Category Archives: Music et al

Birthdays, Music et al, Woodstock Music and Art Fair

James Timothy Tim Hardin

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James Timothy Tim Hardin

Remembering Tim Hardin on his birthday
December 23, 1941  – December 29, 1980

James Timothy Tim Hardin

Bob Dylan’s oft-quoted statement that Tim Hardin was “the greatest songwriter alive” does little to enshrine Hardin other than for those he’s an already-enshrined singer-songwriter.

James Timothy Tim Hardin

Birthday

Born James Timothy Hardin in Eugene Oregon on December 23, 1941, he dropped out of high school and joined the Marines. In his words, the move was “a legal loophole that allows the prisoner to sign himself into another prison, from parental care to the military.”

After the Marines, Hardin arrived in Greenwich Village in 1961 to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He became part of the Village’s folk scene and became part of a circle that included Fred Neil, Mama Cass, Karen Dalton and John Sebastian.

Hardin is best known for his simple, romantic songs made popular by other artists, most notably, Bobby Darin’s “If I Were a Carpenter” and Rod Stewart’s “Reason to Believe.”

James Timothy Tim Hardin
Hardin’s first album: Tim Hardin 1

He released Tim Hardin 1, in July 1966. Lisa Law, Hog Farm member and photographer took the album’s cover photo and all the photos on the back.

His Woodstock story is that he was scheduled to be the very first performer. 500,000 stomach butterflies prevented that, but opened the door for Richie Haven’s famous start. Hardin did perform later after Bert Sommer and before Ravi Shankar.

James Timothy Tim Hardin

Post Woodstock

During the years following Woodstock, Hardin moved between England and the U.S.

Due to ongoing drug and health problems, as well as a scarcity of new material, he did not complete any albums after 1973. Hardin died of a drug overdose in 1980.

James Timothy Tim Hardin

He is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

James Timothy Tim Hardin

2013 Rolling Stone magazine article on Hardin.

2013 Telegraph article on Hardin.

James Timothy Tim Hardin
Black history, Desegregation, Music et al, Music of the 60s

Change Is Gonna Come

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Change Is Gonna Come

Released December 22, 1964

Change Is Gonna Come

No Change

In October 1963 Sam Cooke was touring Louisiana. He had made reservations at a Shreveport Holiday Inn, but when he, his wife, brother, and another arrived, hotel personnel told them that there were no vacancies. 

Cooke argued to no avail and left angrily. When they arrived at their next hotel, police arrested them for disturbing the peace. 

With the rebirth of the civil rights movement, Black entertainers faced a difficult decision: make a living by catering to the tastes of the majority white audience, most of whom weren’t thrilled with black activism, or musically/philosophically join the civil rights struggle and risk their livelihood.

Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ In the Wind” surprised Cooke. How could a white person write such a moving song? Cooke began to use the song in his shows.

Change Is Gonna Come

His own change

And Cooke also decided to write his own.

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By December 1963 he’d written “A Change is Gonna Come.” In February he performed it live on the Johnny Carson Show (no video available), but had not yet recorded it. Two days after Cooke’s performance on the Tonight Show, the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan.

Change Is Gonna Come

RCA holds off

Cooke did not record “A Change is Gonna Come” until November 1964 and RCA did not release it until December.

Sadly, Cooke had died eleven days before on December 11, 1964. (NYT article)

Change Is Gonna Come

Change Is Gonna Come

Anthem

It became one of the civil rights movement’s anthems and dozens of artists have since covered the song.

In 2005, representatives of the music industry and press voted the song number 12 in Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Cooke’s style and spirit continue to inspire many of today’s young artists. The New York Times Magazine recently described Leon Bridges as “The Second Coming of Sam Cooke.” (NYT article)

Change Is Gonna Come
Birthdays, Music et al, Music of the 60s, Woodstock Music and Art Fair

Drummer Bobby Wayne Colomby

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Drummer Bobby Wayne Colomby

Happy birthday Bobby

Woodstock Music and Art Fair alum Bobby Colomby was born in New York City on December 20, 1944.

After Al Kooper and Steve Katz left the Blues Project in 1967, Colomby joined them to found the original Blood Sweat and Tears. In addition to Colomby,  Kooper, and Katz, there was Jim Fielder, who had played with the Mothers of Invention and Buffalo Springfield. The band recruited horn players from New York jazz and studio bands.

Drummer Bobby Wayne Colomby
The original Blood, Sweat and Tears
Drummer Bobby Wayne Colomby

Sessions drummer

Previously, Bobby Colomby had drummed behind folksingers Odetta and Eric Andersen. When Kooper left for a solo  career, many felt that the band was over, but Colomby and Katz continued with the others (NYT BST)

After dozens of personnel changes in the group Colomby became (in the end) the de facto owner of the Blood Sweat & Tears name. He maintains ownership of the “Blood, Sweat & Tears” band name and, although he no longer plays with the band, he still manages and oversees a tribute band that performs under that name. (BST  Home site)

Drummer Bobby Wayne Colomby

What else has…

Bobby Colomby done?
Drummer Bobby Wayne Colomby
Bobby Colomby

Colomby produced Jaco Pastorius’ first solo album (NYT article on the movie “Jaco”); The Jacksons’ Destiny (NYT article on Jackson including Colomby quotes); Chris Botti’s albums December, When I Fall in Love, and To Love Again and Italia; and Paula Cole’s album Courage.

For a few years in the late 1980s Bobby Colomby was a reporter for the television programs Entertainment Tonight and “The CBS Morning Program.”

In 2000, Colomby and Richard Marx created short-lived Signal 21 Records.

In a December 2016,  BroadwayWorld.com article stated that Colomby is always looking to keep Blood Sweat & Tears more than a band playing its old hits. “I no longer want to target just one generation. That would be a mistake. With this updated version, I want this band to gain recognition with a wider audience. I want people of all ages to experience what this music has to offer.” And none of the original member are in the current line up. Why? “I think of this band like baseball’s Yankees. When you’re at a Yankee game you’re not going to see Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle or Lou Gehrig. What you do come to expect is a team of top-notch players upholding a tradition of winning. That’s the Yankee legacy. It what people expect from BS&T as well… brilliant musicians, singers, songs and arrangements.”

Drummer Bobby Wayne Colomby