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.

ON THE TURNTABLE: November of 1967

ON THE TURNTABLE: In November of 1967 I was purchasing mostly albums, having drifted away from single (45rpm) releases.This change in my purchasing, as well as the purchases of like minded teens listening to the same current music, was due in part, a large part, by one singular event; that being the change in FM radio broadcasting.

(A brief history thanks to Allen Sniffen) In 1966 the Federal Communications Commission ruled that major market FM radio stations could no longer simulcast their AM sister stations.  FM had to become separate with individual programming.  This was deemed necessary to allow FM to grow and develop its own audience.  The ruling put radio station owners in a bind.  They needed to come up with new formats for these weaker and less desirable stations. Since FM was more difficult to receive,  its universe of potential listeners was much smaller… and so was its billing.  The new formats therefore had to be both different and relatively inexpensive to program. It was in that environment that RKO General Broadcasting launched its new WOR-FM  (98.7Mhz) “Hot 100” format on July 30, 1966.  The name is deceiving because, in fact, it was the first progressive rock station in the country.  It marketed itself as stereo as a way to distinguish itself from AM radio.  The problem was that many of the records played by the station were not in stereo.  While it was true that most record albums were stereo, singles were not.  Since the singles came out before the albums, much of the new music it was breaking was in mono.

So to me as a 14 year old, my listening experience changed overnight, well actually after purchasing an AM-FM radio which did not exist in my house.The newly staffed WOR-FM hired some of NYC’s hottest “Top Ten” dj’s, specifically MURRAY“The K”(Kaufman) from 1010 WINS, SCOTT MUNI from 570 WMCA and later 770 WABC, and ROSKO, the coolest sounding person on the radio, anywhere. Murray The K appeared to be the draw for WOR-FM and the “new” MURRAY was a 180 degree departure from what I was familiar with while listening to him on 1010 WINS (AM). This was not “Top 40” jive talking any longer, as a matter of fact it was a “cool” MURRAY, one who it has been claimed broke the song  “Society’s Child” in the Summer of 67 (because it should be heard), as well as PROCOL HARUM’s “Whiter Shade of Pale” simply because HE “liked it”.AND Murray  was famous in the area  for his holiday stage show extravaganzas, the last which brought THE WHO and (as billed) THE CREAM to NYC for the first time, Easter of 1967. My buddy went and raved about those two bands.

But WOR-FM was a short lived experiment as program directors tried to rein in the playlist, to the chagrin of the radio hosts. Murray was fired in September of 67 despite having the highest rated FM program in NY, even higher than most AM shows. During his short tenure at WOR-FM “The K” attracted not only a large audience but in the audience advertisers found a different demographic, a newer demographic,that being a more mature college aged kid and with this newer, older audience the station drew in record companies as their advertisers. Record companies had found the station (WOR-FM) was highly valuable at influencing sales of rock albums especially new artists and groups like Cream, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, and The Jimi Hendrix Experience, acts which were having their records played and /or being introduced.

At WOR-FM (October 1967)with a new tighter playlist ROSKO quit while “on the air”. He was soon found (October 30,1967) hosting the 7PM to midnight program at the “all girls dj’s” of WNEW-FM 102.7 FM. WNEW-FM was at that time a MOR station with an entire staff of female Dj’s, a unique experiment at the time. But at the 7PM hour Rosko had a free hand to “do his thing”. JONATHAN SCHWARTZ (10AM- 2PM) was added on November19, and a few days later SCOTT MUNI (2-6PM) joined the staff. ALLISON STEELE  later dubbed “The Nightbird” (2AM-6AM) was held over from the formerly “all girl” staff and WNEW-FM took off.

Note: a few years later the line up included John Zacherle and Pete Fornatale with Vince Scelsa added on weekends.

So all this AM/FM babble is the background to my “new” listening experiences which in turn changed my record purchases from TOP 40 hits (45RPM) to albums.

During that November I purchased “Love Forever Changes”, my first LOVE lp, their third and final collection. I picked up  CREAM’s “Disraeli Gears” (did not have “Fresh Cream”) and spent hours looking at the cover while trying to decipher the meaning of “SWLABR”. Incidentally, the album was recorded (May 1967) following the nine days of CREAM being part of MURRAY THE K’S “Music In The Fifth Dimension” series.

Murray The K’s Music In The 5th Dimension | RKO 58 St Theater (28 shows over nine days and nights) featuring:

Mitch Ryder & Detroit Wheels, Wilson Pickett, The Who, Hardly-Worthit Players, Cream, Blues Magoos, The Blues Project, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Jim & Jean, Mandala, The Chicago Loop, Phil Ochs, Simon & Garfunkel, The Young Rascals

(udiscovermusic.com)When both The Who and Cream made their live debut in America, it could hardly have been any less auspicious. It happened for both of them on 25 March 1967 at the RKO Keith Theater on 58th and 3rd Ave in New York City. The shows were redolent of the old 1940s variety shows with a bill packed with artists that actually began at 10 o’clock in the morning and ran all day with a movie thrown in for good measure. All the artists on the bill played five shows a day and it was grueling; the whole thing was promoted by New York’s legendary DJ, Murray the K.

