"I've Always Thought the Stooges Were ok"/"Elitish Crapola"/Peter Crowley v. "The Dean"/Self-Designated Avant Garde Savior of Mankind

You all have read Meltzer's account of the trials of publishing "Dolphy Was Some 'Weird' Cat." Meltzer, Richard. A Whore Just Like the Rest. Cambridge: Da Capo 2000. How was Bob the editor of the Voice with opinions such as this from August 1973: "but like all theoretical hard rock, [The Stooges] music was accessible only in theory." Read on as it only gets worse or more cringe inducing. Wrong in oh so many ways on the Stooges that this one is more for the 2011 peanut gallery to laugh at. Great quotes though. Oh yeah Bob, I guess you didn't really grok Peter's other fave Von Lmo either. Time has shown that Crowley's taste was pretty classy and timeless. I guess you didn't ask him to contribute to Stranded. Roll on!

If Not Exactly a "Trips" Festival/Now Go Listen to Charlie Patton/"When Rock Implied Danger"

Richard Meltzer is going to be 65 this year. When the oracle chooses to write about music, one needs to pay close attention. Even his toss offs are great. Case in point is this column for the San Diego Reader from June 1999. Too late for inclusion in "A Whore Just Like the Rest," Richard still riffs on his favorite Doors, Monterey Pop versus Woodstock, the Byrds and the Association. He is a bit too harsh on the Monkees for my liking - their records have aged nicely. As Eddie Flowers has said (or a paraphrase as such): "Headquarters"= summer! Growing up those lps were some of the only "rock" lps in the house. But what the fuck do I know - I wasn't at Monterey. I came across this barn archival piece in connection with research on Meltzer's take on the Jefferson Airplane. According to Tamarkin's book, the Monkees' "Headquarters" was firmly lodged at Number 2 on the charts after the Beatles "Sgt. Pepper" in '67, thus keeping "Surrealistic Pillow" blocked permanently from the top spot. Though a no show at Monterey, Macca did head to SF in '67 and spent a day being shown around SF by Marty, Jack and Jorma, and also did acknowledge the incredible playing of Jack - did Jaco Pastorius copy prime Casady or what. Apparently, Jack jammed with Hendrix till dawn the night of Monterey whilst both were tripping. Meltzer where were you and Pearlman hanging out? Anyone sat through the entire Moneterey Pop Pennebaker dvd box set to report whether it is worth seeking out?

Psyche Pscene News/The Kaliedescopic Eyes of Alice Cooper/FM Classic Rock

Last month in LA I found Psyche Pscene News out of Chicago which billed itself as "Chicago's First 'Rock' Newspaper." Says so right on the masthead so it must be true. None other than 1971 "Love It To Death"-era Alice stares at you on the cover.

Psyche Pscene News grew out of Psyche Pscene which started at least as early as 1968. Psyche Pscene claimed that it was "for and about Young Chicago" and covered your usual head bands of the day. Apparently editor Joe Gino (also one of Tiny Tim's favorite photographers), either founded or owned the Chicago area rock club Elysian Fields.

Looking at the listings for Chicago in January of 1972, did I know that Judee Sill opened for Bread? Was Sonny Sharrock still playing with Herbie Mann into 1972? The Allmans are a no brainer as are "Fireball/Machine Head" era Deep Purple and the Hag.

Does Ian really claim that "Highway Star"is going to be our opening number for the next year or two? Deep Purple toured the US four times in 1972!

Nothing really out of the ordinary with Psyche Pscene News. The Faces review is dead on if you like the Faces. Recently finished Arthur Kane's GREAT autobiography "I, Doll" on the founding and first few years of the Dolls and he gives his unqualified Dolls approval to the Faces. Steve Jones played many tracks off this album on his radio show with some great teenage anectdotes. Bangs' Stewart book made me buy all the Faces lps when I was a teenager and I still like to think that he wouldn't have disowned his opinions on those lps in the end even with the horrid background to the writing of that book.

Though it ain't Rock Marketplace or Who Put the Bomp, Psyche Pscene News did try to have a historical column like the one here on Fairport Convention. Man, did Fairport have great taste in covers early on! Richard and Mimi, Tim Buckley, the Merry-Go-Round etc etc. Iain Matthews is the one who really kept up that kinda taste in Southern Comfort and his early solo lps. Digging that first Fairport lp without Sandy and seeing Thompson doing his best Avalon Ballroom/Filmore/JA styled modal soloing. Yes, Lydia, Television were kinda like the Dead or JA with haircuts but whoever said that was a bad thing. Enjoy, Sandy performing solo from the timeless The North Star Grassman and the Ravens which is from around the same time. There is a longer clip from the same session well worth tracking down. Following on the Fairport Merry Go Round cover, some solo Emitt as well.

Link 'n Jerry/Be What You Want To/Black Peter/Those Who Know History Are Doomed to Repeat It

Lenny Kaye on reviewing the Dead's "Live/Dead" in the February 7, 1970 issue of Rolling Stone: "if you'd like to visit a place where rock is likely to be in about five years, you might think of giving Live Dead a listen or two." He also stated that "[the Grateful Dead's] music touches on ground that most other groups don't even know exists."



