AACM in Pop Culture!

[Spontooneous]

Read about it here.

[ghost of miles]

My local record-store-owner buddy hipped me to this several years ago:

In 1980 longtime friends Greg Steltenpohl, Gerry Percy, and Bonnie Bassett started squeezing fresh orange juice in a backyard shed in Santa Cruz, California. With the aid of a used $200 hand-juicer and crates of oranges, the friends made juice and delivered it to local restaurants in vans. The founders picked the Odwalla name from a musical piece by The Art Ensemble of Chicago. According to the song, Odwalla was a leader who guided the "people of the sun" out of the "gray haze." The love-bead-swapping, flower-powered founders believed their Odwalla beverages would help create "a clearing in 'the gray haze' of the processed foods market." Since its inception, Odwalla has had an average annual growth rate of approximately 40 percent; it is presently the largest fresh juice brand in the western United States.

Odwalla

Odwalla's a pretty popular beverage line at our three local health-food co-ops here in B-town.

[clifford_thornton]

Yeah, I definitely drink Odwalla because of the AEC reference, BUT they pushed a local juice maker out of business about a year ago that had infringed on their market share. Business is business, I know, but couldn't they all just get along?

Read about it here.

Huh?

[Joe Bip]

Business is business, I know, but couldn't they all just get along?

Yes, until Odwalla got bought out by Coca-Cola.

[clifford_thornton]

Ah.

[clifford_thornton]

Now if somebody has a juice called Ntasiah... or at least Red Black & Green, I might buy it on BAG principle.

[ep1str0phy]

I got the sense that the Odwalla purchase was kind of a sore spot. As might be expected, the juice just isn't as high-quality anymore. I certainly didn't drink any around Roscoe...

[ghost of miles]

Same thing happened with the Naked line of juice/fruit drinks a few years back, I believe--taken over by a larger entity, and the product quality declined noticeably.

[umum_cypher]

Babyboomers with a hippy past buy into ruthless supercapitalism as soon as the opportunity presents itself? Well I never.

[clifford_thornton]

Same thing happened with the Naked line of juice/fruit drinks a few years back, I believe--taken over by a larger entity, and the product quality declined noticeably.

Ah yes, also an AEC reference!

[Kalo]

Speaking of AACM and popular culture/music, didn't the funk band Earth, Wind, and Fire have AACM roots?

[JSngry]

Chicago roots, yes (although I've been told by esteemed member Ed Rhodes - who was definitely there - that I overstate the degree, so in deference to somebody whose opinion I fully respect, let's say some Chicago roots, and let me throw in my still-held opinion that Charles Stepney was the "crystallizing element" for that band), but direct, connect-the-dots AACM roots...not among the key figures, but....both Henry Threadgill & Roscoe Mitchell openly express their admiration for Don Myrick: http://www.jayepurplewolf.com/EARTHWINDFIR...henixhorns.html

Is this site accurate in stating that Myrick was a founding member of the AACM?

[Kalo]

Interesting stuff, Jim. Thanks!

[Chuck Nessa]

Is this site accurate in stating that Myrick was a founding member of the AACM?

Roscoe and Myrick met in high school. Myrick participated in some of the early "Experimental Band" rehearsals, as did Eddie Harris and Satterfield among others, but this was before the formation of the AACM.

[ATR]

The full story of the AACM, including its links to bands like Paul Butterfield Blues Band, EW&F, and Miles Davis is told in George Lewis's excellent book about the AACM. Buy it, and read it. Support the cultural tradition.