The Comets' Tale

But for D'Ambrosio and the Comets (now fronted by sixty-year-old Londoner Jacko Buddin in the Bill Haley role), there are no regrets--not even about never again reaching the peaks they scaled with their onetime boss. "Naah, we don't have any problem with that," he insists. "We just kind of took it. This is what happened, and we were lucky. Our music just happened to be there, and the people were ready for it. They were lookin' for a change; they were tired of Patty Page singin' 'How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?' and Perry Como singin' 'Mambo Loves Jambo.' They wanted their own voice--somethin' that they could relate to. Every decade has a voice, and for the Fifties, it was us. After all these years, look what the music's done. You look back at the last forty years, with Vietnam and the Kennedy thing and all the things the world has gone through, and it's still here. The music lives on. And music is the voice of the people."

It's also the best way D'Ambrosio knows to temper the ravages of time. "Music like this keeps you young--it really does. I mean, most guys that are our age are sittin' in their rockin' chairs. But not us. We're better than ever."

The Denver Rock N' Rhythm-Billy Weekend, with Bill Haley's Original Comets, the Planet Rockers, Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys, the Rollin' Rocks, Eric "Shoutin'" Sheridan and His Uptown Rhythm Kings, Ray Condo and His Ricochets, Jump Cat Jump, the Lucky Stars, Mack Stevens, the Hillbilly Hellcats, the Sugar King Boys, Kim Lenz and Her Jaguars and the Dalhart Imperials. Friday, July 11, through Sunday, July 13, Regency Hotel, 3900 Elati Street, call 455-8408 for ticket information.