Landscape envy and other symptoms 3

Date: 2019-09-22 08:46 pm (UTC)
koganbot: (0)
From: [personal profile] koganbot
On Wed, May 1, 2019 at 1:14 PM Don Allred wrote [continued]:

Hullabaloo Magazine was launched along with the s/t TV performance show, house-and-maybe-recording band The Hullaballoos, chain of Hullabaloo teen clubs----dunno what happened to all of those, but the mag became Circus, edited by Paul Nelson, who turned me onto Meltzer, whose cover story on suddenly materializing Sly Stone started with a visit to a little old NYC shop whose little old owner pointed out all the happenin' gear he sold to t"he schvarztes"---unexpected but instantly relatable intro to Rock Writing: there was just such a shop in my little townl a crucial source of for instance cuban-heeled boots (Beatleboots to my clique, maybe just cuban-heeled to the Negro kids, in barely integrated tymes).
Jim Delehant left Hit Parader (produced Chuck Berry re-recordings) succeeded by Richard Robinson, who did his best tto turn it into Rock Scene-before-Rock-Scene---later the actual Rock Scene, from the same publisher and the same pulp look---"percentages of gray," as RR said---had the same realness appeal: snapshots from our fave club, kids, with all our talented pals who might get famous!
But meanwhile, back in the mid-60s, as you say, the tit mags were also a good source of musical revelations--not so much Playboy, which was still hung up on jazz ( in the high school band room, I read the band director's Downbeats--it was then still weekly or bi-weekly or seemed like it, with an onslaught of intimidating Coltrane reviews,, but "Scrapple From The Apple," Leroi Jones's column, which could be high-school snarky, or visionary or shrewdly observational; he even told when he got personally) schooled by Roy Haynes, who succeeded without selling out). No, it was the likes of Rogue and Swank that covered "underground rock"--what was that!? The Blues Project, kiddo---and one of 'em even offered an early Fugs album as subscription bait (also one by early jazz-rockers Jeremy and The Satyrs, cover ny Jeremy's Dad, William Steig! Impressive)
After that, it was mostly Stone and Creem (whose Letter From Britain could be written by the likes of Mr. Frith, Penny Valentine, Ian MacDonald, Roy Carr, also there were some features reprinted from NME, Zig Zag, maybe others), Didn't find the Voice much until moving to Collegetown in mid-70s, didn't see NME much 'til the early 80s, though I do recall its heyday as your intro describes it.

On 1 May 2019, at 18:56, Luc Sante wrote:

My gateway drug was Go!--edited by the immortal Robin Leach, given out free in music stores. Very industry-oriented, but full of clues for the curious. I remember the full-page ad for Hendrix's "Purple Haze"/"Wind Cried Mary"--first time I'd ever heard of him, but it was immediately evident this was something unprecedented. I took copious notes in my head on stuff I should hear if I got the chance; I'm still waiting to find a copy of the first 45 by the Plebeian Rebellion--anyone?

And then, in 1967, a head shop opened in the next town, and along with incense and rolling papers and posters they sold exactly one periodical: Crawdaddy! And along with the music it featured good writing, which was a novelty then. It sent me to the record stores with a mission, the best day being when I found Something Else by the Kinks and White Light/White Heat in the same $1.99 bin at J. J. Newberry's--the two records had been featured in the latest issue.

And then the following year I started commuting to high school in NYC, where I found Rolling Stone, the Voice, and sundry underground newspapers from all over the country. In those days I was disappointed that music was so underrepresented in them as contrasted with politics. A decade later, when punk zines and things like the East Village Eye appeared, I had the inverse disappointment: too much music and not enough politics--or art, literature, and all the other stuff I learned from the rock press, especially Fusion, which maybe remains my favorite.
This account has disabled anonymous posting.
If you don't have an account you can create one now.
No Subject Icon Selected
More info about formatting

Profile

koganbot: (Default)
Frank Kogan

July 2025

S M T W T F S
  12345
6789 101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 20th, 2025 06:42 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios