I wish I lived then

Every time I search you tube videos, for some old favorite songs, there, in the comment sections are younger people with the comments on how they wished they lived , back in the day. How they wished to have witnessed many of the events that took place , musically.

The sad fact is, so many of us who did live back then, either never appreciated it, or , didn't realize what a wonderful time it was in the music world.

This is evidenced by all the of musicians themselves who died at their own hands with drug overdoses or alchol related issues.

Not only did these artists die too young, but, many of their fans passed as well. These artists were role models for this generation, and yes, we blindly followed in their paths into drugs, sex, free will, to hell with the establishment type of attitudes.

Some of us came out the other side, alive. With regrets.

I am going to revive this long dead blog, with some thoughts on what a particular musician, or group, was attempting to say in their music, from back in the day, and what message, if anything, I personally, took away from the songs.


Guess Who, American Woman

So, What I thought upon hearing this song for the first time?  I just wanted to Dance.  Even when they keep saying over and over, American Women, get away from me, my thoughts were only, "Ha!  We are too much for them to handle"!  Thats it. 

Today, I am reading that this was a song to the Statue of Liberty, and had ties to the vietnam war, which, this Canadian group , who wast not subject to the draft, thought the USA was stepping outside of her boundries and forcing our opinions on the world as a whole.

Another Line of thought on this song, implies, the band was gay, and one member, actually quit the band as his religious beliefs did not jive with the group.

So, who knows which was real, and which is fiction.  Obviously, my friends and I , could care less, we just wanted to Dance! 

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Deep Purple Lead Guitarist Richie Blackmore turns 66 today.

Blackmore was ranked #55 in Rolling Stone magazine list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
One of Blackmore's best-known guitar riffs is from the song "Smoke on the Water". Contrary to the way most guitar players perform it, he plays the riff without a pick, using his fingers instead. He has two guitar solos ranked on Guitar World magazine's "Top 100 Greatest Guitar Solos" ("Highway Star" at #19 and "Lazy" at #74, both from the album Machine Head).








Child in Time, Live from 1970.



Blackmore was in a lot of different bands and did studio session work before Deep Purple. With organist Jon Lord, he co-founded Deep Purple in 1968, and continued to be a member of Deep Purple from 1968-1975 and again from 1984-1993. Blackmore came up with the name of the group, named after his grandmother's favorite song. He left the group in 1993 due to conflicts with the other band members.

In 1997, Blackmore and his wife,Candice Night,  formed a folk music group, Blackmores Knights. They have toured and released new music every few years.





I can tell you that in approx. 1973 or 74, I was lucky enough to see this group in concert. On the stage that night was also a group called, " Blue Oyster Cult", and "Savoy Brown".  What a night it was. My best friend and I, rode along with a fellow, that neither of us knew real well, and at the end of the night, his car broke down, remember it to be a flat tire and he had no spare, so we ended up hitch hiking back home to Salina.

John Kay, [Joachim F Krauledat], (Steppenwolf)

John Kay, celebrating his 67th birthday.  The Entire history can be found here in this interview, "its been a wild ride" .  John and his wife currently have a peaceful refuge in Tennessee,wolf world.

 Peace was a long-sought destination for Joachim Fritz Krauledat — John Kay — who was born in 1944 in East Prussia. His mother, a widow due to the intense fighting on the Russian front, fled to West Germany when he was 4 — "something for which I will forever be grateful."  They eventually landed in Canada, then into New York and finally , Santa Monica, Calif. It was there that John got his first taste of folk rock music.










Here he is today. Still singing his heart away.

Julian Lennon turns ......Gosh, 48?

Hard to believe this man is 48 today. Like me, he was named after his Paternal Grandmother, Julia .

Julian was the inspiration for his Famous Fathers song, titled, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. After his parents divorced, Julian , had little interaction with his famous father, John Lennon.

Too Late for Goodbye and Valotte, are his best known works , from his earliest recordings. Just this year, 2011, finds his latest release , "Everything  Changes".

1947 Steve Howe of Yes Celebrates 64th Birthday!

After recording with the Rock Group , "Yes", Steve Howe, lead Guitar, goes on to perform with the group ASIA, and  then recorded several solo LP's.

Yes, has reformed and on tour along with the group Styx, promoting a new CD entitled, "Fly From Here".  The touring lineup consists of guitarist Steve Howe, bassist Chris Squire, drummer Alan White,keyboard player Geoff Downes  and lead singer Benoit David.

Musical Birthday, Mick Abrahams

Who is that? Ever hear of a group called Jethro Tull? Mick Abrahams was the  original guitar player of Tull, way back in 1969, when the groups very first album ,titled, "This Was", was released.   The original group did not stay together long. Mick moved on through several other endouvers, eventually forming Blodwyn Pig. They had a huge blues following in England.

I can see why. Have a listen. Oh, by the way, he is 68 today!

The Man, The Legend, Bob Seger

One can NOT fail to notice, when it comes to Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, the reviews are all positive.

My all time favorite group, is on tour for what is said to be for the last time.  I have never had the privilege of attending a single solitary performance. When it was announced they would be in Tulsa, I started my quest in finding suitable tickets.

Tulsa has an anti-scalping law on the books. This law states it is illegal to sell a ticket for more than face value. The problem with this law, it was written long before the days of the Internet.  There is no way to enforce it. Tickets on Craigslist are ridicules and of course, those are the people that have the seats I want.

Well, as it happens, the tour also has a stop in Little Rock, Arkansas. Not that far on down the road from Tulsa.  This area does have restrictions in place to keep the ticket prices from skyrocketing.  I don't fully understand how it works, but, from what I gather, the person who buys them online, must show up with the same credit card that paid for them, plus show a photo ID, in the same name. However its done, don't really care in the details, cause, this is where we will attend the show. Take that Tulsa Scalpers!  HA HA HA!

If given a single wish, it would be for the performance to be scheduled on one weekend day. Every date on the calender withing a days drive from me, is on a Tuesday or Thursday. That will not hinder me in any way, however, my husband will be using a vacation day! 

I located the set list from an earlier show.  There is no way to verify that the entire tour will include the same tracks, but, here is the list:
ROLL ME AWAY


TRYING TO LIVE

HER STRUT

MAINSTREET

OLD TIME ROCK AND ROLL

DOWNTOWN TRAIN

RAMBLIN’ GAMBLIN’ MAN

C’EST LE VIE

GOOD FOR ME

SHININ’ BRIGHTLY

TRAVELIN’ MAN

BEAUTIFUL LOSER

NUTBUSH

COME TO POPPA

IT’S YOUR THING

PUMPIN’

BETTY LOU

WE’VE GOT TONIGHT

TURN THE PAGE

SUNSPOT BABY

HORIZONTAL BOP

KATMANDU

AGAINST THE WIND

HOLLYWOOD NIGHTS

NIGHT MOVES

ROCK & ROLL NEVER FORGETS


Holly Molly, look at all those songs. Most of them are get up and boogies, high energy , tunes.  And the Man is about 65 years old. 
 
This old woman of 52 writing this blog, will have very sore legs from all the dancing that's going to spontaneously, break out.