1977 All Over Again!

How timely! Scott Miller has been posting his thoughts regarding what he thinks the best songs were for each year, from 1957 - 2006. Scott's definitely a list type of guy and I eat 'em up. I love hearing his thoughts on music.

His last post was about 1977. That was my first year playing disco music with Rhapsody. Good Lord what contrasts! Not that disco music was ever my favorite kind of music - I was very much still into...players music (pretentious) such as Weather Report, Return To Forever and Steely Dan, but I find it really interesting in reading about that other music from the same era.

I sort of knew about punk rock and such at the time, but I don't think I actually heard it until 2 or 3 years later (thanks to Jamie Hoover). It was then that I went over to the dark side and got enlightened.

Check it out - it's a good read!

Scott Miller's best of 1977 here

DISCO DELIVERANCE!

Skyline’s 2nd engagement was a 2 week stint at the Ambassador Inn, in Johnson City, Tennessee. I remember....parts of it well...

The Ambassador Inn was a disco club out in the sticks. Actually, most of Johnson City is in the sticks, but this was a stand-alone club not associated with a hotel. Nice big dance floor, good lights, booming sound system, and a very cool staff. Matter of fact, they had a woman bartender (babe) that had the very first nose-ring I had ever seen. This was in 1978, and it blew my mind a bit. The bad news was that there was a very predominate sign posted on a column near the dance floor that stated in big bold letters: “NO SAME SEX DANCING!” It was the first and only time in all of my years playing in clubs that I saw such a sign. I was confused. The babe bartender was a lesbian with a nose ring, our band was racially integrated, but "NO SAME SEX" couples can dance together. Weird! Whatever....(actually, it probably wasn’t until the early 80's that I would finally “get it” that lots of gays went to discos and danced together. It just wasn’t on my radar back then. Especially in the South. And ultra-especially in Johnson City, Tennessee).

In the course of the first week I met this marvelous young (and cute) couple (straight) and we quickly became friends. This was unusual for me - with Rhapsody, most of our audience were older and...(occasionally) a tad...creepy, but this couple was my age and very cool. We had a day off coming up and they invited me on a guided tour of the backwoods of Johnson City. They had a jeep and told me they would show me the real deal. Sounds a little sketchy, but I trusted them and decided that I needed to see the world, so I agreed.

This was an important to me - my girlfriend was always stressing the fact that I needed to travel, see new places and pick up new experiences. She and her sister traveled a lot together, be it in Europe or the States. The only traveling I had really ever done was with the family at vacation time (which was usually limited to Pawley’s Island S.C., or our mountain place near Cashiers N.C.). Sure, I had certainly been to a lot of cities with the disco bands, but generally that just involved driving from Point A to Point B and staying confined to the hotel area. We never explored the territory - just hung out in our rooms sleeping, learning songs and when possible, rehearsing in the clubs during the off hours. Now I had a chance to do something exciting and to finally see the world. National Geographic....here I come!

It was awesome. The couple picked me up early one morning and we headed out. Took back roads, dirt roads and trails. The mountains and scenery were breathtaking. As we got further into..nature..things got very interesting, and two things stand out in my memory.

We drove by an old beat-down impoverished house trailer just like the photos I would see in magazines or on TV, and I kid you not, in the front “yard” was a tire swinging from a tree. Sitting on the swinging tire was a young lady that I swear to God was the spitting image of Elly May Clampett or Daisy Mae from Li’l Abner - take your pick. Cut-off shorts and a polka dot shirt tied in a bow just above her waist. I could not believe my eyes. It was the real thing and she even waved as we drove by! At that moment I knew I was seeing something most people only see in the funny papers or on TV, but this was real! It blew my mind. There is a big old world out there and I was now realizing that the ‘burbs of Charlotte were just a tiny little speck. I had seen and met mountain folk during visits to my family’s mountain cabin, but this resonated. I was not shielded by parents or seeing things through a child's eyes. I was seeing this stuff on my own terms, with people my age.

As we went further up the mountain, my new friends told me that we may come across some...moonshiners and to just act friendly, wave and we’d be on our way. It was interesting to learn that most of these folks were not making white lightnin’ any more - they had a new cash crop - pot. This was a bit unsettling to me (not sure why..) but at this point I was dialed in to my adventure. Sure as shit, we came across some of these folks.

Up ahead on a dirt trail we saw 2 men. Real hillbillies dressed in overalls, tattered hats and most importantly - real shotguns slung over their shoulders. Holy crap! They heard our approach, looked back at us. We waved, they waved and we went on our way. How cool is that! Of course in the back of my mind I was half way expecting them to kill my new friends, kidnap me, and eventually make me squeal like a pig as they took turns having their way with me, but that didn’t happen. Maybe these hillbillies had seen the "NO SAME SEX DANCING!" sign as well.

