Chestnut Brown Canary

A few days ago (or maybe it was a few weeks ago) I received an email from a friend that mentioned the names of several Folk Music groups from the 1950’s and 1960’s. He was in the process of transcribing his vinyl collection onto a more current media.

I went through this process about 4 or 5 years ago, but selected cuts from various albums rather than copying the entire album. I made two CD’s, one loaded with MP3’s and the other containing some favorites on a .wav format.

One of the Folk Music group mentioned in the email was the Chad Mitchell Trio. The Chad Mitchell Trio was the very first group that I saw in a live performance. It was in late 1959 or early 1960 (snow was on the ground – so it might have even been early spring 1960) at the Chicago Historical Society (if you ever go to Chicago, this is a place that you want to visit).

The group was performing nightly at a club (bar) a few blocks away at North Ave. and Wells St. (in Olde Town) and took the time out to do a gratis set on a Saturday afternoon at the Historical Society.

Fortunately I was there, with a few of my fellow students, attending a lecture about Chicago history.

After the lecture we were asked not to leave the auditorium, because we were in for a special treat. We would have a musical interlude, so to speak. Not one of the 40 or so people left the room.

Enters the Chad Mitchell Trio!

The first song that they performed (and the only song that I can remember by name) was “No Irish Need Apply”, and I was overwhelmed when hearing the live music. It sounded so different from listening to music on the radio or on the Hi-Fi.

I’ll never forget that day!

Now, here is how my neural processors (RAM) work!

I read the email, I think of the Chad Mitchell Trio, I think of the Historical Society, I think of my old friends, I think of a guy named Joe (who was at this mini concert with me) and then I feel compelled to speak to Joe about the “good old days”.

So I call him!

After the usual salutations, talking about the weather and our ailments, I switch the conversation to Folk Music.

Joe and I (as well as a few others) went to “Mother Blues” in Olde Town Chicago to see Joan Baez (with guest performer Bob Dylan – fairly unknown at that time) and we also went to a Peter, Paul and Mary concert (I believe it was at the Goodman Theater behind the Chicago Art Institute) in 1961.

Joe recalled the PP&M concert and asked me “Didn’t you have a crush on Mary Travers?” I answered by saying that I had a crush on “every thing in a skirt”. "Don't you remember our High School Art Teacher, Connie?” “I was like a puppy in Connie’s class, I would fetch for her and do anything that she wanted, just to be close to her.”

He remembered and he laughed!

As the conversation continued we spoke of other Folk Music artists. Joe brought up the fact that many of the 1960’s Rock Artists had a Folk Music background. I brought up the fact that some Folk singers never went over to “the other side”, they were purist. Sure, Dylan electrified his band, but he did continue to write Folk, not Rock.

I mentioned that one of Bob Dylan’s most covered songs is “Knockin’ on Heavens Door” which has been covered by many major rock groups throughout the years. But they’re not like the original version; they lack the compassion in Dylan’s voice.

Then he brought up Judy Collins (who did some Dylan). I had purchased her album “Wildflowers”, at the PX, while stationed at Kagnew Station in Africa, after hearing the song about “Clouds” (Both Sides Now) on the radio. I had a crush on Judy, but this time I was seemingly an adult. I still had the crush (I’m sure that this has to do with high testosterone levels in a young male viewing an attractive female on an album cover).

Joe then brings up Crosby, Stills and Nash. This was one of my all time favorite groups from the late sixties and seventies.

Joe then asks me it I knew the origins of the CSN song “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”.

I say no!

Joe then informs me that is was Steven Stills tribute to Judy Collins. Unknown to me, Stills had dated (was sleeping with her) Collins when he was with Buffalo Springfield. My friend Joe knew all of this information; and I think I know music trivia – silly me.

Two days later I get an email from Joe with a link to Youtube. It’s a video of CSN doing Suite: Judy Blue Eyes with Judy Collins.

Now, I can’t get this song out of my head: Every time that I hear a bird in the back yard warble I hear “Chestnut brown canary, Ruby throated sparrow” rushing through the canyons of my mind.

Thanks a lot Joe!

The Beach Bum

March Madness in January

In a telephone conversation yesterday, my friend Richard Feder from Fort Lee suggested that I write the following Blog. He also strongly suggested the Blog title (which I used out of deference for him). Thank you, Mister Feder.

Several months ago I was watching the movie “Protocol” with Goldie Hawn. I’ve always liked Goldie even though she married Bill Hudson, a second rate musician, in the mid 1970’s, instead of me (this might have had something to do with the fact that I was married). Nonetheless I enjoy most of her movies.

I always watch the closing credits of a movie. Because the music is usually good and not because I want to know who the Best Boy or Key Grip was. The music for the closing credits of the movie Protocol was a March song that I have heard thousands of times. At least one band in every parade that I have seen has played it. This is my favorite March music.

As I watched the music credits at the end of the movie credits line I did not see the name John Phillip Sousa. I wonder why they would omit this credit. I checked Amazon for a Soundtrack listing for the movie – none available.

So the next day I called my friend Feder (I recalled that he had played in a High School Marching Band in the late 1950’s). I then hummed several passages from the March. He remembered the March even though he said that I had hummed it off key (I should have played it on my Kazoo). I sez “Name that tune” He couldn’t, but he said that he would listen to his albums of Sousa Marches and get back to me.

A few weeks passed and I once again asked him to name that tune. He said that it was not on either of his Sousa Albums. I said “Oh well” and we dropped the subject.

That is until last Tuesday, when I heard two different Marching Bands play it in the Inaugural Day Parade.

Again, I called Feder, last Wednesday and he suggested that I try to get the play lists of the bands that were marching in the parade. I did, to no avail. The result was three hours of Google searches and the watching of many news station videos of the Parade.

This was pure madness; I had to know the name of that March. Why? I don’t know (Third Base), but at this point it was becoming an obsession.

On Thursday, I did even more searching on the internet (listening to sound bytes of more than 60 Sousa Marches) and made a few telephone calls; no luck. By this time it was so bad that I couldn’t fall asleep, I was hearing the March in my head. I had to know the name of that March.

Shortly before one in the morning I was again searching on the internet. Forty five minutes later I found it. I immediately sent Feder an email, knowing that he was in the arms of Morpheus I didn’t dare call him, with a link to the full version of the March.

Feder didn’t get my email because it was stuck in the Postini trash filter (whatever that is). By this time, it (or perhaps I) was driving him to the brink madness. Friday morning, at work, he remembered that a co-worker had been in a Marching Band. He found him and hummed a few bars for him. Voila, in last than 5 seconds the March was named.

The name of the March is National Emblem and it was written by Edwin Eugene Bagley and not John Philip Sousa. There are several videos on Youtube of Marching Bands preforming this March.

The Beach Bum

Nuts, Hot Nuts, You get them from the Peanut Man

The weekend after Christmas I received a Christmas card from an old friend (Fonse). He had originally sent it to my old address on Treasure Island. The Post Office returned the card to him saying that the time for forwarding mail to my new address had expired. However they included my new address.

If I had sent someone a Christmas card and it was returned to me, I would have put it in the circular file next my desk. But not my friend! He put in a larger envelope and sent it to my new address.

I was touched by this, so I called him. He wasn’t at home so I spoke to his spouse (who used to dislike me with a passion because of a canoeing trip incident in 1981). But two days later, I finally reached him. We spoke for nearly an hour; I have a tendency to get long winded when speaking to people that I haven’t seen or spoken to in a year or so.

In the course of our conversation, he brought up the fact that I hadn’t fulfilled a promise that I had made to him 17 months before. I made the usual excuses, but decided that come hell or high water, I would keep my promise to my old friend.

My friend is a member (of high standing) in the Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity. He attended Millikin University (Decatur, Illinois) which has the Beta Chapter of TKE. As he explained to me once; it is a part of the Golden Triangle (original chapters) of Teke Houses in Illinois – Alpha (Illinois Wesleyan – Bloomington), Beta and Gamma (University of Illinois - Urbana) chapters.

The old saying on Illinois campuses, back in the early 1960’s, was “If you can’t go Greek go Teke”.

It has been purported that the film Animal House was based on the activities of the Fraters at the TKE Gamma Chapter. And in that movie the band (Otis Day and the Knights) that played in the Delta Frat House was based on a group called Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts.

And now, at last, I am finally getting to the point of this Blog.

In 1963 I bought a Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts album titled On Campus. It was a collection of bawdy songs that were popular in frat houses throughout the US. We would play it at all of our parties (along with Rusty Warren’s Knockers Up) in the 1960’s. Needless to say the album is scratched very badly.

My good friend Fonse asked me to transfer the songs from my vinyl album to a CD (something I had done for others in the past).

Fonse is still active in the TKE Fraternity system and wanted the younger Tekes to know what it was like to be a Teke in the late 50’s and early 60’s. He wanted them to be able to sing along with him when he sang Barnacle Bill and Roly Poly (Two Old Maids).