The Who and Cream, or The Cream as they were billed, were well down the bill. Headlining were Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, Wilson Pickett, with Buddy Miles was on drums, The Hardly Worthit Players, The Mandala, the Chicago Loop, Simon & Garfunkel, Jim & Jean, Phil Ochs, The Young Rascals and The Blues Project, Al Kooper’s band.

My next album was “Buffalo Springfield Again” their second album (my first) followed by JEFFERSON AIRPLANE’s  “After Bathing at Baxters”. “Surrelistic Pillow” was a man stay on my turntable before this collection was released on November 30,1967. This was departure and I loved that band. By the end of the CHRISTMAS release season I also had Hendrix’s “Axis As Bold As Love”, Dylan’s “John Wesley Harding” and an album I still love “The Who Sell Out”. Times surely had changed and so did my record collection.

Recently, I checked the files for purchases I made when I was 16 years old in 1968. Not surprisingly, those discs were all receiving heavy rotation on WNEW-FM: “Super Session”-Bloomfield,Kooper and Stills, The Airplane’s “Crown of Creation”, Jeff Beck’s amazing “Truth”, Big Brother and The Holding Company’s “Cheap Thrills”, Traffic’s second album, The Doors “Waiting For The Sun” and a fav of mine The Small Faces “Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake”. Also included were:Dance To The Music,We’re Only In It For The Money, The Notorious Byrds Brothers, Anthem of The Sun, Child Is The Father To The Man, Odessey and Oracle, SweetHeart of The Rodeo, The Village Green Preservation Society, Wheels of Fire, Dr John’s GRIS GRIS, Electric Ladyland, Beggar’s Banquet, Music From Big Pink and of course THE BEATLES akaThe White Album.

 

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

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD-CHAPTER 23: AT SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER 23: AT SEVENTEEN

They say it’s your birthday, It’s my birthday too, yeah

They say it’s your birthday, We’re gonna have a good time

I’m glad it’s your birthday, Happy birthday to you

What a way to celebrate my 17th birthday with two tickets to see THE DOORS on January 24, 1969 at Madison Square Garden. New brown corduroy slacks, brown boots, a new overcoat, with a few extra bucks in my pocket from my folks as a birthday gift and away I go. A new pack of Marlboro Reds, train fare, money for the food after the show at the diner, I was psyched to go to another live show. But on the train ride in, the “problem” soon reared its ugly head as I had a girlfriend who was more excited about seeing Jim Morrison and chatting with her friends about Jim Morrison on the train ride in and again on the way home than celebrating my birthday.

In THE GARDEN the stage was set in the middle of the arena and as the lights dimmed, The Staple Singers appeared first. Beautiful mood and music is the best way to describe what The Staples did. Even with a poor sound system their set was fascinatingly simple, elegant and spiritual. I was awestruck. After a rather extensive intermission, THE DOORS with a bass player (Harvey Brooks) appeared on stage, and adding a small horn section for a few tunes this being their Soft Parade days. According to The Doors faithful, this show, one of the band’s first attempts at an arena rock show, was one of their finest. That night included songs from The Soft Parade, as well as Tell All The People, Love Me Two Times, Spanish Caravan,Back Door Man, Light My Fire, Five To One and When The Music’s Over

The Doors were, to my limited live experienced ears, musically okay, but not what I had anticipated. I expected a great rock band. Jim Morrison was an idiot, or was it just me? Nah, he was an idiot, hindering an otherwise good band with his “poetry” and rants. One interlude by Mr. Morrrison was something about him sitting on a fence, “and boy, do my balls hurt”. Musically my night was made by really digging The Staple Singers and developing a true appreciation for what they did. They were one cool group with a smooth, unique sound. Needless to say the Staples did not fit into the conversation on the return trip home. And neither did my birthday which seemed to have been overlooked. So as the song goes, TURN OUT THE LIGHTS…

February 1969 a group of us went to see the film MONTEREY POP in the local movie house. It was a night of enlightenment for me. The Who fantastic, Otis Redding was the MAN, Big Brother and The Holding Company’s feedback guitars with Janis Joplin singing, Country Joe and The Fish, the harmonies of The Mamas and The Papas, the horns of Hugh Masekela, Jefferson Airplane and according to all my compatriots Jimi Hendrix was the star of the show and rightfully so. I took this movie experience more as a lesson in what I was MISSING, new horizons to be explored and I was excited, oh so excited to start the exploration.