The rest of our journey was uneventful, but I was pumped with excitement and I couldn’t wait to get home to tell my girlfriend what I had done and seen with my own two eyes. I don’t remember a thing about our shows at the club (who would?), other than the fact that I made $350 for the 2 week engagement. But big changes were coming and things were about to get very weird.

Two Nightmare Images From My Past Are Gone...

Honestly, I don't know which image frightened me more as a child.

I'm not alone in my opinion that clowns are scary. While I'm sure Larry Harmon was a good man and meant well, his persona as Bozo the Clown gave me nightmares. I think the combination of make-up, maniacal grin and the shock of red hair looked more like a disguise to me. A way to go undetected as he hid under my bed at night, patiently waiting for me to fall asleep so he could drag me under the bed and start chewing the flesh off of my bones.

Jesse Helms on the other hand, stood for everything that was wrong to me as a liberal, long-haired hippie rock n' roll musician in the early 70's. The first 26 years of my life were spent in North Carolina, so I had a lot of up-close knowledge of his hateful politics. While I'm also sure that he'll be missed by his family and loved ones, his politics will not be missed. His policies and campaign tactics also hid underneath my bed at night, waiting to gnaw on my soul and to eat the heart out of everything that should be good, fair and tolerant. Things that this country should stand for. You know...freedom and democracy...stuff like that.

LP Sales Up 36% ! Damage Claims Up 500% !

As I've mentioned before, the resurgence of the LP has hopefully given me a tad more job security, and indeed, we are still selling tons of 'em. The downside is that they do not travel well. I now spend most of my time at work filing damage claims.

But at least I have work.

Here's something that cracked me up, regarding the LP phenomenon.
Here's what the experts are saying

Rock. Hard.

Is this my version of a hot red sports car? Ever since I retired from the Loud Family after our last tour in 2000, I find that I just can’t get enough of old school Hard Rock. Could this be a way to deal with a mid-life crisis? Maybe. But I’m lovin’ it and while I had many of these records when they came out, I have been going back and either rediscovering bands I wasn’t into at the time, or discovering bands that passed me by.

I was very surprised that out of the 8 tracks (how appropriate! 8 - track !) I’m offering here, ½ are from 1970. I was 14 years old then and while I do indeed remember getting some of these records that long ago, I think I must have acquired most of them a couple of years later. Some of them I got recently - in the last 5 years or so.

Fire up your Bic and shake your hair (if you still got it) - It’s time to Rock. Hard.

1. Blue Cheer - “Come And Get It” from the LP Outsideinside released in 1968. Forget about flower power for now - this stuff is scary and aggressive. I can’t think of any other band from that era that assaulted my eardrums as much as these guys. And this track is from their more...refined 2nd album! According to the hype, much of this record was recorded outside in Sausalito Ca. just because they were so loud! Whatever, but this song kicks hippie butt. I specifically remember my dad taking me to Eckerd Drugs in Charlotte and letting me pick out a record. I picked this one, probably due to the album artwork more than anything else, but I still love it very much. Wonder if Kurt Cobain was a fan?

2. Bubble Puppy - “Lonely” from the LP A Gathering Of Promises and also released as the b-side to their awesome single "Hot Smoke And Sassafras" in 1969. I love the single and heard it on the radio quite a bit back in the day (funny - Jamie Hoover loved it too, and we tried our best to cover it in the Happy Eggs in the early 80's, but couldn’t quite make it work in a New Wave/Punk context!). Anyway - while "Lonely" doesn’t really start out so hard, hang with it until the end to hear an absolutely mind blowing lead break. I actually saw these guys on American Bandstand!

3.Cactus - “Parchman Farm” from he LP Cactus released in 1970. This is a band that I rediscovered in the last 5 years or so. I saw them open up for Mountain (?) At Charlotte’s Park Center, but wasn’t much interested in them at the time. The rhythm section is Carmine Appice (drums) and Tim Bogert (bass) from the Vanilla Fudge. Could be the deadliest freight train of bass and drums on this planet. It’s interesting that they chose to do this Mose Alison tune 1 year after Blue Cheer recorded it for their debut album Vincebus Eruptum ! Serious smoke is blistering from my poor little computer speakers as I write this!

