Monthly Archives: January 2016

Birthdays, Black history, Mohammad Ali, Peace Love Art and Activism

Greatest Muhammad Ali

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Greatest Muhammad Ali

Greatest Muhammad Ali
Nov. 9, 2005, President Bush presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to boxer Muhammad Ali in the East Room of the White House. He is now so much a part of the nation’s social fabric that it’s hard to comprehend a time when Ali was more reviled than revered.
January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016
Remembering the “Greatest” on his birthday
Greatest Muhammad Ali

Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr

When Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr was born in Louisville, Kentucky no one would have predicted that one day he would be the most recognized person in the world.

Boxing was the skill that brought such fame.

The legend begins with a stolen bike. A young boy wanted to get even and a cop told him he’d better learn to fight first.

As Clay, he won six Kentucky Golden Gloves titles, two national Golden Gloves titles, an Amateur Athletic Union National Title, and the Light Heavyweight gold medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.

After the Olympics, Ali went professional. Though not each of his consecutive victories was without criticism, but the end of 1963 he was next in line to fight Sonny Liston for the heavyweight championship.

Because of his personality, some could still use the term uppity without recrimination, many looked forward to Clay being pummeled by Liston and getting a comeuppance.

On February 25, 1964 Ali defeated Liston.

In their May 25, 1965 re-match, Ali defeated Liston again and successfully retained his crown for 7 more bouts until 1967 when he refused to be drafted. His championship was taken away.

At this point Ali became more than a great boxer. He became a person who some admired and others decried. Listen below to David Suskind’s withering criticism of Ali.  (also see a PBS article on Ali from a broadcast called The Trials of Muhammad Ali)

I find nothing amusing or interesting or tolerable abut this man. He’s a disgrace to his country, his race, and what he laughingly describes as his profession. he is a convicted felon in the United States. He has been found guilty. He is out on bail. He will inevitably go to prison, as well he should. He is a simplistic fool and a pawn.
Greatest Muhammad Ali

June 28, 1971

On June 28, 1971 the US Supreme Court reversed Ali’s conviction for refusing induction by unanimous decision in Clay v. United States. The decision was not based on, nor did it address, the merits of Clay’s/Ali’s claims per se, rather, the Government prosecution’s procedural failure to specify which claims were rejected and which were sustained, constituted the grounds upon which the Court reversed the conviction.

Ali would go on to win back the heavyweight championship, lose it, and regain it again. The only boxer to hold the championship three different times.

Thank you Muhammad Ali

Greatest Muhammad Ali
Cold War, Music et al

Soviet Union Bones Music

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Soviet Union Bones Music

Baby boomers grew up listening to the radio and watching TV just as their grandchildren are growing up with streaming and smart phones.

An interesting medium that has evolved is the podcast: a radio show, yet not on the radio. Downloaded and listen to anytime anywhere. Quite an advantage over traditional radio.

Sometimes, a group of podcasters form a collective to help promote and support their work. Radiotopia is an example of this type of collective.

Soviet Union Bones Music
banner for the Kitchen Sisters’ podcast, Fugitive Waves
Soviet Union Bones Music
Bones Music

Bones Music was the title of a podcast from Radiotopia’s Fugitive Waves (produced by the Kitchen Sisters).

It was not about these

Bones music

It was about this
Soviet Union Bones Music
x-ray made into a recording

…and I’m guessing you don’t recognize it. I didn’t either.

From the Kitchen Sisters:

Before the availability of the tape recorder and during the 1950s, when vinyl was scarce, ingenious Russians began recording banned bootlegged jazz, boogie woogie and rock ‘n’ roll on exposed X-ray film salvaged from hospital waste bins and archives.

“Usually it was the Western music they wanted to copy,” says Sergei Khrushchev, son of former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. “Before the tape recorders they used the X-ray film of bones and recorded music on the bones, bone music.”

“They would cut the X-ray into a crude circle with manicure scissors and use a cigarette to burn a hole,” says author Anya von Bremzen. “You’d have Elvis on the lungs, Duke Ellington on Aunt Masha’s brain scan — forbidden Western music captured on the interiors of Soviet citizens.”

Soviet Union Bones Music

Purchase

Here’s a YouTube video by a vinyl record collector who found out about these x-ray records and was able to purchase one. He shows several vinyl records before getting to the x-ray type at about 6 min 15 seconds on the video.

I am only giving a brief overview about this type of recording and it’s historic background. I strongly urge you to listen to it >>>

Fugitive Waves podcast on x-ray recordings

Soviet Union Bones Music
Anniversary, Music of the 60s

Los Angeles Whisky a Go Go

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Los Angeles Whisky a Go Go

Los Angeles Whisky a Go Go

The Los Angeles Whisky a Go Go opened on January 15, 1964 .

Rock and Roll was gaining main stream momentum. The Beatles were about to arrive with their British invaders in tow. There were few places to regularly hear rock and roll–recorded or live.

The LA Whisky a Go Go was not the first ‘a Go Go, but is now the most famous. Others had opened earlier in  Paris (1947),  Chicago (1958), and Washington, DC (1966). These first venues were discotheques, that is, they played recorded music.

According to the Whisky a Go Go’s site, The Whisky had to spell its name without the ‘e’ in whiskey because Los Angeles city zoning laws didn’t allow any club to be named after alcohols

Los Angeles Whisky a Go Go

Live music/Caged dancing

Johnny Rivers headlined LA’s Whisky a Go Go opening night with recorded music between sets.

The DJ (the club’s first was Joanie Labine) played records from a suspended booth and Joanie danced there during the songs. Her performance became so popular, that the club soon had other hanging platforms (“cages”) in which dancers performed.

The club quickly became famous for its music (rock ‘n’ roll), dancing (both  the go-go dancers and the patrons) and the Hollywood celebrities attracted to the club.

The Whisky played an important role in many musical careers, especially for bands based in southern California. The Byrds, Alice Cooper, Buffalo Springfield,  and Love were regulars, and The Doors were the house band for a while.

Whisky a Go Go

Los Angeles Whisky a Go Go

Complaints

Despite the popularity of the Whisky (or perhaps because of it popularity) and other Sunset Strip clubs, there were complaints about the noise, the gathering of young people, and traditional rock-phobia. LA officials passed a 10 PM curfew .

On November 12, 1966, fliers were distributed along the Strip inviting people to demonstrate later that day.

The Los Angeles Times reported that as many as 1,000  demonstrators, erupted in protest against the perceived repressive curfew laws.

And though the Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” is typically thought of as an anti-Vietnam War song, it’s a song written about those riots.

While the venue has had it’s ups and downs, the club continues today.

Los Angeles Whisky a Go Go