My dear friend of 47 years, Rick Tunstall, passed on Friday July 10.

Rick was my partner in music during the tumultuous years of MTV’s birth. We had a band called The Attitude. And we played all the great music venues in Los Angeles and Orange County (Gazzarri’s, The Troubador, The Golden Bear, etc).

It was also a very silly time in music. Our first single was “Hound Dog.” We turned the Elvis tune on its head and cranked it. We talked Little Richard into playing on the recording. Our keyboard player did a fantastic job of playing like Mr. Penniman when we played the tune live.

But the B side remains to this day one of the most embarrassing things I’ve ever done. It is called “Condo Bondage.”

Rick served in the Marines during the Vietnam war. Two tours. He was awarded multiple citations including the Purple Heart. It was Agent Orange that bogged him down in later life. He survived cancer after cancer and still maintained a healthy perspective on life.

Rick had a recording studio at his home in Virginia. And put out new music as recently as 2025.

Because of his music, Rick’s Facebook page has more than 94,000 likes.

It was Rick’s idea to hire Hall of Fame drummer Hal Blaine for our first album that was recorded at Sunset Gower in Hollywood. It was a thrill of a lifetime knowing and working with Hal for years after that.

Our single, “Hound Dog” got picked up by the first cable tv service in L.A. They were experimenting with adding music videos between the movies. They played our video 10 times per day…after day, after day. It started to annoy viewers to the point that they began to complain. But it got us on the charts. And we had airplay from all the major radio stations in L.A. and other cities across the country. Thank God they didn’t play our other video, “Condo Bondage.” Tar and feathering might have been an option.

While I had plenty of experience in the recording studio, not so much in the control booth. Rick taught me about production values. Some of it by hard knocks. That knowledge helped me to have the confidence to open a recording studio in Long Beach. It is there that I was able to continue my relationship with Hal Blaine. And of course, the Eddie Munster project.

Rick’s texts drove me crazy. He wasn’t very good at it and it took forever between salutations. I pleaded with him to zoom but Rick was ravaged by illness and did not want me to see him in a state of disrepair. No matter how I coaxed him, his vanity won out. A stubborn son of a bitch.

God, I’m going to miss him. Rick was 76.

L-R: Rick Tunstall, Marshall Thomas, Hal Blaine, me:

This is audio of “New Orleans Revue.” As a young man, Rick played in an R&B band that backed the biggest name in blues and R&B. This song was his homage to that time. It is Rick on guitar and vocals, Hal Blaine on drums, me on bass guitar, and a lot of L.A. musicians helping us out. The false ending with the reprise was Hal’s idea:

“Talkback” has wonderfully humorous lyrics written by Rick. And about as punk as we ever got:

We were on this album. Famed French photographer, owner of Siamese Records, and our manager, Philippe Moganne, was also Iggy Pop’s manager. Iggy got farther than The Attitude. It was probably the bass player’s fault. Big smile.

Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS