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20 SHADES OF PINK/CAN'T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER

9/29/2014

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               MY VERONICA: WALL FLOWER OR FEMME FATALE?


20 SHADES OF PINK/ CAN’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER

By Alan L. Chrisman

It was when SHE walked into my shop that it all first began.  You see, I’m THE BOOK DETECTIVE.   You could say, I’m a bit of an archaeologist; my business is finding old artifacts called-books.  For those out there who were born after the 20th century and the internet, I guess I should maybe explain what books were.  In our present time, the late 21st century, of course, books have long been replaced by other technologies and everyone when born is implanted with a special computer chip which contains all the information for a lifetime or, if needed, they can be uploaded with new information annually.  But in the old days, people actually used a physical copy on which they wrote their stories and facts which was printed on paper and bound together and they were called books.  And that’s where my business comes in, there are still fortunately a few collectors left, a minority admittedly, still willing to pay for these artifacts.

I myself have always been especially partial to and collected a special genre of writing from the last century, in the 1940’s and 19 50’s called hard-boiled detective novels and in some movies based on those writings, named film noir. There is one particular woman which is considered the classic icon of those times, named Veronica Lake. She often played the sexy, enigmatic role which came to be known as the Femme Fatale.  And one of my fantasies has been to one day actually meet a real Femme Fatale.

One cold, windy October day, SHE came into my little antiquarian bookstore.  SHE looked plain on the outside, with big thick glasses. SHE told me she was a librarian and SHE looked the stereotype, quiet and shy.  I seemed to also have a fantasy about librarians too (for they also liked books and kept them on file for posterity as well as some of the museums).  SHE said her name was Veronica, just like my long-time fantasy from the noir films.  But despite her looking like a librarian, I couldn’t help but notice her small breasts peeking through her pink blouse, with the beginnings of an intriguing tattoo visible (I had a thing for them too- tattoos I mean, my dad had run a tattoo parlour, so I had grown up with them all around me). So underneath that prim exterior, there was also a sensual side to this intriguing woman, maybe hidden- but there.  And looking back now, I think it was that combination of innocence on the outside and sexiness below that first captivated me from the very first time I met her.  

Still it surprised me when the book she was looking for was by an infamous 19th Century writer, Marquis de Sade, known for his erotic S & M writings.  I happened to have a regular customer who collected his books.  I told her he might be willing to sell the title she wanted, but that he was away in Europe and wouldn’t be back for several weeks.  But she started to come in often to my shop and we’d talk about books, etc.  SHE always seemed to wear at least something pink, and I thought it made her look more feminine and pretty.  In that time, Veronica and I got to know each other better and better. We had good times and laughed a lot.  It was great to watch her come out of herself.  There was a certain naivete about her, almost like a child, that was unusual and refreshing, in these cynical days, we seem to live in today.  Before long, I was falling in love with her.  And she knew it and would let me be affectionate with her.  It was clear she liked me too.

Each visit, she would reveal more and more to me.   And on one visit, she admitted she was married.  I’d always thought she was single, as she hadn’t mentioned anything before.  Then she broke down and cried and said she was also in trouble and needed help.  This is the way SHE told it:  It seemed that when her marriage had been having some problems, she had gotten involved with another man and had had an affair. This man had claimed to Veronica that he was a painter, he had even taken the name of the famous 18th Century Impressionist , calling himself, Monet.  She later found out that this guy, Jack Monet, was a painter alright, but the only thing he had been trained to paint was houses.  But not before he had somehow convinced Veronica in her emotional state and naivete to pose for him, wearing nothing but her tattoos.  And that was the trouble she was in.  For now he was now threatening to expose the affair and her painting to her still husband and children, unless she paid him $10,000. 

There had been a craze in the beginnings of the 21st Century called nude selfies-where people would send nude photos of themselves to each other. It had started out with teenagers, but soon everyone was doing it-parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, employees, bosses, etc.  But a reaction had occurred with all the blatant nudity, and as has often occurred throughout history, the exposing of and which parts of the human body, had gone through many pendulum swings, and it was no longer cool to publically expose oneself (which is why the painting was so threatening to Veronica).  We had studied, in school, the brief craze of nude selfies back then, as an example of a silly fad and mass hysteria, and as with all fads, it had soon exhausted itself, and had disappeared by 2016.  Besides, in those old days, people had believed diet, exercise, and stress affected aging, but we now know that, actually, aging is mainly caused by cosmic rays from space and as long as we wear our cosmic suits we could, most of us, live to be 200. 

But Veronica didn’t have the money to pay the blackmailer and she didn’t know what she was going to do.  I could see the jam she was in and I loved her.  I didn’t have the money either. But I wanted to help this poor, innocent woman. The world had treated her badly, and it wasn’t her fault.  So here was my chance to rescue her and show her how much I loved her, at the same time.


So then I came up with a plan.  While the collector of the Marquis book was still in Europe, I could break into his place and steal it and we could sell it on the black market for at least that much.  The next week, on a moonless night, I did break into the collector’s house and I managed to steal it. We soon found a willing collector out of town, willing to pay what we asked, and with no questions asked.  I then met with the sleazy pretend-Monet painter and we paid him off and got her nude painting back and told him if he ever bothered her again, he’d regret it.

To celebrate after all this, Veronica and I made love, and as I suspected, she was no librarian in bed.  She showed me sides of myself I didn’t know I even had.  She also admitted to me later that night, that SHE, this shy little librarian, also worked part-time as a dominatrix.  Now her wanting that Marquis de Sade book made sense.

Veronica and I were finally free, we thought.   But a couple months later, the police came to visit my bookstore.  I didn’t think much about it; I figured they were just checking to see if anyone had tried to sell the stolen Marquis.  But it was worse than I thought. That fake Monet guy, had tipped off the police on us, anonymously, and had skipped the country to Europe (where he would no doubt try to take Picasso’s name).

I went to court and I had to admit that it had been my plan.  SHE turned prosecution evidence against me, when they threatened to charge her too, in exchange for testifying against me.  SHE got off scot-free and is back working at the library (and on weekends as a dominatrix, evidently still). 

Me, I’m here in prison, serving my time, and writing this story.  Let this be a warning, be careful what you fantasize about; it might just come true.  I met my Femme Fatale.   And there was an expression back when there were books, which I guess, still applies- YOU CAN’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER!  

 

P.S. The picture of my Femme Fatale, Veronica, above, is actually of Elaine May, a  comedienne of the 20th Century, who was in the famous comedy duo, Mike Nicholas and Elaine May in the 1950’s and 60’s.  The photo is of her nerdy character from the 1971 film, A New Leaf, with Walter Matthau who plans to murder her for her money, but falls in love with her instead.  It’s a comedy classic, which partly inspired my above story.

See video excerpts below from "A New Leaf " Film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ilo6XbNG1M

 



 


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 20th Century comedy duo: Elaine May & Mike Nichols     "A New Leaf "Film:(1971)
 (1950's & 60's)                                                                       Elaine May/Walter Matthau
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ROBERT MITCHUM:  FILM NOIR COOL!

9/25/2014

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Robert Mitchum and Film Fatale, Jane Greer, in Classic film Noir, "Out of the Past", 1947.
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ROBERT MITCHUM: FILM NOIR COOL!

By Alan L. Chrisman

Robert Mitchum was a popular actor in the 1940’s and 50’s, mainly known for his film noir film roles.  Mitchum is listed #23 on the greatest male legends of all time by the American Film Institute.  He often seemed almost half awake with his laid-back acting, but you couldn’t keep our eyes off him on the big screen.  For his nonchalant presence was deceiving.  Other actors would try to overact with grand gestures, but Mitchum somehow held our interest with the even the smallest ones.  He was able to express the emotion buried just below the surface of a character. And he was ahead of his time, taking on the roles of what would later be called anti-heroes.

Women loved this strong, silent quality in his portrayals and men wished they could be more like him.   He often played tough, manly characters, which could throw someone around the room, but at the same time, ones that weren’t afraid to reveal their sensitive sides too.

In 1947’s “western-noir”, Pursued, he plays a man who’d been adopted by a woman who tries to raise him as her own, but he never quite fits in, always wondering where he came from.  His half-brother hates him and his half-sister played by Teresa Wright (Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt), can’t help falling in love with him and he with her, even though its forbidden.  After he’s reluctantly forced to kill his half-brother and another innocent suitor for her, she finally agrees to marry him, but initially only planning to do so to kill him for the mistaken hurt.  It’s almost Shakespearian in scope and its characters, for a western, but Mitchum’s able to capture it.

He would also appear in several more similar roles in this period, including the classic film noir, Out Of the Past, the same year, in which he’s up against a sleazy Kirk Douglas (only Douglas’ 2nd film) and Femme Fatale, Jane Greer.  Again Mitchum had to play a wronged man, haunted by his past.  And there was always a Fatale to match wits with him.

But just as he was becoming popular with these and other roles, his reputation as a “bad boy” in real life threatened to catch up with him.  He was arrested in 1948, for possession of marijuana, considered a dangerous drug at the time.  He spent 43 days on a prison farm.  Later it was overturned because it was revealed that he had been set up.  This could have ended his career, but it only seemed to add to his screen persona and popularity.  A lot of Hollywood wouldn’t work with him after that, but his co-star from Out of the Past, Jane Greer, still did in The Big Steal in’49.  He’d had a rough childhood and had hitched around the country before he’d drifted into acting.  Like the roles he often played, he didn’t fit in.  He was a colorful personality in a black and white era.

He went on to make several other film noirs and other well-respected movies, throughout the 50’s and 60’s, such as River of No Return with Marilyn Monroe and Night of the Hunter directed by Charles Laughton, in which he plays a creepy criminal posing as a preacher.  In the original Cape Fear in 1962, he’s the vengeful ex-con who stalks lawyer, Gregory Peck’s family (he would have a reverse role as the detective in the Martin Scorsese remake in 1991).  He appeared also in several classic war films, such as The Enemy Below (1956) and the epic, The Longest Day (’62).  Then almost against type he made softer-character films with British actress, Deborah Kerr, Heaven Knows Mr. Allison (’57) and The Sundowners (’60) about Australia.  And he played a gentle schoolmaster in David Lean’s Ryan’s Daughter (1970).

Besides being an excellent actor, he also was an accomplished singer and songwriter and often sang himself in his films.  He even had a top 10 country hit, “Ballad of Thunder Road”, which he co-wrote for his Southern moonshine film and now cult favorite of the same name in 1957.

But it was really his noir films for which he is most remembered.  And in the 70’s, he made a remake of Raymond Chandler’s Farewell My Lovely in England and followed up with a re-doing of the classic, The Big Sleep, even playing an older version  of the detective, and manages to pull it off.  He would go into the 80’s in a couple of popular TV miniseries, The Winds of War (’83) and War and Remembrance (’88).

He had a reputation on film sets of not taking any guff from anyone, from the directors on down.  Supposedly, he threw a crew member into the ocean (after Mitchum had been drinking the night before on one of his early films). His attitude towards Hollywood and acting, was to not take it all too seriously.  One of his famous quotes was, “I only made two kinds of pictures, one with a horse and one without”.   And that acting consisted of (quoting another great actor, Spencer Tracy, who didn’t take it too seriously either)“ know your lines and show up on time, that’s it”.  Of course, Mitchum took his craft for much more than that, but his attitude and skill made it seem almost effortless.  It often felt as if it wasn’t acting at all, but real people up on the screen, which is of course, the greatest compliment to an actor.  Lee Server wrote a biography of him in 2001 aptly titled, Baby, I Don’t Care.        Mitchum was one of a kind- film noir cool! 





See below excerpt of Mitchum  and Femme Fatale, Jane Greer, in classic film noir, "Out of the Past":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7oTM9oaDmI



See also Robert Mitchum,The Legend, about his life:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faMcE7GusVM





Check out previous article by Alan L. Chrisman also on this site:

"Femme Fatales: Real & Fantasy"








 













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THE RASCALS, "The TWIST", PEPPERMINT LOUNGE & the MAFIA

9/22/2014

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THE RASCALS, “The TWIST”, THE MAFIA

& THE PEPPERMINT LOUNGE

by Alan L. Chrisman

My friend, Boris, a big fan of The Rascals, recently loaned me a book, Peppermint Twist, by John Johnson Jr. and Joel Selvin.   And what a story also connected to The Rascals one, I was originally going to write!   For this fascinating book, shows how an innocent dance craze in the early 60’s would become intertwined with the Mafia, and in often hilarious ways.

The Rascals (originally called The Young Rascals) were an American white blue-eyed soul band, with several big hits in the 60’s.  I already knew that most of their members (Eddie and David Brigati (vocals), Felix Cavaliere (vocals and keyboards), and Gene Cornish (guitar) had gotten their start as part of the band, Joey Dee and The Starliters, at the Peppermint Twist Lounge in New York City, which became famous for the dance craze, “The Twist”. 

The Peppermint Lounge had been a small out of the way bar owned by a Mafia kingpin, Johnny Biello, who worked for the infamous New York gangsters, “Lucky Luciano” and Frank Costello. They had bought it as a “front” in which to run their illegal activities in its backrooms.  But almost overnight it becomes the trendiest place in New York and the nation because this crazy new dance had caught fire.  And this was the place where everybody was coming to try it out and be seen, including all the movie stars and President John F. Kennedy’s wife, Jackie.

“The Twist”, this dance that suddenly was now taking the nation by storm, had been copied from a 1959 song by R&B singer Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, who previously had had the sexy hit, “Work With me Annie”.  But the song hadn’t done much for him.

Dick Clark had the most popular teen dance show on TV, American Bandstand, and could make or break an artist just by being on his show.  He was looking for someone to record a Xmas message for his fans and mimic the voices of some rock ’n’ roll stars.  He was recommended a guy, Ernest Evans.  Clark’s wife thought Evans sounded like Fats Domino, so she named him Chubby Checker. Clark got Checker to cover Ballard’s R& B minor hit (with the lyrics watered down).  When Checker did it along with twisting his hips on Clark’s show, it went to #1 in 1961.

In early 1962, Joey Dee and The Starliters had their own #1 with “Peppermint Twist”.  Suddenly, this obscure bar, owned by the Mafia became the place to be.  So now The Mob had this “front” club with hundreds of people lined up to get in and with the N.Y. police outside trying to control the crowds.  It had become high profile, so they had to go legit (although they still sold diluted drinks) and didn’t care for the music themselves.  At the door, as bouncers, were big tough former wrestlers and Mafia underlings, and with the elite of society trying to bribe them, just to get into this small but trendy club to try, at the time anyway, this somewhat-suggestive dance.  So you had this strange combination, for a brief period, of Hollywood, The Mafia and rock ’n’ roll.

Joey Dee and The Starliters were packing them in.  At one time in the band, there  had also been a guitarist James Jones (Later Jimi Hendrix) and Charlie Neville (later Neville Bros.) and even later actor, Joe Pesci on guitar. The Starliters toured Sweden in late’ 63 and who opened for them was this still-unknown band in America-The Beatles.  One night also this cute black girl trio showed up at the Peppermint Lounge and the owner thought they were the dancers he’d hired so he got them to get up and dance by the rails (this is where the 60’s Go-Go Dancers idea first started) near the stage and they sang with the band and became regulars.  They would go on to be produced by Phil Spector and have many hits-they became The Ronettes. 

When The Beatles came to New York a few months later in Feb. ’64, to be on the Ed Sullivan Show, they asked go to the Peppermint Lounge.  By now, The Mafia, realizing they could make lots of money off this rock ’n’ roll, had opened another Peppermint Lounge in Miami, Florida and it became the next hot spot. When The Beatles went to Miami the next week to film their 2nd Ed Sullivan appearance they visited the new one in Miami, where they wanted to meet Hank Ballad, who was reluctant at first, feeling he had been ripped off by white radio who he felt had stolen his minor hit (although he would make lots of money on it as the original writer).  Also The Beatles met with this up-and-coming boxer Cassius Clay (later named Muhammad Ali), as he was about to surprise everyone and beat Sonny Liston and change society too.  Ali even got up and sang at the Miami Peppermint Lounge.

“The Twist” was actually just the beginnings of a cultural shift, which The Beatles, of course, would carry through.  Up until “The Twist’, all through the 50’s and early 60’s, rock ’n’ roll was only for kids; no one took it seriously. Elvis when he had appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, had not been allowed to show his gyrating hips on camera.  Dance crazes had come and gone, for the kids again.  But the Twist was different, for some reason it caught on, and after the movie stars were doing it, everybody else wanted to try it.  And for the first time, adults were doing it too.

Black Panther leader, Eldridge Cleaver, observed in his book, Soul On Ice, written while in prison, that white America was for the first time in 200 years, perhaps, shaking their asses. I remember doing The Twist at my high school gymnasium dances in the small U.S. Midwestern town I was living in then; it had filtered down even there.  Cleaver also wrote about The Beatles reflecting America’s black- influenced music back at itself through English eyes and sounds, which would soon capture the U.S. and the world.  So a whole new era and decade had started.  And The Twist” was just the first indication of what was to come in the 60’s.

By the time The Young Rascals went out as themselves (with Dino Danelli on drums) in 1965, they had already had quite an education in the kind of music they were to follow and make their own.  Their first hit was “ I  Ain’t Gonna Eat My Heart Out Anymore”.  They soon followed it up with “Good Lovin’ “at  #1 and “You’d Better Run”.  Then came “I’ve Been Lonely Too long” and “Groovin” another #1 song and album of the same name in ’67.  “How Can I Be Sure” (in a world that’s constantly changing) was a wrenching ballad in 1967 and “A Beautiful Morning” was a hit in 1968.  Also that same year, in which Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were both assassinated, they released the political classic, “People Just Got to Be Free”.  After 1968 they became known as just The Rascals. I think,they were one of the few white rock groups to be able to really capture that black-influenced soul sound and make it sound authentic. The Rascals put out several albums, but among the best is their Groovin’ album in ’67.  Time Peace: The Rascals Greatest Hits has all their classics. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.  There was a show with them on Broadway, based on their songs and story in 2013.  Stevie Van Zandt, Bruce Springsteen’s guitar player and also from New Jersey, has been one of the biggest supporters for their recognition.

Boris, and I were fortunate to meet The Rascals keyboard player, Felix Cavaliere (along with Billy Preston, who played with The Beatles, Stones, Little Richard, Jimi Hendrix, etc.); Randy Bachman (Canada’s Guess Who and BTO) and Mark Farner (Grand Funk Railroad) -all part of one of Ringo’s touring All-Starr Bands in the ‘90’s in Ottawa, Canada (which was also The Rascals’ guitarist, Gene Cornish’s home town). 

And if you want to read an amazing story about how an innocent little dance would forecast the massive changes which were to affect America and the world soon, I recommend the Peppermint Twist book.  The book is full of very funny stories about how rock ’n’ roll and Mafia-types intersected at a certain time.  Ronnie Spector calls it “The Sopranos meet American Bandstand”.

See “The Twist” sung by Chubby Checker:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im9XuJJXylw










See The Rascals’ songs Medley:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hj9w-XMQgA







 


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RICK NELSON: MORE THAN A TEEN IDOL

9/20/2014

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RICK NELSON: MORE THAN A TEEN IDOL by Alan L. Chrisman

Rick Nelson was more than a Teen Idol.  But he started out as “Ricky” Nelson, part of the very popular all-American Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet Nelson family TV show in the 50’ and 60’s, where he would end the show singing his latest hit, with his eyes closed, as the girls swooned.  And only Elvis and Pat Boone were to have more hits from 1957-’62. He spent most the rest of his career though trying to get past that public image and be taken seriously as a musician.

