The Long Goodbye and Ball Four/"Yeh I've Been Searchin'"/Marlboro Man

Is The Long Goodbye the second best Altman film of the 70's after Nashville? Filmed primarily in Los Angeles in 1973 (released in 1974), I do know that The Long Goodbye is the only one that has Jim Bouton in a compelling and understated supporting actor role. What I associate now when I watch The Long Goodbye (other than Jeremy Blake), is Bas Jan Ader's One Night in Los Angeles, the first part of his work In Search of the Miraculous (1973). In that work (image below), Ader spent a night walking from the Hollywood Hills to the Pacific Ocean. It is the same nighttime trajectory that Marlowe takes in his car to find out what happened to his friend Terry Lennox.










As I recently re-read Bouton's "Ball Four," it turns out he got a call at 3AM from Elliot Gould telling him that he "was going to be in a movie with him called The Long Goodbye, directed by Robert Altman and [he] should catch the next plane to California." Bouton's "audition" consisted of shaking hands with Altman at the airport. Obviously Gould and Altman were big baseball fans, and figured that Bouton had taken enough heat over the book to give him some paid work - check out Jim on What's My Line about 15 weeks after Ball Four was published below.



The Long Goodbye has aged well, and may be Gould's finest work. Though consciously self-referential to the history of noir both on film and in fiction, it was of its time to such an extent that if I want to project myself and feel what Los Angeles of 1973 felt like, I watch it (Cassavetes' A Woman Under the Influence filmed around the same time works somewhat though not as successfully for me). Name me another film that has the old Ships in Westwood as part of a chase scene of sorts.



Throw in Neil Young's On the Beach and "Rubber Legs"-era Stooges, No Other, Heart Food and the Imperial Dogs' Unchained Maladies and you just may have 1973-74 Los Angeles covered for me. Even Neil gets in a baseball reference in "For the Turnstiles" to tie it all up in my head:

All the bushleague batters
Are left to die
on the diamond.
In the stands
the home crowd scatters
For the turnstiles,
For the turnstiles,
For the turnstiles.

Otis! is Kobaïan for Love

Like myself, you too have had periods of time where nothing crossed the turntable other than Magma and its various offshoots. A universe unto itself. Where I have been wrong is the arbitrary cutoff of around 1977. Thanks to Damon, I have been introduced to Christian Vander's brilliant, very personal tribute to Otis Redding from . . . 1981. How this would have factored into my listening at the time I can't say, but I have matured enough to appreciate this on all levels over 30 years later. And while I am at it, add Vander to the list of GREAT drumming singers, enough to give Karen Carpenter a run for her money on pure emotive raw power.

Sounds Single of This and Every Week/The Saints on Return of the Saint/Don Rickles and the Germs

So the Dickies were the first of the Masque-era Los Angeles punk bands to hit the UK followed by the Go-Go's the following year. I haven't had a chance to read Alice Bag's memoir (try finding a copy in NZ), but you could do a lot worse than read the first half of Belinda Carlisle's memoir Lips Unsealed for some debauched tales of the era. I digress. The Saints were among the first to show the Brits how it was done, after the Ramones of course, and shared the stage with them as well in the UK. I am reminded of Dylan in No Direction Home trying to divine where all those early songs came from. Do Chris Bailey and Ed Kuepper wonder the same thing? Dylan and the Ramones where living in one of the most culturally rich cities in the world surrounded by scenes which offered early support. The Saints incredibly created some of the 1970’s most perfect music while in Brisbane. Anyone who has not heard The Most Primitive Band in the World which dates from 1974 really needs to do some backpedaling. While Brisbane 1973-74 was not like the backwater portrayed in the seminal Australian film Wake in Fright (which each and every reader of this site needs to see), it was close enough which makes the foundling Saints’ achievement even that much more incredible. These were not kids hanging out at the Riot House, seeing Iggy crawling on the sidewalk on the Sunset Strip, or camping outside Freddie Mercury’s hotel room and then forming a band. As I have said before, one of the truly unacknowledged cultural movers and shakers of the last half century is named Lenny Kaye. It was his Nuggets comp that hit Brisbane in 1974 - two years late you may note - (along with the contempo Dolls, Stooges, MC5, various 50's greats, the Missing Links etc) that powered this earth shattering music. Proof that record nerds who are fine musicians can change the cultural world, no? Anyway, here you have the review that changed the game, and an interesting video curio. My old pal Maxwell in LA is who hipped me to the original Saint on telly. So it makes total sense that the actual Saints who by then had decamped to the UK make an appearance on the Return of the Saint show in 1978. In the same year, and it is buried back in my subconscious that I saw it at the time it was broadcast (along with Joe Namath’s short lived Waverly Wafers), the Dickies appeared on Don Rickles’ CPO Sharkey AND the Germs got their first name check on national US television. Check it all out below.





