ROCK’S IN MY HEAD: CHAPTER 18: AND THE JUKEBOX KEPT ON PLAYING…

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD:  CHAPTER 18: AND THE JUKEBOX KEPT ON PLAYING…

“There’s something happening here, what it is ain’t exactly clear”, Stephen stills wrote in the 1967 song FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH.

The music of the 60s famously captured the countercultures activism and ethos of those times. Music can inspire, it can galvanize and fuel movements, it can spread the key messages for social causes. However, do we define the music that the artists create or do the songs they sing about the social issues defined us? Sometimes it’s both as its almost impossible to separate the art from the artist.

In my generation’s time the biggest example of music affecting culture had to be the music of the Beatles. Their music created an iconic shift in our culture. Take a look at photos in any high school yearbook before 1964, and you will see the American middle-class males all have really short haircuts. However in just one years time, everyone’s hair was a little longer. The Beatles were influencing culture, as a matter of fact they changed the entire culture. Fortunately during that time the music scene was not as fragmented as it is today. With about only five popular radio stations and/or TV stations( in NY) everyone heard the same songs. It was truly broadcasting in a “broad” sense of the word as opposed to today’s “narrow” casting. Music mobilized people and songs became anthems as music was one of the strongest ways to influence our generation.

By ’67 I was an avid reader of magazines, books, news weeklies, most somewhat politically skewed to the left, well as left as I could get away with in my household. Even my newspaper of choice was the VILLAGE VOICE, a weekly out of Manhattan. My high school’s reading assignments, the general novels assigned, the poems, did little to excite me, but I read what I was asked to read, mostly.  But then, I read Ralph Nader’s UNSAFE AT ANY SPEED which intrigued me. His invitation to the auto makers to produce a safer machine was researched so well, and his requests and suggestions to the industry and to the government made so much sense. Yet no one did anything about it. The CORVAIR car, transmission gear positions on cars, safety to pedestrians, wind shield standards and seat belts.WOW, simple safety. That year Nader was “the man” to me.

THE SUMMER OF LOVE: 1967

A news item came across the screen the other day (2017) declaring that JEFFERSON AIRPLANE’S album SURREALISTIC PILLOW was certified Platinum, I’m talking a few month shy of it’s 50th anniversary of its release. That’s a long haul. The LP went GOLD back in July of 1967, THE SUMMER OF LOVE, finally platinum in 2017.

50 Years ago “it” was all over the press: San Francisco and the “SUMMER OF LOVE”. The SF Chronicle was the first to depict that designation to which I am sure they regretted almost immediately. But, WHAT WAS THAT SUMMER OF LOVE LIKE?

I was 15 and it was no summer of Love for me, summer of Confusion might best describe my circumstances. SURREALISTIC PILLOW was on my turn table yet I actually had to look up and research what the heck “surrealistic” meant and how the hell did it apply to a pillow. This was too far out.

Summer of ’67 nearly 100,000 kids head to San Francisco’s HAIGHT ASBURY  with “flowers in their hair, flowers everywhere”. It is time to “turn on, tune in, drop out”. This coincides with young adults declaring rock and roll was here to stay, it was not some phase we would grow out of. Rock was to be our music, an essential part of our being, the way we expressed ourselves. I’m in, I ready to volunteer. Frank Sinatra, not for me. Even the sounds recorded at that moment in time changed. Listen to JORMA KAUKONEN’s feedback on PILLOW. It was new, unique, and different.We took this music, our music seriously, and so did the musicians who made it . Singles were fading fast as bands/musicians sought to make a statement or two. Albums became the rage. Musicians experimented and so did we.

Our radio changed. AM stuck to the hit parade format. Recent legislation stated that AM stations could no longer simulcast on FM, so the clearer sounding FM was free to experiment and experiment they did. The AM dj’s catch phrases, their gift of gab would not survive the coolness of the FM disk jockey playing THE DOORS Light My Fire (extended version).And in June of 67 The BEATLES released Sgt. Pepper’s which had no singles on it. Truly the listening teens were FM bound.

Reporting on the “happenings” changed also. The cigar smoking, shirt and tie wearing newsman suddenly had long bushy sideburns, bell bottom jeans, smoked a joint and wrote from the heart. Journalism,the reporting of the news was way different from what it was only a few months before. Slanted as it might have been, these new writers helped me develop a better understanding of culture and politics. An example would be RAMPARTS magazine, which started as a Catholic Quarterly, but now in ‘67 it was a full blown anti-establishment rag. It’s articles raised the hair on the back of my neck; Vietnam, the CIA, The Black Panthers. And then the NewYork Times Best Sellers List had names like Norman Mailer, Tom Wolfe and other non-traditional authors topping the charts. Hail, hail to THE CLASS OF ’67.These “New Journalists” led me to read authors who influenced the new generation: Lincoln Steffens, Ida Tarbell, and many other so called “muckrackers” as Teddy Roosevelt named their genre.

So what was 1967 through the eyes and ears of a fifteen year old boy? Well, January 15 the very first SUPER BOWL was held with a television audience of 60 million folks.The Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10. Interesting to note that according to all research this singular event catapulted the NFL in viewership which in turn drew advertising money to football. The cost of a 30 second SUPER BOWL ad in 67 was a mere $37,500.

By February my neighbor, a guy I tried to get to take me to see the Lovin Spoonful told me about a new group he saw at Stony Brook, a local university. The band was Jefferson Airplane, yes, same group I read about in NEWSWEEK. Now, I was more than interested in that band.

The 25th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in February 1967 thereby establishing the “succession” to the Presidency which was vitally important as our Vice-Presidency had been vacant at least 16 times through our short history. This Amendment gave us a clear path to what steps were needed to take place, especially after the death of JFK when we had a void. This would prove to be politically significant in subsequent years.

In April Muhammed Ali, aka CASSIUS CLAY the Heavy Weight Champ who became a CO, was stripped of his heavyweight boxing title for refusing induction in to the US Army.

THE SIX DAY WAR (June 5-10) occurred just as we were finishing our school year. The  Arab Forces were defeated and Israel took possession of additional territories.  This news item intrigued me as I knew little if anything about the Middle East which we had studied this past year history class, but not like this.This was for real. My knowledge or lack thereof about the Middle East would soon change.

Thurgood Marshall became the first black Supreme Court Justice in October. These events made ’67 an interesting year. Monterey Pop was held (June), Otis Redding died, and SGT.PEPPERS was released. We listed to Sgt. Peppers almost every afternoon that June at my girlfriend’s house,with the music blasting through the speakers from her brother’s stereo which she placed in the front window while a group of us were playing whiffle ball in the street. Life and relationships were simple then.

My 45’s record collection seemed to grow by the end of each week: The Letter by the Box Tops with Alex Chilton on vocals is still a gem today, Light My Fire by The Doors (the edited radio version of course), The Rascals lovely Groovin’, Little Bit Of Soul, Kind Of A Drag, Expressway to Your Heart, Soul Man, Incense And Peppermints, Somebody To Love,and Whiter Shade of Pale just to name a few. However, I used more of my limited cash on albums: The Doors(first), the aforementioned Jefferson Airplane’s Surrealistic Pillow,  Moby Grape’s first, The Beatles Sgt. Peppers, Jimi Hendrix Experience, The KinKs Something Else,The Doors Strange Days (which my dad bought for me),Cream’s Disraeli Gears, The Who Sell Out, The Rascal’s Collections and The Soul Survivors, which I was led to believe by the guy behind the counter at the local RECORD RACK sounds “exactly” like the Rascals.This proclamation was not necessarily true and another story all together. By years end I included the newly established ROLLING STONE magazine to my mandatory reading list .