4. Mountain - “Never In My Life” from the LP Climbing! Released in 1970. Most folks are well aware of "Mississippi Queen", so I chose this song. Classic Hard Rock with their trademark cowbell once again propelling the crunch you hear. What drew me to this band was the involvement of Felix Pappalardi (producer, “musical director” and bass player). I knew of him from Cream. He produced all but one (Fresh Cream) of their LP’s. He sings a beautiful version of "Theme From An Imaginary Western" that is one of my very favorite songs written by Jack Bruce. This is a very solid album. (I’m still kicking myself for not attending a Mountain reunion show in San Francisco about a year ago! Jamie and Mitch Easter both highly recommended that I go, but...I didn’t...sigh..) Mr. Pappalardi was tragically murdered by his wife many years ago, but from what I've heard, Leslie West and Corky Laing (drums) are still gettin’ it done in a grand way.

5. Frijid Pink - “End Of The Line” from the LP Frijid Pink released in 1970. This is probably the newest discovery for me. I remember they had a pretty decent hit (#7 on Billboard) with their cover of "House Of The Rising Son" that year, but I never heard anything else by them until I got a reissue of their debut album about a year ago. The album isn’t all that good - some of the worst production and engineering I’ve ever heard, but they were from Detroit - the city that brought us The Stooges and MC5!

6. Wishbone Ash - “Queen Of Torture” from the LP Wishbone Ash released in 1970. Another recent discovery - I’m not sure I ever even heard this band until I got a greatest hits CD a couple of years ago. I knew of them, but we never crossed paths. Nice "Manic Depression" style beat, and plenty of dueling guitars that for better or for worse, would become a standard sound for many styles of Rock including Metal and Southern Rock.. I like the vocals a lot and this song moves.

7. Uriah Heep - “Love Machine” from the LP Look At Yourself released in 1971. Not sure why, but when I listen to these guys, I sort of chuckle. While they sometimes come off goofy to me (mainly due to the vocals), good heavens were they influential! They really helped set he standard for the Heavy Metal that was to come. Regardless, I think their first 3 or 4 albums are pretty great. Mindless boogie, but done well. I remember seeing them on Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert and was highly amused when the singer fell backwards against the drum riser and got his shirt caught on one of the tuning pegs on the kick drum. He couldn’t get up, so he finished the song sitting on he riser. Oh...so...Spinal Tap!

8. Pat Travers And Carmine Appice - “Evil” from the LP Bazooka released in 2005. Ok, this is definitely the ringer of the bunch, being such a recent recording, but I think this version could rock harder than any rock song I have ever heard. Seriously. On point - it is a cover of a cover recorded on the first Cactus LP of a song written by the fabulous Howlin’ Wolf. The guitar shreds and this is a mind blowing drum track by Mr. Appice. Nothing but power here, and while I don’t have my red sports car yet, this will do just fine.

Here are the songs - I hope you dig 'em!
A Place of Hard Rock Muxtape


Thanks for listening....but if none of this music blows your skirt up, there's always these guys: (Thanks to my pal Dan for turning me on to this incredible video!)

Wasn't Mine!

It’s not easy getting to my “unit” at the condos I live in. I park, take an elevator up 5 floors, walk down a hallway and up one more floor, either by stairs or another elevator. Pretty convoluted, but ok by me. A burglar would have a hell of a time negotiating this if he decided to rob my “unit” and make a speedy get away. That was actually a big selling point for me - pretty good security. Living between Oakland and Richmond, stuff like this is important.

But sometimes, the elevator is a place I don’t want to be.

Sorry for the ...uncomfortable subject matter, but there have been occasions when I get in the elevator and quickly realize someone has loaded the damn thing up with.....farts. Whatever...I can deal with that. What I can’t deal with is once I enter and decide to tough it out and ride it down to the parking garage, a very strong ...fear enters into my brain; what the hell am I gonna do if there is someone in the garage waiting to board as I get off, and thinks that I was the one that loaded the elevator up with...fart?

The other night I happened upon that particular scenario and decided to bail out of the elevator before I got to my destination. Couldn’t deal with it, so I took the stairs the rest of the way. I think I made the right decision, but I’m troubled that this troubles me, but not quite as much as I’m troubled that I even posted this, but we’re all adults and I hope we can handle the truth. Farts are funny. Farts are global.

And it's a good thing to take the stairs every now and then.

Is William Klesse A True Patriot?

One week - $.04 a gallon increase. Bill, Bill, Bill....You supported Bush for 2 terms, so surely you must agree with his war and his handling of the U.S. economy. Will you sacrifice some of your profits during this special wartime economy? I think that would be patriotic! I wonder if your fellow countrymen will be seeing $5 a gallon gas by July 4 ? I hope not!