Now this is the kind of thing that I would screen if I was given an IMAX theater with a bar:

Crime, Jobriath and Ann Magnuson

I am not sure what I find more entertaining - Ann Magnuson goofin' on Jobriath and Bowie (with much affection) which I have seen in person or the actual Midnight Special performance by Jobriath (with Gladys Knight as host) backed by a band that can only considered a proto-Crime given their haberdasher and flying v. That is EXACTLY the glammy look I imagined the pre-Crime bands the Guitar Killers or the Space Invaders to have sported circa 1974 as they partied with/hosted the Dolls on their historic west coast tour in SF. Or am I reminded on a black clothed Zolar X?



Can't figure out why "Rock of Ages" is credited on the first lp to the trad. publishers when in fact Jobriath's lyrics are right of the then current 1950's revivalism school of Mott the Hoople, Wizzard, Dusty & Sweets McGee/American Graffiti and the David Essex/Ringo vehicle That'll Be the Day (which I have recently screened again). Here you go:

So what if a-wop-bop-a loo-bam boom didn't rhyme
Billy Haley and the Comets drove me to the prom in time
A Little Richard goes a long long way
More than twenty long years to this day
Rock of ages roll away, rock away, roll away

We were dancin' in the streets and shapin' our lives in school
When we were simply thirteen, God saved the Queen in Liverpool
A mop top Mersey goes a long, long way
More than ten long years to this day
Rock of ages roll away, rock away, roll away

Three plays for a quarter is ancient history now
But the Stones roll away and rock that jukebox till
Satisfaction goes a long, long way
Much more than five long years to this day
Rock of ages roll away, rock away, roll away
A Little Richard goes a long, long way
More than twenty long years to this day
Rock of ages roll away, rock away, roll away

Unfortunately, none of Ann's Jobriath performances are available online though her goof on Wilde's Salome at LACMA has enough camp to give Patti Smith a run for her money.



How did I miss this Zolar X auction:

Saturday Night Pogo 1978 KROQ Radio Ad/Radio Free Hollywood/The Berlin Brats 1976/Rhymes With Seltzer [Repost]

Is Richard Meltzer embarassed by the 1978 Saturday Night Pogo cover? As a teenager, I was embarrassed by the image. Meltzer was 33 years old when he posed for the cover. At 34, he lionized the Germs (GI) lp in a rave Los Angeles Times review which demonstrated he hadn't lost all his marbles. In fact, it is among his best reviews of albums he actually listened to. Courtesy of Dr. Riff Buttons, you get to hear the LA radio ad for the lp plus some added Rodney bumper commentary:



