From Fanzines to Airwaves: Susan Buley Crawford’s Top Of The Rockpile Fanzine

Susan Buley Crawford’s journey into the music world began with her mail-order business, Rockpile Industries, which sold music collectibles and led to the creation of her fanzine, Top Of The Rockpile.

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Inspired by her love for Dave Edmunds and connections with other music enthusiasts, Susan crafted a 37-page zine filled with concert photos, reviews, and articles about artists like Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello, selling around 500 copies of the first issue. With the help of her friend Gretta Kornick, she produced subsequent issues, including interviews with prominent musicians and reviews of memorable concerts, reaching a circulation of approximately 700 for the second issue.

In the late 1980s, Susan launched two more fanzines, Tuff Music and Tornado Alley, covering the L.A. roots music scene and featuring artists like Stevie Ray Vaughan and Chris Isaak. Despite low circulation, these publications captured the vibrant music culture of the time and included exclusive interviews and reviews. Additionally, Susan explored her musical talents by joining a blues and oldies band, The Houseshakers, which played various local events and showcased her passion for performing.

Susan’s musical adventure continued as she became a volunteer DJ at KOTR radio station with her second husband, Dave Crawford, hosting shows and engaging with a global audience. Their love for music led them to establish Dreamzville Radio in 2017, an internet station where they continue to produce eclectic music shows. Balancing her caregiving duties with her creative ambitions, Susan plans to write a music-based novel and memoir, further sharing her rich experiences and deep connection to the music world.

“Top Of The Rockpile was born from my love for Dave Edmunds and the vibrant L.A. music scene.”

Susan, tell us about the Top Of The Rockpile fanzine. How did that come about, and what was the circulation? What kind of contents did you write about? Did you do any interviews as well?

Susan Buley Crawford: It actually started with a little mail-order business I created called Rockpile Industries (after my favorite band, Rockpile!), in which I sold records, bootleg tapes, concert photos, and other music collectibles. I mostly advertised in a magazine called Trouser Press. I became well-acquainted with music fans of all types! This was before the internet, so we basically became pen pals, and sometimes spoke on the phone also! Made some great friends all over the US. One of them was Gretta Kornick, in Baltimore.

I began thinking about creating Top Of The Rockpile fanzine after I got into Dave Edmunds in 1977, and quickly found out about other musicians and bands connected to him; Nick Lowe, Brinsley Schwarz, Graham Parker, Elvis Costello, all the Stiff Records artists, and many more. The fanzine format was based on a lot of punk ‘zines I’d see in L.A. when we’d drive down on weekends to buy records at some of the great stores we used to hit up: Tower Records, Moby Disc, Bomp Records, Rhino Records, and more.

Gretta helped me put together the first issue. She worked in an office and was able to Xerox off the ‘zine once we pieced it together. We basically cut-and-pasted everything. It was 8.5 x 7, 37 pages, jam-packed with articles and reviews by me (Susan Sutton at the time), Gretta, my husband (at the time) Gary Sutton, and my brother Dennis Buley. We featured Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, Graham Parker, and John Fogerty. We used original concert pics and art, promo pics, even scrapbook clippings. It was almost like a little book. I advertised it through Trouser Press and got piles of letters with $1 bills requesting my homely little ‘zine. I still have all that correspondence stashed away somewhere! I ran the ad for months, and altogether, I probably sold about 500 of that issue.

During the time between the 1st issue and the 2nd issue of Top Of The Rockpile (a year later!), we went to a LOT of concerts, more than I’d been to before or since. We saw almost all the Rockpile shows in Southern California in Fall 1978, and I was even able to meet up with Dave Edmunds for a very fun interview, poolside at the Tropicana Motel in L.A. (famous for Tom Waits having lived there for a time). In early summer 1979, we traveled to the Pacific Northwest to see Graham Parker and the Rumour at record store appearances, and then both the band’s Portland and Seattle Paramount Theatre shows (this would be the Squeezing Out Sparks tour). Those shows still stand at some of the best performances I’d ever seen. We published TOTR #2 shortly after returning home from that trip. I did all the cut-and-paste myself, and the issue included interviews and reviews by myself and Gary Sutton, plus J Lofberg, Don Jackson, and Donna Weber. Our main articles were on Graham Parker & The Rumour, Rockpile, Elvis Costello, and George Thorogood. It still gives me a thrill to read through that little ‘zine! It really captures an era. I ran ads in Trouser Press again for folks to purchase those. Also, this time, at least 2 stores purchased lots of the ‘zine. One was literally called Rockpile Records in Santa Barbara (run by another fan!), and one was a legendary store in New York City called Midnight Records (sadly, now closed). Altogether, I may have sold closer to 700 copies of Top Of The Rockpile #2. By the spring of 1980, I had “semi-retired” due to the birth of my son in April. Amongst many others, I received congratulations from Mr. & Mrs. Dave Edmunds, as they were also starting a family.

“Tuff Music and Tornado Alley captured the raw energy of the L.A. roots scene.”

Susan, what about Tuff Music and Tornado Alley?

Susan: I put together Tuff Music in 1987, after getting back into attending quite a few concerts and shows. We had gotten into the L.A. roots music scene; The Blasters, Los Lobos, and more – and included reviews of many of those shows, and also referred to a brief interview I had with Dave Alvin. I had also really gotten into Stevie Ray Vaughan and the Austin blues/roots scene, so included reviews on them. I’d had a wonderful interview of Kim Wilson (a Buley Bros friend from the late ’60s!) on the Fabulous Thunderbirds tour bus but sadly, due to technical difficulties with my tape recorder, it did not survive. It was so exciting to finally see John Fogerty in 1986, after 16 years of being a huge fan and never seeing him live, so I covered that. I didn’t spend a lot of time putting together Tuff Music, but it was very satisfying just the same. The circulation was very low, no more than 300. Tornado Alley was also relatively brief, it mainly focused on a very fun and relaxed Chris Isaak interview I did backstage at the Ventura Theatre in 1989, right before he had such a huge hit with ‘Wicked Game.’ It also featured some original art Chris doodled on a photo I’d asked him to sign! For the life of me, I cannot remember where I advertised Tuff Music or Tornado Alley, but it may have been in Goldmine Magazine. I have 1 printed copy remaining of Tuff Music, but none found of Tornado Alley (though as far as I know, all originals do exist in my storage vaults)! Personally, the decade of 1990-2000 was indeed “Tuff” and like a “Tornado,” very turbulent, in my life. We’d had to move several times, my daughter narrowly escaped death from a brain tumor, and I divorced and remarried.

Susan, tell us about The Houseshakers…

Susan: In early 1986, after experiencing a true musical renewal by discovering Stevie Ray Vaughan and other Austin artists, I decided I wanted to be in a band. All of my brothers had played professionally or been involved in the business, so I was inspired to jump in at the age of 29. I knew how to play basic rhythm guitar, I could sing fairly well, why not? One day when in Heck Music (a popular music instrument store in Ventura for decades), I checked out the musician’s bulletin board and saw that someone named ‘Johnny B’ was looking to put together a group to play mostly blues and oldies, along with his cousin Junior Vega. I called him that night, and we met after the Fabulous Thunderbirds show we all planned to attend. We began getting together to practice in Johnny’s Ventura house garage 8 hours a week. Johnny played bass, Junior played blues/rock guitar like nobody’s business, and we seemed to be on a never-ending quest for a drummer but finally got a great one with Dave Lory. We also had Val (Johnny’s wife) and Nic on vocals and keyboards, and everyone alternated on lead and backup vocals. We became a well-tuned machine of music, mostly because of how much we practiced under Junior’s expert tutelage. He broke down and arranged most of our numbers. Some of the favorites; ‘Something Else’ (the Eddie Cochran tune), ‘Bring It On Home To Me’ (by Sam Cooke), ‘Buzz Buzz Buzz’ (originally done by R&B vocal group The Hollywood Flames), ‘Wang Dang Doodle’ (blues number by Koko Taylor), ‘The Locomotion’ (Little Eva hit), ‘Let’s Go Let’s Go Let’s Go’ (a Hank Ballard number), and so many more. We played weddings, holiday parties, even a car show on the back of a flatbed truck. It was a blast! Sadly, it came to an end when Gary and I decided to move to Oregon. As it turned out, we got very homesick and decided to come back after just one year. When I came back, things had changed. I tried to form another band, and found one to practice with. We had one gig and split up, there was just no chemistry like I’d had with The Houseshakers!

“Our radio shows on Dreamzville keep the spirit of eclectic music alive.”

Susan, what followed then?

Susan: In 1997, I remarried Dave Crawford, a guy who also came from a musical family and who had an even larger record collection than I did! He lived in San Luis Obispo, and since he had the better-paying job of the two of us, I quit mine and moved up there (which was great because I absolutely love SLO County). In 1999, we answered the call to be volunteer DJs at the local freeform radio station, KOTR (‘The Otter’). We did overnight shifts once a week, from 12 midnight to 6am. It was as much a blast as you can imagine, playing anything we wanted and getting requests from other folks working the graveyard shift, not to mention from all over the globe, since we also streamed live on the internet. Later, we became paid staff and had assigned shifts. Mine was Friday night, and Dave’s was Saturday night! We attended many of the KOTR promotional events and the comp tickets to shows was an amazing perk. In late 2001, I was laid off my job and Dave got a new one in the Central Valley of California, so we moved, bidding farewell to the radio station. We lived in the Valley for 10 years, had great jobs and were even able to buy a historical home (built in 1900). I even went back to college for a year, and did very well. But when our three kids moved out on their own, the Victorian home was a bit large for just us two, not to mention the fact that we were very homesick for the coast! So we bought a small mobile home there and moved back. A few years later, Dreamzville Radio was born! In 2017, Dave set up an internet radio station and website and started producing shows to upload on the site every Saturday by 3pm, spreading the word via social media. I joined him on it about a year later, and we continue to this day. Mostly we play eclectic rock, R&B, blues, and Americana from all decades, occasionally throwing in fun theme shows. “Musicians’ Birthdays” is always the last Saturday of the month and always a Tribute show when one of our faves has passed away.

Currently, I put in many hours as a caregiver for my elderly mother, but have many plans in the works! Hope to write a music-based novel, a musical memoir (this has been a lovely start to that!), and other writings, and would love to start playing guitar again.

Klemen Breznikar

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Headline photo: The Houseshakers at the Car Show, Ventura High, Larrabee Stadium, 1987 | L to R: Junior Vega, me, Dave Lorie, Mary “Nic” Wingate, & Johnny Barazza

Dreamville Website