Although the Hot Nuts are still an active R&B band, very few college kids know who they are and what they were known for in the 1960’s.

I started the project in July 2007, but put on the back burner when I moved that August. I started working on it again last week and hope to finish soon.

After all, how can you break a promise to an old friend that spent an extra 42 cents (a total of 84 cents) in postage to send you a generic 25 cent Christmas card?

The Beach Bum

Merry Christmas

This post is dedicated to all who serve in the military and cannot be home for Christmas.

John Lennon was a gifted dreamer who wrote some magnificent lyrics.
To quote John Lennon from the song "Imagine" -
"You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one."

From the Shaved Fish album (1972) by John Lennon/Yoko Ono

Sing along if you remember the words.

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
And so this is Christmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong

And so happy Christmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
And so this is Christmas
And what have we done
Another year over
And a new one just begun

And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
War is over
If you want it
War is over

If you don't shed a tear while viewing the following You Tube video, I feel sorry for you!

View Happy Christmas on You Tube
Happy Christmas (War is Over)

The Beach Bum

All We Need Is Love

From the Beatles Rubber Soul Album (1965):

In My Life

There are places I'll remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I’ve loved them all

But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
Though I know I’ll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I’ll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more

Lyrics by John Lennon

I dedicate today's Blog to a friend and a former lover!

Two days ago I received a snail mail Christmas message from a former lover and very good friend. We split up as a couple nearly 20 years ago, but our friendship has endured the test of time. If I had been a better person, we might still be together today (read this as being married).

She has been sending me a Christmas letter every year since I have moved from Maryland to Florida in 1998. The letter is a recap of the year’s significant events in her and her son’s life. A Christmas photo of her and her son is also enclosed. She is a great mother (a single working mom, that hasn’t gotten didly squat in support from the boy’s father) and has taught her 12 year old son well. He has authored the well written Christmas letter for the last two years.

I called to compliment him on his writing ability on Tuesday afternoon. Actually I was hoping to speak to his mother about the enclosed Christmas photo. She wasn’t home!

I called again last night, spoke to her, and we had a 90 minute conversation. The Christmas photo was taken on the 11th of November. They both had attended the Bruce Springsteen concert that night in Washington, DC. I noticed that the tee shirt that her son was wearing was from the 1992 (No-Name backup band) Concert that we attended (I had bought 2 shirts – one for her and one for me). We were not together (as lovers) at this time. I was dating a younger woman and she had recently divorced her wife beating husband after a 9 month marriage.

She didn’t recall going to that concert, however she did recall attending the 1984 “Born in the USA” concert with me. It was her first Bruce Concert. She never had cared for his music before that time.

Last night I apologize for being the asshole that was during our relationship. She said “I loved you then, I still love you now and always will, you are my best friend”. I cried!

After we hung up the phone (both saying “I Love You” as our last words), I immediately thought of the Lennon Lyrics from the song “In My Life”.

The Beach Bum

Under Pressure

As a general rule the first thing that I do every morning, after I’ve made my cup of delicious Decaf Coffee, is to log on to the internet and check my email.

Today there were just 22 emails, mainly because I had checked mail at 2300 hours last night and deleted more than 200 emails.

One of today’s 22 emails was from a friend who lives in Annapolis, Maryland. I haven’t heard from him for more that a year and hadn’t seen him for nearly 10 years (at my combined birthday and going away party in June 1998). Another friend ran into him at the Annapolis Mall and gave him my new email address. Needless to say I was shocked when I saw his name as the sender.

It was a brief message including Merry Christmas wishes. In the message he wrote “I think you’ll like this” and added a link to You Tube. It was a music video featuring Queen and David Bowie doing “Under Pressure”.

Back in the early 1990’s this was one of our favorite party songs. My roommates and I had at least 3 major (60 to 80 attendees) house parties each year. The highlight (other than me usually making an ass of myself) of these parties was my pretending to sing two songs by Queen.

The first was “Bohemian Rhapsody” where I would get all the guests to sing along by holding a turned off microphone towards them. I had the microphone turned off for obvious reasons; my voice. The stereo volume was usually high enough to drown me out.

The second, and most requested song, was done by me and my friend “Bones” - Under Pressure. I did the Freddie Mercury part and he did David Bowie. We had a choreographed routine that was better than the original. Our act was so good that my current girlfriend (read this as the girl that I was having sex with) asked me if I was a closet homosexual (I have our performance on video and I can see why she asked that question – we were that good at acting the parts).

