tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354223422024-03-14T06:01:36.318-04:00Boogie Woogie FluDegenerate Record Collector's DiseaseTed Barronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975741901400619750noreply@blogger.comBlogger314125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35422342.post-26540540680803055012014-01-08T22:24:00.000-05:002014-01-09T12:38:48.051-05:00Seven Years in Fluville<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO8cCCf7bP-gvEPd-5pQDNtjx2pPQ7URFlVSSIiJck-vH4j92ekdG1bXlLBTs1Y4-vqsUzBgwkoO-AEP0SAzEIl8HaqmFQ1uRuITxRhtUqQUeiPBv0X12YHjSdyc35oLZOBwo5ew/s1600/Elvis-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO8cCCf7bP-gvEPd-5pQDNtjx2pPQ7URFlVSSIiJck-vH4j92ekdG1bXlLBTs1Y4-vqsUzBgwkoO-AEP0SAzEIl8HaqmFQ1uRuITxRhtUqQUeiPBv0X12YHjSdyc35oLZOBwo5ew/s1600/Elvis-2.jpg" height="400" width="370" /></a></div>
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Today would have been Elvis's birthday, but he's dead.<br />
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Today is also the Boogie Woogie Flu's birthday and it's nearly dead.<br />
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I am here tonight to help this long neglected enterprise limp into another year. Our annual Hanukkah extravaganza died when the lights unexpectedly went out after the second night. It was not a miracle or a lack thereof - it just happened. Tonight, I'll attempt to resuscitate and breathe some life back into this dying corpse by offering seven nuggets of pure gold recorded by the King at Stax Studios in his hometown of Memphis. Hope you dig it.<br />
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Happy Birthday Elvis, and long live the BWF.<br />
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Download:<br />
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<a href="http://www.tedbarron.com/BWF-2014-1/01-Promised.mp3" target="_blank">"Promised Land (Take 5)"</a> mp3<br />
by Elvis Presley, 1973.<br />
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00COCY67A/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00COCY67A&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Elvis At Stax</a> </i><br />
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<a href="http://www.tedbarron.com/BWF-2014-1/02-Little-Bit.mp3" target="_blank">"Just A Little Bit"</a> mp3<br />
by Elvis Presley, 1973.<br />
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000002WUD/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000002WUD&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Walk a Mile in My Shoes: The Essential 70's Masters</a> </i> <br />
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<a href="http://www.tedbarron.com/BWF-2014-1/03-You-Asked-Me-To.mp3" target="_blank">"You Asked Me To (Take 3A)"</a> mp3<br />
by Elvis Presley, 1973.<br />
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00COCY67A/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00COCY67A&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Elvis At Stax</a> </i><br />
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<a href="http://www.tedbarron.com/BWF-2014-1/04-Three-Corn-Patches.mp3" target="_blank">"Three Corn Patches (Take 14)"</a> mp3<br />
by Elvis Presley, 1973.<br />
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00COCY67A/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00COCY67A&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Elvis At Stax</a> </i> <br />
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<a href="http://www.tedbarron.com/BWF-2014-1/05-Find-Out.mp3" target="_blank">"Find Out What's Happening (Takes 8 & 7)"</a> mp3<br />
by Elvis Presley, 1973.<br />
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00COCY67A/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00COCY67A&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Elvis At Stax</a> </i> <br />
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<a href="http://www.tedbarron.com/BWF-2014-1/06-If-You.mp3" target="_blank">"If You Don't Come Back"</a> (Take 3)"<br />
by Elvis Presley, 1973.<br />
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00COCY67A/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00COCY67A&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Elvis At Stax</a> </i> <br />
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<a href="http://www.tedbarron.com/BWF-2014-1/07-Talk-In-Your-Sleep.mp3" target="_blank">"If You Talk In Your Sleep"</a> mp3<br />
by Elvis Presley, 1973.<br />
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000002WUD/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000002WUD&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Walk a Mile in My Shoes: The Essential 70's Masters</a> </i>Ted Barronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975741901400619750noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35422342.post-86920024858312995192013-11-27T21:15:00.000-05:002013-11-27T21:17:08.927-05:00The Importance of Being Arlo<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh738ODAp04sWTFIfixcHoaR4tR90VVxnWOm-C6E8rFwFNxgp-bUZYyE5GiXdKobaEJLIHRHyytOVv0cZTDO33hd60LnOEUNbhR3Iqynm5QtAtRySmJ64TrzdUZyGWcwt4jx4El7w/s1600/alices-restaurant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="327" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh738ODAp04sWTFIfixcHoaR4tR90VVxnWOm-C6E8rFwFNxgp-bUZYyE5GiXdKobaEJLIHRHyytOVv0cZTDO33hd60LnOEUNbhR3Iqynm5QtAtRySmJ64TrzdUZyGWcwt4jx4El7w/s400/alices-restaurant.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
by <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592407153/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1592407153&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Jesse Jarnow</a><br />
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I can't really put a finger on my earliest memories of hearing Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant Thanksgiving Day Massacree" the same way I can sometimes conjure the primal textures of my first exposures to the Beatles or the Pete Seeger LPs my parents played (at my demand) repeatedly. I remember my father singing "The Motorcycle Song," maybe, as a lullaby. I might be making that up. Perhaps it was just on some family trip. I have vague sleepy recollections of seeing Guthrie with Seeger at Carnegie Hall at one (or several?) of their Thanksgiving concerts in the early '80s and Seeger hollering a solo <i>a capella</i> song while chopping through a small piece of wood with an axe, which was actually quietly terrifying at the time and, in retrospect, also kind of badass. Their double-live album <i>Together in Concert</i> likewise provides my personal platonic Proustian memory: the particular smell of LP cover cardboard trapping the thin plastic sleeves Warner Brothers used during the early '80s. Also, an excellent solo piano version of Guthrie doing Steve Goodman's "City of New Orleans" with Seeger (or a lightly overdubbed second Arlo?) joining with not-quite-gusto on the choruses.<br />
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But I didn't come to tell you about snorting the musty insides of record jackets or great cover songs. I came to tell you about "Alice's Restaurant."<br />
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One homesick autumn early in college, probably right near Thanksgiving time, I used some pre-Napster file-borrowing technology to nab an mp3 of the straight-up 18:20 album recording of Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant," likely one of the first 10 mp3s I ever downloaded. And somehow, miraculously, it has survived at least 10 laptops and countless panicked harddrive failures and, a decade-and-a-half later, still exists on my harddrive: a profoundly lo-fi 128 kbps rip of the song, untagged with an album or a track number, and with a sound as distinct to my ears as the familiar crackle of a record. <i>My</i> "Alice." (Eat it, Walter Benjamin, and download it below.)<br />
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When I listened in college, I realized that I pretty much knew all of "Alice," word for word, beat for beat, with full orchestration and proverbial five-part harmony, in some deep down part of me. Later, I appropriated my parents' thrashed <i>Alice</i> LP, held together with yellowing library tape, with its liner notes about "Arlo's folk-style Bar Mitzvah, which was held when he was about 13 1/2 years old in a Second Avenue dance studio loft on New York's lower East Side. Woody was there. So was Cisco Houston, Pete Seeger, The Weavers, and many others. Arlo was ushered into manhood with songs, guitar-pickin', square dancing, harmonica playing, and ritual blessings in what was the first (and probably the only) Hootenanny Bar Mitzvah in history."<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD7kT1vPvDqbl2a_GzTMQs1Hov5pDFvFHBQvN0rriU3_6kg6UD0vhSiCt2p9QTNQ4ILZfcoLkYzaTZRyTzPrNSbnGr_fb6hcT5U6ww3fxT_b5x2l3pQGkQfc3Os3UvFoxCKrXwfA/s1600/alices-restaurant-530-111910.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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Arlo's "sweet young rabbi" was a 20-something Meir Kahane, about eight years from founding the ultra-radical Jewish Defense League, their logo a raised fist inside a Star of David. "Rabbi Kahane was a really nice, patient teacher," Guthrie recalled to the <i>Jewish Journal</i> in 2004. "But shortly after he gave me my lessons, he started going haywire. Maybe I was responsible."<br />
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I was never Bar Mitzvahed. But as the product of a secular hippie upbringing, it was hundreds (thousands?) of memorized texts precisely like "Alice's Restaurant" that helped map my emerging worldview. Sometimes, their ingestion was self-guided and systematic, other times circumstantial and a product of the traditions of the world around me. Alice and the rest-terr-awwnt undoubtedly fell mostly under the latter. Probably, I'm not alone. Guthrie has called "Alice" an "anti-stupidity" song, and it's hard to miss that didactic aspect of the folk-tale. But--as I'd started to observe around college-time--it was also so plainly and obviously a really tight, excellent piece of writing that transmitted content, personality, style and pure lulz. Every single word was jiggled into its proper rhythmic place. Like Hunter S. Thompson's <i>Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas</i>, "Alice" was an extended stoned reverie edited to devastating effect.<br />
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The first known recording of the song, from early 1966 at Gerde's Folk City, has a 19-year old Arlo running down a ten-minute, molasses slow version that's predominantly an extended riff on how the word of "Alice's Restaurant" might spread from MacDougal and Bleecker Streets to Greenwich Village to the west side, downtown and uptown, and beyond. There are a few familiar phrasings and Guthrie's got a Coney Island cowboy drawl that sounds awfully familiar, but there's not much to it. By February, though, if the dates on these recordings are correct, Guthrie had debuted an expanded "Alice" on Bob Fass's Radio Unnameable on New York's WBAI.<br />
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The song is far faster and jumpier than what Guthrie would record a year later, its creator clearly giddy with his new creation, which is almost totally complete. It's so fast that the rhythms and phrasings of Guthrie's word torrents reveal themselves and one can easily imagine a pepped-up Arlo dinging the song out on a typewriter with the guitar pattern running on an endless, obsessive loop in his head. It's almost entirely there, the pauses and self-interruptions, as nuanced as a screenplay by Joel and Ethan Coen. But it's not all there either. Some punchlines don't quite work, some line-breaks need to be elongated. The real measure of the song's strength is exactly how well Guthrie remembers it all. It might sound like a ramble, but "Alice" is a <i>song</i> with verses and lyrics that run in nearly exact clockwork precision atop its changes. Some of the time.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD7kT1vPvDqbl2a_GzTMQs1Hov5pDFvFHBQvN0rriU3_6kg6UD0vhSiCt2p9QTNQ4ILZfcoLkYzaTZRyTzPrNSbnGr_fb6hcT5U6ww3fxT_b5x2l3pQGkQfc3Os3UvFoxCKrXwfA/s1600/alices-restaurant-530-111910.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD7kT1vPvDqbl2a_GzTMQs1Hov5pDFvFHBQvN0rriU3_6kg6UD0vhSiCt2p9QTNQ4ILZfcoLkYzaTZRyTzPrNSbnGr_fb6hcT5U6ww3fxT_b5x2l3pQGkQfc3Os3UvFoxCKrXwfA/s400/alices-restaurant-530-111910.jpg" width="400" /></a> <br />
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The matching album was released in September 1967, but it was already an underground hit, if not before Guthrie's Newport Folk Festival appearance in August, then certainly by its conclusion. And he was already growing weary of his masterpiece. On a recording from October 1st of that year at the Bitter End, only a few weeks after its official issue, the crowd claps wildly when Guthrie strikes up the song. "You don't know which version I'm gonna do," he warns, "and there's nobody that likes all three versions," adding, "When you play it for two years, three times a night, you've gotta do a lot to get into it," and the crowd laughs nervously. He runs through the changes a bunch of times while he decides, takes a mental breath, and plunges into "Alice"'s familiarly appointed rabbit hole of Thanksgiving dinner at the church, Officer Obie, littering, and Guthrie's draft inspection at Whitehall Street in New York City.<br />
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On another version of the song, recorded in and released on the live album <i>Tales of '69</i>, the year "Alice" got a movie adaptation by Arthur Penn and the LP cracked the actual bonafide mainstream top 20, Guthrie repeats a similar spiel. "Nobody likes all three," he says, this time continuing, "the last time we all clapped before we knew what song it was, we elected Lyndon Johnson President of the United States," and this time, it's a very different rabbit hole. Instead of the "Masacree," we get the "Multi-Colored Rainbow Roach Affair."<br />
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It is the "Dark Star" of the Arlo Guthrie canon, where the folksinger simply goes <i>out</i>, improvising on phrases and themes over the "Alice" pattern, keeping the vague pretense of narrative but almost immediately dissolving into maddening, disconnected story-streams that lie on the dreamy horizon line between half-baked and way super-duper-mega-baked. A charitable (and not inaccurate) description of Guthrie's babble would be "Pynchon-like." I dozed off while listening to one version on headphones on a long train ride and kept waking into jagged and unpleasant half-consciousness to Guthrie singing about miss-iyle explosions in the sky, the remains "dumped on the White House lawn where all the fragments are put into little jars according to what kind of fragments they was. There was Russian, Green, Red, there were all kiiiiiinds of fragments…"<br />
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Likely, Guthrie ditched the "Multi-Colored Rainbow Roach Affair" not too long thereafter, when he jettisoned his story-songs for a more proper career singering and songwritering and Arlo-ing. "Alice" stayed behind, too, both a genuine pop culture phenomenon and an achievement unparalleled by, say, Woody Guthrie or Bob Dylan: an 18-minute campfire singalong for red diaper babies and public radio listeners of all stripes.<br />
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This Thanksgiving, the last time it will coincide with Hanukkah for 77,798 years, let us offer thanks for folk-pop phenomena that keep on giving almost five decades later, for good writing, for fundamental and ancient anti-stupidity parables, for holiday songs, and for Arlo. But let us also give thanks for the "Multi-Colored Rainbow Roach Affair," for stoned rambles that <i>don't</i> transform into parables, for first drafts, and for bizarre holiday traditions of all kinds that still leave plenty of room for editing.<br />
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Download: <br />
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"<a href="http://www.tedbarron.com/BWF-2013-11/06-Alice-Gerde.mp3" target="_blank">Alice's Restaurant" (early version)</a> mp3<br />
by Arlo Guthrie<br />
at Gerde's Folk City, early 1966<br />
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<a href="http://www.tedbarron.com/BWF-2013-11/07-Alice-Unnameable.mp3" target="_blank">"Alice's Restaurant Massacree"</a> mp3<br />
by Arlo Guthrie<br />
at Radio Unnameable with Bob Fass, 2/26/66<br />
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<a href="http://www.tedbarron.com/BWF-2013-11/08-Alice-Multi-Colored-Rainbow-Roach-Affair.mp3" target="_blank">"Alice's Restaurant Multi-Colored Rainbow Roach Affair"</a> mp3<br />
by Arlo Guthrie with Ramblin' Jack Elliot<br />
at Radio Unnameable with Bob Fass, 5/67<br />
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<a href="http://www.tedbarron.com/BWF-2013-11/09-Alices-Restauraunt-Massacree.mp3" target="_blank">"Alice's Restaurant Massacree"</a> (degraded mp3 version) mp3<br />
by Arlo Guthrie, 1967.<br />
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000002KOA/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000002KOA&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Alice's Restaurant</a></i><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/FeMiy1djrJY" width="399"></iframe><br />
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<a href="http://www.tedbarron.com/BWF-2013-11/10-Should-See-The-Mountain.mp3" target="_blank">"If I Should Ever See The Mountain"</a> mp3 <br />
by Arlo Guthrie, 1969.<br />
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002NDO1NE/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002NDO1NE&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Tales of '69</a></i><br />
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<a href="http://www.tedbarron.com/BWF-2013-11/11-City-New-Orleans.mp3" target="_blank">"City of New Orleans"</a> mp3<br />
by Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger, , 1975.<br />
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000VNMSAQ/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000VNMSAQ&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Together in Concert</a></i>Ted Barronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975741901400619750noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35422342.post-17980673373774791242013-11-04T15:27:00.000-05:002013-11-05T15:25:26.644-05:00What's Good<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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by <a href="http://sparklestreet.com/MikeDecapite.html" target="_blank">Mike DeCapite</a></div>
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My conversion experience came when I was about sixteen, I guess. It wasn’t the first time I’d heard Lou Reed——I’d bought <i>Coney Island Baby</i> when it came out, and I’d bought <i>Loaded</i> but couldn’t make out what all the fuss was about (I still can’t). But I brought home <i>White Light/White Heat</i> and had time to play it only once before I had to tear myself away to go out to dinner with my parents. I sat bouncing on the edge of the backseat of that old Impala, just vibrating with excitement after hearing “Sister Ray”——shivering with it, experiencing some kind of aesthetic orgasm. Someone had finally told the truth about something I’d always known, even if I didn’t know I knew it, and then kept going for seventeen minutes so I had time to get used to the fact that someone had done it and admit to myself that this is who I was. From the first chord, I was home.<br />
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There was nothing unfamiliar about those songs——they opened a window onto where you were living already in your head. They were exactly what you were interested in, exactly what you’d been looking for——exactly what was needed. Who <i>wouldn’t</i> wanna be in the middle of that scene with Cecil and his new piece and the sailor and the bloodstains on the carpet and an arm full of speed and someone sucking on your ding dong? Is it any less than you deserve? Who doesn’t want and <i>expect</i> the freedom to fuck and dress as he or she or he-she pleases? Who <i>wouldn’t</i> play guitar like on “What Goes On,” if you could play the guitar? (Okay, every other guitar player, I guess, but screw them. That’s how <i>I’d</i> do it.) The surprising thing about the songs was their perfect inevitability, both the sound of them and what they were “about.” It’s like they were finally letting go of the good stuff, the real stuff——you know, not one part good stuff to four parts bullshit but everyone in the band doing the perfect thing——you never knew you could get it so pure. Every note the Velvets played was exactly what you wanted——your own desires coming back to you. They were the musical version of the question Burroughs used to ask: <i>Wouldn’t you?</i><br />
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People are always describing Lou Reed as the Dark Prince of this or that, as the man who broke the taboos and who wrote about heroin when the Beatles were writing about, I dunno, the circus. But those are adult taboos. What kid is shocked by these things? The only shocking thing about those songs is that they described drug abuse and S&M and homosexuality and transexuality and found <i>nothing shocking</i> there, and they allowed you to admit that you, too, found nothing shocking there. Why would you? You’re a kid, you take the world as it comes. You’re putting the world together for yourself——what do you stand for? Who wouldn’t want to be the kind of person who took the humanity of these people and the intensity of their lives with immediate, unblinking acceptance, as a given? Lou didn’t <i>explain</i> his world and you didn’t need him to. He allowed his subjects and you the dignity of not explaining his world and thereby made it yours.<br />
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Maybe twenty-five years later, I caught myself standing stopped in my tracks in the middle of a room in San Francisco while a CD played, and I overheard myself say, “How many times can a person <i>listen </i>to ‘What Goes On’ in his life?” By then I had the usual mixed feelings about Lou Reed, best captured in the single syllable used as currency by those of us who’ve carried a torch for him for all these years: “Lou.”<br />
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If you’re reading this, you know all about it. (If you don’t, or you want to remind yourself of what was so great about him after the Velvets, go listen to some of his solo stuff, not just “Walk on the Wild Side” but also <i>Coney Island Baby</i> and “Temporary Thing” and “High in the City” and “Romeo Had Juliette” and “Halloween Parade,” and the monologue on “Street Hassle” and the wave of fear that blows across “Perfect Day” like a cloud moving across the sun, and the way he drops taped conversations into “Kicks” and “All Through the Night,” and the precision guitars on “What’s Good,” and the joyful leads he squeezes out on “I Love You, Suzanne” and “Outside,” and the serrated roar he lets rip on the <i>Take No Prisoners</i> version of “Satellite of Love,” and his guitar part on Antony’s “Fistful of Love,” which I’d trade for everything else he did in the last 20 years.) He made records so bad you don’t even want them in the house, but nothing’s made a dent in his cool. He was bigger than his songs. Maybe his real achievement was his aura. Couple of years ago I was talking to June, my girlfriend, bitching about getting old, and I said something like “Nobody’s cool past fifty.” And she said, “Look at Lou Reed: who’s cooler than him?” The answer was no one, and the proof was that he’s the one who’d first sprung to her mind.<br />
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Speaking of getting old, I find that now as I look back over these songs, what I get from them is a certain feeling for the world, a canny, street-level humanity, a basic New York understanding that life is for the living and worth it, a kind of twinkle that reminds me to be of good cheer. What’s good? Lou Reed. Lou Reed was one of the good things about life. Is.<br />
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A long time ago, <a href="http://andrewklimeyk.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Andrew Klimeyk</a> wrote me in a letter that the VU songs were his hymns. He said he could imagine a world without airplanes or telephones, but he couldn’t imagine a world without “Pale Blue Eyes.” This morning I took the train over the Williamsburg Bridge——I hadn’t been home in a couple of weeks because I had someone staying at my place——and I looked up from what I was reading and saw that suddenly all the trees tossing in the wind were red and brown and yellow——there wasn’t a green leaf in sight. It’s autumn and that’s that. The other day<a href="http://boogiewoogieflu.blogspot.com/2009/08/neptunes-car.html" target="_blank"> Doug Morgan</a> wrote this to me: “His passing lends truth to the cliché ‘Time heals all wounds.’ I even forgive him <i>Rock n</i> <i>Roll Animal</i>, whatever that is. I think the VU were the ‘perfect accident’: if you see something, say something, because you’re never coming back.”<br />
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So long, Lou.<br />
Sha la la, man.<br />
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Download:</div>
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<a href="http://www.tedbarron.com/BWF-2013-11/01-What-Goes-On.mp3" target="_blank">"What Goes On"</a> mp3</div>
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by The Velvet Underground, 1969.</div>
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available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000001FOD/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000001FOD&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">1969: The Velvet Underground Live</a></i></div>
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<a href="http://www.tedbarron.com/BWF-2013-11/02-Coney-Island-Baby.mp3" target="_blank">"Coney Island Baby"</a> (alternate version) mp3</div>
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by Lou Reed, 1975.</div>
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available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GG4XHO/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000GG4XHO&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Coney Island Baby</a></i></div>
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<a href="http://www.tedbarron.com/BWF-2013-11/03-Street-Hassle.mp3" target="_blank">"Street Hassle"</a> mp3</div>
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by Lou Reed, 1978.</div>
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000026A1H/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000026A1H&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Street Hassle</a></i><br />
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<a href="http://www.tedbarron.com/BWF-2013-11/04-I-Remember-You.mp3" target="_blank">"I Remember You"</a> mp3<br />
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by Lou Reed, 1986.</div>
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000008JVH/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000008JVH&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Mistrial</a></i><br />
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<a href="http://www.tedbarron.com/BWF-2013-11/05-Whats-Good.mp3" target="_blank">"What's Good"</a> mp3<br />
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by Lou Reed, 1992.</div>
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000002LQD/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000002LQD&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Magic And Loss</a></i><br />
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top photo: Andy Warhol, <i>Screen Test: Lou Reed</i>, 1966.<br />
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other photo: by Michael Zagaris, 1974.<br />
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Andy Warhol. Screen Test: Lou Reed (1966).</div>
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Andy Warhol. Screen Test: Lou Reed (1966). </div>
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Andy Warhol. Screen Test: Lou Reed (1966). </div>
Ted Barronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975741901400619750noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35422342.post-57787771181426466582013-09-16T01:15:00.003-04:002013-09-16T12:29:56.741-04:00For Me to Miss One Would Seem to Be Groundless<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-wRjSoQtWR8Jl3mvJ7tYCTj0IP1wn1y5TPK5XmI5o6Z_BSGPMsbOaRhg_1M7mJVPM2ixpXCKuIfL8Nlx_67Hu3XpUeSqW2ur2yAs_nqhOmEURL_pUKYU1jgC6bSOskmrd3fojvQ/s1600/VU.CRAYON.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-wRjSoQtWR8Jl3mvJ7tYCTj0IP1wn1y5TPK5XmI5o6Z_BSGPMsbOaRhg_1M7mJVPM2ixpXCKuIfL8Nlx_67Hu3XpUeSqW2ur2yAs_nqhOmEURL_pUKYU1jgC6bSOskmrd3fojvQ/s400/VU.CRAYON.jpg" width="398" /></a></div>
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by Will Rigby<br />
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I started getting serious about listening to music (i.e., reading about it and listening to more than just what was on AM radio) around the age of 14, in 1970. One of the earliest copies of <i>Rolling Stone</i> I bought had the review (by Lenny Kaye) of <i>Loaded</i>, the fourth and final studio album (at least while Lou Reed was a <a href="http://theworstalbumsever.tumblr.com/post/23372698174/the-velvet-underground-squeeze-released" target="_blank">member</a>) by the Velvet Underground. I had probably seen the band's name before, but had never heard the music and knew nothing about them. I didn't hear this record right away, and the next thing we heard was that Lou Reed had quit. But with the invaluable guidance of <a href="https://myspace.com/littledieselmusic/music/songs" target="_blank">Bob Northcott</a> (fellow enthusiast and first bandmate), within a year I understood what was great about them and knew the words to "Sweet Jane" and "Rock and Roll"; before much longer I'd acquired the first two albums and was well on my way to musical degeneracy and apostasy, in the best way.<br />
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In the present age—with instant access to millions of books, almost any song that has ever been recorded, any TV show or movie or work of visual art ever made—it may be hard to appreciate how difficult it could be in 1972 to find/hear an out-of-print record. The search for <i>The Velvet Underground</i> became something of a holy quest for Bob and me. It felt like an eternity but probably took less than a year and a half to get our hands on it, which was done by sending away for lists of cut-out (discontinued and discounted), rare, and bootleg records advertised in little classified ads in the back pages of mags like <i>Creem</i> and <i>Circus</i>. We eventually located two copies of the US LP and two of the UK LP at the same time via mail order, one of each for both of us.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjZIkXEl6UQ8HNp36lXjkZCjnypIkFvnfTYchnbn5GF1W51ZFgwpixx8gf0WbW8-psWzYE8uL06sVZINq7blCi8fAjk0CiTSXZAIEwIjk-F2VHrQ4IWHTs6DpDMnsQVQq72drzgQ/s1600/velvet-underground-1969.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjZIkXEl6UQ8HNp36lXjkZCjnypIkFvnfTYchnbn5GF1W51ZFgwpixx8gf0WbW8-psWzYE8uL06sVZINq7blCi8fAjk0CiTSXZAIEwIjk-F2VHrQ4IWHTs6DpDMnsQVQq72drzgQ/s400/velvet-underground-1969.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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In 2013 Bob remembers, but I don't, that the two records sounded different. My UK copy is long gone in one of several rent-party record sales, but I still have that US record and it is this version that I literally grew up listening to. Its very obscurity endeared it to me in a way that only collector types can understand. Thankfully, by the twenty-first century the third VU album had assumed its rightful place of esteem and importance with its brethren. I need not add more to the many who recognize the importance of these four albums, and the fact—astonishing to this day—that none of them is remotely similar to the others.<br />
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I can't claim anything but obliviousness that I was unaware of the two versions of the album. The mixes are noticeably different on several of the songs (vocal levels, amount of reverb, etc.); the fact is discussed in the book accompanying the 1995 box set <i>Peel Slowly and See</i>; and the Wikipedia <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Velvet_Underground_%28album%29" target="_blank">page</a> for the album mentions the different versions of "Some Kinda Love." And I had both forty years ago! What I think of as the "original" version is considered the "alternate" version. Sterling Morrison dubbed the mixes on the US LP the "closet mix," a sobriquet he did not mean as a compliment. The single-CD release features (and has since at least the '90s) what are considered the "correct" mixes, known as the (recording engineer) Val Valentin mixes. However, <i>Peel Slowly and See</i> has the "closet mix" of the entire album, the one I'm used to.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC71MLAln87hR1-8VHYBKGbSgXxAbj8hYwxzMdmg1ohoO7OHV9NP5p3XCIkcl9C_jg8kZTX1UnHL0vcB_cwVobccgTJv_f7y6wjqZRnK841FjsZ1cvs5QJWHZQcNceaXMprYtR2g/s1600/The%252BVelvet%252BUnderground%252BVelvet%252BUnderground%252B%252B1969.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC71MLAln87hR1-8VHYBKGbSgXxAbj8hYwxzMdmg1ohoO7OHV9NP5p3XCIkcl9C_jg8kZTX1UnHL0vcB_cwVobccgTJv_f7y6wjqZRnK841FjsZ1cvs5QJWHZQcNceaXMprYtR2g/s400/The%252BVelvet%252BUnderground%252BVelvet%252BUnderground%252B%252B1969.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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But when, a few months ago, I noticed that there was a second <i>version</i> of "Some Kinda Love" it was revelatory to me, regardless of the fact that it took me so long. The "closet" version has what I consider one of Lou Reed's two or three best vocal performances ever; by contrast, on the Val Valentin mix/take Lou sounds congested, perhaps even with a cold. The fact that both his book of lyrics and an early Lou Reed box set are titled <i>Between Thought and Expression</i>, a line from this song, suggest that Lou agrees with me that this is one of his most poetic lyrics ever. On the "closet" version, Lou's up-close, almost whispered vocal exudes confidence, conviction, imagination, wit, and sounds like someone who knows he's at the top of his game. The mmmms and oooohs and "la tee ta ta ta"s and the falsetto "lie down upon the carpet" display a brilliant vocalist (as differentiated from great singer in the technical/traditional sense) at work. If this is a "closet," more people should record in one. <br />
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The Val Valentin version is good, too—any studio recording by the VU is important, there's at least one lyric variation ("combines the absurd with the vulgar"), it's always good to hear more Sterling Morrison licks, and Lou mumbles a couple of spontaneous things at the end that I can't make out—but the other version is so much better that it boggles my mind that anyone would've chosen to release it instead of a vastly superior, remarkable performance. However, I'm truly thrilled to "discover" another version of one of my favorite VU songs (and likewise boggled how long it took me to notice). There are at least four released live versions of the song as well, but for vocal performance the "closet" version stands head and shoulders above all.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXtztEfGPBz3qmgT7hP3TlFCASV8gYPqbWor-0BsjXPfCXRpU1t3dpjUUSHcHe-aJtECYnmSkumRH2zxlmKUEzHwYGwhaz-CATqvH-B_Fh2xst_kOy7pV8ilL_n-ANv6XmyUagbw/s1600/VU69.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="393" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXtztEfGPBz3qmgT7hP3TlFCASV8gYPqbWor-0BsjXPfCXRpU1t3dpjUUSHcHe-aJtECYnmSkumRH2zxlmKUEzHwYGwhaz-CATqvH-B_Fh2xst_kOy7pV8ilL_n-ANv6XmyUagbw/s400/VU69.jpg" width="400" /></a> <br />
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Download:<br />
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<a href="http://www.tedbarron.com/BWF-2013-9/01-Some-Kinda-Closet-Mix.mp3" target="_blank">"Some Kinda Love"</a> (Closet Mix) mp3<br />
by The Velvet Underground, 1969.<br />
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000002GM5/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000002GM5&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Peel Slowly & See</a></i><br />
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<a href="http://www.tedbarron.com/BWF-2013-9/02-Some-Kinda-Love.mp3" target="_blank">"Some Kinda Love"</a> (Val Valentin mix) mp3<br />
by The Velvet Underground, 1969.<br />
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000002G7G/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000002G7G&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">The Velvet Underground</a></i>Ted Barronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975741901400619750noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35422342.post-15441167716636015112013-05-24T23:29:00.000-04:002013-05-26T01:20:10.495-04:00Maggie's Farm<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEvPCe4ASzIoyUk9doDQqzM6XYDX2Vphrfsc6pK8FM-o649LCMA4PuDjhjzAnHhEPG8x_ODYhEh1x4t9pn-LTLTrdZP81YQqz6xan3YOeVoi6hU-ABPgK8xvVp7izgwrEc-Y0Lqg/s1600/Linda+Gayle+Linda3.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEvPCe4ASzIoyUk9doDQqzM6XYDX2Vphrfsc6pK8FM-o649LCMA4PuDjhjzAnHhEPG8x_ODYhEh1x4t9pn-LTLTrdZP81YQqz6xan3YOeVoi6hU-ABPgK8xvVp7izgwrEc-Y0Lqg/s400/Linda+Gayle+Linda3.jpg" width="327" /></a><br />
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When Bob Dylan famously "went electric" at the Newport Folk Festival in July of 1965, he debuted his rock and roll self with a barnstorming version of "Maggie's Farm." Recorded and released earlier that year on <i>Bringing It All Back Home</i> with a band, it swings mid- tempo in the new folk-rock idiom that Dylan was very briefly moving through. When he performed it for the first time at Newport with a hard-ass band featuring Mike Bloomfield, and members of the Butterfield Blues Band, he picked up the tempo and delivered it with Bloomfield's incendiary guitar playing at a volume that caught the unsuspecting folk-fest crowd off-guard. The rest is history, as they say, and whether Pete Seeger really tried to cut the power cables with an axe, or the crowd were booing him for betraying some staid idea of what they thought he should be, is still up for debate. The template was set, and his new record, <i>Highway 61 Revisited,</i> set for release a few weeks after this engagement, would unleash the full "thin wild mercury sound," an aesthetic largely derived from the Chess Records electric blues sides of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Sonny Boy Williamson.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="299" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/izodh_djsUI" width="399"></iframe> <br />
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<a href="http://www.tedbarron.com/BWF-2013-5/01-Maggies-Farm.mp3" target="_blank">"Maggie's Farm"</a> mp3<br />
by Bob Dylan, 1965.<br />
available on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000A4AWRW/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000A4AWRW&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">No Direction Home: The Bootleg Series Vol.7</a><br />
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"Maggie's Farm," like many of Dylan's compositions, has been interpreted
and recorded by a variety of artists across many genres, including
Solomon Burke (whose version came out concurrently with Dylan's) Flatt
and Scruggs, and The Specials, who invoked a different tyrannical Maggie
of 1980's England. Also recorded and released in late 1965 is a
version by Linda Gayle which I present to you here. I was recently
hipped to this version by my friend Phast Phreddie Patterson, a source
of many things hip and relatively unknown. I don't know much about her,
and no, she's not <i>Linda Gail Lewis</i> of Ferriday Louisiana.
Interestingly though, it's produced by Columbia staff producer Bob
Johnston, who was Dylan's producer for the latter part of 1965 through
1970, but not on the original version of "Maggie's Farm," which was
recorded with Tom Wilson at the helm. Gayle's version is also a
scorcher, and starts with a pretty string arrangement before it takes
off into garageland with a buzzsaw guitar and vocal delivery reminiscent
of Wanda Jackson or a pissed off punk Dolly Parton. I'm not sure words can aptly describe this record. It's a killer and will catch you off guard much the same way the Dylan's
audience had their little minds blown wide open at Newport forty eight
years ago this summer.<br />
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Happy Birthday Bob.<br />
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<a href="http://www.tedbarron.com/BWF-2013-5/02-Maggies-Farm.mp3" target="_blank">"Maggie's Farm"</a> mp3<br />
by Linda Gayle, 1965.<br />
out of printTed Barronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975741901400619750noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35422342.post-720333160961344462013-03-17T19:46:00.000-04:002013-03-18T07:59:16.904-04:00Earth Man Blues<br />
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Today, St. Patrick's Day, marks three years since Alex Chilton's
unexpected death. In his memory, I'm posting a record, that until very
recently I had never heard. <i>Earth Man Blues</i> by the somewhat
mysterious John Byrd Band, was recorded at Ardent in 1976 and released
the following year on the local Memphis label, Power Play. Alex is
listed as a "Guest Singer" in a band that includes John Byrd, Haines
Fullerton, Phil Gallina, and Rit Ritennour. The two songs are credited to
John Byrd, whomever that may be. Perhaps he is an invention of Alex (?) in
one of his many guises, in the year before he would release his Ork
single, produce The Cramps, play with Chris Stamey and the Cossacks in
New York, and eventually go on to begin recording his ramshackle
masterpiece, <i>Like Flies On Sherbet</i>. <br />
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The A-Side,
"Earth Man Blues," is sort of a white boy jazzy blues number with a
harmonica that nearly ruins it. It has a throwaway feel, but is saved by
Chilton's wry delivery a la <i>Bach's Bottom</i> where he goads the guitar player through a pedestrian solo, "Look out It's Byrd, I'm gonna have a fit!" The singer, as usual, is detached and
cracking himself up, and he likes it that way.<br />
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The
B-Side, "Friend At Very Good Time," is a pretty good post-Big Star folk
rock ditty that plods along sweetly to an acoustic guitar, probably
strummed by Chilton, with the refrain "You opened my mind to whiskey and
wine, and it's right back to blowing my mind." Sweet as it may be,
there's something amiss on both of these sides, which like most of Alex's mid
70s output, has a tension that threatens everything to fall apart, which is
what makes them interesting and compelling.<br />
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If any of you sleuths out there know anything about this band, feel free to illuminate me with the details.<br />
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Download:<br />
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<a href="http://www.tedbarron.com/BWF-2013-3/01-Earth-Man-Blues.mp3" target="_blank">"Earth Man Blues"</a> mp3<br />
by the John Byrd Band, 1977.<br />
Power Play 45<br />
out of print<br />
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<a href="http://www.tedbarron.com/BWF-2013-3/02-Friend-At-A-Very-Good-Time.mp3" target="_blank">"Friend At A Very Good Time"</a> mp3<br />
by the John Byrd Band, 1977.<br />
Power Play 45<br />
out of print<br />
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top photo: by Stephanie ChernikowskiTed Barronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975741901400619750noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35422342.post-30466725718763011532013-01-08T10:58:00.000-05:002013-01-09T09:51:50.608-05:00Down With the King: Black Folks & Elvis<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<i>Editors Note: Today is the 6th Anniversary of the Boogie Woogie Flu. I'd like to thank all of the talented contributors for helping me limp into another year as I continue to personally have little to say. I'm truly grateful for all the fine contributions I have received over the holidays, and today, from Michael Gonzales, an excellent piece I read in 2007 on his site <a href="http://blackadelicpop.blogspot.com/">Blackadelic Pop</a> which he has graciously let me republish on the occasion of what would have been Elvis' 78th Birthday. Happy Birthday Elvis and long live the BWF.</i><br />
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<i>********** </i><br />
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by<a href="http://blackadelicpop.blogspot.com/"> Michael A. Gonzales</a><br />
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<i>"Elvis was the king of rock 'n' roll, huh? I guess somebody forgot to tell the folks up in Harlem listening to James Brown</i>" — Black street comedian on 59th Street (circa 1986)"<br />
<br />
Elvis Presley was my nigga: forget the fact that on his dying day on August 16th, 1977, the so-called King of Rock 'n' Roll was grossly overweight and popping more pills than a pharmaceutical student. Definitely, it might be best to ignore the oft spoken truths that to this day linger like an unchained melody that define the master of hypnotic hips and unmovable hair as a momma's boy who boned teenaged girls years before R. Kelly was born, munched peanut butter and banana sandwiches, and blasted TV sets in the hallowed hotel rooms above the neon glow of Vegas.<br />
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Even if there are many folks that agreed with Brit-author Martin Amis when he wrote, "Elvis was a talented hick destroyed by success", to me he was so much more. Like the other Caucasians in my then-personal canon of pop culture cool (which included Sean Connery, Elton John, Henry Winkler, Charles Bronson and Clint Eastwood), Elvis had a style, swagger, and charisma that radiated beyond the confines of the television screen.<br />
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Though too young to recall the red, white and blue tears people wept when John F. Kennedy was assassinated, or the shattered glass streets of chocolate cities across America when Martin Luther King was slain, the untimely announcement of Elvis' last gasp rocked my world. Having dealt with death only a few times in my then young life (mother's suicidal friend Thomas, grandma's aged boyfriend Joe), I was devastated by the announcement of Elvis' demise. As my first rock idol in the days before I realized that black dudes were supposed to reject Presley on principle, I watched with rabid interest as folks across the country cried while sharing their favorite Elvis memories with the newscaster.<br />
<br />
In a Kodak flash, I relived those many late nights when me and baby brother would stay-up past our bedtime just to sneak peeks at the Elvis flicks that were broadcast occasionally in the midnight hour on the CBS Late Movie. From the fury of <i>Jailhouse Rock</i> to the kitsch of <i>Viva Las Vegas</i> to the goofiness of <i>Speedway</i>, we were both enthralled by the manic energy of Elvis. While mom had a monthly subscription to <i>Ebony</i> and <i>Sepia</i> magazines, and had even enrolled us in an after-school class in Black History, we never realized that we could be considered traitors to the race for digging the sounds of a guitar strumming bad boy standing on the hood of a stock car or tonguing down va-va-voom Ann Margret.<br />
<br />
Spending the latter part of the summer of '77 at Aunt Ricky's crib in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, where she, Uncle Ed and older cousin Denise were the only brown faces in the community, issues of race were never discussed. With the exception of the peaceful image of M.L.K. on Sunday morning church fans (a constant reminder that a mere few years before, down south brothers and sisters were still sitting in the back of the bus or being bitten by police dogs), there was no talk of integration, race relations or the countless student uprisings that still rumbled in colleges campuses.<br />
<br />
In her late-thirtes, Aunt Ricky was a beautiful brown-skinned woman with a wide smile, a thick body (Uncle Ed called her "butterball"), and a voice that had a stern singsong lilt that she used years later for preaching in the pulpit of a various churches in the wilds of Pennsylvania. Dressed in a multicolored housedress, Aunt Ricky leaned back in a brown living-room chair, exhaling heavily. Gazing at my emotional reaction to the news of Elvis' exploding heart, Aunt Ricky unexpectedly dropped a bomb on me. "You know, Elvis was a racist, right?" she declared. Without the hint of a smile, it was obvious she was serious as a bottle of moonshine.<br />
<br />
Turning away from the tear stained faces being transmitted from in front of the pearly gates of Graceland, I was puzzled. "You know", Aunt Ricky continued, "he once told a reporter, 'The only thing colored folks can do for me is shine my shoes and buy my records.' Now, if that's not racist, you tell me what is". In a low-talking voice that was damn near a Marlon mumble, I said, "That can't be true. Elvis would never say anything like that". Coming from the melting pot of New York City, I had never experienced, at least not to my knowledge, the kind of racism that still simmered on the other side of the George Washington Bridge. Other than a white cop, who had threatened to kick my black ass two years before (admittedly, I did call him a "pig" first, but that is a whole other tale), I had no idea that such strained relationships between the races still existed.<br />
<br />
"It's true", Aunt Ricky declared with so much conviction, one would have thought she had been in the room when the venomous words were supposedly uttered. "You know what they say?"<br />
<br />
"What's that?" I wondered.<br />
<br />
"White is right", she answered. Feeling betrayed by both Elvis and Aunt Ricky, I excused myself from the room. Personally, I didn't want to believe it, but who was I to question the wisdom of a grown-up?<br />
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Years later, I wondered why none of the adults in my life ever bothered to school us kids about the early days of black music, when a rowdy Negro named Ike Turner (whose 1951 "Rocket 88" was recorded at Sun Studios a few years before Elvis shuffled through those same doors) was considered the first true rock star. Not once did one of the elders put a copy of Little Richard's "Tutti Fruitti" on the stereo and declare, "This is the true king, kid. Now, bow down".<br />
<br />
In his masterful <i>Last Train to Memphis</i> (1994), author Peter Guralnick, cites a piece that appeared in <i>Jet</i> magazine on in 1957: "Tracing that rumored racial slur to its source was like running a gopher to earth." Some said Presley had said it in Boston, which Elvis had never visited. Some said it was on Edward Murrow's show, on which Elvis had never appeared. <i>Jet</i> sent Louie Robinson to the set of "Jailhouse Rock": "When asked if he ever made the remark, Mississippi-born Elvis declared: 'I never said anything like that, and people who know me know I wouldn't have said it".<br />
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Robinson then spoke to people "who were in a position to know" and heard from Dr W. A Zuber, "a Negro physician in Tupelo" that Elvis Presley used to "go round to Negro 'sanctified meetings'; from pianist Dudley Brooks that he "faces everybody as a man", and from Presley himself that he had gone to colored churches as a kid, churches like Reverend Brewster's, and that "he could honestly never hope to equal the musical achievements of Fats Domino or the Inkspots' Bill Kenny".<br />
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"To Elvis",<i> Jet</i> concluded in its August 1st, issue, "people are people regardless of race, color or creed."<br />
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In 1985, five years before composing his satirical anthem "Elvis is Dead", which featured a cameo from Little Richard, I met Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid. Flipping through the cluttered bins inside Sounds record shop on New York's sleazy St. Marks Place, I recognized the musician's wild styled locks and funky attire from a recent band photo published in the arty magazine <i>East Village Eye.</i><br />
<br />
After introducing myself, we chatted for about 20 minutes about movies, science fiction novels, and of course, music. "What do you do?" Vernon asked.<br />
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"Well, besides working at Tower Records, I'm a writer that doesn't write", I confessed.<br />
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"Me and some friends have started an organization called The Black Rock Coalition", Vernon said. "We're meeting this Saturday in the Village Voice offices. Perhaps you should come by".<br />
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"Yeah," I answered, not really understanding what he could possibility mean; Jimi Hendrix was dead and Sly Stone might as well have been, so what was this strange beast known as Black Rock? With the exception of Prince and the Bad Brains, I thought, how many others of color are doing the wild electric on stage or vinyl. "But, I'm not a musician. The only things I play are records," I said..<br />
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Chuckling, Vernon answered, "Don't worry 'bout that. Yeah, it's about the music, but it's also about so much more. We got filmmakers, writers, all kinds of folks. Just come over to the Voice offices about two o'clock or so".<br />
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Without a hint of irony, I showed-up at the B.R.C. meeting clad in sneakers, jeans, and a colorful t-shirt of Elvis' face superimposed on a Confederate flag. Standing on lower Broadway outside the newspaper offices with a collective of folks, I was uncomfortable. Feeling less bohemian than the rest of the bunch, I leaned against the wall and waited until it was time to file into the building.<br />
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A soulful clique of spirited people who would have a major influence over a generation of new jack artists developing their own personal cult-nat-freaky-deke-nu-blax-aesthetic, gathered on the sidewalk. The tribe included cultural critic Greg Tate, bluesman Michael Hill, trumpet player Flip Barnes, poet Tracie Morris, singer Cassandra Wilson, guitarist Jean Paul Bourelly, keyboardist Bruce Mack, producer Craig Street, bassist Melvin Gibbs, future musical genius Me'Shell Ndegeocello and, of course Vernon Reid.<br />
<br />
"Is that Elvis shirt supposed to be a joke?" asked a kooky looking dude with bugged eyes and dreadlocks. With a goofy voice that reminded me of Richard Pryor, he introduced himself as Darius James. A satirical performance artist who also wrote for lit-mag <i>Between C&D</i>, Darius would later pen the celebrated surreal novel <i>Negrophobia</i> and the semi-autobiographical history of '70s cinema <i>That's Blaxploitation: Roots of the Baadasssss 'Tude (Rated X by an All'Whyte Jury)</i>.<br />
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"Er, no," I answered. Slightly insulted, I lit a Newport.<br />
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"If I were you, I would tell people it was", Darius snorted. Embarrassed, I wanted to melt into the concrete like a black Santeria candle. "So, I guess you must be a fan of Otis Blackwell, huh?"<br />
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"Who?" I asked. God, why did all the weirdoes generate towards me, I wondered? "Otis, who..."<br />
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"Man, you wearin' that redneck on your shirt and you don't even know the real deal", Darius spat, droplets of spittle stained my glasses. Simultaneously reminding me of Daffy Duck and Goldie the Pimp, there was an endearing quality to his madness. "Otis was the bad piano playin' Brooklyn brother who wrote 'Don't Be Cruel' and 'All Shook Up'", Darius snickered. "Shit, I think your boy Elvis might have got them both for the price of a pickled pig foot, a fried chicken wing, and a bottle of cream soda. He might not have stole the soul, but he bought it mighty cheap".<br />
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"You're joking, right? 'Don't Be Cruel' was written by..."<br />
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"A black man!" Darius screamed, sounding like one of the sugar high kids on the Stevie Wonder track (from <i>Songs in the Key of Life</i>, 1976) of the same name. "Yeah, and he also wrote 'Great Balls of Fire,' 'Fever,' and 'Handy Man'. Dude had one bad songwriting mojo going down".<br />
<br />
"You're serious, right?" I asked.<br />
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"If I'm lying, I'm flying and believe me, I ain't no mothership. In fact, I ain't dropped acid since I was in high school in New Haven".<br />
<br />
Upstairs, the dank meeting room was filled-up to capacity. Me and my new buddy Darius sat next to one another and listened to lengthy rants for the next few hours: record company politics, lack of diversity on radio, the underrated power chords of former Funkadelic ax-men Mike Hampton and Eddie Hazel, finding a venue for a BRC fund-raiser, the color problem at MTV, racism in New York nightclubs and the frustration of defining "what exactly is Black Rock, anyway?"<br />
<br />
Like Amiri Baraka getting off the subway in Harlem to kick-start the Black Arts Movement in 1965, it was obvious that everyone in that room believed themselves to be a "pioneer of the new order". Fighting a rhythmic revolution that challenged the mainstream's fear of blackness (be it black music or black people), I was convinced the agenda of the Black Rock Coalition would change the world.<br />
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Twenty years later, though "Black Rock" is still a foster child fighting for acceptance, artists like Apollo Heights and Martha Redbone gives me hope for the future.<br />
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In a 2002 interview with rapper Chuck D., who dissed ("Elvis was a hero to most, but he never meant shit to me/You see, straight up racist that sucker was simple and plain") Presley on the classic Public Enemy track (which also served as the opening theme to Spike Lee's <i>Do the Right Thing</i>) "Fight the Power", said, "As a musicologist — and I consider myself one — there was always a great deal of respect for Elvis, especially during his Sun sessions . . . As black people, we all knew that. My whole thing was the one-sidedness - like, Elvis' icon status in America made it like nobody else counted. My heroes came from someone else. My heroes came before him. My heroes were probably his heroes. As far as Elvis being ' The King,' I couldn't buy that".<br />
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Certainly, the real issue is how come Elvis got anointed "The King", while Little Richard is seen as a hysterical sissy, Ike Turner is better known as a wife beater, and Chuck Berry is a musical footnote who once sang about his ding-a-ling. Still, this cultural Apartheid goes back further than Elvis' popularity: Count Basie vs. Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington vs. George Gershwin. Oh, and lets not forget the self-proclaimed King of Jazz, the aptly named Paul Whiteman.<br />
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Twenty-eight years after the pale-faced teddy bear Elvis suddenly slumped on the cold tiles, not much has changed on the pop-cult landscape. White is still right, which would surely explain why we're watching Eminem's <i>8 Mile</i> instead of <i>Live from Queensbridge: The Saga of Marly Marl</i>, Justin Timberlake is considered more of a soul stirrer than Carl Thomas, a frump like Fergie is a bigger star than Res, and most minority music writers are still relegated to the rear review pages of <i>Rolling Stone</i> and <i>Blender.</i><br />
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I just don't understand how me acknowledging the brilliance of Elvis or wailing timeless tracks like "Suspicious Minds" or "Heartbreak Hotel" when they blare through stereo speakers is going to change Planet Pop's perception of race and originality. Just be content that Elvis' gritty message song "In the Ghetto" hasn't been cited as the first rap record: the king is dead, long live the king.<br />
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**********<br />
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Download:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2013-1/01-In-The-Ghetto.mp3">"In The Ghetto"</a> mp3<br />
by Candi Staton, 1972.<br />
available on<i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004VV44HO/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004VV44HO" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Evidence: The Complete Fame Records Masters</a></i><br />
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bottom photo: Elvis with Junior Parker and Bobby Bland<br />
by Ernest Withers<br />
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other photos: photographer unknown<i><br /></i>Ted Barronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975741901400619750noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35422342.post-18487675703207220262012-12-15T16:30:00.000-05:002012-12-17T00:06:07.583-05:00Bert Berns' Seven-Year Itch<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv4lO5dY-F7cA19plt7DJJrSHVzAg0tA9S5LmE2CVQUWTWImDT6gztG0yH4MED-5QLfJ4bqz8sAx8OADjkYiuyEEb07f66YuRhKQfApXtJSm7GeQxHjguudN7HBcrTNWc-wKqgLQ/s1600/MrSuccessTheBertBern.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv4lO5dY-F7cA19plt7DJJrSHVzAg0tA9S5LmE2CVQUWTWImDT6gztG0yH4MED-5QLfJ4bqz8sAx8OADjkYiuyEEb07f66YuRhKQfApXtJSm7GeQxHjguudN7HBcrTNWc-wKqgLQ/s400/MrSuccessTheBertBern.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">by<a href="http://www.nyrocker.com/blog/"> Andy Schwartz</a></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">“Okay…so you scratch your head, you look at the guy who represents the company and he’s dead serious. Furthermore, he’s telling you all the sweet things a weary producer loves to hear: <i>‘Money’s no object…Get all the down cats you need…Just give ‘em soul.’</i> So you finish scratching your head and you reach for the nearest phone. You’re cooking, you’re really cooking! So you call Teacho Wiltshire to make the arrangements, and he says ‘okay.’ Then you get tensed up because it hits you like a rock about all the things you’ll need – songs, the right artists, the right sounds…<i>Give ‘em soul.</i> The next couple of days your desk is piled up with all the great R&B records of the past, including a few original things which will knock everyone out. And then, right smack between all that sweet confusion, all the empty and grotesque coffee containers and crushed cigarette butts, it was there. I mean <i>pow!</i>” </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Bert Berns, from his liner notes for Capitol LP <i>George Hudson Presents Give ‘Em Soul</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.nyrocker.com/blog/"></a></span></span><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Really, it’s all there, in his own words – maybe not the details, but the atmosphere of a Bert Berns production. You feel the sense of near–desperate improvisation, the need to make something out of nothing. The desk “piled up with all the great R&B records of the past” – the better to pinch a time–tested hook, riff, or chorus. The “original things that will knock everyone out” – because after all, the same Berns original (or a variation of it) already knocked everyone out the previous two times he cut it with other singers, and if it didn’t…hey, third time’s the charm, right?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And always, the insatiable demands of Capital: To give ‘em soul, or a Western–flavored folk song, or a Latin boogaloo, or a dance named for a zoo animal because that’s what’s happening <i>right now</i> or at least what somebody <i>thinks</i> might be happening in about three weeks which is when they’re planning to release this record he’s trying to create from nothing. The red light is on in the control room, the union clock is running, the studio bills are starting to pile up, but Bert is cooking, he’s really cooking and…<i>pow!</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In this hothouse atmosphere, <span style="font-size: small;">in</span> a career<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>that spanned just seven turbulent years, Bert Berns created a handful of songs and recordings that echo to the present day: “Twist and Shout” by the Isley Brothers, “My Girl Sloopy” by The Vibrations, “Here Comes The Night” by Them, “Piece Of My Heart” by Erma Franklin, “Brown–Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison, “Tell Him” by The Exciters.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">“His unique voice as a songwriter, producer and record man is so deeply ingrained into the fabric of pop music, it has become common parlance,” writes veteran music journalist Joel Selvin in the introduction to his forthcoming biography <i>Here Comes The Night: The Dark Soul of Bert Berns &; The Dirty Business Of Rhythm </i><span style="font-size: small;">&</span><i> Blues</i>. Berns’ songs, says Selvin, “have been covered, quoted, cannibalized, used as salvage parts and recycled so many times, his touch has just dissolved into the literature. His name may be lost, but his music is everywhere.”</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">There are the records everyone knows. There are the records everyone <i>should</i> know but that arrived stillborn, or expired soon after delivery: “My Tears Are Dry” by Hoagy Lands, “It’s Been A Long, Long Time” by Dotty Clark, Ben E. King’s searing “It’s All Over,” Lulu’s towering rendition of “Here Comes The Night.” And then there are the records that make you scratch your head – like the guy in the <i>Give ‘Em Soul</i> liner notes – and wonder who thought that sounded like some kind of a hit.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Time: There never seemed to be enough of it for the child born to a Russian Jewish immigrant couple in the Bronx on November 8, 1929, to whom his free–thinking father gave the name Bertrand Russell Berns in honor of the renowned British philosopher. Bert was fourteen when he contracted rheumatic fever, a condition that he knew even then would shorten his life.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">A bright but restless and inattentive student, he never graduated from his Miami boarding school. He liked to sing, play the piano, and strum his nylon–string acoustic guitar. Bert dug the big bands and Latin dance orchestras he heard at Grossinger’s, the fabled kosher Catskills resort where his parents were wed and where they spent every August for the rest of their lives. During a trip to Cuba in 1958, he immersed himself in the island’s rich musical culture: The chords of “Guantanamera” would form the basis for many a Bert Berns song to come. But at the age of 30, he was still living in his parents’ Bronx home, having failed at such music–related ventures as the first record by future Las Vegas lounge queen Eydie Gormé.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Things began to pop when an old–school music publisher, Robert Mellin, hired Bert to be his firm’s conduit to teenage music. Berns and the African–American songwriter Phil Medley came up with “Push Push,” recorded by Austin Taylor in a somewhat goofy but undeniably infectious production rife with Berns’ trademark Caribbean undertones. The Laurie Records release struggled to #90 on the Hot 100 – Bert’s first song to make the charts. September 1961 brought a career breakthrough when a Richmond VA group called the Jarmels made it all the way to #12 with his song “A Little Bit of Soap.”</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Bum ticker be damned: Bert Berns was off and running. In the summer of ’62, he took the Isley Brothers all the way to #2 with “Twist and Shout,” a Berns/Medley song and a Bert Berns production. On February 11, 1963, it became the last song recorded by the Beatles in nearly nine hours of recording for their debut album <i>Please Please Me.</i> (“Twist And Shout” was later covered by Johnny Rivers, Mae West, Booker T. & the MGs, The Mamas & Papas, and Rodney Dangerfield, among others.)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">All through the 1950s, Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler (along with Ahmet’s brother Nesuhi Ertegun and the gifted engineer Tom Dowd) had made musical history and impressive profits at Atlantic Records. Yet by early 1961, the label had turned stone cold and for eight long months failed to produce one Top Ten single; its two biggest stars, Ray Charles and Bobby Darin, both had defected to other companies.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It was Bert Berns who brought Atlantic back from the brink. Beginning with the December ’61 session that produced “Cry To Me,” Berns produced five consecutive Top 20 R&B songs for Solomon Burke including “If You Need Me” and “You’re Good For Me.” He succeeded Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller as producer of The Drifters, and brought forth “Under The Boardwalk,” “At The Club,” and “Saturday Night At The Movies.” Other Berns productions for The Vibrations and Patti LaBelle & the Bluebelles failed to hit big. But they served notice on the industry that Atlantic could still create great pop/r&b records in–house and not simply license masters from smaller labels (cf. Carla Thomas’ “Gee Whiz” on the fledgling Stax Records of Memphis).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">When Bert Berns made his second trip to England in October ’64, his fame as the co–composer of “Twist and Shout” preceded him. The brash, chain–smoking, toupee–topped producer was “an American archetype, a species entirely unknown in Britain – the Broadway record man,” writes Joel Selvin. “He reeked of Marlboros, cheap cologne and hit records...Berns called the shots and Decca’s rules were out.” Through his contacts at Decca Records, he hooked up with a band of Belfast hard cases called Them and their sawed–off lead singer Van Morrison; together they spent four days in the studio knocking Berns’ “Here Comes The Night” into shape. The single shot to #2 in the UK and even breached the US Top 30.