Genre: Hard Rock
Origin: USA
Label: Warner Bros.
Length: 37:08
---------------
01. Under My Wheels
02. Be My Lover
03. Halo of Flies
04. Desperado
05. You Drive Me Nervous
06. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
07. Dead Babies
08. Killer

Genre: Hard Rock
Origin: USA
Label: Straight
Length: 37:21
---------------
01. Caught In A Dream
02. I'm Eighteen
03. Long Way To Go
04. Black JuJu
05. Is It My Body
06. Hallowed Be My Name
07. Second Coming
08. Ballad Of Dwight Fry
09. Sun Arise

A VOLTA pela estrada da violência. Direção e roteiro: Aécio de Andrade. Direção de fotografia e câmera: José de Almeida. Direção de produção: Arnaldo Bastos Santos e Guilherme Barreto. Companhias produtoras: Caeté Filmes do Brasil Ltda. e Kratex Produtora Cinematográfica Ltda. Maceió-AL. 1971. Longa-metragem (74min), sonoro, PB, ficção, 35mm.
Sinopse: Após a morte do marido, Geracina e seus três filhos dependem apenas de um cavalo como fonte de sustento. Com a seca que assola a região, o fazendeiro manda fechar a única fonte de água das redondezas. Ao tentar violar a cacimba para dar água ao cavalo, o filho mais velho é assassinado. A viúva apela para a Justiça, mas o juiz, comprado pelo fazendeiro, absolve-o. Mãe e filho abandonam a região e quandoo filho caçula, atinge a maioridade, a mãe incita-o contra o fazendeiro para vingar a morte do irmão.
Observações:
Ficha técnica complementar:
Elenco: Margarida Cardoso, José Mendes, Maurino Alves, Antônio Carnera, Francisco Santos, Vandik Vandré, Walter Bumucha, Guilherme Barreto, Sabino Romeriz, Conrado Veiga, Valberto Souza, César Rodrigues, Márcio Rios, Everaldo Liziário, André Mendes, Cid Nilo Souza, Sidney Cafuringa Souza, Alberico Aranda, Arnaldo Santos, Antonio Monteiro de Souza, George Leopoldino, Valdomiro Gomes, José Raimundo, Pe. Alberto Oliveira, Luiz Roberto Magalhães, Eugene Mendes.
Produção executiva: José Wanderley Lopes.
Produtor associado: Aécio de Andrade, Sebastião Ferreira, Guilherme Barreto, Pedro Ferreira Lima, Arnaldo B. Santos, Paulo F. de Andrade, Francisco M. de Oliveira.
Assistência de direção: Adnor Pitanga, José Mendes.
Continuidade: Dayse Santos Vale.
Assistência de câmera: Carlos Alberto Totes.
Engenharia de som: Aloísio Vianna.
Montagem: João Ramiro Mello.
Direção de arte Letreiros: Walter Carvalho.
Maquiagem: José Mendes.
Trilha musical: Pedro Santos.
Regente Maestro: Pedro Canção Santos.
Autores das canções “Formação de bando” e “Tema de Geracina”: Pedro Santos e Marcos Vinicius.
Prêmio Coruja de Ouro, 1971, do Instituto Nacional de Cinema (INC) de melhor fotografia em preto e branco.

A Cinemateca Brasileira não possui este filme, mas dispõe informações sobre ele.

Written by: Withers
Produced by: Booker T. Jones
Released: July ‘71 on Sussex
Charts: 16 weeks
Top spot: No. 3

When thirty-one-year-old Withers recorded “Sunshine,” his first chart hit, he was still working at a factory making toilet seats for 747s. An elegant cross between downhome folk-blues and uptown orchestral soul, Ain’t No Sunshine’s melancholy melody is perfect for its resigned images of a man alone in the dark, waiting for a lover who may never return. Withers intended to write more lyrics for the part of the song where he repeats the phrase “I know” twenty-six times, but the other musicians told him to leave it. “I was this factory worker puttering around,” Withers said. “So when they said to leave it like that, I left it.”

this film is a haunting and horrific reminder of the price we as humans pay for our advancements. i dont want to debate about whether or not it is ever right to go to war, and i surely dont want to bring up the idea of pacifism at all really. i just want to review this film.

the film’s directing and acting are both somewhat stilted. and i think that it is on purpose. the actors in the first part of the film, mostly in flashbacks, seem to be awkward teens… and that is just what they are. but this slight removal from the norm immediately makes the film an off kilter beast. right from the get go this film feels different. and it feels uncomfortable. bizarre camera angels, and shots that extend or cut at strange places also help to make the viewer feel uncomfortable. almost like they missed something. if it was on purpose, then the film reaches a new level of brilliance, especially for its time in 1971. but if it was on accident, which it may very well be, the accident is a good one. one that betters the film all on its own.

the film is disturbing though. it hurts to watch all the way through. Joe, our Johnny if you will, looks for answers in his mind while his body lays useless and shattered in a storeroom. he looks to his father, who is no help, he looks to his first love, who also is no help, and finally he looks to Christ himself. and Christ says that he is in a place worth than death. a place he must just wait through. through dreams we see Joe’s relationship with his father. sadly, it is a relationship that doesnt exist in America anymore. over coddling parents and parental fear of being labeled as ‘abusers’ have taken the place of strong ‘Bambi’s Father’ type figures. Joe tries his best to please his father at times, but in doing so he misses what his father wanted him to know. his father wanted him to know that life isnt easy, and no one cares about you when you’re gone, so care now. his father hugs him close and tells him its ok when he messes up and loses his father’s prize fishing rod. because after all, it is just a fishing rod. that line had a huge impact on me when i heard it. the rod was his father’s prized possession. it was “the only thing that separates me [the father] from the rest of the people.” and his son loses it. when Joe comes to tell his father he is in tears and feels horrible. i know exactly how Joe felt there. but his father didnt scream, and his father didnt smile it away. he just held his son and said that it was just a fishing rod, and he would get another. because when something is gone, it is gone. you cant bring it back by missing it. but you can console those that are still around. make the best with what you have, in a way.

when the nurse who cares for Joe’s armless, legless, faceless, speechless, sightless, body feels for him, you can feel it too. she looks at his destroyed and worthless body and brings him pleasure. just something to remind him he is alive. they begin a romance that no able body’s person could understand. even she doesnt understand what her love and compassion does for him. in her love he finds life again. but like all things we as humans treasure, it is taken away by another human.

when Joe finally finds a way to communicate, after years and years spent laying in a closet with tubes to feed and breath for him, he is ignored. he taps out Morse code with his head, and the nurse gets someone to help. the soldier can tell what he is saying, ‘SOS’. but the generals, the withering old men who stood around and watched at the boy they found was studied and locked away in a forgotten closet, they dont listen. Joe cries for something. he says he wants to go out side, be seen by the world. he wasnt to be a lesson against war. but that is ignored. so he asks to be killed. the generals leave. the nurse is sent away, never to return, and the ‘bad guys’ dont learn their lesson. Joe is left to tap out ‘Kill Me’ over and over again.

the priest who stands near the bed with the generals is told that he should tell Joe not to yearn for death. but the priest cant blame the poor man. he responds with ‘He is a product of your profession, not mine’. and he is right.

faith doesnt kill people. faith keeps people alive. faith is the love that nurse gave Joe. faith is the only thing some people have. its war, the army, organized aggression… thats what kills people. thats what leaves men shells of what they were.