But like Elvis, he also had the ability to pick the best songwriters and musicians to record.  He was influenced by Carl Perkins and rockabilly.  His first big hit, “Poor Little Fool”, in 1958 was written by Eddie Cochran’s 17 year-old girlfriend. In fact, he gave the first big breaks to many composers when he had big hits with their songs: “Lonesome Town” and “Never Be Anyone But You” (Baker Knight); “Traveling Man” and 23 other songs for Nelson (Jerry Fuller); “It’s Late” ( rockabilly duo, Dorsey and Johnny Burnette, who before had had a hit with  “Sweet Sixteen”, but camped out at his doorstep until he recorded their songs)  and Gene Pitney’s “Hello Mary-Lou”.  Jerry Fuller is especially interesting because he would go on to write many hits and even produce several other groups. He had originally been part of The Champs (“Tequila”), when their members included Glen Campbell, and Jimmy Seals and Dash Crofts (later Seals and Crofts with the “Diamond Girl” and “Summer Breeze” hits in the 70’s). Fuller produced The Knickerbockers and their hit “Lies”.  He also discovered Gary Puckett and The Union Gap and wrote and produced their big hits” Young Girl”, “Lady Willpower” and “ Over You” and “ Little Green Apples” for O.C. Smith.

And Rick Nelson always had the best musicians in his bands, such as guitarist, James Burton, who was 18 when Nelson met him and lived with the Nelsons for two years.  Of course, Burton would go on to become a legendary guitarist and play Elvis’ Vegas years and with every big name from Emmylou Harris to Elvis Costello. Burton played on Buffalo Springfield’s 2nd album and became part of Emmylou Harris’ Hot Band with Rodney Crowell after Gram Parsons died. He then toured with John Denver and played with Elvis Costello from the King of America album on.  And was in Roy Orbison and Friends: Black and White Night TV special in ’88.  Basically James Burton played with anybody who was anybody and is considered one of the best guitarists. Nelson also used Presley’s vocal group, The Jordanaires on his recordings (but Presley didn’t want anybody to know).  

For It was Rick Nelson who first recognized the above talents and gave them their first chances, which led to them all having many more song writing hits and involvement with several well-known musicians.

Also Nelson was one of the first California musicians to move toward country-rock before Linda Ronstadt and The Eagles, some of whose later members were in his Stone Canyon Band.  He had a later hit with a re-make of Dylan’s “She Belongs to Me” in 1970.

But Nelson was still trying to get past his old “Ricky” Nelson pop image when, ironically, he had one of his biggest hits, “Garden Party”. He was performing at an oldies Madison Square Garden show when fans booed him off the stage for trying to play some more contemporary songs.  In disgust, (but with a sense of humour) he wrote down these frustrated lyrics. They sum everything he’d been through:

 

GARDEN PARTY 

I went to a garden party to reminisce with my old friends
A chance to share old memories and play our songs again
When I got to the garden party, they all knew my name
No one recognized me, I didn't look the same


But it's all right now, I learned my lesson well
You see, ya can't please everyone, so ya got to please yourself


And people came from miles around, everyone was there
Yoko brought her walrus, there was magic in the air
An' over in the corner, much to my surprise
Mr. Hughes hid in Dylan's shoes wearing his disguise


But it's all right now, I learned my lesson well
You see, ya can't please everyone, so ya got to please yourself


Played them all the old songs, thought that's why they came
No one heard the music, we didn't look the same
I said, hello to "Mary Lou", she belongs to me
When I sang a song about a honky-tonk, it was time to leave


But it's all right now, I learned my lesson well
You see, ya can't please everyone, so ya got to please yourself


Someone opened up a closet door and out stepped Johnny B. Goode
Playing guitar like a-ringin' a bell and lookin' like he should
If you gotta play at garden parties, I wish you a lotta luck
But if memories were all I sang, I rather drive a truck


But it's all right now, I learned my lesson well
You see, ya can't please everyone, so ya got to please yourself


An' it's all right now, yeah, learned my lesson well
You see, ya can't please everyone, so you got to please yourself


Songwriters
NELSON, RICKY


Published by
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC



 Some lines are especially interesting: 
 

“Yoko brought her Walrus” (John Lennon and Yoko Ono were there)

“Mr.Hughes hid in Dylan’s shoes wearing his disguise” ( George Harrison was originally going  to record a Dylan cover album and  Harrison was Nelson’s next door neighbor in California and friend,  and was also supposedly there incognito.)

And of course:

“If you gotta play at garden parties, I wish you a lotta luck
But if memories were all I sang, I'd rather drive a truck


But it's all right now, I learned my lesson well
You see, ya can't please everyone, so ya got to please yourself”


Ironically, it became a big hit in 1972, reaching #6 on the Billboard charts.

Rick Nelson and his band came to Ottawa in the early 80’s playing a little out of the way bar, and I didn’t make it, something for which I’ve kicked myself ever since.

The “Travelin’ Man”, was still on the road in 1985, when his plane crashed in Texas, killing him and his fiancé.  Some at the time said it might have been a fire caused by free –basing cocaine, but the plane had a history of mechanical problems and it was later ruled because of a faulty heater.  But Rick Nelson had some great songs and helped some great songwriters and musicians get exposure and he was more than a pop idol.



See  “Ricky” Nelson doing “ Hello Mary Lou”, 1961

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0janfcZ8LUw

 

 

See Rick Nelson doing " Garden Party”, 1985:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxdiraVxwkI



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DEL SHANNON: "KEEP SEARCHIN"

9/17/2014

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DEL SHANNON: “KEEP SEARCHIN” By Alan L. Chrisman

Del Shannon was one of the great rockers and songwriters between Elvis and The Beatles.  Probably he’s best known for his classic 1961 hit, “Runaway”, with its high-pitched falsetto vocals and haunting, keyboard riffs.  Shannon was to have several other follow up hits with his distinctive sound throughout the early 60’s, like, “Keep Searchin”, “Little Town Flirt”, “Hats Off To Larry”, “Handy Man”, etc.

Actually he was the first American artist to cover a Beatles song, “From Me to You” before The Beatles’ version was released there. Shannon (actually Charles Westover, but name taken from a local wrestler and a Cadillac Coupe de Ville) was born in Michigan, where he met keyboardist , Max Crook (who had made his own early version of a synthesizer) and the two of them were to create their unique sound.  He was also a producer and produced an early Bob Seger and  Bryan Hyland’s  “ Gypsy Woman”.  And he wrote the hit “I Go to Pieces” for Peter and Gordon.  When his career started to fade a bit in the U. S. with the British Invasion, ironically, he maintained his popularity in the U.K.  In fact, several British musicians, would help produce his albums there, Like The Rolling Stones’ producer, Andrew Loog Oldham, who did his version of their “Under My Thumb” in 1967.  Shannon released the Live in England LP in 1973.  And Dave Edmonds would produce the single “And the Music Plays On” in ’74.