At this time I am in a relationship with a girl, one who I had an on and off again kinda thing going for the last few months. We dated a bit in the spring and summer of 67, she being the one I listened to SGT PEPPERS at her house while playing whiffle ball. She was a bit of an athlete playing softball and a cheerleader at the local high school. We parted company at the start of the school year as I saw her being driven home by an older neighbor. They soon became an item as my Mom would have said. Cool. We saw each other at house parties and occasionally at Hullabaloo. Then we met up again in the spring at my buddy house where he was having one of his notorious bashes with bottles and bottles of alcohol sent to his house by a friend of ours who worked making deliveries for the local liqour store. George’s goal tonight was to get the girl who caught his eye to be his date for our school (not hers) Semi-Formal Dance, a semi-big thing. He needed the alcohol to get up the nerve I guess. Bingo, as I was smoking a smoke outside he ran out shouting “YES, She’s going”. Cool. The party proved to be another fun night, a classic with guys falling down, guys throwing up outside, girls laughing at idiot guys. The usuals, me being one, stayed back to clean up before his parents would arrive home which we figured to be about 2 AM. A few girls stayed also. Spotless. Now my “used to be” girl asked me to walk her home. At her door she told me what a great time she had and we should get together soon. She said, “Call me”. Confused? Oh boy was I. A few days later, I had new arrangements for the SEMI FORMAL SPRING DANCE of 1968.

So now you are up to date on my relationship status. The girl from the SUMMER OF 67, and me, as Mom did say, “were an item”. It’s now February 1969 and we are going to different high schools. Her older brother a recent graduate of University of Maryland with a Master’s Degree in Business Administration had volunteered for service in the U.S. Army, ultimately being sent to Vietnam. With a spare car in her family she would occasionally meet me up at my high school dismissal.

One day late February, she had no activities after school and arranged to pick me up. I would blow off work as we expected to go riding around in her car. I exited school from the usual side door, headed over to my favorite smoking area behind the buses for a quick puff.  Walking toward her car, my girlfriend’s best friend came out of the car and said, “Larry is missing in action”… My heart dropped.

The strange phenomena here is my Mother, only the night before said she was thinking about my girlfriend’s brother and hoped all was okay. Mom actually asked “Did your Mom hear from him lately?”

A few day later the soldiers came to her house to deliver the worst news, February 26, 1969, he was killed in action. A death in the family. I didn’t know what to do. We spent many of the next few nights secluded in my basement, seated quietly.

On The Shelf: IN SEARCH OF THE LOST CHORD- 1967 AND THE HIPPIE IDEA- DANNY GOLDBERG

On The Shelf: IN SEARCH OF THE LOST CHORD 1967 AND THE HIPPIE IDEA- DANNY GOLDBERG

Wow, name after name after…you get the idea. This document takes the reader behind the scenes for a comprehensive look at 1967 and as the title suggests, “the hippie idea”. The time line alone, for me, is the gem. Reagan is governor of California, the first Human Be-IN takes place, The first SUPER BOWL, Surrealistic Pillow is released,  the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour hits the air. The Fugs’  ED SANDERS is featured on the cover of LIFE in an issue about HAPPENINGS. “Penny Lane/ Strawberry Fields Forever” is released.Adam Clayton Powell, Jr is denied a seat in Congress, as LBJ announces the draft lottery, and on and on. Names, dates, places, all fully researched, many sources quoted. Needless to say the history buff in me loved every word. All 280 pages.

(A review)   1967 was the year of the release of the Beatles’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and of debut albums from the Doors, the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin, among many others. 1967 was also the year of the Summer of Love; the year that millions of now-illegal LSD tabs flooded America; Muhammad Ali was convicted of avoiding the draft; Martin Luther King Jr. publicly opposed the war in Vietnam; Stokely Carmichael championed Black Power; Israel won the Six-Day War; and Che Guevara was murdered. It was the year that hundreds of thousands of protesters vainly attempted to levitate the Pentagon. It was the year the word “hippie” peaked and died, and the Yippies were born.

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD: CHAPTER 19- THE SUMMER OF LOVE:

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD:  CHAPTER 19- THE SUMMER OF LOVE:

“If you’re going to San Francisco,be sure to wear some flowers in your hair…If you’re going to San Francisco, Summertime will be a love-in there”

So sang SCOTT McKENZIE, a true one hit wonder himself but what a hit it was. This so called “anthem” arrived on the airwaves May 13, 1967, and was used as an invitation “across the nation” as a way to publicize the upcoming “charity” concerts called THE MONTEREY INTERNATIONAL POP FESTIVAL June 16 to June 18, 1967. This 3 day event was organized by PAPA JOHN PHILLIPS who incidentally wrote the aforementioned tune, LOU ADLER who produced the tune, along with a host of others who planned this weekend showcase as a way to sanctify “rock” music, similar to the way the Monterey Jazz Festivals gave legitimacy to that genre. All proceeds would be given to charity. Artists were expected to play a 40 minute set without a fee, however their flights, accommodations, etc, would all be first class.