The Saturday Night Pogo lp would seem to be a b-team of the LA punk era, right? Well yes and no. The Radio Free Hollywood crowd never really got their due with all the revisionist history of what constitutes year zero of LA punk. I agree it is no "Tooth & Nail" or "Yes LA" but there are some shining moments. Who among the best of the old guard Hollywood punks pre-Masque have not gotten their due? Well, let's see. The Droogs are from the Valley (and worthy of their own post) and the Dogs are originally from Detroit. So I guess that would leave Saturday Night Pogo stars, the Berlin Brats. Rubin Fiberglass and I would both agree going back to our Santa Cruz days, that "Tropically Hot" off that lp and the 45 are among the great unsung Dolls/trashy songs you never heard. At Waitakere Walks, that sort of thing is our bread and butter. Both the A and B side of the 45 are among the best pre-hardcore punk 45s to emerge from Los Angeles - that is if you like the Dolls, Stones, early rock n' roll etc. A battle royale of Clap, the Berlin Brats and the Imperial Dogs could get pretty bloody (Daddy Maxfield had already split the scene). As a pre-teen, the fact that the Berlin Brats were in "Up in Smoke" did not register. The Dils later did, but I swear, so brief is the appearance of the Berlin Brats that it is missed if you so much as sneeze. Just as memorable may be the image of Rodney with his glam mullet wearing a Sex Pistols shirt at the side of the stage with Cheech Marin. I wish Fowley had made the cut. Somebody get Lou Adler on the line so we can get the full footage released!! Here is all there is:



Here is the great 45 of Tropically Hot/Psychotic:






What has been a real revelation at headquarters are the 1976 Berlin Brats demos and some live shows of the same era. Here is the demo of "Tropically Hot" slowed down with some very sweet acoustic overdubs, the great "Do I Love You Today" and a live cover of the Animals "It's My Life" from Hollywood 1976 - we need the 180 gram pressing of this stuff:







Back to Saturday Night Pogo, here is a clip of VOM at Malibu Beach (?) performing their track from the lp. Meltzer does undo some of the damage from the lp cover here and we do love Gregg Turner's vocals which he used to great effect in his next project:



Addendum: anyone know of how to get in touch with Dr. Riff Buttons?

Gene Clark's Descent From the Cosmic Mount

And the LORD said unto Gene, come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them. Exodus 24:12-13. Of course a paraphrase, but Gene did return with two tablets, "No Other" and "Roadmaster" (with "White Light" and various Byrds tracks in his denim hip pocket).



According to Thomas Jefferson Kaye, in 1973 Dylan and Neuwirth said their three favorite songwriters in the world were Dylan (duh!), Bobby Charles and Gene Clark. See Zigzag, June 1977. Gene below as stand-in for Rock Action. Anyone ever see those two guys together in the same room?


Saw Gene perform almost 30 years ago thanks to Danny Benair and Michael Quercio inviting the man to sing. A commanding and compelling figure on stage. On the bookshelf again for some Dillard & Clark and Gosdin Brothers research: Mr. Tambourine Man: The Life and Legacy of the Byrds' Gene Clark by John Einarson.

Captain Beefheart, Dr. Demento, an artificial lawn, mimes, violins and an accordian/The Captain's Wilshire Blvd. billboard November 5, 1972

Ah, the halcyon days of real record promotion the early 1970's! Money flowing through the Reprise/Warners coffers courtesy of Alice Cooper, Gordon Lightfoot, Neil Young and god knows who else to pay for a promotion like the one described below (which I came across in the December 7, 1972 RS found in the barn). I have scanned the record ad below as well from the same issue. Other photos from the excellent Electricity page which has a meeting of the minds of the good Captain and Wolfman Jack!
I can almost safely say - or is it wishful thinking - that I drove by this billboard (with an actual painting by Don), as a young passenger as may have many of you Los Angeles readers during November 1972 as you cruised Wilshire Blvd. between Genesee and Spaulding.

I have written before of Barry Hansen's friendship with John Fahey and here he appears below Zelig-like for the Captain promoting one of the the Captain's most perfect and fully-formed creations from start to finish. If you have not heard the 5 disc set of "Clear Spot"/"Spotlight Kid" rehearsals/outtakes I pity you. I really do. Some serious levitation took place in a rehearsal studio in the San Fernando Valley in 1971-72. Derided by many as the Captain's "mersh" period before the truly awful actual mersh period that soon followed, those sessions have some pure gold. Is not the Magic Band's rhythm section as much the beat of the 70's as Tony Allen or Klaus Dinger?




A colour reproduction of the actual artwork contained in a 1990's greatest hits collection: