So far I have been to every NXNE and CMW since the first ones and this year was certainly one of them. Actually I do think that they have put more effort into the lineup for NXNE this year both for bands and films, they also extended the schedule to cover both Wednesday and Sunday on either side of the weekend. To bad I didn't get my pass until the Thursday and so missed The Eagles of Death Metal and The Blue Van. Which means I kicked things off with....
Thursday June 17;
10pm ~ X ~ Dundas Square
Been looking forward to this even before I heard it was going to happen. X, with Billy Zoom, haven't played outside of L.A. since the 1980's so I've actually not seen them before. Damn if it wasn't a rock solid as you could have asked for. Dundas Square is not exactly the most intimate venue but the sound was decent all things considered. Billy always manages to look like he is the happiest person in the room while still looking like the coolest, which is harder than you think. And he played like a well oiled machine. Ditto for D.J. Bonebrake and John Doe. Xeane looked healthy too which was nice. The vocals were a little ragged of course but that was always one of their charms.
12am ~ Elliott Brood ~ The Horseshoe
I haven't seen them for awhile and it was kind of a sort set but they manage to make their goth-grass work as a foot stomping crowd pleaser. Their other stuff sounds more like Neil Young & Buffalo Springfield.
1am ~ The 222's ~ The Bovine
Another old school punk band reuniting for another kick at the can. This one's from Montreal and is a good example of basic pre-hardcore punk. Nothing special but solid.
2am ~ The Junction ~ The Horseshoe
Your basic indie guitar type band. It's OK but nothing that sticks in my mind five seconds after it's done.
3am ~ The Soft Pack ~ The Silver Dollar
One of the "surprise" TBA guests. The Pack, from San Diego, do a full on noisy guitar fest with driving bass lines and a whole lotta feedback. Cool. Worth seeing again.
Friday June 18;
10:30pm (approx) ~ Flatfoot 56 ~ The Hard Luck Bar
OK not really part of NXNE but what the Hell. I had the choice between getting crammed into the show to see Mudhoney, Man or Astroman and the Poisoned Arrows or going to the Hard Luck for the Brains. I chose the Brains, hadn't heard the openers Flatfoot 56. They are a Dropkick Murphys type Celtic Punk band with a bagpiper and mandolin player. Unlike some other bands of this type, like umm... the Murphys, you can actually hear the mandolin and piper, and they are actually really good players,especially the mandolin. They did a cool cover of Screaching Weasel's "Cool Kids", with bagpipes yet!
12am (approx) ~ The Brains ~ The Hard Luck Bar ~
The best Psychobilly in Montreal (if not Canada) are back with a new cd. I've seen them plenty of times and they always pretty much do the same thing, but they do it really well. Actually there was one new thing, a version of "Rock this town" using the mandolin player from Flatfoot 56 that really should make it to the next Brains cd, and probably will.
2am ~ The Schomberg Fair ~ Rancho Relaxo ~
This country/goth combo were not as rootsy as their cd, but then again I only got to see a few songs.
3am ~ The Cheap Speakers ~ Rancho Relaxo ~
A solid somewhat 60's ish guitar rock trio worth further exploration.
Saturday June 19;
9:30pm ~ Iggy and The Stooges ~ Dundas Square ~
I figured that a free Stooges show (with the return of James Williamson, something we never thought would happen) would be insane, turns out it was worse than that. Dundas square was jam packed with every freak in the city including unfortunately the two groups I most hate to see at punk shows;
Exhibit a) The Drunken Frat Boy/Jock type who take any chance to do their Drunken Frat Boy/Jock mosh which basically the same as the thing that football players do before they head out to the field where they grab each other by the shoulders and bang their heads together, except now they get to do that to much smaller people who aren't wearing helmets cause it's "punk rock man!" To them I say;
"Die you assholes! Go back and listen to those gangsta rap songs about date rape like you usually do. Fuck off already!"
Exhibit b) The Hard Core Squeegee Punks, some of them are ok and even funny enough, but then there's those ones with their "we're punker than you" attitude and their "we're too punk to bathe" look, all encased in black leather and spikes no matter how hot it is. Always shoving their way through the crowd and daring anyone to speak up and give them an excuse to beat somebody up. To them I say;
"Die you assholes! Go hang out with the frat boys, you have more in common than you'd like to admit. Fuck off already!"
Anyway the crowd was so dense and packed that I and others around me had to take it on faith that that was in fact Iggy up there and not just a backing track since it was literally impossible to actually see anything at all. So much as I would have normally would have enjoyed touching base with all the folks I ran into that I haven't seen in ages I had to get out of that sweaty frustrating mass. So I wandered over to the side and climbed over a railing and behind the drinking area to get to stage left where some other folks had gotten the same idea. At last it was possible to see the band since they never moved from the front of Rock Action's drum kit the whole time. Occasionally Iggy himself would shimmy his way over as well and accept the accolades from the smaller crowd at the side. The first few times this happened some people who had all-access passes to be further up on stage left would all stand up and block our view, until some guys started chanting "Down in front! Down in front!" After a couple of times some of the pass holders heard this, turned around, and then actually sat down! To which I say;
"Cudos to you Sirs and Madams; You're a class act."
Did I mention that they did most if not all of raw power along with other stuff from the first two albums and the sound was, all things considered pretty good? Well it was. And that Iggy is still a sweaty, shirtless, toned, leathery, lizard king? Well he is. And the Stooges still kick ass.
11:30pm ~ Moneen ~
Who booked this mess? Who decided to put the Darlings of Chelsea on while the Stooges were playing elsewhere thus guaranteeing that none of their fans or friends would show? I'm surprised the band even showed up, I wouldn't if I were them. Then they put on Moneen, a dreadfully dull indie type band of the type that Sonic Unyon used to sign back in the day, to bore the fuck out of everybody. Actually that's not entirely true as they do have a fair number of sappy fans who immediately left as soon as Moneen did so they wouldn't be contaminated by the Zeros and their old school punk. Kids these days I swear.
12am ~ The Zeros ~ The El Mocambo
Thank you NXNE for putting The Zeros, Stark Naked & the Fleshtones, Drive Like Maria and Man or Astroman on AT THE SAME FUCKING TIME IN COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FUCKING CLUBS! It wouldn't be NXNE with out some piece of randomly stupid booking. On top of which the Man or Astroman gig was one of their secret T.B.A. gigs which was announced via Twitter and gave out THE WRONG FUCKING TIME! Nice one. Anyway.. where was I? Oh right, the Zeros. They are yet another "legendary punk band of the 1980's", this time from L.A. where they were considered "The Mexican Ramones". Actually they had more in common with the Undertones or Teenage Head but what the Hell. They were still looking and sounding pretty well preserved too. This was actually their first gig in Canada ever and they are planning on coming back.
1am ~ The Gin Riots ~ The El Mocambo ~
This vaguely 1960's like Soft Boys type guitar band are getting some good press from England which is in short supply of such bands of late. They were ok but they really didn't belong on this bill though so I'm willing to give them another chance.
2am ~ Porcelin Forehead ~ The El Mocambo ~
And we have another "Legendary Punk band from the 1980's" this time from Ottawa which was not exactly a punk hot spot then or now. Although they were billed as a "hardcore band" and were apparently on a few hardcore comps back in the day (which I may or may not own), they are really a pretty straight up punk band. Not spectacular but solid enough.