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Berns’ original Atlantic version of his “My Girl Sloopy” by The Vibrations (co–written with Wes Farrell) only reached #26 R&B in ‘64, but the following year a rewrite of the song would become The McCoys’ #1 Pop smash “Hang On Sloopy.” The McCoys were on BANG, a new label founded by Berns with financial backing from the Atlantic partners and thus named for Bert, Ahmet, Nesuhi, and Gerald.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">BANG became the launching pad for a struggling Brooklyn singer/songwriter named Neil Diamond, lofting him into the Top 20 with five successive singles beginning with “Cherry Cherry” in the summer of ’66. Less than two years after “Here Comes The Night,” Them were yesterday’s papers – but Berns sensed the raw talent in Van Morrison, and produced the sessions that begat the Irishman’s US #10 hit “Brown Eyed Girl” and his BANG debut album<i> Blowin’ Your Mind!</i> – the one with the ugly pseudo– psychedelic cover and ten minutes of blues torment called “T.B. Sheets.”</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In his relentless climb to the top of the pops, Bert Berns had many helpers. Some were label owners, some were co–writers and publishers, some were studio musicians and engineers…and some were straight-up gangsters, to whom the fast–moving, streetwise record man turned for friendship, financing, and muscle. There was Tommy Eboli a/k/a Tommy Ryan, a mainstay of the Genovese family going back to the reign of Lucky Luciano; the Columbo underboss John “Sonny” Franzese; and Patsy Pagano, Berns’ lead negotiator with Jerry Wexler when the BANG/Atlantic relationship turned sour.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">We can only guess at the effect these dark eminences might have had on Bert Berns’ career in a post–Sgt. Pepper world. On December 30, 1967, he died of a massive heart attack at age 38, leaving behind his wife Ilene and three children, the youngest born just three weeks before.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In his 2011 book <i>Save The Last Dance For Satan</i>, Nick Tosches quotes Joe Smith of Warner Bros. Records on what it took to buy out Van Morrison’s contract from the tangled web of BANG that Berns left behind: “I had to meet a guy at six o’clock at night on the third floor of a warehouse on Tenth Avenue in Manhattan. The guy said to bring the money [$20,000]. I wasn’t feeling very good about that…” But the deal got done, no out–of–town record executives were killed or injured in the process, and in November 1968 Van Morrison released his Warner debut, <i>Astral Weeks</i>. To the best of my knowledge, Morrison has never spoken publicly about his relationship with Bert Berns, not even after “Brown Eyed Girl” was named to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2004.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Neil Diamond likewise remains silent. When in 2011 Sony Legacy released the outstanding and long–overdue anthology <i>Neil Diamond: The BANG Years, 1966–1968</i>, the singer wrote a reflective essay that fills fourteen pages of the accompanying booklet. In his text, Diamond name–checks everyone from his high school singing partner Jack Packer to studio engineer Brooks Arthur, while Bert Berns is referred to only as “an ‘independent producer’ (who unbeknownst to me had some nefarious silent partners)…” Elsewhere, Diamond refers to being signed by Jerry Wexler and to “being an artist on Atlantic Records” (which distributed BANG – Diamond never made a record on the Atlantic label).</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">“In the end, Berns’ career almost perfectly encapsulated the height of the New York independent record scene,” Joel Selvin summarizes. “He walked onstage in those days after the emergence of rock and roll when the New York music business utterly dominated the pop music universe. When he died seven turbulent years later, the day was done. Corporations started buying up the few independents still standing. New songwriters and new songs stocked the hit parade. The pop music world turned a page.”</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The man is gone, but the songs live on. No bullshit: They really do.<i> L’shanah tovah</i> and thank you, Bert Berns.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Download:</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqaPWMO39je7cQfKvtvZEFoudX_PySabgmiGXibJjxIbQC5eGOCBKoTnrgXtldSFTwQynEpXv9dVMSSoGJU3kXAQjDK6ps-H1yXGVXpBRwqzeFcjhDLG1_T_cnT8j11XCwU7yWJg/s1600/IMG_5304.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqaPWMO39je7cQfKvtvZEFoudX_PySabgmiGXibJjxIbQC5eGOCBKoTnrgXtldSFTwQynEpXv9dVMSSoGJU3kXAQjDK6ps-H1yXGVXpBRwqzeFcjhDLG1_T_cnT8j11XCwU7yWJg/s400/IMG_5304.JPG" width="396" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/Berns/01-Push-Push.mp3">"Push Push"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by Austin Taylor, 1960.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0010ZVOG8/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0010ZVOG8&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">The Bert Berns Story Volume 1: Twist & Shout 1960-1964</a></i></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjeQixGquelF6oV6vvozA5pVBG4OKeNMkl_JEy7BE_g6ro2KE8PiV0L_4trZkElqlDbSOGv0E9KaDLzobZAjUllchtYj7W-6R8HKUCVeEtLraqjfhj57hKcAdL7PpspMKq_2LlcQ/s1600/IMG_5310.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjeQixGquelF6oV6vvozA5pVBG4OKeNMkl_JEy7BE_g6ro2KE8PiV0L_4trZkElqlDbSOGv0E9KaDLzobZAjUllchtYj7W-6R8HKUCVeEtLraqjfhj57hKcAdL7PpspMKq_2LlcQ/s400/IMG_5310.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/Berns/02-You-Better.mp3">"You'd Better"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by Russell Byrd (Bert Berns), 1961.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0010ZVOG8/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0010ZVOG8&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">The Bert Berns Story Volume 1: Twist & Shout 1960-1964</a></i></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOC8QGRQdKclyKdS2Rpt50CwV9X_92eODp1huAwEdn-De1bPudXbXPTPZUVTgCV33RNTxQBBZthgmxu_JZUMSEgQKt-ucMSIKbsJ-t0-_AuJCfyDQEbe2F4wi1IJCT4alvHU2Usg/s1600/IMG_5267.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="397" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOC8QGRQdKclyKdS2Rpt50CwV9X_92eODp1huAwEdn-De1bPudXbXPTPZUVTgCV33RNTxQBBZthgmxu_JZUMSEgQKt-ucMSIKbsJ-t0-_AuJCfyDQEbe2F4wi1IJCT4alvHU2Usg/s400/IMG_5267.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/Berns/03-Pillow-Could-Talk.mp3">"If Your Pillow Could Talk"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by The Edsels, 1962.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">out of print</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGoWxjCJmJ81TcQMQ7ekscXu5xcqhpEZbPGPgIp8sux0J1E0rFN65SRJ6Oi8Ubb4PVXWiZCBbyvIfuIahrOVHkVINLF2h6le6Rkb4WwWKEqzbktoLIm0_WLy8g7Um_wULyc5pFBQ/s1600/IMG_5300.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGoWxjCJmJ81TcQMQ7ekscXu5xcqhpEZbPGPgIp8sux0J1E0rFN65SRJ6Oi8Ubb4PVXWiZCBbyvIfuIahrOVHkVINLF2h6le6Rkb4WwWKEqzbktoLIm0_WLy8g7Um_wULyc5pFBQ/s400/IMG_5300.JPG" width="390" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/Berns/04-Hully-Gully-Lamb.mp3">"Hully Gully Lamb"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by The Renaults, 1962.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">out of print </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8gk5MiC22C9JsCb96aPfXVypOMYd5Kr2_R1VQYWpiBkvlUahwjXUuBBOh7mJVIX8jWowGuPN-5ICR8qyCB2ZhYyVPTVyGmwJ_0gTCDGs1TZS6ufCrLbfBEjjtKxZoH7s9E6spUg/s1600/IMG_5317.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8gk5MiC22C9JsCb96aPfXVypOMYd5Kr2_R1VQYWpiBkvlUahwjXUuBBOh7mJVIX8jWowGuPN-5ICR8qyCB2ZhYyVPTVyGmwJ_0gTCDGs1TZS6ufCrLbfBEjjtKxZoH7s9E6spUg/s400/IMG_5317.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/Berns/05-Cry-To-Me.mp3">"Cry To Me"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by Betty Harris, 1963<span style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AMUUGC/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000AMUUGC&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Lost Soul Queen</a> </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP_5ymE5hD4pVKX4z7nSAVvc6xWsVpO63TjMl8-9JoSZtugGxYaVX2xZ118ViQo5Dg8Kuy7rYf99uPKuvU3-d3mI9BGiTmy0UmG1ZiUgyVRtZZWjrM0CyrMxSX1VK9j93M8b7ioA/s1600/IMG_5286.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP_5ymE5hD4pVKX4z7nSAVvc6xWsVpO63TjMl8-9JoSZtugGxYaVX2xZ118ViQo5Dg8Kuy7rYf99uPKuvU3-d3mI9BGiTmy0UmG1ZiUgyVRtZZWjrM0CyrMxSX1VK9j93M8b7ioA/s400/IMG_5286.JPG" width="395" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/Berns/06-Raise-Your-Hand.mp3">"Raise Your Hand"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">by Junior Lewis, 1963.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">out of print </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhugsxSpbnopeyGtW4_S2LV1TUJeq67a54d8ESpDsYHvuuCujEJXCw8Glnsn8K1v0STLOSG1H32jErclBQ9ahXs8V7GbPDCl_mv_DNwd4BMyJzywFb3AsYF7lbFMVF5bZQFm7s3mA/s1600/IMG_5323.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhugsxSpbnopeyGtW4_S2LV1TUJeq67a54d8ESpDsYHvuuCujEJXCw8Glnsn8K1v0STLOSG1H32jErclBQ9ahXs8V7GbPDCl_mv_DNwd4BMyJzywFb3AsYF7lbFMVF5bZQFm7s3mA/s400/IMG_5323.jpg" width="393" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/Berns/07-Come-On-And-Stop.mp3">"Come On And Stop"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by Marv Johnson, 1963. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Available on<i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0010ZVOG8/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0010ZVOG8&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">The Bert Berns Story Volume 1: Twist & Shout 1960-1964</a> </i></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAbsVCkI4EoggpD-pcH2E7i09GafG8ZUSopnISTAXVdozYva-DwCwI_jBZxb6sGF141CeMqKpn8_fqdPYBA6If9d7xjdCen5HhRo92YTSvZlN-tQe_4EvZ6pjy9aoDfrxG1CuNog/s1600/IMG_5319.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAbsVCkI4EoggpD-pcH2E7i09GafG8ZUSopnISTAXVdozYva-DwCwI_jBZxb6sGF141CeMqKpn8_fqdPYBA6If9d7xjdCen5HhRo92YTSvZlN-tQe_4EvZ6pjy9aoDfrxG1CuNog/s400/IMG_5319.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/Berns/08%20It%27s%20All%20Over.mp3">"It's All Over"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by Ben E. King, 1964.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on<i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AR9YMI/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000AR9YMI&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Stand By Me</a></i></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZPL2RYIWh_f5WRlTjdOwY4_B7d_u8KA3ky1u-ca2aO_DCJ9PRlYUDcoomKmbSlAA0-KRMSuLvwIgGnhj23xwYOvghQBHVd3afzByBX-P68_IwgeTsdMAfhy1KQtkPFkLZbwhyphenhypheniA/s1600/IMG_5277.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZPL2RYIWh_f5WRlTjdOwY4_B7d_u8KA3ky1u-ca2aO_DCJ9PRlYUDcoomKmbSlAA0-KRMSuLvwIgGnhj23xwYOvghQBHVd3afzByBX-P68_IwgeTsdMAfhy1KQtkPFkLZbwhyphenhypheniA/s400/IMG_5277.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/Berns/09-Dime.mp3">"If I Didn't Have A Dime"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">by The Furys, 1964.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">out of print </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU7aAJMLbz_fel_BvkPIpo-yqV9RbRLNGBQ7ZJvwxaoiQHSqqB0W_dK_coxzkW25StJtqIH52ntcTicwXIw3lWhxH1X5NG9VAj1pWk_fmPJojTF9Nl9H2gOlZ3wvaMe8ci7JdJiw/s1600/IMG_5307.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU7aAJMLbz_fel_BvkPIpo-yqV9RbRLNGBQ7ZJvwxaoiQHSqqB0W_dK_coxzkW25StJtqIH52ntcTicwXIw3lWhxH1X5NG9VAj1pWk_fmPJojTF9Nl9H2gOlZ3wvaMe8ci7JdJiw/s400/IMG_5307.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/Berns/10-Hold-Your-Hand.mp3">"Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand"</a> mp3<br />
by Hoagy Lands, 1964.<br />
out of print <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuBz2fMnjz5CChZpdGSpeiNiA3crZXU1vqEh2merv2vporVMlTVIxCSLjteQJhTaTIdsqtL-iX0pVzudHfNSyIL0BFDjUqE_CC4V3fX5lNnL_suq8zAuy9WiPJdsAeGiVYDBysGg/s1600/IMG_5279.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuBz2fMnjz5CChZpdGSpeiNiA3crZXU1vqEh2merv2vporVMlTVIxCSLjteQJhTaTIdsqtL-iX0pVzudHfNSyIL0BFDjUqE_CC4V3fX5lNnL_suq8zAuy9WiPJdsAeGiVYDBysGg/s400/IMG_5279.jpg" width="398" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/Berns/11-Hello-Walls.mp3">"Hello Walls"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">by Little Esther, 1964.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000033Y8/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0000033Y8&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">The Best Of Esther Phillips (1962-1970)</a></i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/Berns/12-Here-Comes-The-Night.mp3">"Here Comes The Night"</a> mp3</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by Lulu, 1964.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on<i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0010ZVOG8/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0010ZVOG8&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">The Bert Berns Story Volume 1: Twist & Shout 1960-1964</a></i></span> <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg90DswtOVRC0KdHQkBQEh5CQHF0yW5rQIFgg-X0pMhkw7diNpdVoGuypymhIWLBG1LVInVvbW-18nxDt_JbRLg8rPojs7ZriTJKSpfcel70VrTlmOcmhWpBXROTmdFClSBoolM4Q/s1600/IMG_5266.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg90DswtOVRC0KdHQkBQEh5CQHF0yW5rQIFgg-X0pMhkw7diNpdVoGuypymhIWLBG1LVInVvbW-18nxDt_JbRLg8rPojs7ZriTJKSpfcel70VrTlmOcmhWpBXROTmdFClSBoolM4Q/s400/IMG_5266.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/Berns/13-Would-Marry-You.mp3">"If I Would Marry You"</a> mp3</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by Tammy Montgomery, 1964.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0030BEU5C/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0030BEU5C&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">The Bert Berns Story - Mr Success Volume 2: 1964-1967</a></i></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlv1wX-dW15kuItHj_tC4ajUPA2CyU7fsPXbt8NUqWi0TH5UanJY8XJaIFEM6iBpllVmXLtkBAhqz4WmIAEetm5wHKkaO26Bxa-hFViM5BlkhhWnhgjwMlRCXy8hoMniLSzmJOKw/s1600/IMG_5280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlv1wX-dW15kuItHj_tC4ajUPA2CyU7fsPXbt8NUqWi0TH5UanJY8XJaIFEM6iBpllVmXLtkBAhqz4WmIAEetm5wHKkaO26Bxa-hFViM5BlkhhWnhgjwMlRCXy8hoMniLSzmJOKw/s400/IMG_5280.jpg" width="395" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/Berns/14-Sloopy.mp3">"My Girl Sloopy"</a> mp3</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by The Vibrations, 1964.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000507YR/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0000507YR&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Very Best Of The Vibrations</a></i></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKtvqCTDRl1IPxVC0LoqCndPGFTbzxbj27nm4AZJqSGmi3Aik1Nbw1_DeYS42XjQKDX91Bet98lNR_SI0TwKvjkrdRRHy-2JqvQXG9zTUs0qdCBXLKYCmlfxmWKyxd3yeH3-apcg/s1600/IMG_5302.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKtvqCTDRl1IPxVC0LoqCndPGFTbzxbj27nm4AZJqSGmi3Aik1Nbw1_DeYS42XjQKDX91Bet98lNR_SI0TwKvjkrdRRHy-2JqvQXG9zTUs0qdCBXLKYCmlfxmWKyxd3yeH3-apcg/s400/IMG_5302.JPG" width="395" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/Berns/15-There-They-Go.mp3">"There They Go"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">by The Exciters, 1965.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">available on<i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000000PSL/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000000PSL&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Something to Shout About!</a></i></span></span> <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAHMFarY0Ssi2D4r4rLZCGgzCKiDPt2L3mgr0VxvsoMvsN8hh7qQ5jaEiUnYU6F7zlrhhBlEZU_JhokpqyQKECe1jzKws31BwtxiaSq94-_mENi12ZkVvG0ixD7kLxlgz1brRzyw/s1600/laverne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="393" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAHMFarY0Ssi2D4r4rLZCGgzCKiDPt2L3mgr0VxvsoMvsN8hh7qQ5jaEiUnYU6F7zlrhhBlEZU_JhokpqyQKECe1jzKws31BwtxiaSq94-_mENi12ZkVvG0ixD7kLxlgz1brRzyw/s400/laverne.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/Berns/16-Cry-No-More.mp3">"Ain't Gonna Cry No More"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">by LaVern Baker, 1965.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">out of print </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhombvlXsTy9CWMeqT-eDQsERBd6p3-ekEoSrsDzjwAX829wBn3Ge2W9qykJSaURAZ2bpI9w7j93jbXRxiKfb1LJCgpzljlaTZrgoehLdCc4CDGIM7LmyvuB3Vnl7ltDOjQ0P1Fag/s1600/IMG_5327.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhombvlXsTy9CWMeqT-eDQsERBd6p3-ekEoSrsDzjwAX829wBn3Ge2W9qykJSaURAZ2bpI9w7j93jbXRxiKfb1LJCgpzljlaTZrgoehLdCc4CDGIM7LmyvuB3Vnl7ltDOjQ0P1Fag/s400/IMG_5327.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/Berns/17-Come-Home-Baby.mp3">"Come Home Baby"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by Wilson Pickett ( with Tami Lynn), 1965.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on<i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000331P/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00000331P&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">In the Midnight Hour</a></i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/Berns/19-A-Little-Bit-Of-Soap.mp3">"A Little Bit Of Soap"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by Garnet Mimms, 1966</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on<i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000DR4L/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00000DR4L&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Cry Baby</a></i></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO8n1uGCCELH0WqZVUuC_qkXAegG354a3eOIFfQg6P7oyxS6y094gw2-Qz70lPG2G3OyfcNGdAAHlA4iKBzzbhI54iS2PLyOn2NAblcXvsaBFVbnFGT-_q8hRuXPLTzr4pOF1Niw/s1600/IMG_5282.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO8n1uGCCELH0WqZVUuC_qkXAegG354a3eOIFfQg6P7oyxS6y094gw2-Qz70lPG2G3OyfcNGdAAHlA4iKBzzbhI54iS2PLyOn2NAblcXvsaBFVbnFGT-_q8hRuXPLTzr4pOF1Niw/s400/IMG_5282.JPG" width="392" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/Berns/18-Streets-Of-Harlem.mp3">"Up In The Streets Of Harlem"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by The Drifters, 1966.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on<i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000033S3/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0000033S3&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Rockin & Driftin: Drifters Box</a></i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/Berns/20%20Killer%20Joe.mp3">"Killer Joe"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by The Kingsmen, 1966.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on<i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000R02E3O/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000R02E3O&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">The Best of The Kingsmen</a></i></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPykHh6Igabn_8HRZ_DH4sut-cP1NR6yBOHAB_Xlfnz-jtgRNYjAfpkf2xCrLodexQ_4uPAveb06QhsmAjk2YeiCOv_XP1_2G_hKOQmUT9Jla6UonIM9eAtR9EjYak221o_rvsPQ/s1600/JeffEllieNeilBert.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPykHh6Igabn_8HRZ_DH4sut-cP1NR6yBOHAB_Xlfnz-jtgRNYjAfpkf2xCrLodexQ_4uPAveb06QhsmAjk2YeiCOv_XP1_2G_hKOQmUT9Jla6UonIM9eAtR9EjYak221o_rvsPQ/s400/JeffEllieNeilBert.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/Berns/21-Solitary-Man.mp3">"Solitary Man"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">by Neil Diamond, 1966.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004JST2BC/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004JST2BC&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">The Bang Years: 1966-1968</a></i></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr9wl6VXlcp4gjAXCKEGh9bLorXLTOEQ8VoZ8ZvTLgqKWu6s7wBKSSGL5XzsdyrYqsKgU2n1YZF5VXe5PUbAw-MajsU9ka7BrWPUZFFAfIKy1il6DvcQCuC7s5fFF5QZgMYN-lDA/s1600/IMG_5315.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr9wl6VXlcp4gjAXCKEGh9bLorXLTOEQ8VoZ8ZvTLgqKWu6s7wBKSSGL5XzsdyrYqsKgU2n1YZF5VXe5PUbAw-MajsU9ka7BrWPUZFFAfIKy1il6DvcQCuC7s5fFF5QZgMYN-lDA/s400/IMG_5315.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/Berns/22-Run-Away-From-You.mp3">"I'm Gonna Run Away From You"</a> mp3</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by Tami Lynn, 1966.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on<i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008PVD9I6/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B008PVD9I6&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Love Is Here & Now You're Gone</a></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/Berns/23-Lonely-For-Me-Baby.mp3">"Are You Lonely For Me Baby"</a> mp3</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by Otis Redding and Carla Thomas, 1967.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on<i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000002IR9/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000002IR9&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">King & Queen</a></i></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPvtfy1sjy-ddOpB1qE1f4knN-86U5464ZoaWOQguO0pdzsHFKsJNm0KicEwbPJj3hZGuoWI9VHodyG3WckKhXrfmAWRYhiKnvMR8cJGHXNKBASPymbtAsbFMo20JpCj9qae8Y_A/s1600/Jeff+Barry+_+Bert+Berns+_+Van+Morrison.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPvtfy1sjy-ddOpB1qE1f4knN-86U5464ZoaWOQguO0pdzsHFKsJNm0KicEwbPJj3hZGuoWI9VHodyG3WckKhXrfmAWRYhiKnvMR8cJGHXNKBASPymbtAsbFMo20JpCj9qae8Y_A/s400/Jeff+Barry+_+Bert+Berns+_+Van+Morrison.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/Berns/24-Madame-George.mp3">"Madame George"</a> mp3</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by Van Morrison, 1967.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on<i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0012GMUOK/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0012GMUOK&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Bang Masters</a></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/Berns/25-Baby-Come-On-Home.mp3">"Baby Come Home"</a> mp3</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by Led Zeppelin, 1968.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000002IWP/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000002IWP&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">The Complete Studio Recordings</a></i></span>Ted Barronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975741901400619750noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35422342.post-40373730314484400172012-12-14T16:29:00.000-05:002012-12-15T00:31:33.160-05:00Hell on Earth<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU7Psf7PyAUpf-KTfaDiDSdF7mMtyKWy9K27sW9xHxUoT6hE3KV8M8a7ac7ff_UvH8MJETcUpTDzRRWuMzxFdsyoYXEObRyV2U_d5zZucczEGxmPACYt41IrC2iu9jQvxHCmsOuA/s1600/HELLongreen144.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU7Psf7PyAUpf-KTfaDiDSdF7mMtyKWy9K27sW9xHxUoT6hE3KV8M8a7ac7ff_UvH8MJETcUpTDzRRWuMzxFdsyoYXEObRyV2U_d5zZucczEGxmPACYt41IrC2iu9jQvxHCmsOuA/s400/HELLongreen144.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by Ariella St<span style="font-size: small;">ok</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">There is not much talk of fire and brimstone in Judaism, nor
gruesome landscapes of eternal damnation and demonic torture. A vague concept
of the afterlife was appended to the religion in later iterations, but it is
not a focus nor is there much consensus of what it might entail. To the extent
that hell is discussed in Jewish texts, it is often given as a state of being
that one need not wait until after death to experience. Described as a feeling
of intense shame that accompanies bad deeds, the condition of being on the outs
with God, hell is readily available right here in the earthy realm.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In 1949, a Jewish Hell was born in Lexington, Kentucky, in
the form of a baby boy named Richard Meyers, the son of parents who had met as
graduate students in psychology at Columbia University. Although his mother was
Methodist, it was his Jewish father’s New York-based family with whom he
was close. In a new autobiography, </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062190830/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0062190830&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank"><i>I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp</i></a>, due out on Ecco/Harper Collins in March,
2013, he writes of his family background<span style="font-size: small;"><i>:</i></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>"There
wasn’t much awareness of family, or family history. I had no real understanding
of what a Jew was, for instance, though I knew that my father’s family fit that
description somehow. I thought Judaism was a religion, and we didn’t have any
religion."</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Instead, American pop culture of the 50s was his creed:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>"We lived in the
suburbs in America in the fifties. My roots are shallow. I’m a little jealous
of people with strong ethnic and cultural roots. Lucky Martin Scorcese or Art
Spiegelman or Dave Chappelle. I came from Hopalong Cassidy and Bugs Bunny and
first grade at ordinary Maxwell Elementary."</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">He became a disciple of Saturday morning TV—Zorro and the
Cisco Kid—and the cinema, via the Westerns of John Ford and Howard Hawks, and
through these he arrived at a model that would inform his earliest identity as
an artist<span style="font-size: small;"><i>:</i></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>"I grew up thinking men
worked best in wandering small teams, usually two-man. You needed someone to
conspire with, someone to help you maintain the nerve to carry out your ideas.
Someone to know what you were thinking (otherwise your thinking didn’t really
exist.) Someone who had qualities you wanted, maybe, too, and which you could
acquire to some degree by association."</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Among his earliest memories as a child was the impulse to
run away, “of
dreaming and conspiring in a hideout, beyond the pale.” After
a string of minor infractions and foiled attempts he made his penultimate
escape attempt with his latest best friend, Tom Miller, who he met while attending
boarding school in Delaware. Heading south to Florida, the two-man team planned
to become poets and live off the fat of the land. They made it as far as
Alabama, where they were arrested for setting an open field ablaze with an
out-of-control campfire, and sent back home. Upon return, Richard got a after-school
job in a pornographic bookstore to save up for the bus ticket that took him to
New York City two months later—his permanent escape, while Tom stayed behind to
finish high school and a year of college before joining his friend in the city,
where the two became inseparable partners in crime, staying up all night
talking and then crashing on each other’s floors, frequenting the same artists
bars like Max’s Kansas City, and working together at a film bookstore
called Cinemabilia that was managed by future music entrepreneur, Terry Ork. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Although Richard had originally moved to New York to become
a writer, he decided on a change of plans after he and Tom attended a performance
at the Mercer Art Center by the New York Dolls—a band whose outsized influence
was due in no small part to removing the barrier of skill from making music and
replacing it with a wild, flamboyant energy that suggested the fantasy that
rock stardom was in anyone’s grasp. Of his decision to cast his lot with rock and
roll, he says in Legs McNeil’s oral history of punk, <i>Please Kill Me</i><span style="font-size: small;"><i>:</i></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>"There was just so much
more excitement in rock & roll than sitting home writing poetry. The
possibilities were endless. I mean, I could deal with the same matters that I</i><i>’d be sweating over alone in my room,
to put out little mimeograph magazines that five people would ever see. And we
definitely thought we were as cool as the next people, so why not get out there
and sell it?"</i></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixoNs_nlJMQkmUhcNdMzHgdvUHdQnIslN_1foXqI2Hehcl91kel25QgRmWmAF-i4ZWgou4HrdjtkfjgPPmg5zDTVxq4DOEepK42q78e2_B4fB5RIAGley9Fw243VHOPpuexK0lmw/s1600/tumblr_lmv1rop10X1qlsy3qo1_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixoNs_nlJMQkmUhcNdMzHgdvUHdQnIslN_1foXqI2Hehcl91kel25QgRmWmAF-i4ZWgou4HrdjtkfjgPPmg5zDTVxq4DOEepK42q78e2_B4fB5RIAGley9Fw243VHOPpuexK0lmw/s400/tumblr_lmv1rop10X1qlsy3qo1_1280.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Richard was able to persuade Tom, who had been up to this
point sowing his musical oats playing acoustic guitar at a hootenanny night in
the West Village every few months, to get together an electric band. Tom picked
out a Danelectro bass for Richard, and taught him some simple lines. They start
improvising and writing songs together, importing a drummer, Billy Ficca, who
Tom knew from Delaware, forming the Neon Boys, and adopt their noms de plume—Tom
Verlaine and Richard Hell. Taking their cues from Arthur Rimbaud and (for Hell)
his self-destructive method for attaining poetic transcendence through a “derangement
of the senses”, they embarked on their own <i>Season in Hell</i>. In 1973, The Neon Boys record their only EP,
splitting writing duties between the five songs. Around this time, Hell pens a
short novel of scabrous prose, called <i>The
Voidoid</i>, whose narrator grapples with the needs of the body and the spirit,
and imagines himself as living his life as though sleepwalking through a hellscape<span style="font-size: small;"><i>:</i></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>"Time to wash your
bones. You pull the flesh over your head as the landscape simultaneously raises
like a curtain to reveal swarming dirt and quivering organs of all shapes,
sizes, and colors. The place is crawling with empty swimming pools. The dead
leaves seem much stronger than usual. You sit and feel the wind blow through
your ribs. You gaze at the sky as if you'd just come off the street into a
movie house. All else is dark<span style="font-size: small;">."</span></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Neon Boys put an ad in <i>Creem</i>: “Wanted: rhythm guitarist. Talent not necessary,”<span lang="JA"> </span>and auditioned a handful of candidates, including then
unknown-to-them, Chris Stein (later of Blondie) and Dee Dee soon-to-be Ramone.