I wasted more than three hours today viewing videos on You Tube. It was a great trip down memory lane and a good waste of time. One video led me to another and another and another.

The final video that I watched was by "The Godfather of Soul" and "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business," Mr. James Brown and Luciano Pavarotti, doing the JB Classic "It's a Man's Man's Man's World".

How I arrived to this point after viewing the Queen/Bowie classic “Under Pressure” video is a great story. All I will say is that you should take the trip, you might like it as much as I did.

The Beach Bum

The Songs Remain the Same

I spent a lot of time yesterday afternoon reading the reviews about the Led Zeppelin Reunion Concert at the O2 Arena in London on Monday night. It was a charity event that was held in memory of former Atlantic Records boss Ahmet Ertegun, who originally signed Led Zeppelin.

John Bonham’s son, Jason, took his father’s place on the drums for this concert. John’s death (by choking on his vomit) in 1980 caused the group to break up at that time.

Led Zeppelin News
Led Zeppelin was one of my favorite musical groups in the in the 1970’s. I still enjoy their music a much more than most of the Rock music of the last 20 years. But then again, I still enjoy Frank Sinatra more than I do the modern day crooners.

While sitting and waiting to receive a “Divine Inspiration” for a Blog about Led Zeppelin, my worthless brother-in-law (Uncle John) turned on the television. I feel that he does this intentionally to distract me from my writing. He obviously doesn’t care about what he views or he wouldn’t watch the garbage he usually does.

Lo and behold, he put on a program that was of interest to me. It was on VH1, a channel that I rarely, if ever, watch. It was the Woodstock Festival Concert from August 1969; 4 hours long including commercials.

In 1969 I was still in the Army and living off post (Fort Meade) in Laurel, Maryland. My across the hall neighbors were from Pennsylvania and had bought 4 tickets to the Woodstock Festival in New York.

They were planning to take two hot babes to the concert for a weekend of Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll; the babes bailed out, so they offered the tickets to me and my 3 roommates.

We all passed. 24 bucks, plus the cost of the trip, was more than we could afford on our military salaries. Instead we had a Woodstock house party on that weekend (the aforementioned hot Babes attended our party). It was the same Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll, with somewhat better sanitary conditions, yet in a different venue without the cost of the concert and traveling expenses.

To this day I do regret not attending the Concert on Max Yasgur's Farm in Bethel, New York. But when they had a Woodstock Reunion Concert in 1989, I also took a pass. No regrets, this time!

The Beach Bum

In Vino Veritas

My youngest daughter (who reads my Blog on a regular basis) told me that my Blog is full of spelling errors and improper word usage. When I asked her for an example she said “You used the word worst where you should have used the word worse.”

In a telephone conversation, an old friend from Chicago basically made the same comments. He said that I over punctuate, I misspell words (usually homonyms) and that my usage of grammar, in general, is borderline.

This embarrasses me because I have always prided myself on the proper use of the English language. I have corrected youngest daughter on her grammar too many time too count. And now she is correcting me. Turnabout is fair play!

She attributes it to my use of Vodka and my writing when I am “half in the bag”. In fact, she has cut me off of my Vodka and has instead put me on red wine to supplement my beer drinking habit. So now instead of being a drunk, I am becoming a wino.

I have always liked wine, especially red wine, but like Gin it tends to do strange things to me. Vodka does not take away my inhibitions. Gin and wine do. For example, a few nights ago, I was singing along with one of my favorite songs at 0130 hours. This, of course, woke my daughter. She admonished me and sent me off to bed.

Now if you have ever listened to me attempting to sing when I have been drinking wine, you’d know that this is not too appealing to the ear. I sound like a cross between Joe Cocker, Bob Dylan and a cat that has just had its tail caught in a mousetrap. When I was young I had a good baritone voice, but the years of alcohol abuse and cigarette smoking has made it very raspy. Add to this the fact that I am usually wearing headphones (at a full volume level) and cannot hear how bad I really sound; it becomes a nightmare for others.

So here I sit, nearing midnight, with 9 beers and nearly a half of a 1.5 liter bottle of cheap Merlot in my gullet; writing this piece and getting ready to sing again. I think my daughter will soon put me back on my daily Vodka ration, just to get me off of the wine.

Please forgive my misspellings and grammatical errors, as I am, as usual, half in the bag.

The Beach Bum

Reflections

Yesterday, I spent an inordinate time on the telephone and answering emails. It was the anniversary of the day of my birth.

