Download SOUL-PATROL DIGEST MAGAZINE

SP Digest Magazine
6/2003 Volume 2, Issue 6
Great Black Music From
The Ancient To The Future:
http://www.soul-patrol.com/
SOUL-PATROL DIGEST
MAGAZINE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
6/2003 SOUL-PATROL DIGEST MAGAZINE........................................................................2
CONTACT INFO AND CREDITS..............................................................................................2
COMMENTARY, REPORTS AND MORE ...............................................................................3
EDITORIALS................................................................................................... 3
Black Music Month: Giving Compliments Or Causing Confusion???................................ 3
Blurred Lines: Somewhere Between Hip–Hop and Alternative ........................................... 4
Press Release: The 2003 Soul-Patrol East Coast Convention............................................. 6
AFTERNOON PROGRAM: 2pm – 6pm .......................................................................................... 7
EVENING PROGRAM: 8pm – 1am ................................................................................................. 8
Thanks From The “Mystery Lady”........................................................................................... 9
CLASSIC SOUL ........................................................................................... 10
Rhythm & Soul/Philly Soul Reissues .................................................................................... 10
Analysis: Pillow Talk - The Sensuous Sounds Of Sylvia.................................................... 13
“The Last Soul Company”, Malaco; A Thirty Year Retrospective .................................... 16
Bio: Al Wilson........................................................................................................................... 19
Doo Wop Favorites.................................................................................................................. 20
The Three Degrees .................................................................................................................. 20
FUNK............................................................................................................. 21
Patrice Rushen......................................................................................................................... 21
Does Dance = Disco ................................................................................................................ 22
Hollywood Funk....................................................................................................................... 25
ROCK N' ROLL ............................................................................................ 27
FUNKADELIC Live: Meadowbrook, Rochester, Michigan ................................................. 27
Mr. Rock n’ Roll: On Elvis....................................................................................................... 28
Chubby Checker For the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame? ......................................................... 29
JAZZ.............................................................................................................. 31
CD Review: Roy Hargrove - Hardgroove .............................................................................. 31
Artist Profile: Gerald Veasley................................................................................................. 32
Artist Profile: Yellowjackets ................................................................................................... 33
PRESS RELEASE: WATTSTAX ............................................................................................34
A MEDITATION ON HENDRIX, LENNON, AND THE COUNTERCULTURE ................43
SOUL PATROL SPONSORS....................................................................................................2
Soul-Patrol Digest
Magazine
6/2003 Soul-Patrol Digest Magazine
Welcome to the June/2003 issue of the Soul-Patrol Digest Magazine!
Soul-Patrol is a 100% Black owned and operated Informational, news gathering and educational series of
internet resources focused on funk, soul, jazz, blues, rock artists, music and culture.
Some Highlights of this month’s issue:
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EDITORIALS: Black Music Month, Blurred Lines: Somewhere Between Hip–Hop and Alternative,
Press Release: The 2003 SP East Coast Convention, & Thanks From The “Mystery Lady”
CLASSIC SOUL: Rhythm & Soul/Philly Soul Reissues, Analysis: Pillow Talk - The Sensuous
Sounds Of Sylvia, “The Last Soul Company” Malaco; A Thirty Year Retrospective, Bio: Al Wilson
Doo Wop Favorites, and The Three Degrees
FUNK: Patrice Rushen, Does Dance = Disco, Hollywood Funk
ROCK N' ROLL: CD Review FUNKADELIC Live: Meadowbrook, Rochester, Michigan, Mr. Rock
n’ Roll: On Elvis, Chubby Checker For the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame?
JAZZ:CD Review: Roy Hargrove – Hardgroove, Artist Profile: Gerald Veasley, Artist Profile:
Yellowjackets
SPECIAL FEATURES: Press Release: Wattstax, A Meditation On Hendrix, Lennon, And The
Counterculture
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The 2003 Soul-Patrol East Coast Convention is coming on July 19 2003!!! Check the following link
for the latest info: http://www.soul-patrol.com/convention
If you are an artist, entrepreneur, organization, individual etc., who is interested in becoming one of the
sponsors of the Soul-Patrol Magazine and delivering your message to our subscriber base, then feel free
to contact me via email or telephone so that we can discuss your ideas.
--Bob Davis
[email protected]
Contact Info and Credits
Davis Industries:
http://www.davisind.com
Soul-Patrol:
http://www.soul-patrol.com
Editor: Bob Davis
798 Woodlane Road #10264
Mount Holly, NJ 08060
Phone: (609)-351-0154
E-Mail:
[email protected]
Soul-Patrol Digest Magazine Contributors:
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Antonio G. Pereira
Charles Duke
Kevin Amos
“Mystery Lady”
Fred Sapp
Bob Davis
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Ron Wynn
John Book
Lynne Johnson
Joe Vincent
Marc Adams
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Commentary, Reports and More
EDITORIALS
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Black Music Month: Giving
Compliments Or Causing
Confusion???
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For the past few years I have sat back and
watched individuals locally, write articles on
music originated by African-Americans. My
cultural heritage. More specifically, Jazz and
Blues. Now it is well known by all that music
from the African Diaspora has influenced the
whole world. Just listen to your radio, watch TV,
or listen to various artists on their recordings.
What troubles me however is the lack of an even
playing field when seeing touring artists or going
to clubs.
A couple of years ago I was working on a Black
Music seminar and I found that out of about 125130 local clubs, only 5 were Black owned and
operated. One of those five was the Crawford
Grill, one of the most important clubs in the
history of Jazz. Important because of the
numerous artists who have played there in the
past 50 to 60 years. Pittsburgh is also important
in Jazz because of the many inovators that have
come from this area. Roy Eldrige, Earl "Fatha"
Hines, Kenny Clarke, Art Blakey, Mary Lou
Williams, Billy Strayhorn, Eddie Jefferson,
George Benson, and many , many others. That
tradition has brought attention to this city
worldwide. Even the radio stations have helped
by way of giving those artists the recognition
they so rightfully deserve. WHOD and WAMO
with Mary Dee and Bill Powell, WYEP with Amir
Rashied, Tony Navarro, Buck Brice, and
countless others including myself, and WDUQ ,
WRCT, WJAS,WCXJ and WYDD with various
personalities over the years are part of the
history also.
Jazz is so popular here that George Wein has
been producing Jazz festivals in this city for the
past 15 years.That is why it puzzles me when
people pose the question: Is Jazz viable here?
The participation at these events by the public is
evidence enough that it works. However, last
summer at the Mellon Jazz Festival one high
level person from the production company had
no clue who Eric Hilton(Exodus Quartet) was or
what he did. Neither did the folks from the local
"smooth jazz" station. (They got a photo opp
however) Of course clubs come and go...that's
normal, and mismanagement and other factors
come along with that. Nobody's perfect. When
Charles Earland and Houston Person played at
the now defunct Dizzy's they played to a very
sparse audience because of bad promotion.
There are too many people at some of these
clubs who simply don't have a clue what it takes
to run a sucessful venue.People could see
national and international acts at other venues
but local promoters don't do the necessary leg
work to pack the halls. All of the players have to
be included in order for it to work properly here
in the Pittsburgh area. There was a time that
Jazz was part of everyday life in the community.
In the early eighties, at one point radio station
WYEP was programming 125 hours of Jazz a
week, co -promoting shows with other stations
and promoters, and doing live broadcasts. It
brought in over 50% of the stations total
revenue. The station board of directors killed
jazz on the air , when the decision was made to
go after a more "upscale" audience. The staff
couldn't relate to the whole community and with
the use of consultants "narrowed" the listening
audience and targeted the potential contributors.
When talking to a lot of the older Black
musicians here, it is also pointed out that when
the union for Black musicians was busted , it
destroyed nightlife here in the African-American
community because it was difficult(and still is)
for people to get jobs. At the recent JazzTimes
convention, Max Roach pointed out how hard it
was for Black musicians to make it here in the
U.S. because of lack of venues. A few well
known Jazz bigwigs have been given the
impression that the Crawford Grill was closed in
order to push the local college station and arts
center who do joint projects. Recently with the
closing of the Balcony, non-Black musicians are
now not afraid to go to the Hill and are now
gravitating to the Grill. Another work in the mix is
the move to establish a African-American
cultural museum with Jazz themes. I understand
that one group already has the consultant and
the "bucks" in place.
Recent articles have out and out painted the
face of Jazz and Blues in Pittsburgh... as a
White musician. If you read the articles and
check out who's being interviewed you would
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think that except for a handful of folks, the Black
musician was non-existent here. I know quite a
few Black musicians who play Blues here , but
they can't get steady gigs here because of the
racism that exists. The annual fundraiser for the
Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank , the
Pittsburgh Blues Festival ,which is Blues based,
has yet to feature any local Blues musicians
besides Mr Chizmo Charles who is part of the
Mystic Knights band. I don't even think there are
African -Americans on the planning committee
for the festival. Not one Black musician or air
personality who plays Blues on the air was
interviewed in the recent article. I think that is an
insult to individuals like Wrett Weatherspoon
who have been playing music on the air in
Pittsburgh for close to 20 years.
I would also like to point out that there are no
full-time air personalities of African-American
decent who play Jazz on commercial stations
but many who play Rap , Hip-Hop or Urban
Music. While many talk of changing times, and
where the music is, few discuss the role of
preserving the culture among AfricanAmericans, especially younger generations and
our children. Or don't you care??
--Kevin Amos
::::ADV::::
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Blurred Lines: Somewhere
Between Hip–Hop and
Alternative
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Sistah grew up in the Boogie Down Bronx, so
hip–hop is woven into the fabric of her
existence. Many summer nights her black soul
ran cross the bridge from Co–op City to The
Valley (Haffen Park located on Hammersley
Ave. in the North East Bronx served as breeding
ground for many ’70s hip-hop crews, most
notably DJ Breakout and The Funky Four).
There she Patty Duked and Smurfed to
whatever the DJ scratched scientific, while the
MC waxed poetic. Yet, sistah also surfed the
radio waves for college or underground
punkdafiednewavism.
While digging the party message and male
posturing of Flash and the Furious Five and The
Treacherous Three, she developed a strong
craving for the Euro–imported rhythms of bands
like Berlin and the Divinyls . And while she,
that’s I, has often taken shots from my African–
American kinfolk for it, I am proud to understand,
no, love both. How could you not love both?
Alternative and hip–hop both make heads nod
while speaking for your young soul, both offer an
outlet to party and manifest struggle; both prove
there are only two types of music — good and
bad.
Back in the late ’70s and early ’80s when I lived
in the Bronx, both musics were still mainly
underground as a major label deal was almost
unheard of for artists from either camp.
Alternative was not played in conventional rock
or pop circuits, nor was hip–hop played regularly
during R&B formats, as mainstream radio had
not yet latched onto either as motives of profit.
http://www.soulofamerica.com/
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And from those underground roots came a
shared attraction to political struggle and
pioneering technology. Back then, the Furious
Five represented the hardcore streets of New
York, just like U2, the straight–up ghetto. Life for
a black man in the inner city is a constant
struggle, but do you think life in Dublin, Ireland
— after years of violent religious conflict — is
pretty? When Bono belted out, "Broken bottles
under children’s feet/Bodies strewn across a
dead end street/But I won’t heed the battle call/It
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puts my back up, puts my back up against the
wall," in " Sunday Bloody Sunday" from 1983, he
meant just what Melle Mel did in "The Message,"
written only a year earlier — "Broken glass
everywhere/People pissing on the stairs/You
know they just don’t care/...Don't push me
’cause I’m close to the edge/ I’m trying not to
lose my head/Ah huh huh huh huh/It’s like a
jungle sometimes, it make me wonder/How I
keep from going under."
In America and Europe, gang wars and religious
wars, drug–induced annihilation and bombings,
racism and terrorism, created deep youthful
angst, which was unleashed through song. I
idolized Melle Mel from the Furious Five and
Bono of U2 for the very same reason.
Meanwhile the sounds of hip–hop and
alternative pulled from the technological frontier.
Afrika Bambaataa, Depeche Mode, and others
developed electro funk and techno rock from
synthesized disco beats fused with eclectic
sounds. At the Bronx River Projects, Bam’s turf,
I witnessed the same frenetic and kinetic
audience energy that I would later experience at
Private Eyes in Chelsea, where DJs spun the
industrial sounds of Bronski Beat, Nitzer Ebb
and, of course, Depeche Mode.
In time the musics’ cultural similarities led to
mulattos: artists who creatively walk down the
center of the genres, fusing styles while rising on
the Billboard charts. Think of the Beastie Boys
who mix their roots in hardcore punk with rap,
and Onyx, who mix hardcore rap with punk. Both
appeal to "real" alternative listeners and "real"
hip–hop fans. Both challenge the assertion that
the musics are different.
And then there are those hip–hop groups the
media labels alternative rap, because they blur
genres, fusing funk and pop, rock, jazz, soul,
reggae and even folk. Nor do they fall into
stereotypical hip–hop classifications — gangsta,
bling, or hardcore. The Native Tongue Family —
Jungle Brothers , A Tribe Called Quest, De La
Soul, Black Sheep, Chi Ali, and The Beatnuts —
is credited with setting this style off. In time more
artists followed in the Native Tongue tradition
including Leaders of the New School, Brand
Nubian, Arrested Development, Digable Planets,
Digital Underground, The Pharcyde, The Roots,
and The Fugees, among several others. These
groups are also set apart by their huge
alternative rock fan base, as opposed to a
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straight–up hip–hop following.
There re also those rap metal artists such as
Rage Against the Machine, Limp Bizkit and
Insane Clown Passe who take their cues from
hardcore rap, infusing their rhythms with metal’s
heavy guitar riffs and hip–hop beats. The band’s
vocalists rap — instead of sing — hypermacho,
rage–fueled lyrics. Further, white folk’s
fascination with "authentic" black culture as
portrayed in hardcore, horrorcore, and gangsta
rap spawned Vanilla Ice (more of a pop
sensation in the tradition of Hammer, yet a
fictitious gangster–related background was
utilized to boost his street cred) and Eminem
and their commercial successes.
By the time the ’90s kicked in, both musics,
that’s alternative and hip–hop, rose from the
underground abyss, and moved onto the
Billboard Pop charts. Alternative witnessed the
success of Nirvana and Pearl Jam, while West
Coast rap blew up through NWA offspring Ice
Cube and Dr. Dre. But the sounds changed:
through leaders like Nine Inch Nails’ Trent
Reznor and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and
Raekwon and Mobb Deep, we heard more
violence, self–loathing, alienation, suicidal
despair and homicidal tendencies than ever.
While both musics penetrated the mainstream
and their makers got richer than ever, the artists
sounded more depressed and angry than ever.
Nas responds to his people turning to heroin,
crack, and weed, by stating, "Life’s a bitch and
then you die/that’s why we get high/because you
never know/when you gonna go." Courtney Love
looks at her drug–fueled relationship with Kurt
Cobain and sings, "Somebody kill me/give me
pills/If you live through this with me/I swear I will
die for you." Beck asks, "I’m a loser baby, so
why don’t you kill me?" Biggie Smalls says, "I’m
ready to die and nobody can save me." Is it
really that different?
Eventually life imitated art. On April 5, 1994 Kurt
Cobain put a gun to his head. He was found
dead on April 7 and left a suicide note. Tupac
Shakur died September 13, 1996 from gunshot
wounds inflicted on his way to a party after the
Mike Tyson–Bruce Seldon fight in Las Vegas on
September 7. On March 9, 1997 The Notorious
B.I.G. (a.k.a. Biggie Smalls) was gunned down
after leaving the Vibe magazine party after the
Soul Train Music Awards. And Michael
Hutchence of Inxs was found hanging in his
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hotel room at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Double
Bay, Sydney, Australia. His death was ruled a
suicide.
As I sit here in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, nearly two
decades from whence alternative and hip–hop
first became intermingled in my consciousness
and my Walkman, I sort of lament their rise to
status. Commercial success has taken away
from message–based, party music and led to
promoting gangsterism and angst, which is
selling very lovely.
Still, the musics have come to express
hopelessness and despair and an overwhelming
need for freedom and autonomy. These two
cultures are bonding musically and culturally,
creating music through similar pathways that
express similar feelings in order to represent
overlapping constituencies. By extension, they're
proving that all of us are really not so different.
--Lynne d Johnson
http://www.lynnedjohnson.com/
soul-patrol magazine, soul-patrol magazine, soul-patrol magazine
Press Release: The 2003
Soul-Patrol East Coast
Convention
soul-patrol magazine, soul-patrol magazine, soul-patrol magazine
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There is an afternoon session designed
to be an educational information share,
across all age groups.
There is an evening session featuring
some of the greatest names in the
history of R&B/JAZZ/SOUL/FUNK.
Both sessions will provide the community with
the ability to interact directly with not only these
legendary music figures, but also with many
journalists, broadcasters, educators and
businesspeople who will be traveling to Mount
Holly that day for the Convention.
The objective of the 2003 Soul-Patrol East
Coast Convention is to have a great day of
education, dialogue, community, and fellowship
to raise money for a worthy cause.
More information follows below or you can view
the information on the web at the following url:
http://www.soul-patrol.com/convention/
Or you can reach me locally at:
Bob Davis
609-351-0154
[email protected]
A Unique Community Event In Mount Holly, NJ
BASIC LOGISICAL INFORMATION
Date: 7/19/03
Location: American Fire House Mount Holly, NJ
(right outside of Philadelphia). Mount Holly, NJ
is right off of exit 5 of the NJ Turnpike and
convenient to NYC, Philadelphia, Baltimore and
Washington DC.
Benefit For The Open Up Your Heart
Foundation
It’s an all day event (2pm – 1am) that will take
place at the American Fire House in Mount Holly
on July 19, 2003 and it’s open to the general
public.
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Open Up My Heart, Inc, a non-profit foundation
founded by the legendary R&B stars, the Mighty
Dells and is administered by Nina DawneWilliams, Esquire. The foundation will raise
funds to assist the neediest victims (i.e., the
janitors, couriers, temporary workers, cooks) of
the 9/11 attacks. In a special donation, The Dells
re-recorded "Open Up My Heart," with new
artists, and will contribute a portion of the sales
from the CD, to this effort.
ALL ARE INVITED
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Thus far Soul-Patrollers, their families and
friends from up and down the eastern seaboard
have contacted me or our SP Coordinators to let
us know that they will be participating:
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To provide an educational/information
share.
To reach out to a multi demographic
group of individuals.
http://www.soul-patrol.com/convention/
OUR SPECIAL GUESTS FROM THE WORLD
OF: CLASSIC SOUL, JAZZ, FUNK, DOO
WOP, DISCO & NU SOUL
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Billy Paul,
Bernie Worrell (P-Funk, Talking Heads
and W00 Warriors)
Pookie Hudson (Spaniels)
Soul Generation (featuring Cliff Perkins)
Vince Montana (Salsoul Orchestra),
Ray Davis (P-Funk, Temptations, ZAPP
and Original P)
Sonny Boy
Ray, Goodman & Brown (aka the
Moments)
Sarah Dash (Labelle)
T.M. Stevens (everybody under the sun)
George Kerr (super slow jam producer)
Michael Henderson
Harptones
Jazzhole
Kenny 'Spider' Webb
‘Giant’ Gene Arnold
Micheal "Kidd Funkadelic" Hampton
Wil Hart (Delphonics)
Bettye LaVette
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All of these world famous artists are coming out
and donating their valuable time to for several
reasons:
• They want to meet as many of their fans
as possible in person
• They want to help us to raise money for
the Open Up Your Heart Foundation
They are all independent artists and have been
in one-way shape or form been supportive of
what Soul-Patrol and I have been trying to do
here over the last 6+ years.
I have also asked them to bring along their CD's,
T-shirts, Pictures, Books, etc and we will provide
space for them to set up.
So if you are coming, bring along some extra
$$$$$
All Soul-Patrollers who have purchased tickets
for the evening program will be admitted free!
The entry fee for those who don't have a ticket
for the evening program will be:
Adults: $3:00
Students: Free
This will take place on Saturday afternoon July
19th and will be an interactive combination of
panel discussions, presentations and Q/A.
It will take place in a 150-seat facility not far from
the area hotels and the site of the Convention
evening program. This Saturday afternoon
program will run from 2pm - 6pm
The Saturday afternoon program will run from
2pm - 6pm
Here is the tentative agenda so far:
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2:00 pm - 2:15 pm: Bob Davis
Introduction/Overview
•
2:15 pm - 2:45 pm: Ken Webb - Internet
Radio and the Future
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2:45 pm - 3:30 pm: (Moderator TBA) Panel
Discussion: E-Commerce and Black
America
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3:30 pm - 4:00 pm: (Speaker TBA) The
Past, Present and Future Impact of
Marvin Gaye
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4:00 pm - 4:45 pm: Black Rock Coalition Panel Discussion #2
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4:45 pm - 5:00 pm: Kevin Amos Preserving Black Music History
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5:00 pm - 5:45 pm: (Moderator TBA) Panel
Discussion: Independent Artists and the
Future
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5:45 pm - 6:00 pm: Bob Davis - Wrap Up
AFTERNOON PROGRAM: 2pm – 6pm
PURPOSE:
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EVENING PROGRAM: 8pm – 1am
Thanks in advance for taking the time to read
this message....
