Category: Cool Stuff

Who Freaked The Freaks: The Whose Who Are On The Freak Out! List

~ Tom Casetta ~ Leave a comment

So who were those folks and who are they?  Here you go.

AERNI, DAVE:  Singer. Was “The Rotations” (Heavies) together with Paul Buff, and was also the manager of “The Tornadoes” (Bustin’ Surfboards). Released pre-Mothers of Inventions,  Ron Roman recording of Frank Zappa’s “Love Of My Life.” (overdubbed on Zappa’s instrumental tracks. Credited himself and Roman as co-composers.)

ALLBERG, JERRY:  Probably a misspelling of Jerry Ullberg.   Recorded December or January 1958/59 in an empty classroom at Antelope Valley Junior College in Lancaster, California.

ALLEN, LEONARD:  Boyhood friend of Frank Zappa.

AREL, BULENT: Another modern composer. Works include, Electronic Study No. 1, Sacred Service Prelude and Postlude, Fragment/DAVIDOVSKY: Electronic Study No. 2/USSACHEVSKY: Linear Contrasts, Metamorphosis, and Improvisation-4711

ATLER, BOBBY: Unidentified

BAEZ, JOAN: Folk singer

BAKER, DIANE: American film actress, sex symbol. Appears in “Journey to the Center of the Earth.”

BALLARD, MR.: Mr. Ballard was the high school music instructor at Antelope Valley High. He let Zappa conduct the orchestra a couple of times, let him write music on the blackboard, and had the orchestra play it.

BARBER, DICK: Mothers of Invention’s road manager. Appears in 200 Motels as the Gypsy Mutant Vacuum Cleaner.

BECK, JOHN: A member of The Leaves

BEE, MOLLY: Cute & perky hillbilly singer who was a regular on The Jimmy Dean Show on TV in the 1960s. Was a regular on Pinky Lee and Steve Allen TV shows as well.

BELLI, MELVIN: Flamboyant American defense attorney, who defended Jack Ruby in his trial for shooting Lee Harvey Oswald.

BERRY, RICHARD: Wrote the song Louie Louie.

BOKELMANS, THE: Unidentified

BOULEZ, PIERRE: French conductor/composer. Later conducted an FZ album.

BRIGHAM, SYLVIA: Perhaps an early acquaintance as she holds degrees or certificate from Pomona College (1959).  She performed as soprano soloist with the New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Domaine Musical of Paris, and Maggio Musicale in Florence, to mention only a few, under the batons of Pierre Boulez.  Hans Werner Henze, Lukas Foss and Francesco Molinari-Pradella, among others. Her recordings range from early music through Puccini up to avant-garde works.

BROSSMAN, DR.:  Sidney W. Brossman was the first Chancellor of the CA Community Colleges . He guided California’s community colleges as they separated from the Department of Education and the K-12 system to form an independent system of higher education

BROWN, CHARLES: Blues singer. Main influence of Ray Charles.

BROWN, CLARENCE GATEMOUTH: R&B singer and guitarist.

BRUCE, LENNY: Comedian/orator. Performed with the Mothers.

BUFF, PAUL: Original owner of Studio Z. Built a multi-track recorder when such a thing was unheard of.

BUNN, TEDDY: American jazz and blues guitarist of the first half 20th Century.

CAROL: Unidentified

CERVERIS, DON: Zappa’s high school English teacher.

CHEKA, MARK

Manager before Herb Cohen.

COHEN, HERB: Frank’s manager. Artists’ rep & manager a/k/a agent. Handled a number of folk acts at the same time as he handled the Mothers of Invention.

COLLINS, ALBERT: Blues guitarist/singer who at the time was best known for his blues instrumentals.

CORDY: Unidentified

CRAFT, ROBERT: As Stravinsky’s confidante, he was able to document the details of his thoughts and experiences so Igor could just compose. Conducted Varese, Stravinsky, and Webern. Recorded all of Stravinsky’s works in the 1990s with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.

CROSBY, DAVID: American guitarist/singer. Member of The Byrds.

CRUMP, DADDY-O CURTIS: Unidentified

DALI, SALVADOR: Catalan surrealist painter with a big moustache.

DE CAMP, ROSEMARIE: American TV actress who played Mom on “The Adventures of Dobie Gillis” as well as Bob Cummings’ sister on “Love That Bob.” She also made TV commercials.

DE COVA, FRANK: De Kova, misspelled on the Freak Out list. Played in the TV series “The Untouchables.”

DE SANTIS, JOE: American film actor, usually played tough guys. Played in the tv series “The Untouchables.”

DE WEES, RANDY: Unidentified

DI CARL, GEORGE: Unidentified

DIAMOND, SKIP: Musician. He features as a guest vocalist on Canned Heat’s “Hallelujah” (1969) album.

DIXON, WILLIE: Blues producer, bass player, and writer of a great many classic blues songs (Spoonful, Little Red Rooster, Back Door Man, etc. etc.) Worked extensively with Muddy Waters.

DOBBS, FRED C.: The greedy & amoral character played by Humphrey Bogart in “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” (1948). Also a  little mid 60’s Sunset Strip club (just down from Ben Franks)

DOLPHY, ERIC: American jazz saxophone/clarinet player. Performed with Charlie Mingus.

DON & DEWEY: West coast R&B duo.

DONNA #1: Unidentified

DONNA #2: Unidentified

DYLAN, BOB: American folk singer. AKA Robert Zimmerman.

ECONOMIDES, JIM: Producer for Capitol records, tried on suits in the studio while telling an engineer to put “more bass” on “Surfer Girl” by the Beach Boys while Zappa was there trying to pitch him his Studio Z recordings.

EILER, SHIRLEY: Faculty of Antelope Valley High School.

EPSTEIN, BRIAN: Manager of the Beatles and some other bands.

EVANS, BILL: Jazz pianist, harmonic innovator, composer. Member of one of Miles classic quintets.

EVY: Unidentified

FEIFFER, JULES: Cartoonist/author beloved by 60’s bohemians.

FERLINGHETTI, LAWRENCE:  S.F. Poet, publisher, author, book store owner City Lights Bookstore. Important west coast bohemian. Published Howl and was therefore involved in censorship court battles.

FLOYD: Unidentified

FORSYTHE, CECIL: Forsyth misspelled on Freak Out list. British musicologist. Published a book entitled “Orchestration” in 1914.

FRANKLIN, JOHNNY: Played with Zappa in the Blackouts.

FREEMAN, ERNIE: R&B musician.

FYLLIS:  Producer Tom  Wilson’s secretary, Phyllis Altenhaus.

GARRET, SNUFF: Noted record producer of the 50s-70s.

GENE & EUNICE: American R&B duo of the 1950s. Recorded the original version of “This Is My Story”.

GORCZYCA, LEONARD: Unidentified

GORDON, BRUCE: Played Frank Nitti in the tv series “The Untouchables.”

GREENE, VERNON: Recorded “The Letter” with the Medallions, one of Frank Zappa”s favorite records.

GREENHOUSE, CARL: Unidentified

GUERCIO, JIM: James William Guercio. Briefly was a member of the Mothers of Invention. Made his name circa 1970 as producer of very big-selling records by Blood Sweat & Tears and Chicago Transit Authority.

GUITAR SLIM: American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter.

GUY, BUDDY: Blues guitarist/singer.

HABA, ALOIS: Composer who experimented with microtonal intervals including not only quarter tones but also fifth tones and sixth tones.

HANCOCK, HUNTER: R&B and rock DJ

HARRIS, JEFF: Unidentified

HIGGINS, CHUCK: R&B sax player.

HOWARD, JOHN TASKER: American musicologist, composer, author, first half of 20th Century.

HOWLIN’ WOLF: American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter.

HUGGY BOY: So. Cal. DJ (and later TV host).

HUSTON, JOE: Unidentified

HUXLEY, ANIMAL: LA Freak related to Aldous Huxley. Actually Aldous Huxley’s granddaughter.

