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Summer in the City


Brad

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Violence never soles anything, just ask him to autograph a copy of his.

or this:

Remember that post-Santa Esmeralda world that lasted for a quick minute when everybody thought they would strike gold by discofying 60s hit? The only problem being...no, you had to do it right, not just do it. Santa Esmeralda only did it right once afaic, but they did it hella right. That shit was epic.

 

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3 hours ago, sgcim said:

I went nuts over 'Amy's Theme' when I heard it in the movie "You're a Big Boy Now" played by a harmonica. Its D-E-F C-B-A G-A G melody was the first ii V I lick I ever learned on my instrument, and I couldn't stop playing it. Since it was from the soundtrack, I wonder if Sebastian or a film composer wrote it.. It's similar to another ii V I lick song I loved at the time by Johnny 'Hammond' Smith, played by the great Houston Person, except that one had a 16th note pickup of C#, followed by a 16th note triplet D-F-A- then C(held for 2 and 1/2 beats) followed by B-C B-C-D B-G. Anyone know it?

It's kind of ironic that anything having to do with John Sebastian would have a jazz connotation; I recall reading a diatribe by Sebastian (maybe in Boone's book on the band?)about avoiding at all cost falling into what he described as the "Jazz Trap" when making a record. He meant including anything that had anything to do with jazz on a rock, folk or whatever, record would doom said record's commercial appeal. The fact that Clark Terry and Fathead played on "Darling Come Home Soon" (did anyone notice Sebastian's screwing up his entrance on the return to the chorus after the strings' played the A section?) is equally ironic, and DFN and CT should have given JS a sucker punch, after receiving a check for the date. Now that I know JS lives in the West Village, I feel tempted to do the same if i see him on the street.. After all, even I could take an 80 year-old man.:alien:

John Sebastian wrote the music for You're a Big Boy Now, including "Amy's Theme". Incidentally, it's not surprising that you picked up on the harmonica on that song. Sebastian's father was a classical harmonica player - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sebastian_(classical_harmonica_player - and some of the musical talent was obviously passed down.

John Sebastian lived in Woodstock for many years and, as far as I know, still resides there, so you'll have to take a bit of a road trip if you want to have a go at him.  I met him once, and he seemed like a truly nice guy. I mentioned that I had seen him at one of jazz guitarist Eddie Diehl's gigs. His response was, "He's my idol."  In addition to playing, Eddie Diehl was also a luthier, and did guitar work for Sebastian.

 

Edited by paul secor
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18 hours ago, paul secor said:

John Sebastian wrote the music for You're a Big Boy Now, including "Amy's Theme". Incidentally, it's not surprising that you picked up on the harmonica on that song. Sebastian's father was a classical harmonica player - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sebastian_(classical_harmonica_player - and some of the musical talent was obviously passed down.

John Sebastian lived in Woodstock for many years and, as far as I know, still resides there, so you'll have to take a bit of a road trip if you want to have a go at him.  I met him once, and he seemed like a truly nice guy. I mentioned that I had seen him at one of jazz guitarist Eddie Diehl's gigs. His response was, "He's my idol."  In addition to playing, Eddie Diehl was also a luthier, and did guitar work for Sebastian.

 

I thought the article said that he still lived in the West Village. That's just one long subway ride away on the A train...

I'll try and find the nonsense he wrote on the "Jazz Trap". It will change your opinion of him as "a truly nice guy", and you'll probably want to get in on the sucker punch scheme.

With you holding his arms for me, it will make the sucker punch much easier to land.:alien:

Eddie Diehl worked at that Folk Music Center in NYC during the 60s, repairing guitars for guys like JS. JS was probably picking up one of his guitars from Eddie when you saw him at Eddie's gig. If he idolized Eddie so much, why didn't he hire Eddie after he fired Zal? Imagine Eddie Diehl in The Lovin' Spoonful?;)

20 hours ago, JSngry said:

Violence never soles anything, just ask him to autograph a copy of his.

or this:

Remember that post-Santa Esmeralda world that lasted for a quick minute when everybody thought they would strike gold by discofying 60s hit? The only problem being...no, you had to do it right, not just do it. Santa Esmeralda only did it right once afaic, but they did it hella right. That shit was epic.

 

You're right, just listening to  that felt like I'd just been sucker punched. 

Edited by sgcim
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17 minutes ago, sgcim said:

I thought the article said that he still lived in the West Village. That's just one long subway ride away on the A train...

...

No, the article said he lives in Woodstock:

On a recent visit from Woodstock, where he has lived with his wife, Catherine, since 1976, he retraced his old Village route, more exuberant about the memories than wistful. “It’s all gone,” he said, “but so are the crooners. Everybody has their turn. When did I leave? The real answer is I’ll never leave the Village. It’s mine.”

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13 minutes ago, sgcim said:

I thought the article said that he still lived in the West Village. That's just one long subway ride away on the A train...

I'll try and find the nonsense he wrote on the "Jazz Trap". It will change your opinion of him as "a truly nice guy", and you'll probably want to get in on the sucker punch scheme.

