OVER 50 YEARS OF BOP!

Sam Bop:  Founder and first Mayor (or Big Bopper), Sam had lived a colorful life before embarking on his dream.  Born in 1927 and placed in an orphanage in Los Angeles, Sam ran away at the age of 10. He roamed America shining shoes and assisting legendary blues guitarist Blind Vernon Jellison. At Jellison's side he met dozens of rock and roll's forebears and began his lifelong fascination with recording technology. Sam joined the Navy in 1942 and quickly established himself as invaluable in radio operations.  He returned from service to follow a career in broadcasting.  Finding himself in northern Mexico, he made a fortune selling Amwerth’s products over the radio and discovering the powerful new music coming from New York, Chicago, and Memphis.  In 1955 Sam made his pitch to Rockville; ground was broken for the park two years later.  A concert series was inaugurated at Bop City Central in 1958 to defray costs and attract attention, and the park opened the following year.

Jesse Aron:  The Prince of Tennessee, first and greatest of rockers.  The template for King Cougar, and the source of nearly all that followed him.  Jesse is a big story, and his image is only made more prominent by the debt owed him by all who love the music.

Dr. Franz Amwerth: Perhaps Bop’s darkest and nearly its most complex citizen.  Sam’s long-time partner, Amwerth was responsible for many of the products and devices that made Sam rich enough to undertake Bop.  His ability with genetic engineering may be attributed to his work during WWII for the Third Reich.  His greatest early achievement was the creation of Quantum, an artificial being with control over quantum particles whose personality was based on Amwerth himself.  This being ultimately went rogue, killing the original Kid Comet, who absorbed Quantum’s abilities and returned to life as the new King Comet.  Amwerth originated and drove the quantum-hero program for years.  His protégé, Dr. Tom Raley, took control upon Amwerth’s death in 1966, introducing two revolutionary changes:  the addition of certain pharmacological agents to the creation of several quantas, and the cessation of “remixes,” Amwerth’s term for the runaways who were “retrofitted” as raw material for quantas.  These remixes almost always saw the resurfacing of their original memories, leading to schizophrenia and breakdown.  When confronted with this shortly before his death, Amwerth initially contended there was no choice.  When pressed by his staff, who knew better, he confessed this was his way of keeping runaways off the streets of Bop.

Amwerth also had a long-standing agreement with certain operatives to remove some quantas from Bop for uses outside the park.  Sam may or may not have been aware of this, but it certainly kept Amwerth in a better lifestyle than might have been the case.

The Dude:  A nearly pure distillate of Xemo’s environmental powers, the Dude makes the weather in Bop perfect all the time.  It rains once a day, at 3:30 until 4:15.  Winds make surfing and sailing ideal on the river.  No one ever gets a sunburn in Bop.  No one falls down stairs, or slips while climbing a hill, or drives off the road, or gets burned frying hamburgers.  The Dude is a busy, busy boy.

Billy Blue:  Apparently not a quanta, and maybe not really a human.  Blue claims to be the living spirit of rock and roll, the guardian, the patron saint of the beat and the bop.  He has come to live in Bop, regarding it as his spiritual home and pledged to protect it and the music it celebrates.  Rock and roll is a city music, the sound of country boys who didn’t want to get up so early and work so hard.  Billy is that kid: a late riser, a troublemaker, with a foot in two worlds at all times—hillbilly and blues, black and white, city and country.  He always knows what’s going on in Bop, from riverfront smuggling to high-level corruption.  While the Prophet, Lord Velvet, and the Bard appear to be less proactive types, Billy is actually the quiet, assured hand ensuring tranquility.  His counterpart, the Black Angel/Angel of the City, is the brighter spirit, the hope music can bring, the spirituality versus Billy’s carnality.  They are absolutely indispensable to each other’s existence, but they seldom meet, perhaps due to the sparks that fly from their mutual attraction.  He heads up the assemblage of heroes who try to end the creation of quantas and alerts the Bard to their intentions.  Ultimately Billy will draw agents from this gathering for his own purposes, particularly to track new quantas.  He has no alter ego—he lives in Bop to protect his own existence, in that so much of what makes him up began and is still found there.  A walking ghost story; the 0 issue is a typical Billy encounter—he picks you up in Bop, rides you around telling stories, lets you out and disappears.

The Mechanic:  Bop’s first hero of the Modern Age.  Vinnie “Wheels” San GianCarlo owned Cars of the Stars On Tour, driving celebrities’ cars around the country for exhibit.  During a stay in Bop, Sam offered to build a permanent domed gallery with unique displays for each vehicle.  Vinnie jumped at the chance, but when the construction was nearly done it was attacked by thieves.  Vinnie defended the cars as the Mechanic, but was caught on security camera, destroying any hope of a secret identity.  Nevertheless, he was such a sensation it only added to the romance of Bop City and the program of creating quantas was born.  The exhibit was renamed the Cadillac Ranch, becoming one of Bop’s biggest early draws.  Bop City’s annual Star Car Rally is now held there.

Beloved singer Eli Davis still trades leads with his pals Jimmie Kendrick and Eddy Dennis in the Seductions on occasion, as well as performing with Freddi Montgomery or playing the big package shows with the Ultrettes or Rustey Parker and the Revelations. He may be better known to the younger generation for his drug-awareness campaign. It's no wonder the quanta created from his genetic material, Common Man, is a street-level defender, patrolling Wheel City and Chocolate City and protecting civilians every moment.

David Ruffin is Eli Davis

 

Hugh Gerard has had quite a bit of time to himself since his heyday of the glamorous early 70s. After sudden success writing songs for the Key's frontman Garret Delroy's first solo album, Gerard found stardom as a performer himself. Mostly off the scene since the late 80s, Gerard's quanta hero Silverbird is now one of the most sought-after in appearances at the Park due to their rarity.

Leo Sayer as Hugh Gerard

 

Bevis Bustell was the lead singer for the Four Aims, a moderately successful supper-club act that finally hit big after signing with Derry Gorby on the Matla label in their native Detroit. They became one of Gorby's most consistent acts, building their success, like many Matla acts, on a combination of studio hits and relentless touring. Their line-up remained unchanged for over 40 years until the passing of Albert Lawrence. The Aims continued briefly, but Bustell has found new happiness in Bop City as an entrepreneur, operating the Sweeter Than Ever Confectionary chain and the Midnight Flower florists. 

The immortal Levi Stubbs as Bevis Bustell
   

Lurene Cornelison has her quanta equivalent in Red Hot, one of the few quantas whose HQ is also a major attraction. The Red Hot Volcano sits on Capitol Avenue on the border of Berry Fields and Billyville, just south of the House of Blue Lights. Lurene is Billyville's official host, and may frequently be seen with pals like the Cutter Kids, Hut Perdieu, and Vince Gallup. Known as the Queen of Rockabilly and the Female Jesse, Lurene is a living legend and not to be missed.

The great Wanda Jackson as Lurene Cornelison

 

Theo DeReese’s story runs from the most prosaic to the most extraordinary in Bop. Beginning as an aspiring performer, he drummed for a local band in Philadelphia, then assumed front-man status. He parlayed his talent to become the voice behind a string of hits, then embarked on a solo career, always with a particular appeal to women. He struck gold as a single too, and seemed destined for the kind of perfect life few musicians enjoy, until an accident left him wheelchair-bound. He rebounded, however, and turned his talents to producing and coaching young female musicians. ‘Professor’ DeReese has become as sought-after for his mentoring as he once was for his performing. The skill he has shown working with young musicians like Ashley Austin is echoed by his quanta-persona, Chiron, who trains new quantas in using their powers. (Austin’s heroic counterpart, DiVana, joined Chiron on her first mission.)  

Thanks to Teddy Pendergrass as Theo DeReese 

Ronnie Wylde still performs to the delight of his (predominantly British) fans, and has realized his long-time dream of residing on a huge bird sanctuary within Bop. Wylde Byrdes is a division of Fleetwood Zoo in Littlepool. Wylde's quanta-hero is Mr. Tempest. (Ronnie also performs alongside another notable of those pre-Quarries-Invasion days, Esmond McGinnity, one of a handful who ever received credit on a Quarries recording other than the band themselves.)
Billy Fury appears as Ronnie Wylde
Goren da Marco never really fit the Bop City style, hanging as he did with the Vegas crowd, especially the Holmby Hills Mob. He was a great pianist, but leaned more toward the jazz and pop field, and the animosity his circle held for the rockers is legendary, albeit ironic as events would turn out. The Cool Crew—original crooners Art Cannasi, Paul Crockett, and Georgie Sams, their Brit pal Sydney Peterford, comics Joey Phillips and Bill Petrie, Petrie’s sidekick Phil Gibson, and frequent hanger-on Noah Feldman—held Jesse and his likes in disdain, waiting for the day rock would die and the old romantic style would return to its place at the top of the heap. Meanwhile, they hung out in Vegas with their gal-pals: Rena Romane, Anne Powers, Lena MacHurly, Davie Heaton, Lina Browne, and ‘den mother’ Bette Jasper, the Queen of Hollywood.
The fall never came, however, and the final blow must have been when Ryta Cannasi, the Chairman’s own daughter, appeared in two movies with Jesse, 1965’s Love in Bloom and 1968’s Larceny and Son. The tabloids of course linked the two romantically, but Art would never have tolerated that, although he did agree to appear with Jesse in a few charity events along with his daughter.
Ryta would figure more prominently in Bop’s history, as would Art, but that is another story. As for da Marco, he still performs on the Vegas-Tahoe circuit, as well as touring the world. Not bad for a scrawny kid from Philly. 
Buddy Greco as Goren da Marco