When none possessed sufficient lack of talent, the band dissolved due to lack
of momentum. A second chance, however, comes along when Verlaine and Hell’s boss
(and future dope connection) Terry Ork offers to become the band’s
benefactor, buying them equipment, helping to book shows, and setting them up
with a second guitarist, Richard Lloyd, who, fresh from a stint at a mental
institution, had hustled his way into living with Ork. The band is reborn as
Television. </span></span></div>
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</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In an interview on a talk show in 1993, Hell describes those
early days:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>"When we were starting
out, we were lonely, hungry kids from the sticks in New York. We thought that
the whole world looked all pompous, and sentimental, and dishonest. And it was
reflected in the rock and roll that was going on at that time, too – big
stadium bands going around in limousines, wearing velvet and shag haircuts and
high-heeled boots, putting on these kind of fascist shows. Like Nuremberg with
the lights flashing. We wanted to just cut through the shit and bring it back
to the streets. That</i><i>’s what
rock and roll is supposed to be about: teenage reality."</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In contrast to the glitzy aesthetics of glam rock,
Television were spare and lean, in sound and appearance. Seeking a weekly
residency where they could build a following, they propositioned the owner of a
club on the Bowery, CBGB’s, erroneously convincing him that their music offered the
country, bluegrass, and blues that gave the venue its name. The shows were a hit, drawing crowds to
the seedy bar, and creating a breeding ground for a music scene that would
expand with the addition of The Ramones, Blondie, and The Talking Heads, among
others. They received their first review in the Soho News, written by devotee,
Patti Smith, who gushed, “A few non-believers murmur that they look like escapees
from some mental ward but those tuned into TV know better. These boys are truly
escapees from heaven.<span style="font-size: small;">"</span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">According to Hell, for a year (or at least the first half of
the year), Television was the greatest band in the world. It took roughly the
same amount of time for power struggles over leadership of the band to erupt between
Hell and Verlaine<span style="font-size: small;">.</span> Hell got fed up and left. That same week in 1975, Hell was
propositioned by Johnny Thunders of the New York Dolls to join him and fellow
Doll, Jerry Nolan, in starting a new band, The Heartbreakers. It lasted eight
months until once again Hell became disappointed by his lack of leadership in
the group whose predilection for songs about going steady didn’t jive
well with Hell’s aspirations towards the poetic and intelligent.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Once again a free man in 1976, Hell sets about building a
new band—The Voidoids—of which he would be leader, finding his dream guitarist
in Robert Quine, and adding Marc Bell and Ivan Julian. The first album, <i>Blank Generation</i>, released in 1977,
mixed new material with songs borrowed and reworked from the repertoires of the
Neon Boys and Television. Where Television was transcendental, soaring, cool,
and measured, Hell’s Voidoids were corporeal, bleak, spastic, and
uncontained. In contrast to the Heartbreakers, the lyrics were poetic, centering
around themes of nihilism and dissipation, a life lived in a state of retreat,
or a state of being marked by absence. The title song was an adaptation of a
novelty song from 1959, “The Beat Generation,” whose hep cat narrator casts
aspersions on American commodity culture in favor of a “one
room pad where he can make the scene.” In Hell’s
version, he imagines his time as “the ____ generation,” taking
a stance of disaffection and detachment, leaving the assignation of meaning to
the listener–-a guesture that is simultaneously one of rejection and
empowerment.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAca4GhlTomG4_8IOEpm0G6MjWXxxXZ9ExTYM0cCOqDKlCbVRYaQS5KdVzh8SkAmqQCPxGCwH1RDFETfNG2nRaHMSANXgZ2-UNzefFGA6l9ShHMzInn0mj9lub3Xh1DbBVIWYpuQ/s1600/richard_hell_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAca4GhlTomG4_8IOEpm0G6MjWXxxXZ9ExTYM0cCOqDKlCbVRYaQS5KdVzh8SkAmqQCPxGCwH1RDFETfNG2nRaHMSANXgZ2-UNzefFGA6l9ShHMzInn0mj9lub3Xh1DbBVIWYpuQ/s400/richard_hell_01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In “Down at the Rock and Roll Club,” Hell
describes his going-out ritual, which would become the blueprint for what would
become labeled as punk: “I rip up my shirt/Watch the mirror it flirt/Yeah, I’m going
out, out, inta sight.” This image proved fungible when Malcom McLaren imported
Hell’s
look and sound to London. “Richard Hell was a definite 100% inspiration,”
McLaren admits in <i>Please Kill Me</i>. “I remember
telling The Sex Pistols, “Write a song like ‘The Blank Generation,’ but
write your own bloody version,” and their own version was ‘Pretty
Vacant.’”
Meanwhile the song “New Pleasure” paints a picture of life in/as Hell:
“Too
weak for life you have become—you can’t get dressed you’re too
numb/But we assume sublime poses/deep in true to life in (hypnosis)/true to
life in true to life in…”</span></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Voidoids recorded one other record, and it took them 5
years to do it. <i>Destiny Street</i> once
again features guitar hero, Robert Quine, and offers an even deeper trip into
the themes of loneliness and desperation than its predecessor. Highlights
include “The
Kid with the Replaceable Head,” a formidable attempt at a commercial
pop song, the achingly sweet “Time,” and a cover
of Bob Dylan’s ode to the end of the line, “Going,
Going Gone.”
As Hell writes in the liner notes to the 1991 reissue on Red Star: </span></span></div>
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</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>"Sadness. Rock and roll
as a way of turning sadness and loneliness and anger into something
transcendentally beautiful, or at least energy-transmitting. I</i><i>’m aware of the utter unredeemable
idiocy of apologizing for —denigrating—one</i><i>’s
own work. But if I</i><i>’m going to imagine the record
strongly enough to be able to write about it with any potency, accuracy, or
insight, I must acknowledge that it is deformed, disturbed, and deprived."</i></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Soon after the release of Destiny Street, the Voidoids broke
up and Hell eventually returned to his original focus on writing. Although he
retreated away from music, he made occasional forays back into it with the Sonic
Youth side-project Dim Stars in 1992, and in 1996, published his first
semi-autobiographical novel, <i>Go Now</i>. Like
the New York School of poets with whom Hell affiliates himself, his artistic
project is one of self-creation that blurs the boundaries between art and life.
For Hell, the image he constructed for himself was one of a man turned inside-out.
In a 1978 interview with Lester Bangs, he said, “That’s the
dilemma I’m
facing right now: whether I’ll die or whether I can find something I can affirm.” When a
Jewish person dies, for 11 months the family is supposed to recite Kaddish to
pray for the soul of the deceased to be granted entrance into the kingdom of
heaven during the time when the soul is on trial. This period of uncertainty,
of fighting for one’s life, and evaluating whether one can be redeemed or must
start over again, is the state of hell from which Jews pray <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=35422342" name="_GoBack"></a>for
release. For Richard Hell, this is life, art, and a state of permanent exile<span style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Download:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/23-Time.mp3">"Time"</a> mp3<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">by Richard Hell </span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">& T</span>he</span></span> Voidoids, 1979.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">available on<span style="font-size: small;"><i> </i></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000060MNS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000060MNS&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Time</a></i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/24-Spurts.mp3">"Love Comes In Spurts"</a> mp3</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">by <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Heartbreakers</span>, 197<span style="font-size: small;">5</span>.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">available on <span style="font-size: small;"><i> </i></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000E7HX/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00000E7HX&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">R.I.P. Roir Sessions</a></i></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2LhWZFGFubCYWcjMGFAm4EXfAcpqbOj_157fCUO2NVVQ-UsY-mpCfVX_NMBgsE4xUhcWaU9YuLAA2_Kz8z7-v_BragGFZt9DDg_EGdgXle-WEHve1mdEse_D7alOpclHyK_Zk8Q/s1600/RichardHellGottaUK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2LhWZFGFubCYWcjMGFAm4EXfAcpqbOj_157fCUO2NVVQ-UsY-mpCfVX_NMBgsE4xUhcWaU9YuLAA2_Kz8z7-v_BragGFZt9DDg_EGdgXle-WEHve1mdEse_D7alOpclHyK_Zk8Q/s400/RichardHellGottaUK.jpg" width="391" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/25-Blank.mp3">"(I Belong To The) Blank Generation"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by Richard Hell </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">& T</span>he</span></span> V<span style="font-size: small;">oidoids, 1976</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">available on </span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000AYIY/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00000AYIY&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Stiff Records Box Set</a></i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/26-Betrayal-Takes-Two.mp3">"<span style="font-size: small;">Betrayal Takes Two</span>"</a> mp3</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by Richard Hell </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">& T</span>he</span></span> V<span style="font-size: small;">oidoids, 197<span style="font-size: small;">7.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">available on </span></span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000005JB1/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000005JB1&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Blank Generation</a></span></span></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid_EVqnzoqPZlBNNsB0I4ovKUsmjJqVzH2yW7xTwbJg8W7ztG5rHnqSeoeOpd7N8qHMDYCeEUD1SqFA_iRdMB1NmAGLPGvUo_6Z0hNxaKSoynb0DUoO_7L1ROeIgdf9E-pYLhLPA/s1600/richard_hell_the_voidoids-the_kid_with_the_replaceable_head.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid_EVqnzoqPZlBNNsB0I4ovKUsmjJqVzH2yW7xTwbJg8W7ztG5rHnqSeoeOpd7N8qHMDYCeEUD1SqFA_iRdMB1NmAGLPGvUo_6Z0hNxaKSoynb0DUoO_7L1ROeIgdf9E-pYLhLPA/s400/richard_hell_the_voidoids-the_kid_with_the_replaceable_head.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/27-The-Kid.mp3">"The Kid With The Replaceable Head"</a> mp3</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by Richard Hell </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">& T</span>he</span></span> V<span style="font-size: small;">oidoids, 197<span style="font-size: small;">8</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">available on </span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009NR7ZE/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0009NR7ZE&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Spurts: The Richard Hell Story</a></span></i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/28-Lowest-Common-Dominator.mp3">"Lowest Common Denominator"</a> mp3</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by Richard Hell <span style="font-size: small;">& T</span>he V<span style="font-size: small;">oidoids, 19<span style="font-size: small;">82.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">available on <i>Destiny Street</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">out of print</span></span></span><br />
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/29-All-I-Know.mp3"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">"</span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/29-All-I-Know.mp3">That's All I Know <span style="font-size: small;">(Right Now)</span>"</a> mp3</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">by The Neon Boys, 1973.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on <i><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009NR7ZE/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0009NR7ZE&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Spurts: The Richard Hell Story</a></span></i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">top photo: <span class="st">Stephanie Chernikowski</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span class="st"><span style="font-size: small;">middle photo: Chris Makos</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span class="st"><span style="font-size: small;">bottom photo: <span style="font-size: small;">Roberta Bayley</span> </span> </span></span></span></div>
Ted Barronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975741901400619750noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35422342.post-27905477218813117672012-12-13T16:29:00.000-05:002012-12-16T23:00:32.457-05:00Stan Getz Was The Voice Of The Angels, and Stan Getz Was A Schmuck<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEsF6oZAVYxwhQQv413zNa1jOgVdOllDnD5mZadvcRrtlsGLaL5MJPhSvvPYNrKreCcd26UVia5hdPZUYjLiU2mc9bSWMfOcaM156U4KO3nw7AwmSL1K7uOq63LgkxJ19FKk_q9g/s1600/Scan066.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEsF6oZAVYxwhQQv413zNa1jOgVdOllDnD5mZadvcRrtlsGLaL5MJPhSvvPYNrKreCcd26UVia5hdPZUYjLiU2mc9bSWMfOcaM156U4KO3nw7AwmSL1K7uOq63LgkxJ19FKk_q9g/s400/Scan066.bmp" width="312" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>"Stan Getz is bunch
of nice guys</i>" –Zoot Sims</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by <a href="http://www.euclidrecords.com/">Joe Schwab</a><i> </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Being a teenage dope-fiend and a raging alcoholic on a bender streching out over three decades can take a toll on a man. <span style="font-size: small;">Despite</span> <span style="font-size: small;">being in</span> posession of prodigious talent,</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> even </span>the
strongest of men can be brought to their knees. Stan Getz succumbed to that, making him moody,
violent and confrontational. Despite t<span style="font-size: small;">hese shortcomings</span>, he was a man whose talents were
beyond reproach. After fooling around with a few instruments as a kid, he
settled on saxophone. And although it can’t be substantiated, it’s said he mastered
the instrument in four months. Stan had found his voice with the tenor
saxophone. While correctly associated with the Lester Young School of the tenor,
his playing always brought on a kind of distant howl like a shofer from the
temple, reminiscent of his Jewish upbringing, a Jewish Prez if you will. It
should be said to those who feel that he was just a Lester Young impersonator,
Prez himself was always an admirer and champion of Getz. Stan had it all, movie
star good looks, a beautiful home, a lovely family, a gorgeous wife and that
supreme talent. He seemed to want it all, the normal life and the life of a
Jazz star, but his demons always got the best of him. Stan Getz was a junkie, a
bad drunk, a lousy husband, father and friend. I’m certain he was a crappy Jew
as well, I’m not sure how often he frequented the synagogue, but I’m guessing
not very often. Music was not always his <span style="font-size: small;">number one</span> priority. Women and drugs were usually the order of business that preceded all, um… musical business.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgJd4EtsxjVVZIUZW5Bq9J6R3_VgXnXhgNkM7dr7EPNh_BKOGy8ZoAyaG1R5n05DdKfBnMyObgCUVCvqN1quO7iPUmnxzeSu_T_n18LokZA3KfMLIjKvhDXD1IgVZmqKEjgMZovA/s1600/Scan053.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgJd4EtsxjVVZIUZW5Bq9J6R3_VgXnXhgNkM7dr7EPNh_BKOGy8ZoAyaG1R5n05DdKfBnMyObgCUVCvqN1quO7iPUmnxzeSu_T_n18LokZA3KfMLIjKvhDXD1IgVZmqKEjgMZovA/s400/Scan053.bmp" width="313" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Stan and Steve Getz at the St. Louis Zoo</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">, 1961.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So now we all know that Getz was a schmuck (much of the
time), <span style="font-size: small;">it should also be known that</span> the man made some fine music, and to this day is arguably considered
one of the top <span style="font-size: small;">five</span> tenor players in Jazz history. His break-out solo on Woody
Herman’s “Early Autumn” started it all. Then came his great body of work for
Roost, Verve, Prestige and those great European recordings of the 50’s. Getz will
be best remembered for the Bossa Nova records with Charlie Byrd, Joao Gilberto,
Antonio Carlos Jobim, Luiz Bonfa, Laurindo Almeida and of course Astrid
Gilberto. While all these recordings are anywhere from great to classic, his
body of work from the last 10-15 years of his life may be his finest output. His
choice of songs and person<span style="font-size: small;">ne</span>l were beyond reproach. He could piss off his band
mates, knowing that rehearsal was not something he needed. He could naturally
pick up tunes and tempo without the effort that so many musicians have to
practice for years. He had amazing dexterity, a fabulous sense of harmony and that
unmistakable Getz sound. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Stan stopped drinking in 1985. For the first
time in his life he was going into the studio clean and sober with a clear mind and
body. Despite his fears of recording without the aid of drink and drugs, the
results were extraordinary. Although it was released posthumously the album
<i>Bossas and Ballads</i> was his strongest effort in years and one of his all-time
best. Getz was diagnosed with liver cancer in 1987, years of drug and alcohol
abuse having finally caught up with him. Although the prognosis was d<span style="font-size: small;">ire</span>, he kept
working as well as teaching at Stanford. Aside from cleaning up and adding
an herb diet, he spent the remainder of his life atoning his sins and making amends to all the
family and friends he had wronged in the past. For some, it was too little too
late, but to those close to him such as his band and family it was a
rediscovery of the man they only saw on
occasion. Getz died in 1991
at his home in Malibu</span><span style="font-size: small;">, dozens of new recordings
have surfaced since (all of them excellent) and his daughter Bev Getz curates a
wonderful <a href="http://www.stangetz.net/">website</a> devoted to Stan’s legacy.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><style><!--
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<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Download:</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/18-Early-Autumn.mp3">"Early </a><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/18-Early-Autumn.mp3">Autumn"</a> mp3</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">by <span style="font-size: small;">W</span>oody Herman Orchestra, 1948.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">available on</span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000002V0O/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000002V0O&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank"> <i>Keeper of Flame</i></a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/19-Night-Rider.mp3">"Night Rider"</a> mp3</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">by Stan Getz & Eddie Sauter, 1961.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000047CY/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0000047CY&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Focus</a></i></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/20-O-Grande-Amor.mp3">"O Grande Amor"</a> mp3</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">by Stan Getz & João Gilberto, 196<span style="font-size: small;">4.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">available on </span></span></span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000047CX/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0000047CX&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: small;"></span>Getz/Gilberto</a></span></span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/21-Sweet-Rain.mp3">"Sweet Rain"</a> mp3</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">by Stan Getz, 19<span style="font-size: small;">67</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">available on </span></span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0019F8HSC/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0019F8HSC&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: small;"></span>Sweet Rain (Dig)</a></span></span></i><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/22-Soul-Eyes.mp3">"Soul Eyes"</a> mp3</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">by Stan Getz, 1989.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on </span><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000ACANQ/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0000ACANQ&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Bossas & Ballads: The Lost Sessions</a></span></i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">phot<span style="font-size: small;">o<span style="font-size: small;">graphs</span> <span style="font-size: small;">b</span>y Bernie Thrasher, <span style="font-size: small;">from the</span> Euclid Records Archive</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </span></span></span></span><br />
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Ted Barronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975741901400619750noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35422342.post-64711723281821844692012-12-12T16:29:00.000-05:002012-12-17T13:20:57.497-05:00Doc's Holiday Fever<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjCdc5EQXVUejBWdzsk8nX8SFFZL1xYsqM80ojwP4tz66zQivOw7ohKf0rcOdfRAYT9ufnpTSQNtKlVLvDTP1bcMKqVjmwRd2awTMu1uOPJOq0vKl2TqvzmGVEMj8abJRsoCEcJA/s1600/6.15a004_edited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjCdc5EQXVUejBWdzsk8nX8SFFZL1xYsqM80ojwP4tz66zQivOw7ohKf0rcOdfRAYT9ufnpTSQNtKlVLvDTP1bcMKqVjmwRd2awTMu1uOPJOq0vKl2TqvzmGVEMj8abJRsoCEcJA/s400/6.15a004_edited.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">by <a href="http://akadocpomus.com/cast/sharyn-felder/">Sharyn Felder</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">My father, Jerome Solon
Felder (aka Doc Pomus) was a super Jew to his core, but not at all religious.
His rabbi died a week before he was to be Bar Mitzvahed, which he took at once to be a relief and an omen. His British mother Millie kept kosher, but practically
encouraged her sons Jerome and Raoul to eat bacon outside the home, because she
believed it had healing properties. The formalities of religion for him were
not at all necessary. There was no battle between celebrating Chanukah and
Christmas. He saw the holiday season as quite simply a festive
opportunity and excuse to SHOP for others - to dole out large quantities of the
year’s carefully accumulated stuff. The swag was always very
well intentioned, but occasionally bordered on crap: trinkets, baubles and
tchotchkies, for those nearest and dearest and sometimes real high-end goods
too. No matter the quality, people
were genuinely moved by his very thoughtful gestures. But he was no saint, and
he did not suffer fools. Like his
good friend Joel Dorn used to say to me, <i>“If he didn’t dig you, man, could he
ice you.”</i> Needless to say, he
didn’t get gifts for everyone. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Dad had a jones for shopping, an
activity that a guy stuck in a wheelchair with wads of cash could easily handle. He
could station himself inside of a favorite bookstore or record shop like Final Vinyl and be happy for hours. For
himself, he bought large cowboy hats, flea market finds, exotic belt buckles,
hand-made leather pouches, love potions and ointments, chunky
turquoise-nugget rings, snake or lizard skin shoes, as well as endless books and
records. But mostly he loved
shopping for gifts for others and always seemed to catch the Christmas/Chanukah
fever right after Thanksgiving. He began by reviewing and always adding new
names to his extensive Christmas card list, put together from saved cards he
had received from old friends over the years: B.B. King, Phil Spector, Mr.
& Mrs. Joe Turner, Ben E. King, Ellie Greenwich, Leiber and Stoller, Micky
Baker, Gerry Goffin, and on, and on.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3YcMV7WYjPsIAmccICOP4c-XesnpOKg7VrrI5NdRvNRPfh8k0-XeBhmtAyonWSJD_sy-ORzuEK69MP-kQBkkYVqmWtGqD_TO8mVKU_3SvOAp3pQId3vSTTbFJpXAnAa-ohJoSLw/s1600/DelShannonXmas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3YcMV7WYjPsIAmccICOP4c-XesnpOKg7VrrI5NdRvNRPfh8k0-XeBhmtAyonWSJD_sy-ORzuEK69MP-kQBkkYVqmWtGqD_TO8mVKU_3SvOAp3pQId3vSTTbFJpXAnAa-ohJoSLw/s400/DelShannonXmas.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzwbApPUi6aYiUhcP_8hSjDrAqI7NGpvrDaf-p5lvsFnYISps1c9FAO-rMryJKYuIhzbZqs7yGxAPp9L8emAZqKxtL98e4HGWLLzfHkPeI8Q7SBIa8uQeEJqgRMuGX24YsnvRuTQ/s1600/PhilSpectorXmasCard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzwbApPUi6aYiUhcP_8hSjDrAqI7NGpvrDaf-p5lvsFnYISps1c9FAO-rMryJKYuIhzbZqs7yGxAPp9L8emAZqKxtL98e4HGWLLzfHkPeI8Q7SBIa8uQeEJqgRMuGX24YsnvRuTQ/s400/PhilSpectorXmasCard.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">He loved the process of selecting
the swag destined for family, friends, and flavors of the month. He lavished
them with stuff he had stashed over the previous year, kept in specified drawers and
cabinets, in plastic bags, and in little boxes earmarked for those he really liked<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">:</span> </span>his favorite waitresses at each of the clubs and restaurants he frequented<span style="font-size: small;">;</span>
secretaries at record companies, BMI, and Warner/Chappell<span style="font-size: small;">;</span> large bags of toys
delivered to a downtown children’s hospital<span style="font-size: small;">;</span> for the the porters<span style="font-size: small;">,</span> doormen and the mailmen that he liked<span style="font-size: small;">; </span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">or for Belle, the old lady down
the hall</span></span>. The extensive gifts ran the gamut -
they might be inscribed, carefully selected books by Peter Guralnick, Jayne Ann
Phillips, or Elmore Leonard<span style="font-size: small;">;</span> or a photobook by Walker Evans or Weegee. He often
bought me photography or cookbooks<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>and always inscribed them to me, his only
daughter<span style="font-size: small;">,</span> as “<i>to my favorite daughter</i>” or conversely <i>“to my least favorite
daughter.”</i></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdFtVtVtRLZ7ySZgtuBDDuQga8iQMW8Dn4mSsCHUrkMEF-Omfs3EuVjSQK_BWIku_KdJjWZpX5Um1TH2JacKwwlnu0LJsEu87526fssiXv6m0jZv2q7ldIUjdjA7kvfOG4BRd4qw/s1600/12.25.83BookDaddy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdFtVtVtRLZ7ySZgtuBDDuQga8iQMW8Dn4mSsCHUrkMEF-Omfs3EuVjSQK_BWIku_KdJjWZpX5Um1TH2JacKwwlnu0LJsEu87526fssiXv6m0jZv2q7ldIUjdjA7kvfOG4BRd4qw/s400/12.25.83BookDaddy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Doc </span>would also purchase a wide range of trinkets from an old<span style="font-size: small;">-</span>time
salesman that he liked to throw business to named Sol Winkler<span style="font-size: small;">.</span> <span style="font-size: small;">Sol came</span> to his
apartment on West 72<sup>nd</sup> Street, and had been coming to him since
my father lived at the Forrest Hotel during the Brill Building days. <span style="font-size: small;">He</span> would open his<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">pocket<span style="font-size: small;">-lined </span></span></span></span>coat, stuffed with pens, knives and two–in–one gadgets<span style="font-size: small;">; and</span> had suitcases
filled with notions, frames,<span style="font-size: small;"> and </span>wallets<span style="font-size: small;"> -</span> everything always of questionable
value. He might buy something from Sidney Mills of Mills publishing,<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>who sold
watches on the side, or from Carmine DeNoya (aka Wassel), a legendary music
business and dear old wiseguy friend, who might offer him something fallen off the
back of a truck or from a barter deal. Then there were the many flea market
vendors selling jewelry <span style="font-size: small;">or</span> knick-knacks, both<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>high end<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>and low, that saw his
electric wheelchair coming at them from a mile a way and salivated because they knew he
was a big spender. Dr John sent him to a hidden botanica-type shop, where he
would buy oils, gris gris and candles for special gifts. He would send big gift baskets to Joe<span style="font-size: small;"> &</span>
Pat Turner in LA and a yearly salami to Phil Spector. (Pat Turner in turn
always sent him lots of photos of their home at Christmas for my dad, who never
had a chance to visit their LA pad, and Phil Spector would always sen<span style="font-size: small;">d</span> him a freezer<span style="font-size: small;">-</span>packed box of steaks.) When the
loot was all wrapped and ready-to-go, he would send his driver to deliver
Santa-Claus style to the various drop-off spots all over the city and parts
beyon<span style="font-size: small;">d.</span> This <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">c</span>ould sometimes</span> take a few days. In the end, the size of his most recent royalty statement determined how
much he would spend. My father lived
simultaneously large and modestly<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>in two small rooms<span style="font-size: small;">. He</span> did not invest in the
stock market or own real estate and had a very high overhead <span style="font-size: small;">to pay</span> salaries for
the small staff <span style="font-size: small;">who</span> worked for him<span style="font-size: small;">.</span> <span style="font-size: small;">S</span>hopping, going out to hear music, and