2:20am ~ The Darcys ~ Rancho Relaxo ~
They sounded good from the street with a swirling psyche wall of sound, but the Rancho is a notorious sweatbox during the summer, especially when it's packed, which it was. So I got the Hell out of there. Sorry.
2:30am ~ Comanechi ~ The Silver Dollar ~
The hot new thing out of England is a two piece noise band with a cute Japanese girl drumming and yowling incoherently while her male guitarist partner grinds out two chord metal thrashes. He also had a hairdo that literally covered his entire face the entire time so that I actually couldn't tell if he was also Japanese or not until the end. Answer; No. It's energetic live but pretty much of a piece and we'll see if it has any staying power.
3am ~ The Winks ~ Rancho Relaxo ~
An art rock/performance art four piece from Montreal with an electric mandolin, stand up bass, cello and drums; no guitars please, we're art rockers. The girl singer also wore a lacy fairy costume. I only stuck around because I almost never get to hear an electric mandolin. Too band they don't have any songs to go with it.
3:20am ~ The Strange Boys ~ The Silver Dollar ~
Another solid roots rock band from Austin Texas, are there any other kind? I only saw a few songs, including a version of Dusty Springfield's "Son of a preacher man" which was pretty cool. Worth checking out again.
Sunday June 20;
10pm ~ Ali & The Dts ~ The El Mocambo
An Irish band that evokes the Commitments? That's too easy. Actually they're ok but I don't know if we really need a throwback to the pre-punk pub rock r&b of the 1970's. On the other hand we could do much worse and no doubt will. Much much worse.
11pm ~ The DGB ~ Rancho Relaxo ~
A three piece grunge band from Lindsay, Ontario where they apparently remember grunge. Does anybody here remember grunge? No? Oh well.
12am ~ The Archives ~ Rancho Relaxo ~
Another perfectly competent indie guitar band that I couldn't remember anything about once I got home. But I was pretty tired, otherwise I would have gone down to the Bovine for Sixxxer. However I did find one of their cds at the Stooges gig.
1am ~ Sleep For The Night Life ~ Rancho Relaxo ~
An all insturmental jam band that I was too bored to stick around for so I went home, NXNE over and out.
Films;
"You Left Me Blue; The Handsome Ned Story" ~
A loving documentary of the founder of the roots rock scene in Toronto in the 1980's until his death in 1987 before he had a chance to finish what would have been his debut album. He woulda been a contender damn it. There should be more footage when the home version comes out and it's worth seeing for anyone who loves the old Queen st. scene.Also has footage from the Handsone Ned Tribute show I helped put together and stage managed back in 2007 so there is an ever so brief glimpse of me stage left at one point, blink and you'll miss it.
"The Blank Generation" ~
Ivan Kral's ultra crude black and white document of the 1970's New York punk scene shot at the time, most of the major and several minor players are here filmed on stage with completely out of synch sound. However no Suicide though or Velvets which is too bad. It's not currently available but I actually have copy of this already and mentioned it to Ivan Kral (who was there), turns out there are a few bootleg copies floating around.
"X;The Unheard Music" ~
A straight forward "making of" doc originally done back in the 1980's the film makers were convinced that X were going to be the next big thing. They were wrong but because they thought so they did a thorough job so we have a good document about X unlike so many of their contemporaries.
"Search and Destroy; Iggy Pop and The Stooges Raw Power" ~
One of those "making of" docs that they make for VH1. Iggy and James Williamson are quite articulate and thoughtful and the talking head experts don't distract which is a bonus. Unfortunately they didn't get to interview the late Ron Asheton and David Bowie. Although Iggy does allow that the notoriously muddy mix of "Raw Power" wasn't Bowie's fault after all.
"Superstonic Sound: The Rebel Dread" ~
A documentary about Clash manager, film maker and DJ Don Letts who turns out to be a great interview. He's the guy on the cover of the first Clash album facing down the police, it turns out he was actually running to get out of the way but what the Hell.
"Visual Alan Audio Vega" ~
A mercifully short, out of focus, absurdly incoherent interview snippet with Suicide front man Alan Vega filtered through enough feed back and distortion to induce migraines. I know that Suicide used to do the same thing kinda but that was still annoying. On the other hand it did conjure up memories of Chris Twoomy's Industrial Video Roadshow.
Note I sadly missed "Circa 1977; The Diodes" part of which was actually shot on my radio show so I really should get around to that, and I also manged to miss out on Man or Astroman, Mudhoney and Drive Like Maria (twice each!) as well as the Poison Aeros and The Blue Van. I can't be everywhere you know.
Friday, 2 July 2010
Thursday, 1 July 2010
Let the lobbying commence for a Bill Monroe stamp
Remember the campaign and subsequent vote for an Elvis stamp? Well there is a similar move afoot to get a stamp for the father of bluegrass, Bill Monroe. I'm all for it. There have been plenty of stamps for politicians, explorers and scientists that frankly few people care about and it's about time some more respect was given to artists who are not of the "high brow" type usually honoured by the state. The famous Elvis stamps came about as part of a larger package of stamps honouring various other heroes of Rock & Roll, The Blues, Jazz, Gospel, Country. There have also been a few other stamps for Duke Ellington, Scott Joplin, W.C. Handy, and last year, Roy Acuff. You can see them along the left side of this blog. Note the cool Bix Biederbeck stamp is actually a mock up never actually issued and way overdue. The Johnny Cash is also a mockup, he has not been dead long enough to qualify however. Canada has given a stamp to Oscar Peterson but is remiss in ignoring country stars Hank Snow, Wilf Carter and Al Nolan. Do I detect a subtle class-ism in a willingness to honour jazz more than country music? For that matter even the series of American masters stamps had some odd omissions. Seriously, no Bix, Lester Young, Sam Cooke, Little Walter, Chet Baker, Sonnyboy Williamson, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin? I suspect that the manner their respective deaths might had gotten them a veto. In other words no drug addicts or other scandals. Having only four country music stars leaves out Webb Pierce, Lefty Frizzel, Jim Reeves which can be blamed on a belief that Country Music isn't to taken a seriously as Jazz. On the other hand there's no John Cage either.