Cost:
•
$20.00 If you buy your tickets online via
PayPal.
$25.00 If you buy your tickets in
advance via check/money order.
$30.00 If you pay at the door.
•
•
Bob Davis
SOUL-PATROL.COM
[email protected]
:::ADV:::
ENTERTAINMENT
DJ'S: ALL from Soul-Patrol.Net Radio, will be
spinning the best in Classic Soul, Funk, Blues,
Slow Jams, Black Rock, Disco and Nu Soul,
from 8:00 pm - 1:00am...
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Will Chill (WBZC - NJ)
Kevin Amos (WRCT - Pittsburgh)
Philadelphia’s Legendary 'Giant' Gene
Arnold (WIFI-FM, WEEZ-AM, WCAMAM, WCAU-AM,WIBG-AM, WZZD-AM,
WTAF-TV-29, WPHL-TV-17)
NYC Superstar DJ Mike Boone
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Soul Music History Trivia Contest Hosted By
our own Mike Boone
(w/prizes provided by BMG Music, Putamayo
World Music, Magnatar Records, the
Funkstore.com and Miramax films)
Soul Food Platters Will Be Available
BYOB, Set Ups Will Be available
Live Performances
• Billy Paul will do a live soul/funk/jazz set
• I am certain we will have some more
surprises along these lines...
GO HERE TO ORDER TICKETS
TRAVEL/HOTEL INFO
CHECK OUT LAST YEARS HIGHLIGHTS
AND GET MORE INFO
http://www.soul-patrol.com/convention/
SPONSORS:
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Open Up Your Heart Foundation
Black Rock Coalition
Billy Paul
SoulOfAmerica.com
Magnatar Records
TheFunkstore.com
Putamayo World Music
Aretha Franklin - One Lord, One Faith
One Baptism (BMG Music)
http://www.thefunkstore.com/
http://www.soul-patrol.com/convention/
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Thanks From The “Mystery
Lady”
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Hello Bob,
You and I have not talked, but you have spoken
with my husband, Edward Samuel. We both
would like to thank you very much for your kind
words and the support that you have given the
Mystery Lady.
As we have come to touch just tip of what is
called the music industry, we have found that it's
a "dog eat dog" situation. We can actually count
on one hand the honest people that we have
met, and of course, as far as the media is
concerned, if we are not well known or wealthy,
we-simply don't exist.-Being - independent in
this business is hard and next to impossible
when you start losing five and ten thousand
dollars here and there, it's no joke. Most of the
stations that played my first CD (Midnight Run)
did not play the second one as much. I was told
by some, and I will not mention names, that a
payola would help so we looked for other ways
to promote the CD's. Some people wanted parts
of my publishing rights so bad that when we
stood firm against it, these people had the power
to make sure that friends of theirs would not play
my music on the radio, and as if that were not
enough, some artists have re-recorded some of
my songs without our consent. )
When I first came out I did not want to be known
as another Denise LaSalle, Millie Jackson, or
Betty Wright, etc, etc, or anyone else that has
already made their own mark, and while I
respect all of these artists. I wanted to make my
own mark. It's a privilege to be put in their
category. But give me my own identity as well.
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Many fans have said that they respect what I do
because all of my songs are original, and are not
remakes of anyone else's. In my own personal
opinion I feel that when Aretha Franklin or Patti
LaBelle, Betty Wright, or Shirley Brown, just to
name a few, put out a song, they give it their
very best, who needs to come back behind
them, and re-do it all over .In my own opinion, if
you don't have the talent to write or sing your
own song's then perhaps you're not in the right
business. I don't want to be known as the person
that did it second, third and so on. The day that I
can't think it, write it, and sing it, is the day that I
give it up.
As for the many fans that love this style of
soul/funk music, it's sad that they are deprived
from hearing it on the radio. So we as artists
must find other means to reach them, and soul
patrol is one way to help past, present, and
future artists to reach people.
You're right. I may never get into the mainstream
of the media, but I do thank God for you and
your brother Mike. We are seeking other ways to
reach the fans. CO Baby has been another
outlet for independent artists. But still without
airplay, and good marketing, it's hard. We have
given away so much product to so many radio
stations, that were supposed to be for audience
give away, only to find out that a lot of the DJ's
were selling it on the streets, and some were
even burning copies to sell, so who can you
trust? Between CD burning, bootlegging, and
other obstacles thrown in the mix, it's so wonder
anyone knows about a new artist at all.
The fans that I do have, I keep up with them,
through letters, email, and the phone. Letting
them know what's up with the Mystery Lady. If I
know of a new artists with or without a CD, I try
to encourage them to be supportive of them,
because we all have a great responsibility to
preserve our own culture, soul, blues, R&B,
Jazz, and Reggae, etc.
I would say to all of the independent artists, old
and new, you may not sell a lot without the
support of the media, radio, and stores, but at
least you won't be making everybody else richer
off of your hard work, blood, sweat, and tears.
Again; many-thanks-to you and-your-brotherMike for the great effort that you put forth. On
behalf of the old, the new and future artists, your
support alone gives me the strength to keep
going.
--The Mystery Lady
http://themysterylady.com/who.html
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::::ADV::::
CLASSIC SOUL
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Embrace the Love of the Hip-O!
The Greatest Love Songs of:
Will Downing
Angela Winbush
Patti LaBelle
Gregory Isaacs
Rhythm & Soul/Philly Soul
Reissues
soul-patrol magazine, soul-patrol magazine, soul-patrol magazine
American labels have seldom treated their
archival treasures in R&B, soul, blues or gospel
with any modicum of reverence or respect.
While jazz reissue lines continue to thrive, many
domestic companies re-release vital AfricanAmerican popular material in haphazard fashion,
frequently compromising on engineering
standards and offering only minimal information
on recording dates, session musicians or
historical backdrop and perspective.
But one prime exception to that rule has been
Sony/Legacy's exemplary Rhythm & Soul series.
Since its inception more than a decade ago,
Legacy empowered people who truly loved the
music with the responsibility of properly
packaging and presenting it to both longtime
fans and novices interested in getting top-caliber
"Old School" sounds. Now Legacy has also
begun a subsidiary line, the Philly Soul series,
which gives the invaluable Philadelphia
International label its own reissue imprint.
The “Greatest Love Songs” are only available
on Hip-O.
Be sure to check our site for information on all
our releases.
http://www.hip-o.com
10
Six new titles have just been issued (April 15)
that primarily cover the mid-'70s, with the
exception of one mid-80s spin-off disc. The
featured groups range from established icons
like the O'Jays to insider favorites such as the
Ebonys, and include some bands that enjoyed
crossover success and others that never scored
consistent hits. The CDs were co-produced by
Joe McEwen (better known as Mr. C to Philly
soul legions and still the greatest all-around soul
and R&B writer ever) and Leo Sacks, a stalwart
R&B/soul champion. McEwen's penned fresh
liner notes for all six discs, while
producer/arranger Bobby Martin has also added
his own insights and reflections on four
sessions, giving fans a view from the other side
of the board. As a result, these discs not only
contain magnificent music, they take them inside
the studio and gives them a better
understanding of how the creative process
operates over a designated period.
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The O'Jays Ship Ahoy stands as arguably the
premier title among the six. It was the group's
third Philly International album, and the one
where Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff took more
thematic and stylistic chances.
The nine-minute title track for instance featured
Eddie Levert's anguished, agonizing leads
repeatedly driving home the song's slave ship
ethos while florid production touches were
punctuating it with strings, background voices
and percussive sounds. Anthony Jackson's
slithering, pungent bass line opened "For The
Love of Money," immediately grabbing the ear
while Levert and company then followed up on
his signature statement by vocally pounding
home a biting indictment of materalism and
corruption. But the love tunes were just as
dynamic, from the swelling harmonies and
powerful singing on "You've Got Your Hooks In
Me," to the secular gospel-styled "Put Your
Hands Together" and emphatic "Now That We
Found Love." The album was a commercial and
artistic triumph for the O'Jays, and vaulted them
into not only R&B but pop superstardom.
By contrast, Wake Up Everybody marked the
end of the line for Harold Melvin & The Blue
Notes in terms of dominance. Former drummer
11
turned lead singer extraordinaire Teddy
Pendergrass was simply becoming too big and
popular to be confined within a group setting. It
also was the last time that the Blue Notes
worked with Gamble & Huff, as well as with
Martin. The album contained one masterpiece,
the dashing title song, with an earnest message
that Pendergrass made seem even more
commanding by his vocal treatment. Otherwise,
this was more of a romantic/lovers date,
although "I'm Searching for A Love" and "Don't
Leave Me This Way" have a more dramatic,
bluesy edge, and "You Know How To Make Me
Feel So Good" concludes Pendergrass'
recorded flirtations with Sharon Paige. The new
disc adds a bonus track, but the Tom Moulton
mix of "Don't Leave Me This Way" isn't so much
an improvement on the original as an
alternative, complete with a an altered
arrangement. MFSB's backing was alternately
sleek or animated; while Pendergrass
demonstrated that he was more than ready for
his own dates.
The Ebonys are unfairly considered little more
than a footnote to the '70s scene, even by many
hardcore fans. Yet it was their poignant single
"You're The Reason Why" that jumpstarted the
Philly International label in 1971. Gamble and
Huff collaborated on the Ebonys with several
arrangers, including the maestro of intimate R&B
trio and group music Thom Bell. Bell's
arrangement on "You're The Reason Why"
framed the terse lead against a slowly but
steadily building background. Vocalists Jinny
Holmes, David Beasley, James Tuten and
Clarence Vaughan were a solid group, but just
didn't have a string of big records. However,
their classic single "Forever" balanced
toughness and defiance with just the right
amount of vulnerability.
Strangely, some of their better singles such as
"Sexy Ways," "Nation Time" and "Life In The
Country" never made much impact. The four
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additional cuts are marginally interesting,
although the short single "Determination" made
a little noise in the early '70s. Hopefully, this
reissue may bring some renewed attention to a
good band that got missed during the heyday of
'70s R&B.
When the Manhattans made their move to
Columbia, no one knew what to expect. Their
singles for Carnival had been mostly excellent,
but didn't give them breakout status. But they
were turned around at Columbia through Bobby
Martin's production brilliance and the sensual,
flowing work of Gerald Alston. Martin made Blue
Lovett's booming narratives a key element in
almost every song, with Alston then offering a
compelling vocal twist once he entered the
arrangement. The first single on their self-titled
debut "There's No Me Without You" was superb,
then came "Hurt" and ultimately "Kiss and Say
Goodbye," still their biggest hit. While this disc is
a bit heavy on the covers and isn't a completely
flawless work, the top tunes save the day.
Among the bonus cuts, the instrumental version
of "Take It Or Leave It" is a curious choice, while
the alternate version of "Searching For Love"
actually has a better arrangement than the
released version, but not quite as moving a lead
vocal.
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12
3 + 3 was a transitional smash for the Isley
Brothers in many ways. It marked the successful
addition to the core group of younger brothers
Ernie and Marvin on bass and guitar
respectively, as well as longtime friend
keyboardist Chris Jasper. It gave the frontline of
Ronald, Rudolph and Kelly fresh musical
inspiration and support, and in turn the move
seemed to re-energize Ronald in particular. He
was uniformly superb on every cut, from the
inquistive personna of "That Lady" to the
dismissive tone of "If You Were There" and "You
Walk Your Way" and the pleading laments
intoned on "Don't Let Me By Lonely Tonight."
Ernie Isley's frenetic, wailing guitar solos
enriched "That Lady" and "Summer Breeze,"
while Jasper's crunching keyboard licks and
drummer George Moreland's relentless textures
firmly underscored the vocals and harmonies.
The Isleys were moving away from their past
practice of hiring outside arrangers and
musicians and becoming both a self-contained
band and a complete performing ensemble.
3 + 3 was the disc that convinced them this was
the ideal direction, and also nudged them into
funk and rock-tinged disco alongside their basic
gospel-flavored soul.
Unfortunately, the early generational harmony
so evident on 3 + 3eventually disintegrated into
ongoing, daily conflict. The trio of Ernie and
Marvin Isley, as well as Chris Jasper finally
opted out of the group and went on their own in
1984. Sadly, this threesome subsequently
proved unable
to co-exist as well, and by 1987, they had
disbanded after only three albums. The promise
that had been shown with the single "Caravan of
Love" became instead their lone huge hit,
though "Insatiable Woman" did crack the R&B
Top 20 in 1986. The main reason they lacked
longetivity is easily spotted after close listening
to Caravan of Love: The Best of
Isley/Jasper/Isley. They're wonderful musicians
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but only competent vocalists, and not especially
imaginative lyricists or arrangers. Jasper's leads
on "Do It Right" and "Givin' You Back The Love"
are decent, while
Ernie Isley's best performance came on "if You
Believe In Love." But they simply lacked a firstrate singer, and sameness began emerging in
their songs as well by the third album. Perhaps
the most telling thing is that their one charttopping tune was a collectively sung anthem
espousing peace and love, more of a feel-good
inspirational work than a number that could
establish either a group sound or set the
foundation for a band to develop follow-up
tunes. Still, although this is definitely the
weakest among this set, it has value for
gathering the best songs that the trio made
among their three releases. It also concludes
another tremendous set of soul/R&B reissues
from what ranks as the nation's premier rerelease company for vintage black popular
music.
I recommended this album for your listen 2
years ago!! I am glad you finally picked it up!!! It
is an awesome album.... erotic is the best way to
describe it.
Well I finally got it and I'm certainly glad that I did
:) Although sometimes Sylvia is referred to as a
"one hit
wonder" this album demonstrates
that was far from the case....
"Private Performance", "Automatic Lover" &
"Sweet Stuff" were all songs I remember hearing
on the radio during the 1970's.
This compilation album is fantastic and it's also a
very nice tribute to one of the most enduring
performers in all of Black music.
She is one of the few who has a career that
spans from 1950's doo wop all the way into rap
music. George Clinton and Jimmy Castor are
the only two other performer that I can think of
that has had a similar career!
--Ron Wynn
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Analysis: Pillow Talk - The
Sensuous Sounds Of Sylvia
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1.Not On The Outside
2.Lay It On Me
3.If You Get The Notion
4.Sweet Stuff
5.Pillow Talk
6.You Sure Love To Ball
7.Easy Evil
8.Didn't I
9.Next Time That I See You
10.He Don't Ever Lose His Groove
11.My Thing
12.Pussycat
13.Sunday
14.Sho Nuff Boogie: Part 1
15.Sweet Baby
16.Private Performance
17.L.A. Sunshine
18.Automatic Lover
19.It's Good To Be The Queen
20.Give It Up In Vain
(She sounds like she's having an ORGY in the
studio)
13
“DIDN'T I” was my favorite track off of that CD!
She is a very fantastic artist... I wonder what she
is doing now... I’d love to hear what she thinks
about the state of black music today.
This album is so damn badd you can have "wild
fun" to it or any other kind of fun that comes to
mind......lol
Sylvia is a wonderfully creative artist who
doesn't get enough in the way of props, clearly
she is one of the people that Erkah Badu has
been listening to!
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SYLVIA - "SWEET STUFF"
Now I remember when this song was out as a
single and for me this is the song that really got
me into the groove of this album. The lyrics are
teasingly erotic.
The song itself sounds like an orgasm and is
topped on the album only (in my opinion) by
Sylvia's cover of Marvin Gayes' "You Sure Love
To Ball".
Imagine if you will a beat that is somewhere
between "Sho Nuff Boggie and Sexy Mama" by
the moments and you've got the groove.
What I can't duplicate for you here are all of the
assorted whispers, , groans, etc of Sylvia as she
does the
song.
(uhhhhhhhMMMMMMMMMMMMMM)
Hey there SWEET STUFF, tryin to get next to
my imagination?
CUM HEAH SWEET STUFF
Got a minute or two for conversation?
I'm not tryin to be fresh, please understand
where I'm
CUMING from
But I like what i see and I hope you like me
Mother nature will do the rest
Hey there SWEET STUFF
Meeting you this way was strange it ya see
CUM HEAH SWEET STUFF
Think ya got a minute or two for me?
I've got a crib with a waterbed and a bottle of
wine on ice
So what do you say we go over to my pad
Betcha we could really get nice
SWEET STUFF, I've been watching you for a
very long time
And there's one thing I'd like to say
With the recipe I use how could I lose?
So what do you say we go over to my place
Betcha we could really get nice
Hey there SWEET STUFF
Your the FOINEST thing I've ever seen
CUM HEAH Sweet Stuff
You make me wiggle in my sleep each time I
dream
I've got a freezer full of food that will soothe your
appetite
If it gets a little cool I've got my OWN KIND OF
BLANKET
14
That will keep you really warm at night
SWEET STUFF: Your getting into my
imagination
CUM HEAH Sweet Stuff: Got a minute or two for
conversation?
SWEET STUFF
(now about 45 seconds of that SLO FUNKY
SMOKING GROOVE OF
"SEXY MAMA" interrupted only by assorted
MOANS, WHISPERS AND
GRUNTS OF SYLVIA)
Ahhhhhhh, Ummmmmmmmm, (finger popping),
Ahhhhhhhhh, (finger
popping)
Do it baby, yeah
(SOUNDS LIKE SHE HAD AN ORGASAM?)
That wasn't so bad after all was it,,,,SWEET
STUFF?
Ahhhhhhh, Ahhhhhhh, Ahhhhhhh, Ahhhhhhh,
Ahhhhhhh,
I'm not fresh,,,,,,I'm just friendly....ummmm
SWEET STUFF: Getting into my imagination
CUM HEAH Sweet Stuff:Got a minuite or two for
some conversation?
SWEET STUFF
Ahhhhhhh Ahhhhhhh Ahhhhhhh Ahhhhhhh
Ahhhhhhh Ahhhhhhh Ahhhhhhh
SYLVIA - "NOT ON THE OUTSIDE"
This song from the compilation PILLOW TALK:
The Sensuous Sounds Of Sylvia, is actually a
remake of a song that was a minor hit for the
Moments, but written by Sylvia Robinson!
(The parenthesis are Sylvia
whispering/moaning)
(Imagine a weird kinds 1965 "bossa nova" beat)
So you think my heart's made of stone (I know
you do)
And when your near me, there's no reaction
Well your wrong (yes you're so wrong, you know
why?)
From the tip of my toes, my love for you steadily
grows On & On (yes I does)
And each day you're not here, I'm soaking wet
with my tears
Not on the outside, but inside strong
I love you I love you my darling
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(ooooooo) Without you I can't go on
(oooo) I need you I need you so badly
(oooooo) To keep this cold heart warm
So when you smile at me (oooooo)
And I don't speak
It's not that I don't care, o lawd, but I'm soooo
weak
The song "Not On The Outside" was also
recorded by the Moments as well as the
late/great Linda Jones, who is best
remembered for the classic version of the song
"Hypnotized" that she did. If I'm not mistaken
she was also a member of Sylvia Robinson's All
Platinum record label outta Newark, NJ!
(I'll be so weak for you my darling)
Do you know why?
From the tip of my toes, my love for you steadily
grows
Not on the outside, but inside strong
I love you I love you my darling
(ooooooo) Without you I can't go on
(oooo) I need you I need you so badly
(oooooo) To keep this cold heart warm
Not very many people remember Linda Jones.
In fact...I had never heard of her until I was in Jr.
High School...and my sister came home from
college with this record (45) of Linda Jones.
She played it so much...then we sang it so
much. I have a CD by Linda Jones! I think at
that time she was already dead.
Ok………….
I know that yall thought I was thru with Sylvia
Robinson, but I'm not......I listened to this album
again yesterday and it got to me again :)
I'm telling yall....(go buy it) ........and RUN home
(and road test it) Put it on for someone that you
really love and see if the title of this thread isn't
true!
Sylvia was a badd and she also knew what she
was doing when she was at her peak during the
early to mid 70's. She also knew what she was
doing as a businesswoman. She owned her
own record company (Platnum/Stang records)
and collaborated with groups like the Moments
& Whatnots on their hit records.
Now if all of that weren't enough, from a
historical perspective, Sylvia Robinson is
actually one of the most influential personalities
in the history of Black music. I'll get to that
aspect of the GREAT Sylvia Robinson later!
I picked up this album for just $9.99 and have
already gotten more than my money's worth out
of it :)
I am sure that you would like this one, just be
sure to wait to play it the first time late at night
and crack open some wine and GRAB your
boyfriend :)
This album is a CLASSIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The album is called: Pillow Talk: The Sensous
Sounds Of Sylvia. You remember her?
The "one hit wonder"? Well this album is a
compilation of her best stuff (mostly heard only
on Black radio in the 70's). This is certainly the
SINGLE most erotic album I have heard all year.
Pick up on it for $9.99.
-- Bob Davis
::::ADV::::
Don't forget Love Is Strange, her collaboration
with one of the greatest guitarists in rock/r&b
history, Mickey Baker!
I remember hearing the song "Love Is Strange"
around my house when I was a little boy. One
listen to that song shows that Sylvia Robinson
was ALWAYS on the cutting edge of things.
No I haven't heard this CD...but that song: "Not
on the Outside"...is that the same "Not on the
Outside" that Linda Jones sang? You do
remember Linda Jones don't you?
15
Order this book online at:
http://gruffproductions.tripod.com/
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“The Last Soul Company”,
Malaco; A Thirty Year
Retrospective
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What I will do here for this review is to give you
a capsule summary of the highlights from each
CD, rather than give a detailed review of each
song (which the book does quite well)
Celebrate 30 years of music from the Malaco
Music Group by ordering the six CD box set,
"The Last Soul Company.
CD ONE
OVERALL:
This disc reminds me of what WWRL sounded
like around 1970. Before listening to this disc
the only songs here that I had ever even heard
before were the hits: King Floyd "Groove Me"
(AWWWWW SUKIE, SUKIE NOW…) and Jean
Knight "Mr. Big Stuff" (my own personal theme
song J). Despite the fact that I hadn’t heard
most of these cuts I was able to relate to most of
them easily. Many of these songs had been
either local or regional hits in the south, during
the late 60’s and early 70’s, all of them “Classic
Soul” in the truest sense.
The Malaco Records story is one that all of us
should know, the fact that most of us don’t know
it is nothing short of criminal in my opinion.
The 5 disc box set from Malaco entitled “The
Last Soul Company” is well worth picking up on
for Soul music fans. Not only does it contain a 6
CD compilation of all if the most important
recordings from the company’s 30 year history,
but it’s also accompanied by a 108 page soft
cover book which fully documents the history of
the company. The book which is written by Rob
Bowman is damn near worth the price of
admission all by itself!
As Bowman states in the book “while founded in
emulation of the great independent R&B labels
of the 1950s, 60s and 70s such as Chess,
Atlantic, Stax and T.K., Malaco has somehow
outlasted them all”.
That statement just about says it all!
16
HERE ARE MY FAVORITES FROM THIS
DISC:
Jackie Dorsey "Sweetheart Baby", Betty &
Charles "You Can't Find Love", Stefan Anderson
"I Feel Better Now", The Unemployed "Funky
Thing" (this song sounds like it could have been
recorded by Edwin Birdsong or Funkadelic, also
reminds me of what some folks call “acid jazz”,
as depicted on the album “Original Raw Soul),
King Floyd "What Our Love Needs" (GREAT
LINE: “What our love needs is more KISSIN and
less HITTIN…”), King Floyd "Baby Let Me Kiss
You", Mighty Sam "Mr. & Mrs. Untrue" (great
“cheating song”), Golden Nuggets "Gospel
Train", King Floyd "Woman Don't Go Astray"
(after hearing this song I remembered it from
when I was a kid….lol), Chuck Brooks "Can't Be
In Two Places At The Same Time" (after hearing
this song I had to do a double take because this
brotha sounds EXACTLY like Tyrone Davis!),
Richard Caiton "Superman" (GREAT LINE:
“men it’s hard to satisfy 2 or 3, you betta stick to
ONE..”).
Side Note: I have new respect for King Floyd
after listening to this disc, surely he must be one
of the most underrated Soul artists of all time!!!!
DISC ONE TRACK LISTING:
1.Haran Griffin "Looking For My Pig"
2.Cozy Corley "Warm Loving Man"
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3.Eddie Houst "I Can't Go Wrong"
4.Jackie Dorsey "Sweetheart Baby"
5.Betty & Charles "You Can't Find Love"
6.Fred McDowell "Red Cross Store"
7.Paul Davis "Mississippi River"
8.Stefan Anderson "I Feel Better Now"
9.George Soule "Talking 'Bout Love"
10.The Unemployed "Funky Thing"
11.King Floyd "Groove Me"
12.King Floyd "What Our Love Needs"
13.Bonnie & Sheila "I Miss You"
14.Joe Wilson "When a Man Cries"
15.King Floyd "Baby Let Me Kiss You"
16.Jean Knight "Mr. Big Stuff"
17.C.P. Love "I Found All These Things"
18.Mighty Sam "Mr. & Mrs. Untrue"
19.The Barons "Gypsy Read Your Cards For
Me"
20.Golden Nuggets "Gospel Train"
21.King Floyd "Woman Don't Go Astray"
22.Chuck Brooks "Can't Be In Two Places At
The Same Time"
23.Richard Caiton "Superman"
24.Carson Whitsett "Dog In The Night"
25.Dorothy Moore "Don't Let Go"
DISC TWO TRACK LISTING:
OVERALL:
Before listening to this disc, the ONLY two
songs here that I had ever heard of were
Dorothy Moore "Misty Blue" and Anita Ward
"Ring My Bell" (GREAT, GREAT dance
track….one of the all time best!!)
HERE ARE MY FAVORITES FROM THIS
DISC:
Dorothy Moore, Eddie Floyd "We Should Really
Be In Love" (reminds me of an Ashford and
Simpson duet), McKinley Mitchell "Trouble
Blues" (it’s a slow blues and this song is
BADD!), Joe Shamwell "I Wanna Be Your C.B.
(funky stuff, kinda sounds a little like Bootsy and
sounds a little like Johnny Guitar Watson),
Dorothy Moore "With Pen In Hand" (DEEP JAM
for those contemplating divorce), Noland Struck
"Fallin' in Love With You" (Is it SOUL or is it
BLUES???….I dunno, when you figure out the
proper category placement, write me and let me
know, in the meantime, I’ll just groove with the
music!),
DISC TWO TRACK LISTING:
1.King Floyd, Dorothy Moore "We Can Love"
2.Dorothy Moore "Misty Blue"
3.Jackson Southernaires "Travel On"
17
4.Elliott Small "E Ni Mi Ni Mo"
5.Eddie Floyd "Somebody Touched Me"
6.Dorothy Moore "Funny How Time Slips Away"
7.Dorothy Moore, Eddie Floyd "We Should
Really Be In Love"
8.Billy Cee "Dark Skin Woman"
9.Natural High "Flying Too High"
10.McKinley Mitchell "Trouble Blues"
11.Dorothy Moore "I Believe In You"
12.Willie Cobbs "You Don't Love Me No More"
13.Joe Shamwell "I Wanna Be Your C.B.
14.Dorothy Moore "With Pen In Hand"
15.McKinley Mitchell "The End of the Rainbow"
16.Noland Struck "Fallin' in Love With You"
17.The Fiestas "I'm Gonna Hate Myself"
18.Ona Watson "Take This Job And Shove It"
19.Natural High "High Dancin'"
20.Jewell Bass "Let Your Love Rain Down On
Me"
21.Anita Ward "Ring My Bell"
CD Three
1.Freedom "Dance, Sing Along"
2.Fern Kinney "Groove Me"
3.Freedom "Get Up And Dance"
4.Fern Kinney "Together We Are Beautiful"
5.Fern Kinney, Frederick knight "Sweet Life"
6.ZZ Hill "Please Don't Make Me Do Something
Bad To You"
7.Ruby Wilson "Seeing You Again"
8.ZZ Hill "Down Home Blues"
9.ZZ Hill "Cheatin' In The Next Room"
10.Power "Groovin'"
11.Sho-Nuff "Don't Be Lonely"
12.Latimore "Bad Risk"
13.Denise LaSalle "A Lady In The Street"
14.G.C. Cameron "Let's Share"
15.ZZ Hill "Someone Else Is Steppin' In"
16.ZZ Hill "Get a Little, Give a Little"
17.Denise LaSalle, Latimore "Right Place, Right
Time"
18.ZZ Hill "Shade Tree Mechanic"
19.Denise LaSalle "Your Husband Is Cheating
On Us"
CD Four
1.Little Milton "The Blues Is Alright"
2.Johnnie Taylor "Lady, My Whole World Is You"
3.Johnnie Taylor "This Is Your Night"
4.Denise LaSalle "My Tu Tu"
5.Formula V "Part Time Lover"
6.The Rose Bros. "I Get Off On You"
7.Bobby Blue Bland "Members Only"
8.Mosley & Johnson "Rock Me"
9.Johnnie Taylor "Wall To Wall"
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10.Latimore "Sunshine Lady"
11.Little Milton "Annie Mae's Cafe"
12.Little Milton "Cheatin' Is A Risky Business"
13.Bobby Blue Bland "Get Your Money Where
You Spend Your Time"
14.Little Milton "Room 244"
15.Johnnie Taylor "Everything's Out In The
Open"
16.Latimore "All You'll Ever Need"
17.Johnnie Taylor "I Found Love"
:::ADV:::
CD Five
1.Bobby Blue Bland "You Gotta Hurt Before You
Heal"
2.Shirley Brown, Bobby Womack "Ain't Nothin'
Like The Lovin'
We Got
3.Johnnie Taylor "Still Crazy"
4.Bobby Blue Bland "Midnight Run"
5.Denise LaSalle "Wet Match"
6.Bobby Blue Bland "Take Off Your Shoes"
7.Dorothy Moore "If You Give Me Your Heart"
8.Latimore "I Need A Good Woman Bad"
9.Mike Griffin "Working Is The Curse Of The
Drinking Classes"
10.The Beat Daddys "I'll Always Love You"
11.Dorothy Moore "Stay Close To Home"
12.Bobby Blue Bland "There's A Stranger In My
House"
13.Poonanny "Poonanny Be Still"
14.Dorothy Moore, ZZ Hill "Please Don't Let Our
Good Thing End"
CD Six
1.Keri Leigh "Here's Your Mop Mr.Johnson"
2.James Peterson "Don't Let The Devil Ride"
3.Ernie Johnson "Cold This Winter"
4.Shirley Brown "You Ain't Woman Enough To
Take My Man"
5.Bobby Rush "One Monkey Don't Stop No
Show"
6.Johnnie Taylor "Good Love"
7.Artie White "Your Man Is Home Tonight"
8.Johnnie Taylor "Last Two Dollars"
9.Mel Waiters "Got My Whiskey"
10.Tonya "I Have Been Having An Affair"
11.Tyrone Davis "Let Me Please You"
12.Shirley Brown "Who Is Betty?"
13.Stan Mosley "Don't Make Me Creep"
14.Kristine "Tenderness"
15.Carl Sims "Two Lumps Of Sugar"
16.Little Milton "Big Boned Woman"
Mighty Sam
McClain
“One More Bridge To Cross”
Produced solely by the Mighty one
himself, is the culmination of a lifelong dream. This music, like the
singer, speaks passionately about life,
love, faith and the simpler things inbetween. The 13 tracks (9 originals) are
the perfect vehicle for Sam’s powerful
and heart-breakingly beautiful voice.
IN STORES NOW OR ORDER ONLINE AT
http://www.mightysam.com
--Bob Davis (CEO/Soul-Patrol.com)
18
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Bio: Al Wilson
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sensitivity and strength that mark him as an
enduring star in today’s music scene.
Al says “if you do a thing well, whether it’s soul,
blues or rock, you can reach people of different
tastes and please them all” and Al Wilson does.
Mr. “Show & Tell” himself; Al Wilson, is anything
but your typical entertainer. He is the purest,
most energetic and possibly the most talented
singer to ever rule a stage. And without a doubt
when he hits the stage he launches into the
fastest-moving hour ever seen. After nearly thirty
years his voice is still incredible intact, delivering
notes so fine, so sensual, nearly palpable, to the
point you want it to go on forever.
Want some current hits, funk-pop, a medley of
standards, or ballads, you get it all plus many of
his 22 greatest hits. And no one is left seated
when he performs his trademark Show & Tell
with abandon and working the crowd into a
frenzy befitting any finale.
“Al Wilson is a knock-out...!”
“Al has the audience in the palm of his hand,
captivated...!”
“A man who knows the way to wrap himself
around a vocal...!”
These are just a few of the rave reviews about
the versatile artist Al Wilson. Music is his life, a
self portrait, revealing the many facets of the
man -- from grade-school plays, talent contests,
and art shows in Mississippi-- to the U.S. Navy -to singing and playing drums with vocal and
instrumental groups in California.
The “big break” was his hit recordings of “The
Snake” and “Do What You Gotta Do” for Johnny
Rivers’ Soul City Records. Al’s recording of
“Show and Tell,” which sold over two million
copies, was Cashbox Magazine’s #1 Single of
The Year!
Now in his new album scheduled for January
2001 titled “Spice of Life” we are treated to a
taste of his classic recordings spiced up with his
talent as both a writer and singer. Truly a work
that offers up the heart, soul and reflection of the
new millennium.
Al’s style is a blend of earthiness and
sophistication. His wide range of pop & jazz,
gospel, rock, blues and funk shows the
19
From his home in San Bernardino, Calif. to The
Greek Theater in Los Angeles, Bally’s Las
Vegas, Flamingo Hilton, Disney World, Atlanta,
Concord Hotels Curacau, Atlantic City with every
venue between the Atlantic and Pacific and onto
covering the length and breath of South Africa
everyone feels the beat and remembers the
experience of an Al Wilson show. Al Wilson, is
unlike some performers who feel more secure
with a “wall” between them and the audience, he
may find himself engaged in a little playful
banter with audience or maybe a heartfelt
serenade. Besides peeling the paint off the walls
with his powerful voice he works to entertain the
audiences making them feel like they are part of
the show.
Clearly this is a man who looks forward to the
show every time he steps out on a stage and the
audience knows it and appreciates it.
In 1999 when California made Juneteenth a
state holiday, Al who’s birthday just happens to
be June 19th was honored by the California
State Assembly in the First Class of Freedom
Fighters for Musical Arts along Joe Vincent and
Mr. Rickey Ivie, Esq.; for their efforts in restoring
the musical heritage to it’s rightful owners.
-- Joe Vincent
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Doo Wop Favorites
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The Three Degrees
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The Players, Collegians, and Cruisers songs
escape me at the moment. Maybe I heard some
of their other stuff. The rest, now that's a
different story.
"Ain't No Big Thing" - I'm a big fan of the
Radiants. Been looking for a compilation of their
stuff for YEARS, but I think I'm out of luck. Back
in the '60's, a dj in Columbia, SC used to use
"Heartbreak Society" for the theme for one of his
programs. The only thing I can find is "Voice
Your Choice" on various compilations.
"Jody's Got Your Girl And Gone" - Another JT
masterpiece. We used to change the words and
sing it when I was pledging a fraternity. Hell, we
sang it as a cadence when I was in the military!
"Soldier Boy" - I thought I was the only person
alive who remembered this one :-) Mention
"Solier Boy" and the first thing you hear is
"Yeah, the Shirelles." I have this on a Jerry
Butler & the Impressions compilation with
"Rainbow Valley", one of my all-time favorites,
"Come Home", and "The Gift Of Love,"
(AWESOME GRIND-'EM-UP!!!), and a few other
sides that don't get airplay
anymore.
"The Wind" - What can you say? I heard ABOUT
"The Wind" long before I ever heard the song.
Every friend, relative, and acquaintance who
came South from New York and Jersey used
this song as a barometer to see how "cool" we
were. If you didn't know "The Wind", you weren't
worth talking to.
"Time Makes You Change Your Mind" Everything the Dells did found it's way to a
basement, backyard, or bedroom in my
neighborhood. Usually this got to be followed by
"Here I Stand." I didn't realize until much later
they were both written by Wade Flemons.
"Uncle Sam" - I lost this song years ago.
Imagine my surprise when I found it on the
Motown box set.
Female soul group formed in the early 60s in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, including founding
member Fayette Pinkney.
Scored many hits on the Philadelphia International
labrl in early and mid 70s such as "Dirty Ol Man"
(1973) and "When Will I See You Again" (1974).
The latter was UKs best selling single in 1974.
They sang also on the Soul Train theme song
"T.S.O.P (The Sound Of Philadelphia)" (1974) by
M.F.S.B. (= Mothers, Fathers, Sisters And
Brothers).
I love the three degrees. I just barely got into
them. I bought the latest BEST OF... CD and I am
in search of more THREE DEGREES music. They
rank as one of the best female groups, in my
opinion. Favorite song, "I Didn't Know" and "When
Will I See You..." a close second.
I love the Three Degrees! (Note to Ernesto...if you
can locate the Japanese import series THE BEST
IN THE FIRST DEGREE [greatest hits], THE
BEST IN THE SECOND DEGREE [greatest
ballads] and THE BEST IN THE THIRD DEGREE
[rare & live tracks], you'll be doing yourself a big
favor!) I have most of their career documented on
CD, from their 1965 Swan label hits to their early
1970's stuff on Roulette, their prime mid-70's Philly
Int'l years, and, via an imported CD, the best of
their late 70's disco years (on Ariola) and their
mid-1980's UK comeback with Stock-AitkenWaterman. >> Incidentally, the Three Degrees and
Sheila Ferguson are both
touring and recording, as separate entities; Sheila
remade "When Will I See You Again" as an Italo
disco number about three years ago, while the
Valerie Holiday-fronted Degrees remade "Dirty Ol'
Man" about two years ago.
Have one album by " Three Degrees " and is
looking for another. I am a record collector, so not
into these CD's but would purchase one if I knew
where to find it. My favorite cut by this group is the
remake of the Intruders' hit... " Together "
Harmony Personified.
--Fred
--Marc Adams
20
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F UNK
::::ADV::::
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Patrice Rushen
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“The Vibe is Feel Good and the Grooves are all
the way Live, as in Live bass, guitars, drums,
percussion & keyboards…”
A. Scott Galloway – Urban Network Magazine
(Notes From the Champagne & Cashew Nut
Gallery)
The Debut CD
Now Available Via The Internet
WHEW! Just got back from "celebrating her
birthday!" (I never told her the truth about the
roses, though-LOL!!! Maybe next year!) Okay,
"back to life, back to reality." My favorite Patrice
songs are, to say the least, numerous; so I'll limit
them as much as possible.
Produced by
Andra Hines
Executive Producers:
Rio Vergini and Andra Hines
For Booking and Info Contact:
InterSoul Music
PH: 818 832-8705 FX: 818 832-5136
http://www.riosoul.com
http://www.intersoulmusic.com
•
•
•
•
•
21
From the album "Patrice" (1978): "When
I Found You," "Wishful Thinking," "Hang
It Up," "Cha-Cha," and "Didn't You
Know?"
From the album "Pizzazz" (1979):
"Keepin' Faith In Love," "Settle For My
Love," "Haven't You Heard," and "Givin'
It Up Is Givin' It Up."
From the album "Posh" (1980): "Never
Gonna Give You Up," "Don't Blame Me,"
"Look Up," and "I Need Your Love"
From the album "Straight From The
Heart" (1982): "Forget Me Nots,"
"Number One," "Remind Me," and "(She
Will) Take You Down to Love."
From the album "Now" (1984): "Feel So
Real (Won't Let Go)," "Gotta Find It,"
"Get Off (You Fascinate Me)," "My
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•
•
•
Love's Not Going Anywhere," and "High
In Me."
From the album "Watch Out!" (1987):
"Watch Out," "Anything Can Happen,"
"Burnin'," "Till She's Out of Your Mind,"
and "Come Back To Me."
From the album "Anything But Ordinary"
(1994): "I Do," "Tell Me," "My Heart,
Your Heart," and "Top of the Line."
From the album "Signature" (1997):
"Almost Home," "Sweetest Taboo,"
"Softly," and "Wise Ol' Souls."
*-Special note about "Givin' It Up..." I remember
her doing this (and "Haven't You Heard") song
on "The Mike Douglas Show" in 1979. THIS IS
REALLY WHERE I FELL IN LOVE WITH HER;
because, as "disco" was the rage back then, a
lot of Black female singers were "cast" as
"sexual objects" (e.g., Donna Summer). Much to
my chagrin, when they appeared on TV shows
like this, the white hosts would try and come off
that way with "suggestive" dialogue. Well, Mike
tried to come off this way with Patrice (I could
have killed the SOB right there) while she was
setting up "Givin' It Up...," filling some bottles
that she had on a set up with water, as to get the
right pitch for the song. As Douglas was going
on with his BS, Patrice COMPLETELY
IGNORED HIM and calmly explained that what
she was doing with the bottles as an instrument
had its roots in Africa, and went on to give a
lesson in ethnomusicology about the use of
the bottles. Needless to say, Douglas realized
that a) she was dealing on a MUCH HIGHER
level, and cut the BS talk; and b) there were
some Black people who "didn't play that."
::::ADV::::
SISTA FACTORY is dedicated to producing
shows that showcase talent and provides a
warm spiritual vibe. So many great artists
have graced our stage and we are truly
grateful.
A Few of Our Artists:
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
Kelli Sae
Felicia Collins
Julie Dexter
Sandra St. Victor
Abby Dobson
Ledisi
Karen Bernòd
Liza Jessie Peterson
Join us as we continue our journey as
advocates of the performing artist and their
music.
http://www.sistafactory.com/
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Does Dance = Disco
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Is this a true statement ?
Or is there a difference between the two ?
If so what is it ?
And how would you define that difference in
terms of artists, styles, timeframes, etc.
"Inquiring minds want to know" !!!
My baby had beauty, talent, and intelligence; all
three will get me every time!
You'll notice that none of her early jazz albums
from Prestige are on my list. I was always aware
of her as a player (one album that stands out in
my memory that she was on was "Aurora" by
Jean-Luc Ponty), and of course her looks!!! But,
for some reason, I was never really moved to
buy any of the Prestige stuff. I think what
happened was that my "love affair" with jazzfusion was sort of short-lived, and I really got
into the acoustic/mainstream sound (Trane,
Mingus, earlier Miles).
- Charles Duke
22
Disco is Dance, but not all Dance is Disco.
The way *I* see it (to all who disagree, please
feel free to post your point of view on this), Disco
is a specific category of Dance Music. In the
70's and early 80's, the only music available for
dancing was Disco. At that time, the term
"disco" became all-encompassing: anything with
a beat was categorized as Disco. As we
entered 1983 (roughly) Disco went underground,
primarily in gay clubs where it
slowly
transformed itself into Hi-NRG. In 1984, thanks
to Michael Jackson, the world discovered once
again that
dancing was fun. As this new
form of "dancing" music exploded into mass
consumption, Hi-NRG slowly made its way out
of the gay clubs and into straight clubs; in large
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urban areas, it even made it to radio. The term
"disco" still had a negative connotation, so the
term "Dance Music" was
adopted. This
easily represented all facets of dance music at
the time: pop-dance (Madonna, Whitney), funk
(Prince and his stable of proteges, Cameo), soul
(Shirley Murdock, Gwen Guthrie), Hi-NRG
(Miquel Brown, Dead Or Alive). As time
progressed, we'd soon add the following under
the "Dance Music" umbrella: House, Italo, HiHouse, Acid House, Acid Jazz, Hyperbeat, New
Beat, Techno, Euro, Hip-Hop, Trip Hop, Jungle,
Rave, etc....
Whew! A bit long-winded, but I hope it helps. :-)
.......whew , that was a VERY comprehensive
answer (although Im not quite certain I would
agree with all of your points !!!!). In my mind
(based on the feeble recollections of an old man
<g>) Disco emerged from a marketing decision
made in the upper echelons of the entertainment
industry (radio, TV,
record companies, film, etc) to take the hard
core & socially responsible grooves associated
with the FUNK music, that was coming from the
inner cities, and soften it for mass consumption
(just the beats with the social responsibility
removed !!!).
This occurred around 1975 or so when groups
such as KC & the Sunshine band , began to
appear. It continued later with the appearance
of that stupid movie (Saturday Night Fever ) &
TV shows such as Dance Fever. It was this
bastardization of Funk in to Disco which let to
the outright rejection of disco by the people who
created Funk. This rejection ultimately
manifested itself in the form of Hip Hop, where
NY street Disc Jockeys took NASTY FUNK
beats & began to rhyme over them.
Of course there is more to the story than just
this..maybe we can get some other folks to help
fill in the gaps ???
Yes, "disco" itself is a softened version of
socially-relevant soul and funk. I don't recall
anything about a "backlash" from the soul and
funk ranks. I think many saw it as an
opportunity to attach their sound to the disco
bandwagon and sell more records. The only
rebellion I remember was from the rock crowd
who engineered the entire "disco sucks"
movement. Although I disagree with their
premise, I can see how they thought: the "disco-
23
ization" of just about every type of music had
gotten ridiculous...heck, even Ethel Merman had
a disco album! And I believe that many of the
"ooh, ooh, boogie, yeah" type of songs didn't
help either.
One curious thing: there's talk that disco is
back, and certainly many comps have been
issued with all the standard disco hits. But
that's the problem. It isn't that disco itself is
back, it's more that "dance-pop" from the late
70's has become popular. I dare record
companies to compile the REAL heavy -duty
disco that got very little airplay. It probably
wouldn't sell. Unfortunately.
The backlash that I speak of from the soul &
funk ranks towards the disco music of the mid to
late 70s was Hip Hop itself !!!
& during the late 80s hip hop had even evolved
to the point where it became politically &
culturally aware through groups like BDP &
Public Enemy, while at the same time keeping
true to the FUNK, by using James Brown
backing tracks.
Now I personally think that Disco was great in
many respects (it certainly kept me off the
streets <g>). However, due to the marketing
interests of the record companies at the time,
Disco was promoted at the expense of FUNK.
This was done to appeal to the widest possible
demographic.
I cant blame the record companies for doing
that. After all they are in business to make
money !!!
However I do blame the record buying public, for
allowing themselves to be hoodwinked.
On another point that you mention, the REAL
heavy duty disco that you mentioned has never
really gone away. In clubs all over America the
house is STILL being ROCKED by tunes such
as MFSBs Love Is The Message & Bricks Dazz.
Unfortunately, "Love Is The Message" and
"Dazz" have both appeared on comps and I
would consider them mainstream (they've had
radio play). By heavy -duty Disco, I suppose I
mean all the Casablanca and Prelude Records
tracks that were big in clubs but never received
airplay (for example, "What Did Love Ever Do
For You?" by Joey Travolta or "C'Mon Stop" by
Black Gold).
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I'm not sure if I'd consider Hip-Hop to be a
"countermusic" to Disco. The way I see it,
please correct me if I'm wrong,it seemed to be
just a natural evolution of early Rap. As with all
styles of music, some folks become tired of all
the pretty "let's just dance our troubles away"
lyrics and concentrate on more socially-relevant
themes.
Plus, I recall Hip-Hop emerging at a time during
which there was much confusion amongst
musical styles and the music industry didn't
know which way to turn: Disco had just
"died"
commercially, Punk was trying to emerge but
was a very limited novelty, New Wave was
slowly coming out as
Disco's replacement and
managed to appeal to the gay and white
teenage crowds but failed to ignite with most
non-white ethnic groups, Rock artists were trying
out "New Wave-ish" looks with very limited
success, Heavy Metal was losing steam, Disco
artists were scrambling to appeal to the
Soul/R&B crowd, and Rap was still "too black" to
generate mass appeal as it does today. Add to
that the fact that record sales were way down,
thereby initiating the development of the
"cassingle", the "EP", the poster sleeve for 45's,
etc.
I think Hip-Hop was another good marketing
stroke of genius to appeal to the teens who
wanted additional "shocking" material with
which to rebel. Obviously, this worked quite
well! :-)
Like all music, Hip Hop had to begin
somewhere. However, I think that the whole
way of marketing the sound, the look, etc., was
quite a feat of engineering.
I really can't vouch for Hip Hop being the innercity backlash against Disco. I don't THINK it
was, but I don't have all the facts since I'm not a
Hip Hop fan. I do agree that Disco had become
"quite white" by 1980, with the majority of black
producers moving towards R&B/Soul. As far as
"Rapper's Delight" is concerned, I'm afraid it was
only popular due to its use of the bassline from
Chic's "Good Times". Looking back, yes, it was
different (the whole "talking over the music"
concept), but it probably wouldn't have been
as big had it been a completely original musical
composition. Plus, the fact that there was a
naughty" word (remember, this *was* 1980!)
certainly didn't keep the kids away. :-)
Thinking it over, disco isn't back at all. When
new songs in the genre of disco are made &
released AND are
successful, then disco
will be back.
I always thought that "Rappers Delight" was
popular because it was funny !!!
"Hotel.....Motel.......Holiday Inn"
:)
hmmmmmm.....................................
This thread is going to be quite interesting.
I suppose you're right. Similar to music from the
50's. Many people like it, it may even be "trendy"
to listen to itevery so often because of a new
book or movie, but it's not really "back".
1. Hip Hop was not anybodys marketing stroke
of genius, it was created by urban youth in
places like the Bronx, Queens & Brooklyn in
basements and parks (circa 1978-1979).
I have to confess that the song hit the airwaves
when I was in high school and that I KNEW
EVERY SINGLE WORD to it (and,yes, the full
15-minute version....).
2. Hip Hop was in fact the inner city backlash
against Disco, which by this point in time had
become white & slick.
Youth is really wasted on the young......<bg>
3. Rap/Hip Hop had mass appeal right from the
start (witness the pop sucess of Rappers
Delight)
You are not alone......"Rappers Delight" was so
"infectious"
that I think damm near everyone knew the words
!!!
--Bob Davis/John Book
4. I do agree with your point that Hip Hop is
sorta an extention of disco. In Hip Hop the
producer is king just as in disco with the key
difference being that in Hip Hop the producer
needs neither a singer or a band to produce.
24
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:::ADV:::
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Hollywood Funk
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Funk has often been the driving force in the
soundtrack of Hollywood movies. Two that
immediately come to mind are Shaft & Superfly,
where the entire soundtracks of both movies
were complete masterworks (FUNK-de Force if
you will !!!) by an individual FUNK artist (Hayes
& Mayfield respectively). But there have been
many more, can you think of any ?
An obvious one that you overlooked was “Car
Wash”, that’s where I first heard Rose Royce.
The soundtrack was an
integral part of the
movie, as the music being played on the radio.
I remember that The Pointer Sisters had a
cameo with Richard Pryor as “Daddy Rich”. It’s
one of my favorite movies from that time.
Yeah how could I have forgotten Car Wash, that
certainly did have a funky soundtrack. The title
cut was a big hit as I recall. Richard Pryor was
at his peak then, although he had a fairly small
role.
Another one was “That’s The Way Of The
World” by Earth, Wind & Fire. The album was a
huge success for EWF even though the movie
was a flop (many people I know were unaware
that it was a soundtrack). I never got to see
the movie, which was pulled after a few weeks.
I’ve tried to track it down on video with no
success. I wonder if anyone got to see the
movie. If you did, tell us what you think.
Good one, I did happen to see “That’s The Way
Of The World” the movie and it was just
terrible!!!
But the album was GREAT, which cuts did you
like the best on "That's The Way Of The World"?
My favorites were "That's The Way Of The
World" and "Shining Star". What were yours?
Shining Star was a GREAT record, .very positive
message in there for me.
BTW......have you seen the movie “Dead
Presidents”, I
haven’t but I understand that
the soundtrack was supposed to be pretty damm
funky.
http://www.averagewhiteband.com/
I agree!! I love the song that the Pointer Sisters
sing. They were some funky divas.
25
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Curious...what was THAT'S THE WAY OF THE
WORLD about....
P.S. Yes, the DEAD PRESIDENTS soundtrack
is funky. It's got one of my favorite songs of all
time on it... IF YOU WANT ME TO STAY, by Sly
and the Family Stone, who was one of the
funkiest bands of all time!!!
The “Dead Presidents” soundtrack was so
successful that they released Volume 2. It
contains “I Got The Feeling”, “Keep On
Pushing”, “Smiling Faces Sometimes”, “Right On
For
Darkness”, “Just My Imagination”,
“Cowboys To Girls”, “Never Gonna Give You
Up”, “I Was Made To Love Her”, “I Want To Go
Back”, “When Something Is Wrong With My
Baby”, “We People Darker Than Blue”, and
“Ain’t That A Groove”.
::::ADV::::
The Motown house band, The Funk Brothers,
reunite to tell the stories of the greatest
Motown hits and perform live versions of their
classics with today's singers.
Winner of 2 Grammy Awards!!
That’s The Way Of The World was a grade Z
sorta gangsta flick revolving around a nightclub
(as I recall). EWF does make an appearance in
the movie.
(Memory is fading)
I guess Ill have to check out Dead Presidents
Nice collection of JAMZ...........looks like
somebody
involved with picking that
soundtrack was a Curtis Mayfield fan.
I still think he doesn't get enough credit for the
Superfly soundtrack, that was a MONSTER
FUNK album !!!
(I'm reaching for my wide brimmed hat right
now!!!)
I’d have to agree with you about “Superfly”.
“Freddie’s Dead” was the jam! It was FUNKY
!!! Curtis Mayfield
belongs in the Funk Hall
of Fame (maybe we should start
one)!
Getting back to terrible movies, did you see
“Superfly TNT”?
Yeah I saw "Superfly TNT"..........it was a BOMB
!!! ...:)
What about “Trouble Man” by Marvin Gaye?
That one great soundtrack! “Trouble Man” is
one of my favorites by Marvin, the horn
arrangement was what I liked best about it.
What do you think?
Standing in the Shadows of Motown
In Stores Now!
The Funk Brothers receive Grammys for:
Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For A
Motion Picture, TV or Other Visual Media
Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance:
Chaka Khan & the Funk Brothers –
“What’s Going On”
www.hip-o.com/shadows
--Bob Davis (CEO/Soul-Patrol.com)
26
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ROCK N' ROLL
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FUNKADELIC Live:
Meadowbrook, Rochester,
Michigan
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I am 25 years old, and I have been a P-Funk fan
for 20 years. My first introduction was
"MOTHERSHIP CONNECTION".
All I knew at the time was Parliament. I went to
a Woolworth in Ala Moana Center in Honolulu
(where I loved) and in 1978, saw a record by
Funkadelic.
Bought that too. Ever since then, I was hooked.
My only drawback is that I have yet to attend a
George Clinton, or even a Bootsy concert. I love
the R&B vibe of Parliament, but I have always
been into the early, wacked out sounds of
Funkadelic.
When I heard Westbound was coming out with a
live album of a concert recorded in 1971, I
almost freaked. Can a real Funadelic concert
from '71 actually exist? The answer is yes. If
you are a P-Funk fan and have yet to hear this
masterpiece, pick it up.
"LIVE" proves that George Clinton could do no
wrong. It also proves how great of a guitarist
Eddie Hazel really was. The CD opens up with
"Alice In My Fantasies", and it almost seems like
Hazel was in his own world (probably was). As
soon as they get into "Maggot Brain", it's a
different thing altogether. Most of us have been
listening to the live "Maggot Brain" from "ONE
27
NATION UNDER A GROOVE", but this totally
wastes that version away.
This show was recorded after the departure of
Tiki Fulwood and Tawl Ross. The band you
hear on this album was done with two new
musicians (Harold Beane and Tyrone Lampkin)
who had absolutely no rehearsal at all. This is
almost similar to how Bootsy and brother Catfish
joined James Brown's band. So what you hear
is spontaneous funk.
The vocals from Clinton, Fuzzy Haskins, Calvin
Simon, and Ray Davis sound raw and sweaty,
yet still from the church.
Everything that you've ever heard about
Funkadelic's glory days is represented well on
this album. For all it's worth, Funkadelic could
have easily been a black Pink Floyd (and
fortunately, the pig would have represented the
same thing for both bands) with Bernie Worrell
getting into his classical influences not unlike
Richard Wright.
But at this point, I'm just blabbing on and on.
This is an excellent CD with great, informative
liner notes. To think at the time, Funkadelic
didn't even know this show was being recorded.
To think that Westbound Records owner Armen
Boladian didn't want to release this at all. To
think that the owner of these master tapes knew
about its existence, but didn't say anything for 25
years.
"LIVE" is an album of biblical proportions in the
eyes and ears of P-Funk fans.
This is an import, so it may be pricey once you
find a copy. But... if you have the money, get it.
The JB's once sang "givin' up food for funk".
Having no food for a day is worth the funk this
album supplies. I mean c'mon, how can you
resist a 15 minute version of "All Your Goodies
Are Gone" by FUNKADELIC?
--John Book
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Mr. Rock n’ Roll: On Elvis
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Topic: Elvis Presley: Commentary
You all know how I feel about Elvis Presley...
he is not MY King of Rock & Roll, and I really
doubt that he is EVERY American's King of
same.
I've always said this, right? Right!
However, a great big ol' LIGHT BULB came on
over my head during the Holidays...specifically,
when I was HIT over the head with TV Guide's
declaration that Elvis is THEIR 'Entertainer of
the Century'...
I didn't go ballistic or anything, and I posted a
couple of topics on same, BUT...I keep
forgetting something:
I was reading a BIO on Link Wray, the 'Rumble'
guy (of all people), who hails from North
Carolina, in my cdnow.com website, where it
was mentioned that:
"Back in the 50's, it was a different ballgame
altogether.
Rock & Roll hadn't become a national event yet,
and if you were young and white and wanted to
be in the music business, you had two avenues
for possible career moves.
You could be a pop-mush crooner like Perry
Como or a hillbilly singer like the late Hank
Williams, and that was about it.
With Country music all around (Link) as a youth
28
in North Carolina, the choice was obvious...
...by 1958, the music had changed..."
The Bio goes on to say that Link Wray
eventually entered the field of Rock & Roll.
But...WHAT is it that changed music for young
whites?
I have to believe that it was Elvis Presley! Until
Elvis broke into the Rock & Roll scene, the white
youth of America (especially in the South) were
afraid to 'come out of the closet', so to speak,
due to the racial lines drawn by THEIR parents,
and other 'authority figures'!
This brought about the inception of 'Rock-a-billy',
or early, WHITE Rock & Roll!
So, my thought is that since America is mostly a
WHITE society, White America eventually
dubbed one of THEIR own, Elvis Presley, as
King of THEIR idea of Rock & Roll...
The above is MY commentary, based on MY
thoughts, and is hereby given over to you as
food for thought.
To be honest with you, I have a new and
different way of looking at Elvis now, too.
He made it possible for alot more of America's
youth to get involved in Rock & Roll.
In fact, in some areas of the country, if he had
never existed, the only type of music 'little white
boys & girls' MIGHT be aspiring to is Country
and/or Pop!
I'm saying this with tongue firmly planted in
cheek, by the way...
As far as Elvis being musically talented, well...
I believe that the Everly Brothers had a much
better 'Rock-a-billy' sound...plus they could not
only sing & harmonize, they could both play
guitar well, AND wrote their own songs!
Its becoming more and more obvious to me that
history had to happen just the way it happened.
All we can do is make attempts at changing the
future, and enjoy the present the best we can!
I caught some of Elvis' Hawaii Concert which
was on either VH-1 or MTV or something
yesterday, and...
Well, I've seen some Elvis impersonators who
do a BETTER Elvis than Elvis did on this
particular show!
I'm not sure I'd want one of his 'sweaty
scarves'...which he keeps giving to some poor,
swooning, young gal up front!
He kept walking back to his 'scarf roadie' for new
ones...
Did the Beatles have 'scarf roadies'?
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Elvis indeed has had a major impact on
American Rock & Roll, and you have every right
to appreciate him...but, he did so much for
HIMSELF...
He just represents the side of Rock & Roll
which, I believe, took so much away from the
original, black Rock & Roll artists of this
country...and, TOO FEW people either
recognize that, or acknowledge that, if they DO.
Chuck Berry is but ONE example of a black
artist having to constantly go to court to regain
much of what was taken from him. The black
artists may have PREFERRED to go on as they
had been, if only to keep what was THEIRS in
the first place!
America would love to believe that its Rock &
Roll roots were as its people were:
a MELTING POT.
Eventually, they were, but NOT initially. Even
Buddy Holly had problems getting his act going
on radio (in Texas) because his music was
starting to sound too much like 'negro'
music...or, as it was known across the nation
then: 'race' music.
You see, 'race' music was already there, even
before Holly.
The term 'Rock & Roll' actually originated with
Southern black people...which was their
nickname for the rhythm & blues of their culture.
There is a website on 'Alan Freed' where this
comes out.
Hank Williams was indeed an originator, and
was greatly influential in the C & W field...AND,
had the lines NOT been drawn racially back
then, AND, if the 'good ol' boys' would've been
LESS protective of THEIR territories back then,
then perhaps it could be said that there was a
'white influence' to the ORIGINAL Rock & Roll.
In fact, there was more of a BACKLASH!
What Elvis did was kick the racial doors down,
and enabled so many white artists to come forth
(Everlys, Carl Perkins, etc)...which LATER
influenced folk, Beatles, etc.
