Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted

     Last time many of you heard from me on this forum, we had stopped the radio show and the blog posts had slowed to a trickle. Life had changed our plans, and although we willing accepted the changes in our career plans and our move to Southern Mississippi, the extra responsibilities caused me to rethink some priorities and the radio show AND blog went by the wayside.

     There were attempts on my part to re-ignite the blog by setting up a new site and domain name, but just couldn't get the mojo working again. A friend of mine said to me several years back to do what I was passionate about, and stick with it, not because there would be financial gain (although that would be nice), but because it was what I loved. That has never been far from my mind.

     Circumstances are allowing me again to pick up where I had left off. However this blog will not be an everyday thing, nor will it be in exactly the same format as before. I have an opportunity to resurrect the radio show again, and that will be my major focus. This blog will attempt to expand on some ideas and opinions concerning music which I might not have on a chance to on the radio.

     The show itself will also change. Before it was a mix of rock, pop, soul and r&b. My wheelhouse musically is rock from 1966-1980, in other words, the salad days of FM rock. This is where the base of the show will come from. Many a day (and night) of my childhood was spent listening to KSHE 95.5 in St. Louis, and the personality and vibe from that station molded my philosophy of how a radio show should be conducted.

     There are already three stations lined up to carry the new show. Actually, one of them never stopped airing the old one, and a new station in Oregon picked up repeats of the old broadcast about two months ago. I'm excited to attempt to bring things back to you. The readership of the blog never waned, and almost 65,000 of you have check it out. For this I am eternally grateful. Keep watching on the blog for updates as the day where we broadcast again come near.   

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Deep Purple--Smoke On The Water (1973)

     It seems as if since 1973, every boy or girl who picked up a guitar is drawn to that riff as if they have no choice. I can't vouch for the reason why, but just like playing "Chopsticks" seems to be natural for a young piano player, the opening guitar line to, "Smoke On The Water" is to young axe players. Whereas it sounds cute coming from a 9 year old, the same riff becomes menacing in the hands of Ritchie Blackmore.  (might have something to do with the Marshall amps being turned up to 11 as well..) Along with "Stairway to Heaven", the song became one of the icons for 70's hard rock.
     The story behind the song came from an incident on December 4th of 1971. The Rolling Stones had invested in a mobile recording truck which could be driven to the artist rather than the artist to the studio. The truck was driven to Switzerland to meet the band at the Montreux Casino to begin recording a new album.
     Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention were playing in the ballroom of the casino that night, when someone with a flaregun shot a flare into the ceiling. It quickly caught fire, as did the entire casino complex. The words "Smoke on the Water" came from bass player, Roger Glover as an apt description of that scene on the banks of Lake Geneva. With the place they were going to record destroyed, they spent the next couple of weeks unsuccessfully looking for a place to record. They finally found the Montreux Grand Hotel, which they rent a part of, converted  it into a studio and recorded their most successful album, "Machine Head".
     This recording was from California Jam in the spring of 1974.... 

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Alice Cooper--School's Out (1972)

     For those who read this blog who are under the age of 40, it's probably humorous to read some of these stories based on what we see of an artist now. Of course, from a historical standpoint, it shows that if we show growth at all, we change over the years. In all media, there is the added perspective of how a person is portrayed now as opposed to 20, 30, 40 years ago.
     For a few years, Alice Cooper was the scourge of my parents generation. Just about every ill that had befallen on teenagers was being blamed on Cooper and his overt call to unwitting children to revolt and usurp authority. Truth was, that those children, understood "the Coop" and "School's Out" much more than parents gave them credit for.. Any kid from first to twelfth grade understood the unabashed glee of that song. And the theatrics? Cooper was a logical extension from artists like, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Screamin' Lord Such, and Arthur Brown. The group KISS, Marilyn Manson, and Lady Gaga has kept this tradition going. Performance art as music has been a part of rock almost as long as we have had rock and roll.
     The group Alice Cooper had made the slow trek from Detroit garage band in the late 60's (who literally could clear a room) to top notch rock band. Producer Bob Ezrin had taken the rawness of "Pretties for You", and "Easy Action", and smoothed just enough of the sharp edges without effecting the raw power of the group. The subsequent albums, "Love It To Death", and "Killer" began a slow climb on the charts, and made them stars with the FM radio crowd.
     1971's, School's Out was the real breakthrough and gave the group their first top 10 single. They were one of the predominant rock bands from 1971-1975. This clip was from Britian's "Top of the Pops" from 1972.

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