He was probably the closest in song writing and subject to the great Roy Orbison.  Like him, his songs usually had an almost tragic opera to them, with heart-wrenching vocals and words.  For example these are some of the lyrics to “Runaway”:  “As I walk along I wonder / what went wrong?  I’m walking in the rain/ tears are falling and I feel the pain/wishing you were here by me/to end this misery”.   And I wonder/ I wah-wah-wah-wah wonder/ Why Why Why? , Did you go Away/ My Little Runaway”    Boy, does that capture teenage love/angst or what?  And behind that is theirscreeching, but captivating keyboards, always.

In fact, when Orbison, died in late 1988, after the big success of supergroup, The Traveling Wilburys’ 1st album, Shannon was rumoured to be his replacement for their next album.  Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers had already produced and played on a comeback album for Shannon, 1981’s, Drop Down and Get Me with a re-make of Phil Phillip’s classic, “Sea Of Love” and seven originals, which is recomended .  And fellow Wilbury, Jeff Lynne of ELO, produced an album for him, Rock On, which was released in ’91.  So he was well respected and influenced these and many other musicians.

But Del Shannon played his last concert on Feb. 3, 1990, at a tribute concert in Fargo, North Dakota, for the 31th anniversary of the plane crash that killed legends, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and The Big Bopper.  A week later, Del Shannon was found dead of suicide.  He had long suffered from depression and was on the drug, Prozac, which some have linked to deaths.  Del Shannon was inducted into the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, with a tribute performance from Billy Joel of his classic song, “Runaway”.   And the Traveling Wilburys did their own version of “Runaway’ as a tribute to him.  Del Shannon, one of the greats, at expressing both the pain and exhilaration of being young and alive. “Keep Searchin’” (We’ll Follow the Sun). 

 

See DEL SHANNON doing “RUNAWAY” on David Letterman Show, 1986.

http://youtu.be/nSkV9pdzLgo

See TRAVELING WILBURY’S do DEL SHANNON’S “RUNAWAY” http://youtu.be/qEPx9bkpkh8

 

 

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Beatles Get Back to Mono Vinyl (& The Lost Tribal Ritual of Reading Liner Notes)

9/10/2014

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BEATLES GET BACK TO MONO VINYL by Alan L. Chrisman

In honor of the recent re-release of the original Beatles on Mono LP’S set, I thought I’d write some reflections of all the changes that have happened, in how we listen to music.

It’s kind of ironic, because, there has been a real return to vinyl, even among whole new generations, let alone people like the baby Boomers who grew up with it.  Many people now get their music directly through downloading (and don’t even think of paying for it and helping support the artists who make it), so it’s actually become harder than ever for musicians to make a living.

“ Has the McDonaldization of music , with its constant accessibility, taken something away from the music itself”

I wrote the above words back in 1989, for an Ottawa, Canada Carleton University newspaper, when CD’s were supposed to be the new format, which would sound better and last forever.  And just today, I heard that Ottawa’s CD Warehouse (nominated once as the best music store in Canada) is closing their doors after 24 years.  Of course, as with the DVD video format, people have changed the way they consume music and film.  And “consume” is perhaps the fitting word.  Like fast food restaurants we, a lot of us anyway, want to just gobble it down 24/7.

But some of us still remembe, how we would, after saving up our money as kids, finally be able to afford the latest LP.  The Beatles’ especially, seem to have a new album out about every 6 months or so (groups today are lucky to get one out every few years).  Every Beatles’ record was a quantum leap from the previous one- from Rubber Soul to Revolver to Sgt. Peppers’ to The White Album to Abbey Road.  And the other leaders in rock at the time, like Dylan and the Stones, did the same thing, and we as fans had to make the jumps too.

But it was then a whole ritual we went through. You couldn’t wait to rush home, after waiting so long to finally have a copy and tear off the plastic wrapping, like it was Xmas, and gaze at the a cover.  For there was a real art to designing covers then,  especially after Sgt. Peppers’ psychedelic one, and as with the music inside, musicians were constantly trying to outdo each other artistically, but in a friendly rivals way, which made us all grow, artists and audience alike.  Then we would pop it on the turntable and play it for the first time.  But at the same time, we’d read  over the back cover and the often printed lyrics and liner notes, noting who’s singing what song  and who’s playing what instrument and which musicians are guesting on it, etc.  Albums were albums then, each one had a certain "flow" or feel to it; artists and producers worked hard to position each song for variety, etc. and sometimes with even an overall concept behind it.  Kids these days download songs separately and thus it doesn't have the same impact.  Instead of a three-minute statement, an artist had a  whole side or two of an LP to explore his or her expressions.  I think that's why so many of those albums still stand up.

I know it probably sounds strange to some people who didn’t grow up with it this way, like some fancy chef going on and on about the proper way to savor a fine wine or meal.  But that is what it was like for so many of us back then.  It was a ritual and rituals are important.  There is something to be said, even for having to wait for things in life, in the same way, which children still appreciate, after anticipating a present, getting up early Xmas morning, and finally getting it.  There’s just something about having to work and earning its reward.  Getting a new album, felt like that to us.  

I wrote those above words about the taking for granting our music, 25 years ago now.  And perhaps, we did lose something in the process, in this fast paced world of the internet and social media, where everything, for good and bad, is available to us all, anytime.  

Times change, and that’s just life too.  But as Marshall Mcluhan told us, each media also changes the message. There were first, Thomas Edison’s wax cylinders, 78 rpm’s, 33’s, 45 singles, LP’s, 8- tracks , cassettes, CD’s and now MP3’s, downloading, streaming-each for its time.   Analog vinyl, which several musicians like Neil Young have long maintained (Young has recently announced his own process), most experts now agree, has a “warmer” sound than digital (and these are the first re-releases that went back to the original mono analog masters).  Steve Berkowitz, one of engineers on the new project states, “the intention of these records is only realized in analog, because they made them in analog. People will feel it differently. There are sounds and feelings and spaces that the human animal reacts to, whether you know it or not. It's innate in us in as animals."

Generations since then may not be aware of these differences, because they haven’t actually heard them, especially using the portable devices of today.  The Beatles themselves actually took part in the mixing of the original mono versions, whereas, the later stereo versions were usually mixed by engineers only. So this is the way the Beatles originally intended them to be heard.

People laughed at me when I wrote those words and when I even predicted a comeback for vinyl one day.  At the time, I was running a vinyl store called Get Back! Records (a take-off on both The Beatles and my hope that vinyl would come back one day).  I ran vinyl stores for 30 years, opening perhaps the first used one in Ottawa, Canada in 1972.  The owner of the Ottawa CD store that just announced its closing, said that vinyl sales have actually been increasing by two or three times every year, these past few years.  It’s still admittedly, a relatively small minority market, but many bands, both new and old (including McCartney’s latest), are now also available on vinyl.   The Beatles box set of 14 LP’s is $375 (and doesn’t contain Abbey Road, Let It Be or Yellow Submarine, because they were recorded in stereo) and is mainly for collectors (individual albums can also purchased though). 