There is a definite time and progress here, and
the distortions did NOT come from the
originators, but from those who would choose
NOT to allow for truth.
I believe that what Elvis' rock-a-billy did was to
influence American Folk Music as well, and
brought about eventual styles such as
hootenanny and country-folk, and artists like The
Kingston Trio, Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul & Mary,
The Limeliters, John Denver, et al...
Indeed, America eventually came around to
becoming more of a melting pot in music, but
again, it was NOT that way initially.
29
My greatest concern is that America continues
believing that Elvis was the CREATOR of Rock
& Roll, when he wasn't!
--Mr Rock n’ Roll
::::ADV::::
http://www.blackrockcoalition.org/
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Chubby Checker For the
Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame?
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Courtesy of Chubby Checker's website at:
http://www.chubbychecker.com/letter.html
This is my message to the Nobel Prize
nominators and the nominators of the Rock &
Roll Hall of Fame. Should you choose me I'll
consider it honorable. However, I have
conditions for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
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To Place the "Twist" symbol that's on Chubby
Checker's Beef Jerky, this statue on top of a
thirty foot or so pedestal in the courtyard of the
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I would like to be
alone thank you. I changed the business. I am
often call the wheel that Rock rolls on as long as
people are dancing apart to the beat of the
music they enjoy. Before "Alexander Graham
Bell" . no Telephone. Before "Thomas Edison" .
no Electric light. Before "Dr. George Washington
Carver" . no Oil from seed or cloning of plants.
Before "Henry Ford" . no V-8 Engine. Before
"Walt Disney" . no Animated cartoons. Before
Chubby Checker . no "Dancing Apart to the
Beat." What is "Dancing Apart to the Beat?"
Dancing Apart to the Beat is the dance that we
do when we dance apart to the beat of
anybody's music and before "Chubby Checker"
it could not be found!
Elvis Presley is the King of Rock & Roll, no
doubt, and we love him. However, Rock & Roll
was already here. He just became the King of it.
The Beatles, who we all love so dearly, their
likeness was done by the Beach Boys, Buddy
Holly and the Crickets. But it's evident that they
did it much, much better. Hank Ballard wrote
and recorded the "Twist". The inner city kids
made a dance to that song. The record died on
the radio. Radio stopped playing the record. The
"Twist" was dead. No one was going to hear the
record and no one was ever going to see the
dance. We re-recorded the record and
campaigned the song and the dance at DJ
record dance parties in Pennsylvania and New
Jersey. Radio stations started to play the "Twist"
by Chubby Checker. We finally made it to
American Bandstand and showed the world
what it was. Chubby Checker changed
everything. He gave movement to a music that
never had this movement before. The styles
changed. The nightclub scene is forever
changed. Chubby Checker gave birth to
aerobics.
30
He game to music a movement that could not be
found unless you were trained at some studio
learning something other than dancing apart to
the beat. It's easy. It's fun. The "Twist" the only
song, since time began, to become number one
twice by the same artist. Oh yes, we're talking
about the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. But lets
face the truth. This is Nobel Prize Territory.
The "Twist" is very recognizable when you
dance apart to the beat. But "The Pony", two on
one side and two on the other side, the dance
that I introduced in 1961 is the biggest dance of
the century. They do it to everything, in the 70's,
80's, 90's and now 2000's. And what about my
"Fly"? To explain it better, throw your hands in
the air and wave them like you just don't care. If
you "Fly" you automatically do the "Shake".
From 1959 to this moment it's either the "Twist",
the "Pony", the "Fly", the "Shake" or some other
nasty stuff in between.
Please I urge you not to look upon my
comments as self-centered, proud love thy self.
This is not what this is about. Since I have such
a unique situation in the music business, I feel
only I can explain it. If the music industry knew
or understood this reoccurring phenomenon,
that's renewed every time the beat begins, they
would have explained it through the decades.
Yes, "Dancing Apart to the Beat" is Chubby
Checker. Everybody is doing it everyday, every
month, every year, since its discovery in 1959.
Chubby Checker's given the music business
something great. Now he wants his greatness
returned.
I want my flowers while I'm alive. I can't smell
them when I'm dead. The people that come to
see the show have given me everything.
However I will not have the music business
ignorant of my position in the industry. Dick
Clark said, and I quote, "The three most
important things that ever happened in the
music industry are Elvis Presley, the Beatles
and Chubby Checker". Now I ask you. Where is
my more money and my more fame? God bless
and have mercy. You know I Love You.
Yours truly,
Chubby Checker
http://www.chubbychecker.com/letter.html
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JAZZ
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CD Review: Roy Hargrove Hardgroove
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another copy for the person you want to be your
boyfriend / girlfriend.... and if they don't like it...
well, you can move on to someone with better
taste....
Yes, this is some sweet SEXY jazz. The year's
only half done, but if this isn't my album of the
year... oh man, there must be a true jam coming
out from somewhere!!!
The grooves are... SMOKING.... the jazz is....
ON FIRE.... the songs are, MOVING and
SEXY... the sound is.... DRY, crisp and tight.....
The ensemble playing is.... PRECISE and ON
POINT... the arrangements.... two words....
ROY HARGROVE.....
It’s all about the drums... the drummer is the
most important musician at any date, seems to
me. Interesting that the ubiquitous rim-shouter
?love is not here... but the grooves are real hot,
played by Jason Thomas and Willie Jones III..
If there was ever a major, well-hyped release
that seemed predestined to disappoint this is it;
Roy Hargrove does neo-soul? The road is paved
with obstacles.
First off, from a marketing standpoint, "neo-soul"
is now out of favor with labels. I don't think any
artist who comes along with a natural hairstyle,
fender rhodes, and moderately elevated lyrics is
going to get showered with a massive advance,
as there are a glut of these types of artists and
very few have proven to be marketable.
Second off, from an artistic standpoint, the
sound seems a little stale, as well... it was so hip
when d'angelo, the roots, etc., got busy in the
early - mid -90's. But, the imitators (like me)
watered it down with much inferior product. And
while the major figures continue to put out
innovative releases and follow their own paths,
the airwaves have gotten pretty crowded with
the sound and its offshoots.
Third, given the recent history of the major jazz
labels, by the time they catch on to a musical
trend it is almost always dead and buried in the
clubs and on the street.
So, with the theoretical BS dispensed with, this
is a HOT album, in my opinion, and you should
BUY it, and then you should immediately BUY
31
I like "pastor t" (Jason Thomas) and "out of
town" (wj III).... these are particularly hot, with
great saxophone from Keith Anderson and
Steve Coleman. Some of these songs are going
straight into the real book, guaranteed....
musicians are going to love this album.... like
they love herbage’s thrust and Freddie
Hubbard’s "straight life".... finally, an American
jazz artist comes out with tracks that are tough
AND accessible, ala truffaz and other
continental and uk artists....
It gets real sweaty on track 3.... Funkadellic's "I'll
Stay" .... why not, with D'Angelo on the Wurly,
Bernard Wright on organ, Pino Palladino on
bass,
Spanky Chalmers Alford on guitar, and... oh
yeah, Roy Hargrove.... but, what about "The
Joint" with Bobby Sparks on the Arp!!! what a
GROOVE!!!! Roy shines here... his horn
arrangements are very interesting, and he is a
very good writer.
or take another example... they've got a track
(poetry) with Q Tip, Erykah
Badu, Meshell Ndegeocello, Marc Cary, and
more... man, if there was ever a track destined
to not live up to its hype, this would be it... but, it
is a REALLY REALLY good song that gets hot
after about 2:30 seconds in, and is as good as
anything Erykah Badu done recently. (special
mention to the drummer Gene Lake here... very
nice...!!)
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And speaking of good songs, another standout
is Jacques Schwarz-Bart on saxophone, flute,
and acoustic guitar... he also contributed a great
original song, Forget Regret, with vocals by
Stephanie McKay, that is a true highlight and
must have remixes around the globe salivating
with mice at the ready...
What more can I say? I really like this album and
look forward to listening to it for the next couple
of days!
Check it OUT... I’m glad I bought it...
--MG
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Artist Profile: Gerald
Veasley
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Bassist Gerald Veasley clearly remembers the
first record he ever bought with his own
money. "It was a Curtis Mayfield song called
'We're a Winner,'" says Veasley. "He had this
beautiful voice that was somewhat fragile but yet
there was power in it at the same time." The
impact of that soulful voice and powerful
message still resonates in Gerald's music today.
"What I try to do is make music that touches
people in a voice that is authentically my own."
Born in Philadelphia, Veasley started playing
bass when he was 12. His father died in the late
1970s, while Gerald was in his third year at the
University of Pennsylvania. He worked through
the emotional loss by redoubling his musical
efforts and adding classical guitar to his studies.
He immersed himself in music, from Curtis
Mayfield to Charles Mingus, Wes Montgomery,
to Jimi Hendrix and from Miles Davis to Marvin
Gaye. In music, he found solace.
32
"There were several factors which led me to
choose music as a profession," he says. "Mostly
importantly, it always moved me emotionally and
offered me a way to express things I couldn't
find words for. When my father died, I had a
hard time coming to grips with the loss, and the
music proved very therapeutic. I thought, 'if
music can have that kind of healing effect on-me
maybe "l can spend my life-creating music that
can do the same for others."
While the '70s proved to be a decade of
transition in Veasley’s personal life, he also
remembers the period as "a golden era" in the
evolution of urban music. "That was a time when
I was starting to really take music seriously, and
there were all these great sounds around," he
recalls. "Music right about that time was starting
to get very, very funky and people were taking a
lot of chances. People came along like Sly & the
Family Stone, Earth, Wind & Fire, and George
Clinton/Parliament-Funkadelic. There were all
these innovative groups who were making social
and artistic statements without losing their
soulfulness. Meanwhile, all these fusion groups
like Weather Report were experimenting with
combining these funky sounds with jazz." .
In the 1980s, Veasley had developed into a
versatile and reputable sideman and session
player. He joined Grover Washington's band in
1986 and played on six of the sax players
recordings. Two years later, he moved on to the
Zawinul Syndicate, led by fusion pioneer Joe
Zawinul, co-founder of Weather Report. He
would tour the world with his idol for the next
seven years. "That was a real education, on and
off the bandstand," states Veasley.
Among the many other credits on Veasley's
resume are studio sessions and/or tour gigs with
artists representing a range of genres, including
Special EFX, Pieces of a Dream, McCoy Tyner,
Gerald Levert, Teddy Pendergrass, Nrienna
Freelon, Philip Bailey, the Dixie Hummingbirds,
John Blake, Phil Perry and Heads Up labelmate
Joe McBride. He's also played with a few folks
who might surprise the average fan, such as
fellow Philadelphians Odean Pope, Jimmy
Bruno and Pat Martino. Whoever the
collaborative partner, Veasley has always come
away with valuable lessons.
"There's value in avant-garde music or free jazz
in and of itself," Gerald points out, "but then
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there's also value in how the experience of
playing music like that makes you think
about music. For example, there was a project I
was involved in where the music director was
none other than Ornette Coleman, and that was
a very cool experience. He would stop the band
and say, 'The reason you played that was
because you're playing fret ideas instead of
music ideas. You're playing things that come
under your fingertips instead of really trying to
free yourself to play pure musical ideas, pure
musical thought that is generated from within.'
That kind of thinking is very liberating, and it's
taught me to create music from the inside out."
The '90s were the launch pad for Veasley's solo
career. The first step on that journey came in
1992 with Look Ahead, his solo debut on the
Heads Up International label that included guest
appearances from Zawinul and Blake. He
followed up that auspicious debut with
recordings that have featured an "A" list of
contemporary jazz artists. In 1994 he recorded
Signs, which featured George Hnda and Chieli
Minucci of Special EFX and now labelmate and
Yellowjackets mainstay Russell Ferrante. Soul
Control (1997) included guest appearances by
Earth, Wind & Fire vocalist Philip Bailey, Dianne
Reeves, Rick Braun, Geroge Howard and Dave
Samuels. Eric Marienthal and Minucci appeared
on Love Letters (1999), which was also
Veasley's last album to feature Grover
Washington Jr. before his death at the end of
that same year. Washifigton naG appeared on
all of Veasley's solo albums, and Veasley paid
tribute to his friend and mentor with 'Goodnight
Moon,' a tune on his 2001 release, On the Fast
Track. "Grover was a gentle human being who I
think about every day. I feellike,a steward of his
legacy, a legacy of honest, heartfelt music. It's
better to play one note that sounds like you, than
a hundred that sound like someone else."
Veasley's new Heads Up release, Velvet, is a
richly textured recording that evokes the sound
and spirit of those formative years in the 1970s
combined with the edgy sensibilities of
contemporary urban music. Included on the
guest list are some of today' s brightest up-andcoming stars: vocalists Jaguar Wright and John
Stephens. It's quite fitting that they are featured
on the standout track, "Let's Do It Again", which
brings Gerald full circle with the pen of Curtis
Mayfield. Led by Veasley's distinctive
instrumental prowess, the album offers a unique
perspective on the burgeoning movement that is
33
now called neo-soul. Above all, Velvet is the
latest chapter in the story of a man's dedication
to authenticity and the soulful; healing power of
music.
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Artist Profile: Yellowjackets
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Music as exploration is a concept as old as jazz
itself. Some of the best compositions and most
prolific musical careers have started at point A
by artists and bands with little or no conception
of point B's whereabouts.
Such is the story of the Yellowjackets, an outfit
that began as the session band for guitarist
Robben Ford in the late '70s and took on a life of
its own in a matter of a few years. More than two
decades after its genesis, the band continues to
delve into every corner of the musical universe simply because it's thereto be explored - and
weave a multi-layered and innovative tapestry of
sonic experience.
By the mid 1970s, Ford had assembled
keyboardist Russell Ferrante, bassist Jimmy
Haslip and drummer Ricky Lawson - a team of
up and coming players who backed him on his
mostly instrumental 1977 release, The Inside
Story. Although Ford's label wanted him to follow
up with a more pop- and vocaloriented album,
the band - then known as the Robben Ford
Group - preferred the instrumental approach.
They renamed themselves the Yellowjackets,
and while Ford made appearances on their first
couple albums, the band and its former leader
parted on amicable terms after the release of
Mirage a Trois in .
-__ -_--:- _
_
"That was a very exciting time for instrumental
music," Ferrante recalls. "It seemed like a lot of
people were open to mixing and matching
various musical styles. There wasn't the strict
compartmentalization that you see in radio now."
With the success of innovative instrumental
bands like Weather Report around the same
time, crossing and merging genres had become
a successful strategy, artistically as well as
commercially. "There was no thought about
whether this style should go with that one,"
Ferrante adds. "Nothing was genre specific. It
was just the music that we had all played - R&B
music and electric music and acoustic music,
blues, pop, the whole thing was just all music.
We just did what came naturally."
By 1987, Lawson had left the band and was
replaced by William Kennedy, whose
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polyrhythmic sensibilities opened doors to an
even greater sense of exploration - and a further
departure from the familiar, Haslip recalls.
"During that time, I had been listening to a lot of
African and Afro-Cuban music," he says, "and I
started writing in a lot of 6/8 patterns and
experimenting with that kind of thing. I brought it
over to Russ, and he was really interested in it.
We started experimenting with a lot of
polyrhythmic things."
The result was Four Comers, an album with a
distinctly world music sensibility, and one of the
Yellowjackets' most commercially and artistically
successful albums to date.
Subsequent albums - Politics (1988) and The
Spin (1989) - dispensed with some of the multilayered intensity of Four Corners and took a
more acoustic direction. Greenhouse, released
in 1990, welcomed tenor saxophonist Bob
Mintzer into the Yellowjackets lineup. Mintzer's
dedication to the jazz tradition, . along with his
highly developed skills as an arranger, have
since taken the 'Jackets to a new level of
sophistication over the past twelve years.
"It was very interesting," Mintzer says of his
early days with the band. "I was challenged.
There was a way of playing and writing that had
been in place for a while. I basically tried to step
into that, acknowledge what had already been
going on and add to that in some way."
Haslip's high praise picks up where Mintzer's
modesty leaves off. "Bob is an amazing
musician," he says. "He has a very distinct
voice. He's the really serious traditionalist in the
band. He also has a very wide, eclectic view of
composing, so he lends himself to what we are
trying to do. He's very much into
experimentation, and he has his own big band,
so his skills as an arranger are also very good to
have on board."
Throughout the '90s, the 'Jackets continued to
explore a diverse cross section of sound and
rhythm. The relaxed and mellow Dreamland,
released in 1995, marked a brief reunion with
Warner Brothers that also spawned Blue Hats in
1997 and Club Nocturne in 1998.
The Yellowjackets entered the new millennium
with their self-released Mint Jam. Recorded live
at the Mint in Los Angeles in July 2001, the twodisc set was nominated for a Grammy for Best
Contemporary Jazz Album. Backing up the
regular lineup of Ferrante, Haslip and Mintzer on
Mint Jam is drummer Marcus Baylor.
.
Set for worldwide release May 27, 2003 Time
Squared their first studio release in five years
34
captures much of the energy and spontaneity
that made Mint Jam a formidable Grammy
contender.
While the Yellowjackets are optimistic about the
future, even the charter members aren't about to
limit their options by mapping that future too
carefully.
"We never know, even when we start writing,"
says Ferrante. "The music might take you in a
completely unanticipated direction. I think you
have to stay open to that We just start playing
and writing, and a thread starts to emerge, and
we'll follow that and see what happens.".
"No matter where the thread leads," says Haslip,
exploration will always be a primary objective.
"That, to me, is the key element," he says.
"That's what jazz means to me. It means
exploration. That's kind of a lost art."
soul-patrol magazine, soul-patrol magazine, soul-patrol magazine
Press Release: WATTSTAX
soul-patrol magazine, soul-patrol magazine, soul-patrol magazine
Trailer:
http://www.wattstax.com/wattstax_trailer/realhire
s.ram
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FROM: TERRI
HINTE
January 6, 2003
NEW EDITION OF “WATTSTAX” TO SCREEN
AT SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL THIS MONTH
2003 will find Stax Records—its artists and
musical legacy—very much in view. First off, the
documentary feature Wattstax will be screened
at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah
(1/16-26) as part of the festival’s prestigious
Sundance Collection.
Thirty years after its original theatrical run,
Wattstax will also be shown in limited theatrical
release in spring 2003 through Columbia
Pictures Repertory. The new edition of Wattstax
restores the film’s original ending—Isaac
Hayes’s performance of “Shaft” and “Soulsville”
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(which had to be cut prior to the 1973 theatrical
run because of a re-recording rights dispute).
Originally billed as the “black Woodstock,”
Wattstax was a seven-hour concert for the
benefit of the Watts Summer Festival, held at
the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on August
20, 1972. More than 110,000 people were in
attendance; among the artists who performed
were the Staple Sisters, the Bar-Kays, Albert
King, Rufus Thomas (leading the multitudes in
the funky chicken), and Isaac Hayes.
Black Los Angeles turns out for the the Wattstax
concert!
Wattstax the film intersperses concert footage
with candid commentary by Watts residents and,
in brilliant form, Richard Pryor (“feral in his
swiftness; you can see the routines cooking up
in his head,” wrote Elvis Mitchell in the New York
Times). It was directed by Mel Stuart, who also
produced the film with Larry Shaw (Al Bell and
David L. Wolper were executive producers;
editor was Robert K. Lambert; cinematographers
were Roderick Young, Robert Marks, Jose
Mignone, and Larry Clark).
Mel Stuart’s extensive credits as producer
and/or director include feature films (Willy
Wonka and the Chocolate Factory; If It’s
Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium; Four Days in
November) , documentary specials (The Rise
and Fall of the Third Reich, The Making of the
President, Life Goes to the Movies), and
television dramatic films (Sophia Loren, Her
Own Story; Ruby and Oswald; The Triangle
Factory Fire). His work has earned him four
Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award, and an Oscar
nomination.
The new edition of the film has a superb audio
track completely remastered from the original
concert 2-inch, 16-track masters and is being
released in 5.1 Dolby Digital sound. The
Wattstax restoration was a collaboration
between Sony Pictures Entertainment and
35
Fantasy, Inc. Work on the picture and sound
was completed at The Saul Zaentz Film Center
in Berkeley, with Tom Christopher serving as
restoration picture editor; Stephen Hart and
James Austin were re-recording mixers.
Laboratory services were provided by Monaco
Labs of San Francisco.
Synonymous with Southern soul music, Stax
Records was founded in Memphis in 1959 by
Jim Stewart and his sister, Estelle Axton, taking
its name from the two initials of their last names.