[the film has been released on DVD for the first time ever (officially) recently. the DVD cut is the most comprehensive cut available. it is only missing one 11 second shot of full frontal nudity, but the shot was only available in lesser quality prints than the one that was transferred for this DVD. the company doing the transfer decided that the one 11 second shot wasnt worth investing all the money into cleaning and restoring the film. i agree. it can be found on Amazon and anywhere DVDs are sold.]

Hello Good People who surprise me by still reading this blog during my long absences.

This post was originally half written over four weeks ago and was never finished, I was interrupted by the ‘flu,the Cultural Revolution and Revolutionary Operas and then had to recover from the exhaustion of all three!

Anyway, I am now myself again and am greatly excited at the prospect of seeing the Steve Hillage Band and Gong live at The Forum in London, this Friday (on the 27/11/2009 in case you read this at some point in the future).

Talking about some point in the future, before the Cultural Revolution, or sleeping or reading about East Asian pop music compulsively once  again, I will get straight to the point and illustrate Gong’s new album entitled 2032 with a short clip. I have to admit that I think this music video is amazing. It was made by the Japanese animator team Mu-0C Magic , who I believe are Hibari Hoya,Haruka Sakota, and Akira Watanabe.

Gong- How to Stay Alive ( 2009)

Is the album entitled 2032 because an asteroid is due to hit Earth in that year?

Answers in the comments section please, the song is certainly cheerfully apocalyptic. But then the first ever song by Gong that hit me lyrically in the centre of my brain was You Can’t Kill Me, a song about killing off the rest of the family, symbolic and  psychologically strange.

( preceded appropriately by Radio Gnome Prediction) released in 1971 from the album Camembert Electrique:

The tracks on the new album 2032 sound definitely like the old Gong, although on occasion I can hear a bit of old Hawkwind and The Ozric Tentacles too. However considering that without both Hawkwind and Gong , there wouldn’t be any Ozric Tentacles ..I’ll let you do the maths…

Here is Pinkle Ponkle from the new Gong album, starting off sounding a bit techno, then a bit middle-Eastern but then definitely just like Gong’s unique style with echo unit orgasmic sighs by Gilli Smyth , Daevid Allen’s poetry, psychedelic spacy effects by Miquette Giraudy, Steve Hillage’s uniquely wonderful  guitar sound ,with Mike Howlett on bass,Chris Taylor on drums and Theo Travis on flute and sax.

See the Gong website (http://www.planetgong.co.uk/) for further guest players on the album including the original Didier Malherbe.

Gong and Steve Hillage surreptitiously introduced me to Gamelan, free form jazz , Middle-Eastern and Indian classical music and musical concepts like drones on Miquette’s synth,and modes from the East on Steve’s guitar, when I was only fourteen and “World Music” was not generally heard in London’s mainstream media, apart from a bit of Indian Classical music.

In recent years of course, Steve Hillage has been creating music with Miquette as System7, but even with dance/trance/techno music he was still playing his guitar live.

Now with the reemergence of The Steve Hillage Band , he is playing his old stuff again, something many of us had wished and prayed for during the past two and a half decades and never dared to hope would come true.

I will end with some video clips as it’s late and I need to go to bed! One last piece of info, I phoned up a ticket agency today ( Keith Prowse) and there are still tickets available for this Friday (tomorrow) at the Forum in Kentish Town…

but only because every Steve Hillage fan in London does not realise he is playing yet. If you are one of them, get yourself a ticket by whatever means , it’s not too late. Or you could go and see The Steve Hillage Band and Gong , on Saturday the 28th at The O2 Academy in Oxford,  and Sunday the 29th of  November at The Corn Exchange in Brighton.

I have already put up so many of my favourite Steve Hillage tracks up on this blog along with my favourite youtube video clips so forgive me if I am repeating myself .

Om Nama Shivaya from the album “L” (1976)

Salmon Song ,this is a clip from the fantastic video of Steve Hillage playing in Canterbury from the truly excellent DVD  Steve Hillage LIVE in England 1979.

and from the same DVD here he is with Hurdy Gurdy Man

and here they are in 2009 in Bonn playing  Searching for The Spark ..they need a bigger audience to bounce their musical vibes off, so get down there , if you are in London, Oxford, or Brighton and dance your hippie dance.

See you all on Friday or online sometime.

Love and Peace

Born2rant

Last weekend was, from our perspective here in St. Cloud, an absolute success: jb of The Hits Just Keep On Comin’ and his Mrs., who normally hang their hats in Madison, Wisconsin, spent Saturday in St. Cloud, taking part in what jb styled on his Facebook page as the “Wisconsin-Minnesota Blog Summit and Beer Spree II: The Doppelbock Strikes Back.”

And there was beer. jb brought along three bottles each of two of the Madison area’s better brews, Capital Brewery’s Autumnal Fire doppelbock and the Ale Asylum’s Contorter Porter. Our refrigerator was already stocked with several bottles of Old Rasputin Imperial Russian Stout, a brew whose superlative qualities I’ve mentioned before, as well as several bottles of other fine beers. So we spent a few hours late Saturday afternoon quaffing some brew and munching on good pizza.

But the main events of the day were two hockey games. The weekend visit was scheduled after jb noticed late last summer that both the women’s and men’s hockey teams from the University of Wisconsin would be in St. Cloud, taking on the St. Cloud State Huskies. We watched the women play in the afternoon, with St. Cloud taking a 4-2 decision, and after beer and pizza, went back to campus to watch the Badger men take a 4-1 game from St. Cloud. Both games were well-played, our seats were good, and if Bucky Badger took a 6-5 decision in total goals, well, those things happen.

There was of course, music talk and blogging talk throughout the day, which did last into the hour after midnight. In the early afternoon, we spent half an hour digging through the used CDs and LPs at the Electric Fetus in downtown St. Cloud, tossing the ensuing memories back and forth.

Before jb and the Mrs. headed off to get some rest before their drive back home later that day, we all decided that Summit & Spree III will take place in February. That’s when the Texas Gal and I will spend a couple of days in Madison, poking around flea markets, antique stores, quilting stores and record emporiums; we’ll also see the St. Cloud State men’s hockey team face the Badgers again. We’re looking forward to it.