With you holding his arms for me, it will make the sucker punch much easier to land.:alien:

Eddie Diehl worked at that Folk Music Center in NYC during the 60s, repairing guitars for guys like JS. JS was probably picking up one of his guitars from Eddie when you saw him at Eddie's gig. If he idolized Eddie so much, why didn't he hire Eddie after he fired Zal? Imagine Eddie Diehl in The Lovin' Spoonful?;)

 

I'm not into suck punching anyone. Too old and not into violence. Plus, I'll trust my own take from meeting him over what was in an old article.
The Times article showed a photo of John Sebastian in the West Village. I'm sure he still lives in Woodstock.
Eddie Diehl lived in Poughkeepsie for a fair number of years. I don't know if he and Sebastian knew each other when both were in NYC, but he worked on guitars for Sebastian in recent years.
And as far as I know, Sebastian didn't fire Zal Yanovsky. According to stories and interviews, Zal ended up leaving the Spoonful because of the drug bust situation and because he wasn't happy with the more introspective turn that Sebastian's songwriting had taken.

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4 hours ago, paul secor said:

I'm not into suck punching anyone. Too old and not into violence. Plus, I'll trust my own take from meeting him over what was in an old article.
The Times article showed a photo of John Sebastian in the West Village. I'm sure he still lives in Woodstock.
Eddie Diehl lived in Poughkeepsie for a fair number of years. I don't know if he and Sebastian knew each other when both were in NYC, but he worked on guitars for Sebastian in recent years.
And as far as I know, Sebastian didn't fire Zal Yanovsky. According to stories and interviews, Zal ended up leaving the Spoonful because of the drug bust situation and because he wasn't happy with the more introspective turn that Sebastian's songwriting had taken.

According to the book "Hotter Than a Match Head: Life on the Run With the Lovin' Spoonful" by Steve Boone, the bass player for the LS, "It had been John (Sebastian) that instigated Zally's firing in 1967. He'd never explicitly admitted it, but I know he was regretful". P.287

Later on, JS and ZY played a reunion concert on the Isle of Wight in 1979, where ZY yelled at him, "You fired me!", and JS jokingly responded, "I thought you quit!"

The infamous drug bust situation prevented ZY from being deported back to Canada, so it had nothing to do with ZY leaving the LS.

We've decided to settle the situation non-violently, by emailing JS a link to the disco version of 'Summer in the City', so I can avoid having to drive up to Woodstock. This would be punishment enough for JS' cynical statement on not falling into the "Jazz Trap" when the LS recorded their many hits in the 60s.

As an extra treat, I will include a story Boone included in his above-named book.

The LS found themselves on a plane flight with Miles Davis seated right near them. JS got up and went into a long spiel about how much he loved Kind of Blue and Sketches of Spain, and how much Miles had contributed to the arts in the US, etc...

Miles responded to JS, "I don't talk to honkies"

Js went back to his seat...

4 hours ago, T.D. said:

No, the article said he lives in Woodstock:

On a recent visit from Woodstock, where he has lived with his wife, Catherine, since 1976, he retraced his old Village route, more exuberant about the memories than wistful. “It’s all gone,” he said, “but so are the crooners. Everybody has their turn. When did I leave? The real answer is I’ll never leave the Village. It’s mine.”

 

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2 hours ago, sgcim said:

According to the book "Hotter Than a Match Head: Life on the Run With the Lovin' Spoonful" by Steve Boone, the bass player for the LS, "It had been John (Sebastian) that instigated Zally's firing in 1967. He'd never explicitly admitted it, but I know he was regretful". P.287

Later on, JS and ZY played a reunion concert on the Isle of Wight in 1979, where ZY yelled at him, "You fired me!", and JS jokingly responded, "I thought you quit!"

The infamous drug bust situation prevented ZY from being deported back to Canada, so it had nothing to do with ZY leaving the LS.

We've decided to settle the situation non-violently, by emailing JS a link to the disco version of 'Summer in the City', so I can avoid having to drive up to Woodstock. This would be punishment enough for JS' cynical statement on not falling into the "Jazz Trap" when the LS recorded their many hits in the 60s.

As an extra treat, I will include a story Boone included in his above-named book.

The LS found themselves on a plane flight with Miles Davis seated right near them. JS got up and went into a long spiel about how much he loved Kind of Blue and Sketches of Spain, and how much Miles had contributed to the arts in the US, etc...

Miles responded to JS, "I don't talk to honkies"

Js went back to his seat...

 

This video (which includes Steve Boone and Zal) tells a different story:

 As for the drug bust, the self righteous rock press of the day came down on Zal hard and brought bad publicity for both him and the band.
I'll leave you to your revenge fantasies.

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1 hour ago, paul secor said:

This video (which includes Steve Boone and Zal) tells a different story:

 As for the drug bust, the self righteous rock press of the day came down on Zal hard and brought bad publicity for both him and the band.
I'll leave you to your revenge fantasies.

That video just shows that Sebastian wanted to get rid of Zal, because Zal didn't like the stuff Sebastian was writing, and was clowning around, which everybody actually enjoyed (including me). He didn't want to fire him himself, so he called a meeting, and let the other guy fire him.

Rolling Stone magazine found out that Boone and Zal informed on the drug dealer who sold them the dope. Then the cops said their records would be clean if they would introduce a member of the law enforcement to the dope party that they were going to, as a music industry friend of theirs', so he could bust the drug dealer, and some more of those evil drug-taking hippies. The Lovin' Spoonful were then branded as Finks by Ralph J. Gleason and Jan Wenner of Rolling Stone.

It all sounds like the plot of a bad B movie from the 60s, directed by Roger Corman!

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On 14.9.2018 at 0:58 AM, JSngry said:

Remember that post-Santa Esmeralda world that lasted for a quick minute when everybody thought they would strike gold by discofying 60s hit? The only problem being...no, you had to do it right, not just do it. Santa Esmeralda only did it right once afaic, but they did it hella right. That shit was epic.

 

One of Disco's best moments for sure .... 

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