Anyway here's the info on the Bill Monroe campaign from www.billmonroestamp.org;
Anyway here's the info on the Bill Monroe campaign from www.billmonroestamp.org;
Voice Your Support for a Bill Monroe Commemorative Stamp! |  Image courtesy of Grassware | |
| | Would you like to see Bill Monroe, the Father of Bluegrass Music, honored by a commemorative United States Postage Stamp? If you would, the time to act is NOW, and all you have to do is to write and mail a letter. Each year, the United States Postal Service considers the issuance of approximately 25 commemorative postage stamps. Under its guidelines, the honoree must have been deceased for at least 10 years. The 10th anniversary of Bill Monroe's death occurred on September 9, 2006, meaning he is now eligible. The first two opportunities to honor Bill Monroe with a postage stamp, in 2006 and 2007, have now passed. The centennial of his birth, on September 13, 2011, would be the perfect occasion to celebrate his musical legacy. Since the selection committee considers subjects three years in advance of the issuance date, that means this year and next year are our opportunity to influence their choice for 2011. The first step is for a citizens' committee to select, and narrow down to approximately 25, the worthy nominees for each year. This they do by considering letters, cards, petitions, etc., sent to them by the public at large. After that, the committee considers art work and other details for the stamp. Because Bill Monroe's music is appreciated worldwide, nominations from outside the USA would be very appropriate. If you would like to participate in this effort on behalf of a great American musical genius, write your letter to: Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee Stamp Development US Postal Service 1735 North Lynn St. Rm 5013 Arlington VA 22209-6432 Don't delay -- if we all pitch in and do our part by writing a letter, and telling our friends, Bill Monroe can receive this well-deserved recognition from the country that he loved. | |
Wednesday, 16 June 2010
Punk Dinosaurs on the road again
It's summer (almost) which means that various punk and such figures of the misty past will be staggering out of the swamps to stalk the earth again. So far we have on the road; The New York Dolls (all two of 'em), The Stooges (with James Williamson) , X (full lineup), PIL, The Murder City Devils, The Misfits (Jerry Only living up to his name), The Diodes, Johnny and The G Rays, The Buzzcocks, The Zeros, The 222's, Porcelain Forehead, Mudhoney, Hole, The Ripchordz, New Bomb Turks, The Specials, The Blues Explosion, Killing Joke, GBH, The Guana Batz, The Avengers, The Business, Alice in Chains, Gang of Four, Killing Joke, Arson plus Modern English, The Psychedelic Furs, The Grapes of Wrath and Peter Murphy and while we're at it Iron Maiden, Faster Pussycat and The L.A. Guns. Last year even brought us the Sonics.
In the studio; Danzig, Green Day, Social Distortion, Naked Raygun, Pearl Jam.
Plus there is supposed to be some kind of reunion for Refused and The Smashing Pumpkins.
Obviously some of these are more welcome than others.
AND WITH THAT THOUGHT IN MIND HERE'S YOUR 80'S FLASHBACK;
MODERN ENGLISH ~ "I MELT WITH YOU";
THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS ~ "SISTER EUROPE";
THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS ~ "LOVE MY WAY";
THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS ~ "BLACKS/RADIO";
KILLING JOKE ~ "A NEW DAY";
KILLING JOKE ~ "EIGHTIES";
KILLING JOKE ~ "KINGS AND QUEENS";
KILLING JOKE ~ "LET'S ALL GOP TO THE FIRE DANCES";
THE DIODES ~ "CAT WALKER";
X ~ "TRUE LOVE";
X ~ "BREATHLESS";
THE 222'S ~ "LOW LIFE";
THE 222'S ~ "FUN FUN FUN";
THE 222'S ~ "THE FIRST STUDIO BOMB";
THE 222's ~ "I LOVE SUSAN";
In the studio; Danzig, Green Day, Social Distortion, Naked Raygun, Pearl Jam.
Plus there is supposed to be some kind of reunion for Refused and The Smashing Pumpkins.
Obviously some of these are more welcome than others.
AND WITH THAT THOUGHT IN MIND HERE'S YOUR 80'S FLASHBACK;
MODERN ENGLISH ~ "I MELT WITH YOU";
THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS ~ "SISTER EUROPE";
THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS ~ "LOVE MY WAY";
THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS ~ "BLACKS/RADIO";
KILLING JOKE ~ "A NEW DAY";
KILLING JOKE ~ "EIGHTIES";
KILLING JOKE ~ "KINGS AND QUEENS";
KILLING JOKE ~ "LET'S ALL GOP TO THE FIRE DANCES";
THE DIODES ~ "CAT WALKER";
X ~ "TRUE LOVE";
X ~ "BREATHLESS";
THE 222'S ~ "LOW LIFE";
THE 222'S ~ "FUN FUN FUN";
THE 222'S ~ "THE FIRST STUDIO BOMB";
THE 222's ~ "I LOVE SUSAN";
Saturday, 12 June 2010
Nazi Swing; truth or dare?
A posting of alleged rules covering the playing of swing in Nazi Germany has been making the rounds for over a year now. But it may not be real. There are problems with the translations and spellings, which do not in and of themselves mean it's a fake of course, but there is a bigger problem with the name and title of the person issuing the rules in that he doesn't appear to have ever existed. In fact there never was any such title as Riechsmuikfuerer at all. There was a Baldur Von Shirach, who would stand trial at Nuremberg (and get acquitted) but he was in charge of the Hitler Youth and not in charge of culture or music.
WILLIE STANKE ~ "GRAND HOTEL";
This list actually comes from a well known book called "Red Music" by Joseph Skvorecky, a Czech writer who fled to Canada after the 1968 Soviet invasion, which covers jazz in Nazi occupied Europe as well as behind the Iron Curtain. Skvoreckyis a much admired and award winning author but he admits that he is only remembering the list second hand years later so he may have made some mistakes.
But here is the list as it has been posted around the web;
~ NAZI GERMANY'S DANCE BAND RULES OF 1940
1. In the repertoire of light orchestras and dance bands, pieces in fox-trot rhythm (so-called swing) are not to exceed 20%.
2. In the repertoire of this so-called jazz type, preference is to be given to compositions in a major key and to lyrics expressing joy in life rather than Jewishly gloomy lyrics.
3. As to the tempo, too, preference is to be given to brisk compositions as opposed to slow ones (so-called blues); however, the pace must not exceed a certain degree of allegro commensurate with the Aryan sense for discipline and moderation. On no account will Negroid excesses in tempo(so-called hot jazz) be permitted, or in solo performances(so-called breaks).
4. So-called jazz compositions may contain at the most 10% syncopation; the remainder must form a natural legato movement devoid of hysterical rhythmic references characteristic of the music of the barbarian races and conducive to dark instincts alien to the German people (so-called 'riffs').
5. Strictly forbidden is the use of instruments alien to the German spirit (e.g. so-called cowbells, flex-a-tone, brushes, etc.) as well as all mutes which turn the noble sound of brass-wind instruments into a Jewish-Freemasonic yell /(so-called Wa-Wa in hat, etc.).
6. Prohibited are so-called drum breaks longer than half a bar in four quarter beat (except in stylized military marches).
7. The double bass must be played solely with the bow in so-called jazz compositions; plucking of strings is prohibited, since it is damaging to the instrument and detrimental to Aryan musicality. If a so-called pizzicato effect is absolutely desirable for the character of the composition, let strict care be taken lest the string is allowed to patter on the sordine, which is henceforth forbidden;
8. Provocative rising to one's feet during solo performance is forbidden;
9. Musicians are likewise forbidden to make vocal improvisations (so-called scat);
10. All light orchestras and dance bands are advised to restrict the use of saxophones of all keys and to substitute for them violin-cello, violas, or possibly a suitable folk instrument.
