Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
By Fran Brancatelli
CLC Observer - September 2, 1987
The Rock and Roll Caravan starring Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers invaded Jones Beach for a night of solid Southern Rock.
Petty opened the show with "Think About Me" from his latest album Let Me Up I've Had Enough. Petty continued to crank out hits like "Breakdown," "Don't Come Around Here No More" and "An American Girl." He also layed two more cuts off the latest album -- "Jammin' Me" and "Runaway Trains" -- but his performance was highlighted by his performance of such classic tunes as "The Waiting" and "Refugee."
Besides playing his own songs Petty did a good rendition of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" and also borrowed tunes from Bob Dylan, The Clash, and Chuck Berry.
MTV Winners Let Their Camels Do The Walking
By Robert Hilburn
The Los Angeles Times - September 5, 1987
CAIRO — Party!
George Espiriti, a 24-year-old car salesman from Saugus, couldn't believe the phone call from MTV saying he had won a trip to Egypt with his favorite band, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. A prankster himself, he was convinced the call was a joke.
"I filled out four postcards for the contest, but I lost one on the way to the post office," Espiriti said, standing by the bar on the upper deck of the Nile Pharaoh as the ship began its two-hour lunch cruise on the Nile.
"I figured someone had found the card and was messing with me. I made the guy on the phone give me his number so I could call him back . . . and it turned out to be real. So, here I am."
Bob Dylan's First Israel Concert A Hits Missed Affair
By Robert Hilburn
The Los Angeles Times - September 7, 1987
TEL AVIV — "I'll be your baby tonight," Bob Dylan crooned sweetly near the start Saturday night of what observers here described as the most significant rock concert in this young country's existence.
Anyone, however, who expected Dylan to live up to the obliging sentiments of that teasingly romantic song simply didn't know the acclaimed songwriter's long history of independent action.
The result was another dramatic chapter in Dylan's colorful record of heading one way when his audience was looking for him in the opposite direction.
Music Notes
By Tim Buechere
The Oswegonian - November 12, 1987
Tom Petty will be entering the studio soon, though not to record. This time, Petty will be acting as producer. It seems Roger McGuinn, formerly of the Byrds, has enlisted Petty to serve as producer for his new album due out in mid-1988. McGuinn is currently opening for Petty and the Heartbreakers on the European leg of Petty's tour.
Music Notes
By Tim Buechele
The Oswegonian - February 18, 1988
It appears that Tom Petty will release a solo album later on in 1988. "Solo" means without the Heartbreakers. Behind the board producing the album will be Jeff Lynne (of ELO), who also produced George Harrison's comeback Lp Cloud Nine. Look for Harrison as well as Heartbreaker guitarist Mike Campbell to make guest appearances on Petty's disc.
Orbison says rockers want to sound like him
The Milwaukee Sentinel - April 9, 1988
Roy Orbison, who made his fame decades ago with such hits as "Pretty Woman" and "Only the Lonely," said in a recent interview that nowadays everybody wants to sing like him.
Orbison, 51, said from Malibu, Calif., that he worked with today's recording artists, and "with some of the people, because of who they are, I expect that we'll be writing a rock 'n' roll turn. And it turns out that they have more of a Roy Orbison-type ballad in mind."
But, he added, "nobody dominates the writing sessions, it's just whichever of us has the hot idea at the moment."
Earlier this week, Orbison, Tom Petty and former Electric Light Orchestra Jeff Lynne worked on a new album that is expected to come out later this year.
Tom Petty begs off homecoming show
By Bill DeYoung
Hendersonville Time-News - August 7, 1988
Notes & Lines writer Nancy McIlvaine is no longer writing this column. Different columnists writing on various subjects will be appearing in this space. Today's column is written by Bill DeYoung, staff writer with The Gainesville Sun.
The completion of his solo album is going to prevent Tom Petty from playing during the University of Florida's Homecoming Week celebrations in Gainesville.
Student Government Productions had extended an offer to Petty and the Heartbreakers to put on a show in the O'Connell during the last week in October. It would have been the first Gainesville appearance in five years for the band, which began here in the late '60s (Petty, drummer Stan Lynch and pianist Benmont Tench are Gainesville natives; Mike Campbell was born in Jacksonville and raised here.)
Traveling Wilburys are coming
By Steve Morse
New London Day - September 8, 1988
If you haven't heard about the Traveling Wilburys, you will in the coming weeks. They're a star-laden pickup band featuring Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, and Tom petty. They've made an album due in mid-October, using such names as Lefty Wilbury (Orbison) and his brothers Otis (Harrison), Lucky (Dylan) and Charlie T. Jr. (Petty).
"I guess you could call it inverted cool," laughs Orbison, chatting on the phone from Los Angeles this week. "We wanted a lighthearted name as opposed to anything serious. We were thinking of the Beatles in 'A Hard Day's Night.' Something along those lines."
On Record: Wilburys: Unassuming and fun
By Bill DeYoung
Gainesville Sun - October 28, 1988
VOLUME ONE | The Traveling Wilburys -- Wilburys Records (WB)
The mostly-acoustic, styles-be-damned set of silly love songs is the result of collaboration between five famous rock musician who've essentially never worked together -- seriously together -- before.
And yet it's as far from serious as it could be; that's what makes it a success.