Tales from the archive: 60s and 70s (by request)

Col Mustard

Col Mustard

Ambassador of Perseverance
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So one of our colleagues has asked me and the members of this forum to tell
a few tales from our checkered past... especially regarding the '60s and '70s.

I don't think the telling should be limited to those of us who've gotten gray around
the muzzle. Since this is a thread made of spun yarn... I believe that anyone who
has a story should bring it. BRING IT!

Even if it's one you only heard about, but weren't born yet. Lay it on us.
There is no prize AFAIK... Unless one of the sponsors wants to donate one.
There are no rules, except the boundaries of decency. But in these days, the boundaries
of decency seem to be more like a gradient, or a slippery slope. So let's not be too
shy. Those were different times, and we shouldn't judge our choices and/or actions by
hindsight, unless we temper that with sardonic grace.

Maybe a couple of guidelines: The way I understood the request, it was for tales of
bands and venues that weren't actually famous. The big names of the day have gotten all
the ink. Let's talk about bands and gigs that the rest of us might have played or attended.
But even that isn't set in stone: Some of us might know of events that changed things for
the future. If this involved famous musicians of the day, so be it. Lay it on us.

Listen:

Did you know who it was that invented the stage monitor? According to legends
I've heard, it was Gracie Slick. I've also heard that it was "Bear" Owlsley who was
on the crew with the Grateful Dead, or Dan Healy who took over from Owlsley and
tried to simplify their stage setup, to everyone's relief.

Watch Gracie in this video from Woodstock 1969, struggling to hear, and performing with
her finger in her ear. Do you think those amps were loud? I believe they were. Any of
us who stepped out on that stage before that ocean of humanity would very likely have
turned everything up to 11. Do you see any stage monitors?

So figure that none of the performers had a clue what the mix might have sounded like.
This Woodstock concert was something no one knew could happen. The people who put
the festival together: rented the farm, built the stage, hired the sound crew, planned the
parking, built the fences, spoke with the local government and maybe got permits for a
reasonable size crowd, hired food vendors and arranged for a water truck... they had
no clue that 400,000 hippies would assemble. By the time everyone got to Woodstock,
they had to do the best they could with what they had. They were probably using
"side fills" at Woodstock, but Gracie needed her own... badly.


Things that didn't exist in 1969: Bottled water (it existed but was packaged in glass bottles
labeled "Perrier" and was expensive and heavy). Festival water was supplied by wells and
hoses and an army style water truck... oh and the rain.

Cell phones: No one carried any communication device. A few "walkie-talkie" type security
radios were used by festival staff, and by local police. Anyone who needed to make a call had
to find a "pay phone" which needs coins to operate. Very few of the 400,000 people made any
calls until they got far away from all that, days later. No calls. Imagine that. No calls in or out from a city of 400,000. (there were two deaths, and several births, but that's normal for a city of 400,000). One guy died from an overdose, and one guy passed out among the plants in a nearby farmer's field and was run over by a tractor, the farmer didn't see him.

Internet: There was no such thing. There was no cable TV... Radio and TV signals were
broadcast from towers. If your house was in the hills, you might have no reception.
Sound equipment of the day was designed for other venues and smaller crowds.
Personally, I think it's a miracle that the sound worked as well as it did.

I don't ever recall using monitors (or knowing what they were for)
when I played in the '70s, until my group got onto its first
"festival stage" in like 1977. I was amazed by how well we could hear. We didn't know
how to use the monitors, but learned very quickly. It was intuitive... as it should be when
you get "good sound" for the first time in your raggedy life.

I do recall sitting in a festival audience, tripping my brains out, and wondering why the performers
were fussing with the sound crew about the monitors. 'Just play some tunes, man... don't be
such a drag onstage." (I still feel that way). The show must go on.

Now, let's hear some more...
 
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Grace Slick could really sing. Love the original Jefferson Airplane.Any yes im sure those amps were real loud.
 