Trying to find a track to share with this post, I wandered through the songs that use “Saturday” in their titles. I eventually settled on “Every Night Is Saturday Night” from the late Jesse Ed Davis’ first solo album, Jesse Davis. While I think I’d get too tired if the song’s title were true, it’s nevertheless a great track, possibly the best on the record. (Davis had some good help.)

“Every Night Is Saturday Night” by Jesse Ed Davis from Jesse Davis [1971]

Beautiful song written by John Denver. Mary Travers sang it in her inimitable style and the single, which they get airplay. Another example of popular music that are not obvious lack of Oldies Radio. Mary Travers died on 16 September 2009. May this beautiful soul rest in peace.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT4n5t97T5w&hl=en

Marvel Feature Presents #1

This, technically, is the first appearance of the Defenders… I say technically because, well, I’ll get into that later. First let’s start with these three – Marvel Feature Presents – the first time the group is dubbed “The Defenders” – named by… hmmm – a good question for a no prize! Oh – who am I kidding 465 will get it even before I finish typing this post The best part of the Defenders of course is with each meeting the members are never happy to help each other – and a lot of the time complain that they got together in the first place and sometimes vow never to team up again!

MFP #2 - Dormmamu in the house!

I love these guys!  The covers to these issues are amazing as well – I love the old time covers too!  And in the next issue the Defenders face off against a villain that is not only one of Strange’s biggest nemisis..s’s?  Is nemisis’s right?  Anyways, the villain is not only Strange’s biggest foe but also faces off against the Defenders many, many times – making him one of the Defender’s biggest foes!  Bowen has released sneaks of a new bust of none other than DORMAMMU!  I cannot wait for that!

MFP #3 - When Gossamer attacks!

The last of the MFP covers features one of my favorite looking villains – Xenmu – who reminds me of the Looney Tunes character Gossamer except… you know… white.  Anyways – here are the first 3 comics that preceded the Defenders getting their own title!

“Wild Horses” became a hit for the Rolling Stones back in 1971. Ever since then the song has been covered numerous times, including recently by Susan Boyle. While there are many great covers of his song, I’ve always liked the Sundays version of it that was on their 1992 album Blind.  I had never even heard of the Sundays or heard the song until I saw the 1996 thriller flick Fear (which is a surprisingly well-made movie.) on TV a couple of years ago, and they had the song playing in the background of one of the more infamous scenes of the movies (It’s best if I don’t go into detail.)

It’s really too bad that this cover never became a hit for this band.

SEM DATA

Rádio Voz da Liberdade, FPLN.

Eleições no Sindicato Têxtil de Delães, lista da oposição ligada ao PCP  (197?).

Movimento estudantil (de Coimbra?), cópia de um original de Maio 1968.

“Tulipa Vermelha”, organização holandesa de solidariedade com Portugal, de “ajuda aos presos políticos”.

Movimento estudantil (ligado ao PCP).

“Por um Ensino ao Serviço do Povo”, Porto, 1973?

Distribuído no Congresso da Oposição em Aveiro (1973)?

Movimentos de juventude ligados ao PCP.

1969

Oposição, comemorativo do 31 de Janeiro (distribuído no Porto).

1971

Movimento estudantil de Coimbra.

1073

Festival Mundial da Juventude e dos Estudantes, Berlim, 1973. Distribuído pela UEC.

From/De: EA

Need for Speed SHIFT Revs up with All-New Team Racing Mode and Legendary Cars

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced an all-new Team Racing pack for the critically-acclaimedNeed for Speed SHIFT™. The content pack takes online racing to the next level with an action-packed new race mode and five renowned racing cars – all for free (Need for Speed SHIFT and Xbox LIVE® or PlayStation®Network account required). The Team Racing pack is the first downloadable content for Need for Speed SHIFT and will be available worldwide on December 1^st on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system. The pack will be released for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system on December 3^rd in Europe and on December 10^th in North America.

The Team Racing mode brings a fresh new challenge to SHIFT by completely redefining online racing. In this mode, two teams of up to six racers will battle against each other for online supremacy. Individual driving strategy and playing it safe won’t work as team tactics and 200 mph split-second decisions are required to push your team to the podium.

As part of the new content, players will also get access to these legendary racers:

• 1967 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 427
• 1967 Shelby GT-500
• 1969 Dodge Charger R/T
• 1971 Dodge Challenger R/T
• 1998 Toyota Supra Mark IV

The Team Racing content pack is custom-made for Need for Speed SHIFT, a spectacular racing game originally released in September 2009. The game introduces a brutal first-person crash dynamic and a signature cockpit view that delivers a true driver’s experience. The game further personalizes the experience through the all-new driver profile — a unique persona based on the driving skill and style of each player. With a perfect ‘10’ score from GameSpy.com and G4TV.com, and 90+ scores from IGN.com, Official Xbox Magazine, PlayStation: The Official Magazine, Team Xbox.com, Game Daily.com, Gametrailers.com and more, Need for Speed SHIFT is the highest rated Need for Speed game in years.

Need for Speed SHIFT is now available on the PlayStation3, Xbox 360, PC, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, mobile and coming soon on the iPhone™. More information can be found at www.needforspeed.com or follow us on Twitter at NeedforSpeed.

Press can download assets at http://info.ea.com.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is a leading global interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, wireless devices and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS^TM, EA^TM, EA Mobile ^TM and POGO^TM. In fiscal 2009, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $4.2 billion and had 31 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA’s homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA’s products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

EA, EA SPORTS, EA Mobile, POGO and Need for Speed are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. The names, designs, and logos of all products are the property of their respective owners and used by permission. Microsoft, Xbox and Xbox 360 are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. “PlayStation” and “PSP” are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Mere Apne, 1971
Gulzar
India

“Tragedy Queen”, pointed my mom to the television as I got introduced to Meena Kumari (Mahjabeen Bano) more than twenty years back.

One of the last of her movies before she died the next year, a masterpiece with a superb portrayal of Nani Maa, a performance that often brings tears. A classic from Gulzar, one of the best Indian directors (IMO) and lyricist (no doubt about that). The title song with its flawless lyrics and immortal voice of Kishore Kumar, it had it all.

Belva Cottier and a young Chicano man during the Occupation of Alcatraz Island, May 31, 1970. Photo: © 2009 Ilka Hartmann

Today marks the fortieth anniversary of the start of the Indian Occupation of Alcatraz, an action that lasted over eighteen months until June 11th 1971.

Photographic documents of the time are surprisingly scant. Over the past few decades, Ilka Hartmann’s work has appeared almost ubiquitously in publications about the Indian Occupation. We spoke by telephone about her experiences, the dearth of Native American photographers, the Black Panthers, Richard Nixon, the recent revival of academic research on the occupation and what she’ll be doing to mark the anniversary.

Your entire career has been devoted to social justice issues, particularly the fight for Native American rights. Did your interest begin with the Alcatraz occupation?

No, it began earlier. I came the U.S. in 1964 and that was during the human rights movement. I was a student at the time but I really wanted to go and work with the Native Americans on the reservations of Southern California. I was connected to the Indian community here through a friend who had emigrated to California earlier. I learnt very early about the conditions for American Indians. It reminded my of what I had learnt as a teenager about Nazi rule.

When the occupation began I wanted to go but I couldn’t because I was not Native American, but I waited until 1970.

Concurrently you were photographing the Black Panther movement – centered in Oakland – and the other counter culture movements of the late sixties in the Bay Area. How did they relate to one another?

They were all the same, each group struggling to advertise their conditions, the police brutality and the lack of educational and cultural institutions. I was involved in the fights for American Indians, African Americans, Chicano and Asian Americans in Berkeley. We were protesting as part of the Third World Strike. For me everything was connected and it was the same people who were speaking up later at Alcatraz.

My new book is actually about the relations between the different groups of the civil rights movement. There was a lot of solidarity between groups. The Black Panther Party understood this.  Many people think that the Black Panthers were concentrated on their own politics but they understood solidarity and got a lot of help from non-Black people. If you look at my pictures of the Black Panther movement a lot of supporters were the white students of Berkeley. There is a saying, “The suffering of one, is the suffering of everybody”.

In the Bay Area people were so willing to help the Indians at Alcatraz and help in the Black Panther movement and they really felt things were going to change.

I was a student at UC Berkeley and stopped in February 1970. I went to Alcatraz in May of 1970. I had learnt to open my eyes and emotions at UC Berkeley through all the different groups we had.

How many times did you visit Alcatraz during the occupation? And how long did you stay each time?

I only went twice to the island. It is funny because I didn’t even know if my photographs would turn out. I had a camera that I’d borrowed from a friend with a 135 mm Pentax lens … and also a Leica that a friend have given me too. But I didn’t have a light-meter for the Leica so I didn’t know if the photographs I took in the fog would come out. It was so light. I was amazed that they came out. I also went over in a small boat that same year.

So I made contact sheets and tried to get them published which was a big problem because you had to really work on that. My first picture of the occupation was published in an underground paper called the Berkeley Barb then in June 1971 I was at KQED, a Northern California Television station, for an interview with an art editor. I had hitch-hiked there from the area north of San Francisco and I just opened my box of pictures to show him topics I was concerned about when over the intercom came an announcement “The Indians are being taken from Alcatraz.”

I saw some video guys run by, I grabbed my bag and camera and asked them if I could join them. They said, “Yes, ride with us and say you are with us.” We got into an old VW and drove around on the mainland to see the occupiers and that is how I got those shots of the removal. It was an incredible coincidence because I actually lived far from the city. It’s quite incredible. I only went two times during the occupation and then I got those shots afterward.

From then on I made contact with people and in that year I showed my pictures at an Indian Women’s conference, making very good friends with people in the American Indian movement. From then on I went to cultural events, powwows and so on and my pictures appeared in the underground press. I wrote articles and people contacted me for images. That’s how I made the connection.

So really you made no arrangements?

I didn’t make any arrangements. I followed everything from the first day in the papers and on that day in May … on May 30th the Indians asked all the journalists to go and I wanted to be there. That’s how it all started; they invited us there that day.

Did you realize at the time how profound an historical event it was?

Yes, I always felt how important it was. This was the first time they [Native Americans] spoke up. All over the world people wrote about it and the cause became known globally, and especially known in the United States. I believed in it … I still do.

What are your lasting memories of your time and work during the occupation?

It was a prison that had been closed so it was surrounded by barbed wire fence. Some of it had become loose and I took some pictures. The wire swung loose in the air and there was a sound across the island of the wind whispering over it. And if you looked out over the beautiful waters, you really got the sense – with the barbed wire – that the Indians were prisoners, as well as occupiers of the Bay. Prisoners of the Bay; which means prisoners of the World. In that sense I really had a strong feeling of the prison.

How did you react to the environment?

For me, strangely, the experience of going to Alcatraz has always been a very high and wonderful experience. It is hard for me to even explain. Of course I know it was a prison. On the tour of Alcatraz I got very upset, especially during the part when you’re taken downstairs to learn about the lesser known incarceration of Elders and also the cells for those people who didn’t want to go to war. So of course I know it is was a prison, yet when I go there I am struck by exuberance and hope about [Indian] people being able to make statements about their conditions.

I was a witness to that and wanted to be a conduit for those statements. There were no American Indian journalists, we were nearly all white. There was one Indian photographer, John Whitefox, who is now dead. But he lost his film. So we really saw it as our job, politically, as underground photographers and writers to cover what was part of the revolution and social upheaval.

Eldy Bratt, Alcatraz Island, May 1970. Photo: © 2009 Ilka Hartmann

Two Indian children play on abandoned Department of Justice equipment. Alcatraz Island, 1970. Photo: © 2009 Ilka Hartmann

San Francisco Bay has a strange history with islands, incarceration and subjugation. San Quentin was the focus of the Black Panther resistance – it is just ten miles north of the city. Angel Island was an immigrations station for Asians – it is known as the “Ellis Island of the West” and some Chinese migrants were kept there for years. And, then there’s Alcatraz. How do you reconcile all this?

It’s totally horrible to me. I come form Germany. Before I came I’d heard about Sing Sing on the river on the East coast. It was a horrible thought to me that they could put people in such prisons.

I drive past San Quentin most days, I have actually been inside and taken photographs. And of Angel Island – it is almost sarcastic to imprison people like that; it’s such a contradiction to the beauty of the Bay. It’s the hubris of human beings to do that to one another.

Of course there are people who should be in prison, like at San Quentin, but certainly the Chinese should not have been treated like that on Angel Island. The Indians and the anti-war demonstrators should absolutely not have been treated like that on Alcatraz. Actually the authorities were respectful to the antiwar demonstrators than they were to the Indians, but still both are an aberration of human nature to treat others like that. I don’t know what to do with murderers but I do know I am against the death penalty.

An Indian man arrives at Pier 40 on the mainland following the removal in June 1971. Indians of All Tribes operated a receiving facility on Pier 40, where donated materials were stored and where Indian people could wait for boats to transport them to Alcatraz Island. Photo: © 2009 Ilka Hartmann

"We will not give up". Indian occupiers moments after the removal from Alcatraz Island on June 11, 1971. Oohosis, a Cree from Canada (Left) and Peggy Lee Ellenwood, a Sioux from Wolf Point, Montana (Right). Photo © 2009 Ilka Hartmann

How do you see the situation for Native Americans today?

When I started there was said to be one million American Indians and now statistics say there are one and a half million. This is down to two things: first, the numbers have increased, but secondly more people identify as Native Americans where they had tried to hide it before due to racism and prejudice.

I went on one trip with a Native American Family for six weeks across the southwest and I kept asking if the Indians were going to survive and there was some doubt, but now people really think the culture is growing and there has been a notable revival. There advances being made dealing with treatments for alcoholism and returning to free practices of traditional worship. I know that the Omaha are talking of a Renaissance of the Omaha culture. My friend and historian, Dennis Hastings, who was also an occupier of Alcatraz, said to me ten years ago “It could still go either way. Half the Native peoples are debilitated with alcoholism and the other half are vibrant and healthy.”

Great afflictions still exist but there are many more Indians who are able to function in the Western aspects of society and traditional ways of life. When I entered the movement there was only one [Native American] PhD; now there are over a hundred. There is hope now.

What we felt came out of Alcatraz was the influence that it had on Nixon. Because he was a proponent of the war I always used to think of him in only negative ways but that is a learning experience too. It is a shock that someone responsible for the deaths of so many people in the world, of so many Vietnamese, could do something good. He signed the American Indian Religious Freedoms Act (1978). Edward Kennedy also worked a lot on these laws.

We believe the returns of lands such as Blue Lake/Taos Pueblos in New Mexico and lands in Washington followed on from the occupation of Alcatraz. There is a famous picture of Nixon with a group of Paiute American Indians. I believe a former high school sports coach of Nixon’s from San Clememnte was Native American and so we think this teacher influenced him.

As a result of Alcatraz, as well as the land takeovers, the consciousness has been raised among non-Indians and this was very important. People in the Bay Area were very supportive of the occupation, until the point where people were not responsible; it got messy the security got too strong and there were drugs and alcohol. Bad things did happen but in the beginning all that was important to expose to the world was written about, particularly by Tim Findley and all the writers working to get this into the underground press.

Until about 15 years when Troy R. Johnson and Adam Fortunate Eagle wrote and researched their books we didn’t understand everything that had happened – we just knew it was exhilarating. We now have the information of policy changes and the knowledge of people who went back to the reservations; leaders such as Wilma Mankiller who was the principle chief of the Cherokee for a long time. Dennis Hastings was the historian of the Omaha people and brought back the sacred star from Harvard University.

Many people have done things to allow a return to the Native culture and it is so strong now – both the urban and reservation culture. American Indians are making films about urban America – part of modern America but also within their Indian backgrounds. Things have changed enormously.

The benevolence of Richard Nixon is not something I’ve heard about before!

Yes, You can read more about it in our book.

What will you be doing for the 40th anniversary?

I’l be going to UC Berkeley. I’ve been working on an event with a young Native American man who is part of the Native American Studies Program which was established in 1970 as a result of the Third World Strikes. I walked and demonstrated at that time many times. I’m very happy to be returning. LaNada Boyer Means who was one of the leaders of the occupation will be present. We’ll be thinking of Richard Aoki, who was a prominent Asian American in the Black Panther movement, who died just a few months ago.

When these people would lead demonstrations, I would photograph it and then I’d rush to the lab, work through the night to get them printed the next day in the Daily Cal and then have to teach my classes and then take my seminars and it would go on like that for weeks.

So, a young man Richie Richards has organized a 40th Anniversary celebration at Berkeley. It includes events that will run all week, films, speakers, I’ll be showing my slides and then on Saturday we’re going to Alcatraz for a sunrise ceremony. Adam Fortunate Eagle, who wrote the Alcatraz Proclamation, will lead the ceremony on the Island.

In addition at San Francisco State where the 1969 student protests originated their will be a mural unveiled to mark the occasion. There have already been recognition ceremonies for ‘veterans’ of the occupation this week in Berkeley and starting tonight there are events for Native American High School students from all over the area in Berkeley also. Interest has really rekindled recently. The text books have really changed so much and I think that is excellent for younger generations.

And many more to come …

Thanks so much Ilka.

Thank you, Pete.

_________________________________________

For this interview I used Ilka’s portrait shots from the occupation. There are many more photographs to feast on here and here.

Overcoming exhaustion and disillusionment, young Alcatraz Occupier Atha Rider Whitemankiller (Cherokee) stands tall before the press at the Senator Hotel. His eloquent words about the purpose of the occupation - to publicize his people's plight and establish a land base for the Indians of the Bay Area - were the most quoted of the day. San Francisco, California. June 11th 1971. Photo: © 2009 Ilka Hartmann

Playboy’s Miss Novembrrrrr 1971, Danielle de Vabre, came from the frozen North of Canadialand, where she was a lovely and talented bunny at the Montreal club.

Photographed by Dwight Hooker

She grew up skiing in Canada, but, after graduating from high school, she and her parents agreed she could take a year off and go to Colorado to be a ski instructor there.

Danielle’s parents agreed that, before beginning her English-literature studies at a Montreal college, she should have her dream adventure in the Western U.S. “My parents knew that if I started school right away, I would resent being there and, consequently, my concentration would suffer.” There was one condition in their agreement, however: Danielle was to finance the trip herself (“Snow Job,” Playboy, November 1971).

Yes, it is so often the case that concentration in college suffers because all you can think about is skiing. Thank goodness her parents were aware of this educational pitfall.

Naturally, the next logical step was to become a Playboy bunny. Pfft — duh! Everyone knows that’s how you get money to go to Colorado and become a ski instructor. Story as old as time.

For the next few months, Danielle worked as a Bunny while waiting to hear from the Colorado resorts to which she’d applied. Finally, she received a positive reply from the Steamboat Springs ski school’s Skeeter Werner, sister of the late Olympic skier Bud Werner.

Oh, hey, aging rich plane passenger. Coffee, tea, or Danielle?

AMBITIONS
To become an airline stewardess. I’d also like to study interior design and fine arts.
MY IDEAL MAN
Age does not matter, as long as he has character.

I just kind of feel like those two statements are related.

Though I of course assume that all her dreams came true and she is doubtless skiing down some snowy slope in her airline stewardess uniform while sketching an interior design and dictating a novel into a tape recorder, I absolutely came up triple goose eggs on searches for what Ms. de Vabre is really up to these days. If you know, drop me a line!

Casting about for a topic for this post, I thought about famous birthdays. Gordon Lightfoot’s birthday was Tuesday, and I have plenty of Lightfoot tunes in the stacks and in the folders. But another day would be better for that, as there is a tale connected that I’m not yet prepared to tell.

I thought about writing about the books on my reading table, as I do occasionally. But I started a book yesterday that’s fascinating, and I want to finish it before I write about it. So that will have to wait.

