Rooster_Ties

WARNING: Rooster made ties on up into the 70's, and they got wider too!!! Some were 3 inches wide, and even as wide as 4 inches!! The colors got more noisy and bold, and these "wider" Roosters are of much less interest to me. (I have one or two, but I never wear them.) The trouble is that you often can't tell the width of Rooster ties just by looking at the pictures. These are 3-inches wide. Notice how the colors are louder? - and the designs are usually less subtle too.

These aren't the best examples ever, but they give you an idea of the range of Rooster ties that were made...

Vintage clothing stores and eBay are probably my best sources. I'll go months and months without seeing any, and then out of the blue - I'll stumble on 5 or 10 eBay auctions, usually all from the same seller. Or I'll be out of town, and walk into a vintage store with a dozen or more high-quality Roosters. But more often than not, my searches come up dry. If you go to quite a few vintage stores, you tend to find which ones have the highest chance of having any. There's two Vintage stores here in Kansas City that occasionally get them in. And there's one good store in St. Louis.

It was a brand name. There were some other brands that also made square-bottom times, "Ernst" being probably the second best in quality. "Tina" was another brand, and there were some others too. But "Rooster" had the best designs, by far. Muted colors, often dark or medium in hue. Multi-color Batik fabric with some really interesting designs. I don't have any kind of set-up to photograph my collection, but as I encounter on-line images, I'll post some more of them here.

This particular tie is somewhat less than top-drawer, but it includes a better shot of the "Rooster" tag.

Vintage stores usually, or occasionally I'll find one at a thrift store (Salvation Army or Goodwill), or occasially at estate sales. Sometimes on eBay, or some other on-line "vintage clothing" stores.

The picture of Schuller in a Rooster tie (look for the pic of him conducting) is in the notes to this album... I don't have a scanner, but if anyone else has a scanner, and also has this CD...

Anything for March 18th, 1969?? PS: The closest BN dates for me are... Elvin Jones - "The Prime Element" (the date one with Lee Morgan) - March 14th 1969 Reuben Wilson - "Love Bug" - March 21st, 1969

Years ago, when I was back in high school, I answered some Jimi Hendrix trivia question right on the local classic-rock station (K-SHE), and I won free tickets to see the band America play live (in St. Louis, at the Fox Theater). Yikes - America!!! (I think the question was, what Hendrix song does this line come from: "Not necessarily stoned, but beautiful"??? -- Answer: "Are You Experienced") Well, at least Graham Nash was the opening act (solo, backed by his band at the time) -- and as I recall, he was pretty good. (America was pretty lame as I recall.) This would have been circa 1986 or maybe early 1987. PS: Nash was probably out in support of this solo album of his, from 1986... Innocent Eyes (Atlantic, 1986)

Nothing. Closest matches are Grant Green's "Visions" from May 21st, 1971; to Bobby Hutcherson's "Head On" from July 1st, 1971. Actually, there is one other title in the middle of those two dates, but no specific date is given: Jimmy McGriff's "Black Pearl" just says "1971" with no month or day given, but it is listed in the discography right between the Green and Hutch titles I just mentioned. (Source: 2001 edition of the Complete BN Discograpy) Anybody else???

Here's a music-theme Rooster, complete with the tag visible... I've got about 50 or 60 of these, with all kinds of themes. And for the most part, I haven't worn a traditional "pointy"-end tie for about 6 or 7 years.

Just thought I'd pass along a couple pics of some good "Rooster" band ties from the late 50's and early 60's. All of them have (had) square bottoms, and were pretty thin (usually about 2 inches in diameter). Unlike "pointy"-end ties, the sides of the tie were parallel for most of the tie, until you got to where you started to tie it around your neck. I've seen pictures from the 50's, of both Gil Evans and Gunther Schuller wearing what are probably Rooster ties (or at least what they're wearing are narrow square-bottom ties that sure look like Roosters to me). If I can find the pics of Evans and Schuller on-line, I'll be sure to post 'em.

No BN dates were recorded on my birthday (March 18th, 1969), but I used to think it was moderately cool to have discovered that Jimi Hendrix recorded his studio version of The Star Spangled Banner on my actual date of birth. (Trouble is, however, that I don't particularly care for his studio version - with it's 5x overdubbed guitar parts. It's interesting, sure - but nowhere near as powerful as the Woodstock version.) I'd love to find out what other sessions (jazz, or rock) were recorded on my date of birth, however.

CDBaby is the good one - and where Organissimo CD's are currently sold. Jim's had nothing but good things to say about them. (And I know of at least 3 Kansas City artists (all friends of mine) that have discs available through CDBaby as well.)

I'm not much for vocal jazz in general (and thus I own very little vocal jazz), but I do have a boatload of Steve Coleman CD's, and Ms. Wilson guests on about half-a-dozen of his discs, with results I find both interesting and enjoyable. (I know that sounds like faint praise, but you gotta realize I really don't go for vocal jazz much.)

McDonalds has close to 50% interest in Chipotle. Can't remember if it's like 40%, or 60%. There's a few of them around here, in Kansas City. They're good (and much better than McDonalds, that's for sure), but there are a couple other similar places around here that I like better than Chipotle.

What, we're supposed to stop posting then? I swear, no one ever told me! People tell me that all the time. I must get 2 or 3 PM's every day telling me to put a sock in it.

That image won't be hosted forever, so here is it, attached to this thread...

No, thank YOU!!!

I probably wouldn't put the Ruttles in there, but Spinal Tab definitely needs to go somewhere in the top 500 (though down in the 400's, for sure).

They're album covers!! Don't you recognize them????? Just for people like you, I even made them 'clickable' (the covers themselves, in my post right above this one) - to go to their AMG reviews.

Yeah, maybe so they can finish her off. Don't know whether to laugh or cry. Probably both are appropriate. PS: Glad to see you posting more, Jazz. Keep it up!! Good to have you around.

So, what do people who have this disc (or a burn of it), what do you think of the performance?? I've always liked it, quite a bit actually. Generally I think this band (with Land, recorded live in 1969 - meaning this particular disc, the JMY release) is a bit tighter (and the performance a bit better), than Hutch's 1973 performance/recording with Woody Shaw at Montreux (the one on BN). (Still wouldn't give up either of them, cuz any Woody is worth having, doncha know!!! )

Yeah, and where the hell is this: ?????? - which is clearly one of the very best albums of it's kind. Heck, it's only rival is possibly this: . ( And not to be confused with this: - which certainly has it's moments, but ultimately doesn't quite cut it. )

Wal-Mart holiday sales sets a new record