By end of 1967 heading into ’68, listening to FM radio and watching television rock was not enough for me. Like every other red blooded discophile I was drawn to the fire of live music. Having no true curfew I started to attend The Hullabaloo, a local teen club in the neighboring town of Lindenhurst. A true TEEN SCENE club serving 15-20 year olds  with an affordable  $2.00 cover. Their stage hosted a few bands each weekend (Friday and Saturday nights), many were local garage style combos, with a few noted National acts tossed in…The Vagrants, The Hassels, and Vanilla Fudge just to name a few.

During this period I saw The Critters (Younger Girl; My Dyingly Sad) at the local Roll N Ice, followed by Every Mothers Son (Come On Down To My Boat, Baby) at my 10th grade dance, The Good Rats (pre-TASTY) at a high school art show(1968), and a WMCA (NY Radio station-THE GOOD GUYS)sponsored “Sock Hop Show” featuring The Left Banke (1967).  And of course Long Island’s own The Vagrants (Leslie West), and The Hassels (Billy Joel) regularly played at the aforementioned Hullabloo.

At home I played Rubber Soul and Revolver over and over again. Two of my favorite albums at that time and probably my two favorite Beatles albums of all times.

See you next time….Chapter19:THE SUMMER OF LOVE. Comments? jazzbus@gmail.com

AT THE MOVIES: THE T.A.M.I. SHOW

AT THE MOVIES: THE T.A.M.I. SHOW

I guess television was not enough to brainwash the youth of AMERICA ( and other points of interest) with that sinful Rock N Roll so now the movies will be utilized. Sure, movies offered ELVIS and SINATRA in plenty of starring roles, with a few tunes thrown, but this one, this time, The TAMI SHOW was meant for us, the teens to experience a live concert setting in all its grandeur. The screaming girls (and guys), the bands hitting the stage one after the other while giving the audience their hits, as well as their movements. Oh, yes, the movements; the hip shaking, the choreography, the microphone tricks, the guitars, the drums, all of it which you can’t experience (see) on vinyl. So here it is. I just turned 13, saw the ad for the movie playing in the next town and NEEDED to go, not just wanted to go, I truly NEEDED to go. My friends were not as interested as I was so I walked alone with my 35 cent admission to experience THE T.A.M.I Show. What a line up of acts, a lineup that so many years later I truly enjoy more.These were the “heavies” of their day at their moment in time. Jan and Dean were the”hosts” as well as guests. Chuck Berry hits the stage playing his guitar “like ringing a bell”, Gerry and The Pacemakers serenade us,LESLIE GORE- truly a gem- a feminist before her time,The BEACH BOYS with their stripped shirt ensemble, Marvin Gaye- a bit nervous but soulful, THE MIRACLES-what moves, THE BARBARIANS- almost bought their album “Are You A Boy Or A Girl?”, JAMES BROWN- move upon move like no other, especially “Please, Please, Please” with the cape, and finally The Rolling Stones-oh my. THE STONES with Brian on teardrop guitar and KEITH killing it on his solos, they THE ROLLING STONES made the whole afternoon for me. Again, I wanted, no I needed more live music.

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD: Chapter 12-POST WWII- THE BRITS and THE U.S.

Studying the members of BRITISH ROCK music I constantly read stories whereby as children the likes of ERIC CLAPTON, members of  THE WHO,THE BEATLES, etc were confronted with the harsh reality of growing up either during or immediately after WORLD WAR II.Great Britain survived the war, victorious but bankrupt. The Empire would never be the same as WWII and its aftermath transformed Great Britain into something completely different and something very new. London especially, for it was bombed out during the onslaught of the German BLITZKRIEG (Lightning War). September 7,1940 was DAY ONE, the first night of 57 consecutive nights of bombings over the city of London. Three hundred (300) German bombers dropped 337 tons of explosives on the first night and as the fires spread throughout the city 448 civilians were killed.  Terror was the weapon of choice employed by the Germans.