ordering in food daily, were the only luxuries in which he indulged.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBpZQ6oNFiQy1EUyzDHk5s2fDhP3rFytdZhCUjtHB1bATTPAooQs0Z5OW6ji1OKIonvxHixGYWdrFIu2yhufFKQbcIyX04HPv2nRprW5KFdhSIA0bcX4cA_wKYgX_al2A14jCfSw/s1600/Joe&PatTurnerXmas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBpZQ6oNFiQy1EUyzDHk5s2fDhP3rFytdZhCUjtHB1bATTPAooQs0Z5OW6ji1OKIonvxHixGYWdrFIu2yhufFKQbcIyX04HPv2nRprW5KFdhSIA0bcX4cA_wKYgX_al2A14jCfSw/s400/Joe&PatTurnerXmas.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0HIoZ9EdpdN_uXo9KSgCMmAj34GNgwcQMO5B035BFpGIKSOmkLFn8fjoesnbMPZSlstmzUQ_n6H5LpSGwk33vWzGOsuIKHJSc4-RcDtTEYoOThKTDveIBGR3x0MCnaNUJmxzGyQ/s1600/JoeTurnerXmas+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0HIoZ9EdpdN_uXo9KSgCMmAj34GNgwcQMO5B035BFpGIKSOmkLFn8fjoesnbMPZSlstmzUQ_n6H5LpSGwk33vWzGOsuIKHJSc4-RcDtTEYoOThKTDveIBGR3x0MCnaNUJmxzGyQ/s400/JoeTurnerXmas+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I have one specific memory from 1965, when we still lived
in Lynbrook, Long Island in a ranch-style house with a big lawn and a pool. My
mother, who is Catholic and also not at all religious, enjoyed over-the-top
Christmases. Our tree was a giant silver tinsel number<span style="font-size: small;">, </span>sparkly and ornately
decorated (these vintage decorations were all lost this year to <span style="font-size: small;">H</span>urricane Sandy). My
father asked his close friend Joe Morgan (Duke Ellington’s press agent), a big
pudgy guy, to come out to our house where he would dress as Santa and descend
from our attic to surprise my brother Geoffrey and me. My father’s mother
Millie, brought vats of her homemade chicken soup with kreplach and kneidlach,
and lamb shank stew from Brooklyn<span style="font-size: small;">.</span> <span style="font-size: small;">W</span>e were over-gifted with a ridiculous amount
of life<span style="font-size: small;">-</span>size toys that took over the living room. That is the last high-roller
Christmas <span style="font-size: small;">that</span> I remember. Soon after, my parents were divorced and lost the house
to the IRS.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7NMd5RMYAbvzqQwMbfdipT1fVsMX74IUuCHd-8zsxEPTWe_PT8kB07QkoTmk-F3C7nAsYCkoZOo-8kR_6LeDrCAGyhfUmpJzu7p1Kiugulj7kMLIJ2a13FUt9sVIDOKh0SwnJGQ/s1600/Sharyn&GeoffreyXmas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7NMd5RMYAbvzqQwMbfdipT1fVsMX74IUuCHd-8zsxEPTWe_PT8kB07QkoTmk-F3C7nAsYCkoZOo-8kR_6LeDrCAGyhfUmpJzu7p1Kiugulj7kMLIJ2a13FUt9sVIDOKh0SwnJGQ/s400/Sharyn&GeoffreyXmas.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR_GVRiffHrVqtm1-l52imHu7pXNheXrjSs8Zue2Yv6LTE5bTUAfljVuqahu65Obq7_ZhwF0saFSN-qGFxBjl76aLyfFegyrsNp3LQXwmEQbp6yB4ruAgr64yuZ2NPTSLnvrvPtQ/s1600/Doc&parents&sharyn.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR_GVRiffHrVqtm1-l52imHu7pXNheXrjSs8Zue2Yv6LTE5bTUAfljVuqahu65Obq7_ZhwF0saFSN-qGFxBjl76aLyfFegyrsNp3LQXwmEQbp6yB4ruAgr64yuZ2NPTSLnvrvPtQ/s400/Doc&parents&sharyn.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">My father
kept his favorite records,<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>mostly 78s and 45s, in special leather cases with
handles. Mac Rebennack always
tells me that when he and my father were alone at night they might </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">occasionally</span></span>
fire up a joint<span style="font-size: small;">. </span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">He</span> had a record player at the foot of his
bed<span style="font-size: small;">, and</span></span></span> my father was <span style="font-size: small;">always very</span> specific about which case Mac should go <span style="font-size: small;">to</span>, to pick <span style="font-size: small;">out just</span> the perfect
record that he wanted him to hear. That same music is what came out<span style="font-size: small;"> big<span style="font-size: small;">-</span>time</span> for the holidays<span style="font-size: small;">. I</span>t
was Big Joe Turner maybe
singing <span style="font-size: small;">"</span>Still in Love<span style="font-size: small;">,"</span> <span style="font-size: small;">(</span>Mac told me Pete Johnson’s piano playing on that was an important early
influence for him<span style="font-size: small;">)</span> or maybe “Love
Roller Coaster” or <span style="font-size: small;">"</span>Don’t <span style="font-size: small;">Y</span>ou Cry<span style="font-size: small;">"</span>, or Gatemouth Moore singing Doc’s first
recorded song “Love Doctor Blues,” or Jimmy Scott, Wynonie Harris, Big Maybelle
etc.<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>etc. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dad's</span> favorite
song was “Always,” written by the Jew, Irving Berlin, who also brought us “White
Christmas.”</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> After we exchanged our gifts, (<span style="font-size: small;">Dad</span> would
open his with childlike enthusiasm<span style="font-size: small;">)</span> he would announce, <i>“Lets get some Jew
food!”</i> And then, in the door from Fine and Shapiro, a Jewish deli up the
street where he maintained an account, would come chopped liver, chicken in the
pot, stuffed derma, cal<span style="font-size: small;">f'</span>s foot jelly, and kasha varnishkas<span style="font-size: small;">.</span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">A</span>t which point he would
proclaim: <i>“Now, lets have some fun!”</i></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcHtDVuDA9u9JNGtSwNJ3_p3PNAwNE46p27a3P13sskldOLIda5hEJCGBUROC7TvbK__98iW5Z0D2gZi5iAmoJcn4_mGMsgU9JM2NlgYR_R-vUxclwi-FUOQU6No_LlNzW_33Eeg/s1600/Doc&JoeT.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcHtDVuDA9u9JNGtSwNJ3_p3PNAwNE46p27a3P13sskldOLIda5hEJCGBUROC7TvbK__98iW5Z0D2gZi5iAmoJcn4_mGMsgU9JM2NlgYR_R-vUxclwi-FUOQU6No_LlNzW_33Eeg/s400/Doc&JoeT.jpeg" width="326" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Download:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/14-Cry.mp3">"Don't You Cry"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by Big Joe Turner, 1952.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00008LJHG/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00008LJHG&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">All the Classic Hits 1938-52</a></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/15%20No-One.mp3">"</a><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/15%20No-One.mp3">No One"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by Doc Pomus, 1959.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00008J2PT/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00008J2PT&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">It's Great to Be Young and in Love</a></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/16-Power-Glory.mp3">"The Power and the Glory"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by Benny Latimore, 1973.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0019C5LWU/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0019C5LWU&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">The Early Years</a></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/17-Never-Made.mp3">"World I Never Made"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by Dr. John, 2005.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BNTM0U/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000BNTM0U&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Our New Orleans</a></i> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">all photographs courtesy of Sharyn Felder</span></span><i> </i></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
</span></span>Ted Barronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975741901400619750noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35422342.post-28619546687383784132012-12-11T16:28:00.000-05:002012-12-13T21:22:00.737-05:00The Jewish Princess of Soul<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifwmnEzPl2ollTgXpre6Ar_vDDI6D-wtwerA7L6GqJydtFstZcmc4PWj8jByxjXgBcs98g-GVzTCe-X5satyGSSdxoj05HAadRPsuVoKenvtEPXwPDqH3m6pnaR27TMxOwnO-VNQ/s1600/amy.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifwmnEzPl2ollTgXpre6Ar_vDDI6D-wtwerA7L6GqJydtFstZcmc4PWj8jByxjXgBcs98g-GVzTCe-X5satyGSSdxoj05HAadRPsuVoKenvtEPXwPDqH3m6pnaR27TMxOwnO-VNQ/s400/amy.gif" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by <a href="http://pollybresnick.com/">Polly Bresnick</a> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>Amy Winehouse's "You Know<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>I'm <span style="font-size: small;">N</span>o Good," she laments in her<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>signature seductive contralto:</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /><i>I cheated myself like I knew I would. </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>I told you, that I was trouble.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>You know that I'm no good. </i><br /><br />It goes without saying that rehab wasn't the answer. Friends suggested she try it, but she said "no no no," insisting that it didn't work for her. (As the lyrics of the song imply, a creepy doctor did more harming than healing: <i>He said 'I just think you're depressed, Kiss me, yeah baby, and go rest.</i>') <br /><br />If we interpret Amy Winehouse's lyrics as even loosely autobiographical, we can find a pattern. She seems to have desperately wanted to be <i>good</i> (a common enough soul trope), though as hard as she tried, being good just didn't come naturally to her, it didn't seem to be her greatest talent. <br /><br />What she lacked in sainthood ability, folks seem to agree, she made up for in music-making talent. Try listening to any of her songs (especially the ones on her second album that feature backing from the Dap-Kings) without breaking into a mini-hustle in your seat. Good luck <i>not</i> snapping a finger or quick-clapping along with Amy on the one. Her album <i>Back to Black</i> led to six Grammy Award nominations and five wins, tying the then record for the most wins by a female artist in a single night. She was the first British female to win five Grammys. In 2012, Winehouse was listed at number 26 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women In Music. She may have been a pipsqueak physically, but her impact on the world of female musicians and fans was big. Like, bigger than her hair and her attitude combined. Of course it was — she sang with delicious smoky soul reminiscent of Etta James and Sarah Vaughan, she rocked a Bride-of-Frankenstein beehive. Understandably, it's these characteristics that immortalize her, and also maybe her tattoos. What not everyone knows is that she dreamed of one day becoming a nice Jewish cook like her bubbie, a real <i>berryer</i> who made her own gefiltefish from scratch, no lie. <br /><br />Referring to Winehouse, Sarah Silverman may or may not have quipped, "She <i>is</i> Jewish, right? If she isn’t, someone should tell her face." This is kind of funny. Ms. Winehouse's face <i>did</i> look Jewish, whatever that means (because it was). But the fact that her jewishness was in question makes sense too, right? She was so cool, so brassy and bold, so soulful, so <i>black</i>. Her face, for the few readers who don't know, also happens to have been quite pretty. <br /><br />If there's any question about whether Silverman's comment was complimentary, I'll gladly admit that I wouldn't mind if that astutely observant woman publicly insisted that, according to my face, I'm probably Jewish. <br /><br />Years before her Bat Mitzvah, as an innocent pre-teen, little Amy Winehouse — her nails bitten to the quicks, her baseball cap pulled low over her dark eyes, and her Disney World T-shirt hanging loose around her shapeless torso— started a hip hop duo with her friend and called it Sweet 'n Sour. They fancied themselves the "little white Jewish Salt 'n Pepa." I was about that same age when my fascination with hip hop was initiated by Lil' Kim. I diligently memorized Kim's best phrases, the ones I knew I shouldn't say aloud in public. That girl's aggressive power was irresistible. Many years later, I teamed with Lena Sradnick to form Mami Tsunami, a badass team of girl rappers. We battled the boy team. Why do Jewish girls want to do this? <br /><br />Are Hebrew prayers like raps? They're not really. I think it's more a symptom of this (and I'm allowed to make the following half-hearted generalization because I'm describing my own cultural subset): cultural Jews are characterized by their bookishness, their lack of athletic coordination, and their timid nature. Hip hop presents the opposite qualities: loud, irreverent, physical, aggressive. And teenage girls (<span style="font-size: small;">J</span>ewish or otherwise) like to be exactly who they aren't. Soul music has all the brassy power of hip-hop with an added admittance of emotional vulnerability. So it's no surprise to me that after Sweet n Sour, Amy Winehouse continued on to be a Jewish princess of soul.<br /><br />She sings with intimidating authority about being vulnerable, about making mistakes, about wishing she knew better than to make the same mistakes over and over again. This may be at the heart of her appeal to me. She admits that she's kind of a mess, that regret is a familiar friend, but in a powerful voice that belies all that. It's a folded version girl-power. She's fed up with her naive girlishness, even as she makes great soul music out of it. <span style="font-size: small;">A</span>t the risk of sounding like an after-school special, maybe music was her way of conquering all the frustration about mistakes and the difficulty of learning her lesson, maybe it was her way of keeping the upper hand. Love is obviously a losing game, right? We all know this, but it's not about to stop anyone from falling in love.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Download:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/12-No-Good.mp3">"You Know I'm No Good"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by Amy Winehouse, 2006.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on<i> </i><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000N2G3RY/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000N2G3RY&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Back to Black</a></i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/13-Tears-Dry-On-Their-Own.mp3">"Tears Dry Up On Their Own"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by Amy Winehouse, 2006.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on<i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000N2G3RY/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000N2G3RY&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank"> Back to Black</a></i></span></span><br />
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<br />Ted Barronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975741901400619750noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35422342.post-17901329566776789832012-12-10T16:29:00.000-05:002012-12-10T19:07:44.687-05:00What's My Name?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by <a href="http://bengreenman.com/content/?page_id=17">Ben Greenman</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">1.<br />How do you know that a band has Jewish roots? Maybe if they assimilate into the world around them without losing sight of the strands that resist assimilation: political expression, other immigrant cultures. Maybe if they ask more questions than they answer. Maybe if they seem like they don't have Jewish roots.<br /><br />2.<br />Michael Geoffrey Jones had a Welsh father and a Russian-Jewish mother. He spent much of his childhood with his maternal grandmother. In his teens, he took an interest in Britain's music scene, first in a glam-rock band called The Delinquents, then in a punk band. When he was a young man of 21, he met a slightly older young man named John Graham Mellor, also a veteran of local bands, and the two of them joined forces in a new musical concern. Take a look at these two, standing there. Blink. It's the Clash, and Michael's Mick Jones and John's Joe Strummer. Close your eyes again. This time don't open your eyes just yet. Try to hear the music they made without seeing, in your mind's eye, the iconic images that went along with them: Paul Simonon smashing his bass in the cover photo of London Calling, of course, but all the rest, too, boys leaning in doorways, proudly held microphones, guitars wielded like weapons. Okay. You can open your eyes now, though you may not want to.<br /><br />3.<br />When people are told that Mick Jones is Jewish, they usually have one of two responses.<br /><br />a) "No way! I didn't know that."<br />b) "You told me that yesterday, and I didn't believe it then either."<br /><br />But maybe it's not as strange as it sounds. American punks were largely Jewish, from Richard Hell to Joey Ramone, and while the demographics of British punks aren't as immediately apparent, they're relevantly similar. Take the prime mover of first-wave British punk, Malcolm McLaren. He sounds like he's Scottish because his father was, but that same father left when he was two and Malcolm was raised, largely, by his grandmother Rose Corre Isaacs, who came from a wealthy Portugese Sephardic family. (The Corre name went to McLaren's son withVivienne Westwood, Joseph, who founded Agent Provocateur). Even within the Clash, it was more the rule than the exception. Joe Strummer's father's mother's father was Jewish. And the band's other lead guitarist, Keith Levene, who was fired soon after Jones joined, was also half-Jewish (though father, not mother, which makes him less Jewish than Jones or McLaren according to matrilineal-descent rules).</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">4.<br />The Clash's career needs no review. Does it? If it does we are all older than we think. The band recorded a series of slashing singles that established them as the world's best punk band. Maybe you've heard them: "I Fought the Law," "Complete Control," "White Man in Hamersmith Palais," "I'm So Bored of the U.S.A." Then they became the world's best band, period, branching out into rockabilly and dub and funk and pop. If you need a more detailed summary than that, maybe you should be looking elsewhere.<br /><br />5.<br />Longer articles, even entire books, have been spent analyzing the dynamic between Jones and Strummer. Generally speaking, though this is almost so general as to be inaccurate, Strummer was the straight line, the political firebrand and musical agitator, and Jones was the steadying force that permitted and even encouraged divagations into pop music. There is some evidence for this woefully incomplete theory. Early on in the band's career, Jones wrote and sang "1-2 Crush on You," which sounds at first like Sha-Na-Na and then like a not especially punky (but especially expert and energetic) love song. Other Jones contributions were relevantly similar in tone: "Train In Vain," from London Calling, and even "Should I Stay Or Should I Go?" But Jones wasn't all soft McCartney to Strummer's uncompromising Lennon. He was also responsible for lead vocals on a pair of the band's best lesser-known songs, "The Prisoner" and "Gates of the West." There's not much evidence, overt or otherwise, of Jones's Judaism in his music. though it's fun to retitle Clash songs as Jewish, especially when there are execrable poems involved. In that spirit, we offer "Whitefish Riot," "Wrong 'Em Oy-o," and, of course, "Verklemptdown."<br /><br />6.<br />Or is there? "Gates of the West" is an especially interesting case. It's usually read as a straightforward account of the Clash's first experience with America: that's the West, and they're coming across the ocean to find it. But there's another undercurrent that shifts<br />things a thousand miles to the East and hints at the contributions of Eastern Europeans, many of whom were Jewish, to British culture: "The immigrants an' remnants of all the glory years / Are clustered around the bar again for another round of beers."</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">7.<br />This is a theme Jones would return to later on. When the Clash broke up, not particularly amicably. Jones went on to a brief dalliance in General Public and then, along with Don Letts, formed Big Audio Dynamite. That band's cut-and-paste dance-floor aesthetic alienated some Clash fans, but new fans came aboard. And then, for the band's second album, No. 10 Upping St., Jones reunited with Strummer. They produced the record together and Strummer co-wrote several songs. One of them, "Beyond The Pale," picked up that second, almost invisible thread of "Gates of the West."<br /><br />My grandpa came from Russia<br />Stowed away hidden in some bales<br />He took my grandma dancing<br />To the air raid sirens wail<br /><br />Later in the song, Jones wonders what would have happened had his grandfather not stowed away:<br /><br />Now there's a rocker in Vladivostok<br />Got every side by Jerry Lee<br />But for accidents of disorder<br />That guy could well be me<br /><br />8.<br />"That guy could well be me." True, though it's just as likely that he would perished in one of the sweeping historical atrocities of the middle of the twentieth century: Stalin's Russia, Hitler's Germany. The Clash was always particularly sensitive to injustice, and never afraid to speak out about it. When Jones first joined the band, he and Strummer and Levene wrote a song together called "What's My Name?" It's a bit of youthful dyspepsia, delivered at top energy like the rest of those early songs but not otherwise their finest moment. But it asks a good question. What is in a name? Jones is a fairly benign name, but it's his, and he kept it, unlike Mellor, who went to Strummer and never went back. Despite the fact that he kept his name, Jones never recorded under it. Since disbanding Big Audio Dynamite (I & II), he has played with as series of groups, from Carbon/Silicon to The Justice Tonight Band.<br /><br />But the most interesting footnote, from a Jewish perspective, comes back at the beginning. While in the Delinquents, Jones met Tony James (later of Generation X) and formed his first punk band, London SS. I'll print it again to cushion the shock. London SS. People were understandably dismayed by the name. The war was only thirty years gone, and they didn't take kindly to what seemed like an overt reference to the Schutzstaffel. Many punk bands flirted with fascist rhetoric, either ironically or straightforwardly. Andrew Matheson of the Hollywood Brats claimed to have invented the name, in part because the members were sporting Nazi fashions; Jones, he said, had a swastika armband. This account has been disputed or dismissed. "We hadn't thought at all about the Nazi implications," James has said. "It just seemed like a very anarchic, stylish thing to do." And Jones himself, who did not tolerate this behavior in others (he was irritated by Sid Vicious's habit of wearing a swastika t-shirt, and vowed to never appear onstage with the Sex Pistols), has claimed that the SS stood for Social Security and that the "London" prefix was an homage to the New York Dolls.<br /><br />Among the songs London SS played was "Protex Blue," a song about prophylactics that the Clash would later record. The Protex line was manufactured by the Schmid company, which was founded in 1882 in New York by the German immigrant Julius Schmidt, who lopped the "t" off his last name to appear less Jewish.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Download:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/07-1-2-Crush-On-You.mp3">"1-2 Crush On You"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by The Clash, 1978.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004C4L1/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00004C4L1&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Super Black Market Clash</a></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/08-The-Prisoner.mp3">"The Prisoner"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by The Clash, 1978.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004C4L1/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00004C4L1&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Super Black Market Clash</a></i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/09-Gates-Of-The-West.mp3">"Gates of the West"</a> </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span>mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by The Clash, 1979</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004C4L1/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00004C4L1&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Super Black Market Clash</a></i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/10-Beyond-The-Pale.mp3">"Beyond The Pale"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by Big Audio Dynamite, 1986. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000026AV/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0000026AV&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">No.10 Upping St</a></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/11-Protex-Blue.mp3">"Protex Blue"</a> mp3</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by The Clash, 1977.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004BZ04/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00004BZ04&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">The Clash (UK Version)</a></i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">p</span>hotos by Pennie Smith </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">top image f<span style="font-size: small;">rom</span><i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472530/"><span style="font-size: small;"> Hell W1<span style="font-size: small;">0</span></span></a></i></span></span>Ted Barronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975741901400619750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35422342.post-88785822771446045162012-12-09T16:28:00.000-05:002012-12-10T16:23:04.342-05:00The Rich Fag Jew and the Cellar Full of Goys<style>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">by </span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592407153/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1592407153&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Jesse Jarnow</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">No matter his status as fifth, sixth, or twelfth Beatle, pretty much all involved would later acknowledge Brian Epstein's August 1967 death as the beginning of the end for the Fabs. But unlike so many other things about the Beatles--meeting the Maharishi, Paul dying, screaming teenage girls, Yoko--Brian Epstein passed into rock and roll lore without ever transforming into archetype. He remains far too tragic a character from far too different a time. A bright young man from a late industrial age port city where being gay was illegal, John Lennon would forever brand him as the "rich, fag Jew," vaguely discernible (perhaps) in the final mix of "Baby You're A Rich Man" around the 2:47 mark, a slight irregularity in the outro harmonies. <br /><br />In the pantheon of lyrics about the complicated and highly individual sexuality of pop music managers, it's not quite as poetic as Joni Mitchell's "Free Man in Paris." But it's also accurate in its stinging concision, encapsulating much of what was difficult about Epstein's troubled life. But besides his efficient shepherding of the Beatles from Liverpool to everywhere, Brian Epstein's other greatest achievement--his most archetypal role, at that--is barely remembered at all, except as a footnote. He ran a really, really good record store. Long before "Baby You're A Rich Man," John Lennon knew Brian Epstein as "the man from NEMS."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lennon's bitter epithet also
neatly captures the way Epstein ended up there. The grandson of Lithuanian
émigré and department store magnate Isaac Epstein, Brian grew up in upper class
Jewish Liverpool, where his parents took over the North End Music Store in
Whitechapel when I. Epstein and Sons expanded from next door, and soon took on
the striking NEMS name and logo for their rapidly growing company. As it
happened, their son Brian was a very closeted gay man with a penchant for rough
sex. After several increasingly violent misadventures in pursuit of illicit
encounters, including threats of blackmail, the ever-supportive Epsteins
installed him on the ground floor of the chain's Charlotte Street outlet. His
brother Clive took over the appliances, and Brian threw his life into the small
nook that housed the store's record department.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">While they sold sheet music and rented instruments, NEMS had started stocking
records for the same reasons as the Matassa family at the J&M Appliance
Store in New Orleans a decade-and-a-half earlier: record players were
appliances, and there was no place else to acquire the peripherals that
actually made the music. Where Cosimo Matassa would eventually open a recording
studio in the back, Brian Epstein would achieve something quite different.
Taking over in the spring of 1960, the 25-year old Brian poured himself into
it, uncoiling his high-strung energy into the exacting management. He codified
his meticulousness into store policy when he audaciously declared that the
store would stock at least one copy of every record in print. He worked late
hours, staying in touch with the Manchester-based distributors himself.<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Though Brian Epstein almost exclusively listened to classical music, the "every record in print" policy quite decisively included the slowly building wave of rock singles. By the end of the year, the department spilled out from its nook as the shop became a destination for local teens. With no airplay from the BBC, and no Liverpudlian publications covering the post-skiffle acts playing in the basement bars, NEMS was the only game in town for the emerging music scene. When Epstein suggested that promoters hang posters for shows in the record department of the three NEMS stores, he cemented the chain's place as a profound hub for local culture, all the more so when it became the primary distribution node for the first issues of Bill Harry's Mersey Beat zine, launched in April 1961. Epstein devoured each new issue and, before 1961 was out, found himself managing the Beatles and using his label contacts to get the band auditions. From NEMS came NEMS Enterprises, and a mini-empire that--much due to Epstein's careful architecture--gave way to Beatlemania and, eventually, <i>Beatlemania.</i></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">NEMS itself would become
part of the Rumbelows appliance chain in 1969, the same year Lennon
immortalized another former NEMS record clerk in song--Peter Brown--in
"The Ballad of John and Yoko." It was also the same year as the
Stonewall Inn riots and the beginning of gay liberation in New York. Brian
Epstein didn't make it. On the fabled night that Bob Dylan got the Beatles and
their manager stoned at the Delmonico Hotel in August 1964, Epstein had looked
into a mirror and pointed. "JEW!" he shrieked, to much hilarity.