*Signed,
Baldur von Blodheim Reichsmusicfuhrer und Oberscharfuhrer SS
EDDY WALLIS ORCH ~ "HERR OBER ZWEI MOKKA";
Now needless to say there is no doubt that those who played or listened to Swing or Hot Jazz, to say nothing of Blues, would have faced serious problems in Nazi controlled territory but like much that happens in a dictatorship the actual enforcing of any such rules would be inconsistent, with the sons and daughters of the rich getting away with way more than penniless bohemian types or other "undesirables". In fact most of the so called "swing kids" were the scions of well off members of the establishment who were also able to avoid joining the Hitler Youth or the draft, at least until the war started to go really badly. It was exactly the somewhat privileged status that allowed swing kids to flaunt their distaste for Nazi rules with relative impunity for years, by having their own (significantly, mostly private) jazz clubs and listening to BBC short wave radio, which was clearly banned, and radio from Sweden and Switzerland which was not.
EGON KAISER TANZ ORCH ~ "Du bist mir so sympathisch";
The official attitude of the Nazi's towards jazz was clear; they hated it, along with virtually every other development in modern art, literature and theater from Impressionism onwards. Jazz was particularly hated both due to the large number of black and Jewish artists as well as for it's unregulated nature which celebrated improvisation as well as wild dancing and volume. Along with it's association with a wild lifestyle of drinking and womanizing. Beyond agreeing on this however there were divisions among the Reich's elite on how to deal with this threat.
The hardcore cretins like Heinrich Himmler (SS boss), Reinhard Heydrich Gespato, Julius Streicher(editor of Der Sturmer and Alfred Rosenberg favoured banning it outright and rounding up jazzbos and swing kids and sending them to be "re-educated", or worse. But Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda, favoured a more subtle approach. One of the things people tend to forget about many dictatorships is the degree to which many have to keep in mind their public image both foreign and even domestic. It just doesn't look good to be oppressing everybody in sight, you have to also persuade, con and bribe to keep people in line.
Goebbels understood this better than most Nazi's who were basically thugs. Goebbels (like Hitler) was actually a frustrated artist with a novel to his credit as well as a classically trained pianist who was an avid student of film advertising and mass media and how they could be used for propaganda, one of the first actually. This doesn't make him any less evil of course, but he was better educated and cultured than the likes of Himmler, and Hitler mostly allowed him to take care of such issues. Both Hitler and Goebbels also agreed that the obvious popularity of jazz could be used for foreign propaganda and thus German propaganda radio broadcasts that were beamed into England and later liberated territory in the west were full of big band jazz done for the occasion with special lyrics attacking Churchill and the Jews and bragging of German power. Some of this material has been included by in a box set called "Swing Tanzen Verbotten" put out by an English record label, Proper Records. This set also includes three cd's of jazz from Germany and occupied Europe which shows that jazz not never actually dead even under the Swastika.
James Kok & sein Orchester;
In fact the Nazi's attitudes towards Jazz and swing was both harsher and more lackadaisical than the list shows. From the start it was banned from the airwaves and there were restrictions on dance and night clubs including curfews and outright bans on anyone under 21 (mind you that would have been the case here as well) from entering at all. This just meant that jazz was forced behind the closed doors of largely private clubs and record collectors. Popular belief states that the jazz records available in Germany had to be brought in from foreign shores either bought on shopping sprees and smuggled in on some sort of underground railway of jazz, or bought from foreign sailors. Some no doubt were. But in fact most large American and British record labels subsidiary labels and pressing plants though out Europe just as they had similar arrangements for everything from soda pop to phonographs. This included Germany, where the catalog for the German subsidiary of Brunswick Records records for 1937 lists titles by black artists like Louis Armstrong, Jimmy Lunceford, Fletcher Henderson, Cab Calloway, Count Basie, Mildred Bailey, Earl Hines and Billie Holliday and white artists such as Harry James and The Casa Loma Orch. Other Labels would have sold records by Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, The Dorsey Bros. and Paul Whiteman, who's trumpeter, Henry Busse was actually a German speaking immigrant who also recorded as a solo artist and became one of the first million sellers in the 1920's. Another early million seller was Bessie Smith and it is a safe bet that her records were available as well. Artists such as Sidney Bechet and the ODJB toured Europe in the twenties and were known in Germany. Clearly jazz was not an obscure taste in Europe between the wars. Even after the Nazis came to power they did not fully ban jazz, tempted though they were. There would be restrictions of course, Jewish artists such as Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Lester Lannin and Al Jolson were clearly banned as were songs by Jewish composers like Irving Berlin and George and Ira Gershwin which were covered by many white jazz bands like Paul Whiteman and The Casa Loma Orch. However there was clearly enough jazz around to justify pressing and selling it and to support a scene of swing kids in several German cities that was large enough to get the notice of Himmler and Heydrich who wrote memos back and forth on how to deal with them. They were stopped from doing much more than banning Jewish artists and engaging in low level harassment until after the 1936 Olympics (summer and winter), in order to avoid bad world press and even afterwords to keep a good face to England and the U.S.A. After 1939 music from England, France and Poland was banned outright (except for the music of Chopin, which Goebbels, the pianist, could not bear to ban apparently) and after 1941 music from the U.S.A was added to the list and a more explicitly racist propaganda campaign was launched against jazz. It was not actually banned though, due to Goebbels concern over civilian morale. He still hoped that Germans could be weaned off of jazz by propaganda and low level harassment. As the war dragged this petty harassment got more severe with arrests and beatings and a few show trials for "hooliganism". As might be expected, it didn't work and swing kids just went further underground for the rest of the war.
Hans Rehmstedt Tanzorch ~ "The Lambeth Walk";
Occupied Europe is an even more complicated matter due to the patchwork way these territories were ruled. As historian Hanna Arnedt has pointed out in her works, Nazi rule could be oddly inconsistent, brutally harsh in the Balkans, genocidal in the east and sometimes lackadaisical in the west. France for example was only partially occupied with the Germans having to maintain the fiction that the Vichy government had actually power to rule. In Belgium and Holland the Nazi's had to rely on collaborators with little legitimacy and less desire to provoke their own sullen peoples. They might be willing to hand over some Jews but drew the line at rounding up their own teenagers. In Denmark, Norway and Luxembourg the Nazis even had to maintain the fiction that they were not invaders at all but were nearly acting to prevent an Anglo-French invasion, here most German rules were openly flouted much to the fury of Himmler, Heydrich and Eichman who were even more incensed at their inability to do much about it. Then there were countries like Italy, Hungary, Finland and Bulgaria who were considered allies (however unwillingly in some cases) and could not be ordered about at all, at least until late in the war when all of them except Finland were occupied as well, even then the Nazi's often found that the locals were unwilling to do as they were told. One exception to this was Romania which was not only an ally but also had it's own domestic Nazi-like movement which was quite happy to oppress it's own people. As for the rest of the east and the Balkans however the Nazi's had little to stand in their way. Poland and Czechoslovakia had been simply erased, there was no need to curry favour with the locals or rely on shifty Quislings. The S.S. and Gestapo had in effect carved out their own mini-states.