The British government imposed mandatory blackouts, therefore all television broadcasts were banned during the evening.Radio once again was in the forefront as the cheap alternative for entertainment. It was during this time that many more British radio listeners became familiar with American music.

We ,The Brits and The Yanks have a common language, had a common cause being allies during the war. Post War England had exposure to our soldiers and sailors and LIVERPOOL a port city found many US Navy men along with the American records they carried.

POST WAR:

On British radio Traditional Jazz (Trad jazz )with its influences coming from boogie-woogie and the blues was very popular as was SKIFFLE ,especially Lonnie Donegan who rehashed American Folk tunes and was an inspiration to so many British youths, “Hey,I can do that”.

BLACKBOARD JUNGLE (1955) and ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK (1955) two movies that showed teen rebellion set a post war generation off on a different path than their parents took to adulthood. During the late 50’s and early 60’s the radio was playing “new music” ,#1 hits mostly describing teenage desires.  ELVIS, LIL RICHARD, BUDDY HOLLY, etc were heard on the radio and seen on many teen oriented tv shows especially OH BOY! . This show in particular promoted rock n roll. JACK GOOD its producer would later will be part of (American TV) ABC’s SHINDIG.

Homegrown BRIT HITS: August 1958: CLIFF RICHARD and THE SHADOWS with an original written by guitarist IAN SAMWELL, inspired by CHUCK BERRY,  “Move It”  is #2 on the UK charts.

1960: JOHNNY KIDD and THE PIRATES “Shakin’ All Over” is #1 in UK , this being a self penned tune by (Frederick Heath) JOHNNY KIDD and today it is a RnR standard.

1960: The British Blues scene develops with ALEXIS KORNER and CYRIL DAVIES, those artists influenced by MUDDY WATERS, HOWLIN’ WOLF, and ROBERT JOHNSON. And 1960’s  we find the arrival of Beat Music.

This new RnR  as seen in the movies and television, as heard on the radio, influenced the teens in lifestyle choices, fashion, attitudes, cars, motorcycles,and a distinct language of their own.

But what was so cool about the US to the Brit kids?

In America late 1940’s we had RnB, Blues, Jump Blues, Jazz, Gospel, Western Swing, Country (and Western). Bands had members rocking out on piano, sax, electric guitar, and an electric bass. Southern urban centers  like Memphis, Nashville, Etc. became hot beds for music. Northern migration trends brought musicians from the south to the cities of Chicago, New York, Cleveland, Detroit, each city within close proximity of the other. However, radio was mainly narrow, that is, race music was played on traditional black stations. Later, there was a hybrid of styles.

See you next time….Chapter13: A CHANGE IS GONNA COME (1965) Comments? jazzbus@gmail.com

Chapter 3: AMERICANA or How Democracy Fathered Rock n Roll

AMERICANA or How Democracy Fathered Rock n Roll

The title is simplistic as most of my musing are and this one is also meant as an attention grabber, oh well, onward we go.

Previously I wrote about the CULTURAL MELTING POT and using Elvis as our guide as through our musical (historical) endeavor. ELVIS PRESLEY as a developing artist sampled from the diverse musical palette of gospel, hillbilly, and virtually everything available to his young ears. Now let’s look at what was available to young Elvis and how it came to be so.

The UNITED STATES of AMERICA experienced a great cultural upheaval especially during its formative years. This young developing nation was participating in what is known as the GREAT EXPERIMENT (democracy) and within a few short years was at the same time expanding its borders from “sea to shining sea” (MANIFEST DESTINY). And to that we find a new (AMERICAN)  culture (music, arts, etc) developing. Specifically in music we find a new sound which when broken down one can hear pieces from all the great musical ERAS that preceded it.

