May 1969
CALENDAR
CALENDAR May 1 - 14 THURS. May 1 EXHIBITIONS William Tall, Detroit Free Press Art critic. Graphites, pastels, drawings, watercolors, acrylics and oils. Strabismus Gallery, 302 Walnut Blvd., Rochester, Mich. Thru May 10. Carolyn Hall, Constructions, and George Landino, drawings.
JOOLS & BRIAN
ICE ALEXANDER
In April of 1968, when I just took my copy of “Open” to ‘ABX and gave it to them to play, I was the nut who said “they’re really good and people are gonna like them”. A year later (almost to the day) I sat in the deserted Grande Ballroom watching Brian Auger set up his equipment.
MC5 suck. Blue Cheer are ten times better.
It seems that several articles in Creem No. 3 caused a hassle.
ANOTHER BAD RAP
BOB STARK
The feeling most generated by the new “pop sound” capitol is boredom.
Academy Awards?
James L. Jones
My personal feelings about the Academy Awards are mixed.
Charly
James L. Jones
CHARLY A Selmur Picture in conjunction with Robertson Associates; with Cliff Robertson, Claire Bloom, and Lilia Skala; written by Stirling Silliphant, based on the story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes; director of photography Arthur J. Ornitz; music by Ravi Shankar; produced and directed by Ralph Nelson.
RICHARD WALLS
Richard C. Walls
SPLEEN - The Sound of Feeling Limelight - LS 86063 Hurdy Gurdy Man; Hex; Up into Silence; The Time Has Come For Silence; Along Came Sam (The Morning of the Mutations); The Sound of Silence; Spleen; Mixolydian Mode (From the Microcosmos, Book II.
TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT!
Ice Alexander
At the Ballroom last week when I was looking for Brian Auger I asked Chuck Berry ‘who was playing last’. He replied “Chuck Berry”. About 2 days later it struck me as weird that he didn’t say “Me”. The cover of Teegarden and Vanwinkle’s second album, soon to be released, shows Skip and Dave on the porch of a shack - and I mean ‘shack’ - with an elderly down home black friend and a young spadeling strongly resembling the one on the cover of ‘O.K. Ken’ the second Chicken Shack album.
CHUCK BERRY
Bob Stark
It seems strange that Chuck Berry is one of those people who is above criticism.
siddharthe
Marty Waliko
“Love is communication” ... and the “Siddharthe” is a group of guys that know how to communicate. I went out to the “Tabatha” coffeehouse the other night and found an atmosphere full of good vibes and some of the best live entertainment in Detroit.
MORE WALLS
Richard C. Walls
KICK OUT THE JAMS - MC-5 Elektra EKS-74042 Ramblin’ Rose; Kick Out The Jams; Come Together; Rocket Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa); Borderline; Motor City Is Burning; I Want You Right Now; Starship. Rob Tyner, lead singer/Wayne Kramer, Fender guitar/ Fred “Sonic” Smith, Mosrite guitar/ Michael Davis, Fender bass/ Dennis Thompson, drums.
INNER CITY MUSIC SCHOOL
In an effort to stimulate the development of new talent among Detroits under privileged youth Rev. Timothy T. Hicks who manages the Rappa House, one of the nicest places in the city to hear blues and jazz after hours (see photo story), has set up The Development and Promotions Inc., a non-profit school and workshop in the Arts.
comix
Thomas Haroldson
Lawrence Lipton noted recently in the Los Angeles Free Press that: “1969 will see an elimination process in the Alternative or Underground Press newspapers.” He went on to point out that many newspapers will meet their demise mainly because rigid, “doctrinaire” underground newspaper editors are unable “to discern the trends of the changing scene.”
Record Reviews by John Sinclair
John Sinclair
I remember two and three years ago and longer writing columns and trying to hip people to a new music and never getting anywhere — people just didn’t seem to be ready for the high-energy jams for one reason or another. Maybe they weren’t eating enough acid like people do now.
W-ABX TV
WABX - Detroit’s self-confessed weird radio invaded Channel 56 again last week at 10:00 p.m. for another zany period of freeky fun and artistic progression. The show opened with the Savage Grace, a Detroit band of very high calibre. They performed two numbers and managed to balance their sound well - a feat which I’m sure must be very difficult in a T.V. Studio.
SAVAGE GRACE
savoy brown again
Gayle Clark
! This will most likely be the most difficult article that I shall be faced with in many years to come. I am supposed to be writing objectively on the Savoy Brown’s last performance here in Detroit. After seeing them perform, meeting, and talking with them many times it’s really hard to sit down and say, “Well, this song was crummy, the other was good in the solo lead riffs. . ..etc.”
JUDY ADAMS
Judy C. Adams
The Philadelphia Orchestra and conductor Eugene Ormandy is an esemble which ranks between first and fifth in the world depending on personal taste. Wednesday April 23, they appeared at Masonic Auditorium and played a program of Wagner (with the exception of Beethoven’s seventh).
a human interestory
I Would like to bring to your attention a tragedy that happened recently at Tabatha coffee house. Charly Butterworth, a fine respected folk singer, came to Detroit because he, as soon as everybody in the states will, realized that it is here that music is happening.
MCARSHALL MCLUHAN WHAT ARE YOU DOIN'?
JOHN SINCLAIR
Willard Bain’s book was originally printed by the Comminications Company in San Francisco the summer of 1967 and given away free in the streets. INFORMED SOURCES is the first post-Burroughsian novel I’d say, post-McLuhan also, and in its intentions and design strictly contemporary.
Jack Elliot - Talkin’ Woody Guthrie
Jeffrey Jacques
Woody Guthrie was one of americas greatest folksingers. A man who rambled the country during the depression, he wrote and sang about the people and their times. Jack Elliot is also a folksinger. Although he was born in Brooklyn (Woody was born in Oklahoma) he became a cowboy, and later a folksinger.
ROBIN AND CHERI WED . . .
History was made at the front counter of Mixed Media the evening of April 28, 1969. Two members of our community, Cheri Barrie and Robin Sommers, were joined in holy wedlock in a very simple ceremony performed by Zenta Priest Ron Levine. A short reception followed in the rear of Mixed Media and then the couple departed for a joyous wedding dinner at Chung’s.
the mad oakies
Teegarden and Vanwinkle have been together a long time - as a duo, a trio, a quartet? as session men - bar bands and rock groups. When they arrived, just 1 year ago, in Detroit they were a duo. They stole the show from under the eyes of the Steve Miller Band in their first appearance at Detroit’s Grande Ballroom, and between that night and the night that they made their first album, titled “An Evening at Home with Teegarden and Vanwinkle”, Dave Teegarden and Skip Vanwinkle were to enhance many such shows with their music, and their pressence.