Music of 1968-- Part 1: A Year To Remember

From the Time Life Magazine/book "Music of 1968: Rock and Roll's Greatest Year.

I really enjoy these little magazine/books and spend more than I should on them.  Lots of great pictures, concise text an plenty of information and a surprising number of them of particular interest to me.  Most are just 100 pages long so they don't take too long to read.

Of course, I am really interested in music and especially music from 1968, which was a good high school year for at good old Palatine High School in Illinois (my junior/senior year).

Now that I am a year late, I will go through the magazine and write a little of what they said about each artist.

"1968:  A Year To Remember.

"Mick Jagger summed it up best:  "But what can a poor boy do, except to sing for a rock 'n' roll band?"

"For rock 'n' roll lovers, 1968 hit the mother lode.  Psychedelia ruled, and so did protest,  Motown and Johnny Cash's twang. The Rolling Stones blasted back onto the airwaves with "Beggars Banquet."  Heavy metal was ascendant."

Buy Me An Album.  --RoadDog

TRIVIA:  In which scandalous novel is literature professor Humbert Humbert obsessed with pre-teen Dolores Hazel?


"Lolita"

Music of 1968-- Part 2: Jimi, Janis and CSNY

Continued from October 26, 2018.

While Jimi Hendrix was torching guitars and putting the polishing touches on "Electric Ladyland,"  Janis Joplin was shedding Big Brother and the Holding Company and starting a band of her own.

Out in Los Angeles's Laurel Canyon, Joni Mitchell's boyfriend casually walked into an impromptu jam session.  There he found two other like-minded musicians -- an encounter that led to Crosby,Stills, Nash and Young, probably the most famous supergroup ever.

--RoadDog

JSS: Snow-- One-And-Done Duke Wins-- No WW I Magazine

JSS--  Just Some Stuff.

1.  SNOW--  We had our first accumulating snow of the season Thursday night, about two inches.  But, it was good snow as none stuck to driveways, sidewalks or roads.  I could live with snow if it didn't fall on anything I had to move or drive on.

Ans, it stuck to the trees and a snow covered tree is one of the great things to see in nature.

2.  ONE-AND-DONE DUKE WINS--  I used to be a big Duke fan, but not anymore.  I will not support any school that relies on those one-and-done players.  I would have expected Coach K to be a better man than this.

3.  NO WW I MAGAZINES--  I am surprised that I did not see any of those 100-page magazines you see these days at most places that still sell magazines on the end of World War I, which ended tomorrow, November 11, 1918.

Just Some Stuff.  --RoadDog

IT'S ALL IN A NAME:  A meteorologists daughter named Haley.

Music of 1968-- Part 1: "Rock and Roll's Greatest Year"

From the Time Life magazine.

It was a great year, but I am not sure about Rock and Roll's Greatest Year.  This was sold at newstands where they almost unbelievably still sell magazines  in this digital age.  Personally, I'm sure glad they do.  Picture of the Beatles on the front cover.

"1968  A YEAR TO REMEMBER:  Mich Jagger summed it up best: "But what can a poor boy do, except to sing for a rock 'n' roll band?"

For the rock 'n' roll lovers, 1968 hit the mother lode.  Psychedelia ruled and so did protest, Motown and Johnny Cash's twang.  The Rolling Stones blasted back onto the airwaves with "Beggars Banquet.  Heavy metal was ascendant.  The Beatles, in spite of personal resentments and professional differences, followed "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" with an LP that since has been embraced as the even more iconic:  "The Beatles,"  a.k.a. the White Album.

It Was a Great Year (When I Was 17, and I really was).  --RoadDog

Good Times Last Weekend-- Part 2: Sitting Outside, Enjoying a Band and Drinking Beer

SATURDAY, JUNE 23

We finally have some decent summer weather.  Enjoyed listening to WXRT's Saturday Morning Flashback where they went back to 1970 as I drove to Crystal Lake, Illinois for the McHenry County Civil War Round Table discussion group where we talked about Civil War Logistics.  I didn't think this topic would be a good one, but I sure was wrong.  Keeping those armies supplied with food and ordnance and getting them from place to place was no easy thing.

Went to Barnes & Nobles afterwards, one of the few stores I still understand, and bought a Civil War Monitor and Naval History magazine.

We went to Choppers on Il-173 in Antioch and sat out on their deck and listened to Aging Teen Idols playing music.  Just something about sitting outside on a perfect summer day, listening to a band and drinking ice cold beer that makes this one great experience.

We then went to Time to Bite, which is part fishing store and bar and also had the Chain Crawl book signed.

--RoadDog

TRANSLATING PROJECT TERMS:  They say:  Extensive effort is being applied on a fresh approach to the problem.  They Mean: We just hired three new guys; we'll let them kick it around for awhile.

Music Deaths 2013: Writer and Chicago Blues

PAUL WILLIAMS, 64:  Pioneering rock writer.  Wrote and published Crawdaddy Magazine in 1966, 18 months before Rolling Stone Magazine debuted.  Died March 27, 2013.

JIMMY DAWKINS, 76:  Born 1936, died April 10, 2013.  Major part of the Chicago West Side Blues sound, known for guitar playing.  Born Mississippi and came to Chicago in the 1950s.

Time's LightBox: 14 Giant Panda Cubs

This page appears weekly and you can check them out at lightbox.time.com.

September 16th and October 7th were especially good.  Sept. 16th was Taking Flight with hundreds of storks flying in Turkey, but best was Oct. 7th with Pandamonium with 14 giant-panda cubs sleeping in a crib in China. Give a look for a chuckle.

That's a Lot of Kung-Fu Panda!! --RoadDog

JSIS: Be Like Mike-- Reader's Digest-- That Meteor Thing

JSIS--  Just Some Interesting Stuff.


1.  BE LIKE MIKE--  Much ado here in Chicago about the 50th birthday of Chicago Bull Michael Jordan.  One of the best, if not The Best basketball players ever.  I'm still impressed that game he played so sick he could hardly sit up but score over 60 points.

However, I really got tired of seeing him on TV pitching products every commercial break here in Chicago back in the 90s.  It was as bad as having to see Mike Ditka just as much.  Move over Billy Mays.


2.  READER'S DIGEST--  I see the 91-year-old publication has declared bankruptcy again.  I used to read it all the time and we had a subscription until around the late nineties.  I can't remember the last time I read it, but I always hate seeing something that old go.


3.  THAT METEOR THING--  The video of that meteor streaking over Russia was pretty amazing and I'm sure glad I didn't see it personally as it would have scared the beejeebers out of me.  Way too much like in the movies.  Then, there were those two other supposed sightings.  Makes you think.

Just Some Interesting Stuff.  --RoadDog

So, You Think You're an Oldies Fan?

Taken from the August Wassup magazine. This tells you what is going on at the bars and towns around the Lake County (there is also one for McHenry County) area. Lots of advertisements, jokes, and columns.

They have a quiz every week with ten questions on a particular topic. Last month's was on a subject dear to my heart, OLDIES.

See how well you do. I only missed the first question, but always have problems remembering words. There are two reasons I could never have been a band's singer. The first is that I can't sing. The second is that I couldn't remember the words. Even if I had written the song, I know I wouldn't remember the words. I'd have to have a karaoke setup onstage.

1. When did 'Little Suzie" finally wake up? a) The movie's over, it's 2 o'clock, b) The movie's over, it's 3 o'clock, c) The movie's over, it's 4 o'clock.

2. "Rock Around the Clock" was used in what movie? a) Rebel Without a Cause, b) Blackboard Jungle, c) The Wild Ones.

3. What's missing? _____ Baby, Earth ______, a) Angel, b) Head, c) Pretty.


4. "I found my thrill..." Where? a) Kansas City, b) Heartbreak Hotel, c) Blueberry Hill.


5. "Please turn on your magic beam, ____ ______ bring me a dream" a) Mr. Sandman, b) Earth Angel, c) Dream Lover


6. For which label did Elvis Presley first record? a) Chancellor, b) RCA, c) Sun

7. He asked, "Why's everybody always pickin' on me?" Who was he? a) Bad, Bad Leroy Brown, b) Charlie Brown, c) Buster Brown.


8. Bobby Darin's "Mack the Knife", the one with the knife, was named: a) MacHeath, b) MacCloud, c) MacNamara.


9. Name the song with "A-wop bop a-loo bop a-lop bam boom"? a) Good Golly Miss Molly, b) Be-Bop-A-Lula, c) Tutti Fruiti.


10. Who is generally given credit for the term "Rock and Roll"? a) Dick Clark, b) Wolfman Jack, c) Alan Freed.




Answers


1. c. The movie's, it's 4 o'clock, 2. b Blackboard Jungle, 3. a) Angel, 4. c) Blueberry Hill,
5. a) Mr. Sandman, 6. c) Sun, 7. b) Charlie Brown, 8. a) MacHeath, 9. c) Tutti Fruiti,
10. c) Alan Freed

Earl Morse's Honor Flights

I came across an article in the American Profile magazine about Earl Morse, who has started up an organization called Honor Flight, which takes WWII veterans to the National WWII Memorial in Washington, DC, at absolutely no cost to themselves.

Morse is a retired Air Force Captain and a licensed pilot. While working at the US Department of Veterans Affairs medical clinic in Springfield, Ohio, in 2004, he asked a patient, 78-year-old WWII vet Leonard Loy, if he was going to visit the new memorial. Loy said he didn't have enough money. Morse was already planning on flying his father, a Vietnam vet, to DC to see the Wall. Would Loy care to come with them? An idea was born.

Morse founded the non-profit Honor Flight Network in 2005, and has since taken over 1000 WWII vets to the memorial.

This is a man who has accomplished a great thing.

You can find out more at www.americanprofile.com "Honor Flight" by Marcia Schonberg July 29-Aug. 4, 2007.

My cousin Graham, a US Navy pilot during the Vietnam War, was involved with mercy flights to get people to hospitals for operations who could not afford to do it, for many years. I'll have to contact him to find out more about what he did.

My Great Thanks To People Who Do Things Like This. -- RoadDog