The first predominant style of AMERICAN “popular” music is RAGTIME, 1899-1917. Tossing a mix of European music while adding to it the stylings of The Mississippi honky-tonk pianists, throw in parts of the minstrel shows, plus the banjo styles of the times, blend it altogether with the syncopated dance rhythms of the CAKEWALK,….and we get RAGTIME, an accented left hand versus right hand melody. …SCOTT JOPLIN is considered the “KING OF RAGTIME”. (Give him a listen when you can)

Same era as RAGTIME (1903) but in another region of the USA is  one W.C. Handy working on what will be identified as THE BLUES, another form of original American musical expression. The basis of the blues is a musical form using the vocal melodies of AFRICAN-AMERICAN folklore with call and response phrasing. Handy’s works helped develop the harmonic framework for musical IMPROVISATION. The “blues” is noted for its use of a flattened seventh note AKA “the blue note”.

And in 1904 Buddy Bolden fused Ragtime and Blues which becomes the basis for early JAZZ (thefamouspeople.com) which leads us to 1910,

New Orleans Jazz according to (npr.gov) “The early development of jazz in New Orleans was connected to the community life of the city, as seen in brass band funerals, music for picnics in parks or ball games, Saturday night fish fries, and Sunday camping along the shores of Lake Ponchartrain at Milneburg and Bucktown. There were also red beans and rice banquettes on Monday’s, and nightly dances at neighborhood halls all over town. The New Orleans sound was “good time” music, delivered in a rollicking, sometimes rough manner, which suited everyday people seeking music “with a feeling.” This spirit or emotional content connected the performer to the audience. It offered a musical communication in which all parties could participate (as with the “second line” dancers who turned out for brass band processions).”

The other “spices” of the roots of AMERICAN MUSIC included the mixing of (circa1920) COUNTRY music (thoughtco.com), and American Folk music. Also called “roots music” American Folk music developed from the traditional songs of previous generations coming from many different countries …with bluegrass, gospel, jug band, Appalachian folk, blues, Cajun and Native American stylings thrown in.

Continuing on with our timeline into the history of music one must focus on pre Big Band era of music, that is, music recorded prior to the “BIG EVENT” of  AUGUST of 1935, that being the appearance of BENNY GOODMAN at THE POLAMAR in Los Angeles, the specific date and show which music scholars consider the BIRTH OF THE SWING ERA.

Jazz music was recorded before 1935, in fact the ORIGINAL DIXIELAND JASS BAND record of 1917 sold over a million copies, a feat which enabled jazz music to be heard and experienced nationwide. (radios and joke boxes). Steamboats traveling up and down the Mississippi River helped to spread the jazz rhythms as many jazz musicians and bands were hired to entertain passengers. Hotels along the Mighty River also hired these “dance bands”.

The dance bands of the day were more intricate than their smaller combo predecessors.While small group jazz had previously allowed a group of musicians the freedom to basically just “blow,” structure became necessary with these larger gatherings of musicians, hence the need for an “arranger”. Improvisational solos were allowed but only when the score dictated to take the solo. This “arranged” solo and easy flowing style of jazz would become known as SWING and with it came a new, exciting style of dance.

SWING took the country by storm in the mid 1930’s and with it came new dances, one in particular was a dance popularized in the SAVOY BALLROOM in Harlem, the LINDY HOP, named in honor of CHARLES LINDBERG’S (May 1927)Atlantic “hop”.

In 1933 Homer Capehart sold the Simplex record changer mechanism to the Wurlitzer Company and The jukebox was born, the biggest tool of its time in promoting big band music. By the late 1930s one could find “jukeboxes” located in speakeasies, ice cream parlors, and even drugstores. The jukebox was at least part of the reason record sales began to show a tremendous increase toward the end of the decade.

And then, the 1940’s we have the beginnings of RnB (Rhythm and Blues) which to me is also the “BIRTHPLACE OF RnR”.

