Category Archives: Anniversary

Anniversary, Cinema

American Rebel Without Cause

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American Rebel Without Cause

American Rebel Without Cause

released October 26, 1955

American Rebel Without Cause

American Rebel Without Cause

Damn Kids today

Adults have questioned the behavior of teenagers as long as both groups have faced each other–forever.

“I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words… When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise [disrespectful] and impatient of restraint” (Hesiod, 8th century BC).

American Rebel Without Cause

Rebel Without a Cause

Warner Brothers released Rebel Without a Cause on October 26, 1955. It is considered by many to be the teenage movie of all time. In its review, the NY Times stated: It is a violent, brutal, and disturbing picture of modern teen-agers…. Young people neglected by their parents or given no understanding and moral support by fathers and mothers who are themselves unable to achieve balance and security in their home…It is a picture to make the hair stand on end. (NYT review)

The title was adopted from psychiatrist Robert M. Lindner’s 1944 book, Rebel Without a Cause: The Hypnoanalysis of a Criminal Psychopath.

American Rebel Without Cause

American Rebel Without Cause

In any case…

Whether or not Rebel Without a Cause is the best movie ever of its genre is unimportant. Each generation has its movie milepost to point to. What is important is that in it we can see the universal conflicts between adults and their values and teenagers and their values; between teenagers own conflicting values; between society’s desire to mold its young members into a satisfactory reflection of its values and those same young members desire to see things differently, do things another way, and do things better

Boy meets girl. Girl laughs at boy. Boy chases girl. Girl turns and smiles. Love. Confusion. Arguments. Fights. Anomie.

Certainly a film to watch again or to watch for the first time.

American Rebel Without Cause

Peter the Hermit in A.D. 1274

“The world is passing through troublous times. The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as if they knew everything, and what passes for wisdom with us is foolishness with them. As for the girls, they are forward, immodest and unladylike in speech, behavior and dress.”

American Rebel Without Cause

Legacy

In 1990, Rebel Without a Cause was added to Library of Congress’s National Film Registry as being deemed “culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant.” It was the only film that James Dean had top billing, but he died in a car crash before the film’s release.

American Rebel Without Cause

Anniversary, Jimi Hendrix, Music et al, Music of the 60s

Curtis Knight Jimi Hendrix

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Curtis Knight Jimi Hendrix

October 1965

Curtis Knight Jimi Hendrix

In October 1965 Curtis Knight recorded “How Would You Feel.” Knight’s guitarist was the young and still-living-in-the-USA Jimi Hendrix.

Curtis Knight Jimi Hendrix

Before Knight

In 1962, Hendrix had left the Army after a brief unproductive stint. At least as far as his military prowess was concerned since he spent much of his hitch playing guitar.

In February 1964, Hendrix had won the amateur contest at the Apollo Theater in NYC.

In March 1964, Hendrix was part of the Isley Brothers band and recorded the two-part single “Testify” before beginning a tour with them.

Earlier in 1965, Hendrix had played a session for Rosa Lee Brooks on her single “My Diary”  Around the same time he also backed Little Richard on  “I Don’t Know What You’ve Got, But It’s Got Me.”

After Knight

September 22, 1966 was Jimi Hendrix’s first day in England after the Animals’ ex-bassist turned producer Chas Chandler “discovered” him in New York City fronting  Jimmy James and the Blue Flames in the various Greenwich Village clubs.

We know the rest of the story. How Paul McCartney’s recommendation let to Hendrix set Monterey afire. How Reprise Records signed Jimi. Woodstock. The Jimi Hendrix sad swan song.

Bandwagon

Though Hendrix only recorded three studio albums, anyone with any of his recordings of any kind tried to jump on the Hendrix goose that seemingly laid only golden eggs.

In 1965, he had signed a contract with PPX records to play with Curtis Knight. After Hendrix and his Experience struck it big with Are You Experienced?, PPX packaged Hendrix’s Knight tracks as its own album while playing up Hendrix’s role in the Squires.