Among the many artists who scored hits on Stax
and its Volt subsidiary during the Sixties were
Rufus and Carla Thomas, Booker T. & the MGs
(an interracial instrumental quartet that also
served as the company’s rhythm section), Sam
and Dave, Johnnie Taylor, Albert King, and Otis
Redding, followed by a later wave of hitmakers
including Isaac Hayes, the Staple Sisters, and
the Dramatics. In June 1977, a year and a half
after Stax went bankrupt, the company’s
masters were purchased by Berkeley’s Fantasy,
Inc., which has kept this great body of work in
print as well as periodically releasing previously
unissued recordings by selected Stax artists.
Mavis Staples delivering a seriously FUNKY message
during the Wattstax concert!
On April 1, Fantasy plans to release a CD of
Isaac Hayes’s hour-long Wattstax performance
to coincide with the late-April opening of the
Stax Museum of American Soul Music in
Memphis. All but one of the tracks on the Hayes
disc are previously unissued. Two hours of
highlights from the soundtrack of Wattstax are
already available in a double-CD set on Stax.
Only the Strong Survive, D.A. Pennebaker’s film
on the surviving members of the Stax Record
label who continue to tour and perform,
premiered at Sundance last year. Miramax
Pictures has scheduled it for a second-quarter
theatrical release.
Fantasy anticipates a fall 2003 DVD release of
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Wattstax.
• Wattstax web site (after January 16):
http://www.wattstax.com
• Fantasy, Inc. web site:
http://www.fantasyjazz.com
• Saul Zaentz Film Center web site:
http://www.zaentz.com
• Stax Museum of American Soul Music web
site:
http://www.soulsvilleusa.com
• Monaco Lab web site:
http://www.monacosf.com
• Print rental contact:
Michael Schlesinger
Columbia Pictures Repertory
10202 W. Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
310/244-5683
[email protected]
Fact Sheet "Wattstax"
Bill Cherry, Cherrytree Productions
Columbia Pictures
12/13/72
"Wattstax" was a concert – a very special kind of
concert, given by an entire Black recording
company. For all of the summer of ’72, every
member of the Stax Organization’s staff was
involved, in one way or another, with creating a
benefit concert for the Southern California
community of Watts on the last day of the
Seventh Annual Watts Summer Festival.
Richard Pryor provides commentary through the
film.
On August 20, more than one hundred thousand
people witnessed a seven-hour show in the Los
36
Angeles Memorial Coliseum at a donation of $1
per seat. All of the money was turned over to the
community. The Stax Organization in
conjunction with the Schlitz Brewing Company
paid for all the entertainers’ expenses, the
equipment and the promotion and advertising.
The performance was a smashing success, so
was the benefit. Ticket sales benefited the Sickle
Cell Anemia Foundation, the Martin Luther King
Hospital in Watts and future Watts Summer
Festivals.
"Wattstax" has now become a feature-film
immortalizing, not only those who came to
perform, but, also, those who came to witness
the event and those who live in communities of
which Watts is symbolic.
Of the twelve four-man camera crews that
recorded the event and later shot the community
scenes, 45 members were skilled Blacks who
have been "discovered" for Hollywood. Two of
the people who share their views of life with us
from restaurants, barber shops and front
porches will soon be seen in dramatic roles in
upcoming films – they too have been
"discovered."
Another discovery has been the talents of Stax
executives Al Bell, Larry Shaw and Forest
Hamilton, who before this year had never been
involved with film-making.
"Wattstax" is a film about this very special kind
of people – the people who are seldom heard
and these individuals who have listened. We
have seen many films recently about Black
people, but none of them represented the real
people of the National Black community until
"Wattstax."
The film is based upon the music of Black
America, the stuff upon which much of the
recreation of the Black community is based. The
rhythms and the lyrics are both explicitly defined
by the method used in editing the visual aspects
of this feature film.
As a song is performed, the camera moves out
to the audience, then breaks away into the
community and visual elaboration on the theme
of the tune. And "Wattstax" also reaches the
people . . . . . they talk about the subject too.
The opening song, "Whatcha See Is Whatcha
Get," moves from the people of the community
today, through the people’s revolt of 1965, and
back to the present. The concert performances
of songs from gospel, to pop, to jazz are used as
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products of the life of the people.
Soon it becomes apparent what kind of an art
form Black music is – it is one way the people of
the Black community can express their feelings
on every aspect of their lives. It is the "Living
Word." The songs express divergent opinions on
a variety of topics; so do the people we hear
from.
The film deliberately uses only one entertainer's
point of view on these topics. Richard Pryor and
his tragically humorous comments on life,
people and situations, serve as another thread
through the exposition of the many themes. And
there are so many themes in the film. "Wattstax"
is a film about people, and how very special
these people are – but one other thing becomes
apparent as the people unfold.
The music is the message, but it is also the
method. In explaining why Stax gave the
concert, the Stax Organization’s board
chairman, Al Bell, stated, "This is one of the
ways in which Stax thanks the community for its
support." As the film unfolds, the viewer realizes
that he does not mean merely financial support.
The songs Stax artists record are forged from
the lifestyle of the community, and when they
are put through a record company, the rhythms
and the lyrics become a means of gaining
revenue, and thus power. What the Stax
Organization has done is take the pain and
frustration of the ghetto, transform it into power,
and utilize that power in turning money and
strength back in the community.
years in history, through a six-hour concert
documenting that history in music. In the
framework of a two-hour film, it demonstrates
the vitality of a people who have created a rich
culture out of the left-overs of a nation and
transformed it into power.
"Wattstax" is a film about a very special kind of
people, made by very special people, at a very
special time.
The happening took place on an August
Sunday, under a hot sun and an unusually clear
sky, in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
What seemed like the entire Black population of
Los Angeles County turned out in incredibly
uninhibited clothes to spend an equally
uninhibited afternoon with the largest number of
Black entertainers ever assembled to contribute
their talents to benefit their own people.
At a dollar a ticket, the seven-hour session of
rock-and-rap was the best deal in town. Any
town.
The event depicted in "Wattstax" began when
Reverend Jesse Jackson took the microphone
for the National Black Litany, "I Am Somebody,"
and singer Kim Weston led the vast audience in
both "The Star Spangled Banner" and the Black
National Anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing."
The Dramatics sing "What You See Is What You
Get," and other songs and their performers are:
•
•
•
•
•
Jessie Jackson and Stax owner Al Bell showing unity
at the Wattstax concert!
That power flow did not stop the day after the
concert – portions of the proceeds from the film
will also be given to a variety of non-profit
national organizations across the country.
"Wattstax" takes its audiences through 300
37
•
•
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•
•
•
•
•
"Oh La Da Da," "We The People" and
"Respect Yourself," sung by The Staple
Singers.
"Someone Greater Than You and I,"
Jimmy Jones.
"Lying on the Truth," the Rance Allen
Group.
"Peace Be Still," The Emotions.
"Old Time Religion," William Bell, Louise
McCord, Debra Manning, Eric Mercury,
Freddy Robinson, Lee Sain, Ernie Hines,
Little Sonny, Newcomers, Eddie Floyd,
Tempress, Frederick Knight.
"Son of Shaft," The Bar Kays.
"I’ll Sing the Blues for You," Albert King.
"Walking the Backstreet and Crying,"
Little Milton.
"Jody," Johnnie Taylor.
"I May Not Be What You Want," Mel &
Tim.
"Picking Up the Pieces," Carla Thomas.
"Breakdown" and "Funky Chicken,"
Rufus Thomas.
"If Lovin’ You is Wrong I Don’t Want to Be
Right," Luther Ingram.
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•
"Shaft" and "Soulsville," Isaac Hayes.
Written by Bill Cherry of Cherrytree
Productions, December 12, 1972
BIOGRAPHY - WATTSTAX" EXECUTIVE
PRODUCER AL BELL
In the 1970's, two of the largest AfricanAmerican owned businesses in America were
Motown Records and Stax Records. Al Bell is
the former owner of Stax Records.
During his years as head of Stax Records, Al
Bell introduced marketing and promotional
innovations, which changed the direction of the
nation's music industry. Stax produced gold and
platinum hits on such varied artists as Isaac
Hayes, the Staple Singers, Johnny Taylor, Sam
And Dave, Booker T and the MG's, the Bar
Kays, Otis Redding, The Emotions, Carla
Thomas, Rufus Thomas, Richard Pryor, Bill
Cosby, Billy Eckstine, Albert King, The
Dramatics and a host of others.
Stax Records worked with Melvin Van Peebles
on the release of his revolutionary film
"Sweetback" and with MGM Studios on the
release of the film "Shaft," demonstrating
marketing and promotional techniques that woke
the film industry to the potential in the black
marketplace and led to the black film
renaissance of the 1970's.
Al Bell added to the roster of box office hits with
the landmark 1973 film "Wattstax," a
documentary based on a Stax Records concert
that entertained 100,000 people, in the Los
Angeles stadium, from Los Angeles and Watts.
This was the largest musical event ever
presented to Black America.
In the 1980's, Al Bell became head of the
Motown Records Group and worked with Berry
Gordy in the sale of Motown to the MCA/Boston
Ventures Group. After Motown, he discovered
the music group Tag Team and released
"Whoomp! There It Is" which sold over
5,000,000 single units. This record was one of
the biggest selling singles in the history of the
music industry.
Al Bell was asked by "the artist" formerly known
as Prince to release a single record for him, after
his label Warner Brothers Records turned him
down. Using his unique style of marketing and
38
promotion, Al Bell released "The Most Beautiful
Girl In The World" and gave Prince his biggest
selling single ever.
In the recently published book by Rob Bowman
chronicling the history of Stax Records titled
"Soulsville USA: The Stax Records Story,"
Jesse Jackson is quoted saying that, "Stax was
not just a record company. It was a sound. It
was a piece of culture. It was a moment of
conscience and experience of mankind. At the
right time, it meant a lot to us. People still
heavily borrow upon the tradition of Stax and the
lineage laid down by the very special genius of
Al Bell."
Over the years, Al Bell has received many
honors and awards, including Executive of the
Year, Bill Gavin Radio Program Conference,
1971; National Leadership Award from the
National Business League in 1972 and 1973;
NAACP Founder’s Award, National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People, 1975;
Inductee, America’s Music and Entertainment of
Fame, 1980; Gospel Music Award of the Year,
Southeast Music Conference, 1993 and NARM
INDIE Best Seller Award ("Whoomp! There It
Is"), 1994. Last year, Al Bell received the W. C
Handy Lifetime Achievement Award and was
inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame.
BIOGRAPHY - "WATTSTAX" PRODUCER
LARRY SHAW
Larry Shaw is one of those rare communications
experts who has made an indelible mark on
multicultural advertising and marketing in
America. His creativity and insight has given a
generation of Black consumers some of their
first self-affirming, culturally relevant appeals.
His breakthrough art direction and award
winning concepts have helped major marketers
reach this burgeoning ethnic market.
The Bar-Kay’s throw down at the Wattstax concert!
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With a career spanning four decades, Shaw
demonstrated how advertising could raise the
social conscience of marketers and consumers
alike. The African-American experience was
uniquely interpreted in Shaw's historic creative
campaigns for marketers like Johnson Products,
Lorillard, Sears, Standard Oil, SCLC/PUSH, and
the Urban League.
In Spike Lee's Crooklyn, the main character
becomes enamored with one of Shaw's Afro
Sheen TV commercials. The scene testified to
the impact Shaw's "Beautiful People" campaign
for the brand had on consumers who at the time
rarely saw themselves in a positive light or on
TV commercials.
As communications director for SCLC/Operation
PUSH, his strategic thinking supported the
economic development phase of the civil rights
movement. Through his efforts the first Black
Expo in Chicago and some of the first major
corporate contracts with minority-owned ad
agencies took place. As publicist for Jesse
Jackson, Shaw met with Time magazine editors
for the civil rights leader's first cover story.
He was recruited by Stax Records to head its
advertising and marketing. It was there that
Shaw developed the Stax brand internationally
through logo development, album covers,
advertising and marketing promotions that are
still considered breakthrough. His work has been
listed in Vanity Fair and UK's Q magazines' best
album covers designs of all times. His strategic
national marketing and music/film industry public
relations efforts for the movie and soundtrack of
SHAFT helped Stax garner unprecedented
Oscar award and nominations, NAACP Image
Awards, Addy's, Grammy's and Golden Globe
recognition.
Isaac Hayes and Rev. Jessie Jackson ignite the
crowd during the Wattstax concert!
39
As head of the STAX's film division, Shaw, with
Stax owner Al Bell, conceived and produced the
movie WATTSTAX. They solicited Wolper
Productions to co-produce the movie distributed
by Columbia Pictures. It was Bell and Shaw that
provided the movie's critically acclaimed insight
in the African American experience. Shaw wrote
the opening Richard Pryor sequence,
conceptualized and guided the technical crew in
getting the authentic feel and cultural
perspectives. He also conceived the promotion
"Living Word" tagline and directed the movie's
and soundtrack's marketing. More than a
concert movie, the WATTSTAX phenomenon
raised money for the riot-ridden community of
Watts. The concert drew over 100,000 people in
the L. A. Coliseum and was simulcast in several
urban markets across the country. The movie
has been featured in film festivals all over the
world including Cannes Film Festival and has
garnered a Golden Globe nomination for Best
Documentary. Thirty years later it was chosen
for the 2003 Sundance Film Festival Collection.
After Stax, Shaw headed the South's first African
American-owned, full-service advertising
agency, The Shaw Group. Featured in Time and
Adweek, Shaw went on to develop The Adolph
Coors Company's Black community relations
program. He has since developed "relationship
marketing" efforts for McDonald's, Harrahs, NBC
Bank, Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau,
Xerox, WDIA Radio, COGIC and others.
The semiretired Shaw now provides marketing
and communications consulting services through
his firm, The Able Group, focusing on religious
and inspirational oriented communications.
BIOGRAPHY - "WATTSTAX" DIRECTOR MEL
STUART
Mel Stuart was born in New York, and aspired to
a career in music. However, after graduating
from New York University he decided to pursue
a career as a filmmaker. In 1960, David Wolper
asked him to join a newly formed production
company. For the following 17 years, Mr. Stuart
served as a key executive with the Wolper
Organization. During that time he produced and
directed dozens of documentaries - - among
them "The Making of the President," "Rise and
Fall of the Third Reich," "Four Days in
November" and "Wattstax."
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He also directed various features including "Willy
Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" and "If It’s
Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium."
•
In 1977 the Wolper organization was acquired
by Warner Brothers. Since that time, Mr. Stuart
has been an independent producer and director.
Among his productions have been
documentaries such as "Man Ray: Prophet of
the Avant-garde" and "Billy Wilder - The Human
Comedy" for PBS, "AFI’s 100 Years-100
Movies," "Inside the KGB" and the reality series,
"Ripley’s Believe It or Not." He also worked in
long-form television, producing or directing
various television dramas such as "Bill," "The
Triangle Factory Fire" and "Ruby and Oswald."
•
Mr. Stuart served as President of the
International Documentary Association for two
years and has been the recipient of many Emmy
Awards, a Peabody award and an Oscar
Nomination for his work.
In November 2002, Stuart published "Pure
Imagination: The Making of Willy Wonka and the
Chocolate Factory," a compendium of facts,
photos and film stills concerning one of his most
popular directorial efforts. (St. Martin's Press;
ISBN: 0312287771)
He is currently producing a one-hour television
special, "Still Perfect- 20 Memorable
Photographs" and a series on living American
poets.
MEL STUART - FILM AND TELEVISION
CREDITS
RECENT PRODUCER-DIRECTOR CREDITS
•
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•
•
•
•
•
Billy Wilder - The Human Comedy PBS American Masters 1997
Man Ray: Prophet of the Avant
Garde- PBS American Masters 1996
Inside the KGB - (2 hour NBC special)
1995
FEATURE FILMS
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate
Factory (Paramount) Director
If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium
(UA) Director
One Is a Lonely Number (MGM)
Director
I Love My Wife (Universal) Director
Wattstax (Columbia) Prod.-Director
The White Lions (ABC) Director
Four Days in November (UA)
(Documentary) Prod.-Director.
DOCUMENTARY SPECIALS
•
•
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The Making of the President 1960,1964,1968 (ABC,CBS) Prod.Director
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
(ABC) Exec. Producer
China - The Roots of Madness (CBS)
Prod.- Director
Life Goes to the Movies (NBC) Prod.Director
Cary Grant, A Celebration - with
Michael Caine (ABC) Prod.- Director
Love from A to Z - with Liza Minelli &
Charles Aznavour Director
George Plimpton and the N.Y.
Philharmonic (NBC) Prod.- Director
John Ashbery – A Poet’s View
(Academy of American Poets) 2002
Still Perfect – Memorable
Photographs of the 20th Century Trio 2002
W. S. Merwin - A Poet’s View
(Academy of American Poets) 2001
Seeing Stars - BBC
BBC- A Window on the World - BBCDiscovery - Two hours 2000
Running on the Sun - Feature
Documentary 1999
AFI’s 100 Years-100 Movies -Ten Part
Series - TNT 1998
40
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From the Director's Chair
Mel Stuart on Directing Wattstax
On the set of Wattstax are director/producer Mel
Stuart (leaning over table), cameraman Roderick
Young (in hat) and future DGA directormembers (from left) cameraman David Oyster
and soundman Richard Wells
Editor's Note: One of the groundbreaking
musical documentaries was the 1973 film
Wattstax. The film introduced a generation of
young people to the talents of a number of
African-American artists. We asked the film's
director, Mel Stuart, to reflect on the challenges
of turning the filming of a concert into a
documentary
TELEVISION DRAMATIC FILMS
•
•
•
•
•
Bill - 2 hour film (CBS) Producer
Sophia Loren, Her Own Story - 3 hour
film (NBC) Director
Ruby and Oswald - 3 hour film (CBS)
Director
The Triangle Factory Fire - 2 hour film
(NBC) Director
The Chisholms - 12 hour mini-series
(CBS) Director
TELEVISION " REALITY" SERIES
•
•
•
•
Ripley’s Believe It or Not - 79 hour
episodes (ABC) Exec.Prod.- Dir.
The 3M Specials - 8 hours (ABC)
Exec.Prod.- Dir.
The Best of the Worst- ( Fox
Television Series) Exec. Producer
The Story of.....26 half hours Syndicated Exec.Prod.- Dir.
AWARDS
Among the many acknowledgments of his work
have been four Emmies, a Peabody Award, and
an Oscar Nomination. For two years he served
as President of the International Documentary
Association. He has been a guest lecturer on the
subject of film and video production at various
universities.
41
Four brothas from Watts being interviewed!
"A soulful expression of the living word" - that
was the aim of a documentary I set out to direct
27 years ago.
Wattstax was originally conceived as a film of a
concert commemorating the fifth anniversary of
the Watts riots. The event was a concept of Al
Bell, president of Stax records, who teamed up
with Wolper Productions to secure funding from
Columbia Pictures. At the time, Stax records
could call upon some of the greatest names in
gospel, blues and soul music such as the Staple
Singers, Isaac Hayes and Johnny Taylor. The
event also drew political activists including a
young and relatively unknown Jesse Jackson.
This lineup attracted 80,000 people to the L.A.
Coliseum. I realized from the start that the best
and only way for the film to reflect the black
experience was to call upon the expertise and
guidance of African-Americans like historian
Larry Shaw and associate producer Forest
Hamilton. In addition, I used predominately black
film crews to cover the concert and the filming
that followed.
The event was scheduled to run from noon to
eight o'clock at night. Accordingly, a construction
crew came to the L.A. Coliseum at the
conclusion of a pro football game the night
before and set up a stage in the middle of the
field. Early the next morning construction was
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finished and we set up the main cameras and
sound equipment. John Alonzo was the
supervising cinematographer. By midday we
were ready to start filming.
During the concert things went smoothly. The
acts performed brilliantly, the camera and sound
coverage was first rate. Twelve documentary
crews wandered through the crowd getting
reaction shots. We started editing the film and
found, early on, that what we had was ... a
"concert film." To me, that is not what a
documentary is about. A concert film is glorified
reportage even when produced with style. It
certainly was not a full reflection of the black
experience.
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Larry and Forest and I began to plan how we
could expand the concept. Luckily, some of acts
were unable to show up on the day of the
concert which enabled us to take the music into
the community itself. In the weeks that followed,
we filmed Johnny Taylor in a funky night club,
The Emotions bringing a gospel song to a small
church, and Little Milton singing a fantastic blues
number by the railroad tracks in the shadow of
the Watts Towers. The reality of the location
performances added a vital dimension to the
overall presentation. That was a good start, but
more was needed.
Next, we decided to hear how people felt about
the music. This led to improvised interviews with
dozens of men and women that touched on
42
every facet of the African-American experience.
Film crews were sent into the streets, churches,
barber shops and diners to talk with people
about the connection between music and their
existence and what it was like to be black in a
white America. To this day, when I screen the
film, I am awed by the wit, poetry and
understanding of the reality of their situation that
came forth from the people in the community. As
a reflection of their viewpoint and of the times,
there is one particular moment in the film which I
found remarkable: a young woman sang The
Star-Spangled Banner at the beginning of the
concert, and as I looked at the enormous
audience I saw that no one stood up during the
song.
I felt we still needed one more element something similar to the "chorus" in
Shakespeare's Henry the Fifth. We needed
someone who could give an overall view of the
African-American experience. Forest Hamilton
suggested I go with him to a small club to see a
young comedian named Richard Pryor. The next
night we returned to the club with a film crew
and after his show recorded two hours of
extraordinary improvised insightful comedy. This
was the glue we needed to hold the film
together.
When the editing was nearly finished, I was
suddenly hit with a production problem that has
become the bane of producers today - acquiring
music rights. I received a call from MGM telling
me that I couldn't use a sequence in which Isaac
Hayes sings his hit song "Shaft." There was a
disagreement about publishing rights and Jim
Aubrey, then president of MGM, would not listen
to my pleas for a settlement. I was devastated! I
had hoped to conclude the film with Isaac Hayes
singing "Shaft" to 80,000 people at night in the
Coliseum. There was no alternative but to have
John Alonzo assemble a crew and shoot a
different song on a sound stage with Isaac
Hayes and his backup group. We combined the
footage with various shots of the crowd and
incorporated it into the film. (With the special
effects available today, it would probably be
much easier.) As a documentary filmmaker, it
bothered me to create a non-event, but it was
more important to end the film on a triumphant
note.
The documentary was quite successful when it
appeared in theaters at the time, and over the
years has become somewhat of a cult film for
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African-American audiences. Unfortunately,
because of, need I say, music rights problems, it
has not been shown in a major venue on
television or released as a video. Hopefully,
someday, the rights problems will be cleared
and this portrait of a particular time and a
community will reach a wider audience.
Mel Stuart has just finished a feature
documentary called Running on the Sun.
Several weeks ago an African-American record
companycalled Soulife asked Mr. Stuart to
produce an updated version of Wattstax which
would reflect the changes in the AfricanAmerican community over the past 30 years.
http://www.dga.org/index2.php3
::::ADV::::
Best-Selling Novelist
Karen E. Quinones Miller
For more Info, go to Karen’s site at:
http://www.karenequinonesmiller.com/
soul-patrol magazine, soul-patrol magazine, soul-patrol magazine
A MEDITATION ON
HENDRIX, LENNON, AND
THE COUNTERCULTURE
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43
Recently, upon reflection and thinking about the
1980’s and 1990’s, having already come through
the 1960’s and 1970’s; I have found myself
putting two and two together and discovered that
they have not added up to four. What’s more, I
found that something in the mathematical
process itself just wasn’t functioning properly. To
put it bluntly, something just didn’t smell right. In
fact something smelled rotten; and its name was
‘Journalism’, or what passes for Journalism
these days. And two and two now seems to add
up to zero. In an age where ‘marketing idea
equals, “What’s the best spin I can put on this
story to get me to the bank the fastest”.’ there
are some things, in my opinion, that now need to
be said.
The era of the 1960’s Counterculture,
which was a major period of not only upheaval,
but ‘correction’ on this planet, (including the
continuation of the battle for Civil Rights, (and
Human Rights for that matter) the rise of a new
pride in being Black, and the flood that became
a tidal wave of protest against the war in
Vietnam) left much unfinished work that still
needs to be done. Some important work was
done however. And that, (among the other
related and more obvious things I have just
mentioned) was throwing a spotlight on
‘hypocrisy’; in all its forms.
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Hypocrisy unfortunately, is still with us; and
thriving in a new form. A blatant case in point, is
that which under the heading of ‘Rock Magazine
Functioning As Psychology Today’, numerous
unctuous publications, many of them based in
England (besides a few in America) are
regurgitating information in a different form; from
old magazines and newspapers like ‘Rock,
Circus, Blues Unlimited’, and ‘Black Music’.
The late Music Journalist, Ray Coleman (former
editor-in-chief of both ‘Melody Maker’ and ‘Black
Music’) made the best description of the new
type of writers that populate current media, in his
introduction to the 1995 revised and updated
edition of his epic and groundbreaking biography
of John Lennon: Lennon The Definitive
Biography, on pages 1 to 10; where he
described the reception given to the Beatles
BBC Recordings, and the songs ‘Free As A Bird’
and ‘Real Love’, by Journalists short on
research but long on criticism.
From my observations, one can’t help but
begin to question why more and more the
Counterculture of the 1960’s is viewed the same
way, through one prism, by a plethora of eye
catching print publications, that all resemble
each other, are basically formatted the same
glossy way, and are populated by practically the
same interchangeable type of networking
writers; that deal in Journalism which is
productive of empty sensationalist negativity.
What is also interesting, is that this Yuppie New
Age Matrix hack, is only capable of viewing their
subject matter, through a veritable inquisition;
based from the standpoint of an
ultraconservative establishment oriented
mindset, with an, in all likelihood, previously
44
upset comfort level or perhaps is just a
frightened rabbit with a drone’s mantra: “I don’t
want to make any waves or upset anything”.
Which is to say, that a story on the 1969
Woodstock Festival, for example, ends up being
about location, the town council not wanting
these antiestablishment hippies with their free
thinking anti-normal order of things, anti-Vietnam
war ideas, to come into town; and if the same
thing were to be done today, what would the
logistics and statistics be, concerning how much
money could be made off of them. And how
could Wall Street figure into this, as there could
be corporations set up and future investments
accrued from film, video, c.d.’s, clothing etc…
As most of what this type of mentality
represents, is opposed to just about everything
the music of the period covered was about, (not
forgetting what was taking place at the time,
which of course the music was a reflection of?) it
is no small wonder that the stated so-called
‘analysis’ of the period is open to question.
How do you represent what you are not capable
of understanding? (In much the same way that a
hack writer for a newly incorporated Cable T.V.
magazine tells you that a movie is “alright for
taping” with your VCR. ‘Alright for taping’ from a
cable station where you have to pay to see an
old movie that many years before there was the
concept of a ‘cable station’, was regularly
screened on your local television station for
nothing.) After the discographies are all written
up, and the glossy photographs have all been
used; what do you do then? After you have
already depicted the artists who created this
great body of music that you benefit from, (a
‘treasure’ if there ever was one) as
psychological cripples, attempted to define the
process of exposing hypocrisy as misguided,
and “something current music fans have no
interest in” (perhaps someone’s hypocrisy is
being exposed?) and set yourself up (under the
guise of not being ‘patronizing’, but being
‘objective’) as a wise pontiff above criticism; with
the appearance of being so all knowing and
knowledgeable (thanks to your many slick
networking colleagues, who like yourself, are not
capable of putting together a simple article by
themselves) and above all (unlike the subjects
whom you write about with such smug
contempt) present yourself as ‘normal’. What do
you do then? Maybe the future holds entire
concerts performed by artists playing technically
brilliant and precise regurgitated Rock/Blues
music, with all lyrics to the songs pertaining to
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the products the sponsors of these concerts
(and other corporate subsidiary or separate
corporate manufacturers who pay a fee) are
selling. And the musicians all do what they are
told, by men in well tailored suits (no longer
making any attempts to be ‘hip’ like the
musicians on stage, or for that matter even
trying to conceal their presence) who are
standing offstage, nodding their heads and
smiling. Can’t you feel the ‘normality’ of it
already? And you have a new type of Journalist
to pave the way.
This manner of thing has been done before,
albeit on a less sophisticated level. Witness
Memphis Tennessee, August of 1966. A certain
Right Reverend Jimmy Stroad (a local
Televangelist) wants to deter his flock (read: the
young folk) from going to the Beatles concert at
Memphis Coliseum. So he puts together a band
that plays loud Rock music, but sings with
Fundamentalist Christian lyrics. The added
bonus of the promised appearance of Jay North
(Yes from Dennis The Menace!) who never
shows up, leaving the flock to surmise, “We
might as well have gone to see the Beatle
concert.” (For those of you who might think I’m
making this up, check out History Professor Jon
Weiner’s book, ‘Come Together: John Lennon In
His Time’, Chapter 1 The 1966 Tour. One
begins to really wonder about the motivation
behind the backlash against Lennon’s ‘the
Beatles are more popular than Jesus Christ’
comment in the Evening Standard in 1966, as in
the Fall 1964 group interview for Playboy
magazine (later published in 1965) conducted
during their 1964 tour of the U.K., John
commented about the hypocrisy of the Christian
Church, and nobody said anything about it.
(Maybe the same people, who were burning the
Beatles in effigy and the folks at the radio
stations that refused to play their records in
1966, hadn’t learned how to read yet in 1965. Or
maybe they just bought Playboy to look at the
pictures.) At any rate, you can read the Beatles
1965 Playboy Interview in it’s entirety (among
other interviews by the group and separately) by
logging onto: www.geocities.com/~beatleboy1. A
wonderfully put together website. And by the
way, you can also read the entire un-edited
1966 Maureen Cleave interview with John
Lennon from the London Evening Standard by
logging onto: www.beatlesagain.com/bapologyThe Dark Side Of Beatlemania.
45
There is a new type of criminality, (or is it a
weird type of green envious sickness?) with its
basis in an old time tested and well worn ready
pen manoeuvre. Sullying and dirtying someone’s
name and memory (when they are conveniently
dead) in the name of Journalism; or as it is
better known, ‘the people’s right to know’. This is
done by using half-truths. (A specialty of Albert
Goldman (who at various times has been
described as a ‘knowledgeable Journalist’ and
an old ‘hipster’-now from under what rock was
that word recycled from?) It is most useful, if you
want to have a complete picture of what
someone like Albert Goldman was, and what he
became, to check out the anthology of his
writings, ‘Freakshow: Misadventures in the
Counterculture, 1959-1971’. Although he did
contribute to or write some very thought
provoking pieces (variously, an article in
Crawdaddy magazine concerning the Door’s
1968 Promotional Film for ‘The Unknown
Soldier’, and his 1970 New York Times review of
the Maysle’s Brothers film documentary of the
Rolling Stones 1969 North American Concert
Tour, ‘Gimmie Shelter’), the picture you begin to
get, if you are paying attention, is of someone
who time and the rapidly changing accelerating
culture around him (the 1960’s), was leaving
behind. What also comes through is a weird
obsession with freakish sexual proclivities, as
evidenced in his mid-sixties review of French
novelist Pauline Reage’s controversial and
brutally disturbing book about the underground
Parisian raw sex trade, ‘The Story of O’. (I have
a hunch that if the real book ever gets written
about Albert Goldman, some folks financial
futures may be on some pretty shaky ground).
What he became, starting with the book, ‘Ladies
And Gentlemen Lenny Bruce’ in 1974, was a
progressively destructive, sickeningly poisonous,
and obsessed old man, bent on uncovering
(what he saw as) the darker sordid nocturnal
hidden excesses and contradictory existence of
well known deceased entertainers, for money
and profit; (Viewing him in retrospective
hindsight, it is rather interesting to note, that
Goldman’s obsessive behavior is vaguely
reminiscent of Conspiracy Theorist and Yippie
associate Mae Brussell; but unlike her
obsession with research and fact finding,
Goldman’s execution of his craft rested in high
speculation, questionable credibility, and a
rotten vindictiveness.) getting his books written
through interviewing those eager to dish dirt,
while they were either in financial straits or on
the fringes of it, with more often than not, the
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addition of a secret grudge (all key important
inducements and not too hard to figure out once
you understand who the players are, if you want
to write the kind of books he was writing). And
who ended up dying of a heart ailment on an
airplane at Miami International Airport, preparing
his next book, on Jim Morrison; having become
a Pariah with a lot of money, and so paranoid he
could no longer live in the United States. This
was the reality of the dark side of the ‘economic
rebirth of the 1980’s’, which no one who was
riding on its coattails wanted to talk about. And it
spawned a whole industry. As in much the same
way that some cynical, smug, and (in a hurry to
pay off their mortgage) opportunist Journalists
have said that, “
After reading Albert Goldman’s book on John
Lennon, you’ll never look at Lennon the same
way again.” after reading Editor/Reporter James
Fallow’s book, ‘Breaking The News:How The
Media Undermine American Democracy’
(Published by Pantheon Books), you’ll never
look at Journalists (or their profession) the same
way again. Many of these Journalists seem to
take great pleasure in focusing on someone’s
freakish proclivities (whether they are true or not
seems irrelevant to them). You begin to wonder
about the Journalists themselves). A half-truth is
much more dangerous than a lie, because it’s
true enough. A lie you can automatically point to
and say, “Hey, that’s a lie!” But a half-truth is
something much more sinister. Because of its
obscurity, you can’t really be sure; because you
don’t have all the facts. And to wit, direct or not
46
always immediately discernable indirect, dead
subject matter is quite helpful.
Let’s take Jimi Hendrix as an example. Jimi,
having been a member of Little Richard’s
backing band, off and on, for roughly two years,
before playing with him at the Apollo Theatre
and the old Paramount Theatre on Broadway in
New York in late 1965. Was he? True or False?
Unfortunately Bumps Blackwell, who was
Richard Penneman’s manager, died in 1985 (not
too long after Little Richard’s autobiography was
published), and was no longer alive to
corroborate Little Richard’s version of events;
when a spate of publications slowly came out,
making Richard out to be a blatant liar.
There is however, an interesting footnote to this.
During 1988, there occurred a reunion of artists
from the old Stax label in Memphis, Tennessee.
Stax, you might remember, was the label that
gave us Otis Redding, Booker T. and The MG’s
and Carla Thomas, among others. The event
was covered by The Black Entertainment
Television Network, better known as BET. A
broadcast that was shown on a weekly basis on
the BET Network named, ‘This Week In Black
Entertainment’, included interviews with many of
Stax’ original artists. Among them, Rufus
Thomas (remember ‘The Funky Chicken’ and
‘Walkin’ The Dog’?), Isaac Hayes, Johnny
Taylor, Sam and Dave, and interestingly, one
‘Gorgeous George Odell’. George Odell (or
‘Gorgeous George’ as he was known on the
Southern R&B Circuit, because he wore a
blonde wig like the famous wrestler of the same
name), gave a very interesting interview. He
talked about having been Stax’ first recording
artist of note, and having made a record named,
‘The Biggest Fool In Town’; that sold 13,000
copies in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Kentucky,
and being paid 310 dollars, thinking he was rich.
It is around this time, 1962, that Little Richard
(freshly returned from a string of successful
concerts in Europe, that had included a few with
a band named The Beatles (who in turn had a
hit single at the time named, ‘Love Me Do’) as
his opening act) enters the picture. George
Odell, though a small time recording artist on the
Stax label, has a backing band. And who do you
think is playing guitar in that band? None other
than Jimi Hendrix (who at the time was calling
himself Maurice James). Since Hendrix was a
member of George Odell’s backing band in
1962, perhaps from there he began playing in
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Little Richard’s band? Little Richard has stated
many times that Hendrix played in his band, on
and off, for a couple of years. That would be
1962 through 1966, wouldn’t it? But I guess
Bumps Blackwell, Little Richard’s late manager,
could have really elaborated on a lot of this, and
cleared up some things, as he not only was well
versed in and knew the inner workings of the
entertainment and record business, but knew
Hendrix as well. And what of George Odell’s
record ‘The Biggest Fool In Town’?
Unfortunately, George Odell died some time
after his appearance on ‘This Week In Black
Entertainment’. So we end up with more halftruths.
John Lennon was a wife beater, closet
homosexual, unconvinced murderer, heroin
addict, drunk and cokehead. True or False?
John Lennon is not here to say anything, but a
number of books found publication. I myself,
wonder where he found the time to compose
songs, write books and articles, paint, design, do
other artwork and films (with and without the
other Beatles or Yoko, besides his regular
attendance of art exhibitions and associating
with friends like Peter Cook and Victor Spinetti),
if he was doing all the things he is accused of.
The point being that John Lennon consistently
created during his whole lifetime. Whether it was
with his musician’s hat on, or as an artist, or a
writer. (It’s debatable if his critics understand the
difference or significance of the three.) So John
argued with his wife, knew Brian Epstein, would
just as soon have a punch up if he had a couple
of drinks, sniffed heroin besides using cocaine,
at some point during the tail end of the sixties
and early seventies (along with the pot smoking,
pills and LSD trips that a lot of other people were
also doing at the time). It would be as foolish to
deny John’s drug use as it would to deny that
drug use during this period (late 60’s-early70’s)
was rampant in the entertainment industry itself.
(A point well made by John himself, who had
finally come out of it, (after he wisely decided
that what he really wanted was a stable home
life with Yoko and a child to go with it) in his
interview with Tom Snyder on the Tomorrow
Show in 1975; where he went on to say
(referring to his lost weekend in Los Angeles)
that there were people using drugs who you
wouldn’t believe would be drug takers. ‘Old
people, men with briefcases etc…’ Bob
Woodward later confirmed this situation in his
book about John Belushi. (It is interesting to
note that in Albert Goldman’s case, he in effect
47
continued rewriting the same book he co-wrote
about Lenny Bruce over and over again, when
writing about Elvis Presley and John Lennon. A
similar job having been done by a former drug
counselor turned music biographer in England;
when rewriting the same assembly line
psychological drug profile situation scenario of
British Jazz musician Graham Bond, for Eric
Clapton, Peter Green and Jimi Hendrix.)
Remember Brian Epstein stating to the British
Press that he also had taken LSD? The
interview was reprinted in Press Officer Derek
Taylor’s book, ‘It Was Twenty Years Ago Today’.
(This was during the period when the Beatles
were recording Sgt. Pepper, and Brian Epstein
was staging Rock and Soul shows at the Saville
Theatre in London. Among the acts, Chuck
Berry, Little Richard, The Four Tops, The Who,
and a new group named The Jimi Hendrix
Experience.) Half-truths…. The accusation of
‘unconvicted psychotic murderer John Lennon
running around loose’, which concerned John’s
close friend Stewart Sutcliffe dying of a Brain
Hemorrhage? If you read the book, ‘The Man
Who Gave The Beatles Away’, by the Beatles
first manager Allan Williams, he explains that
during an early tour of a very rough area of
Liverpool, John actually saved Sutcliffe’s life one
night, after a vicious beating by a gang of thugs;
who after beating Stewart up, kicked him in the
head. And thereafter, Stewart Sutcliffe had
terrible headaches, that got worse as time
passed by; until he resultantly died. Half-truths.
The best description of John Lennon I ever read,
was by his beloved Aunt Mimi, in Hunter Davies’
1968 biography, ‘The Beatles’; in Chapter 28:
Friends and Parents Today. If anyone knew the
real John Lennon, it was his Aunt Mimi; she
raised him with her husband, (John’s also
beloved Uncle George). These are the people
who washed and bathed him when he was a
little boy. In the section of Chapter 28
concerning herself, Mimi went on to describe
with crystal clarity, the person behind the John
Lennon we all knew. His humor, warmth,
generosity, faults and foibles; everything that
made him a human being, rather than a Rock
Star or some hack nonentity’s pay packet. What
she had to say about John in that two and a half
pages, pretty much summed him up; and is well
worth reading. Half-truths.
It is amazing in the case of John and Yoko for
example, how many of these hack writers
consider themselves instant Art Critics and
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Junior (And I use the term ‘Junior’ with
enormous charity, due to the fact that you
constantly hear the same excuse, “I could have
put more in my book (or article) but there are
things I can’t say anything about”.-Or maybe
don’t know?)Psychologists; with endless dead
end judgments (Read: “I need to find a different
angle, or make one up, so I can sell my book.”)
for their bargained and blusterous fifteen
minutes, rather than deal with their own
shortcomings, as in replacing honest research
with opportunistic greed. Perhaps Lennon’s
‘after the fact critics’, knowing that they
themselves are not capable of understanding a
truly creative mind (in Lennon’s case, as a writer
and artist, as well as a musician; brought out
into full flowering by “That Japanese Woman”)
and the workings of the creative mind in motion;
(sometimes capable of doing two or more things
well at the same time, sometimes only
individually) find themselves not only at a loss,
reflecting their lack of understanding of their
subject, but also have a lack of integrity, in
having to resort to suggestive subliminal halftruths as well. What is also worth studying, is
that the behavior of this new batch of ‘after the
fact critics’ (surely the luckiest people on the
planet that Lennon is not here to answer them
back), pretty clearly presents them as a poor
second rate version of the ones depicted in The
Press Book of clippings; that accompanied John
and Yoko’s 1969 record, ‘The Wedding Album’.