More to come….next  Chapter 4:THE HEART OF AMERICAN MUSIC. Comments? (jazzbus@gmail.com)

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD: The Melting Pot of Music (aka Chapter 2)

THE MELTING POT OF MUSIC, a historical approach using ELVIS as our guide.

THE MELTING POT OF MUSIC

Undeniably, ELVIS PRESLEY served as a catalyst in the evolution of a genre that is known as “rock and roll”. Most musicologists are well aware of Elvis’ significance to what is termed “popular music”. Born in Tupelo, Mississippi (1935) ELVIS’s family moved to Memphis, Tennessee when he was 13 and this is where his musical journey began.

Studying Presley’s original recordings in today’s context one would find his contributions extremely difficult to label or categorize as these said recordings find an  ELVIS who sampled and mixed genres from a huge musical palette including gospel, hillbilly, and virtually anything and everything available to his ears. But How?

American culture has been categorized as the GREAT MELTING POT while others consider it to be THE GREAT MOSAIC. Which ever term  your fancy …let’s dissect what happened.

Pre Columbian (as in Pre-Christopher Columbus) America was populated by Native Americans the first true immigrant grouping. It is said that a few tribes left what is today Russia and they traveled across a narrow frozen area near The Bering Strait, arriving in what is now Alaska.

Over time these tribes multiplied and settled throughout the North and South American continents. Naively, we state that CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS discovered America, yet AMERICA was already here and  in fact inhabited.

Many factors, mostly economic and religious, encouraged the European exploration and settlement of this “New” land, The Spanish and French, followed in 1607 by the British.

Also, in 1619 the first 20 Africans were brought to America, against their will.

This nucleus of folks (black, white, red and brown) from diverse cultures,   religions,   and languages   would be the first mix thrown into what later is defined as AMERICANA. This being simplistically stated by me  but mostly accurate.

Over time The United States of America had specific waves of immigration. From the pre-colonial times through the War for Independence most emigrants were British, except the 700,000 slaves.

After the success of The War for Independence a lull occurred in new arrivals as THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA was conducting that GREAT EXPERIMENT known as democracy and most Europenans were unsure our budding democracy could work.

For the next 230 PLUS YEARS The  different WAVES of  immigrants were primarily English, Scots, Dutch, Germans, Irish, Asians, Slavs, Jews and Italians   with Eastern Europeans , Asians, and Hispanics  joining most recently

While these waves and the groups that arrived are significant in determining the “ingredients” of the MELTING POT of American culture…. one would be mistaken if THE GREAT INTERNAL MIGRATION (1900-1970) was not investigated…. because that migration from south to north and east to west was certainly the straw that stirred the “spices so to speak” of MELTING POT.

After the Civil War there were great rifts in our nation. An agrarian culture primarily in the southern states most which were still physically, economically and emotional scarred by the outcome of their succession from the Union was primarily a rural, dirt poor area with few pockets of wealth. The North was a budding industrial area filling with immigrants who saw this growing economy as a way to escape Europe and capture the American Dream. Unfortunately, it was not so easy.

WWI and WWII brought defense jobs to factory towns and major hubs. Only to be interrupted between the two by THE GREAT DEPRESSION. Okies left the Dust Bowls and headed to California. 70% of Blacks moved from the south to the major hubs while a “white flight” took place to the suburbs.

America had changed with each wave as each group brought those cultural graces which they considered sacred to their individuality while  also sampling the same from other group,… a taste testing so to speak.

Soon one facet of one’s society becomes accepted by others ….that is it becomes almost indistinguishable from its source. That facet becomes accepted as a norm.  Another wave, another culture, another blend another generation, and so on and so forth.

Add to that the internal migration and welcome to AMERICAN CULTURE which ELVIS PRESLEY freely sampled, …that mixed genre developed from a huge musical palette including gospel, hillbilly, and virtually everything available to his ears.

See you next time. Chapter 3: AMERICAN MUSIC 1900- 1940  Comments? Jazzbus@gmail.com