JSngry

Here's an at best semi-sensible suggestion - Don Preston is alive and - presumably - still functional. If he wanted to pimp the set outwards to the more intensely musically minded Zappaphiles, he could, and there's a whole other market window right there. But I don't think Mosaic is up to the job, and never will be. This is bigger than where they are now, and impossible for where they appear to be going. And "institutional neglect"...for old-school paranoiacs like myself, the suspicion that the neglect is at least a little intentional can never be shaken entirely. There are elements of society that do not want this music and what it represents to be "on the radar", and if it slowly withers away and disappears while they look the other way, that's ok with them.

I'd buy a John Carter set for sure, in a minute. I'm sure some of the "others" would too. And if they could get rights to anything on Moers, they could flesh it out with an extra CD and have an extra-great set: I've yet to hear the solo record, and only have Variations on an old cassette dub. And clearing shelf-space from the R&F single CDs would be nice Frankly, though, I think ideas like this are nothing but fantasy. Mosaic does not seem to be interested in doing this type of work anymore, especially pursuing material on labels like Moers, where a LOT of great records got made under some not always transparent financial circumstances. But if they were... Ronald Shannon Jackson. Decoding Society and otherwise. There's some music there!

I watched that show myself, just last night. A wonderful presentation, recommended to anybody who's interested even slightly. https://www.pbs.org/video/decoding-da-vinci-93ssvo/

Cuscuna was busting your chops, man. Your time for payback will come. I'd live in fear if I was him.

I used to get WLS after dark all the way down here, that clear-channel thing was intense. This was the late 1960s into 1970, before Top 40 had become so damn controlled, and you could hear a different mix of songs by scanning the dial, and we could get from Denver up to Iowa to Memphis to New Orleans, and, of course, Mexico. That was cool. And getting the temp at Midway in the winter - that was cold. That was then, and the first post-conversion experience I had going back to WLS was, like, 1973 or so, and yeah, I nearly barfed out loud. But if you would have lived closer to Chicago, you would have had access to at least one R&B station. How - or if - they transitioned to rap/hip-hop, I have no idea.

Wanted, dead or alive - Bill Barron. Although, Billy Harper, lest he become Bill Barron

WHAT????

Was Woody himself doing the schlep? Have they moved him to doing that now?

There was no R&B (code for "black") radio in Boston then? Or there was R&B radio in Boston but they were avoiding all Rap/Hip-Hop as late as 1986? Either one sounds weird but not impossible to me. I mean, James Brown saved the city on live TV in 1968, there HAD to be R&B radio?!?!?!?! The biggest R&B station here (K104) resisted rap initially, but by 1986...resistance was futile. I mean, "Rapper's Delight" was 1979 who DIDN'T hear that one? By 1986, the younger African-American audience was pretty much demanding that programming include this no longer "new" music. There were not yet any dedicated "hip hop" stations, but pretty much any competitive R&B stations was including the biggest rap hits. And the 12"s all were in the better record stores, I still have some Sugar Hill (both label AND Gang) OGs from back then that I treasure almost as much as my OG BNs. So, here, anyway, there was certainly an awareness and an availability, and, obviously, a market. Surely Boston's blackfolk were at least as hip as their DFW counterparts? Boston, quietly racist as it is reputed to be, is still GOTTA be hipper than DFW, right? True story - our local public access station had a daily noontime(!) show by a guy named Nippy Jones (aka "The Wiki-Wiki Man") that played only hip-hop, a lot of it local (and a lot of it REALLY shitty...bot not all of it, not at all), and pretty soon the ratings spoke for themselves. Next thing you know, he's doing the same show on K104 Fridays at midnight, then soon it was two nights a week, and so forth. Now, he's an institution, and K104 plays hip-hop exclusively. What used to be the other R&B station in town long ago gave up and switched to a "Classic R&B" format which pretty much only covers the years when rap/hip-hop was coming on strong and the "grown folks" didn't want to hear about it (again, The Masses). So if you want to hear some Cherrelle, that's where you go. I still check out both often enough..at this point, I got roots there, not born-in roots, but planted long enough ago that they're not going away roots. Time/Place/Musical Pull/Career Destiny roots. James Brown saved Boston in 1968, James Brown saved me in 1970. Others soon followed suit, John Coltrane AND Al Green, like that. "Rock" so not in the mix, not even a question. And to listen to K104 at the height of the mid-70sP-Funk/EW&F market-conjunction was magical, especially late at night when they played the 12"s instead of the 15s. There was not one bad record got played, not one! But nowadays, still no radio outlet for First Wave rap, which might well be my favorite of all. That shit swung like a Jackie McLean solo. Maybe the Smithsonian thing will get me yet! But yeah, let's hear some Cherrelle!

