We saw Jerry Lee perform just once, a free concert back in September ’95 at Maritime Days in Veterans Park, Milwaukee. I have no idea what songs he played but I’m sure he played a bunch of his classic hits and we were thrilled to see “the Killer” play live. At the end of his set, he had left a can of Pepsi on his piano. Joe asked the stagehand who was tearing down and prepping for the next performing if we could have Jerry Lee’s Pepsi. We totally got it and proceeded to sip and share it with our friends. We hung onto that Pepsi can for a few years but finally got rid of it when we moved in ’99. (Lewis had not actually opened or drank the Pepsi.)

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Jerry Lee Lewis’ Rare Tracks is wild, as well. It’s a collection of – as the title suggest – rare tracks (for ‘89 anyway) from Lewis’ Sun Records years (1956-1963) cut by Lewis as either demos, B-sides, or album tracks that didn’t make it or ended up as filler. There’s a lot of covers, like his rendition of the 1930′s Shelton Brothers “Deep Elem Blues,” Billy Mize’s “It All Depends,” The Glenn Miller Orchestra’s “In the Mood,” the 1958 hit “Wild One (Real Wild Child)” and Billy Ward & the Dominoes’ “Sixty Minute Man.” He even covers himself (sort of) with a very literal remake of “Whole Lotta Shakin’” which is barely tweaked to “Whole Lot of Twistin’ Going On” (it’s still a great song). And his original composition “Pumpin’ Piano Rock” which the liner notes describe as having the promise of “the perfect theme song for him” is great but when it first came out, finally, in the 70′s he’d already had enough theme songs that it was “anticlimactic” and thus overlooked.

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