS MARRIAGES.
-IN 1978 THE CARS LOST THE BEST NEW ARTIST GRAMMY TO ONE HIT WONDER ‘TASTE OF HONEY’
-OCASEK’S FATHER WORKED FOR NASA ON TOP SECRET PROJECTS. RIC RECALLED THE TIME WHEN GOVERNMENT AGENTS VISITED HIS HOME AND QUESTIONED HIS MOTHER ABOUT THE DREAMS HIS FATHER HAD AT NIGHT
-BEFORE THE DEATH OF BENJAMIN ORR, OCASEK RULED OUT ANY POSSIBILITY OF A CARS RE-UNION, SAYING HE WOULD RATHER HAVE “HOT DIARRHEA FOR 6 MONTHS THAN TOUR WITH THE CARS FOR 6 MONTHS.”
HERE’S A GREAT LIVE VERSION OF ‘LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL’