Uh, the radio? That's how I first heard them. I knew where all the stations were, it wasn't particularly complicated. Life might be segregated, radio programming certainly was/is, but radios themself never were. The dial moved if you were curious enough to move it. Dude, I played those places. Never went to the hospital because of it. Then again, Boston has a reputation of quietly being one of the most racist cities in America, so perhaps your fears were instilled by a system outside of your control. Still, the radio, dude, the radio. The biggest drag was starting the 70s expecting the 60s to continue, only to have it turn into the 70s, and then realizing that the 80s were not going to be anything but even worse. Etc. I have no real nostalgia for the "products" of the 60s, they're old and no longer relevant. Get over it already. But the spirit of curiosity and possibility that enabled them, a lot of that was good, imo, and the f-ing Boomers killed it, stuffed and mounted it, and aren't about to let it come back in a current, relevant iteration unless it can be monetized and 401K-ed (at which point, it's not really THAT, is it?). Like I said, suicidal.

That's not a bad call, not at all.

What I liked about The Ramones was that they recognized and embraced the inherent smallness of the premise that any of it really matters outside of one quick, disposable moment. And of course, there's the delicious irony that they kept that moment mattering for several decades, without ever getting megapopular, no stadium tours or anything like that! But still...no pretense. And tempos, the put the motion back into that music. LOVED them for doing that. The point is to get your ass shaking real good real hard real fast for a quick minute. That's it. If you want something deeper, don't do "rock". And that's where it got fucked up - people though that that's where deeper was, and that's where they stayed. The only thing deeper there was that fucking hole they dug for themselves. It was pretty funny in real time, though. the Ramones. I distinctly remember being in Peaches when their first LP came out, and the store put it on...and then took it off before the side was over. Customer discomfort was obvious! Then they put on some "rock" crap, some more yayhooholleringguitarheavysludgemusic. Everything returned to normal. I bought a few of their Sire 45s shortly thereafter (and a great thing about that early Punk was that yes, 45s!!!!), and "normal" people (when I came around them), were all like, yuck, it's too fast, the song's too short, those lyrics are stupid, etc. People were embracing letting the crankcase get all sludged up instead of putting in nice new oil. Never trust The Popular Masses. Never. Even when they get it right, don't trust them.

I first hear Buckner on that Cobblestone Newport In New York Jam Session Vol. 1 record, the set with Mingus & Tate & McPherson, (OMG that was a great set) and was hooked immediately. I was like THIS MOTHERFUCKER IS NUTS!!!!!! So that's my Buckner Baseline right there. No Dexter recording in particular triggered this consideration, it was just one of those things where the record's playing in the car and, you know, the 4th or 5th time through, it was like, oh, really? Hmmm, let's delve into this a little more. I guess you could compare the "Willow Weep For Me" on Our Man In Paris to the Arnett version on this record, if you want a direct A-B comparison. but I think I hear it more on Arnett's "Deep Purple". That MG thing is one of the few truly invaluable contributions to this board, btw. I hope it gets archived correctly outside of here.

That's funny...Run-DMC was well established long before they did "Rock This Way". I still to this day drop "It's like that - and that's the way that it is" into casual conversation...and all the young people roll their eyes. But there was a "golden age" of "hip hop" predating that one. If you like it REALLY "old school", there's a rich library out there. What made run-DMC stand out in the beginning was how hard they were. They didn't swing, they drove. I had mixed emotions about that then, and still do, really. Again, "history" doesn't exist until "White People" notice something happening. I say that not to question the validity of the "White Experience" but just to point out how limited it so often is.