HYPNOTIST, THE: Unidentified

IRWIN, LEW: LA radio newsman of the 60’s, original member of The Credibility Gap, which started as a satirical news radio troupe and mutated into a kind of Firesign Theatre-esque comedy group with Harry Shearer, Michael McKean and David Lander (the first two are two members of Spinal Tap, the last two were Lenny and Squiggy).

IVES, CHARLES: Composer from Connecticut who predicted many ideas typical to 20th century music such as serialism, polytonality, et cetera before they were “popular.”

JAMIESON, BOBBY: Bobby Jameson, an LA freak Zappa arranged both sides of his “Gotta Find My Roogalator” 45 in 1966.

JEEPERS: B-movie talk show host

JOHNSON, LYN: Could would be Lyndon B. Johnson Thirty-Sixth US President 1963-1969.

JOYCE: Unidentified

JOYCE, JAMES: Irish author of Ulysses, which was involved in a landmark censorship case.

JULIAN, DON: R&B singer with the Meadowlarks.

KAGEL, MAURICIO: Contemporary classical composer. He has written some scores that are entirely text. He also has a piece whose score is prefaced by 202 symbols, 150 of which are not in standard usage. Used prepared pianos in some of his pieces.

KAYE, JESSE:  Old-time producer or recording engineer for MGM and Verve. Used to do lots of soundtrack albums.

KEENE, BOB: Owner of Donna/Del-Fi Records.

KIRK, ROLAND:  Unbelievable jazz woodwind musician, composer. Famed for playing multiple wind instruments at once.

KIRKMAN, TERRY: A member of The Association (“Along Comes Mary”).

KOHN, KARL: 20th Century composer. Music professor at Pomona College

KRONHAUSEN, EBERHARD: Author. Wrote THE SEXUALLY RESPONSIVE WOMAN. Art critic and filmmaker, most of whose works concern erotic art.

LABOE, ART: Owner Of Original Sound Records

LAL, CHATUR: Indian tabla player – Ravi Shankar’s accompanist until his death in 1965.

LAUREN: Lived with Zappa and participated in the party tape for which Zappa was busted.

LIGHTNIN’ SLIM: Another American bluesman.

LITTLE WALTER: One of the greats of blues harmonica. Played on many Muddy Waters records.

LOEB & LEOPOLD: Mid twentieth century “thrill killers” famed for cooly plotting unmotivated murder. Probably included for shock/dada value. Better known as Leopold & Loeb

LOVE, PRESTON: Sax player with Johnny Otis show.

LUCILLE: Unidentified

MADEO, JUNIOR: Elwood “Junior” Madeo, leader of the Ramblers, in which Zappa played.

MANN, STEVE: Guitarist who played with Zappa prior to the Mothers. Acoustic fingerpicker who was on the L.A. club scene in the mid-60s playing old blues and ballads, but checked out early thanks to an o.d. There is one album of recordings by him.

MARIO:  Doorman at the Whiskey A-Go-Go.

MATTHEWS, LITTLE ARTHUR: Singer with Johnny Otis show.

MIDDLETON, CHARLES: Old-time Hollywood supporting player who, among hundreds of other roles, played “Ming the Merciless” in the “Flash Gordon” serials with Buster Crabbe.

MINGUS, CHARLES: American jazz bassist and composer.

MORTENSON, VIC: Played drums of Zappa studio tunes.

MULLICK, N. C.:  Nodu C. Mullick, Indian tamboura player.

MURNANE, JERRY: Another of the Zappa high school teachers.

MacGUIRE, BARRY:  Sang “Eve of Destruction,” a protest song.

McNEELY, BIG JAY: Blues Saxophonist.

NARCISO, BARB: Early fan.

NONO, LUIGI: Contemporary classical composer. Integral serialist until 1960. Member of post-Webern school. Communist sympathizer. Wrote puzzle canons. Wrote an anti-American piece called A Floresta. Pointillist.

ORNSTEIN, LEO:  20th Century Russian-American pianist & composer who among many other pieces wrote one called, I kid you not, “Impromptu: A Bit of Nostalgia, for piano.”