A similar PPX album called Got That Feeling was also planned for the U.K. in 1968 before the courts stepped in and barred the release, with Hendrix himself calling it “musically worthless.”

March 2015

Curtis Knight Jimi Hendrix

47 years later, Hendrix’s estate, Eperience Hendrix LLC, released You Can’t Use My Name: Curtis Knight & The Squires (featuring Jimi Hendrix) The RSVP/PPX Sessions.  The name is an obvious reference to previous legal issues. Experience Hendrix selected 14 of the 88 studio recordings Hendrix had made with Curtis Knight.

Curtis Knight Jimi Hendrix

Curtis Knight Jimi Hendrix
Anniversary, Music et al, Music of the 60s

Gone Far Too Soon 27 Club

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Gone Far Too Soon 27 Club

Gone Far Too Soon 27 Club

Gone Far Too Soon 27 Club

Equivocal occupation

As a docent at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts I have the opportunity to do “Artist Tours.”

During the outdoor concert season, the Center offers a Woodstock site tour to the visiting musicians, their crew, and accompanying family and friends.

The initial response to the opportunity is that as a docent I’d have the opportunity to “rub elbows” with these well-known acts. Rarely is that so and it took me a few times to realize why.

I once observed to a crew member that what fans see as the glamour of the touring experience, seeing many places, the applause, the adulation, the well-appointed buses aren’t perhaps all they appear to be, he replied, “It’s still traveling down the interstate in a metal tube at 70 MPH.”

And that is as good a revelation of the other side as I will likely ever hear.

Gone Far Too Soon 27 Club

Opportunity

It would seem that given the wealth that can sometime become a part of the successful musicians’ lives, the chance to be a part of many exclusive inner circles, and the requests to be met and their accompanying flattery, a person might come to believe that their success has no down side.

But the chance to accept all that is offered, the ability to purchase that which is often unavailable and to purchase excessive amounts of that thing can lead on to that infamous slippery slope to the Valley of Humiliation.

Gone Far Too Soon 27 Club

27 Club

And is some cases, the Valley of Death.

It is an exaggeration in the extreme to say that the life of rock and roll is a lethal one, a deadly one. Unfortunately, for too many, it was just that. And oddly, the 27 year old musician has been that.

Gone Far Too Soon 27 Club

No One Lives Forever

The Band sang it so well…

No one lives forever

Who would want to

But you’re too soon gone, too soon gone

Too soon gone, too soon gone

…and so did Robbie Robertson solo

Are you out there

Can you hear me

Can you see me in the dark

Follow this link to  a sad listing the too many rock musicians who died at the age of 27.  Or this Ranker article.

Gone Far Too Soon 27 Club

Mental Health and Musicians

Over the Bridge

In 2021, Over The Bridge developed an album called, Lost Tapes of the 27 Club. Over the Bridge is an organization that aims to change the conversation about mental health in the music community while providing a compassionate environment for members to thrive.

Why?

According to the site, 71% of musicians believe they’ve experienced incidences of anxiety and panic attacks.

68% of musicians have experienced incidences of depression

Suicide attempts for music industry workers are more than double that of the general population.

Lost Tapes

The project said this about the AI produced album:

As long as there’s been popular music, musicians and crews have struggled with mental health at a rate far exceeding the general adult population. And this issue hasn’t just been ignored. It’s been romanticized, by things like the 27 Club—a group of musicians whose lives were all lost at just 27 years old.

To show the world what’s been lost to this mental health crisis, we’ve used artificial intelligence to create the album the 27 Club never had the chance to. Through this album, we’re encouraging more music industry insiders to get the mental health support they need, so they can continue making the music we all love for years to come.

Because even AI will never replace the real thing.

How did they do this?

  1. They had an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm listen to isolated hooks, rhythms, melodies, and lyrics of 27 Club musicians.
  2. Their AI algorithm learned from the music, then generated a string of all-new hooks, rhythms, melodies, and lyrics.
  3. An audio engineer took these AI-generated musical elements and composed the Lost Tapes of the 27 Club.

Gone Far Too Soon 27 Club