Historian Jon Wiener was a consultant on the new documentary "The U.S. vs. John Lennon." Wiener spent 14 years fighting to gain access to the FBI's secret files on the former Beatle.
NPR : Probing the FBI's Files on John Lennon
Monday, September 18, 2006
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Mike Heron, 1971
... this nearly forgotten LP of London rock circa 1971 should have been huge. Among the A-list friends gathered to support Mike Heron -- the guitarist, singer and songwriter of the Incredible String Band -- on his solo outing are Richard Thompson, Steve Winwood, John Cale of The Velvet Underground (then in the middle of making the Nico record), Ronnie Lane, Elton John and members of The Who...
NPR has drawn a bead on this "Shadow Classic"... their coverage includes three full song excerpts that are great to listen to!
NPR : An All-Star Rock Jam That Transcends Egos
NPR has drawn a bead on this "Shadow Classic"... their coverage includes three full song excerpts that are great to listen to!
NPR : An All-Star Rock Jam That Transcends Egos
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Laurel Canyon, Late 1960's
NPR has a fine review of Michael Walker's book "Laurel Canyon..."
--------------------------------------
"In the late 1960s, just as San Francisco was having its own Summer of Love, a rustic canyon at the heart of Los Angeles was also in bloom with songs that defined the moment, written and performed by the bands that defined a generation.
"High above the city, the Byrds, the Mamas and the Papas, Frank Zappa, Crosby Stills and Nash, The Eagles, Jim Morrison and a host of other talents found a wild refuge just a short hitchhike from the noise and neon of the Sunset Strip.
"Laurel Canyon was home to entire bands, and the hangout of choice for every rock 'n' roll legend, or wannabe, who passed through Los Angeles. Michael Walker's nonfiction book Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Legendary Neighborhood charts the highs and lows of a celebrated part of music history..."
--------------------------------------
"In the late 1960s, just as San Francisco was having its own Summer of Love, a rustic canyon at the heart of Los Angeles was also in bloom with songs that defined the moment, written and performed by the bands that defined a generation.
"High above the city, the Byrds, the Mamas and the Papas, Frank Zappa, Crosby Stills and Nash, The Eagles, Jim Morrison and a host of other talents found a wild refuge just a short hitchhike from the noise and neon of the Sunset Strip.
"Laurel Canyon was home to entire bands, and the hangout of choice for every rock 'n' roll legend, or wannabe, who passed through Los Angeles. Michael Walker's nonfiction book Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Legendary Neighborhood charts the highs and lows of a celebrated part of music history..."
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
PF Sloan's Back'
Some 30 years later, one of the best song writers of the 1960's is back in action, writing and performing.
PF Sloan notably wrote "Eve of Destruction," "Secret Agent Man," "You Baby" and "Where Were You When I Needed You."
NPR has an audio interview with him, with some samples off his new CD "Sailover." I listened to "Eve of Destruction" thinking about how much I wished he would have rewritten the song to fit today's issues, keeping some of the original, but not all. Oh well, it's a good idea. Maybe someone will take it on and it will become a hit again...
NPR : PF Sloan's Long Road Back from 'Destruction'
PF Sloan notably wrote "Eve of Destruction," "Secret Agent Man," "You Baby" and "Where Were You When I Needed You."
NPR has an audio interview with him, with some samples off his new CD "Sailover." I listened to "Eve of Destruction" thinking about how much I wished he would have rewritten the song to fit today's issues, keeping some of the original, but not all. Oh well, it's a good idea. Maybe someone will take it on and it will become a hit again...
NPR : PF Sloan's Long Road Back from 'Destruction'
Friday, August 18, 2006
Wolfgang's Vault
Wolfgang's Vault owns the master recordings to more than 5,000 live Audio and Video performances from concerts that Bill Graham Presents promoted from the '60s through the '90s. Also, they have era T-shirts, posters and other memorabilia.
