It’s Wednesday, hump-day, and you are no doubt in need of something special to get you through those mid-week doldrums (perhaps brought on by a certain vaultmeister’s recent non answer). So, here’s Jim Dandy to the rescue, so to speak, with Black Oak Arkansas‘ “Hot ‘n Nasty” followed by “Lord Have Mercy On My Soul (Halls of Karma)”. I don’t think anyone can possibly view these two videos, the first especially, without realizing where Van Halen got much of its stage act.
I remember (rather vividly) BOA’s Television debut on Don Kirshner’s “In Concert” around 1974. Jim Mangrum was quite the performer… I owned ‘Raunch & Roll Live’ & ‘High on the Hog’ on vinyl.
I went to see them (actually, I was there for the opener – Blue Oyster Cult – and their laser light show) on June 6, 1975 (looking at the ticket stub now) in Kalamazoo Michigan, where the highlight of the evening (besides BOC’s light show) was Ruby Starr performing in a micro-mini sans panties…
Both bands rocked out.
However, the best part of the evening for me was stoning out the 3 younger kids sitting next to us. I smuggled a homemade Bong into the venue (inner pockets sewn into my jeans), and was assembling it when I noticed the youngsters next to us pull out a joint – that had obviously been in someone’s wallet for a few days. We let them share our stuff…
Heh-heh.
Thanks u’g’ for stirring a very fond memory!
Don Kirshner’s “In Concert” and “The Midnight Special” were programs in the 70s I always managed stay awake to see (even if I had to tiptoe past my parent’s bedroom to get to the living room where the television was kept).
Unlike bands’ concerts of today which are repeated, by and large, night after night, in town after town, by rote with very little change — you never knew what was going to happen from show to show with groups like BOA, The Dead and, of course, FZ. Perhaps video really did kill the radio star. I mean, where are the likes of a Jim Mangrum and a Ruby Starr today? Or the likes of such groups as Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Allman Brothers Band (you know I only pose this question so I can answer it in another post, don’t you)?
It seems that once it was just about the music, and having a good time. Now, it’s all about spectacle: bigger, better, brighter. The audience wants illusion, thrills, big screen video: it doesn’t matter very much whether the act cannot play worth shit.
[quote comment=”518″]Don Kirshner’s “In Concert” and “The Midnight Special” were programs in the 70s I always managed stay awake to see (even if I had to tiptoe past my parent’s bedroom to get to the living room where the television was kept).
Unlike bands’ concerts of today which are repeated, by and large, night after night, in town after town, by rote with very little change — you never knew what was going to happen from show to show with groups like BOA, The Dead and, of course, FZ. Perhaps video really did kill the radio star. I mean, where are the likes of a Jim Mangrum and a Ruby Starr today? Or the likes of such groups as Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Allman Brothers Band (you know I only pose this question so I can answer it in another post, don’t you)?
It seems that once it was just about the music, and having a good time. Now, it’s all about spectacle: bigger, better, brighter. The audience wants illusion, thrills, big screen video: it doesn’t matter very much whether the act cannot play worth shit.[/quote]
I want BOTH! In the seventies you had bands like The Tubes, Funkadelic, and Kiss who gave you good music AND a great show! Nowadays acts mime to backing tapes and copy ’70s and ’80s acts.
I fully disagree, Urban.
Just refuse to get old at your age.
1. Right now there have never been as much good rock / pop groups as ever before. And just as the groups from our youth were the first to take something new on boaod , i e electricity, in a creative way, the contemporary groups make use of new technologies.
Good to see that.
New opportunities, new ways, new problems for creativity.
Just one example. I’ve just listened to CDs from a couple of new, young groups from the Faeröer Islands ( in between Iceland & Norway). The name of these groups: Budam, Orca , Gestir and Boys in a Band. That’s great music, mixing as much elements as they can. Just My Space around.
2. And yes, it’s possible to have a good & instructive discussion amongst a composers widow, his son and a pupil, even on TV:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cKrZ3BsJiM
In case you might be interested in both percussion & new US music, there’s
http://www.sopercussion.com/
bernard, when was the last time you stepped away from your keyboard and actually SAW new music LIVE instead of just listening from a distance? The crux of this discussion isn’t nostalgia (or getting old at my age); rather, a comparison between the performers of different eras, and how the audience of today is being short-changed by present day performers. You cannot judge a performer’s talent simply listening to a CD or an mp3 file: it doesn’t always tell the truth concerning the artist’s real ability. You need to seem them live. My own experience, from the mid-80s onward, is that live performance has taken a backseat to visual and audio spectacle (i.e. taped music). Why not take your own advise and “have a good & instructive discussion” by actually experiencing something in person first before you begin to spout expertise on the subject. I grow weary of being accused of being old by you.
Urban, ” old man”,
Be sure, I attend an awful lot of concerts.
Still min 1 or 2 per week , self imposed discipline since more than 30 years.
That’s the way you just meet people.
Artists, or people in charge of programming, etc.
You just meet new people, you keep learning.
By the way , I’ll attend minimum 1 concert of the new musicians from the Faeröer Islands next week, over here in Brussels.
What I’m putting in the focus is exactly the opposite of an Internet experience.
Don’t forget to keep your head warm.
Uncle Floyd, nonkel Bob.
urban & bernard = waldorf & stadler
bernard, “young punker” “mr. moderne”
be sure, self imposed discipline results in the opposite of an Internet experience…
and attending a minimum of 1 concert of the new musicians is exactly the opposite focus, by the way, even in Brussels, the Faeröer Islands, or Canada for that matter…
people in charge just keep programming the artists, the people, Roland, etc., and refuse to see the programming for the program for they’re too busy listening to distortion and pretty flashing lights…
poultry is the best…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqyFjVnWwto&feature=related
urban, roland & bernard = the marx brothers
at the piano: http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=MoTyDD0C93U&feature=related
“Hot ‘N’ Nasty” is also covered with both style & grace by none other than the redoubtable KILLDOZER. I recommend “Uncompromising War On Art …” for this & many other reasons.
Rawk on, maaaaaaan.
That first BOA video looks and sounds like David Lee Roth singing Unconditionally Guaranteed-era Captain Beefheart.