I saw her twice, once at The Roundhouse and then in the open air on Hampstead Heath. Both times I remarked how her tuning was right on the nail. I didn't even think about stage monitors back then because they didn't exist. You had to work on bleed from the PA columns messing you up with their acoustic delay.
 
I have one.

I played a wedding once.
(actually I played a lot of weddings, 11 years worth)
The groom was an elderly gentleman named Ed.
The bride was in her early 20s and stunningly beautiful.
It was Ed's third marriage.
There were 2 best men,
his son Ed from his first marriage and
his son Ed from his second marriage.
 
Two questions:

Was Ed senior rich?
Was the bride blonde?

I'm reminded of a TV interview of a pretty woman named Debbie McGhee, wife of stage magician (and world's most irritating man) Paul Daniels. The question was "So, Debbie, what first attracted you to the short, fat, annoying, bald millionaire, Paul Daniels?"
 
I would say that Ed senior was not rich but "comfortable".
The bride had light brown sort of copperish hair.
She was almost blonde.
 
Oh man, this is some thread! I'm sure the Col., Biddlin, Wade and so many other guys will share quite cool stuff!
 
Early 80s.
The wedding band again.
Were playing in a local bar on a Saturday night.
Not a big crowd, just the regulars.
All of a sudden about 15 middle aged couples walk in.
The guys are all Military and in dress uniforms.
Their wives/girlfriends are all dolled up too.
They had just come from some kind of ceremony/dinner.
We all look at each other and break into In the Mood by Glenn Miller.
These people all knew how to dance to 40's swing, Latin, etc.
We spent the night doing music we used at weddings.
They loved it and spent the night on the dance floor.
If you walked into that particular bar on that particular night
you would have thought you stepped back in time 40 years.
 
Planet 7

I remember one night, four of us decided to go and support another band whose
members we knew. The band was called "Planet 7"

They were playing at a bar near the freeway, and we were wondering if maybe we could
get a gig there too. I had my doubts, because I usually saw a lot of motorcycles parked out
in front of there, and didn't know if our music was tough enough.

But this was winter, and it was forecast to be a snowy night. It was probably sometime in
1975 or 76. I was very stoned, and trying to drive very carefully, and the snow came down harder
and harder. But the time we got to the place, there was about 4" of snow (100 mm) on the ground and
it was coming down fast and hard. My car was good in snow, so I wasn't worried or frightened.
I just felt like I needed to keep it together for the sake of my rowdy friends, who didn't give two hoots.

There weren't very many customers in the bar, and the owner was glad to see us, probably figuring
he was losing money paying Planet 7 to play for a sparse audience. We ordered a shot of whiskey each
and a pitcher of beer. I decided that I would not drink to excess, because if we wanted to get a gig
there, we ought to behave ourselves to a certain point... and besides, it was a long way home.

But others in that tavern had different ideas. There was one woman in particular who was bored out
of her mind, and got very drunk, and went around asking anyone in there to dance with her.
Several of the guys did, including two of my companions. But it was kind of like trying to dance with
a wildcat. So pretty soon she was dancing by herself. Just her and Planet 7.

Those guys were good. I thought so anyway. They could play popular songs, and they had some
originals... they could play blues, country, rock an roll... maybe a little jazz if they felt like it.
So the music they played got more and more funky, as the woman on the dance floor took another
drink. I laughed my arse off, thinking (rightly) that they were messing with her.

So she danced sexier and sexier. Everyone was watching her by now, and the band had been playing bluesier
and bluesier songs. She really got into the lead singer and his harmonica... and was too drunk to realize that
his girlfriend was sitting at the bar, amused and probably a little annoyed. The woman on the dance floor danced
sexier and sexier... and then she decided to strip. Planet 7 smoothly shifted into a kind of strip-club shuffle,
with lots of rim shots from the drummer and glissando from the bass. The lead guitar player put his Strat down
and picked up his Telecaster and slide. The lead singer started singing a slow blues song he wrote, called
"I got the Blues for your body, 'cause your mind is gone..."