"It may not seem the least bit significant to anyone else, but in our
circle, it was very liberating," McCartney later said. Just as it was
nearly impossible for Epstein to be publicly gay, he found it nearly as much
trouble to acknowledge his Judaism. When Epstein followed the band into their
psychedelic phase a few years later, he told a bewildered <i>Melody Maker</i> that "I think LSD helped me to know myself
better." But even that wasn't much use.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">With his bent for
amphetamines and violent turn-ons, there's an alternate universe where Epstein
stumbled into Andy Warhol's Factory, found himself welcomed, and carried the Velvet
Underground under NEMS's wing towards a vastly different pop horizon. But that
wasn't to be, and pretty much everything escalated until his death in the late
summer of 1967 by (probably) accidental overdose of sleeping pills, nothing
resolved.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In a story arc from the Quarrymen to the roof of the Apple Corp. offices, Brian Epstein remains an extraordinarily complex character that--as in real life--doesn't easily fit. Leggy Mountbatten, his equivalent in the Rutles, would be attracted to the Pre-Fab Four's tight trousers, and parodied Epstein's A Cellarful of Noise with A Cellarful of Goys. But Terence Bayler's character was more a refugee from Monty Python's Ministry of Silly Walks than any kind of commentary on the way Epstein's story became part of rock history. In that way, Brian Epstein would grow into a position even more singular, something of anti-archetype. Like the portable nothingness from Yellow Submarine's Sea of Holes, when Epstein is placed atop the Beatles' story, he turns it into something else -- something that becomes more intricate the deeper one looks, less beautiful, and more alive.</span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9HKXYP4qjNgGOq5awTBgYNU9eV5rcJUtcoZRIl6ZGNqgvluYObJu42EYcJ9SLMdjCBdoezmfVoZbc5O5s0cJTVDWgXf81jw-YTqqMFp4woknATcBR6H2CiswKGbJgGQ8m7bX8Xg/s1600/beatles-all-you-need-is-love-baby-youre-a-rich-man-side-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9HKXYP4qjNgGOq5awTBgYNU9eV5rcJUtcoZRIl6ZGNqgvluYObJu42EYcJ9SLMdjCBdoezmfVoZbc5O5s0cJTVDWgXf81jw-YTqqMFp4woknATcBR6H2CiswKGbJgGQ8m7bX8Xg/s400/beatles-all-you-need-is-love-baby-youre-a-rich-man-side-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Baby You<span style="font-size: small;">'re A Rich Man"</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/05-Baby-Mono.mp3">MONO</a><span style="font-size: small;"> mp3</span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/06-Baby-Stereo.mp3">S</a><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/06-Baby-Stereo.mp3">TEREO</a> mp3</span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">by The Beatles, 1967.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">available on </span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0025KVLTW/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0025KVLTW&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Magical Mystery Tour</a></span></span></i></span> </span></span><i></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>All quotes, etc., via Bob Spitz's excellent </i>The Beatles: The Biography <i>(2005). </i></span></span></div>
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Ted Barronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975741901400619750noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35422342.post-68429675967286105672012-12-08T16:28:00.000-05:002012-12-08T16:28:00.034-05:00L'chaim!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim7oh1XhvMShch7auINO47-F8qs0Zkd5GgzvFANs4bctk_lMBwpDZS7MRDSNRhtcs1876huMv9oNwuK7oaAGOBeirg_0G6yQj86LFbM7RsDQc-nk3CMYMi2vJ681fCCYajxFoOOw/s1600/cover+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim7oh1XhvMShch7auINO47-F8qs0Zkd5GgzvFANs4bctk_lMBwpDZS7MRDSNRhtcs1876huMv9oNwuK7oaAGOBeirg_0G6yQj86LFbM7RsDQc-nk3CMYMi2vJ681fCCYajxFoOOw/s400/cover+copy.jpg" width="346" /></a></div>
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by Alex Abramovich <br />
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Friends of mine were marrying shiksas. Kristins, Cristinas, (both with and without the “h”), a Ceridwen in the mix.<br />
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Tevya, the milkman, would not have approved.<br />
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The milkman had had it tough, raising six Jewish daughters (Tzeitel, Hodel, Chava, Shprintze, Bielke, and Teibelin) in Tsarist/rabidly anti-Semitic Russia.<br />
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We first met Tevya in 1894, in a short story by Sholem Aleichem. It was followed by other short stories, a silent film (Aleichem himself wrote the treatment) and various stage adaptations. (Click <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsoayvbhHF0">HERE</a> to see a clip of the Yiddish Art Theater’s 1939 Yiddish-language film, <a href="http://www.brandeis.edu/jewishfilm/Catalogue/films/tevye.html"><i>Tevya</i></a>.) Given the plot, which has to do with Tevya's loss of his daughters, it’s fitting that the story shed a daughter—Teibelin—as the years and productions went by.<br />
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/01-Tradition.mp3">"Tradition"</a> mp3<br />
by Topol, 1971.<br />
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005OB07/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00005OB07&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Fiddler on the Roof</a></i><br />
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Zero Mostel played Tevya in 1964, in a Broadway adaptation that ran for 3,242 performances; Bette Middler and Pia Zadora both took turns as daughters. (Click <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1Ucto7HKKA">HERE</a> to see Mostel wave his arms around and sing “If I Were a Rich Man,” and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBuDGHd2Qkg">HERE</a> to see him on the Muppet Show.) Chaim Topol, who’d played Tevye in the musical’s West End production, starred in Norman Jewison’s adaptation of Fiddler on the Roof. You might remember it as shtetl schmaltz—a sort of proto-<i>Yentl</i>—but the film played well forty years ago. Pauline Kael admired Topol’s “rough presence" and "burly, raw strength." One man’s meat was another man’s medley.<br />
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Given <i>Fiddler’s</i> themes, which have to do with displacement as well as tradition (“as Tevye’s daughters marry and disperse, and the broken family is driven off its land and starts the long trek to American, his story becomes the story of the Jewish people who came to America at the turn of the century,” Kael wrote), it’s fitting that the musical’s songs travelled far from their starting points. Take Cannonball Adderley, who recorded <i>Cannonball Adderley’s Fiddler on the Roof</i> a few weeks after the musical opened:<br />
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/02-Fiddler-On-The-Roof.mp3">"Fiddler On The Roof"</a> mp3<br />
by Cannonball Adderly, 1964.<br />
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000093U3V/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000093U3V&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Cannonball Adderly's Fiddler on the Roof</a></i><br />
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For whatever reason, Adderley’s cover of “Tradition” is called “Fiddler on the Roof"; when The Soul Brothers covered Adderley’s cover they retained the title: <br />
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/03-Fiddler-On-The-Roof.mp3">"Fiddler On The Roof"</a> mp3<br />
by The Soul Brothers, 1967<br />
available on<i> Hot Shot: Ska Jump Up & Soul Instrumentals</i><br />
out of print<br />
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The Soul Brothers grew out of the Skatalites: Jackie Mittoo, Roland Alphonso, etc. In 1966 they became the Soul Vendors. Recording non-stop, they backed Slim Smith, the Wailers, the Maytals - the full list puts them in Funk Brothers/Wrecking Crew/Booker T. & the MGs territory. Their re-recording of “Fiddler on the Roof” stood at some remove from the source material:<br />
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-12/04-Swing-Easy.mp3">"Swing Easy"</a> mp3<br />
by The Soul Vendors, 1966<br />
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ASDGC6/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000ASDGC6&linkCode=as2&tag=boowooflu-20" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Downbeat the Ruler: Best of Studio One Vol. 3</a></i><br />
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The years went by. Louchie Lou & Michie One turned another <i>Fiddler</i> song into a ragga anthem—<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z432Pwci0-Y">“Rich Girl”</a>—that <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rlNpWYQunY">Gwen Stefani</a> went on to cover. Years later, I married a nice, Jewish girl from Tucson. To the best of my knowledge, “Matchmaker,” “L’chaim,” and “Sunrise, Sunset” are still up for grabs.Ted Barronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975741901400619750noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35422342.post-1230929408765997392012-07-09T17:11:00.000-04:002012-07-10T01:42:53.702-04:002120 South Michigan Avenue<div style="text-align: left;">
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After the Stones released their first LP, they set out for the US in the summer in 1964. They didn't exactly conquer America. On the heels of the Beatles success here before them, they arrived with no big hit record to promote and to less fanfare than they were used to back home in the UK. The first leg of their tour was marked by poor attendance and a US Television debut on the Hollywood Palace in which they were ridiculed by host Dean Martin. <br />
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Still, remarkable things were happening. At the San Antonio State Fair, on a bill they shared with George Jones, Keith would meet his future running buddy and saxophonist Bobby Keys, born on the exact same as day as him. In New York, Keith meets and starts a romance with Ronnie Spector. The Stones also get their first taste of American radio stations where they find some of the material that they set out to record in the coming months. They played to enthusiastic, yet small crowds and before the summer of '64 was through, they would have their first #1 record in the UK with a cover of The Valentinos "It's All Over Now." Recorded on the shores of Lake Michigan at Chess Studios, in the same room that produced the recordings of Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Howlin' Wolf, and Muddy Waters that had inspired them to hone their chops in London and to become The Rolling Stones. These recordings, along with a few batches of tracks cut in London and then in Los Angeles with Jack Nitzsche later that year, comprise all of the material for their next few singles, EPs, and <i>Rolling Stones No.2</i> (UK) <i>12x5</i> (US) and the remaining tracks to fill out their third US LP <i>Rolling Stones Now!</i> For the Stones to find themselves recording at Chess at this early stage in their career was by all accounts<i> </i>a dream come true, and as Keith describes in his autobiography the feeling that they "had died and gone to heaven." <br />
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The songwriting team of Jagger-Richards had yet to blossom into the prolific writers they would become, and still relying heavily on covers, they delved into material from some of their usual sources (Howlin' Wolf and Chuck Berry) as well as interpretations of songs by The Drifters, Irma Thomas, Barbara Lynn, Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding. Below are the tracks that the Stones used as their source material, as well as a handful of their own compositions that rounds out the watershed year of 1964 and on into early 1965.<br />
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to be continued... <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfoHS-C7NkR5gE608OKiCJ8zwsQ-EqKn0wQS1F816JA_wJQNbwc0-0v-8CvMeYpjDlXy-z1ZiqjuSnyK4QLmYk6V9CNbD-SqZkWf_mFRLykXJ22kcUzEAIEJBGHTV4cq0vePXOgg/s1600/stones45.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfoHS-C7NkR5gE608OKiCJ8zwsQ-EqKn0wQS1F816JA_wJQNbwc0-0v-8CvMeYpjDlXy-z1ZiqjuSnyK4QLmYk6V9CNbD-SqZkWf_mFRLykXJ22kcUzEAIEJBGHTV4cq0vePXOgg/s400/stones45.jpg" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXSiA-7R8b_MZerPXryi6PBtUCgbHW5xYAn518YFkpGOz08NfnJ7RduI62lczVFErLVrD796kxX76yPzpYcthyphenhyphenxf-ngm9OSvSPVyjEw5JRIzSG0Ca2pHpRv-MK1aq1CRHlvIGObA/s1600/Untitled+70.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXSiA-7R8b_MZerPXryi6PBtUCgbHW5xYAn518YFkpGOz08NfnJ7RduI62lczVFErLVrD796kxX76yPzpYcthyphenhyphenxf-ngm9OSvSPVyjEw5JRIzSG0Ca2pHpRv-MK1aq1CRHlvIGObA/s400/Untitled+70.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-7/01-All-Over-Now.mp3">"It's All Over Now"</a> mp3</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
by the Valentinos, 1964.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001QGJ65W/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001QGJ65W" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Do It Right</a></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0PTawqbeuNEUqH2H6IcxI6KBs9ttTt9M3C2pFFV3NB6jzgxg9TasArCZNo4r3oyuXeSPp9KBQ8jK6MBR98e-b6zICxP3IcFhiNEW2WNtkksrSe819qK9whkO4RTsvxrxAgaBMLQ/s1600/goodtimebad.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0PTawqbeuNEUqH2H6IcxI6KBs9ttTt9M3C2pFFV3NB6jzgxg9TasArCZNo4r3oyuXeSPp9KBQ8jK6MBR98e-b6zICxP3IcFhiNEW2WNtkksrSe819qK9whkO4RTsvxrxAgaBMLQ/s400/goodtimebad.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-7/02-Good-Times-Bad-Times.mp3">"Good Times, Bad Times"</a> mp3</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
by The Rolling Stones, 1964.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006AW2O/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00006AW2O" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">12 X 5</a></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6T2wQA-3usisx_LtBdGpEYUUIa7XNEpioYkQtCj8rSgTHNlKABtGOcLB33LhfRhaJAU2obmuorhI9VG_4b7hRMD1mpKPwssRzmftdvaM1uf_w4EXy-oSQfzecuDNGk54QudRC3A/s1600/Picture+1.png"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6T2wQA-3usisx_LtBdGpEYUUIa7XNEpioYkQtCj8rSgTHNlKABtGOcLB33LhfRhaJAU2obmuorhI9VG_4b7hRMD1mpKPwssRzmftdvaM1uf_w4EXy-oSQfzecuDNGk54QudRC3A/s400/Picture+1.png" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlv6z2xGOD2IIKEcU1KzvxPztb5yR1wS45ydyxLtwTSxdiiW1hwrk89Zz7nNcJuWqgXiVxaH0P7pAY7Tp3w_5pGUWbvm1B9kv_FdMHQn6GzTfhKbyDQJBts8HETO4uOUV6bqnd5g/s1600/burkneed.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlv6z2xGOD2IIKEcU1KzvxPztb5yR1wS45ydyxLtwTSxdiiW1hwrk89Zz7nNcJuWqgXiVxaH0P7pAY7Tp3w_5pGUWbvm1B9kv_FdMHQn6GzTfhKbyDQJBts8HETO4uOUV6bqnd5g/s400/burkneed.jpg" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-7/03-If-You.mp3">"If You Need Me"</a> mp3</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
by Solomon Burke, 1963.<br />
available on<i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002F3BOZK/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002F3BOZK" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Very Best of Solomon Burke</a></i><br />
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<i>The Stones most likely learned "If You Need Me" from the Solomon
Burke version, which was a hit and the flip side of his version of Gene
Allison's "You Can Make It If You Try" which they had previously
recorded in England. The original by Wilson Pickett, was presented to
Jerry Wexler at Atlantic as a demo when Pickett was trying to get a deal
with them. Much to Pickett's chagrin, Atlantic gave the song to Burke
to record, and eventually signed Pickett in 1964.</i><br />
<i> </i> </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwJ3TODr7d0eXLHcFA3eCTRzQr-XbVhsAKC35uDzWwWQ7bnc1E1IDaejCBHPT0skazcSuOfwOLUYHr8ze35EMueGyFkM6Q3uNb4iI1zR9Jsh4HaWx-FLLjrIJl0NzBtMbtBvlCYw/s1600/pickett.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwJ3TODr7d0eXLHcFA3eCTRzQr-XbVhsAKC35uDzWwWQ7bnc1E1IDaejCBHPT0skazcSuOfwOLUYHr8ze35EMueGyFkM6Q3uNb4iI1zR9Jsh4HaWx-FLLjrIJl0NzBtMbtBvlCYw/s400/pickett.jpg" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-7/04-Need-Me.mp3">"If You Need Me"</a> mp3</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
by Wilson Pickett, 1962.<br />
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000002IKQ/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000002IKQ" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Greatest Hits</a></i><br />
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-7/05-Empty-Heart.mp3">"Empty Heart"</a> mp3</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
by The Rolling Stones, 1964.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006AW2O/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00006AW2O" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">12 X 5</a></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Bg7gwYeB9l4qBos_cgNR5CnBHWr8j_z8XP3quZv_WeroPgu-Aob0gpZ9OqaBtFzbx4jbpe6Z7WaAjkJKrgEASzW40L0g5pd8NdyjDCLVx6c70NVU33k854jX76zrB2-2Oat9Cw/s1600/CHESS6----1964.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Bg7gwYeB9l4qBos_cgNR5CnBHWr8j_z8XP3quZv_WeroPgu-Aob0gpZ9OqaBtFzbx4jbpe6Z7WaAjkJKrgEASzW40L0g5pd8NdyjDCLVx6c70NVU33k854jX76zrB2-2Oat9Cw/s400/CHESS6----1964.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-7/06-2120.mp3">"2120 South Michigan Avenue"</a> mp3</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The Rolling Stones, 1964.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006AW2O/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00006AW2O" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">12 X 5</a></i><br />
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-7/07-Confessin.mp3">"Confessin' the Blues"</a> mp3</div>
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by Chuck Berry, 1960.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0084D19RS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0084D19RS" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Rockin' at the Hops</a></i><br />
<br />
<i>The Stones probably learned "Confessin the Blues" from the Chuck Berry version, but theirs is played slower and not unlike the original 1941 version by Jay McShann that was the flip side of "Hootie Blues" featuring the first ever recorded solo by Charlie Parker. Bird doesn't take a solo on "Confessin the Blues" but I include it here nonetheless, and I'd be surprised if Charlie Watts and Ian Stewart weren't already well versed in the original.</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh17M9ktabB5bbSV_JVtlXNxHVPDrBUfL858yiLs1Qi7EO_EbNj4BxZX9YFQmZIgpG0FIxvu8E6v8CfZUAWsSSlFm_agv0ABwZtjo4x_-EgvFTQ02gI0UzRstLzaAKOAbretAzxzw/s1600/mcshann.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh17M9ktabB5bbSV_JVtlXNxHVPDrBUfL858yiLs1Qi7EO_EbNj4BxZX9YFQmZIgpG0FIxvu8E6v8CfZUAWsSSlFm_agv0ABwZtjo4x_-EgvFTQ02gI0UzRstLzaAKOAbretAzxzw/s400/mcshann.jpg" width="395" /></a><i> </i><br />
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-7/08-The%20Blues.mp3">"Confessin' the Blues"</a> mp3</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
by Jay McShann, 1941.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ETRIZC/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000ETRIZC" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Hootie Blues</a></i></div>
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-7/09-Around-And-Around.mp3">"Around and Around"</a> mp3</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
by Chuck Berry, 1959</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
available on<i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000002PDL/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000002PDL" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Berry Is On Top</a></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3JVAhr-1eCad4_zsd9Itj4NwIdz3STQl17g6zaHgjBfityEgO2syDjOEuOKHOXbq1QFWyu7w6ot9KGZ1uWwpwVSEFvGkIf13eYq-vS6XrjdFg221b66GJnvFUhzYQ57C5gg2JoQ/s1600/stones065.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3JVAhr-1eCad4_zsd9Itj4NwIdz3STQl17g6zaHgjBfityEgO2syDjOEuOKHOXbq1QFWyu7w6ot9KGZ1uWwpwVSEFvGkIf13eYq-vS6XrjdFg221b66GJnvFUhzYQ57C5gg2JoQ/s400/stones065.jpg" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwGEpurKIkZ-DJE94roEKSOeXcyweqbw17inXHPNjAzMNGtBAzzySxJ5-vFwvC-C2QGfwf09918kJteU6nKhkGHuVsoYbV1NMqTt8PcxYZAoQcoCdVH05ZxtmeDXLXIO9PD92kCQ/s1600/irma.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwGEpurKIkZ-DJE94roEKSOeXcyweqbw17inXHPNjAzMNGtBAzzySxJ5-vFwvC-C2QGfwf09918kJteU6nKhkGHuVsoYbV1NMqTt8PcxYZAoQcoCdVH05ZxtmeDXLXIO9PD92kCQ/s400/irma.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-7/10-Time-Is-On-My-Side.mp3">"Time Is On My Side"</a> mp3</div>
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by Irma Thomas, 1964.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000013B0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0000013B0" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Time is on My Side</a></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3QbDVRWbDJn3cO6K0XQXuj269woaPHlHl9mm87pf_7BhYubrYyLpLb8_I0WSH2-gUiyxVDN8hhioXOg7l9MrdCSZNnf9esXvR7TG2UIuyvWII98NBdEMGGAleZohCRMfjDKqo9A/s1600/congrats.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3QbDVRWbDJn3cO6K0XQXuj269woaPHlHl9mm87pf_7BhYubrYyLpLb8_I0WSH2-gUiyxVDN8hhioXOg7l9MrdCSZNnf9esXvR7TG2UIuyvWII98NBdEMGGAleZohCRMfjDKqo9A/s400/congrats.jpg" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-7/11-Congratulations.mp3">"Congratulations"</a> mp3<br />
The Rolling Stones, 1964.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006EXED/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00006EXED" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Singles Collection: The London Years</a></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFP_gh9ixRi6IRlukwUYO3yy_TGOJs6KFcD0Hvr13DEPEj3zcMZf6wnQ8MUMs3Paj3UCWxKyrRLdZFHPsNPGQX41GQNJ9T02FZZIE-gIENvUOPg9arF8hn7N-D1wVJXecWj_OL0A/s1600/12x5.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFP_gh9ixRi6IRlukwUYO3yy_TGOJs6KFcD0Hvr13DEPEj3zcMZf6wnQ8MUMs3Paj3UCWxKyrRLdZFHPsNPGQX41GQNJ9T02FZZIE-gIENvUOPg9arF8hn7N-D1wVJXecWj_OL0A/s400/12x5.jpg" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-7/12-Under-The-Boardwalk.mp3">"Under the Boardwalk"</a> mp3 </div>
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The Drifters, 1964.<br />
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000008F8A/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000008F8A" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">The Drifters' Golden Hits</a></i><br />
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-7/13-Grown-Up-Wrong.mp3">"Grown Up Wrong"</a> mp3</div>
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The Rolling Stones, 1964.<br />
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006AW2O/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00006AW2O" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">12 X 5</a></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdzuw-27gdKM7_oaSXQaecQhbXMW7BFYXZ7o7xqcu-IhKoynCY6yzGwZH3pst0A6LyQ061WiDPMwZDg3KmpeCz_tX_6Ndz0RpH2K8uGdwOiOq-R9piGB9Us71ySrElqBd6ubylOw/s1600/dale.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdzuw-27gdKM7_oaSXQaecQhbXMW7BFYXZ7o7xqcu-IhKoynCY6yzGwZH3pst0A6LyQ061WiDPMwZDg3KmpeCz_tX_6Ndz0RpH2K8uGdwOiOq-R9piGB9Us71ySrElqBd6ubylOw/s400/dale.jpg" width="395" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-7/14-Susie-Q.mp3">"Susie Q"</a> mp3</div>
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Dale Hawkins, 1958.<br />
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0043FWXL2/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0043FWXL2" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Oh! Suzy-Q the Definitive & Remastered Edition</a></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTy7Lju2WZxiJ0zlMJaxXK09IB9HJLQb4i_XEhXdU4oKrMQH5RUv94GGDCR5LL6p7V2DPbM5Hmi2B69uqfkCyh6_814ZcVE1Ded8PihWK_G6UkG1S3H5n1Dxjh7OvWvYV83KMTYw/s1600/Rolling-Stones-Little-Red-Rooste-419845.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTy7Lju2WZxiJ0zlMJaxXK09IB9HJLQb4i_XEhXdU4oKrMQH5RUv94GGDCR5LL6p7V2DPbM5Hmi2B69uqfkCyh6_814ZcVE1Ded8PihWK_G6UkG1S3H5n1Dxjh7OvWvYV83KMTYw/s400/Rolling-Stones-Little-Red-Rooste-419845.jpg" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5L4C-wxJ_MKZFsPkmrrz0fH5IiG89hZ62E1FmI0wmAtXyRe-EPhL9orCCeg7SMXWdKfNbvd2RSIKLvNKdDougz1KzPBPRzV5-Q7HS-dWL-FFqW7eUagbKCkPNSzrHpTs2U0pYDg/s1600/wolf.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5L4C-wxJ_MKZFsPkmrrz0fH5IiG89hZ62E1FmI0wmAtXyRe-EPhL9orCCeg7SMXWdKfNbvd2RSIKLvNKdDougz1KzPBPRzV5-Q7HS-dWL-FFqW7eUagbKCkPNSzrHpTs2U0pYDg/s400/wolf.jpg" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-7/15-Red-Rooster.mp3">"The Red Rooster"</a> mp3 </div>
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by Howlin' Wolf, 1961.<br />
avalable on<i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000002O3I/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000002O3I" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Moanin in the Moonlight & Howlin Wolf</a></i><br />
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-7/16-What-A-Shame.mp3">"What A Shame"</a> mp3 </div>
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by The Rolling Stones, 1964.<br />
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006EXED/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00006EXED" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Singles Collection: The London Years</a></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyozx0m3bcMov_orlO2AAGUi380oqA4RSdFx1bT40m0zaAaMz56asjLUG3n6Cuj8hidMDGALlb8LPrshQCpwxWlfymNp07DvyONLoJHP-2L0dkcaaRq4bUMbww3Ins1V_xSqRN6A/s1600/everybody.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="397" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyozx0m3bcMov_orlO2AAGUi380oqA4RSdFx1bT40m0zaAaMz56asjLUG3n6Cuj8hidMDGALlb8LPrshQCpwxWlfymNp07DvyONLoJHP-2L0dkcaaRq4bUMbww3Ins1V_xSqRN6A/s400/everybody.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-7/17-Somebody-To-Love.mp3">"Everybody Needs Somebody to Love"</a> mp3</div>
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by Solomon Burke, 1964.<br />
available on<i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002F3BOZK/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002F3BOZK" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Very Best of Solomon Burke</a></i><br />
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<i>In Keith Richards' autobiography 'Life,' he tells of visiting the Brill Building with Andrew Loog Oldham and looking for Jerry Lieber, whom apparently wouldn't see them. They did hear a bunch of his songs and left with this one (a Jerry Leiber-Art Butler composition) to record:</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyWegaD3n1pu9SpLUsGvHLzYrgLz8ZDN6lLeET_VkCSOtc4X2ki4W6WMb0M4DX07gzxdjDC-sVbK2wfvQADULEz1jSq3Q4VBjUoWEVDmCHULG11zOgjqPykQJ5Hpj6qynSEqKvWQ/s1600/downhome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyWegaD3n1pu9SpLUsGvHLzYrgLz8ZDN6lLeET_VkCSOtc4X2ki4W6WMb0M4DX07gzxdjDC-sVbK2wfvQADULEz1jSq3Q4VBjUoWEVDmCHULG11zOgjqPykQJ5Hpj6qynSEqKvWQ/s400/downhome.jpg" width="396" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-7/18-Down-Home-Girl.mp3">"Down Home Girl"</a> mp3 </div>
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by Alvin Robinson, 1964.<br />
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004JAUC8W/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004JAUC8W" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Red Bird Story</a></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD5_31yNrrHOuEPIGug4ZmJ9UaNCNcgK4jyr3Ru-Q_yHRXgagVSeLcN7-Xxazr3Gtxz5QO3hjMUisp-MZS_ZsCtl27L4KhYGplT_GBMFfCP3x1APKqqMaGTed4BTfKbsrPljWQeQ/s1600/chuck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD5_31yNrrHOuEPIGug4ZmJ9UaNCNcgK4jyr3Ru-Q_yHRXgagVSeLcN7-Xxazr3Gtxz5QO3hjMUisp-MZS_ZsCtl27L4KhYGplT_GBMFfCP3x1APKqqMaGTed4BTfKbsrPljWQeQ/s400/chuck.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-7/19-Catch-Me.mp3">"You Can't Catch Me"</a> mp3 </div>
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by Chuck Berry, 1956.<br />
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000002Q61/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000002Q61" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">The Great Twenty-Eight</a></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi_oBwBO5Li1AcIJcnvrmGmWXz_4_Q-4sjowoMGw_3MtOvrImUPrPYKsFuuMcUlKdQ2YPJpW64GwThhKkcwJLfzdgTPh2OtHPcNV8dtdfUHcz_HRfiOr2R-T9kxiRHRqF2J9_veg/s1600/358c95c4bdf3.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi_oBwBO5Li1AcIJcnvrmGmWXz_4_Q-4sjowoMGw_3MtOvrImUPrPYKsFuuMcUlKdQ2YPJpW64GwThhKkcwJLfzdgTPh2OtHPcNV8dtdfUHcz_HRfiOr2R-T9kxiRHRqF2J9_veg/s400/358c95c4bdf3.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-7/20-Down-The-Road.mp3">"Down The Road A Piece"</a> mp3</div>
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by Chuck Berry, 1960.<br />
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0084D19RS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0084D19RS" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Rockin' at the Hops</a></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2471ACQ8kYSsQnQavglXDp6xO0m21Jpe4ynHGpdnerz1uWetamJEqvaZlqwTtpwCz3nT9AaSH5J82kk_0KXZcggCZTqWgVjQ_R50iNMaCW0fxgsGI6oj1p55aw5dwrjOVoq_D9A/s1600/will.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2471ACQ8kYSsQnQavglXDp6xO0m21Jpe4ynHGpdnerz1uWetamJEqvaZlqwTtpwCz3nT9AaSH5J82kk_0KXZcggCZTqWgVjQ_R50iNMaCW0fxgsGI6oj1p55aw5dwrjOVoq_D9A/s400/will.jpg" width="395" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-7/21-A-Piece.mp3">"Down The Road A Piece"</a> mp3</div>
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by the Will Bradley Trio with Freddie Slack, 1940.<br />
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0019C28EO/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0019C28EO" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Out There: Wild & Wondrous Roots Of Rock 'N' Roll Volume Two</a></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWAGRP8fsvnuyL2vJbjGv2xNeX7yAkkEBHEo65OYG4a-l9fzGW4Q6U5iwQ3VrIhtXbbpj51B1lMnBeXsiB5bLbiNaR4aOmKm6jMrbjfCxZOA6DBOqcm1M4B-i5Og9ZjaioKCgQ-g/s1600/muddy.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWAGRP8fsvnuyL2vJbjGv2xNeX7yAkkEBHEo65OYG4a-l9fzGW4Q6U5iwQ3VrIhtXbbpj51B1lMnBeXsiB5bLbiNaR4aOmKm6jMrbjfCxZOA6DBOqcm1M4B-i5Og9ZjaioKCgQ-g/s400/muddy.jpg" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-7/22-Be-Satisfied.mp3">"I Can't Be Satisfied"</a> mp3</div>
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Muddy Waters, 1947.<br />
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005NHLY/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00005NHLY" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Anthology: 1947-1972</a></i><br />
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-7/23-Pain-In-My-Heart.mp3">"Pain In My Heart"</a> mp3</div>
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by Otis Redding, 1963.<br />
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000002IH3/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000002IH3" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">Pain In My Heart</a></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbqqW1HarbXMm_KfPYmm7FtNhF2eKZOLtNI-OE2J69q5qZtKiW0tlAK-rywCDnXutC3UYsFwu7RiKOeJP6W5edyutEnQiohg71IqMszEVU0uuM0lTS-j2NazKaOExjdx48hU6BWg/s1600/Untitled+69.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbqqW1HarbXMm_KfPYmm7FtNhF2eKZOLtNI-OE2J69q5qZtKiW0tlAK-rywCDnXutC3UYsFwu7RiKOeJP6W5edyutEnQiohg71IqMszEVU0uuM0lTS-j2NazKaOExjdx48hU6BWg/s400/Untitled+69.jpg" /></a> </div>
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-7/24-Oh-Baby.mp3">"Oh! Baby (We Got A good Thing Goin')"</a> mp3</div>
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by Barbara Lynn, 1964.<br />
available on<i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0018YIVS0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0018YIVS0" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">The Jamie Singles Collection 1962-1965</a></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGxNGEzoAr3_-DA-zK1nDjg9vVPG3RGdfJIwQfDhzYYLsZ2EJhBhyBy1llEyIU2B1IriI7pkWd9HMdkM2t-jwpvDzdyevb1fN5vFzs6xyM5T9ff-6hi0y5UHCtji-9AZ7-HB2abw/s1600/lonlpll3420.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGxNGEzoAr3_-DA-zK1nDjg9vVPG3RGdfJIwQfDhzYYLsZ2EJhBhyBy1llEyIU2B1IriI7pkWd9HMdkM2t-jwpvDzdyevb1fN5vFzs6xyM5T9ff-6hi0y5UHCtji-9AZ7-HB2abw/s400/lonlpll3420.jpg" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-7/25-Surprise-Surprise.mp3">"Surprise, Surprise"</a> mp3</div>
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by The Rolling Stones, 1964.<br />
available on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006AW2T/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00006AW2T" id="static_txt_preview" target="_blank">The Rolling Stones, Now!</a></i> <br />
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Part One:<a href="http://boogiewoogieflu.blogspot.com/2011/07/gather-no-moss.html"> HERE</a></div>
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Part Two: <a href="http://boogiewoogieflu.blogspot.com/2011/07/englands-newest-hitmakers.html">HERE</a></div>
<br />Ted Barronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975741901400619750noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35422342.post-15079874867068295252012-04-04T00:54:00.001-04:002012-04-04T00:55:20.605-04:00Play Ball!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjLSNeotYbDYjAWtwv6p-PnEesDa7RGk2OS-QRzXuyCasGKW0yp04n8168dfwi1E3sUqJLevDVWxXuC_HIU825XPEqNpK-wWtC00-41cmO4JPGdPuiXSlRUE7CbntzTnY3UdliRQ/s1600/67181.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 271px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjLSNeotYbDYjAWtwv6p-PnEesDa7RGk2OS-QRzXuyCasGKW0yp04n8168dfwi1E3sUqJLevDVWxXuC_HIU825XPEqNpK-wWtC00-41cmO4JPGdPuiXSlRUE7CbntzTnY3UdliRQ/s400/67181.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5724411538777124930" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Say hey, it's opening day.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhOelbS0apP9Bp5jcND2sMC-tO9T_w9K-SPR2-1JN8BYzx-jxzwRlpXc9EWL3-OMQfufNVE0uWlHyFstoiQMzCVev-DmLIpyirXcGqkee_ASRYeTcWROjSGipq25g3JL3gtJbGjg/s1600/sayhey.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 398px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhOelbS0apP9Bp5jcND2sMC-tO9T_w9K-SPR2-1JN8BYzx-jxzwRlpXc9EWL3-OMQfufNVE0uWlHyFstoiQMzCVev-DmLIpyirXcGqkee_ASRYeTcWROjSGipq25g3JL3gtJbGjg/s400/sayhey.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727402328578256258" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />Download:<br /><br /><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-4/01-Say-Hey.mp3">"Say Hey (The Willie Mays Song)"</a> mp3<br />by The Treniers, 1955.<br />available on <a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000002AXB/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000002AXB" id="static_txt_preview">Best of the Treniers: They Rock They Roll</a>Ted Barronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975741901400619750noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35422342.post-393907754551648222012-03-29T22:11:00.005-04:002012-03-29T23:31:46.670-04:00Jerry "Boogie" McCain 1930-2012<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgneU0iyOoAgbmHGSinoSV4vPfdjCaeVCPL8R5vwf0K1IsFhFzKinXLlPR2lpOTfN_ysG3o7lUyzpszkGVKi-n_4et-n2wW9S8tAQenb-3vIfb-Z5JIsvPrjN6NHnxzra0fnivT-A/s1600/jerry%252Bmccain.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 350px; height: 274px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgneU0iyOoAgbmHGSinoSV4vPfdjCaeVCPL8R5vwf0K1IsFhFzKinXLlPR2lpOTfN_ysG3o7lUyzpszkGVKi-n_4et-n2wW9S8tAQenb-3vIfb-Z5JIsvPrjN6NHnxzra0fnivT-A/s400/jerry%252Bmccain.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5725511197113057794" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Rest in Peace, Boogie.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS1h1yoRNmXgulLr_cUSJEStIYS4UgFxeg8um9E2et_4Mxp75dZk986KIopSzuWuwypLllxYXHKIvoF0ttpFWQMWhDRJIlAXlkSzLyc0dtmRnps7oqV070l_etHCKOHZTiREvGbQ/s1600/nextdoorneighbor.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 397px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS1h1yoRNmXgulLr_cUSJEStIYS4UgFxeg8um9E2et_4Mxp75dZk986KIopSzuWuwypLllxYXHKIvoF0ttpFWQMWhDRJIlAXlkSzLyc0dtmRnps7oqV070l_etHCKOHZTiREvGbQ/s400/nextdoorneighbor.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5725511185936159330" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-3/08-My-Next-Door-Neighbor.mp3">"My Next Door Neighbor"</a> mp3<br />by Jerry McCain and His Upstarts, 1957.<br />available on <a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000005KPW/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000005KPW" id="static_txt_preview">Excello Blues: House Rockin' & Hip Shakin'</a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1I8qBuIU6Vt1UwZ6S_H866eByQd3RY3KT8drPpXwTAoxYdJqATPDlqrgpzO2v86yZh4cNV62o4slE51TVSGClPMIZlkCYcC4p6AYo40z809eN58g574zVx_hQVpAP01sg7KMt-g/s1600/trying-to-please.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 398px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1I8qBuIU6Vt1UwZ6S_H866eByQd3RY3KT8drPpXwTAoxYdJqATPDlqrgpzO2v86yZh4cNV62o4slE51TVSGClPMIZlkCYcC4p6AYo40z809eN58g574zVx_hQVpAP01sg7KMt-g/s400/trying-to-please.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5725511188510230050" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-3/09-Trying-To-Please.mp3">"Trying To Please"</a> mp3<br />by Jerry McCain and His Upstarts, 1957.<br />out of print<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKdRuvJdTKVIDBsAACmyCuDMUC_D680QvZtIth7oAVYb0nAPZ5g9QbkkU8pK10ihSF3Eipd88fKvjC_ZcQH6q33m0_qeuVcU3e_-XUnM7iHjpNrxubg7pPgy8JwqvATj6p7cdUmw/s1600/whattheywant.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 395px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKdRuvJdTKVIDBsAACmyCuDMUC_D680QvZtIth7oAVYb0nAPZ5g9QbkkU8pK10ihSF3Eipd88fKvjC_ZcQH6q33m0_qeuVcU3e_-XUnM7iHjpNrxubg7pPgy8JwqvATj6p7cdUmw/s400/whattheywant.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5725511192770148994" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-3/10-What-They-Want.mp3">"That's What They Want"</a> mp3<br />by Jerry McCain and His Upstarts, 1954.<br />available on<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000005KPW/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000005KPW" id="static_txt_preview">Excello Blues: House Rockin' & Hip Shakin'</a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwmMTEJ3Z6rIVbUtrj7FxNmAWFPlqs4DIw3XiEU13zDb8LdcclEdiOrGHgqAg6TiBkb3OFRVVbH4m8uOLHkdyO-wrYQgb7WOJmcwKVtpV9MKjDv-bc_HCXb3WF7UEUkUVqbGxijA/s1600/cadillac.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 395px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwmMTEJ3Z6rIVbUtrj7FxNmAWFPlqs4DIw3XiEU13zDb8LdcclEdiOrGHgqAg6TiBkb3OFRVVbH4m8uOLHkdyO-wrYQgb7WOJmcwKVtpV9MKjDv-bc_HCXb3WF7UEUkUVqbGxijA/s400/cadillac.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5725511180068464738" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-3/11-Cadillac.mp3">"Courtin' In A Cadillac"</a> mp3<br />by Jerry McCain and His Upstarts, 1954.<br />available on <a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000VMGR1I/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000VMGR1I" id="static_txt_preview">Jook Joint Blues: Good Time Rhythm & Blues</a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje9DNPKCq2O0LDijKwOp0mLj9g7XPFrxHN1Y2TSSUvxNh37XQ7D18qkJ4qQ6BPNo9GohfEy8HDYzo4Tv6mT5fm8M_rBROyePRjxXka5uWaWWuJpjxYu-W10vYmNx12S-qppibLRg/s1600/mccain6.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 355px; height: 279px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje9DNPKCq2O0LDijKwOp0mLj9g7XPFrxHN1Y2TSSUvxNh37XQ7D18qkJ4qQ6BPNo9GohfEy8HDYzo4Tv6mT5fm8M_rBROyePRjxXka5uWaWWuJpjxYu-W10vYmNx12S-qppibLRg/s400/mccain6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5725511439732014546" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgneU0iyOoAgbmHGSinoSV4vPfdjCaeVCPL8R5vwf0K1IsFhFzKinXLlPR2lpOTfN_ysG3o7lUyzpszkGVKi-n_4et-n2wW9S8tAQenb-3vIfb-Z5JIsvPrjN6NHnxzra0fnivT-A/s1600/jerry%252Bmccain.jpg"></a>Ted Barronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975741901400619750noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35422342.post-71303843167122820112012-03-17T02:39:00.001-04:002012-03-17T02:40:32.995-04:00What's That Song? (pt. 2)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqK9r1_F7MCfOUqyBX67Edet7zYFrtk7zDYimumUKxAl_7_WVPfInAfaS8sasCUYrorxfPg8CeVekSkmmkHMtUNXcbqtK5hpBnkDw8sQFT3Pnr9lMpGxSxG6YnuaPu2D6f6JZ-qA/s1600/alexChiltonCBGB77_R294-31.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 264px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqK9r1_F7MCfOUqyBX67Edet7zYFrtk7zDYimumUKxAl_7_WVPfInAfaS8sasCUYrorxfPg8CeVekSkmmkHMtUNXcbqtK5hpBnkDw8sQFT3Pnr9lMpGxSxG6YnuaPu2D6f6JZ-qA/s400/alexChiltonCBGB77_R294-31.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720740623334512866" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Today is the second anniversary of Alex Chilton's untimely passing. <a href="http://boogiewoogieflu.blogspot.com/2011/03/whats-that-song.html">Last year</a> I posted a handful of the records that Alex covered. Today, I offer a few more of those songs that he lovingly interpreted over the years. Some you know, some you might not, all of them great. For more of these, tune into the archive of my March 14th show on WFMU's Rock 'n Soul Ichiban: <a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/44290">HERE</a><br /><br />RIP LX<br /><br />Download:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhymPlXZcIFVApC58jVIPOQMgALu-VLjRv1yr38y2S2u6Zzg-NJSviSj1CwrAKMHoEH4yGx4sCk_6nNFFWfVotauonrDJZIIO0eM7FGyvF1UA9TXaTP7Ttr3PfvVMLM_Agyp5ZvOQ/s1600/takeitoff.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 396px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhymPlXZcIFVApC58jVIPOQMgALu-VLjRv1yr38y2S2u6Zzg-NJSviSj1CwrAKMHoEH4yGx4sCk_6nNFFWfVotauonrDJZIIO0eM7FGyvF1UA9TXaTP7Ttr3PfvVMLM_Agyp5ZvOQ/s400/takeitoff.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720740896733506594" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-3/01-Take-It-Off.mp3">"Take It Off"</a> mp3<br />by Groundhog, 1969.<br />out of print<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR3IBnEJv7nfkP9GV-ILfyAJ4mLYrMDT-nRkOXsfMLR57d4yammETlpnkMYkCh3LIEBuOisBkkMHcJBBgEWvR6CJj4F8UvuTUztwl5gPeliAi7rvrojyIO3zVV6m1jHNP1IS5vkQ/s1600/Te-Ni.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 392px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR3IBnEJv7nfkP9GV-ILfyAJ4mLYrMDT-nRkOXsfMLR57d4yammETlpnkMYkCh3LIEBuOisBkkMHcJBBgEWvR6CJj4F8UvuTUztwl5gPeliAi7rvrojyIO3zVV6m1jHNP1IS5vkQ/s400/Te-Ni.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720740901838442850" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-3/02-Te-Ni-Nee-Ni-Nu.mp3">"Te-Ni-Nee-Ni-Nu"</a> mp3<br />by Slim Harpo, 1968.<br />available on<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000AYL19/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0000AYL19" id="static_txt_preview">The Excello Singles Anthology</a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh79CLgy31uGmSziwSuvXTwH8CvbHZg4QRSqdkxkdlKMMX8_klqIeD2zzrmarHgpuDrM_ydRxz9Hcl4BqYuwz19ZS1nbtyX9Wh8qZ96nhOB_OAxFEgGVLB7C1_9gukZwb6oIvHTUQ/s1600/tiponin.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh79CLgy31uGmSziwSuvXTwH8CvbHZg4QRSqdkxkdlKMMX8_klqIeD2zzrmarHgpuDrM_ydRxz9Hcl4BqYuwz19ZS1nbtyX9Wh8qZ96nhOB_OAxFEgGVLB7C1_9gukZwb6oIvHTUQ/s400/tiponin.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720740924820925602" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-3/03-Tip-On-In.mp3">"Tip On In (part one)"</a> mp3<br />by Slim Harpo, 1967.<br />available on<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000AYL19/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0000AYL19" id="static_txt_preview">The Excello Singles Anthology</a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwBmqbQ9gRe8d8JECUZUIwYdYnpgzy6w5zNf-8ID_z0AZqKk-xz_CMciSRS5bIQjgTdidez-IE66ssXouot1gBinl8RqHn6v5LCoOZyxQRUhto4ERrVJvQwYP5YimLzbMDlYZTVA/s1600/gator.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwBmqbQ9gRe8d8JECUZUIwYdYnpgzy6w5zNf-8ID_z0AZqKk-xz_CMciSRS5bIQjgTdidez-IE66ssXouot1gBinl8RqHn6v5LCoOZyxQRUhto4ERrVJvQwYP5YimLzbMDlYZTVA/s400/gator.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720740636187984514" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-3/04-Alligator-Man.mp3">"Alligator Man"</a> mp3<br />by Jimmy Newman, 1962.<br />available on <a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000248TE/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0000248TE" id="static_txt_preview">Cajun Country Music of a Louisiana Man</a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSa8b8luSZMs_eF_iJWxeKPBm1lm8dfT-1IcbEnuKfWK-crYHAplpgLM_3ACFNgPhIuANkr83j6nKQI9xD8ALIzVLXRDNTjN8DpEKw-nCpe4C6vWnLXDFE_jpB634-k78JuTOPsg/s1600/texas.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 396px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSa8b8luSZMs_eF_iJWxeKPBm1lm8dfT-1IcbEnuKfWK-crYHAplpgLM_3ACFNgPhIuANkr83j6nKQI9xD8ALIzVLXRDNTjN8DpEKw-nCpe4C6vWnLXDFE_jpB634-k78JuTOPsg/s400/texas.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720740908251328498" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-3/05-Waltz-Across-Texas.mp3">"Waltz Across Texas"</a> mp3<br />by Ernest Tubb and his Texas Troubadours, 1965.<br />available on <a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000F5WNTQ/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000F5WNTQ" id="static_txt_preview">Definitive Collection</a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4zFq_Vs7jZtVnEsT608VYegAGB6uzorIkJeIkMH6JcNAVkrOWw630eibtVWYtVanA3YLExuY2jQooiUif88Z8EmJhjkR75eKYA1Q6R6ofjG3Qnjrs9Jh8VQ3UktqKbUJZYC6C2Q/s1600/B-A-B-Y.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 393px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4zFq_Vs7jZtVnEsT608VYegAGB6uzorIkJeIkMH6JcNAVkrOWw630eibtVWYtVanA3YLExuY2jQooiUif88Z8EmJhjkR75eKYA1Q6R6ofjG3Qnjrs9Jh8VQ3UktqKbUJZYC6C2Q/s400/B-A-B-Y.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720740631573112466" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-3/06-B-A-B-Y.mp3">"B-A-B-Y"</a> mp3<br />by Carla Thomas, 1966.<br />avaliable on<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000002IQU/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000002IQU" id="static_txt_preview">The Complete Stax/Volt Singles: 1959-1968</a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWHJDpLEpZXqZ7_ydcl_sV6htJdJUpounxQN5e42ljEpueUOCIf8yRRQzECxRCF1EcaHksym2MJdhDsqYWtHKp_HqVXnwbSX1zfMHamgz-IycjZfaR8kNPTWHnE38oYQy-k4Lf5A/s1600/Lipstick+Traces.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 399px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWHJDpLEpZXqZ7_ydcl_sV6htJdJUpounxQN5e42ljEpueUOCIf8yRRQzECxRCF1EcaHksym2MJdhDsqYWtHKp_HqVXnwbSX1zfMHamgz-IycjZfaR8kNPTWHnE38oYQy-k4Lf5A/s400/Lipstick+Traces.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720740639036156290" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-3/07-Lipstick-Traces.mp3">"Lipstick Traces (On A Cigarette)"</a> mp3<br />by Benny Spellman, 1962.<br />available on<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000008K5/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0000008K5" id="static_txt_preview">Fortune Teller</a><br /><br />top photo: <span style="font-style: italic;">Alex Chilton Onstage, CBGB, 1977</span>. by <a href="http://godlis.blogspot.com/">Godlis</a>Ted Barronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975741901400619750noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35422342.post-37126005316690957432012-01-31T00:31:00.011-05:002012-01-31T22:50:19.202-05:00Fluville on WFMU's Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicZ4LjKVlWwV6TMiSVFFqQD0LRzIbQi94pq03joA8doosqUusJ8Kc_Nl1ubVOWUyYhzDoOrb_IxS6t_WnwFVAiC_w2y6lBwIkOUpKaBu4H2Ougrvq-JPeDJInmrunDgTQLh3BlXQ/s1600/3Ichiban.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703665125223833266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicZ4LjKVlWwV6TMiSVFFqQD0LRzIbQi94pq03joA8doosqUusJ8Kc_Nl1ubVOWUyYhzDoOrb_IxS6t_WnwFVAiC_w2y6lBwIkOUpKaBu4H2Ougrvq-JPeDJInmrunDgTQLh3BlXQ/s400/3Ichiban.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; height: 200px; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
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Folks, I'm thrilled to announce that I'm now doing a weekly show on <a href="http://wfmuichiban.blogspot.com/">WFMU's Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban</a>. It streams to your computer, mobile device, internet radio, as well as the tinfoil you've attached to your skull LIVE on Wednesday nights from 8-10PM EST. Or, you can listen to the <a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/TF">ARCHIVE</a> at your convenience anywhere, anytime.<br />
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You can hear my first show from January 25th <a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/43627">HERE</a> and more as they're added weekly. I'm still working out the kinks and the mic breaks from show #1 are a little rough. It'll get better, I swear. There's great music streaming there 24 hours a day and live shows being added to the line-up soon, as well as the Ichiban overlord <a href="http://wfmu.org/playlists/DY">Debbie D</a> on Fridays from 3-5PM EST.<br />
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I played this record last week...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAZvhy_3epDtibY8tHkUQYd7ESdAw2fKQ8OvDqzGSzatNsEoWpfq_CnkEkw27DPJLC9lYVdwCJQrtd5dSuUty9nZNw3GPrKcfYVeKfCGobagLc_z-hlcf4GUYqnpWWPtLwP5ObkA/s1600/otisredding.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703665122266832642" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAZvhy_3epDtibY8tHkUQYd7ESdAw2fKQ8OvDqzGSzatNsEoWpfq_CnkEkw27DPJLC9lYVdwCJQrtd5dSuUty9nZNw3GPrKcfYVeKfCGobagLc_z-hlcf4GUYqnpWWPtLwP5ObkA/s400/otisredding.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; height: 400px; width: 399px;" /></a><br />
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Download:<br />
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<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-1/03-But-My-Own.mp3">"Nobody's Fault But Mine"</a> mp3<br />
by Otis Redding, 1967.<br />
available on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000002IH8/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000002IH8" id="static_txt_preview" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Immortal Otis Redding</a><br />
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artwork by Takeshi TadatsuTed Barronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975741901400619750noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35422342.post-56123120308601606472012-01-26T23:36:00.005-05:002012-01-27T00:07:53.683-05:00Only Women Bleed<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpp3O_yz6V3FU2qsCGgho36k2RbUNU7udxsHS9IBB2-9h5IV8AJgRHT-R6THIHy4nX4Vcm3BNvokdGKshJF-CCQmgqAZO2O3LauwjnXKfpFRhQ5Bkg__k_xDp02-2qZyUvdIxxog/s1600/Etta-James-2.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpp3O_yz6V3FU2qsCGgho36k2RbUNU7udxsHS9IBB2-9h5IV8AJgRHT-R6THIHy4nX4Vcm3BNvokdGKshJF-CCQmgqAZO2O3LauwjnXKfpFRhQ5Bkg__k_xDp02-2qZyUvdIxxog/s400/Etta-James-2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5702169164439783010" border="0" /></a><br /><br />by <a href="http://sayingitjustright.tumblr.com/">Polly Bresnick</a><br /><br />Etta James, who passed away last week, could not only sing with searing soul that simultaneously strikes fear and sorrow and strength into the hearts of anyone who hears her voice, but she also bridged the gap between R&B and Rock & Roll back when people were still impressed by that kind of feat, way back when a band of light-skinned black girls was called the "Creolettes," way back when the song title "Roll With Me Henry" was so suggestive for a fourteen-year-old girl to sing, that the title was changed for the radio. Her songs have helped me muscle through serious heartsickness, and her signature wolf/owl howl/hoot grace notes give me chills even though I know each one by heart. I won't go into her haunting and solemn vocal opening to a performance of "Something's Got a Hold On Me" in 1966 on a television show called <span style="font-style: italic;">The !!!! Beat</span>. And don't even get me started about all her songs about being heartbroken at a wedding and desperately wishing to speak now instead of forever holding her peace.<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WzibSiJv8hc?rel=0" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="300" width="399"></iframe><br /><br />She was 73 years old, mentally and physically ill, but her death was a strange thing in my mind. Each time I listen to her soul-wringing, tear-salted mournfully lonesome rants it sounds a bit like the intimate sound of someone dying a little death, having a <span style="font-style: italic;">petit mort</span>, an orgasm or paroxysm or all of the above. Her songs so convincingly chronicle her experience of emotional murder by loves who left her — got married or cheated or lied or didn't listen or didn't trust her or just didn't love her back — that in my mind, she died and revived enough times to achieve immortal status. This isn't to say that I didn't feel sad to learn she'd died. I did, a nagging bit of sad, like a pebble in my boot. I hadn't been following her later career very closely. I only knew she'd recently released an album because my father asked for it for his birthday. What she did with her voice and her soul when it was still so street, so raw and ambitious and broad, like her life actually depended on getting the pain out — "W.O.M.A.N.," "I'd Rather Go Blind," "All Could Do Was Cry," "Stop the Wedding," "Something's Got a Hold on Me" — these are the songs that go and put a hurtin' on me. But, when Etta died, a friend pointed out to me a late-career recording of her cover of Alice Cooper's "Only Women Bleed." Admittedly, it caught my ear initially for what I thought to be it's absurdity. But then it lingered.<br /><br />Maybe I'm being an overly sensitive post-post-feminist, but I hear an interesting note of old-fashioned chauvinism in the opening lines of this track: "Man's got his woman / to take his seed, he's got the power / she's got the need." It quickly becomes clear, though, who's side this song is on. Etta's version is a pained and sweating, R&B/gospel, unsentimental sermon/anthem for abused women, while Alice Cooper's (especially next to Etta's) sounds more like a soundtrack for a domestic violence PSA or a commercial for a charity to help battered women in inner city Detroit. Etta owns the lower register of this song with rumbling force that is bigger and louder and more convincing than any garden-variety "girl power" or feminism, the surface of which Alice Cooper seems to be attempting to scratch with his wimpy and predictable smooth rock growl-harmonize-falsetto-hook-bridge-jam. Etta James breathes life into the song's disturbing subject matter with more bone-rattling truth and with more survivor's spirit than Alice Cooper (or perhaps any other singer for that matter) can.<br /><br />I like thinking about how in the weird world she ever came across the song. It makes me think she was more open-minded about music than I might have thought. Maybe she heard it on the car radio. Or maybe someone at Betty Ford played it on the boombox in the common room. Or maybe her manager was friends with Alice Cooper's manager. However she found her way to those lyrics, it doesn't shock me that, once she heard them, she understood she'd sing them. Her songs bring you back to times the world opened up beneath you, and you fall in with her, but then her voice finds your hand in the deep darkness and yanks you up to where you find a sturdy stone to grip at the edge of the crevasse. Her voice and that stone save you from falling every time. She was an expert on bleeding women. I'm glad she found this song. She found its truer cry.<br /><br />I like to believe she succeeded at this because she felt she had sung out so much pain that she'd begun to channel the collective pain of all women. She drank the sorrow and carried it inside of her, bore the burden on behalf of all women who didn't think we were pretty or lovable or didn't think we deserved to be treated like shit and knew exactly how it felt, but didn't quite know how to vocalize those feelings until Etta did it, and we all said, "YES!" and we maybe even said, "YES, GIRL!" and sometimes we whispered, "Sing it," and, "Mmmhhmm," and other times we were without words because our breath had been taken away by the glowing truth bleeding out of the voice pouring out of Etta's lungs and through our speakers and into our ears and deep down into our souls which were healed, if only for a short time, if only until the end of the song.<br /><br />Download:<br /><br /><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-1/02-Only-Women-Bleed.mp3">"Only Women Bleed"</a> mp3<br />by Etta James, 1999.<br />available on <a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000JG4H/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00000JG4H" id="static_txt_preview">Heart of a Woman</a>Ted Barronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975741901400619750noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35422342.post-84722302178468942112012-01-08T18:27:00.010-05:002012-01-09T01:51:27.514-05:00Five Years in Fluville<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7XPxmzphBfxVD1kfVDLmGboslgFxDvWlyz0aSSLc72O67S62TPdoJoczvTP06B689XWGt5tJeIf2pGddqfmtZL2znsc1u4dqzAPLC1okRSZjvjuwgfh80mjATWg6FArjxNK1Diw/s1600/James-Brown.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7XPxmzphBfxVD1kfVDLmGboslgFxDvWlyz0aSSLc72O67S62TPdoJoczvTP06B689XWGt5tJeIf2pGddqfmtZL2znsc1u4dqzAPLC1okRSZjvjuwgfh80mjATWg6FArjxNK1Diw/s400/James-Brown.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5695470928808141250" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><br />Today we celebrate five years of the Boogie Woogie Flu, and while this strange endeavor may be limping along at a limited capacity, we are, still here. And, what better way to celebrate this miraculous event than to listen to the the b-side of James Brown's 1978 smash hit, "The Spank." JB's own version of "Love Me Tender," because, after all, it's Elvis' Birthday too.<br /><br />Happy Birthday Elvis from all your friends in Fluville.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgczdMQ5bchiy-xXBm5xOWxz7VgJsmjoUEALG6ZPlFAKsxuBVb14pQqyOKx8XXeCda4r-PN6XWSv8E9Cd_OMihIuEM-QHRrQFjPJ1yKFxx6dilOS5Ia2HxKBoyclAyQ0iQmzvunNw/s1600/R-3215764-1320842371.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 399px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgczdMQ5bchiy-xXBm5xOWxz7VgJsmjoUEALG6ZPlFAKsxuBVb14pQqyOKx8XXeCda4r-PN6XWSv8E9Cd_OMihIuEM-QHRrQFjPJ1yKFxx6dilOS5Ia2HxKBoyclAyQ0iQmzvunNw/s400/R-3215764-1320842371.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5695416804021713970" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Download:<br /><br /><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-2012-1/01-Love-Me-Tender.mp3">"Love Me Tender"</a> mp3<br />by James Brown, 1978.<br />available on <a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004J2FJG0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004J2FJG0" id="static_txt_preview">James Brown: The Singles Volume 10: 1975-1979</a>Ted Barronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975741901400619750noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35422342.post-28995839385769977322011-12-27T16:34:00.005-05:002011-12-28T10:51:18.331-05:00Jerry Ragovoy in the Cathedral Of Soul<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuG0mCe95JCPBrP80dIrVtqNmOwGGnkR-jTzBQqzrlS4-_GbL3nVTcwdRR8L13C0y9mhwhnlsbwxSUO2gKJD-HZ0W82sQbCHh0fDCf7H6HNw36QU-Ft8qq8u5ivaMHJJuaYcOc4g/s1600/144b2a3d4626068e7835cbb4a149410cd.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 398px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuG0mCe95JCPBrP80dIrVtqNmOwGGnkR-jTzBQqzrlS4-_GbL3nVTcwdRR8L13C0y9mhwhnlsbwxSUO2gKJD-HZ0W82sQbCHh0fDCf7H6HNw36QU-Ft8qq8u5ivaMHJJuaYcOc4g/s400/144b2a3d4626068e7835cbb4a149410cd.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5690486075144117138" border="0" /></a><br /><br />by <a href="http://www.nyrocker.com/blog/">Andy Schwartz</a><br /><br />When Howard Tate died on December 2, 2011, most obituaries for the great soul singer mentioned the name of another man who’d passed on in July of this year. Jerry Ragovoy (September 4, 1930 – July 13, 2011) was a songwriter, producer, pianist, and the studio Svengali behind Tate’s career masterpiece, the 1967 Verve album originally issued as <span style="font-style: italic;">Howard Tate</span> and later retitled <span style="font-style: italic;">Get It While You Can</span>.<br /><br />Arguably, Ragovoy never made a better album in his career. In fact, Rags didn’t make that many albums: Much of his most influential music appeared on singles released before 1967, when Sgt. Pepper broke the “album market” wide open. <span style="font-style: italic;">Howard Tate</span>/<span style="font-style: italic;">Get It While You Can </span>features superb vocal performances by Tate, whether singing church–flavored ballads (the title track, “I Learned It All The Hard Way”) or blues standards (“How Blue Can You Get”); sturdy arrangements by Ragovoy, frequent partner Garry Sherman, or Artie Butler; and tough, committed playing by a cast of NYC session players including pianist Paul Griffin and guitarists Cornell Dupree and Eric Gale.<br /><br />Finally, <span style="font-style: italic;">Howard Tate</span>/<span style="font-style: italic;">Get It While You Can </span>contains the original versions of some of Ragovoy’s best and most–covered compositions including “Ain't Nobody Home” (B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt), “Get It While You Can” (Janis Joplin), and “Look At Granny Run Run” (Grand Funk, Ry Cooder). Several notable non–LP singles emerged from the Tate sessions including “Stop,” written by Ragovoy with Mort Shuman, later covered by both Sam Moore and Jimi Hendrix.<br /><br />But if Jerry Ragovoy had never worked with Howard Tate…had never written “Get It While You Can” or “Ain’t Nobody Home”…we’d still be hanging his name in the Soul Hall of Fame. Here are some of the reasons why:<br /><br />GARNET MIMMS & THE ENCHANTERS – <a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-12-11/44-Cry-Baby.mp3">“Cry Baby”</a> mp3<br />Written by Jerry Ragovoy (as “Norman Meade”) and Bert Berns (as “Bert Russell”) Released July 1963 as United Artists 629. No. 1 Billboard R&B (three weeks), No. 12 Pop. available on <a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000011O4/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0000011O4" id="static_txt_preview">Cry Baby</a><br /><br />In his liner notes for the 1993 CD <span style="font-style: italic;">Cry Baby: The Best of Garnet Mimms</span> (all 25 tracks produced by Jerry Ragovoy), Robert Pruter wrote that prior to the July 1963 release of this landmark single, the sporadic soul hits of the period were “mainly easily digestible songs by Sam Cooke and Chuck Jackson that fitted well into the pop mainstream of the day, so that nothing seemed alien or new about them. ‘Cry Baby’ was different. The song was a gospelized production so full of the soul–saving, fire–and–brimstone ecstasies of the black sanctified church that it singularly stood apart…Never had the public heard anything so intense and so emotional on Top 40 radio.”<br /><br />Ragovoy told Pruter he’d worked on the song “on and off for about two years” and, in his efforts to place the finished master, had been given the brush–off by executives at various labels: “Typically, in the record industry, if it doesn’t sound like anything the record executives are familiar with, they turn it down.” With Jerry as writer and producer, Garnet Mimms placed eight more songs on the Billboard R&B Singles chart. The consistent excellence of their output was such that even Mimms’ commercial misfires later became ideal cover material: “Look Away” for the Spencer Davis Group with Stevie Winwood, “My Baby” for Janis Joplin.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSAzLtCLqM4WNom1a-nk6o9Z0TvBAzEt6g-LP6BUbIBIXZxHRcupLTZ6a6JF02MBSHBAbgSUivSrs_MkxsyokfbuMCqRnXnJmTXEoAtwRDYcg7K8bxI9fecle73FDwiNyW-iwbDw/s1600/erma-piece.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 394px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSAzLtCLqM4WNom1a-nk6o9Z0TvBAzEt6g-LP6BUbIBIXZxHRcupLTZ6a6JF02MBSHBAbgSUivSrs_MkxsyokfbuMCqRnXnJmTXEoAtwRDYcg7K8bxI9fecle73FDwiNyW-iwbDw/s400/erma-piece.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5690483708016202978" border="0" /></a><br /><br />ERMA FRANKLIN – <a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-12-11/45-Piece-of-My-Heart.mp3">“Piece of My Heart”</a> mp3<br />Written by Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns<br />Released 1967 as Shout 221. No. 10 Billboard R&B, No. 62 Pop.<br />available on <a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002KIUKBO/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002KIUKBO" id="static_txt_preview">Piece of Her Heart: Epic & Shout Years</a><br /><br />Ragovoy co–wrote this soul classic with frequent collaborator Bert Berns and probably played the piano part that forms the bedrock of the arrangement. One of only two singles ever charted by Aretha Franklin’s older sister, “Piece Of My Heart” is probably Rags’ best–known song thanks to Big Brother & the Holding Company (with Janis Joplin), whose cover version reached No. 12 in 1968 and has remained a staple of classic rock radio ever since. Erma’s original was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1968; twenty–five years later, in 1992, after renewed exposure in a British TV commercial for Levi’s, her recording entered the UK Top Ten.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPxbdcttj1sfZeO_hwGb8W5ha_hfBQS5ufRQhp1Z93zH983TciMdnZKRh3hzw6I5USl_H9ciK2-kGCMseM23v8R8BGLdkc8oX6Plz3ImAVX9hvQpjYqAJtme7mI9TGljTaVnI7hw/s1600/god-bless.