Karkoff-Orchester ~"Mein Bruder macht im Tonfilm die Geräusche";
This brings us back to our list of rules. Czechoslovakia was governed personally by Reinhard Heydrich until his assassination in 1942 and he had the power to rule it as his own personally fiefdom as Hans Frank did in Poland, with little interference from Goebbels even if he had any desire to involve himself, which he probably did not. In his book "Red Music" Joseph Skvorecky claimed he read the list in a Czech arts magazine sometime while Heydrich would have been in charge. Skvorecky is a respected writer and there is no reason to believe he made anything up, in fact the list looks exactly like the sort of thing Heydrich and the S.S. "experts" would come up with; it is not only vile and racist, it is also laughably bureaucratic with ludicrous quotas and no clue as to how such quotas would be enforced. Were they going to send the Gestapo to spy on every dance and concert? Were they going to scan every piece of sheet music to look for jazz tunes disguised with different titles which was a common practice? And even if they did, how would the S.S. find spies who were savvy about jazz in the first place?
Marek Weber & Orchester ~"Mein Papagei frisst keine harten Eier";
So I believe that the list in itself is mostly accurate enough. However in what clearly happened as has so often happened on the web, is that sometime in the last two years some unknown person found it in Skvorecky's book and "improved" by adding a fictitious name and title, and then claimed that the list covered all of Nazi territory, something that Skvorecky never did himself. It then filtered out across the web from there.
So the question you may be asking is; So what? Who really cares if it's been taken out context anyway? The Nazi's were evil racists who clearly did far worse things than this and they did hate jazz so if this illustrates the point about fascist dictatorships in general than why nitpick? Who gets hurt here?
Well here's the thing; this list has already been spotted by some of the usual sleazy neo-nazis and holocaust deniers who can now point to this obvious "forgery" as another example of how poor, misunderstood Adolph has been mistreated by the "liberal, Jewish Media". Beating up straw dogs is a well worn tactic used by political conmen every where. We shouldn't play into their hands. The truth is far more interesting anyway. History is important. Facts matter. Or to quote form the Weimar German historian (and anti Nazi) Walter Goetz;
"The task of the historian is not the cultivation of piety for a misunderstood past but the pitiless explanation of the truth"
Every writer should jot that down somewhere. It's still true.
KAREOL TANZORCHESTER;
WILLIE STANKE ~ "GRAND HOTEL";
This list actually comes from a well known book called "Red Music" by Joseph Skvorecky, a Czech writer who fled to Canada after the 1968 Soviet invasion, which covers jazz in Nazi occupied Europe as well as behind the Iron Curtain. Skvoreckyis a much admired and award winning author but he admits that he is only remembering the list second hand years later so he may have made some mistakes.
But here is the list as it has been posted around the web;
~ NAZI GERMANY'S DANCE BAND RULES OF 1940
1. In the repertoire of light orchestras and dance bands, pieces in fox-trot rhythm (so-called swing) are not to exceed 20%.
2. In the repertoire of this so-called jazz type, preference is to be given to compositions in a major key and to lyrics expressing joy in life rather than Jewishly gloomy lyrics.
3. As to the tempo, too, preference is to be given to brisk compositions as opposed to slow ones (so-called blues); however, the pace must not exceed a certain degree of allegro commensurate with the Aryan sense for discipline and moderation. On no account will Negroid excesses in tempo(so-called hot jazz) be permitted, or in solo performances(so-called breaks).
4. So-called jazz compositions may contain at the most 10% syncopation; the remainder must form a natural legato movement devoid of hysterical rhythmic references characteristic of the music of the barbarian races and conducive to dark instincts alien to the German people (so-called 'riffs').
5. Strictly forbidden is the use of instruments alien to the German spirit (e.g. so-called cowbells, flex-a-tone, brushes, etc.) as well as all mutes which turn the noble sound of brass-wind instruments into a Jewish-Freemasonic yell /(so-called Wa-Wa in hat, etc.).
6. Prohibited are so-called drum breaks longer than half a bar in four quarter beat (except in stylized military marches).
7. The double bass must be played solely with the bow in so-called jazz compositions; plucking of strings is prohibited, since it is damaging to the instrument and detrimental to Aryan musicality. If a so-called pizzicato effect is absolutely desirable for the character of the composition, let strict care be taken lest the string is allowed to patter on the sordine, which is henceforth forbidden;
8. Provocative rising to one's feet during solo performance is forbidden;
9. Musicians are likewise forbidden to make vocal improvisations (so-called scat);
10. All light orchestras and dance bands are advised to restrict the use of saxophones of all keys and to substitute for them violin-cello, violas, or possibly a suitable folk instrument.
*Signed,
Baldur von Blodheim Reichsmusicfuhrer und Oberscharfuhrer SS
EDDY WALLIS ORCH ~ "HERR OBER ZWEI MOKKA";
Now needless to say there is no doubt that those who played or listened to Swing or Hot Jazz, to say nothing of Blues, would have faced serious problems in Nazi controlled territory but like much that happens in a dictatorship the actual enforcing of any such rules would be inconsistent, with the sons and daughters of the rich getting away with way more than penniless bohemian types or other "undesirables". In fact most of the so called "swing kids" were the scions of well off members of the establishment who were also able to avoid joining the Hitler Youth or the draft, at least until the war started to go really badly. It was exactly the somewhat privileged status that allowed swing kids to flaunt their distaste for Nazi rules with relative impunity for years, by having their own (significantly, mostly private) jazz clubs and listening to BBC short wave radio, which was clearly banned, and radio from Sweden and Switzerland which was not.
EGON KAISER TANZ ORCH ~ "Du bist mir so sympathisch";
The official attitude of the Nazi's towards jazz was clear; they hated it, along with virtually every other development in modern art, literature and theater from Impressionism onwards. Jazz was particularly hated both due to the large number of black and Jewish artists as well as for it's unregulated nature which celebrated improvisation as well as wild dancing and volume. Along with it's association with a wild lifestyle of drinking and womanizing. Beyond agreeing on this however there were divisions among the Reich's elite on how to deal with this threat.
The hardcore cretins like Heinrich Himmler (SS boss), Reinhard Heydrich Gespato, Julius Streicher(editor of Der Sturmer and Alfred Rosenberg favoured banning it outright and rounding up jazzbos and swing kids and sending them to be "re-educated", or worse. But Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda, favoured a more subtle approach. One of the things people tend to forget about many dictatorships is the degree to which many have to keep in mind their public image both foreign and even domestic. It just doesn't look good to be oppressing everybody in sight, you have to also persuade, con and bribe to keep people in line.
Goebbels understood this better than most Nazi's who were basically thugs. Goebbels (like Hitler) was actually a frustrated artist with a novel to his credit as well as a classically trained pianist who was an avid student of film advertising and mass media and how they could be used for propaganda, one of the first actually. This doesn't make him any less evil of course, but he was better educated and cultured than the likes of Himmler, and Hitler mostly allowed him to take care of such issues. Both Hitler and Goebbels also agreed that the obvious popularity of jazz could be used for foreign propaganda and thus German propaganda radio broadcasts that were beamed into England and later liberated territory in the west were full of big band jazz done for the occasion with special lyrics attacking Churchill and the Jews and bragging of German power. Some of this material has been included by in a box set called "Swing Tanzen Verbotten" put out by an English record label, Proper Records. This set also includes three cd's of jazz from Germany and occupied Europe which shows that jazz not never actually dead even under the Swastika.