My mind has been blown just by listening to a half hour of the collection. To hear King Crimson do "Epitaph" at the Fillmore West in December 1969 was near a religious experience... They're streaming live at:
Vintage T-Shirts, Rock Posters, Concert T-Shirts, Concert Posters, Rock T-Shirts, Concert Shirt, Music Memorabilia, Concert Tees
My mind has been blown just by listening to a half hour of the collection. To hear King Crimson do "Epitaph" at the Fillmore West in December 1969 was near a religious experience... They're streaming live at:
Vintage T-Shirts, Rock Posters, Concert T-Shirts, Concert Posters, Rock T-Shirts, Concert Shirt, Music Memorabilia, Concert Tees
Saturday, August 12, 2006
KFML 1972-0408 Audio
A rare KFML audio discovery has been made by Fred Fell who recently got in touch with me. Here's what Fred wrote:
"I actually found tape of a show from April 8, 1972 (which I deducted from the promo's from upcoming events) which is hosted by "Bill Bard". It is about 45 minutes of a great set and includes the original commercials as well. There is one slight flaw in the tape, but other than that it is in really good shape and still sounds great.
"I had slapped on a tape hoping to get some good music to take along on an outing to Gross Resevoir above Boulder that evening. I did have a chance to listen to it before we left, but once we got there and set up (it was a quasi band practice with lots of refreshments) we turned it on and just were amazed at the flow of the set. There were three 45 sets in total on the tape but the quality of the last two were sadly beyond salvaging. The 45 minutes I have are in order:
God is alive, Magic is afoot - Buffy St. Marie
Commercial Break
Budget Tape and Records - Melody on Budda Records
Shane Diamonds
Promotion for Leslie West, Corky Lane & Jack Bruce and Free, Sunday, April 9, 1972
Public Service announcement - Ride to Washington D.C. for David Harris
Water Song - Hot Tuna
Box of Rain - Grateful Dead
Heart of Gold - Neil Young
Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You - Dylan
Colorado - The Flying Burrito Brothers
Commercial Break
Promotion - Continental Divide Raceways - Drag Racing (man we really caught a rush off this bit if memory serves me)
Up Your Alley
Pierce Volkswagen
Many A Mile to Freedom - Traffic
You're Only as Pretty as You Feel - Jefferson Starship with Papa John Creech
"And sadly that's where it ends....but it is just so great to listen to it and catch the wonderful eclectic spirit of such a great station that made such a big impact in my life.
"If you're interested in it get back with me. I have moved it to wave format and cleaned up a lot of the noise but that's about it. As I said there is one tape flaw that occurs during one of the commercial breaks.
"Thanks for the great website and the pictures and sound bites!"
Fred
----------------------------------------------
"... I went ahead and converted this to 160kbs mp3 just to give you a chance to see if it is worthwhile or if anyone has any interest in the original tape. As near as I can remember this was originally recorded in my home studio on a TEAC tape transport at 15ips (I think...maybe we only had 7.5ips then I don't recall). I know we had a lot of strange filters and wah-wah and reverb boxes and other various do-dads around that may or may not have been involved in this but from listening to it and playing with it a bit I think the original recording is pretty true to what came over the air. I think the receiver was a Kenwood and was run through a pre-amp before it was sent to outputs (I am showing my age here cause I am struggling to remember just how it was set up that day). I dropped the tape to a 120 minute cassette which is what we took up to the mountains that evening... Maybe someday that cassette will turn up and it may yeild even more of this session. As near as I can rememeber the recording started early on a Saturday morning and finished before noon, cause then I transposed it onto cassette and went out the door around 3pm that evening. I do remember that the West, Lang and Bruce concert was the following Sunday night, cause we even mentioned that perhaps we should come down from Gross Resevoir and catch that show (we didn't); Bill Bard also notes "this Sunday night" so I deduced that the tape had a high probability of coming from April 8, 1972.
"I had to keep this under 100mb to be able to send it via yousendit, if you like what you hear we can work out another arrangement for the wave file.
"Let me know what you think of it."
Fred
----------------------------------------------
Message from Malcolm to everyone:
I've put this up on the server I use for the KFML files. You can download it by either clicking on the following URL or right clicking and designating download:
http://www.legendarysurfers.com/ffr/kfml/SOUNDS/kfml-1972.04.08.mp3
Can anyone fill some info about what they hear? Was this during the strike? I don't hear any of the vets on this recording... Add your comments under "comments," below...
"I actually found tape of a show from April 8, 1972 (which I deducted from the promo's from upcoming events) which is hosted by "Bill Bard". It is about 45 minutes of a great set and includes the original commercials as well. There is one slight flaw in the tape, but other than that it is in really good shape and still sounds great.
"I had slapped on a tape hoping to get some good music to take along on an outing to Gross Resevoir above Boulder that evening. I did have a chance to listen to it before we left, but once we got there and set up (it was a quasi band practice with lots of refreshments) we turned it on and just were amazed at the flow of the set. There were three 45 sets in total on the tape but the quality of the last two were sadly beyond salvaging. The 45 minutes I have are in order:
God is alive, Magic is afoot - Buffy St. Marie
Commercial Break
Budget Tape and Records - Melody on Budda Records
Shane Diamonds
Promotion for Leslie West, Corky Lane & Jack Bruce and Free, Sunday, April 9, 1972
Public Service announcement - Ride to Washington D.C. for David Harris
Water Song - Hot Tuna
Box of Rain - Grateful Dead
Heart of Gold - Neil Young
Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You - Dylan
Colorado - The Flying Burrito Brothers
Commercial Break
Promotion - Continental Divide Raceways - Drag Racing (man we really caught a rush off this bit if memory serves me)
Up Your Alley
Pierce Volkswagen
Many A Mile to Freedom - Traffic
You're Only as Pretty as You Feel - Jefferson Starship with Papa John Creech
"And sadly that's where it ends....but it is just so great to listen to it and catch the wonderful eclectic spirit of such a great station that made such a big impact in my life.
"If you're interested in it get back with me. I have moved it to wave format and cleaned up a lot of the noise but that's about it. As I said there is one tape flaw that occurs during one of the commercial breaks.
"Thanks for the great website and the pictures and sound bites!"
Fred
----------------------------------------------
"... I went ahead and converted this to 160kbs mp3 just to give you a chance to see if it is worthwhile or if anyone has any interest in the original tape. As near as I can remember this was originally recorded in my home studio on a TEAC tape transport at 15ips (I think...maybe we only had 7.5ips then I don't recall). I know we had a lot of strange filters and wah-wah and reverb boxes and other various do-dads around that may or may not have been involved in this but from listening to it and playing with it a bit I think the original recording is pretty true to what came over the air. I think the receiver was a Kenwood and was run through a pre-amp before it was sent to outputs (I am showing my age here cause I am struggling to remember just how it was set up that day). I dropped the tape to a 120 minute cassette which is what we took up to the mountains that evening... Maybe someday that cassette will turn up and it may yeild even more of this session. As near as I can rememeber the recording started early on a Saturday morning and finished before noon, cause then I transposed it onto cassette and went out the door around 3pm that evening. I do remember that the West, Lang and Bruce concert was the following Sunday night, cause we even mentioned that perhaps we should come down from Gross Resevoir and catch that show (we didn't); Bill Bard also notes "this Sunday night" so I deduced that the tape had a high probability of coming from April 8, 1972.
"I had to keep this under 100mb to be able to send it via yousendit, if you like what you hear we can work out another arrangement for the wave file.
"Let me know what you think of it."
Fred
----------------------------------------------
Message from Malcolm to everyone:
I've put this up on the server I use for the KFML files. You can download it by either clicking on the following URL or right clicking and designating download:
http://www.legendarysurfers.com/ffr/kfml/SOUNDS/kfml-1972.04.08.mp3
Can anyone fill some info about what they hear? Was this during the strike? I don't hear any of the vets on this recording... Add your comments under "comments," below...
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
ARTHUR LEE, R.I.P.
Arthur Lee has passed on. LOVE was and still is one of my most favorite groups. I never lost an opportunity to play them when I spun records in freedom (freeform).
Ed Ward did a good audio bio of Arthur Lee, broadcast over NPR. Follow the link at the bottom of the page to listen.
Arthur Lee/LOVE Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Lee_(musician)
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/11086397/arthur_lee_19452006
http://www.lovewitharthurlee.com/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/profiles/love.shtml
Recommended Listening:
NPR : Honoring Rock's Arthur Lee
Ed Ward did a good audio bio of Arthur Lee, broadcast over NPR. Follow the link at the bottom of the page to listen.
Arthur Lee/LOVE Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Lee_(musician)
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/11086397/arthur_lee_19452006
http://www.lovewitharthurlee.com/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/profiles/love.shtml
Recommended Listening:
NPR : Honoring Rock's Arthur Lee
Friday, July 21, 2006
Lee Abrams
(CNN) -- Lee Abrams, Congress and capitalism played major roles in shaping today's AM and FM dials.
As a consultant in the '70s and '80s, Abrams (with his business partner, Kent Burkhart) devised the "Superstars" album-oriented rock format that many FM stations, once bastions of free-form radio, followed.
The stations became incredibly successful, pushing once-powerful AM music stations to news, talk and sports. (Those AM stations, looking for programming, in turn made stars of syndicated talk-radio hosts.) But they were also slammed by many critics and listeners for marketing a rather homogenized sound.
From there, money and Congress took over. The 1996 Telecommunications Act relaxed limits on radio station ownership and radio companies sometimes bought several stations in the same market. Criticism of corporate radio deepened in the '90s, especially after companies tightened playlists and automated or simulcast functions.
Well before that time, Abrams had moved on. He defends his early work -- "If anything, we saved [FM radio]," he says, noting that free-form stations were too "out there" for many listeners -- but says that terrestrial radio now has "way too much discipline."
CNN.com - How terrestrial radio got here - Jul 20, 2006
As a consultant in the '70s and '80s, Abrams (with his business partner, Kent Burkhart) devised the "Superstars" album-oriented rock format that many FM stations, once bastions of free-form radio, followed.
The stations became incredibly successful, pushing once-powerful AM music stations to news, talk and sports. (Those AM stations, looking for programming, in turn made stars of syndicated talk-radio hosts.) But they were also slammed by many critics and listeners for marketing a rather homogenized sound.
From there, money and Congress took over. The 1996 Telecommunications Act relaxed limits on radio station ownership and radio companies sometimes bought several stations in the same market. Criticism of corporate radio deepened in the '90s, especially after companies tightened playlists and automated or simulcast functions.
Well before that time, Abrams had moved on. He defends his early work -- "If anything, we saved [FM radio]," he says, noting that free-form stations were too "out there" for many listeners -- but says that terrestrial radio now has "way too much discipline."
CNN.com - How terrestrial radio got here - Jul 20, 2006
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
kfmlnooze.com
Legendary KFML newsman Ed Chatham is working on another KFML-related website called "KFMLNOOZE."
Here's what Ed wrote about KFMLNOOZE:
"The object of this site is to continue to act as the guy next door and let you know of stuff I think may be of interest to you as I did back in 1971 at KFML in Denver. As a newsman I will be featuring video and audio glimpses of some of my favorite individuals out here in the San Francisco Bay area as well as folks I have videotaped over the last 20 years from here to Louisiana and beyond. So kick back, smoke em' if ya got em' and join me as I mosey on down memory lane..."
Please visit:
kfmlnooze.com
Here's what Ed wrote about KFMLNOOZE:
"The object of this site is to continue to act as the guy next door and let you know of stuff I think may be of interest to you as I did back in 1971 at KFML in Denver. As a newsman I will be featuring video and audio glimpses of some of my favorite individuals out here in the San Francisco Bay area as well as folks I have videotaped over the last 20 years from here to Louisiana and beyond. So kick back, smoke em' if ya got em' and join me as I mosey on down memory lane..."
Please visit:
kfmlnooze.com
Monday, July 10, 2006
KPIG Cuts Staff
This just in...
KPIG RADIO CUTS STAFF: THE CORPORATE SWINE GNAW AWAY AT QUALITY AGAIN
By Brad Kava, 11:20 AM in Brad Kava, Music, Radio
The firings of two KPIG disc jockeys last week may seem like a small thing, but it was front page news in the Santa Cruz Sentinel Saturday---and rightly so.
KPIG-FM (107.5) is one of the nation's last bastions of freeform radio, where music is chosen with some panache and integrity. It was one of the first roots rock music stations in the country and, despite corporate ownership, has maintained some quality in playing serendipitous rock, bluegrass, blues and country.
But bit by bit owner Mapleton Communications, which owns 27 mid-sized stations and has owned the Pig since 2001, has been hacking away at the quality.
First, it dropped its annual summer concert, the "Swine Soiree." Now, it got rid of its overnight DJ's as a cost cutting measure. Never mind that they made $10 an hour, or at most $10,000 a year and the savings don't come near outweighing the loss of real quality radio. Deejays Jessie and Terrence were let go, and afternoon jock Ramblin' Ror was cut from full to part time.
This is one of the last stations to maintain an overnight deejay, but as real radio fans know, that is one of the most important times to hear a live voice, or have someone to call and ask what that great song you just heard was.
"There's no other radio stations from Seattle to Los Angeles that has one," corporate spokesmouth Dale Hendry told the Sentinel.
Remember when owners competed and tried to offer the public something better than the other guy had? Nowadays it seems like the corporate objective is to cut things to the barebones and make as much profit as possible, so you can fly off into the night to your Hawaii pad on your private jet with your $100 million when you sell your "beloved" media property.
Sad days indeed.
A+E Interactive: KPIG RADIO CUTS STAFF: THE CORPORATE SWINE GNAW AWAY AT QUALITY AGAIN
KPIG RADIO CUTS STAFF: THE CORPORATE SWINE GNAW AWAY AT QUALITY AGAIN
By Brad Kava, 11:20 AM in Brad Kava, Music, Radio
The firings of two KPIG disc jockeys last week may seem like a small thing, but it was front page news in the Santa Cruz Sentinel Saturday---and rightly so.
KPIG-FM (107.5) is one of the nation's last bastions of freeform radio, where music is chosen with some panache and integrity. It was one of the first roots rock music stations in the country and, despite corporate ownership, has maintained some quality in playing serendipitous rock, bluegrass, blues and country.
But bit by bit owner Mapleton Communications, which owns 27 mid-sized stations and has owned the Pig since 2001, has been hacking away at the quality.
First, it dropped its annual summer concert, the "Swine Soiree." Now, it got rid of its overnight DJ's as a cost cutting measure. Never mind that they made $10 an hour, or at most $10,000 a year and the savings don't come near outweighing the loss of real quality radio. Deejays Jessie and Terrence were let go, and afternoon jock Ramblin' Ror was cut from full to part time.
This is one of the last stations to maintain an overnight deejay, but as real radio fans know, that is one of the most important times to hear a live voice, or have someone to call and ask what that great song you just heard was.
"There's no other radio stations from Seattle to Los Angeles that has one," corporate spokesmouth Dale Hendry told the Sentinel.
Remember when owners competed and tried to offer the public something better than the other guy had? Nowadays it seems like the corporate objective is to cut things to the barebones and make as much profit as possible, so you can fly off into the night to your Hawaii pad on your private jet with your $100 million when you sell your "beloved" media property.
Sad days indeed.
A+E Interactive: KPIG RADIO CUTS STAFF: THE CORPORATE SWINE GNAW AWAY AT QUALITY AGAIN
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