Incredibly saddened to hear of the the passing of Jack
Warner. I met Jack through social media
back in the early days of being on Facebook. He messaged me one day and I don’t
think I replied right away which resulted in him calling my house! I have no
idea how he got my number. This may have been the period of time where Facebook
had their “real name” policy. His message basically said: “Hey look! I’m in Manchester;
YOU’RE in Manchester, we both like rockabilly and collect records! Call me
back!”
I still chuckle when I think of this. At the time, I
thought. “who IS this guy calling me that friended me on Facebook?!” But pretty
quickly, we connected and I realized he lived across town from where I lived, a
few miles away!
The first time I went over his house (and every time we hung
out afterwards), it was complete brain overload. Jack was an amazingly warm
person with a big hearty laugh. He must have liked my sense of humor because he
laughed a lot whenever we hung out. He
had this AMAZING record room. It was more of shrine, really, a shrine to New
England Rockabilly, or rockabilly in general.
There were multiple walls filled with 45’s (literally to the
ceiling), signed photos of rockabilly stars, local and beyond, framed editions
of magazines like SEPIA (the one with Esquirita being a favorite of mine), and
records just piled EVERYWHERE.
We listened to all sorts of records on his vintage set up.
My mind reeled to the sounds that ripped out of his vintage equipment. He had a
Thorens turntable with a McIntosh mono block and Fisher tuner that ran through
this massive vintage speaker. No matter how trashed a record was, it sounded
incredible on his system. The sound gave me goose bumps, brain bumps, and any other
type of “bumps” you could think of. Jack played records loud because great
records sound better that way.
His set up completely influenced me to change up how I
listened to my own records at home. It took me awhile, but I managed to cobble
together my own vintage set up with a mono Fisher combo tube amp/receiver and a
1958 Jensen SS-200 speaker that a guy sold me locally. It’s hard NOT to think
of Jack when I play some crazy rockabilly 45 in my jungle room.
Over the years trips to Jack’s house got to be kind of
expensive. Jack had a knack for finding incredible records. One time he bought
a 45 lot on eBay. He could see the corner of a 45 sleeve in this big picture of
45’s that someone was selling. It was the corner of the DOT Records logo from
the picture sleeve of The Phantom’s LOVE ME 45!
He got it for a song and sold it to me at a fair mark up. Only a true record hound would’ve spotted
that small section of a giant lot and known what record it was from. When I bought it Jack told me he had heard
that record played on Manchester radio when it came out. My guess is that it
was only played that one time…
Another time, he sold me a copy of Gene Maltais 45 on the
LILAC Record label (New Hampshire’s state flower dontchaknow). I was over the
moon to finally have a copy of this record even though the condition was off a
bit. Days later he called me and said “hey, bring that LILAC back, I found a
better copy!” So we did an exchange and that was that. Now I had a mint minus
copy of Gang War/The Raging Sea. Jack was pretty much the single source for
this incredible record, but around the time I got mine it was one of the last
few he had. Copies of this record are in huge demand and are insanely rare. One
just sold on discogs recently for 1500.00.
Ah, Jack’s relationship with Gene Maltais, where do I begin?
They were kind of like the Rockabilly Odd Couple. Jack was passionate and thoughtful,
while Gene was cool too, but with a cantankerous edge. Whenever I asked how
Gene was, Jack would kind of laugh and roll his eyes. Gene often called Jack to find out what his
record was selling for. I hope Jack was able to tell him about the “big sale”
before he passed.
Jack was an OG Rockabilly. He was into that type of music
all his life (and New England music in general). He went on to start his own
record label, MASSEBESIC (a lake here in Manchester that serves as our drinking
water), that released a bunch of cool records over the years, including a
reissue of Gene’s LILAC release. His knowledge of New England Rockabilly was
vast, and he worked with Billy and Miriam to curate the amazing Norton Records
release, called The Raging Teens (check out volume one with Gene’s mug on the
cover).
When hanging out with Jack in that record room, it was hard
to focus on any one thing. Did you want to hear some rare as hell rockabilly
record? Or did you want to hear incredible stories from back in the day? The
stories were incredible. How about the time he and his friend Tim decided to go
see if Charlie Feathers was hanging out on his porch while they were driving
around the south in a Lincoln Continental visiting iconic rock and roll spots,
only to find out that Charlie had just passed away? They went to his services.
Or the time they drove to try and see the house where Little Richard was born?
After seeing the house and needing to get gas or something or other, it was
explained to them by the attendant that “out of towners” shouldn’t be driving
around that area “unaccompanied” by a local. Then there was the time we all
hung out with Gene and I basically just sat and listened while he ate a fish
dinner at a local restaurant.
There were more stories, but I’m forgetting them at the
moment. What I won’t ever forget is Jack’s passion for music and his friends
and record collecting in general. He was in ALL the big Facebook record groups
and always there with a comment or two about certain records or information on
the underground mad men/women who recorded some crazy records in the 50’s.
I had the unfortunate task of letting Miriam Linna know
about Jack’s passing. Jack was a dear friend of both Billy and Miriam. Too many
pals have passed these last few years and it was hard to tell her the news. Her
immediate reply was “He WAS The Raging Teen,” giving birth to the title of this
piece.
When folks like Jack do the mortal coil shuffle, there is no
one to replace them. It is up to us, the people whom Jack affected with his
knowledge, passion and sense of humor, to carry on and continue to promote and
remember the things he loved and cherished.
Thanks Jack, for imparting a bunch of knowledge and being
patient with all my questions. I will miss being in that shrine, ears wringing
after a few hours of brain rattling music and mind reeling with all the stories
and anecdotes.
Blast some rockabilly for Jack Warner today. And if you
don’t have the Raging Teens series on Norton Records, check them out and
discover some New England Rockabilly.
My condolences to Jack’s family and friends and all the
folks who knew him.
(Jack with Huelyn Duvall)
(Gene Maltais)
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