James Kok & sein Orchester;
In fact the Nazi's attitudes towards Jazz and swing was both harsher and more lackadaisical than the list shows. From the start it was banned from the airwaves and there were restrictions on dance and night clubs including curfews and outright bans on anyone under 21 (mind you that would have been the case here as well) from entering at all. This just meant that jazz was forced behind the closed doors of largely private clubs and record collectors. Popular belief states that the jazz records available in Germany had to be brought in from foreign shores either bought on shopping sprees and smuggled in on some sort of underground railway of jazz, or bought from foreign sailors. Some no doubt were. But in fact most large American and British record labels subsidiary labels and pressing plants though out Europe just as they had similar arrangements for everything from soda pop to phonographs. This included Germany, where the catalog for the German subsidiary of Brunswick Records records for 1937 lists titles by black artists like Louis Armstrong, Jimmy Lunceford, Fletcher Henderson, Cab Calloway, Count Basie, Mildred Bailey, Earl Hines and Billie Holliday and white artists such as Harry James and The Casa Loma Orch. Other Labels would have sold records by Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, The Dorsey Bros. and Paul Whiteman, who's trumpeter, Henry Busse was actually a German speaking immigrant who also recorded as a solo artist and became one of the first million sellers in the 1920's. Another early million seller was Bessie Smith and it is a safe bet that her records were available as well. Artists such as Sidney Bechet and the ODJB toured Europe in the twenties and were known in Germany. Clearly jazz was not an obscure taste in Europe between the wars. Even after the Nazis came to power they did not fully ban jazz, tempted though they were. There would be restrictions of course, Jewish artists such as Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Lester Lannin and Al Jolson were clearly banned as were songs by Jewish composers like Irving Berlin and George and Ira Gershwin which were covered by many white jazz bands like Paul Whiteman and The Casa Loma Orch. However there was clearly enough jazz around to justify pressing and selling it and to support a scene of swing kids in several German cities that was large enough to get the notice of Himmler and Heydrich who wrote memos back and forth on how to deal with them. They were stopped from doing much more than banning Jewish artists and engaging in low level harassment until after the 1936 Olympics (summer and winter), in order to avoid bad world press and even afterwords to keep a good face to England and the U.S.A. After 1939 music from England, France and Poland was banned outright (except for the music of Chopin, which Goebbels, the pianist, could not bear to ban apparently) and after 1941 music from the U.S.A was added to the list and a more explicitly racist propaganda campaign was launched against jazz. It was not actually banned though, due to Goebbels concern over civilian morale. He still hoped that Germans could be weaned off of jazz by propaganda and low level harassment. As the war dragged this petty harassment got more severe with arrests and beatings and a few show trials for "hooliganism". As might be expected, it didn't work and swing kids just went further underground for the rest of the war.
Hans Rehmstedt Tanzorch ~ "The Lambeth Walk";
Occupied Europe is an even more complicated matter due to the patchwork way these territories were ruled. As historian Hanna Arnedt has pointed out in her works, Nazi rule could be oddly inconsistent, brutally harsh in the Balkans, genocidal in the east and sometimes lackadaisical in the west. France for example was only partially occupied with the Germans having to maintain the fiction that the Vichy government had actually power to rule. In Belgium and Holland the Nazi's had to rely on collaborators with little legitimacy and less desire to provoke their own sullen peoples. They might be willing to hand over some Jews but drew the line at rounding up their own teenagers. In Denmark, Norway and Luxembourg the Nazis even had to maintain the fiction that they were not invaders at all but were nearly acting to prevent an Anglo-French invasion, here most German rules were openly flouted much to the fury of Himmler, Heydrich and Eichman who were even more incensed at their inability to do much about it. Then there were countries like Italy, Hungary, Finland and Bulgaria who were considered allies (however unwillingly in some cases) and could not be ordered about at all, at least until late in the war when all of them except Finland were occupied as well, even then the Nazi's often found that the locals were unwilling to do as they were told. One exception to this was Romania which was not only an ally but also had it's own domestic Nazi-like movement which was quite happy to oppress it's own people. As for the rest of the east and the Balkans however the Nazi's had little to stand in their way. Poland and Czechoslovakia had been simply erased, there was no need to curry favour with the locals or rely on shifty Quislings. The S.S. and Gestapo had in effect carved out their own mini-states.
Karkoff-Orchester ~"Mein Bruder macht im Tonfilm die Geräusche";
This brings us back to our list of rules. Czechoslovakia was governed personally by Reinhard Heydrich until his assassination in 1942 and he had the power to rule it as his own personally fiefdom as Hans Frank did in Poland, with little interference from Goebbels even if he had any desire to involve himself, which he probably did not. In his book "Red Music" Joseph Skvorecky claimed he read the list in a Czech arts magazine sometime while Heydrich would have been in charge. Skvorecky is a respected writer and there is no reason to believe he made anything up, in fact the list looks exactly like the sort of thing Heydrich and the S.S. "experts" would come up with; it is not only vile and racist, it is also laughably bureaucratic with ludicrous quotas and no clue as to how such quotas would be enforced. Were they going to send the Gestapo to spy on every dance and concert? Were they going to scan every piece of sheet music to look for jazz tunes disguised with different titles which was a common practice? And even if they did, how would the S.S. find spies who were savvy about jazz in the first place?
Marek Weber & Orchester ~"Mein Papagei frisst keine harten Eier";
So I believe that the list in itself is mostly accurate enough. However in what clearly happened as has so often happened on the web, is that sometime in the last two years some unknown person found it in Skvorecky's book and "improved" by adding a fictitious name and title, and then claimed that the list covered all of Nazi territory, something that Skvorecky never did himself. It then filtered out across the web from there.
So the question you may be asking is; So what? Who really cares if it's been taken out context anyway? The Nazi's were evil racists who clearly did far worse things than this and they did hate jazz so if this illustrates the point about fascist dictatorships in general than why nitpick? Who gets hurt here?
Well here's the thing; this list has already been spotted by some of the usual sleazy neo-nazis and holocaust deniers who can now point to this obvious "forgery" as another example of how poor, misunderstood Adolph has been mistreated by the "liberal, Jewish Media". Beating up straw dogs is a well worn tactic used by political conmen every where. We shouldn't play into their hands. The truth is far more interesting anyway. History is important. Facts matter. Or to quote form the Weimar German historian (and anti Nazi) Walter Goetz;
"The task of the historian is not the cultivation of piety for a misunderstood past but the pitiless explanation of the truth"
Every writer should jot that down somewhere. It's still true.
KAREOL TANZORCHESTER;
Thursday, 3 June 2010
The Wakko from Waco
(I actually wrote this for Newsvine last fall but decided to repost it since I haven't been doing any writing for a bit. Busy busy)
When you think of Ted Nugent you think of; The Motor City Madman, guitar slinging showoff, The Amboy Dukes, "Journey to the Center of your mind", "Wango Tango", anti drug hater of grunge, and bowhunting blowhard. But "crusading journalist"? How about the "Martin Luther King" of our time? No? Well apparently you don't know our Ted. It turns out that he has been writing a weekly op-ed piece for a small paper in Waco Texas (where our hero now lives, I guess the Motor City doesn't have enough guns) called the Waco Tribune Herald for a few years until it was bought by a couple of Christian Republicans in August 2009. Now normally you would think that Ted would be cool with that, even when they added "In God we trust" to the mast head and sent out a memo stating there would be "more conservative editorials". In Texas? More conservative than what exactly I wonder? But then they went and did something that just outraged our Ted's sense of truth and justice for all. They sent out a memo stating that;
"The opinions we published were going to be thoughtful and civil.
No more name-calling. Make sure everyone on our payroll knows that."
Well our Ted wasn't going to take that lying down, no siree. He immediately sent out a message on his website which read in part (with spelling mistakes intact);
"So I get this spineless, soulless anti-American Email from Carlos Sanchez, new editor of Waco Tribune, listing new rules for my weekly Sunday feature telling me I cant [sic] criticize anyone, only recommend things, can't have any negativity, only cute nicyness.
The job of the press is to be the "fourth" arm of government. To intentionally muzzle itself is to fail at its most basic watchdog responsibility. As readers, voters and citizens we should demand a watchdog press, not a lapdog press.
I can't envision Thomas Jefferson, George Washington or Ben Franklin making a request of an anti-King George columnist to tone it down. I can't imagine Martin Luther King toning down his message. It is impossible for me to fathom any American to tone down what is in his heart and soul.
I criticize where I believe criticism is due. That's what Thomas Paine did when he published Common Sense prior to the Revolutionary War. He criticized King George for his heavy handed and wrong policies. We are free in large part because of Thomas Paine's open, routine and strident criticism."
OK I know what you're thinking; Ted is comparing himself to Thomas Paine? I can totally see that. But Martin Luther King? Are we sure Ted never does drugs? Maybe he should.
Anyway "Not so Dirty" Sanchez just as quickly fired him. So Ted fired off another message to various media outlets protesting this blatant violation of his rights of free speech and freedom of the press only to be met with resounding laughter and even more resounding indifference. One wit called him the Wakko from Waco. Actually that would actually be a good title for an album if Ted ever remembers that he used to be a musician.
On a more serious note; No Ted, journalists are not "The fourth arm of govt.", at least not in a democracy. The phrase I assume you were referring to was "The Fourth Estate", which is not the same thing at all. I'll leave the implications of that one for you to figure out. Presumably you'll have some free time to work on that.
Oh and by the way Ted; it's called "spell check". If you want to be a journalist, even a "citizen" one, look into it. I'm pretty sure that's what Thomas Paine would have done.
When you think of Ted Nugent you think of; The Motor City Madman, guitar slinging showoff, The Amboy Dukes, "Journey to the Center of your mind", "Wango Tango", anti drug hater of grunge, and bowhunting blowhard. But "crusading journalist"? How about the "Martin Luther King" of our time? No? Well apparently you don't know our Ted. It turns out that he has been writing a weekly op-ed piece for a small paper in Waco Texas (where our hero now lives, I guess the Motor City doesn't have enough guns) called the Waco Tribune Herald for a few years until it was bought by a couple of Christian Republicans in August 2009. Now normally you would think that Ted would be cool with that, even when they added "In God we trust" to the mast head and sent out a memo stating there would be "more conservative editorials". In Texas? More conservative than what exactly I wonder? But then they went and did something that just outraged our Ted's sense of truth and justice for all. They sent out a memo stating that;
"The opinions we published were going to be thoughtful and civil.
No more name-calling. Make sure everyone on our payroll knows that."
Well our Ted wasn't going to take that lying down, no siree. He immediately sent out a message on his website which read in part (with spelling mistakes intact);
"So I get this spineless, soulless anti-American Email from Carlos Sanchez, new editor of Waco Tribune, listing new rules for my weekly Sunday feature telling me I cant [sic] criticize anyone, only recommend things, can't have any negativity, only cute nicyness.
The job of the press is to be the "fourth" arm of government. To intentionally muzzle itself is to fail at its most basic watchdog responsibility. As readers, voters and citizens we should demand a watchdog press, not a lapdog press.
I can't envision Thomas Jefferson, George Washington or Ben Franklin making a request of an anti-King George columnist to tone it down. I can't imagine Martin Luther King toning down his message. It is impossible for me to fathom any American to tone down what is in his heart and soul.
I criticize where I believe criticism is due. That's what Thomas Paine did when he published Common Sense prior to the Revolutionary War. He criticized King George for his heavy handed and wrong policies. We are free in large part because of Thomas Paine's open, routine and strident criticism."
OK I know what you're thinking; Ted is comparing himself to Thomas Paine? I can totally see that. But Martin Luther King? Are we sure Ted never does drugs? Maybe he should.
Anyway "Not so Dirty" Sanchez just as quickly fired him. So Ted fired off another message to various media outlets protesting this blatant violation of his rights of free speech and freedom of the press only to be met with resounding laughter and even more resounding indifference. One wit called him the Wakko from Waco. Actually that would actually be a good title for an album if Ted ever remembers that he used to be a musician.
On a more serious note; No Ted, journalists are not "The fourth arm of govt.", at least not in a democracy. The phrase I assume you were referring to was "The Fourth Estate", which is not the same thing at all. I'll leave the implications of that one for you to figure out. Presumably you'll have some free time to work on that.
Oh and by the way Ted; it's called "spell check". If you want to be a journalist, even a "citizen" one, look into it. I'm pretty sure that's what Thomas Paine would have done.
Sunday, 30 May 2010
A trio of minor figures from Canadian music history pass on
It didn't get much notice and probably didn't really warrant much but we'll take a sec and mention a trio of figures from Canadian music who died recently;
Connie Codarini;
Bass singer with the Four Lads; Granted the Lads were not even vaguely cool even by the standards of the Pat Boone era of white schmaltzy pop of the early rock era. Hell, they were not even as cool as their Toronto mates the Crewcuts, and definitely not the Diamonds. But they were the first, scoring their first hit in 1952 and following up with 26 more top 50 Billboard hits in the next decade, making them the first Canadian group of the Rock and Roll era to do so. They also managed to score hits in England, Australia, New Zealand and Europe making them the first international Canadian stars.
Of course they weren't really a rock vocal group unlike the Diamonds who clearly were, or the Crewcuts who weren't but were able to fake it for a few years anyway. The Lads never tried to be either, they belonged firmly to the ultra white vocal groups like the Four Freshmen, Four Preps and Five Keys, and none of these groups even tried to figure out the new sounds of Doo Wop which were about to make them obsolete. However by sticking to what they knew they manged to keep their syrupy sounds around well into the rock era, scoring their last chart positions in 1959 and influencing Brian Wilson and Paul McCartney among others. They also recorded as back ups with Johnny Ray and Frankie Laine, including some credible gospel numbers. Then they went off to the adult contemporary circuit for the next thirty years with some success, albeit with numerous lineup changes over the years. Connie Codarini was a founding member but he left some years back, he did live to see the lads honoured by the Canadian Music Hall of fame in 1984 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2003. Codarini was 80 when he died of heart failure on April 29.
The Four Lads with Frankie Laine;
Rob McConnell;
Trombonist Rob McConnell was born too late to be part of the Big Band era he loved but he still managed to become Canada's most successful big band leader from the 1968 when he formed his Boss Brass on till he died of cancer at age 75 on May 1. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1997, was given the Order of Canada in 1998, won a bunch of Junos and also recorded with Mel Torme and Maynard Ferguson all without acknowledging that anything had changed in jazz since the end of World War 2.
Gene Lees;
A well respected jazz historian (and hater of rock and roll) from the late 1940's on. Lee's wrote for a number of papers and magazines as well as his own Jazzletter along with hosting a show on the CBC. He also wrote a number of books including the definitive bios on Oscar Peterson, Woody Herman and Henry Mancini as well as a study on the effects of racism on early jazz. Lees was actually a successful songwriter as well having songs recorded by Frank Sinatra, Charles Aznavour, Sarah Vaughn and Bill Evens. He also found time to record a couple of albums of his own. He died of heart disease at 82 on April 22.
Connie Codarini;
Bass singer with the Four Lads; Granted the Lads were not even vaguely cool even by the standards of the Pat Boone era of white schmaltzy pop of the early rock era. Hell, they were not even as cool as their Toronto mates the Crewcuts, and definitely not the Diamonds. But they were the first, scoring their first hit in 1952 and following up with 26 more top 50 Billboard hits in the next decade, making them the first Canadian group of the Rock and Roll era to do so. They also managed to score hits in England, Australia, New Zealand and Europe making them the first international Canadian stars.
Of course they weren't really a rock vocal group unlike the Diamonds who clearly were, or the Crewcuts who weren't but were able to fake it for a few years anyway. The Lads never tried to be either, they belonged firmly to the ultra white vocal groups like the Four Freshmen, Four Preps and Five Keys, and none of these groups even tried to figure out the new sounds of Doo Wop which were about to make them obsolete. However by sticking to what they knew they manged to keep their syrupy sounds around well into the rock era, scoring their last chart positions in 1959 and influencing Brian Wilson and Paul McCartney among others. They also recorded as back ups with Johnny Ray and Frankie Laine, including some credible gospel numbers. Then they went off to the adult contemporary circuit for the next thirty years with some success, albeit with numerous lineup changes over the years. Connie Codarini was a founding member but he left some years back, he did live to see the lads honoured by the Canadian Music Hall of fame in 1984 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2003. Codarini was 80 when he died of heart failure on April 29.
The Four Lads with Frankie Laine;
Rob McConnell;
Trombonist Rob McConnell was born too late to be part of the Big Band era he loved but he still managed to become Canada's most successful big band leader from the 1968 when he formed his Boss Brass on till he died of cancer at age 75 on May 1. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1997, was given the Order of Canada in 1998, won a bunch of Junos and also recorded with Mel Torme and Maynard Ferguson all without acknowledging that anything had changed in jazz since the end of World War 2.
Gene Lees;
A well respected jazz historian (and hater of rock and roll) from the late 1940's on. Lee's wrote for a number of papers and magazines as well as his own Jazzletter along with hosting a show on the CBC. He also wrote a number of books including the definitive bios on Oscar Peterson, Woody Herman and Henry Mancini as well as a study on the effects of racism on early jazz. Lees was actually a successful songwriter as well having songs recorded by Frank Sinatra, Charles Aznavour, Sarah Vaughn and Bill Evens. He also found time to record a couple of albums of his own. He died of heart disease at 82 on April 22.
Moondog's Ballroom on CIUT 89.5fm moves to a new timespot!
Howdy All;
Starting this Tuesday Moondog's Ballroom on CIUT 89.5fm will be moving to a new timespot from it's current one Mondays @ 6 - 7pm to Tuesdays 5 - 6pm.
It's not a major move but it's a good one. This will put me in a block of related shows which will now include;
5pm - Moondog's Ballroom (that's me!)
6pm - Real Cool Time (w/ Rocky & Deena, playing Garage & Punk)
7pm - Dementia 13 (w/Christian Hamilton, playing 60's Psyche & Prog)
8pm - Vinyl from the Crypt (w/ The Cryptkeeper Ken Stower, playing assorted stuff from the 40's to the 80's)
By contrast Mondays are more spoken word heavy so this should be a better fit. Since "Real Cool Time" and "Dementia 13" play a lot of 60's garage I will probably focus more on Rockabilly, Blues, Doo Wop, Honky Tonk, Jump Blues and Western Swing. Not exclusively of course, I will still play lots of newer local stuff and will have guests and ticket giveaways as well.
Speaking of guests that brings us to part two of our schedule changes; the tentative plans for the Monday 6pm spot is to call it "Live at CIUT" and it will, logically enough, focus on live performances done at CIUT. We already have live bands down virtually every weekday but we have lacked a spot to really focus them until now. This new hour will give us the chance to record more, and have the bands do more songs as well as an interview. I will be involved in this as well, although not every week. In the past few months I have already done live sets with Split Lip Rayfield, The Fruit Bats, Harp Dog Brown and this Monday I will have Luau or Die and The Blue Demons and I am looking forward to getting more bands down in the future.
The following show on Mondays & 7pm, "Acoustic Workshop" also features many live sets so that's a bonus. CIUT will be the only radio station in Toronto presenting regular live sets from local and international artists, like our own Peel Sessions, so stay tuned.
We kick things off this Monday with the Blue Demons playing live to air @ 6pm and Luau or Die will also be in recording earlier in advance of the 5th Annual Great Lakes Surf Battle happening next weekend!
Later Y'all!
DJ
Starting this Tuesday Moondog's Ballroom on CIUT 89.5fm will be moving to a new timespot from it's current one Mondays @ 6 - 7pm to Tuesdays 5 - 6pm.
It's not a major move but it's a good one. This will put me in a block of related shows which will now include;
5pm - Moondog's Ballroom (that's me!)
6pm - Real Cool Time (w/ Rocky & Deena, playing Garage & Punk)
7pm - Dementia 13 (w/Christian Hamilton, playing 60's Psyche & Prog)
8pm - Vinyl from the Crypt (w/ The Cryptkeeper Ken Stower, playing assorted stuff from the 40's to the 80's)
By contrast Mondays are more spoken word heavy so this should be a better fit. Since "Real Cool Time" and "Dementia 13" play a lot of 60's garage I will probably focus more on Rockabilly, Blues, Doo Wop, Honky Tonk, Jump Blues and Western Swing. Not exclusively of course, I will still play lots of newer local stuff and will have guests and ticket giveaways as well.
Speaking of guests that brings us to part two of our schedule changes; the tentative plans for the Monday 6pm spot is to call it "Live at CIUT" and it will, logically enough, focus on live performances done at CIUT. We already have live bands down virtually every weekday but we have lacked a spot to really focus them until now. This new hour will give us the chance to record more, and have the bands do more songs as well as an interview. I will be involved in this as well, although not every week. In the past few months I have already done live sets with Split Lip Rayfield, The Fruit Bats, Harp Dog Brown and this Monday I will have Luau or Die and The Blue Demons and I am looking forward to getting more bands down in the future.
The following show on Mondays & 7pm, "Acoustic Workshop" also features many live sets so that's a bonus. CIUT will be the only radio station in Toronto presenting regular live sets from local and international artists, like our own Peel Sessions, so stay tuned.
We kick things off this Monday with the Blue Demons playing live to air @ 6pm and Luau or Die will also be in recording earlier in advance of the 5th Annual Great Lakes Surf Battle happening next weekend!
Later Y'all!
DJ
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