All I can say is, I can still remember first hearing, The Beatles’ Yesterday and Today album , which Capitol Records complied from the British LP’s  and called it (and later withdrew the legendary, rare “Butcher Cover”),  growing up in the States in 1966.  And it was the original mono version (which I still have, amazingly) with “Day Tripper” coming out of my speakers in Mono and feeling like The Beatles were right there in my university room.  There’s something to be said, as I say, for these often tribal youth rituals which human beings still seem to need, and the somewhat surprising return to vinyl by many young people too, these past several years.  They remind us, that despite all the changes, some things are timeless.  Get Back to MONO!  Read Alan Chrisman’s other recent blog on his meeting several people from the Beatles Beginnings:  Meeting Beatles People from the Mono Days         www.beatlely.wordpress.com

OTTAWA CITIZEN ARTICLE on ALAN CHRISMAN’S “GET BACK! RECORDS” VINYL STORE, 1999:

 

 

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JENNIFER LAWRENCE:  NUDE PHOTOS & POLITICAL CORRECTNESS

9/6/2014

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JENNIFER LAWRENCE:  NUDE SELFIES & POLITICAL CORRECTNESS by Alan L. Chrisman


The recent leak of Jennifer Lawrence’s and other celebrities’ nude photos by a hacker has raised some interesting questions.  It seems to me, to be mainly a generational thing.  The younger generations, who’ve grown up with social media their whole lives, have a whole different definition and practice of “privacy”, than those who haven’t. 

Many young people think nothing of revealing anything and everything about themselves on the internet.  And that includes sexting, nude, and explicit photos.  Supposedly, one in four of them has sent them and 40% have received them.   One half of 18-24 year olds, according to one survey, send them.  If these are to be believed, and I’m not saying they aren’t.   Remember back in 1998 (which seems like a century ago now), when Bill Clinton argued that oral sex wasn’t really sex.  This new generation, evidently, agrees.   How far we’ve gone since then.

It’s amazing how fast our social mores have changed.  It started perhaps, with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, reality shows, people famous for being famous, celebrity sex tapes, selfies, sexting, etc.  I guess it was just a matter of time until the non-famous would want to be in on the act (no pun intended)  too.  So now you can be your own porn star and share it with friends and family.

This younger generation will, no doubt, say “what’s the big deal?” Get with the times, Man!  Every generation thinks the previous ones are out of date.  That’s a necessary part of being young, since time began.

And we live in politically-correct times (have for a while now).  The Baby Boomers, more than any other generation perhaps, will do anything- not to get old.  Youth is the magic elixir. If you have enough money of course, to buy the health supplements and organic food and get our hair dyed and tattoos, to show we’re still hip.  We line up for the latest social media device.  Everyone’s a writer.  Everyone’s a musician.  Everyone’s a poet.  Everyone’s an artist.  Everyone has a blog (including me!).  Everyone can express themselves.  Of course, few can make a living at these things anymore , because we also don’t  want to have to pay for it.

But hey, this is the perfect democratic set-up, right?

Sex was once the taboo subject, but not anymore.  Sex is everywhere; it’s out of the closet.  My female bank tellers are wearing low-cut tops as part of their business attire and I have to try and keep my eyes on my bank deposits and not get accused of leering.   Middle-aged women want to look like their daughters.  Their daughters want to go TV Idol shows and imitate famous people who can’t sing.  College students are too often regressing to a rape culture, despite all the sex-equality education.  And there’s little subtlety left about anything anymore.  

But it’s dangerous and unpopular and politically incorrect to say these things, because we live in a “liberal” society.  Nobody wants to be labeled a prude or intolerant.  Racists don’t even consider themselves racists .  Remember Donald Sterling?  If you even question some of these things, some people will say,” You against Sex or something?”  The worst crime is to be uncool.

No, we’re all so liberated.   It seems to me that morals and politics is always about, really one thing-thinking the other guy is not as “open “as we are.  Conservatives think liberals are too open and liberals think conservatives are not “open” enough.  Comedian Mort Sahl said, “Liberals feel guilty about everything and conservatives think they have the right to own everything”.  If we listened to our mainstream media, we’d think the news is just about scandals and what’s the latest video that’s gone viral.  At one time only the tabloids specialized in those things.

I recently read a novel by Gary Shteyngart, Super Sad True Love Story, set in the perhaps, not too distant future.  America has a one party government and China owns most of its economy.  Everyone has a Credit Ranking and your social standing and any chance for advancement is based on that Ranking.  Poor people have a low Ranking and are basically disposable.  Also everyone has a personal device called an apparat, which allows everyone to find out anyone else’s Ranking (as well as their sex lives) and whether it’s worth associating with them or marrying them.  So in this future, everyone knows everything about everyone else.  Of course, the book is a sort of 1984-like Sci. Fi. satire.   Shteyngart has also, in 2014, released his painful, but uproariously funny memoir, Little Failure, about coming to America as a Russian immigrant and trying to adopt to his new land and  how he finally found his true calling as a writer.  In the previous Super Sad True Love Story, his character, Lenny, is a collector of “printed, bound media artifacts(aka) books.

Some people say that a world of more and more social media and is even desirable and less and less privacy is inevitable. We learn more everyday just how much governments and corporations know about us and everyday there is another mass breach of our privacy.  Edward Snowden revealed that the NSA wanted to have eavesdropping abilities secretly put on every device sold to the public (and almost got away with it).

It’s true that new generations don’t seem too concerned with these things and also many of the older generation seem to just accept this “progress”.  Perhaps, Shteyngart’s future society, where everyone knows everything about everyone else, may not be far off.  But maybe we should at least question where this is leading us all.  And maybe we should remember where we came from and not be so afraid of being accused of not being “with it”.

 

 

“HUMAN REALITY”                    Lyrics by Alan Chrisman c. 2013



1.There is no perfection                                Chorus:

Not everything is connected                 Everybody lies

There is no excuse                                   Everybody cries

There is no simple truth                         Everybody dies

                                                                    Not everybody flies

2.There is no black                                               

There is no white                              4. There is no smart addict             

There’s only wrong                            There is no escape    

There’s only right                               There’s only ourselves to blame

                                                               There’s only human joy and pain

                                                                        

3.There’s not always a reason            5.  The Spirit is overrated                 

Things are never simple                      Our ego’s are inflated

They are always complex                    Most have already made up their minds

It’s always a changing season             Few will take the necessary time

 

6.Doesn’t matter how much we say

Only what we do

Whether we deliver

And come through

We are not the same

 

7.We are not equal

We are not the same

We are all different

In more than a name

 

8.Only you can grow

Only you can know

And not be a slave

And can yourself save

 

 Hear " HUMAN REALITY" By Al & THE G-Men under Songs and CD's Heading.

 

 



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"BABY BLUE" & BADFINGER: THE AMAZING SAGA OF A BAND

9/4/2014

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”BABY BLUE” & BADFINGER: THE AMAZING SAGA OF A BAND by Alan L. Chrisman

Badfinger has always been one of my favorite bands. Badfinger was a Beatles-produced band in the early 70’ who had 4 albums  and 4 top singles on the Beatles’ label, Apple Records. Amazingly, one of my favorite songs by them “Baby Blue” had a resurgence in 2013, as it was chosen for the final episode of the popular Breaking Bad TV show, and it ended up back in the charts at no. 14.  Some people may not know they also wrote the song, ”Without You” which Harry Nilsson had a number one hit with in 1972 and Mariah Carey in ’94.

Originally called The Iveys, they were the first non-Beatles band signed to their new Apple label in 1968.  They changed their name to “Badfinger” after an incident when John Lennon had hurt his finger playing what was later to be the Beatles’ song, “With A Little Help from My Friends”. Paul McCartney wrote and produced their first big hit, “Come And Get It”, which was on their first Badfinger album, the soundtrack to the Peter Sellers movie Magic Christian Music, produced by Tony Visconti, later David Bowie’s producer.  Their next album, “No Dice” had the afore-mentioned “Without You” and “No Matter What” hits released in 1970.  Their 3rd Apple release was the solid “Straight Up” LP with “Baby Blue” produced by Todd Rundgren and “Day After Day”, produced by George Harrison.

The four members of the band were originally from Wales and  Liverpool ( Pete Ham, guitar, Tom Evans, bass and Mike Gibbons, drums, Joey Molland guitar).  Molland even looked similar to McCartney. They all four wrote songs so catchy that people often took them for the Beatles and their harmonies. They also played on several Beatles’ solo albums like Harrison’s All Things Must Pass and Ringo’s single,”It Don’t Come Easy”. And they played at Harrison’s Bangladesh Benefit Concert in ’71 and Ham with Harrison for his “Here Comes The Sun” duet.

But then fate was to turn on this storied band, for the Beatles broke up in 1970, just at the height of Badfinger’s success, with their record label in lawsuits and Badfinger’s money too tied up for years afterward. They released their final album for Apple, Ass, in 1973, with their goodbye song ” Apple of My Eye”. Afterwards, they got a deal with Warners Bros label, and released two decent albums Badfinger and Wish You Were Here in 1974. But they also met an unscrupulous new manager and he disappeared with the advance money the record company had given them and that put them on the financial hook for his actions and wouldn’t publicize their albums or release any future ones. .  They went back in Apple’s studio one last time to record Head First, but it wasn’t released until 2000.  And it was only the beginning of their troubles, for their main songwriter, Pete Ham, was found hanged in April, 1975.  The remaining members tried to carry on in various bands and solo projects for the next several years.   Molland and Evans recorded a “comeback” album Back on The Airways for Electra in ’79.  It’s actually, one of their best, I think, besides their Apple releases, with several quite good songs on it like the title rocker and the Beatlely ballad single, “Love Is Gonna Come at Last”; I recommend it if you can find it.

I actually met the remaining members and got their autographs when they played Ottawa, Canada’s Barrymore’s Hall in the early 80’s.  They released another decent album “Say No More” in ’81.  But soon they fell apart again and at one time, there were two rival touring bands, one led by Evans, one by Molland, both claiming to be Badfinger.  This led to more lawsuits and money woes and tragically, in Nov. ’83, Tom Evans also committed suicide, still evidently despondent over his earlier bandmate, Pete Ham’s, death eight years before.

Thus Badfinger’s story became more known for its tragedy than its music often, unfortunately. All the members had recorded various solo projects that were finally released over the years: Pete Ham’s 7 Park Avenue (’97) and Golder’s Green (’99); Tom Evan’s Over You: The Final Tracks(’95) and Molland has 4 albums After The Pearl (’85), The Pilgrim(’92),This Way Up(2001) and Return To Memphis (2013). Badfinger fans are advised to check them out for they all contain some well-written songs.  I met member, Joey Molland, again at the Connecticut Beatles’ Convention in’94 and he signed my beloved original Apple album Staight Up.  Goldmine collector’s magazine said that Straight Up was the most requested out-of- print album in 1988 their subscribers wanted released again.  Under pressure, Apple Records did re-release their Badfinger albums on CD , as Come And Get It: The Best Of Badfinger in 1995 and the Very Best Of Badfinger in 2000.

Finally in 2013, the surviving member of Badfinger, Molland, (drummer Gibbons died in Florida in 2005) and the other members’ families got their royalty payments settled in court.  Pete Ham’s song “Without You” alone was worth over a half million dollars for his in ’94, when Mariah Carey had hit again with it.  With Breaking Bad’s re-hit of “Baby Blue, 42 years after its first release, there would be no doubt more to come. 

So the amazing story of Badfinger was to be fated both good (produced by and played with The Beatles) and bad.  Dan Matovina’s book, Without You: The Tragic Story of Badfinger was written in 1998 and re-issued in 200O.

But to me, what’s important is their great music, that’s stood the test of time and I was lucky to get to meet them and hear them play their songs.  Badfinger remains one of my favorite bands and their songs have proven to last.   One of the bands I managed, played “ Baby Blue” , especially for me,  at the Ottawa Beatles’ Conventions I organized.   For You, Baby Blue.

 

 

 


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BOB MARLEY :"NO WOMAN, NO CRY"

9/2/2014

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BOB MARLEY: “NO WOMAN, NO CRY” by Alan L. Chrisman

I was privileged to see Bob Marley perform twice. The first time was in the late 70’s in Montreal and later in Ottawa, Canada a couple years before he died prematurely in 1981.

The Montreal concert, especially, was one the best concerts I’ve seen, and I’ve seen a few, including Dylan & The Band, The Who, and George Harrison in Montreal in the early 70’s.

I remember still, being blown away, even at the beginning of the show, with only his rhythm section, the Barrett bothers and his back-up singers, The I-Threes (including wife, Rita) swaying softly on the stage, before Marley himself, came out. Then he suddenly appeared playing rhythm guitar, with the sounds reverberating throughout that packed old hockey stadium, the Montreal Forum, and it made us feel like we were in Jamaica, and soon everyone was up dancing in the aisles. I find it seems hard to really capture the true power of reggae on record, although the 2 LP album set, Babylon By Bus that was the result of that ‘77 tour and the Bob Marley-Live album recorded in England in ‘75 come closest to the experience.  I had especially liked then, the very moving song” No Woman, No Cry”, and it remains one of my favorites.

Recently I read two books about Marley, especially about The Wailers’ humble beginnings in the Trench Town ghetto in Kingston, Jamaica, which that song evokes so vividly.  Rita Marley’s own book is aptly titled: Rita Marley: No Woman, No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley (2004) and Jamaican-Brit., Colin Grant’s 2011 book is I &I –The Natural Mystics: Marley, Tosh and Wailer. The original Wailers, Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny (Livingston) Wailer started out with Rita, as young teen-agers,   practicing their harmonies together.  They would later combine the rhythms of ska with American soul music and help create reggae.  Grant traces their slow rise to eventually international recognition -but at a cost, often making little money, being ripped off by early Jamaican producers, and tensions within the group, until Tosh and Wailer eventually go their separate ways in 1974.  By this time, they had been discovered by Island Records owner, Chris Blackwell, and had moved to England where they had their first real success.  Blackwell though decided to market Marley, especially, to a wider, often white audience in which he succeeded.  And Marley became the Reggae icon for the world.  Tosh had some solo success, even connected with the Rolling Stones at one point, until he was shot and killed in his home in Jamaica in 1987.  Jamaica was still a very dangerous place with poverty and politics. Marley himself had left after he had been shot by political rivals there in 1976, but he had survived. Grant finally runs into the hard-to-find Bunny Wailer at the end of his book.  His book especially shows the influence of the Rastafarian religion on the Wailers and Marley.  He also wrote a book on black pioneer, Marcus Garvey.   Rita Marley’s book focuses on her more personal experiences with Marley and those early years.  She was still married to him, despite his siring several children by other women, when he died of cancer at only 36. But his legend and music would live on.

I had first been turned on to reggae by my roommate, Joe, in the mid.-70’s.  Late one Saturday night, I was awoken in our Ottawa apartment by 5 Jamaican men, whom Joe had invited to crash at our place.  It turned out they were Leroy Sibbels and his band, The Heptones, who were well known for their early 70’s album and hit, “Book of Rules”.

Joe later told me about a reggae group, he had seen in Toronto, Ernie Smith and The Roots Revival.  I ran a small newspaper at the time, Spectrum, and I was invited down to see and review them the first time they played in Ottawa.  And like seeing Marley in Montreal that first time, I’ll never forget the impression they made. It was a cold Canadian winter night outside, but inside the small, packed, hot sweaty club, it felt like we were being transported back to Africa.  Ernie had an effect on the audience almost like an ancient shaman. Or perhaps, even as the way people I later met, like Cynthia Lennon and BBC director, Leslie Woodhead, who had shot the only footage of them in the Cavern, described upon first seeing The Beatles.

I went back the next night and there was a line all the way down the street; the word had spread fast, including to several respected Ottawa musicians like Bruce Cockburn. Bruce would later record his reggae–influenced hit, ”Wondering Where The Lions Are” using some of the same musicians as Ernie.

Ernie Smith and The Roots Revival would come back to Ottawa and packed houses a couple months later.  I didn’t know that Ernie at one time had been more popular in Jamaica than Marley, having won the Yamaha Music Festival in Japan in ’72. He also wrote the big hit, “Tears on My Pillow” for Johnny Nash.  One of my prized possessions is a cassette of that show that Ottawa’s Chez-FM taped.  Also in that band was, Jo Jo Bennett, who had played with ska legends, Don Drummond and Byron Lee and the Dragonnaires. 

My friend Joe, who was now helping to promote them, and I went to Montreal and Quebecers would stop us in the streets over them.  Ernie had moved to Toronto, like a lot of reggae musicians, to avoid the political conflict in Jamaica. They released an EP with amazing extended versions of their songs, “To Behold Jah” and “Don’t Down Me Now” which became a hit in 1979.  “Don’t Down Me Now” had special resonance with me because my girlfriend of 8 years had just left me. The band was signed to Canadian icon, Stompin’ Tom Connor’s label, Boot/ Generation Records and were recording their first full album when tensions developed.  Supposedly, the other band members felt that their Toronto manager had favored Ernie in order to market them to a wider audience, similar to what had happened to Marley and the other Wailers, and the band split, right at the beginnings of success.  So I learned early what can sometimes happen in the music business. Their manager would later put on the Reggae Sun Splash Festivals in Jamaica each year.

Fortunately, another rare tape I have is of their original recording sessions for that
album. The album was released finally, as well on Bob Marley’s Tuff Gong Records,  but by that time, the band had broken up and Jo Jo Bennett later went on to form the most successful Canadian reggae band, The Sattalites.

In the 80’s, a woman came into my vinyl store and told me she’d been looking for years for those Ernie Smith songs from that first Canadian EP, as they had been a big hit in Africa where she had worked.   She said she had finally tracked down Ernie playing in a lounge back in Jamaica, but he said he didn’t have any copies left.  Something I also learned working with musicians over the years-they often don’t keep copies of their own songs.  But he suggested trying in Ottawa, as he had been popular there and that’s how she found my store.  She was overjoyed when I offered to make copies of those rare live and album sessions, something as I said, probably the band doesn’t even have.

 In 1987, when Ernie had been having some hard times, Bob Marley’s mother, Cedella Booker, came to his rescue and together they wrote songs for a musical about Marcus Garvey by Perry Henzell, the director of the classic reggae film and soundtrack, The Harder They Come (’72), starring Jimmy Cliff, which along with Bob Marley had first spread reggae music outside Jamaica.

In the 90’s, another musician came into my store and left a CD by a Toronto reggae group, called Freedom Fighters to see if he could sell through my store.  After he left, I listened to it and it reminded me very much of the quality of Marley & the Wailers. When I read the liner notes, sure enough, on it playing were the Barrett brothers and other members of Marley’s band, and it was produced by them at Marley’s own studio in Jamaica, Tuff Gong Studios.  So it all had come full circle, from my first hearing Marley in Montreal and then Ernie Smith and the Roots Revival that first night in Ottawa:  two very special shows I would never forget, although I would see many more over the years. 


I was visiting my parents this summer and found a poster of Bob Marley and George Harrison on the same bill in '75 at the Lyceum Ballroom, London.  I knew The Beatles liked reggae and Marley (Lennon had said he had trouble getting white session musicians to play it in '73 for his mind games LP and one of the last songs he recorded was the reggae and perhaps fore-seeing, "Living On Borrowed Time").  McCartney had recorded the reggae, "C-Moon" and of course they had recorded his calypso-like "Ob-La-D" back in '68 for the White Album.  But I had no idea one of The Beatles had even played on the same bill as Marley.







BELOW:ERNIE SMITH & THE ROOTS REVIVAL’S  Original 1997 Cdn. EP

with “To Behold Jah” & “Don’t Down Me Now”


  








Picture
More on Alan Chrisman's musical experiences and on other subjects:  http://beatlely.wordpress.com and www.scribd.com/alanchrisman
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    Alan Chrisman went to Purdue U. and U. of Ill.(International Relations), came to Canada, was influenced by The Beatles, and became involved in many aspects of music and writing.

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