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 399px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPxbdcttj1sfZeO_hwGb8W5ha_hfBQS5ufRQhp1Z93zH983TciMdnZKRh3hzw6I5USl_H9ciK2-kGCMseM23v8R8BGLdkc8oX6Plz3ImAVX9hvQpjYqAJtme7mI9TGljTaVnI7hw/s400/god-bless.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5690483707207502626" border="0" /></a><br /><br />THE ENCHANTERS – <a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-12-11/46-God-Bless.mp3">“God Bless the Girl and Me”</a> mp3<br />Written by Samuel Bell & Lorraine Ellison. Produced & arranged by Jerry Ragovoy. Released March 1966 as Loma 2035.<br />out of print<br /><br />Garnet Mimms and Sam Bell were members of a Philly vocal group, the Gainors, who left to form the Enchanters. The success of “Cry Baby” pushed Mimms to the forefront, however, and soon the other members (including Zola Pearnell and Charles Boyer) were cutting tracks without him. The Enchanters’ “I Wanna Thank You” struggled to No. 91 R&B in the fall of ’64, but with Ragovoy producing and Sam Bell as a contributing writer, the group came up with two more deep–soul stunners, “I Want To Be Loved” (Loma 2012, released February ’65) and “God Bless The Girl and Me.” I’m pretty sure Sam Bell is singing lead on these sides; if so, then he’s nearly the equal of Garnet Mimms for church–bred intensity and passionate articulation. The combination of piano and organ is another key element derived from gospel music and a trademark of Ragovoy’s sound in this period.<br /><br />MIRIAM MAKEBA – <a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-12-11/47-Pata-Pata.mp3">“Pata Pata”</a> mp3<br />Written by Miriam Makeba & Jerry Ragovoy. Produced by Jerry Ragovoy.<br />Released 1967 on Reprise 0606.<br />available on <a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000023ZGH/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000023ZGH" id="static_txt_preview">Pata Pata</a><br /><br />Ragovoy’s biggest crossover hit of the Sixties after “Cry Baby” was also among his least typical. Thanks to the support of Harry Belafonte, by 1967 South Africa’s Miriam Makeba was already established in the US: She had released several LPs on RCA and been nominated for a Grammy the previous year. I’m not sure if Makeba was signed to Reprise at the time she recorded “Pata Pata,” or if Ragovoy independently produced and then shopped the master.<br /><br />In any case, singer and producer retooled a South African folk song (that Makeba had first recorded in 1956) and the result was a sui generis hit that reached No. 7 R&B/No. 12 Pop in 1967. “Pata Pata” was the first song of South African origin since “Wimoweh (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)” to make a major impact on American audiences. Makeba’s hit preceded by about a year the Number One success of “Grazing In The Grass” as recorded by her then–husband, trumpeter Hugh Masakela.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqJmeKWJZ5ZDzMcN3Ik45TdUkUQzTlBJWdiioha4mQHenfhkYL7EBN_5eYlMqlipIdZLNiAFf-K_uiWeNdF9Ka_AQS2dLxz7KvjYp1MnkcdTSlz0ip9APARzmxobdNIb2EC_uChA/s1600/stay.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 396px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqJmeKWJZ5ZDzMcN3Ik45TdUkUQzTlBJWdiioha4mQHenfhkYL7EBN_5eYlMqlipIdZLNiAFf-K_uiWeNdF9Ka_AQS2dLxz7KvjYp1MnkcdTSlz0ip9APARzmxobdNIb2EC_uChA/s400/stay.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5690484032525565570" border="0" /></a><br /><br />LORRAINE ELLISON – <a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-12-11/48-Stay-With-Me.mp3">"Stay With Me"</a> mp3<br />Warner Bros. LP 182, released 1969. Produced by Jerry Ragovoy.<br />available on <a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000003T35/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000003T35" id="static_txt_preview">Stay With Me</a><br /><br />Along with Howard Tate/Get It While You Can, this is the other great Jerry Ragovoy album.<br /><br />Its creation began with the title single, “Stay With Me,” co–written by Ragovoy and George David Weiss. Sometime in 1966, Frank Sinatra canceled a New York recording session, potentially leaving his label Warner Bros. with the bills for a 46–piece orchestra and no music to show for it. On two days’ notice, Ragovoy, arranger Garry Sherman, and singer Lorraine Ellison (born 1931, Philadelphia PA) hustled into the studio and recorded “Stay With Me” – a towering, operatic ballad that many consider the pinnacle of East Coast “uptown soul.”<br /><br />“To many people, ‘Stay With Me’ still typifies the basic idea of what real soul music is all about,” wrote UK soul music maven David Nathan in a 1974 article for Blues & Soul. “And there aren't too many soulful people around who don't get that spine–chilling tingle when they hear it, even to this day.”<br /><br />“‘Stay With Me’ was a song that Jerry Ragovoy had written with Mr. Weiss, and I thought it was going to be a monster smash,” Lorraine Ellison told Nathan in Blues & Soul. “It certainly looked that way – the record had twenty-six national breakouts in the States, and it did make it onto the soul charts and made some headway onto the nationals.<br /><br />“But at that time, Warners was just not into black music, period. They really had no idea how to promote the record and they had no real way of getting into the R&B market.”<br /><br />The single made it to No. 11 R&B/No. 64 Pop, and these stats – along with some positive reviews and a certain underground buzz – were enough for Warner Brothers to green–light a full album. <span style="font-style: italic;">Heart and Soul: Introducing Miss Lorraine Ellison</span> was released as WB 1674 in 1966. Produced by Ragovoy but arranged and conducted by jazz man Oliver Nelson, it was an uneven set that found Ellison singing familiar standards (“Cry Me A River”) and other people’s hits pop (“A Change Is Gonna Come,” “If I Had a Hammer”). “Stay With Me” was buried in the middle of Side Two, and only one other song, “When Love Flies Away,” bore a Ragovoy writing credit. <span style="font-style: italic;">Heart and Soul</span> did not chart and was soon deleted.<br /><br />“Then interesting things began to happen,” West Coast rock critic John Mendelsohn wrote in his liner notes for <span style="font-style: italic;">Stay With Me</span> – the second Lorraine Ellison album, unexpectedly issued by Warner Bros. in the fall of 1969. “[Such] diverse musical figures as Laura Nyro and Carl Wayne [of The Move] listed Lorraine Ellison as their favorite female vocalist. And in Harlem...an enterprising pirate tape–duplicating operation found mobs of takers when they offered tapes of ‘Stay With Me’ at the somewhat outrageous price of $5.00 apiece.”<br /><br />“… Having realized that they had an artist of almost limitless potential, both commercial and artistic, sitting around their house, [Warner Bros.] got Jerry Ragovoy busy producing a straight–ahead album of gospel–based soul, the music that Lorraine had been doing for years with such unrewarded brilliance.”<br /><br />Indeed, this was the album that should have followed the single.<span style="font-style: italic;"> Stay With Me</span> is eleven tracks of pure uptown soul, with an unswerving stylistic focus and the sustained mood of a secular cathedral. Ragovoy arranged and produced the entire set; he co–wrote seven songs with (variously) Mort Shuman, Doc Pomus, Sam Bell, Bert Berns, and Ellison herself. The title song closes Side One with a bang, in a manner analogous to the placement of “Get It While You Can” on Howard Tate.<br /><br />It was all too little too late, however, and <span style="font-style: italic;">Stay With Me</span> followed <span style="font-style: italic;">Heart and Soul</span> into the cut–out bins. But Janis Joplin must have gotten hold of a copy: She later covered “Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)” on Pearl, along with four other songs co–written by Jerry Ragovoy.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijcjSE8CeyiwCprAJlbMKEl-9ecZ7-fZVN1951lL4Qin49AxNDvKBDvjoXbwWzSMuCDI2PHQcTLKdRKTqNgYaNgZ-QVNwNmJ-QTCOLwdQku-bkJ7JRiOqxUknvIicrDKdIpZtLig/s1600/lou-c.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 399px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijcjSE8CeyiwCprAJlbMKEl-9ecZ7-fZVN1951lL4Qin49AxNDvKBDvjoXbwWzSMuCDI2PHQcTLKdRKTqNgYaNgZ-QVNwNmJ-QTCOLwdQku-bkJ7JRiOqxUknvIicrDKdIpZtLig/s400/lou-c.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5690483724223618690" border="0" /></a><br /><br />LOU COURTNEY –<a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-12-11/49-What-Do-You-Want-Me-To-Do.mp3"> “What Do You Want Me Yo Do”</a> mp3<br />Written by Lou Courtney. Arranged by Jerry Courtney. Produced by Lou Courtney & Jerry Ragovoy. Released 1973 as Epic/CBS 5–11062. No. 48 Billboard R&B in spring 1974.<br />available on<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00003G1H0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00003G1H0" id="static_txt_preview">I'm in Need of Love</a><br /><br />By 1973, hardcore Southern soul was pretty much a spent force, commercially if not inspirationally. Otis Redding had been dead for years, Atlantic had dropped Wilson Pickett, and Aretha Franklin was cutting jazz–flavored material with Quincy Jones. Ragovoy hooked up with R&B journeyman Lou Courtney, whose biggest chart record – the quasi–Motown dance novelty “Skate Now” – was six years behind him. Together they came up with a flute–flavored, proto–disco sound that was closer to Johnny Bristol’s “Hang On In There Baby” than to the glories of Garnet Mimms or Erma Franklin. Still, “What Do You Want Me To Do” is a genuinely infectious record with an arrangement that positively pops, and Courtney sings the hell out of it. The single crawled to No. 48 R&B and died, but not before singer and producer managed to squeeze out a pretty good album,<span style="font-style: italic;"> I’m In Need of Love</span>, also on Epic/CBS.<br /><br /><br />***************************<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOUUnp1vycC4vCc6RiOW6Zl0eujHLBHxS9eMeCMO9YFTogKiB6vq5AjjTtug7hRqf5g0M_nWQRbgsyxsroumX_ivb6BcYL66NVXgLYh1mgnu96Y5EgTB6GOtq6YX4b0V2H-MSbWA/s1600/open-up.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 397px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOUUnp1vycC4vCc6RiOW6Zl0eujHLBHxS9eMeCMO9YFTogKiB6vq5AjjTtug7hRqf5g0M_nWQRbgsyxsroumX_ivb6BcYL66NVXgLYh1mgnu96Y5EgTB6GOtq6YX4b0V2H-MSbWA/s400/open-up.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5690484023453384674" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-12-11/50-Open-Up-Your-Soul.mp3">“Open Up Your Soul”</a> mp3<br />by Erma Franklin, 1968.<br />available on <a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002KIUKBO/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002KIUKBO" id="static_txt_preview">Piece of Her Heart: Epic & Shout Years</a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8QIQbi8diS922r7jZGHq0SbTJdamZskGfwEUG-f20ooqtxxWdOtM0alHNUwG5_l5H47_UNiosqWdsqaDdVgC_BRadoTwyIU14B3o8fsTGf8zGn3dRuM9pSJQMJpQ7WztPKG4SGA/s1600/LE-Love.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 399px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8QIQbi8diS922r7jZGHq0SbTJdamZskGfwEUG-f20ooqtxxWdOtM0alHNUwG5_l5H47_UNiosqWdsqaDdVgC_BRadoTwyIU14B3o8fsTGf8zGn3dRuM9pSJQMJpQ7WztPKG4SGA/s400/LE-Love.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5690483716200913986" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-12-11/51-Want-To-Be-Loved.mp3">“I Want To Be Loved”</a> mp3<br />by Loraine Ellison, 1969.<br />available on<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000003T35/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000003T35" id="static_txt_preview">Stay With Me</a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFeADUiJCOYZGrpRYHq7w-wRauiO8-QDkJaQq469WFpJPeEACFFvhmv-W0wcK3KOxYaDL67w8sW7St0Ky43j7HpfKXv06KmW-l0OiM5GqufNDyzjhZcxf5XcUnZenPsDjLxfIhfg/s1600/mimms.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 397px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFeADUiJCOYZGrpRYHq7w-wRauiO8-QDkJaQq469WFpJPeEACFFvhmv-W0wcK3KOxYaDL67w8sW7St0Ky43j7HpfKXv06KmW-l0OiM5GqufNDyzjhZcxf5XcUnZenPsDjLxfIhfg/s400/mimms.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5690484018284244674" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Garnet Mimms – <a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-12-11/52-Look-Away.mp3">“Look Away”</a><br />by Garnet Mimms, 1964.<br />available on <a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005YU93/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00005YU93" id="static_txt_preview">Warm & Soulful</a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr-ahv8nKGEQVzo5TFQ9Mk0hayNjvcZYfWa3bC9Mk_-QyiseXpfYnDG7SMXoEQN38ErwCFf7GMF5AZzcqi9wLGynqsqFVW0vUu9K3ItGm1KeWAJEQnIi_MK46tinSK-6TM70t7rQ/s1600/makeba.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 393px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr-ahv8nKGEQVzo5TFQ9Mk0hayNjvcZYfWa3bC9Mk_-QyiseXpfYnDG7SMXoEQN38ErwCFf7GMF5AZzcqi9wLGynqsqFVW0vUu9K3ItGm1KeWAJEQnIi_MK46tinSK-6TM70t7rQ/s400/makeba.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5690483723564835410" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-12-11/53-Malayisha.mp3">"Malayisha"</a> mp3<br />by Miriam Makeba, 1967.<br />available on <a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000023ZGH/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000023ZGH" id="static_txt_preview">Pata Pata</a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGIqMNxSMgtzJ1nSP3jWhLJ7JIYbaaCEqTvxUVEggYJ8Hlv3Hg-L6-p8egqFbiag2L-Elp9ruPk-KSTNUng4U-17E86BHtOe5_2IVIRToIL_SBV2it0qvhUrOApqa87ee2kOlFQg/s1600/tat.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 397px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGIqMNxSMgtzJ1nSP3jWhLJ7JIYbaaCEqTvxUVEggYJ8Hlv3Hg-L6-p8egqFbiag2L-Elp9ruPk-KSTNUng4U-17E86BHtOe5_2IVIRToIL_SBV2it0qvhUrOApqa87ee2kOlFQg/s400/tat.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5690484033228991426" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-12-11/54-Nobody-Home.mp3">“Ain’t Nobody Home”</a> mp3<br />by Howard Tate, 1967.<br />available on <a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006K7ZI04/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B006K7ZI04" id="static_txt_preview">Get It While You Can </a><br /><br /><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-12-11/55-Stop.mp3">“Stop”</a> mp3<br />by Howard Tate, 1967.<br />available on <a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006K7ZI04/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B006K7ZI04" id="static_txt_preview">Get It While You Can<br /></a>Ted Barronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975741901400619750noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35422342.post-41197904388735447072011-12-26T16:34:00.005-05:002011-12-29T00:08:09.360-05:00Jeff Chandler: My Second Cousin Removed<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtPDPZ9Q0HgavwIYoJZAIXFeI40frkP37KSfdspXTy7nBSmX4-XPL22rbdEbTYB2B9M4BJG3RXrHKW9VNIiEIA6KD7tczve7i0TqdRryWnFlhwxZt6uwrLFFB9ZQcxmwUnfSqZow/s1600/chandler1.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 343px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtPDPZ9Q0HgavwIYoJZAIXFeI40frkP37KSfdspXTy7nBSmX4-XPL22rbdEbTYB2B9M4BJG3RXrHKW9VNIiEIA6KD7tczve7i0TqdRryWnFlhwxZt6uwrLFFB9ZQcxmwUnfSqZow/s400/chandler1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5690496999246022594" border="0" /></a><br /><br />by <a href="http://wfmu.org/spazz/">Dave the Spazz</a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">“Don’t ever let them operate on your back. That’s how we lost Jeff Chandler.”</span><br />--Don Van Vliet <span style="font-size:78%;">1</span><br /><br />Today’s Hanukkah’s Jew answers to the name of 1950s movie star Jeff Chandler. My Aunt Penny used to swear that Chandler was her cousin from the old neighborhood; however, his absence from any and all family functions caused some concern at the time that Aunt Penny might be full of shit. Claiming familial ties to Jeff Chandler was just schlubby enough to be true so I believed her. Aunt Penny’s son David changed his name from Abramson to Chandler so you can count him as another believer.<span style="font-size:78%;"> 2</span><br /><br />Jeff Chandler was one of the biggest box office leading men of the 1950s but any enduring fame seems locked into that nervous decade. After serving in World War II, the East New York native sharpened his acting chops in radio comedies and dramas (most notably as doofus biology teacher Philip Boynton on <span style="font-style: italic;">Our Miss Brooks</span>). By the early fifties the former Ira Grossel reinvented himself into the tall, dark and Semitic matinee hero Hollywood had apparently been searching for.<br /><br />Chandler was generally typecast as the affable, prematurely gray, leading man sort of chap--a stack of good looks with the charisma of a goldfish. He was Cary without the Grant, Gregory sans Peck, he was more Clark Kent than Clark Gable. Tanned and bland, Chandler was just a yutz with a granite chin.<br /><br />In the seventies I remember he would occasionally pop up on Channel 9's <span style="font-style: italic;">Million Dollar Movie</span> or whenever the Mets got rained out. Unfortunately, Chandler's movies were unremarkable and predictable affairs. If it sucked, he was in it: turgid romances, drab military dramas, sword and sandal epics, crappity-crap horse operas. If Warhol ever sat through a Jeff Chandler epic then maybe his eight hour Empire State Building movie might have seemed unnecessary.<br /><br />For a blank sheet of paper, Chandler surprisingly shared the screen with a litany of leading lady goddesses of the 1950s: Kim Novak, Liz Taylor, Carol Lynley, Susan Hayward, Lana Turner, Julie London, Joan Crawford, Jane Russell, Dorothy Malone, and Anne Baxter were among the lucky gals who kissed up on ol' Jeff. At one point he was romantically linked with M-G-M swimming star Esther Williams until the day she allegedly caught him in a dress. In her 1999 autobiography Williams recalled telling him at the time "Jeff, you're too big for polka dots."<br /><br />In or out of polka dots, Chandler was well-liked and he swung with the swingingest chums that Hollywood had to offer. When good pal Sammy Davis, Jr. lost his left eyeball after a horrific car wreck on Route 66, Chandler famously offered him one of his own. (A few years later Sammy served as a pallbearer at Chandler’s funeral.) Jeff's generous offer, along with constant noodging from Eddie Cantor and Tony Curtis are likely responsible for Sammy turning to the Jewish faith.<br /><br />Chandler had a singing career as well--who didn’t back then? He released a few tuneless LPs and in 1955 opened at The Riviera in Vegas to celebrity-studded crowds and tepid reviews. Comedienne/singer Rose Marie was at the opening and remarked "Jeff Chandler was a great guy, but he was no singer… he came with a conductor, a piano player, light man, press agent and manager. None of it helped."<br /><br />On the set of his last film <span style="font-style: italic;">Merrill's Marauders</span> (1961), Chandler herniated his spinal disc while playing baseball with U.S. Army soldiers who served as extras in the movie. He entered a Culver City Hospital on May 13, 1961 and due to a botched surgery he never checked out.<br /><br />At age 42 Jeff Chandler joined the lost-in-time stars of Hollywood's last golden era, remembered today for nobody knows-quite-what, except from this point on for being my Aunt Penny's cousin from the old neighborhood.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgykL8NQTfYq9jwy3QdHxLDGnO111sCctXKX5izOwk5_48k0cwuYBiHivUuGSc0FGKeZ8ff_SBZdgTfTl2Lwzr1dR_jzDMl_FO-43uXY_NAdksmdPGwfslCVhLCSygCuY-pwjxBNQ/s1600/chandler2.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 363px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgykL8NQTfYq9jwy3QdHxLDGnO111sCctXKX5izOwk5_48k0cwuYBiHivUuGSc0FGKeZ8ff_SBZdgTfTl2Lwzr1dR_jzDMl_FO-43uXY_NAdksmdPGwfslCVhLCSygCuY-pwjxBNQ/s400/chandler2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5690497000349861650" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-12-11/43-Keep-Me-Warm.mp3">"I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm"</a> mp3<br />by Jeff Chandler, 1955.<br />available on <a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004K6G6EY/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004K6G6EY" id="static_txt_preview">Spotlight on Jeff Chandler</a><br /><br /><br />1. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Book of Changes: Interviews</span> by Kristine McKenna, Fantagraphics Books<br /><br />2. My first cousin removed, David Abramson (hailing from East New York) could pass for Italian and frequently did. He changed his name to David Roya and eventually David Roy Chandler in a nod to his movie star cousin once removed. He did walk-on bits (usually as an Italian American thug) on <span style="font-style: italic;">Mission Impossible, The Rookies, Black Sheep Squadron</span> and other TV shows. He abandoned his Fonzie image to play an Apache savage who tries to kill Henry Gibson in a very special episode of <span style="font-style: italic;">F Troop</span>. Returning to his bad-ass roots, David found enduring psychotronic fame as Bernard Posner, the spoiled Sheriff’s son in the extremely dated hit Billy Jack (1971). David is currently a 4th degree black belt Tae Kwon Do instructor in Rockaway Beach.Ted Barronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975741901400619750noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35422342.post-11680038444108971222011-12-25T16:34:00.006-05:002012-01-04T10:53:11.136-05:00The Atheist Who Stole Christmas<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK_4BDqdA_6wUGBIjWeb9F_csqO8HwidSCj2Sjj-TEIyrIgUEJhWbf7M2C17Znc2i08mr8072gJe5grdMFRM82AB-Xt2ZOq7mlJxGxWQLBWuvtyhCIPyEPRyyxUhRIBbhjReK2Tw/s1600/spector.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK_4BDqdA_6wUGBIjWeb9F_csqO8HwidSCj2Sjj-TEIyrIgUEJhWbf7M2C17Znc2i08mr8072gJe5grdMFRM82AB-Xt2ZOq7mlJxGxWQLBWuvtyhCIPyEPRyyxUhRIBbhjReK2Tw/s400/spector.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5690172206513767298" border="0" /></a><br /><br />by Nicole Audrey Spector<br /><br />How a guy who once pulled over the car upon espying a black glitter rosary on my neck (I was 12 and the rosary was from Claire's Accessories) was ever impelled to give the world a self-declared “Christmas Gift” is ironic. Yet my dad, in making <span style="font-style: italic;">A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector</span> was hardly a grinch won over. I don't exaggerate when I say that he'd rather have a tick burrowed in his ear than a sentimental Christian on his back. Or a sentimental Jew for that matter (though one may elicit from him a gentle smirk, a boyhood memory). My dad is so outrightly disgusted with religion that when something bad doesn't happen he says “Thank Darwin!”, a phrase I taught him when he told me he'd give me $500 if I read all of <span style="font-style: italic;">On The Origin</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Of Species</span>. That's roughly a dollar per page. Add the exhaustive intro and afterthoughts I was also required to read and you have about half that. Not to mention I'd have to provide written notes. Still, not a bad deal for a kid, right? Well, I was 23 and unable to finish it. Point is, my Pops' Christmas music has nothing to do with Christian folklore – it indeed dispossess Christ from Christ-mas, and is concerned only with a mirth and merriment that is wholly secular.<br /><br />When I visited my dad last Sunday and imparted the news of Christopher Hitchen's death, he gazed at my Einstein T-shirt and frowned. “Einstein should have been more outspoken about the non-existence of God,” he said. <span style="font-style: italic;"> A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector</span> may as well be called<span style="font-style: italic;"> The Atheist Who Stole Christmas</span> or, if you want to get silly, <span style="font-style: italic;">It's My Birthday, Too; So</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">What?</span> – for my father was born on Christmas Day. Around this time of year a lot of people tell me, “You know, it doesn't feel like Christmastime until I listen to your Dad's Christmas album.” The key word is feel. Christmastime, in again the secular sense, has a distinct essence and texture. It's busy, buttery, effulgent, and loud – pairing well with the lavish mania that distinguishes The Wall Of Sound. Nearly 50 years after its incipient release, A Christmas Gift For You is emblematic of an era long gone, but it's not the 1963 time stamp on the work that induces nostalgia. Songs like “Winter Wonderland”, “Frosty The Snowman”, and “Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers” (my childhood favorite) feel to have been born nostalgic, dreamed up in a reverie of how good it feels to be a child at Christmastime. The one original song on the album, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” pines for a Christmas past with Darlene Love belting, “They're singing 'Deck The Halls'/But it's not like Christmas at all/'Cause I remember when you were here/And all the fun we had last year.”<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJfFLKwBrBpNShFo40Q1dF24VkPG5s3iB19_yVJ6ySDS2hLsVWRmojnPNJ4sOjE0aHSD9SJo1qCCHUuJgYBWQ1ByXFBajVrwuU5dY302cRNWDpr3_BFr5X4Bxi6ti9nA8wa-UmnA/s1600/phil_spector_1958.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 321px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJfFLKwBrBpNShFo40Q1dF24VkPG5s3iB19_yVJ6ySDS2hLsVWRmojnPNJ4sOjE0aHSD9SJo1qCCHUuJgYBWQ1ByXFBajVrwuU5dY302cRNWDpr3_BFr5X4Bxi6ti9nA8wa-UmnA/s400/phil_spector_1958.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5690172204515138482" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Perhaps my dad had a bit of the Christmas blues himself growing up. He and his older sister, Shirley, were brought up sparingly in a strict but struggling Jewish household. Christmas was of course not observed and though Hanukkah was I can't imagine it was a hugely happy affair. My paternal grandfather Ben suffered from acute diabetes and ended his life when my father was nine, leaving my Grandma Bertha (after whom my dad's record label Mother Bertha Music is coined) to raise the two kids on her own. She moved the family to L.A, where my dad snuck into jazz clubs and at 14, met his hero: jazz guitarist Barney Kessel. It wasn't long under Kessel's wing before my Dad decided that he would never be as good a guitarist as the remarkably under-recognized genius – “not even a close second”, he says, and so, he turned his ambitions toward record making. In my father's few shared memories of growing up, seldom do I get the sense that he was ever doing much of anything aside from growing up – working as hard as he could to assume responsibility for his family. Even the move to L.A from NY, when he couldn't have been more than 12, he remembers as a vehicle for equipping him with the tools he needed to become a young success – to make it big fast.<br /><br />As far as the family my dad co-created with my mother, Janis, much later in life (he was 42 when my twin brother Phillip. Jr. and I were born) goes, we were raised on Christmas. Hanukkah was there, but off to the side, a corner piece of piety we were unsure how to regard. Phillip and I took turns lighting the menorah (Grandma Bertha probably had one for every light socket in her home), but we didn't quite know what to do with a holiday that, next to Christmas, was so complicated and sombre, so...holy. When Grandma Bertha gave us a dreidel to play with, Phillip and I just stared at it and exchanged worried glances, hoping Grandma would walk away so we could play with real toys.<br /><br />Jewish as Grandma Bertha was (she took great care in teaching my Mexican Catholic mother how to be a good Jewish wife, mentoring her in the making of many a matzoh ball soup and potato latke), she indulged us our Christmas. Every year she dug the same plastic tree out of a closet, along with other customary Christmas junk – light up Santas and reindeer, boxes of candy canes. Always a sucker for kitsch, my dad would create his own mega marshmallow world in our foyer – replete with fake box presents under a dazzling Rockefeller tree. But the true Christmas fanatic, on either side of my family, was my dad's older sister, Shirley. A virtual Mrs. Claus, Aunt Shirley stormed into rooms with literal bells on, singing the Christmas hits. My father couldn't stand her. She seemed to physically make his skin crawl. Twenty minutes into her company and he was on the brink of a genuine eczema outbreak. To me she was the most wonderful person in the world. She was a brilliant woman, I later learned, but disturbed. She'd go missing for months and eventually years at a time, abducted by some secret darkness in her mind. I only ever saw her as ebullient, glowing. She was a guaranteed presence on Christmas day. She arrived at our house in the late afternoon (the earliest my father would let her in) with her annual trunk load of presents for me and Phillip, singing all the way up our driveway.<br /><br />A fragment of one such Christmas afternoon exists on VHS, when Phillip and I were about 6 years old. Before the Record button was hit Aunt Shirley somehow guilted my father into getting out his electric guitar. She starts to sing a pitchy falsetto “Silent Night” and my dad strums obediently along, each chord appearing to hurt his face. “All is caaallllm,” Aunt Shirley sings, with proud bravado, “All is brighhhht.” He doesn't let her get very far, abruptly transitioning into “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”. Aunt Shirley wavers but catches on – used to him changing things up without prior consult. Two verses into that song and my dad ditches Christmas altogether, digressing into an improv jazz bit none of us understand. Aunt Shirley, jilted, but ever-joyous, takes the camera from my mother and interviews her niece and nephew, truly her favorite people in the world, about their Christmas day. “Such a beautiful family,” she says. The camera shuts off.<br /><br />That video is the only evidence of my mother, father, brother, and me together. There are no family photos. It's the only recording of Aunt Shirley, as far as I know, that exists. She's at least 50 years old there, and as fragile and beautiful as I imagine she was as a girl, that remarkably bright girl whose mind shattered when her father left. It's one of the only videos of Phillip, Jr. A few years later, when we were nine he succumbed to a complicated illness. He died just a few days before Christmas. I don't remember our last Christmas together, but this one on tape looks like it was pretty good, and it's the one that makes every Christmas since feel not like Christmas at all.<br /><br />Download:<br /><br /><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-12-11/39-Sleigh-Ride.mp3">"Sleigh Ride"</a> mp3<br />by the Ronettes, 1963.<br />available on <a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000003BD7/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000003BD7" id="static_txt_preview">A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector</a><br /><br /><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-12-11/40-Wooden-Soldiers.mp3">"Parade of the Wooden Ships"</a> mp3<br />by the Crystals, 1963.<br />available on <a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000003BD7/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000003BD7" id="static_txt_preview">A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector</a><br /><br /><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-12-11/41-Baby-Please-Come-Home.mp3">"Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"</a> mp3<br />by Darlene Love, 1963.<br />available on <a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000003BD7/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000003BD7" id="static_txt_preview">A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector</a><br /><br /><a href="http://tedbarron.com/BWF-12-11/42-White-Christmas.mp3">"White Christmas"</a> mp3<br />by Darlene Love, 1963.<br />available on <a style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000003BD7/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=boowooflu-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000003BD7" id="static_txt_preview">A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector</a><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY4zNm3LHvujiaTIUwHaLAWidj7cxT21nyidc8gPOGskE6q5yvUoM_qEbb0OVxl8VG_07GwP3GhINbPb6eIbTliul0WcIlCO6gWcgHgxsUdmhtWF4Q71AffGCFdeuLn9XJlWOdKQ/s1600/6a01156f69625d970c01287654e8cc970c-640wi.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 361px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY4zNm3LHvujiaTIUwHaLAWidj7cxT21nyidc8gPOGskE6q5yvUoM_qEbb0OVxl8VG_07GwP3GhINbPb6eIbTliul0WcIlCO6gWcgHgxsUdmhtWF4Q71AffGCFdeuLn9XJlWOdKQ/s400/6a01156f69625d970c01287654e8cc970c-640wi.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5690172198125539586" border="0" /></a>Ted Barronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07975741901400619750noreply@blogger.com15