We’ve had an odd November: sunny and warmer than one would expect. But I wrote about my fascination with autumn not that many days ago, and a post about the weather itself should wait until we have some truly remarkable meteorological happening.

I glanced at the front page of the Minneapolis paper: Budget cuts, a fatal bus crash, health care advisories and so on. Nothing there I care to write about.

It’s just one of those days. So here’s an appropriate selection of titles.

A Six-Pack of Nothing
“There’s Nothing Between Us Now” by Grady Tate from After the Long Drive Home [1970]
“Ain’t Nothing Gonna Change Me” by Betty LaVette from Child of the Seventies [1973]
“Nothing But A Heartache” by the Flirtations, Deram 85038 [1969]
“Nothing Against You” by the Robert Cray Band from Sweet Potato Pie [1997]
“Nothing But Time” by Jackson Browne from Running On Empty [1977]
“Nothing Will Take Your Place” by Boz Scaggs from Boz Scaggs & Band [1971]

One of the things I love about the world of music blogs is finding great tunes by folks who I’ve never heard about before. It turns out that Grady Tate, according to All-Music Guide, is a well-regarded session drummer who’s done some good vocal work as well. I’d never heard of the man until I somehow found myself exploring the very nice blog, My Jazz World. The brief description of Tate’s album After the Long Drive Home and the accompanying scan of the album cover drew me in, and I’ve spent quite a few quiet moments since then digging into Tate’s reflective and sometimes stoic album.

I’ve tagged Betty LaVette’s gritty piece of southern soul, “Ain’t Nothing Gonna Change Me,” as coming from 1973, as that’s when it was recorded. But the story is more complex than that. LaVette recorded the album, Child of the Seventies, for Atco in Muscle Shoals. But AMG notes that after a single from the sessions, “Your Turn to Cry” didn’t do well, the label shelved the entire project. It took until 2006 and a release on the Rhino Handmade label for the album itself to hit the shelves. The CD comes with bonus tracks that include LaVette’s cover of Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold,” which was also released as a single. (My thanks to Caesar Tjalbo.)

A listener without the record label to examine would be excused from thinking that the Flirtation’s driving “Nothing But A Heartache” came from Detroit. The bass line, the drums and the punchy horns all proclaim “Motown,” but this nifty piece of R&B came out of England on the Deram label. The Flirtations, however, had their roots elsewhere: Sisters Shirley and Earnestine Pearce came from South Carolina and Viola Billups hailed from Alabama, so the record’s soul sound is legit, and it sounded pretty good coming out of a little radio speaker, too. The record spent two weeks in the Top 40 during the late spring of 1969, peaking at No. 34.

For Sweet Potato Pie, Robert Cray and his band made their way to Memphis and pulled together an album of blues-based soul. The combination of the Memphis Horns, Cray’s always-sharp guitar work and a good set of songs made the album, to my ears, one of Cray’s best. “Nothing Against You” is a good example of the album’s attractions.

“Nothing But Time” comes from Running On Empty, one of the more interesting live albums of the 1970s: All of the songs were new material, with some of them being recorded backstage, in hotel rooms or on the tour bus instead of in concert. As it happened, the album’s hits – “Running On Empty” and “Stay” – were concert recordings. But I’ve thought for a while that the recordings from the more intimate spaces – “Nothing But Time” was recorded on the tour bus as it rolled through New Jersey (you can hear the hum of the engine in the background) – might have aged a little better. That thought could stem from weariness after hearing the two hits over and over on the radio over the years; I do still like some of the other concert recordings from the album.

To my ears, Boz Scaggs’ slow-building and echoey “Nothing Will Take Your Place,” carries hints of the sound that would propel him to the top of the charts in 1976 with Silk Degrees. I guess it just took the mass audience – including me – a while to catch up with him.

Here are the top-30 movies from the 70’s. This decade is the best one. I always said that the best movies were made in the 70’s. Take a look for yourself and hit that video store on the way home. Ladies and gentlemen, the best movies from 1970-1979…

1. The Godfather part II (1974) Director: Francis Ford Coppola
2. A Clockwork Orange (1971) Director: Stanley Kubrick
3. The Godfather (1972) Director: Francis Ford Coppola
4. Jaws (1975) Director: Steven Spielberg
5. Barry Lyndon (1975) Director: Stanley Kubrick
6. Annie Hall (1977) Director: Woody Allen
7. Chinatown (1974) Director: Roman Polanski
8. The Deer Hunter (1978) Director: Michael Cimino
9. The Exorcist (1973) Director: William Friedkin
10. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) Director: Milos Forman
11. Apocalypse Now (1979) Director: Francis Ford Coppola
12. Marathon Man (1976) Director: John Schlesinger
13. Manhattan (1979) Director: Woody Allen
14. National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978) Director: John Landis
15. Papillon (1973) Franklin J. Schaffner
16. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) Director: Steven Spielberg
17. The Tenant (1976) Director: Roman Polanski
18. Deliverance (1972) Director: John Boorman
19. The French Connection (1971) Director: William Friedkin
20. Taxi Driver (1976) Director: Martin Scorsese
21. Love and Death (1975) Director: Woody Allen
22. Dog Day Afternoon (1975) Director: Sydney Lumet
23. Five Easy Pieces (1970) Director: Bob Rafelson
24. Serpico (1973) Director: Sydney Lumet
25. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) Director: Robert Benton
26. All the President’s Men (1976) Director: Alan J. Pakula
27. The Last Detail (1973) Director: Hal Ashby
28. Midnight Express (1978) Director: Alan Parker
29. Three Days of the Condor (1975) Director: Sydney Pollack
30. Play It Again, Sam (1972) Director: Woody Allen

THE TRAILERS FOR THE TOP 3 BEST MOVIES OF 1970-1979

(PT) Vor mittlerweile zwei Wochen haben meine bessere Hälfte und ich unseren guten Freund Sebastian Schür (natürlich auch mit seiner besseren Hälfte) in Bürgstadt besucht. Wenn dieses Quartet zusammen kommt, wird immer vorzüglich frisch gekocht, dabei auch gerne mal experimentiert und natürlich Wein verkostet. Da alle vier des Quartets die Leidenschaft Wein zum Beruf gemacht haben, sind die gemeinsamen Abende natürlich auch immer Fortbildungsveranstaltungen.

In diesem Sinne, und inspiriert durch Dirks Posting haben wir ein paar reife Riesling Schätze aus den Tiefen unserer Keller an das abendliche Dämmerlicht befördert:
Das Schloß Eltz, wahrlich eines der legendärsten Riesling Güter der Welt, war mit drei Weinen vertreten. In diese Reihe gesellte sich ein 1968er Riesling vom Weingut J.B.Becker nur zu gerne, da Hajo Becker in keinem geringerem Betrieb als eben dem Schloß Eltz seine Winzerlehre absolvierte.