OTIS, JOHNNY:  Important west coast R&B band leader, record producer and “talent scout”. Was considered totally authentic while being white. Father of Shuggie Otis who played on Hot Rats. Longtime Pacifica radio show host, and model for Frank’s mustache.

PEPPER:  Unidentified

PERISCHETTI, VINCENT: American composer/conductor of music primarily for symphonic band.

PERRINO, JOE:  Of Joe Perrino and the Mellotones, a bar band Zappa played in.

POLLY, JOE: Unidentified

PRESLEY, ELVIS: Singer.

RANK, J. ARTHUR:  Movie theater mogul. Preeminent British film producer & founder of The Rank Organization, film producers & distributors. Attributed with playing his trademark gong on the Bonzos’ “The Intro and the Outro”.

RAVEL, MAURICE: Early 20th century impressionist composer. Wrote Bolero.

REARDON, LANCE:  Unidentified

REED, B. MITCHELL: Famous west coast DJ. Helped innovate the underground FM radio stations in the late sixties.

REINER, BOB: Member of The Leaves.

REYES, NADINE: Friend from Lancaster, CA

RIVUELTAS, SILVESTER: Mexican 20th-century avant-garde composer. Name misspelled on the list. Should be “Revueltas”

RUDIN, HERMAN:“Untouchables” – Also appeared on “Perry Mason” and “Man From U.N.C.L.E”.

RUDOLPH, LILLIAN: Unidentified

RUTHIE: Unidentified

SABICAS: Spanish Flamenco guitar virtuoso.

SABU: Indian actor who performed in the 1940s films of “The Thief of Bagdad” and “The Jungle Book.”

SACCO & VANZETTI: Labor organizers executed for murder, believed as a left wing cause to have been a frame up. Coupling with the above adds to shock/dada value. Italian-immigrant U.S. factory workers, arrested for the murder of a paymaster, identified as “anarchists” and convicted of the murder, and executed in the 1920s.

SCHOENBERG, ARNOLD:  20th century Austrian composer who popularised serialism. Taught at UCLA.

SCHWANEKAMP, SANDY: A classsmate at Antelope Valley School in Lancaster, California

SESSIONS, ROGER HUNTINGTON: American composer & musical educator – said to have been revered by his fellow composers even as most of his music went unheard by the public.

SHANKAR, RAVI: Sitar virtuoso.

SHECKLEY, ROBERT: Science fiction writer and mystery author.

SHERMAN, KAYE: Zappa’s first wife.

SHERWOOD, JIM: Played saxaphone in the Mothers. AKA “Mototrhead.”

SIMMS, FRANKIE LEE: Texan blues singer. Sims is misspelled on Freak Out list.

SLIM HARPO: American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter.

SMITH, CORDWAINER: Cordwainer Smith–Was the pseudonym that Dr. Paul Linebarger used to write science fiction.

SPECTOR, PHIL: American record producer, noted for using a lot of instruments. This technique is called the “wall of sound.”

STEFFE: Unidentified

STEWART, ALICE: Another misspelling. Alice Stuart was a guitarist with blues influences. Was briefly a member of The Mothers of Invention. Alice played good finger-style guitar, but she couldn’t play “Louie Louie”, so they  fired her.

STOCKHAUSEN, KARLHEINZ: Avant-garde 20th century composer. Known for his use of complex rhythms.

STOKER, BRAM: Author of Dracula.

STRAVINSKY, IGOR: Russian composer. Wrote the Rite of Spring.

STULLA, BILL: Host of So. Cal. children’s show, Engineer Bill.

STURGEON, THEODORE: Great SF author and critic. Author of “Sturgeon’s Law”

SULLIVAN, TIM: Unidentified

TANGUY, YVES: French surrealist

TANZINI, PHIL: Co-owner of the Whiskey.

TAYLOR, CECIL: Modern jazz pianist, composer, writer. Inspired a section of “Monster Magnet”.

THORNTON, WILLIE MAE: Blues songstress, wrote “Ball and Chain” . Wrote “Hound Dog.”

TILLAR, JACK: Misspelling of Jack K Tillar a television and film music composer/editor from 1950’s to 1990’s.

TINY TIM: Ukelele virtuoso. “Tiptoe Through the Tulips.”

TOSI, ERNIE: Vice principal of Antelope Valley High School.

TUFTS, SONNY: Character actor or lead or second lead in a lot of bad movies.

UNCLE ED: Unidentified

VALENTINE, ELMER: Owner of the Whisky-a-go-go in LA.

VARESE, EDGARD: Franco-American composer. Developed musique concrete.

VENET, NICK: Record producer at Capitol.

VESTINE, HENRY: Guitarist of Canned Heat, blues record collector/revivalist. Was contracted as a member of the Mothers at one time; don’t know why it didn’t pan out

VLIET, DON: AKA Captain Beefheart.

WATERS, MUDDY: Preeminent Mississippi Delta-to-Chicago bluesman.

WATSON, JOHNNY GUITAR

American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter.

WAYNE, JOHN

AKA The Duke. American actor

WEBERN, ANTON: Austrian composer. Student of Arnold Schoenberg.

WILLIAMSON, SONNY BOY: Great blues harmonica players/singer.

WILSON, TOM: Record Producer. For a few years in the 60’s the “hot guy” with his name on Mothers, Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel etc. records. A&R man, or staff producer, for MGM/Verve. Produced Freak Out and Absolutely Free, executive-produced We’re Only In It For The Money. African-American.

WIMBERLY, TERRY: Played with Zappa in the Blackouts.

WOLFMAN JACK: Preeminent American disc jockey”

WOODS, DONALD: Leader of the Bel-Aires and author of “The Man From Utopia”.

ZAGON, LEE: Unidentified

ZARUBICA, PAMELA: a.k.a. Suzy Creamcheese.

ZEIGER, HAL: Hal Zeiger (one of the first big promoters of rock entertainment during the 50’s)

ZILDJIAN, AVEDIS: Turkish cymbal maker. His company has been in business over 375 years.

Worth Repeating: Revolution Now!

~ Tom Casetta ~ Leave a comment

In August, 1966, Greg Shaw helped launch the very idea of rock criticism with his mimeographed publication, Mojo-Navigator Rock & Roll News. A few years later, he started up what was to become the extremely influential network of Bomp! : a magazine, a record store, and a record label, all of which helped sow the seeds of punk and new wave. Over the course of the next four decades, Shaw was an instrumental figure in the careers of numerous musicians and writers. On October 19, 2004, he died from heart failure at the age of 55.

REVOLUTION NOW:
A BOMP EDITORIAL!

by Greg Shaw
Those of you who remember the old Bomp Magazine (1970-1979) know that my editorials were one of the staple features. The topic was usually “the State of Rock and Roll.” In the early to mid 1970s, when music had never been so oppressively controlled by corporate powers, and choice so limited, it seemed insane to believe that we, as fans, could ever have a meaningful voice in what we were allowed to hear, or how it was presented. But we had to try, because we loved rock & roll and didn’t want to let those bastards kill it.

Strangely enough, all the things dreamt of in those editorials came to pass, and sooner than anyone expected. Local bands re-emerged. The great raw sounds of the ’50s and ’60s were reissued (either by major labels under fan supervision, or on fan-made compilations), and had a galvanizing influence on a new generation of bands. Punk Rock was born in the spirit of the ’60s garage explosion, blowing open the doors that the industry had held fast against any fresh breath of rebellion. Vast networks of indie labels, fanzines, radio shows, record distributors and more, scarcely imaginable in 1975, were fully in place two or three years later.

Bomp’s editorials didn’t cause these things to happen, of course; rather, they voiced the need for them, encouraged people to believe in and work for change, and pointed out areas in which progress seemed possible. There was intense resistance from the established order to the kinds of changes we wanted, but amazingly enough, a relative handful of people who shared a common vision were able to make a huge difference simply by doing the right thing at the right time.

I stopped writing editorials 20 years ago, and don’t intend to make a practice of it again. My views are my own, and I recognize that I am of no mind to formulate any grand theories of pop or anything else. Yet I can’t help being struck lately by the similarities between 1975 and today.