And you know what? In spite of being drunk and bored, the woman on the dance floor was a fine stripper.
She wasn't wearing one of those costumes that's easy to get out of while dancing, but managed to perform
an interesting dance. I mean, if you're going to do it, you might as well nail it. And she did. At least for me
in my condition of euphoria and all. I was laughing a lot, but from delight rather than in a mean way.
She seemed to get less drunk and enjoy herself and the attention. The bartender seemed
amused, but not worried. By the time she got down to just her panties, the lead singer's girlfriend went and
got one of the waitresses and they went out on the floor and put a jacket around her and led her to the
bathroom or someplace to chill a bit. She was there with a couple of friends who were about as drunk as
she was and had been egging her on. The bartender asked if they'd take her home, she'd had enough.

And they did. No one came to a bad end, to my knowledge. No smelly guy took advantage of the poor
girl. We all got home safe through more like 6" of snow (155 mm)... I only had the one shot of whiskey and
a glass of beer. My friends drank the rest, and got another pitcher, 'cause I was driving. None of us has
ever forgotten that evening, and on the way home we were laughing our arses off and singing
"I got the blues for your body, 'cause your mind is gone."
 
Am=>C=>Dm=>F=>G
Am=>C=>Dm =>F=>G=>Am


Strawberry Joan

Am C
I think she’d been watching me out of a shadow
Dm F G
When the music was over at a quarter to two.
Am C
we all went out for breakfast, she jumped in my car
Dm F G Am
and said, “Howdy, I’m Joanie... I’m riding with you.”

Am=>C=>Dm=>F=>G

So she sat at our table without saying much
though she followed the jokes with the flash of her eyes
and she ate very little and didn’t get restless
and she didn’t have to show off... being witty and wise.

Soon we two were talking so quiet and near...
her hair was the color of a strawberry roan.
And she asked, “Would you like to find out about me?”
“Would you make me a song?” Would you take me home?”

C
She had a small room at the end of an alley
G
where the hallway was dim at the top of the stair.
F
As she pulled me inside, as she lit a blue candle
G
I was lost in her eyes and her lips and her hair.
C
She held out her palms and said, “You be the Gypsy.”
G
and I looked and my eyes went a thousand years old.
F
Her hands rested lightly on mine like a map
G Am
but my focus went down to the shadows and folds.
Am=>F Am=>F (twice)

Am
The heartline was strong and the lifeline was long
F
on the left hand, but not on the right. I saw
Am
it dissolved in a forest of creases and choices
F
and all of the choices went nowhere.
Am
Her palms were a riddle of paths she had walked
F
and I saw in the woman: the girl and the youth...
Am
The past was all there but the future was missing
F G Am
there was death in her hand... and I told her the truth.
Am=>F Am=>F

Am C
She only showed fear in her eyes for a moment
Dm F G
and she loved me that night on a bed on the floor
Am C
and her windows were vacant two days after that
Dm F G Am=>F Am=>F
and I don’t like to read... peoples’ palms any more.
Am=>F ...Am=>F=>G=>Am

https://soundcloud.com/michael-hough-5/strawberry-joan
 
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hmm... well, I went to some trouble to write the chord changes in over
the lyrics, but this site's "editorial" program has stacked the chord changes up
for neatness, not musicality. But if you want to hear the arrangement you can
click on the link. *shrugs

There's a lot of translation going on among the ones and zeros when I take a word .doc
and open it in Pages, and then copy and paste it into HTML here. It's actually kind of
amazing that it works at all.
 
Nice Song Michael.
I like the sort of melancholy mood the guitar fills conjure up.
They fit the mood of the piece, a bit of sadness but not gut rending.
It sounds like a good "rainy day" song if that makes any sense.
I also like the tempo changes at the B part and the outro.
 
My 1973-74 band used to do Somebody to Love.
At the end I used to play my own outro solo. One day I said to myself,
"I use a Twin reverb and an ES 355. Lemmie see what I can do here."
First I found the exact sound on the record, then I figured out the outro.
The next job I nailed it perfectly! I was very pleased with myself until
after the set when Barbara (our Grace) asked me what went wrong at
the end of the song. She liked what I did better then "all that noise".
 
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