This is a day that I usually spend reflecting on my past year. Some people do this on New Years Day; I do it on my birthday. That is my New Year. On this day I make my resolutions for the next year.

About three or four years ago I made a compilation CD on my computer (I’ve titled it the Eclectic Collection.) These were all songs that once had a special meaning for me. At some point in my life these were relevant songs that pertained to that particular segment of my life. I’m a very nostalgic person, therefore I enjoy reminiscing. I associate popular music with the events in my life. Each song will bring back a vivid memory of a person, place or thing.

I spent the entire day in “my cave” suffering from a stomach hangover, drinking Bloody Mary’s and Lite Beer while listening to some of my favorite music.

The first cut on the CD is Annie Lennox’s version of “The Whiter Shade of Pale”, I also have the same song by Procol Harem, but I like her version better. It was featured on the sound track of the Movie "The Net". This song reminds of a High School friend who died serving our country in Viet Nam; it was his favorite song.

The next cut is “Runaway Train” by Soul Asylum; it reminds me of my best friend in Maryland, who passed away at 54 years old in 1998. He loved that song!

Other songs on the CD include “Don’t Dream It’s Over” (not by the original group, but by Sixpence, None the Richer), “You Sang to Me” by Marc Anthony, “I am Like a Bird” by Nelly Furtado, “Drops of Jupiter” by Train, “I Try” by Macy Gray, Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” and “Long Tall Glasses” by Leo Sayer.

All of this music holds special meanings and remembrances. As I have said before, I prefer to live in the past rather than in the future.

But the two songs that touch me the most are the last two on the CD. “With Arms Wide Open” by Creed and a golden oldie by Marmalade, “Reflections of my Life”.

From Creed –
“Well I just heard the news today
It seems my life is going to change
I closed my eyes, begin to pray
Then tears of joy stream down my face.”

From Marmalade -
“The changing of sunlight to moonlight
Reflections of my life, oh, how they fill my eyes.
The greetings of people in trouble
Reflections of my life, oh, how they fill my eyes.”


The Beach Bum

I Dig Rock and Roll Music

Last week, one of my favorite Bloggers wrote a piece titled “New NO PRIZE contest: Name the worst 70's song EVER”, it was concerning the worst songs of the 1970’s. He said that “the 70's were a Golden Era of horrible songs” and that there “were songs that make you queasy all over... .that make your flesh crawl.”

I must agree with him on some his selections. However I think that every decade has had it’s share of horrible but popular songs. Some were much more annoying than anything that came out of the 1970’s; with the possible exception of all 1970’s Disco Music. Many of those disco songs did make my flesh crawl.

One of favorite musicians and songwriters, Bruce Springsteen emerged in the 1970’s. He simultaneously made the covers of both Time and Newsweek Magazines in 1975. I first took note of him in 1972; I loved his lyrics because they reminded me of early Bob Dylan lyrics.

What about Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, the Doobie Brothers, Elton John, Grand Funk Railroad, Billy Joel and the Eagles. These people put out a lot of great music in the 1970.s. I was always a Rock and Roll and R&B fan. I also liked what we had called head (or stoner) music; Jethro Tull, The Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd.

The blogger must have been listening to the wrong radio stations. Probably Casey Kasem’s American Top 40. He mentions WLS in Chicago, which, as a teen, was my favorite radio station. Dick Biondi, “the Wild Itralian” was my favorite DJ in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. It was a station that played young people’s music. As times change, so does the music that is played on the radio, especially on a station that caters to youth. What was in fashion yesterday may not be in fashion today. But a lot of the 1970’s music has endured the test of time. Nearly two generation later, young people listen to and can recite the lyrics to these songs.

My parents could not understand why I listened and enjoyed the music on WLS. They had thought that they had taught me to have better musical taste. I attempted to explain to them that it was the music of my generation. I still liked Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Nat “King” Cole; but Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly excited me a little more.

One of the songs that were mentioned on the Blog was “Seasons in the Sun” performed by Terry Jacks. I like the song but not necessarily the Terry Jacks’ version. I first heard it in December of 1963. It was on The Kingston Trio’s Album “Time to Think”. The featured song on this album was “Song for a Friend” written by John Stewart and dedicated to the memory of JFK. In the liner notes “The Trio” (probably written by John Stewart) wrote – “Honest songs have always left a mark in their particular era. For songs springing from real emotion will forever ring true and therefore find meaning with each new generation.”

The Beach Bum