  • Item: In both cases the record industry had turned its back on new talent and concentrated on a handful of boring superstars they could count on to sell a huge volume of records.
  • Item: In both times, local music either didn’t exist at all, had no focus, or lacked any kind of scene to take root in.
  • Item: Then as now, audiences had been turned into passive consumers of prefab culture, with no interest in creating anything of their own.

All this could be coincidence. Or it could be a clue that the conditions for a revolution are once again ripe.

There is a misconception about revolution, namely that they are supposed to accomplish something lasting. This is simply not true. What a revolution does is replace an existing order with a new one, which left to itself, will soon become as rigid as the one it replaced.

Revolution is a process, and its main payoff is to add value to the lives of those who participate in it, and improve conditions in general for awhile. When it stops moving, it dies.

The point of a music revolution is not to replace today’s pop stars with a new slate; it is to kick out the jams! Riot in the streets! Do it now! etc. It’s all about direct engagement, and the result of all that activity should be a better time for all, a party that will keep everyone coming back to do it some more. And not only that–”parties” are not radical in themselves. The sense of being more fully alive, empowered, having an impact on your world and your culture, these are the chief rewards. This is what rock & roll at its best can provide–leading to the idea that perhaps rock & roll itself should be seen not as a genre, not as a mere noun or even a verb, but also as a process.

Punk rock was a fantastic thing for those who took part in it, but listening to the Sex Pistols today is not a “punk rock” experience: it is an “oldies” experience. Same for the revolutions of the ’50s and ’60s. The “My Generation” of The Who will be on Social Security soon! The only meaningful revolution is the one that is taking place right now, if at all. There is no other time but now that we can live in, existentially speaking, and we either seize or or we don’t. We can use history to see what other revolutions have looked and sounded like, but we can’t truly know what it is until it’s happening all around us, and we have a personal role to play.

It may be folly to believe you can alter the course of the world, which is inevitably becoming more centralized, more controlled by large money interests, and less free–in terms of mass pop culture, at any rate. Out on the fringes, the Internet is enabling more and more variety, which is great, as long as you’re satisfied with a very small cult following and no money. This you are free to have. But the dream of rock & roll, from Elvis to the Beatles to Nirvana, has been the dream of doing something cool and changing the lives of millions with it. This is a dream each new generation of musicians embraces, for better or worse. And no matter how great the odds seem to be against it, I firmly believe it can happen any time people decide they’ve had enough crap.

Now, there are a couple of things necessary for a revolution. One is that the people be unbearably oppressed. Oppressed we surely are, with only three major record companies now controlling all channels of distribution (even indie records are distributed by a branch of EMI) and desiring nothing more than for us to shut up and buy more Britney Spears and Eminem. But “unbearably”? There are so many other obsessions these days; a kid with a new Nokia cell phone doesn’t have a clue he’s missing the joys of being part of a rock & roll scene. The masses will not rise in the name of something they can’t even imagine.

The other ingredient lacking is some charismatic band to carry the revolutionary banner. There’s been no shortage of overnight sensations in music recently, of course. But whatever their success, acts like Oasis, Radiohead, Beck, or (you name it) have not inspired their generation to “seize the means of production” or whatever it is proletariats are supposed to do. Any such band, I suspect, will need to be a whole lot more subversive than anything we’ve seen before. And probably something incapable of being packaged and sold for a profit!

(In many ways, the Grateful Dead met most of these criteria:
underground till the end, they did create a substantial alternative culture around them. Unfortunately it was not a particularly viable one, and not one that many of us would care to join. But it is a valid example of what I’m talking about, I must admit.) Then there are “paint-by numbers” bands, starting possibly with Bomp alumni the Flamin’ Groovies, who think that by retracing the steps of past heroes, they can launch some new Heroic Age. Much as I have enjoyed some of these bands, their premise has clearly been proven wrong. (If we can’t learn from our own history, we may be condemned to endlessly reissue it…)

