Al Rappa rocks on with Haley's Comets

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Al Rappa has continued to lead Bill Haley's Comets since Haley's death in 1981. The Comets were the first rock 'n' rollers to hit it big with their 1956 song "(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock." Bill Haley's Comets Appearing on "At the Hop," a rock dance concert 7:30 p.m. today Blaisdell Arena $35 for main-floor dance level and loge seating, $25 for upper-level seating 526-4400, 591-2211 Also featuring: Danny & the Juniors, The Coasters and The Drifters

Haley, the rock icon with the curl in the middle of his forehead, died at age 54 in his sleep of an apparent heart attack in 1981. But his music and memory linger on.

"He was a nice guy to work for, he liked comedy and showmanship, and he liked energy bands," said Rappa, who has been with the Comets since 1956.

"I still enjoy touring, and age is only a number," said Rappa, speaking from his home in Springfield, Pa. "I don't smoke, I don't drink, and that's got something to do with my being 75. But my mother just turned 100."

Billy Haley's Comets is one of four bands playing nostalgic rock and dance music tonight at Blaisdell Arena.

Haley's Comets often is considered the first rock 'n' roll band, thanks to its 1955 signature hit, "(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock," which was a No. 1 hit for eight weeks (and reactivated in 1974), and a subsequent 1956 movie of the same name. Which means Rappa has been part of rock history.

"It's simple music, not 20-30 courses of nothing like some of today's songs, and people can sing along with it," Rappa said of "Rock" and its everlasting appeal. "It's not complicated, and other music forms always go back to rock."

He said repeated tours to Germany, France and Britain in recent times have met with a surge of interest in Haley's Comets. "People in London come to our shows dressed in bobby socks and skirts ... it's like the '50s all over again. They buy all the old records."

Rappa owns the rights to the Haley moniker and thus works diligently to keep the name and memory alive with a five-member lineup. While other bassists have toured and recorded with Haley previously, Rappa is the lone "original" in the Comets lineup today.

He remembers dwelling in a big-band orchestra before being lured to rock and ultimately Haley.

"When the '50s came, there was little money in big bands and no rooms for jazz musicians to work, so rock was where the good money was," Rappa said.

He misses the old days of rock, when musicians cared what they looked like on stage, and never forgot the folks who put them there.

"Today, it's mostly grab the money and run," said Rappa. "Bands don't mingle and talk to the people; they run out of the back door as fast as they can."

He misses the pace of yesteryear, too, when gigs were often multiple nights in one city. "Now, it's mostly one-nighters," he said. "You don't play six nights in one room; in England, we had 27 one-nighters."

So why does he continue reeling and rocking?

"You gotta feel it to play it, and I feel it and I enjoy it," he said.

Rappa is called "the original walking bass man" because he frequently got his share of the spotlight with Haley when they traded licks in many movies and on Dick Clark's "American Bandstand." The bass in those early years was a stand-up fiddle.

Though Rappa performed in an inter-island cruise ship gig here about a year ago, he said Haley never played Hawai'i.

"Haley did come through, en route to Australia," said show presenter Tom Moffatt, who recalled meeting Haley and having coffee together at the old Tahitian Lanai with then-Decca distributor Bill Murata.

But Rappa wasn't aboard then. "I love Hawai'i, though, and I look forward to performing there again," he said.