Folgende Weine wurden mit Genuß und unter staunenden Gaumen verkostet:

1964 Schloß Eltz Auslese Rauenthaler Wieshell Riesling
Nach sehr heißem Sommer 1964 ein Reifer Riesling in Perfektion, perfekter Kork, sehr guter Füllstand (-0,5 cm), frische Riesling Aromatik, pfirsich, mirabelle, marille, im Glas: grün mit gelben Reflexen, animierende reife Säure mit ausgleichender Süße, Reduktivität mt ewiger Entwicklung – beeindruckender Wein!

1968 J.B.Becker Elviller Sonnenberg Riesling Cabinet Faß Nr. 6815
Leider nicht so, wie man die Weine vom Weingut J.B. Becker gewohnt ist: Nasser Kork der auch Auwirkungen auf den Geschmack hat; muffig und müde.

1969 Schloß Eltz Spätlese Eltviller Mönchhanach Riesling
Dezente Firne, strohgelbe Farbe, dezente Süße, reife Säure; gut.

1971 Schloß Eltz Auslese Rauenthaler Baiken Riesling
Sehr guter Füllstand (-0,8 cm),  verhaltene Firne, bernsteinfarben, frische belebende Säure, Restsüße ist immer noch vordergründig, mächtige Auslese,; Fasziniernd voller reifer Riesling mit Potenzial für weitere 10 ? Jahre -> flüssiges Gold

Leider sind die Weine des Schloß Eltz nur noch recht selten zu finden, ANGORA in Freiburg bietet noch ein paar Flaschen an – für Weinfans ist das probieren solch eines Rieslings ein Muß.

Die Weine vom Weingut J.B. Becker sind noch ab Hof zu bekommen: Weingut J.B.Becker in Walluf – einfach altmodisch im Telefonbuch stöbern;)

Habt ihr auch schon Erfahrungen mit Rieslingen dieses Alters gemacht?
Was waren eure Erfahrungen?

Schloss Eltz – Wappen

-> Weitere Artikel zu “Reifer Riesling”

So tonight marks something of a landmark in my musical listening, namely, that I now have Led Zeppelin albums and have actually been listening to them. Yes, I know there’s no reason a healthy 27 year old music fan (rock n’ roll fan, at that) should go through life without listening to Led Zeppelin, but such has been my reality up until tonight. I figured I’d best mark such an event with a bit of an “early impressions” writeup of one of the most famous albums in music:

This sudden influx of Led Zeppelin (or “Lep”, as I accidentally called them while chatting with a friend, and that kind of stuck so I’m going to use it) into my life came at the expense of a dear friend, that is, my Zune. See, I bought the sucker from Best Buy and, being one who has destroyed 5 Mp3 players in the past couple of years, opted for the additional protection plan. Indeed, when the thing died, I was awarded a gift card with all the money I paid for the thing on it, and the Sansa I replaced it with, even with the additional case and 16GB memory card, only used up about half of that store credit, so I had a surplus of monies to spend. Certainly, if they had awarded me cash, I would have given it to charity or used it to feed the homeless, but since this was store credit, I had to find something that cost around $100 that could be found at Best Buy.

Hence, I bought the complete Led Zeppelin box-set, thus taking my Lep collection from “0″ to “everthing” in one fell swoop. I have spent nearly all of the time between then and this writing listening to each album in a row. Of course, I have been happy with my purchase (which, after store credit, amounted to $2.14 out of my pocket, not a bad price to pay for ROCK), and when it came time to figure out what I wanted to write about today, of course I knew what I had to do.

Certain publications have dubbed the no-name fourth album from Lep as “the best album ever”, and it’s nice to see that distinction given to someone who’s not The Beatles. Nevermind that “best ever” is within the confines of “Hard Rock” only; in listening to mandolin/acoustic guitar stuff like “The Battle Of Evermore” and “Going To California” can hardly be called “hard” rock, but that should just go to show you how much of the rest of the album rocks.

Indeed, though tonight was my first time listening to The Album Which Is Not Named, I’ve easily heard at least half of it from various sources; even someone with as much self-inflicted shelteredness can’t escape these songs. Sure, I may not have known that “Black Dog” was that song with that riff, but I still think about that song with that riff every time I think of this band. Even though I have had it spelled out to me in Wikipedia, I still can’t tell you what kind of time signature this is, but that’s mainly because, despite being a bit of a Prog fan, weird time signatures kind of scare and excite me.

One of the reasons I had not gotten around to listening to Led Zeppelin, even while growing my digital music collection exponentially with my short-lived Zune Marketplace membership, is because I found it remarkably hard to find Lep material on the web. Yeah, sure, I could get it all on iTunes, but why pay the per-song price when the box-set is actually cheaper? I couldn’t find it on Zune unless I purchased it, in DRM’d .wma 192kbps files. Yeah, I and my $500 headphones say no thank you, Microsoft.

The weird thing is, even back in my pirating days, I couldn’t find Zeppelin stuff in any kind of quality. Apparently the band’s fogeyism when it comes to digital distribution reached out to their fans, who are not known to be the most scrupulous bunch, unless they are collectively ignoring anti-drug laws but abiding by anti-piracy ones, but I digress.

The point is, I know the album’s second song, “Rock And Roll”, because I heard it in a damn car commercial. I’m just saying, Lep, maybe you can let up the slack on letting people actually hear your music? Either way, “Rock And Roll” is still a great song, calling upon the early, bygone (even in the 70’s) days of the genre. Deep Purple did the same with their cover of “Lucille” and their song “Speed King”, but neither had the same effect as “Rock And Roll”, and Robert Plant put out a much more generally appealing squealy high note than Ian Gillan, but let’s not fight over this, both bands are trillionaires.

The only song that I kind of scratch my head over is the song “Misty Mountain Hop”. The song barely holds together, and it’s almost like the band recorded it in 4 seperate rooms without listening to any of the other parts (and without a common beat), and then the whole thing was duct-taped together. Not that it’s a bad song, how can a song about marijuana and Lord Of The Rings be all that bad? I’m just saying, if we’re talking about the best rock album ever made, some attention should be drawn towards what I would call the weakest link.

Of course, the song “Four Sticks” is much more like it, providing this kind of crazy beat that has its own novella of a story behind it. Basically, the drummer is using four sticks, so the song is called “Four Sticks”. However, though it’s not my place to directly quote Wikipedia, I do kind of like this blurb about what happened when the guys tried to play it with an Indian orchestra:

“The project is said to have run into problems because the orchestra didn’t keep time in the Western style and some of them drank rather a lot.”

That’s just great, I also love how Robert’s crooning in the very last part of the song sounds like it’s being pitch-corrected, way before such technology existed. Seriously, this band had to have worshipped Satan to get such technology so early, if indeed the legends are true and Satan is actually Cher.

One more note about “Going To California”, I absolutely love the kind of diminished chord parts that occur between the mandolin and guitar between singing parts. That and the echoey minor-key verses that Robert Plant belts out make this a reall appealing song, despite being, in no way, Hard Rock.

Finally, we’ve got “When The Levee Breaks”. Now, I know that Led Zeppelin got in trouble for stealing a lot of things (apparently they didn’t give writing credits to a blues guy after playing his song), but to rip a beat off the Beastie Boys? Totally not cool, guys, I don’t care if you ARE the biggest band in the world.

All right, joking aside, “When The Levee Breaks” is actually a really awesome song, perhaps one of the few examples of a legit “Hard Rock” song where the harmonica is one of the main players. This song is really sludgy and slow-moving not only because of the ominous, thundering beat (which, again, has an entire encyclopedia’s worth of writing dedicated to how it was done, basically your man John was at the bottom of some stairs and was recorded from the top of the stairs), but because of the fact that it was played faster and then slowed down to pitch. This move would later be callously copied by my own heroes Gentle Giant on the song “Working All Day” from Three Friends. Whether this really cool move was intentionaly ripped off or not, I don’t care to know, I just know this album predates at least 90% of the technology that was used to create it, meaning that Lep probably were all sorcerers.

Either way, these sorcerers have conjured their ways directly into my heart, and despite what I’ve heard about one of these albums, I am sure I’ll continue to enjoy them, even if on a much cheaper Mp3 player.

Fun Fact: I considered the idea of writing about one Lep album a day until I got through all of them, to make up for lost time. I instantly regretted the idea, though I am sure I will be revisiting them within the month and a half I have left on this album-a-day blog.

Also I feel like I’m forgetting something… oh well!

It’s a busy day today, but it’s for a good reason.

Tomorrow, my long-time pals Rick, Rob and Dan come into St. Cloud for our fourth annual Strat-O-Matic baseball tournament. From mid-morning to early evening, we’ll laugh, tell stories, listen to a wide variety of tunes and play a little tabletop baseball along the way.

Once again, Rob is the defending champion. In last year’s tournament, his two-time champ, the 1922 St. Louis Browns, were knocked off in the first round. But he took his second team – the 1995 Colorado Rockies – to the title with a remarkable combination of lots of offense, some good bullpen management and lots of luck. (Even he acknowledges that last part.)

So Rick, Dan and I will try to keep Rob from winning a fourth straight title. For those who are interested, here are the teams that are in this year’s tournament. (For those uninterested, you can skip to the next paragraph.)

Rob: The defending champion 1995 Rockies and the 1922 New York Giants
Rick: The 1976 Phillies and the 1990 Athletics
Dan: The 1934 St. Louis Cardinals and the 1927 New York Yankees
Me: The 1948 Indians and the 1961 Cincinnati Reds

Whatever happens, the day of the annual tournament is one of the best days of the year for me, a chance to share my home and some very good times with my long-time friends. The Texas Gal puts up with the noise and the disruption with an amazing amount of grace. I imagine that our two annual tournaments (baseball in the autumn and hockey in spring) leave her feeling as if she’s the housemother in a fraternity house for graying sophomores.

Each spring and fall, as we plan our menu and the required grocery and liquor store trips, she’ll remind me of something and say, “That’s for the Saturday the boys are here, so make sure we have enough.”

We’ll have plenty of everything we need tomorrow, when the boys are back in town.

A Six-Pack of Boys
“The Boys Are Back In Town” by Thin Lizzy from Jailbreak [1976]
“Smokin’ in the Boys’ Room” by Brownsville Station from Yeah! [1973]
“Boys in the Band” by Mountain from Climbing! [1970]
“The Boys of Summer” by Don Henley from Building the Perfect Beast [1984]
“One of the Boys” by Mott the Hoople from All The Young Dudes [1972]
“The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys” by Traffic from The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys [1971]

The most anthemic of these is the Thin Lizzy track (though Don Henley comes close). With its almost relentless guitar riffs, “The Boys Are Back In Town” dares you not to tap your feet or bob your head or pound out a rhythm on the steering wheel. And if you’re in the car, there’s no way you’re not going to turn the radio up all the way. The single was Thin Lizzy’s only hit, peaking at No. 12 during the summer of 1976. Oh, and that line about “drivin’ all the old men crazy”? It’s a little disquieting to realize that if I were anyone in the song these days, I’d be one of those old men.

I always thought Brownsville Station’s “Smoking in the Boys’ Room” was kind of a silly song, but then, it came along a little bit after I left high school and before hardly any anti-smoking regulations came to our college campus: Smoking was definitely allowed in school. But it moves along nicely, boogies a little bit, and it does have a hell of a hook. The single went to No. 3 during the winter of 1973-74.

Mountain’s “Boys in the Band” is a subtle track, almost delicate at moments, that seems to belie the band’s reputation for guitar excess. But the elegiac tone fits perfectly for a song that has its protagonist saying goodbye to his band and life on the road:

“We play tunes today
“Leaving memory of yesterday.
“All the circles widen getting in the sun,
“All the seasons spinning all the days one by one”

The title of Don Henley’s album, Building the Perfect Beast, fits, because Henley darn near built the perfect pop song in “The Boys of Summer.” Backed on that track by a stellar quartet – Mike Campbell of the Heartbreakers, Steve Porcaro of Toto, studio pro Danny Kortchmar and bassist Larry Klein – Henley melds haunting music and literate and thoughtful lyrics into a cohesive whole. And you can tap your feet to it, too. (Or pound on the steering wheel, if you’re driving behind that Cadillac with the Grateful Dead sticker on it.) The single went to No. 5 during its fourteen weeks on in the Top 40 as 1984 turned into 1985.

Hey kids! Hear that odd sound at the beginning of Mott the Hoople’s “One of the Boys”? When we old farts talk about dialing a telephone, that’s what it sounded like. That’s an honest-to-god dial telephone. There are other positives to the song, too, of course: It’s a crunchy piece of rock,  with its chords shimmering in the glam persona of Ian Hunter and his band, and it’s another opportunity to bruise your hands on the steering wheel.

On a Saturday sometime around 1975, I was sitting in the basement rec room, reading and listening to Traffic’s The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys. I’d borrowed the album from someone – maybe Rick – and was trying to decide if I should shell out some own coin for my own copy. I liked what I heard and was thinking about heading downtown later in the day to buy the record. As the languid title track played, I heard the door at the top of the basement stairs open and I recognized my dad’s tread. Steve Winwood sang:

“If you had just a minute to breathe
“And they granted you one final wish . . .”

My dad, coming into the room, sang. “Would you wish for fish?”

And from that moment on, every time I’ve heard the song, I remember my dad being silly. I miss him.