I love Milt Buckner. I feel like I'm at a Harlem dance ca. 1953. Ok, I dream that I'm at a Harlem dance ca. 1953. I wasn't born in 1953, I've never been to Harlem, and I can't dance for shit. So even if I was there then, helluva lot of good it would do me. Anyway...there's a whole other context for that sound of organ (never mind the actual substance, Buckner is one of the slyest and/or wackiest wits in jazz history) besides roller rinks and sporting events. I recently got a 10" Epic LP of Wild Bill Davis and he's got that sound. Bill Doggett had that sound, although not as blatant as Buckner. It's like saying that early-ish jazz is "cartoon music". No, it's not. If it's anything, t's the other way around. Somewhere on this board is a nice look at pre-Jimmy Smith jazz organ, courtesy of MIA The Magnificent Goldberg (should I get a flag to put on my hog?). It's worthy reading.

The whispers, yes. But the declarative statements work in Dexter's voice really, really well. Not trying to suggest "influence" here, just noting an underlying commonality between two players not generally linked together. Music as a true language instead of just a set of styles. Spent a few days listening to that record toying with this Dexter/Arnett thing. Tried to identify a Lionel Hampton Tenor Gene along the way. Got close, but couldn't quite lock it up.

Liv can have anything she wants, afaic, just as long as it doesn't have to come from me personally.

I might need to go back and revisit this one, but I recall a rather extreme intonation issue on Byrd's part? Not just occasionally, but nonstop? I could never understand how that happened, either. Byrd in those days was generally a dead-on (or really close to it) guy with his pitch.

Oh, you were a photographer's assistant? One of those guys who could show up to a tux gig in jeans and something resembling a former sports shirt? I know your type!!!! Hardly ever played "Freebird", actually. Thank god. But when I played with a biker band (called Booster Cable and the Jump Starts, I swear to god), we played that and ALL the "Southern Rock" standards...I came to realize that I must be missing some kind of cultural gene, because none of that stuff triggered anything affectionate in me at all. In general, I think the early-mid 70s were a shitshow shambles for White Mainstream (now known as "Classic") Rock. So much noise, so little no substance, so much brainwashing that nothing matters except "rocking". R&B and Salsa (the other two pop genres I had a window to) were soaring, this crap was just getting worse and worse, sinking into the tarpits of trappiness - and selling more and more. It took a combination of Punk & Power Pop to restore anything I could feel comfortable staying in the room with. Ghost, you talk about "Dazed and Confused"...that's not a happy movie. It's a deep tragedy, really. that it does not readily recognize itself as such...there ya' go, QED.

I was struck by how little it would take to turn this into a Dexter Gordon jam. The voices are unique, but the vocabulary, syntax, and perhaps most surprisingly (or not?), the cadences of speech overlap more than a little.

It's all part of a whole, yes.

Bill Medley's still around?

"Slow Ride" is another one I played at countless weddings. Ugh. I don't like that kind of rock. Didn't like it then, don't like it now. Lowest common denominator sludge. Or maybe I just don't like unimaginative drunken weddings, where initial "classiness" inevitably devolves into sloppy crudeness and stays there. Same thing, though, really. Not once have I played this at a wedding, and that's too bad,

RUN DMC was the first time I even gave half a rat''s as about "Aerosmith". When I finally heard the original, I was more than a little underwhelmed. "Sweet Emotion"...God I played that in wedding bands for years, cringing every step of the way at those lyrics, before finally asking sombody hey, who did that bullshit song in the first place? Aerosmith, dude, big hit back in the day, and OK yeah, no wonder then. I find that whole type of erathing repulsive and repugnant (both!!!) not because it's "rock" but because ultimately it degrades everything I find interesting about life, including sex and drugs and impulsive behavior, none of which are bad in and of themselves, just not as default behaviors with no counterforce as much as even remotely being considered. But those guys...yeah, i'm glad they all cleaned up, maybe, sure, whatever, but apart from that, yet another confirmation to me that The Boomer Masses were and are essentially a suicidal bunch of deliusional infantiles not to be trusted with adulthood, ever. But hey, they were.

A #2 pencil, please.