The song becomes an instant radio hit ,#4 on the BILLBOARD charts, and while estimates vary, thousands celebrated rock music that weekend in a fair grounds 120 miles south of San Francisco. Yet, the tune transcended its purpose. The imagery of the song provoked and encouraged thousands of listeners to attend “the party”  which would become THE SUMMER OF LOVE in San Francisco.

HOW DO WE GET THERE? Well, not directional or travel arrangements wise but rather how did this LOVE thing happen?

Well, The BEAT poets of NORTH BEACH, SAN FRANCISCO could be considered the fore fathers of the movement with their non-conformist attitudes while rejecting materialistic values.

Then there 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 announced the event. 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 in 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.

See you next time…CHAPTER 20:1968-BE INS and TEACH INS and ASSASSINATIONS

Comments? jazzbus@gmail.com

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

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD: Chapter 14-SWEET SOUL MUSIC

Do you like good music

That sweet soul music

Just as long as it’s swingin’

Oh yeah, oh yeah

SWEET SOUL MUSIC (Conley/Redding)

How I love that song, presently as well as when it was first released, and I also love the tune it was directly “sampled “ from, “YEAH MAN” by Sam Cooke. The horns blasting, the call and response, the spiritual flavor, the danceability of both songs, and SWEET SOUL MUSIC sings out the history of soul music circa 1967. Hey, I even danced to it which a sight to behold.

Thank goodness I was born in the early fifties and with a kid brother two years younger in tow we got to listen to some great music; me with THE sounds of The BRITISH INVASION and he loving The 4 Seasons harmonies, girl groups and “soul” music. Our record collection was amazing and add to that the AM radio blasting the hits on WMCA, WABC, WINS, WWRL. The sounds,oh my,and our parents were in denial to our obsession with music.

Soul music evolved from the R&B tunes of the 50’s, gained wide spread acceptance (white audiences) in the SIXTIES and lasted into the 70’s.

The R&B hits of Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Sam Cooke and Ray Charles transformed rock and roll to another dimension. Soon “white” popular music virtually disappeared leaving rock and soul music in the forefront, standing shoulder to shoulder on the charts as they became the new leaders in popular music.

Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, James Brown, Solomon Burke, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, and Al Green merged gospel with R&B to create a new sound, “soul”. As the subsequent years raged on soul and rock became more political, a message to the masses in the tumult sixties.

Mentioned a few times in other chapters, music is the result of the combination and innovations of previous styles. In the case of soul music one can hear the blending of the “sacred” and the “profane”, that being gospel and the blues thus becoming a new art form.

Soul music ruled the “black” charts throughout THE SIXTIES with hits by Aretha Franklin and James Brown. MOTOWN joined in with MARVIN GAYE, THE SUPREMES, THE FOUR TOPS, THE TEMPTATIONS and a youngster named LITTLE STEVIE WONDER. Soon these hits were played on “mainstream” radio.

One of my favorites was OTIS REDDING: My Dad’s friend gave me an OTIS REDDING album “The Soul Album(1966). He gave it up because he didn’t like it. Geez, it was a gem with 634-5789, TREAT HER RIGHT, CHAIN GANG, NOBODY KNOWS YOU WHEN YOU’RE DOWN AND OUT on it, I loved it. A few years later I saw the film MONTEREY POP and WOW, Otis was THE MAN. Unfortunately, he died a few months after MONTEREY and before completing his posthumous hit (Sittin’On The) DOCK OF THE BAY- the whistling part at the end was to be re-dubbed after his return from the tragic event.

“Otis had the softness of Sam Cooke and the harshness of Little Richard, and he was his own man,” Booker T. & the MGs guitarist Steve Cropper told Rolling Stone in 2004.  “He was also fabulous to be around, always 100 percent full of energy. So many singers in those days, with all due respect, had just been in the business too long. They were bitter from the way they were treated. But Otis didn’t have that. He was probably the most nonprejudiced human being I ever met. He seemed to be big in every way: physically, in his talent, in his wisdom about other people. After he died, I was surprised to find out I was the same age as he was, because I looked up to him as an older brother.”

(2018) The recently released “Otis Redding LIVE AT THE WHISKY A GO GO 1966” was added to my collection. Another gem to say the least.

ARETHA FRANKLIN, originally a COLUMBIA RECORDS artist spent years making jazz records. Upon leaving for ATLANTIC RECORDS a new approach was taken by recording Otis Reddings’ tune RESPECT. It was stardom from then on.

See you next time….Chapter15: THE FUZZ BOX and TECHNO THINGS. Comments? jazzbus@gmail.com