And yeah, there’s rap… but among other problems, rap comes out of a completely different cultural vein. I’m talking about a tradition called “rock and roll” that has been invented and re-invented continuously since the early ’50s, going always back to its roots and coming up with something new and more powerful. In my opinion, rap is the belated black response to punk, parallel to it in some ways, and like punk, long past its most creative days. Public Enemy and their ilk were subversive, in their way, in their time. But that revolution died when its heroes grabbed the gold chains rather than holding out for real change. Sure, some cool stuff has gone on in the name of rap, not to mention reggae, techno, the rave scene, and so on, empowering individuals in the context of music culture. Movements have arisen, and changed lives in way I can’t but admire. But all this is a far cry from what rock and roll has done in the past, and from what I expect it to do for me, being who I am. So I address myself to what I believe can be done in the name of Rock and Roll.

An artist who will command the world’s imagination and set it on a new musical course is what’s needed to set off a wide-scale revolution. In their wake, a whole wave of superior bands would be able to follow. But such an artist may or may not appear, like it or not.

Revolution, however, does not need to be as massive as all that. It is a process that begins at the grass-roots level, and needn’t necessarily rise above it. Horizontal growth may actually be what’s called for… (I’ve always maintained that if punk rock had happened on labels like Rough Trade instead of EMI and Warner Brothers, it would not have burned out so soon.) The point of revolution, in this sense, is to be a part of it. That’s where the pleasure comes from–the involvement, the participation in creating something. And this is a revolution we can have–if we want it badly enough to make it happen.

The conditions for it are better now than they have been in quite awhile. Healthy local music scenes are emerging all over, with bands whose vision embraces folk and blues, ’60s pop and ’70s punk, all the elements of the tradition they yearn to be a part of, with intelligence and historical savvy. I won’t mention any bands, but there are some great ones out there all of a sudden (Parenthetically: of course there are always plenty of cool local bands; most of them, however, have nothing to do with any of this, not to knock them.

It may sound vague, but I know the kind of band I mean when I see it, and so will you.) I’ve talked with many in the past year or two and the same ideas keep coming up: there’s something happening here, we’re all a part of it, we don’t know what it is, there’s no marketing slogan, no ad campaign, but it’s real and we can feel it. And that’s the way it ought to be. Right now, there’s no excuse for anyone who loves music not to get out and support the good bands, who are either in your town or coming through soon. Don’t wait to read about it in Rolling Stone; put your ear to the ground.

John Peel’s Record Shelf

~ Tom Casetta ~ Leave a comment

If you like the Listen Up! show, interesting items that may be of interest to you will also be posted here as well.  Enjoy!

The John Peel Center for Creative Arts has been uploading some of the late DJ’s famed collection. Each week 100 discs have been made available, covering every genre of music. This week we got a peek at 100 of the records filed under letter “G” (a hundred from A-F have already been posted)

Tom Barker, Director of the John Peel Center for Creative Arts explains:

Each of these releases of 100 records will be accompanied by one mini documentary video of a featured artiste for that week. These are pretty special, as the artistes have been chosen by Sheila, John’s wife, and their children – so they are all artistes who meant something to John and his family.

When you come to the website you will see John Peel’s home studio, from which you will be able to access the contents of the record collection as it is added each week, as well as other videos added each week, photos, peel sessions and radio shows. Once in the collection you will be able to move up and down the shelves of the record collection, picking out certain choice records and going through the first 100 as though you were standing in front of the shelves in John’s studio.

You will be able to see the hand-typed cards that John diligently typed for every album in the collection, the record sleeves, as well as listening to tracks via spotify and itunes where available.

And because we know that John meant a great deal to many people, we will be helping you to connect with other music lovers and Peel fans through our John Peel Archive social media accounts. Look out for never-before seen material, like letters to John, being exclusively released via social media. This will also be a great way to stay up to date with new material being released each week – so please do ‘follow’, ‘like’ and say hello – we want to hear from you and your stories of John.

In our heads throughout the planning process, has been making sure that we do John (and his fans) proud and ensure that the legacy of this legendary man lives on.

Check out some of the selections here.