It must have been quite a shock (and maybe a
little hard to take) for the whole lot of them, as
events finally unfolded a while back on an ITN
News Report on Public Television, concerning
‘The James Hanratty Case’; that proved that
those two so-called ‘crackpots’ John and Yoko,
were right all along. John and Yoko’s support of
James Hanratty’s parents, is very well
documented in the book, ‘John Lennon: Unseen
Archives’, Published by Parragon Publishing. In
this book you really get to see how supportive
they were back then. It is also very enlightening
to read the transcript of Lennon’s ‘Man Of The
Decade’ interview. His segment of the ATV
series, from an interview conducted with him on
nd
Dec. 2 1969, is most interesting for it’s clarity
and lucidity; as Lennon discusses subjects
ranging from the effects of the current drug
scene, to The Peace Movement (and the
reaction to it), to he and Yoko’s relationship,
mentions of friends like Donovan, Mick Jagger
and Eric Burdon, the 1969 Woodstock and Isle
Of Wight Festival gatherings, and the coming
decade. His optimism is very apparent. (This
48
interview in its entirety can be read off The
Beatles Ultimate Experience database at
www.geocities.com/~beatleboy1. Within a matter
of weeks, he was to perform again with The
Plastic Ono Band in concert, at a charity benefit
for Unicef at the Lyceum Ballroom in London.
The Plastic Ono Band put on a riveting
performance, which is documented on the two
LP set ‘Sometime In New York City’. It is
interesting as well to note that when John
Lennon gave back his MBE Award, besides
making clear his anti-war stance, he also
mentioned his current 45 ‘Cold Turkey’ slipping
down the charts; a not to subtle thumbing of the
nose at the ‘war heroes’ who gave back their
MBEs in disgust, when ‘entertainers’ like the
Beatles were awarded theirs. One should also
take note of the movies John and Yoko were
producing at this time. The movie ‘Rape’, which
was seen by many in the media as a
‘confrontational movie’, turned harassment by
the press around the other way; putting a
spotlight on the tactics of the press and media
themselves. ‘Apotheosis (Balloon)’, possesses
an ethereal beauty and a certain otherworldly
charm. You can read about John and Yoko’s
films by logging onto John and Yoko Films 19661972 at
www.homepage.ntlworld.com/carousel/pob15.
And their television appearances are on the
sister database at
www.homepage.ntlworld.com/carousel/pob18.
And last but definitely not least, we can’t leave
out The Peace Bed Ins, which the press
originally made fun of and dismissed as a joke
put on by two clowns (some referred to them as
monkeys), which turned into a situation where
the same press was swept along in a sea
change of sentiment, by the public; as the
AntiWar Movement grew and grew to
humongous proportion, and finally became the
majority (they thought better of messing with
what became the Peace Movement’s call-toarms anthem ‘Give Peace A Chance’) helped
along the way by John and Yoko.
But all of that is getting away from the
point. The point is this: John and Yoko were two
people who were artists (in every sense of the
word), who were lucky enough to find each
other, at the right time in history. Frankly, two
heads that thought and moved forward like one
determined brain. (Other examples being Oscar
Brown Jr. and Jean Pace, Harry and Julie
Belafonte, and Frank and Gail Zappa.) Such a
marvelous match up does not happen often. The
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fact that for them, this went beyond a difference
in race is remarkable.
What was so interesting in Lennon’s case, was
that he went through his ‘mid-life crisis’ relatively
early, as compared with most men; as I’m sure a
lot of spouses out there can attest. So, in a
sense, it’s not too hard to understand where
some of that ‘weird type of green envious
sickness’ I mentioned earlier, may stem from
and be rooted.
An admirably well researched and well written
book, with a balanced view of John Lennon, in
my opinion, is ‘Come Together: John Lennon In
His Time’ by History Professor Jon Weiner; as
well as his follow-up, ‘Gimmie Some Truth: The
John Lennon FBI Files’, which gives an accurate
picture of what not only John Lennon, but
anyone who was in opposition to Vietnam or
gave any faint indications of having radical ideas
that the Nixon Fiefdom/Corporate War Machine
looked upon with displeasure, was up against.
And another quite interesting read, that ended
up being about a lot more than it’s title implies, is
‘The Mourning of John Lennon’ by Anthony
Elliot. It is a remarkable book on Pop Culture,
with a deeply thoughtful and reflective look at
the life of John Lennon, and an unprecedented
study of people who orbit in the cult of celebrity
and profit; that also contains a fascinating
analysis of Albert Goldman. (The books I have
just mentioned are marvelously enlightening and
noticeably different from numerous books by the
potentates and inhabitants of the land of
unprofessional Journalistic innuendo and
reformed drug addict interviewees, speaking
from their newly enlightened understanding of
what was wrong in the past, with everybody and
everything else (except themselves), and their
newly conservative, and much quieter, born
again afterlife; for money and profit).
Let’s take Jimi Hendrix and the dodgy subject of
the explosive political situation in the United
States, during the late 60’s; right up until his (in
my opinion still suspicious) death in 1970.
Beginning in the latter part of 1968 on, Hendrix’
interviews in magazines like ‘Circus’ and
‘Teenset’, began to show a heightened
awareness of the explosive political
transformation taking place in American Society.
The views he expressed during his interview
with the British radical newspaper, ‘International
49
Times’ in spring of 1969 are really an eye
opener; in light of what was taking place in the
United States at the time. (It would be interesting
to hear what his sentiments were, from some of
the American Servicemen he came in contact
with during that 1969 European tour.) Originally
reprinted in it’s entirety in the first hard cover
edition of the book, ‘Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child
of The Aquarian Age’ by David Henderson, it
was edited for the condensed subsequent
paperback editions; but finally reprinted again in
it’s entirety, for the soft back fourth edition.
(There has been a tendency to portray Hendrix
as “drug addled” and “talking out of his head”
and “not aware of what he was saying”, each
time he spoke out about the political situation in
the United States, (which of course among other
things, automatically meant ‘race’ as well) by
people in some quarters. Notably, these same
‘experts’, for some strange reason, also portray
him as “lucid” and “clear minded”, whenever he
was talking about anything else. This begs the
question, ‘What motive would these characters
have for not wanting Jimi Hendrix to appear as
having made the same informed historical
political statements that everyone else was
making at the time?’ Could it have to do with the
climate created by the temporary and selective
rise of Reaganomics and Thatcherism,
accompanied by that old ancient adage, “I could
make a buck offa this.”?)
Most of what Hendrix spoke about in
‘International Times’, were areas previously
covered in his interviews in ‘Circus’ and
‘Teenset’, like the increasing influence of a
group like the Black Panthers, and the blatant
hypocrisy that was being exposed by young
students across the country. (Of considerable
related interest to some readers, may be that in
1996, the Doctoral Dissertation that the late
Huey P. Newton submitted for his Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy, at the University of
California, Santa Cruz, was published in book
form; as ‘War Against The Panthers: A Study of
Repression in America ‘ by Writers and Readers
Publishing (USA) and Airlift Book Company
(UK). It is quite a harrowing, detailed blueprint
study, for how the media, through government
manipulation, can be used to crush and destroy
any movement or group it considers
‘nonconformist’. Also of considerable interest, is
Newton’s ‘Selected Bibliography’ at the end of
the book, which contains many books published
in the wake of the Post-Watergate ‘Freedom Of
Information Act’; and before the Presidential
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Reign of former Governor of California, Ronald
Reagan.) The growing AntiWar Movement had
now linked up with what was left of the Civil
Rights Movement; in the wake of Dr. King’s
murder (not long after declaring his opposition to
the Vietnam War and speaking openly about
‘economic justice and parity’), followed by the
murder of Bobby Kennedy (who wanted to do
something about it). The final link that was
taking place at the time, (interestingly, in a
fascinating historical sense) was the Black
Power Movement, of which The Black Panthers
(who started a breakfast program for children,
for which many local churches, black and white
alike, opened their doors, and to which many
people contributed money) were only a part;
inheritors and heirs to a tradition of Self
Defense, going back to The Deacons For
Defense, in Louisiana (occasionally aiding the
Civil Rights Workers in that state), to fiery
thought provoking speakers and activists like
Kathleen Cleaver, Malcolm X, Paul Robeson,
History Professor John Henrik Clarke, Harriet
Tubman, all the way back to Frederick
Douglass. The emotions and pictures Hendrix
painted with his guitar, as in ‘Star Spangled
Banner’, (besides defining the best and the
worst of what the national anthem represented
in 1969, also keeping in mind that there were a
growing number of returning Vietnam Veterans
opposed to the war) reflected all this and more.
All you had to do was turn on the nightly news.
(It should be noted here that the unedited
performance of Hendrix playing ‘The Star
Spangled Banner, Purple Haze’ and most
importantly, the entire solo passages between
‘Purple Haze’ and ‘Instrumental Solo’, where
Hendrix ideas were flowing like water, and you
get to really hear what an incredible musician he
was, developing at an astounding rate, is
documented in the home video, ‘Woodstock:
The Director’s Cut’.)
Randy California, Pete Cosey, Robin Trower
and many others.
Yes it was also the America of John Brown,
Vernon Johns, James Farmer, Fannie Lou
Hamer, Caesar Chavez, Russell Means, Martin
Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, Viola Liuzzo,
Schwerner, Goodman and Chaney; all those
who were giving their lives to build a better
America. And all those who were losing their
lives in a foreign war, without realizing who was
profiting from it, and why. And even after his
physical death, that emotion, that sound,
remained alive, burning bright and deeply
emotional, deeply moving, in artists of the
following decade; like Eddie Hazel, Ernie Isley,
Guitar World Interview: “Within his own life he
had to set the precedents and set the rules. He
was a real life street guerilla missionary. I mean
he slept with his fucking guitar! The real danger
came when he stopped doing that, no matter
what the cause of it, when he stopped carrying
his ax with him and started riding around in
Cadillacs.
But he knew his end was coming, he knew it a
long time before.”
50
As Billy Cox, Hendrix’ good friend (who played
bass), and musical collaborator, said in his
beautiful interview with Guitar Player (which
made mention of his remarkably crafted and
deeply spiritual solo album ‘The First Ray Of
The New Rising Sun’ Lil’ Wing Records P.O.
Box 158559 Nashville, Tennessee 37215), in the
May 1989 issue: “There are those who come
before the public eye and are commercialized
into the consciousness of the masses. We are
told they are popular, and we echo, they are
popular. Then there are a few who are so
intuitively tuned into the universe that they are
still influential, even though they are beyond
sight. This is immortality, and Jimi Hendrix is
immortal.”
Eric Burdon made some very interesting
comments concerning Jimi Hendrix in
st
Goldmine’s Sept. 21 1990 Jimi Hendrix issue,
and in Guitar World’s Sept. 1985 issue; both
Hendrix tribute issues. Goldmine interview:
“When I first met him, he still had a very
military/politicized mind. You know, it was antimilitary and anti-Vietnam (the time period) and
all that shit, and he was still like, soldier boy. I’d
say to him, as we looked out his apartment
window over Grosvenor Square in London,
‘Lookit Jimi, what do you think of those riots
against the US Embassy?’ And he’d say, ‘Well
when the Chinese hordes come screamin’ down
from China through North Vietnam and South
Vietnam, you’ll understand why we’re trying to
stem the tide of communism.’
“And to watch him drop acid and pick up a
guitar, instead of a machine gun, and go through
these changes was phenomenal. He was like a
caterpillar changin’ into a butterfly.”
The complete Goldmine interview in particular is
fascinating to read (as well as the Guitar World
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interview) because you get a detailed picture of
what was happening to Hendrix, as told by
another good friend. And you can read it by
logging onto: www.ericburdon.com/jimi.
Hendrix’ appearance on the Dick Cavett Show in
New York, not long after the Woodstock Festival
in 1969, (where he played the definitive version
of ‘Star Spangled Banner’) was notable for the
fact that he performed ‘If Six Was Nine’ from his
album, Axis Bold As Love, with a ‘Magic Bag’
(Hendrix’ possession of this device is mentioned
in Guitar Player’s Sept. 1975 Special Hendrix
Issue, ‘Guitars, Amps and Devices. The
Equipment of Jimi Hendrix.’ Page 52) attached
to his guitar. (‘The Bag’, as it was better known,
was played like a Bagpipe, with a tube put into
the mouth; with which someone could ‘talk’ while
playing the guitar. (It should be noted that Public
Television Channel 13 in New York used to
broadcast a program during this time period
named, ‘The Show’, that used to feature artists
like Taj Mahal, Mountain, Grand Funk Railroad,
and Folk Singer Donal Leace. (As well as once
featuring an angry Al Capp (the cartoonist who
drew Lil’ Abner in the Sunday News) not too
long after his confrontation with John and Yoko,
during their AntiWar Peace Campaign in
Canada. Al continued his venomous ProVietnam War ‘anti everything else that didn’t fit
into his narrow definition of patriotism’ rhetoric;
arguing with members of the audience that night
in the Channel 13 studio at ‘The Show’.) A few
weeks after Hendrix appeared on Dick Cavett
playing ‘If Six Was Nine’ using The Bag, Iron
Butterfly appeared on The Show with their
guitarist using one during their performance. But
it was Hendrix’ startlingly skillful use of The Bag
that made his performance unforgettable.)
Approximately three years later, after emerging
with a totally fresh and new musical direction
(and ‘creating’ a new musical direction in the
process! – Check out the book ‘Stevie Wonder’
by Constanze Elsner Published by Popular
Library Books), Stevie Wonder used something
similar to a Magic Bag with his Moog
Synthesizer.) This was the only known time that
Hendrix ever performed the song in public, or
used the Magic Bag in performance. It is
common knowledge that when the Dick Cavett
Show was first broadcast in New York, that there
was more than one taping each day. Where’s
the rest of the footage? Whether he played, ‘If
Six Was Nine’ to put even more emphasis on his
earlier in the program playing an advance
version of ‘Machine Gun’, besides his political
51
disagreement with Actor Robert Young (another
guest that night), or to bring attention to the
release of the film, ‘Easy Rider’ (in which ‘If Six
Was Nine’ was part of the soundtrack) maybe
both; it was quite a performance. It would be
nice if people get a chance to see that show
again one day, unedited, and in it’s entirety. It
would be a very enlightening experience. This
show, viewed back to back with Hendrix’ next
appearance, (on Public Television Channel 13 in
New York) as guest on Producer and Host Ellis
Haizlip’s program ‘Soul’, and finally the Band of
Gypsys concerts at Fillmore East, should be
carefully and thoroughly studied by anyone who
wants to form a complete picture of Jimi
Hendrix, rather than what some folks would like
you to see; or maybe more importantly, how you
might begin to see them.
A most enlightening and welcome experience,
has been the recent release (finally!) on home
video, of the uncut 125-minute movie ‘Rainbow
Bridge’; that was filmed in1970. Even though it is
not a Hendrix film proper, but a fascinating look
at the Counterculture as it was in the 60’s era,
there is participation in the film by him. Shot
near the end of Hendrix’ final 1970 American
Tour, it contains recent songs that were being
recorded by him in Electric Lady at the time, in
the soundtrack, along with additional music by a
Gospel Duo and some Folk musicians named
Jimmy and Vella Cameron.
The film stars Actress Pat Hartley, (for a
complete profile on Actress-Director Pat Hartley,
log onto The Internet Movie Database:
www.imdb.com.) and Hendrix first appears in a
spacey scene during a discussion about
Reincarnation. (The film, which revolves around
Pat Hartley’s trip from California to Hawaii,
covers many diverse counter cultural subjects
such as, Reincarnation, Meditation, Sex,
Religion, Astrology, Politics, Drugs, UFO’s,
Natural Food, etc…) Jimi’s next appearance, is
in a scene where one of the people from the
Rainbow Bridge Commune is making a speech
concerning government manipulation of the
population, that is cut short when Hendrix leans
out of a window with a rifle and shoots him; then
makes (depending on your interpretation)quite a
political statement. The movie then cuts into a
scene of a conversation between Pat Hartley
and two members of the Rainbow Commune,
discussing the government’s attempt to
eliminate the Black Panthers and leaders of
other radical groups. This of course, was later
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exposed around Watergate, as what came to be
known as, ‘Cointelpro’. What makes these
sequences so interesting, is that this was a few
years before the extent of what J. Edgar Hoover
and the FBI were doing, became public
knowledge. And this is on film! Hendrix’ next to
last appearance, near the end of the movie
(apart from a continuation of his discussion with
Pat Hartley and a member of the Commune
about Reincarnation), is during a concert where
first Jimmy and Vella Cameron perform a
pleasant Folk song, and then Hendrix mounts
the stage with Billy Cox and Mitch Mitchell; and
puts on a blistering hell-to-pay performance.
At the end of this tour, Hendrix returned to New
York and continued recording at Electric
Ladyland. During this time, Hit Parader
Magazine put out a special issue: ‘The 1970
Rock and Soul Yearbook’. It included articles
about Hendrix, James Brown, Sly Stone, The Ike
and Tina Turner Revue, Joe Simon, Dee Dee
Warwick, Isaac Hayes, and Esther Marrow. (I
wonder if any photographs exist of Jimi reading
this magazine?) At the end of his still-inprogress recordings there, and then following
the official opening of Electric Ladyland Studios
for business, Hendrix immediately embarked on
his last set of performances, in Europe.
The book, ‘Hendrix The Final Days’ by Tony
Brown, has quite a number of different
interviews, conducted with Hendrix by different
Journalists during his final concert tour of
Europe; in the early Fall of 1970. The interviews,
which are mostly in their entirety (in a similar
fashion to David Henderson’s book), find
Hendrix commenting on a wide range of
subjects. Among the most notable is an
interview with a reporter from a Danish
periodical named ‘Arhus Stiftstidende’, where it
appears the reporter came to the interview with
his mind already made up about Jimi Hendrix;
and got more than he bargained for. The
discussion (if you can call it that) touches on
Hendrix’ opinions covering Politics, Religion, and
Groupies. In another interview for a Danish
newspaper named ‘Morgenposten’, he
discusses starting a record company with The
Rolling Stones, and his fondness for Arthur Lee
of the Los Angeles band Love; along with
mentioning their having recorded an album
together. The album, aside from the song ‘The
Everlasting First’ (which is on Love’s 1970
album, False Start) remains unreleased to this
day. (Arthur Lee, a notorious interviewee, for not
52
suffering fools gladly, has over the years, in bits
and pieces (where you have to read between
the lines and figure out the rest of it for yourself)
mentioned the studio recordings he did with
Hendrix. One of the more interesting interviews
was with a fanzine named Univibes. You can
read that one by logging onto:
www.univibes.com/Arthur-and-Jimi. As Arthur
Lee is now in the process of writing his
autobiography, things should get pretty
interesting.
The time period (during which Monika
Dannemann said she went out for cigarettes)
when Hendrix was supposedly alone, has
always been open to question; and the nagging
feeling that there is a loose end (or a louse)
somewhere in this story, persists. Perhaps we
may never know the whole truth. But the artistry
he has left behind has continued to enrich and
nurture people’s lives. There was truly
something special about him.
Jimi Hendrix was not a one-dimensional man,
and gave money to radical causes as well as
donating money to The Martin Luther King
Foundation. (Come to think of it, those Civil
Rights Workers and those Freedom Riders that
got the living daylights beaten out of them, were
a pretty radical bunch too. Weren’t they?) The
late Abbie Hoffman, who himself among many
young Americans, had gone to the South in the
mid-sixties to aid King, Abernathy, Hamer,
Jackson and others in the Civil Rights
Movement, in registering other American
citizens, who had been previously too frightened
and brutalized, to vote and break the mind
numbing Segregation Laws that proliferated
there in the name of Democracy, and later in the
decade, became a radical in the AntiWar
Movement, said in an article concerning his at
the time forthcoming book, ‘Woodstock Nation’,
in Circus Magazine’s October 1971 issue: “Jimi
was the only Rock performer I know of who gave
bread to anything most of us would call ‘radical’.
It’s possible that some others gave to projects
out in California, especially in the heyday of
Haight-Ashbury, but as far as the things I came
in contact with, only Jimi gave. Like he laid some
bread on us for the trial in Chicago.” Hoffman of
course is talking about the Chicago 8 Trial,
presided over by Judge Julius Hoffman.
So where does all this leave us? Maybe
with the air cleared a little bit? Maybe with a
whole new set of questions? ‘That’ my friends, is
as it should be. READ!
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Peace (and Stay Free!)
Happy Xmas (war is over),
Antonio Pereira
ignored, bypassed or screwed by the Record
Corporate Mega conglomerates) now having an
alternative open to them, it will be interesting to
see what happens in future; when more people
begin to have access to The Internet.
PS As events on that new frontier ‘The Internet’,
are still unfolding as of this writing, with growing
numbers of talented musicians (who were either
53
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