Music and activism

[Oss Rae]

Last week on the radio show IndyMedia on Air, there was discussion with a music historian about the role music plays in activism and its relationship to the state. Music from 1970-75 are the focus: archive.kpfk.org/mp3/kpfk_171220_183030indymed.MP3

This is actually part 2 of the interview (the first part apparently focuses on 1965 to '70). I wish I knew when part 1 aired so I could look it up.

[Brian]

I enjoyed that interview with Mat Callahan, even though he didn't get specific about the artists or the music until halfway in, except for a mention of Creedence Clearwater Revival.  His book concentrates on San Francisco bands of the era.  I was really tickled to learn that the Wailers -- with Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer -- opened for Tower of Power on their first U.S. tour, probably the only one with all three reggae icons on the same stage.

I watched the four hour documentary about Rolling Stone on HBO this month, which was sanctioned by Jann Wenner for the magazine's 50th anniversary, and I don't remember hearing about co-founder Ralph Gleason selling his shares because he didn't like the direction Wenner was taking.  Gleason died in 1975.  The next year, led by Hunter Thompson, Wenner put Jimmy Carter on the cover.

Anyway, the best San Francisco band after 1975 was the Tubes, although Steve Miller became hugely successful.

The Booksmith on Haight Street has a webpage for Callahan's book: www.booksmith.com/event/mat-callahan-explosion-deferred-dreams

[Oss Rae]

Thank you for the link re: the book.

This is only somewhat related, but last night CNN was running a lot of episodes of their series The Seventies (Tom Hanks is one of the producers). One was about Watergate, another about President Carter, and another about music of the '70s. Unfortunately, I missed much of the latter one. I hope these get shown again.

[Brian]

CNN has been rerunning "The Seventies" on weekends and holidays for more than two years, so no doubt you can catch that episode again in a few months.  If you missed the beginning of Episode 8, it started with the Beatles' break up and moved to the Rolling Stones and David Bowie.  The second segment kicked off with the singer-songwriter boom in the very early 70's.  The rest of the hour got even better.  Here's the link to CNN's webpage for the series:

www.cnn.com/shows/the-seventies

On an almost totally unrelated note, it's Christmas morning so I'm enjoying the remastered CD of "Selling England by the Pound" by Genesis, an album I've associated with Christmas since 1973, when I started working at Here, There and After Records on Honolulu Avenue.  We played the import LP constantly on the store's turntable.  Five talented and very young guys in England -- Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks -- somehow reached a bunch of kids in Montrose with their lament about consumer culture.  Sadly, we didn't sell many copies of their record. But with Brexit it still resonates now.

This is a crappy mp3 of the leadoff track:

[Jeanne]

Thanks for that song, Brian. It was a real treat.