Human Be-In:San Francisco- January 14, 1967

One event started what later became the SUMMER OF LOVE. Fifty-one years ago today, it was the celebration entitled “the HUMAN BE-IN” at Golden Gate Park in January of 67, an idea of MICHAEL BOWEN the avant-garde artist and co-founder of THE ORACLE, a premier “underground” newspaper which kicked off everything. This”Be-In”inspired the play HAIR: The American Tribal Love -Rock Musical by Rado and Ragni. Also, TIMOTHY LEARY asked the attendees to “turn on,tune in,drop out”.About 30,000 attended.

The mainstream media picked up the story, highlighting Tim Leary, the drugs (LSD and mushrooms), the clothing and the music. These photos and images were shown on the nightly news. TIME magazine ran a cover story on THE HIPPIES and even CBS NEWS had a special report that August.This influx of “flower children” arrived to the 25 square block area of San Francisco with the cross streets , the intersection of it all HAIGHT-ASHBURY.

With psychedelic music and drugs prevalent, one could only predict that the future of THE HAIGHT would not be so rosy or happy. Homelessness, drug abuse, poverty became rampant. The BEE GEES even wrote a song, MASSACHUSETTS, in response to what was happening in SAN FRANCISCO, a ditty about someone who lost the vision, the hope, and was homesick.

Yet, the SUMMER OF LOVE despite its misgivings gave us a great soundtrack for that time and for years to come: THE WHO, JIMI HENDRIX, BIG BROTHER and THE HOLDING COMPANY, COUNTRY JOE and THE FISH,THE ELECTRIC FLAG,QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE,STEVE MILLER,MOBY GRAPE,HUGH MASEKELA,THE BYRDS,LAURA NYRO,JEFFERSON AIRPLANE,BOOKER T and THE MG’s,OTIS REDDING, THE BLUES PROJECT,BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD and the organizers of Monterey Pop THE MAMAS & THE PAPAS.

Grace.

TICKETS TORN IN HALF:Neil Young-Solo @Carnegie Hall-January 9,2014

January 9,2014: NEIL YOUNG Solo @ Carnegie Hall

Including stints with CSNY, Crazy Horse, Booker T and The MG’s, and solo I have seen Neil Young perform nine times and this was by far one of the best.Neil, his guitars, keyboards, harmonicas, and a slightly nasty attitude toward the audience members whom were yelling out requests, he was in a zone. Two sets with a slight intermission, and a few encores, while the tickets were expensive, they were worth every penny.

From Billboard: But the highlight of the evening was the sheer strength of the performances of the classic material. Young played versions of songs like “Only Love Can Break Your Heart,” “Ohio,” “Old Man,” “After the Gold Rush” and “Comes A Time” as powerfully and cleanly as you’ve ever heard him play those songs. Performances of 30 or 40-year old songs are rarely so breathtaking and compelling. The gravitas of the venue was a likely contributor to that feeling, but a room can’t carry an entire performance. The credit for that goes entirely to Neil Young, who, at age 68, still has an abundance of grit and fortitude. These songs are giants, and at Carnegie Hall, they were performed as such.

Set 1:

From Hank to Hendrix

Helpless (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song)

On the Way Home (Buffalo Springfield song)

Only Love Can Break Your Heart

Love in Mind

Birds

Mellow My Mind

Are You Ready for the Country

Someday

Changes (Phil Ochs cover)

Harvest

Old Man

Set 2:

Goin’ Back

A Man Needs a Maid

Ohio (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song)

Southern Man

Needle of Death (Bert Jansch cover)

The Needle and the Damage Done

Harvest Moon

Flying on the Ground Is Wrong (Buffalo Springfield song) After the Gold Rush

Journey Through the Past

Heart of Gold

Encore:

Comes a Time

Long May You Run (The Stills-Young Band song)

TICKETS TORN IN HALF:August 20,1993-NEIL YOUNG w/ BOOKER T. and THE MG’s/SOUNDGARDEN/BLIND MELON @Jones Beach

TICKETS TORN IN HALF:August 20,1993-NEIL YOUNG w/ BOOKER T. and THE MG’s/SOUNDGARDEN/BLIND MELON @Jones Beach. This was one of those WTF moments,Neil with Booker T. and The MG’s. Sure they did the DYLAN TRIBUTE at MSG last year but that’s different as in it’s a DYLAN tune, not NEIL tunes. Musically I knew they would pull it off and be worth more than the ticket price but a full 90 minutes of tunes left me wondering…What would they play?…How will they play it?…Will Neil do a few BOOKET T. tunes? Hmmmm, the WTF factor times ten. So the stage is set after being entertained by BLIND MELON and a superb set by SOUNDGARDEN (Neil always has the best opening acts).All served in the pouring rain. The show must go on.

BOOKER T. JONES on the organ, STEVE “play it Steve” CROPPER on guitar, DONALD “Duck” DUNN on bass with JIM KELTER on drums, and NEIL. Neil shreds it on guitar while the band gives off a groove with out mellowing out the tune. It was amazing.AND The Dock Of The Bay…well.

MR.SOUL

THE LONER

SOUTHERN MAN

HELPLESS

LIKE A HURRICANE

MOTORCYCLE MAMA

SEPARATE WAYS

LOVE TO BURN

POWDERFINGER

ONLY LOVE CAN BREAK YOUR HEART

HARVEST MOON

UNKNOWN LEGEND

THE NEEDLE AND THE DAMAGE DONE

LIVE TO RIDE

ROCKIN’ IN THE FREE WORLD

SITTIN ON THE DOCK OF THE BAY

ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER

IN THE HOUSE: June 2, 2018- THE BLUES BEATLES @ Boulton Center, Bay Shore, N.Y.

IN THE HOUSE: JUNE 2, 2018: THE BLUES BEATLES @ Boulton Center, Bay Shore, NY

Cover bands and tribute bands are not my cup of tea. My friend CHRIS on the other hand enjoys tribute FLOYD and EAGLES bands on a regular basis. I guess it saves lots of ticket money and saves time awaiting for the originals to re-appear, or in the case of PINK FLOYD reuniting, well that ain’t a happening folks. Not that there is anything wrong with tribute bands. Sitting in a bar where you can enjoy the company of friends over a few drinks and hear the recreation of music by bands you throughly enjoy is not a bad night out.

So tonight, well it was without hesitation that I purchased tickets for this show after seeing a collection of this band’s “recreations” on YOUTUBE.com. As a matter of fact, I was anxiously anticipating this evening because these six guys merged THE BEATLES with THE BLUES, and I can really get into hearing that live. So here (hear) we go.

After an excellent dinner in an adjoining restaurant we walked the crowded street to the small venue. After a stop at the lobby bar we were escorted to our seats. There is not a bad seat in the house by the way. Sight lines were clear, access great, and a decent sound system was in place. The band started promptly after a few words about the origin of the theater. Lights out.

The Beatles, Little Richard,The Beatles, a drum solo (amazingly good jazzy beats), B.B. King,and back to The Beatles with some serious BOOKER T. and THE MG’S (Green Onion) riffs, as well as a mash-up of ALBERT KING’S “Blues Power” used as the backdrop for “Yesterday”. Throughly enjoyable show as these lads could play (each took some solo time to shine) and obviously were having fun and ultimately so did we.Bravo to THE BLUES BEATLES.