Skeptical? PSG opened some shows for the Dead in 1979. And I can tell you, anytime I have have seen Patti in the past 15 years, she has included her and Lenny dishing up a reet Garcia cover or two (much to the howling derision on some folks in the audience). Lenny worked on the great autobiography of Waylon Jennings with Waylon. The guy knows a thing or two about American music. No doubt Link Wray rates pretty highly in his book. Now, I understand that Miriam and Billy may not be great fans of this era of Link's music, i.e., 1970-1973, but to those of us - such as Henry Kaiser - who like the Dead as much as Les Railles Denudes, this photo is a keeper. From the sessions for 1973's "Be What You Want To." The Dead subject matter inspired in part by Kaiser's SST years including "Those Who Know History Are Doomed to Repeat It," both the lp and tour we saw supporting the lp at McCabes.

Reading Rainbow/New Jerusalem/Spark to a Waiting Fuse/Never Learn Not to Love

Waitakere Walks is currently back in the City of the Angels near the mothership soaking up the ambiance. A heavy read from 2009 which may or may not have registered in the Northern Hemisphere. I read it around the same time as the Source Family book. Two totally different trips mind you. As for the Source Family, I guess I will stick to the grooming styles and music for now. As David K. would say: highest possible recommendation. Has Bill Maher read the Father Yod book? Possibly. The James K. book, not a snowball's chance.

Interphase 1/100% Impure Punk/A Warholian Freak Show/A Mutant's Eye View of Black Oak Arkansas

I must have tracked this one down in the late 1980’s based on the $2.99 price. From Wilmette and Chicago/DeKalb Illinois comes Interphase 1, edited by Cary S. Baker, Jeff Silberman and Harlan Hollander. What interests us most about this 'zine is the unbelievable who’s who slice of pre-punk Americana straight out of 1975. This includes the writing crew that would coalesce into Gulcher the magazine, and the brilliant uber-teenage Gizmos, prior to their March 1976 recording debut. During the 1990’s, when there were a slew of must read magazines and zines, including Forced Exposure, Jewish Beatle, Black to Comm, Modern Rock Mag (later Rock Mag), Superdope, 200lb Underground, Wipeout, Feminist Baseball, Popwatch, Bob Bert’s BB Gun, Opprobrium and others, one of the best and hardest to obtain, i.e., least distributed, was Eddie Flowers’ digest size Slippy Town Times. Slippy Town Times was really the only one that could link you directly to the primordial days of original, early 70's high energy rock criticism which still included righteous coverage of current stuff such as the latest avalanche of Sun City Girls releases. You may know Eddie from his time fronting one of the best and unheralded free form rock bands of the past (what is it 25 years now and running?), Crawlspace. But Ed had a previous incarnation as one of the more astute music writers among the generation after Bangs, Meltzer and Tosches et al. Slippytown went online with a mailorder side as well sometime in the 2000's I think.



Included in Interphase is a great tag team interview of Black Oak Arkansas’ Jim Dandy by Ken Highland, Bob Richert and Eddie entitled “Jim Dandy to the Recluse” aka “Talking With Jim Dandy: A Mutant’s Eye View of Black Oak Arkansas in Middle America.” Sounds like a title to swipe for my cultural studies dissertation, no? Richert’s “Beyond Our Control” gets some repeated mention so it does pre-date Gulcher.


Also of note are write-ups on both the Dictators and Crème Soda PRE “Go Girl Crazy” and “Tricky Zingers.” Eddie wrote the piece reproduced here with the only available release at the time being “I’m Chewin’ Gum.” Eddie has put this on the Slippytown site though not in its original incarnation.





The “Innerfazing” list is a hoot. Claire Panke of “Prehensile Tongue” fame is described as “Chicago’s most curvaceous Anglophile, and believes that Alex Harvey is God,” David Newberger who gives the you are there account of the Dictators is described as “a rock enthusiast, a friend of Blue Oyster Cult’s and quite a nice dude.” Of course, “Eddie Flowers is to Southern rock what Ken Kesey is to acid” and Ken Highland is “a very enterprising rock and roll punk.” Amen. While special thanks go out to Lester Bangs, Adny Shernoff and Murray Krugman, who is Tim Love, described as “DeKalb’s top roadie, a Jim Dandy/Iggy nut and an expert on Mississippi River Rat Rock.”

Art Schaak of “Roller Reader” is the zines LA correspondent, but I have to say provides some very low energy rock and roll wattage given the total lack of Zolar X coverage and inclusion of Tull’s “War Child.” I will give a thumbs-up breakdown on the first JT lp at some point in 2011. Probably more I could scan but this should do. There are some sweet live shots of Steven Tyler by Claire Panke and a short MC5 write-up which I think I will post at some point: “the MC5 are deified Motor City rockers. Their three out-of-print albums go for anywhere from $1.99 in the bargain bins or $10 on the black market.”

Love Over Gold/To the Hawk Who Prays in His Sleep/The Spotlight Kid

A poster from the barn to air out on a warm summer day and a nice day to think about the Captain - what with all the birds out and about doing their thing (tuis, mynahs, kererus, tomtits etc). Did Peter Max design the poster and if so, why not use Don's own artwork? How did Don feel about it? Any readers know the designer? The "Clear Spot"/"Spotlight Kid" 3 cd outtake set is the holy grail up there with the "Funhouse" boxset. I first heard them on the great "Another Chapter From the Lives and Times of Captain Beefheart" 2 lp set (the first lp BBC sessions, the second outtakes). A whole book could be written on those sessions and if you search the web, it kinda has.


Here is the cover of the "Life and Times" lp. Well worth tracking down.