THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 27, 1996 TAG: 9609250132
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: COVER STORY
SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 88 lines
TOMMY ``BUBBA'' FACENDA is different from most performers.
He had his day in the spotlight, quit show business and came home to work as a firefighter 31 years ago.
``I was out of show business,'' he said. ``I was tired of being away from home. I wanted to be in Portsmouth with my family.''
Facenda, now 56, started performing 40 years ago as one of Gene Vincent's Blue Caps. That group, which originated in the Norfolk area, became famous with an early rock 'n' roll song, ``Be-Bop-A-Lula,'' that soared to the top of the charts in 1956.
After two years with the Blue Caps, Facenda had a brief solo career as a pretty-boy teen idol. He scored a No. 1 hit in late 1959 with an Atlantic Records recording of his original song, ``High School USA.''
That song took him on the road in the Allan Freed package shows with performers such as Bo Diddley, Jackie Wilson, Bobby Rydell and the Isley Brothers.
But the pull of his family, especially the birth of his daughter Angela, was stronger than the roar of the crowd.
``I had never done anything but play music and play ball,'' he said. ``My father was at the police department for a long time, and he did pretty well, so I decided to try the fire department.''
It worked. He stayed 28 years and retired from the Portsmouth Fire Department only to go to work on the security force at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.
``I'm proud to be part of that team,'' he said recently. ``We clean up chemical spills and help with the Nightingale (helicopter) flights. I use a lot of what I learned as a firefighter. It's exciting.''
Facenda is a person who seems pleased with the choices he's made.
But his contentment with real life doesn't make periodic reunions with the Blue Caps in front of the spotlight any less thrilling.
It started back in 1981, when a European promoter called and asked if the remaining Blue Caps could come abroad for a tour. Facenda and percussionist Dickie Harrell, a Cradock resident, joined with Johnny Meeks of Laurens, S.C., and Paul Peek of Atlanta, to take the tour.
Facenda called it going into ``the Twilight Zone.''
``It's eerie and crazy as if Rod Serling is sitting on the plane with us,'' he once said. ``I leave Portsmouth as a firefighter and I step off the plane a rock star.''
He talked recently about the amazing reception the group receives when it lands in London - people with banners, interviewers from the BBC and kids wanting autographs.
``You know, that first time we got back together, we just got up there and played after all those years,'' Facenda said recently. ``We're not a band anymore, so we don't play except when we do these tours.''
The fifth European tour since 1982 is scheduled for January. It will open Jan. 25 at Brixton Hall in London.
``It's really amazing how teenagers there know about Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps,'' Facenda said.
Vincent, who was born in Portsmouth and lived in Norfolk, died in the early 1970s, but he's still a legend abroad, where he introduced rock 'n' roll 40 years ago.
``A lot of people there say he influenced their acts,'' Facenda said. ``He was like the founder of rock in Europe.''
And the original Blue Caps, Vincent's first band, get the accolades.
Only recently the four went back to their old Capitol Records studio in Hollywood for a ceremony to install a picture of Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps alongside three other Capitol biggies: Frank Sinatra, Nat ``King'' Cole and Dean Martin.
``That's something, being up there with them,'' Facenda said.
During the trip to California, the Blue Caps played a one-night sold-out stand at the Brown Derby.
``It's a fun thing for us,'' Facenda said. ``We're not a working band, so we're not looking for perfection. There's no retakes. It's all very free.''
And that, he said, is what the public likes.
The Blue Caps are on recently released compact discs of vintage Gene Vincent that have been selling around the world. Facenda has one set printed in Japanese.
Although he is excited like a kid about the continuing recognition for the Blue Caps in Europe, Facenda gives no thought to making any comebacks.
``You know, this is a very active show, and you have to work out like a fighter to get ready,'' he said with a laugh.
``But it's great fun to relive the past for just a little while. There're not too many people who can roll the clock back and do what they did 30 or 40 years ago.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Johnny Meeks, left, Tommy Facenda and Dickie Harrell, kneeling, get
together with Ricky Nelson's daughter, Tracy, on one of their Blue
Caps reunion gigs. by CNB