Tag Archives: May Music et al

Paul Williams Crawdaddy

Paul Williams Crawdaddy!

Remembering and appreciating Paul
May 19, 1948 – March 27, 2013
Rock journalism’s founding father
Paul Williams Crawdaddy

Paul Williams printed the first edition of his rock magazine Crawdaddy! in a Brooklyn basement on January 30, 1966. In it he wrote: You are looking at the first issue of a magazine of rock and roll criticism. Crawdaddy! will feature neither pin-ups nor news-briefs; the specialty of this magazine is intelligent writing about pop music….

Before Crawdaddy! if someone wanted to read a serious essay about the changing rock music scene, sources were difficult to find. Publishers catered to teens with the still-popular magazines like Seventeen.

Paul Williams Crawdaddy

Paul Williams Crawdaddy!

Swarthmore College

Williams had begun writing rock and roll essays while a student at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. He wrote about Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison, David Crosby, and Brian Wilson among others.

In 1968 he served as campaign manager for Timothy Leary’s run for the governorship of California. Williams , Williams and Leary joined John Lennon and Yoko Ono at their Toronto “Bed-in For Peace”.  It was during that performance art piece that the song “Come Together” was written.  According to the Williams site: Paul’s voice can be heard mixed into the chorus on the original recording of “Give Peace A Chance.” Similarly, on The Doors “Unknown Soldier” he can be heard locking and loading a rifle.” 

Also according to the same site, “…he wasn’t only at Woodstock, he rode to the festival from New York City in the Grateful Dead’s limousine [click for more >>> Williams site]

By 1968 two new rock magazines had appeared: Rolling Stone and CREEM.

Paul Williams Crawdaddy!

Parting ways

Williams and Crawdaddy! parted ways in 1968 and Crawdaddy! suspended publication in 1969, but returned as Crawdaddy in 1970.

In 1979 the magazine changed its title to Feature but after only three issues it ceased publication.

Paul Williams reclaimed and restored the exclamation-pointed title in 1993. In poor health after a 1995 head injury in a bike mishap, the magazine stopped publishing in 2003.

On June 28, 2009, various musicians held a benefit concert for him at the Red Devil Lounge in San Francisco.

Paul Williams Crawdaddy!

Death

Williams died on March 27, 2013, at his home in California at age 64 from complications related that accident which had lead to early onset dementia.

 NPR article on Williams’s death; NYT obituary.

Paul Williams Crawdaddy!

Princeton Riot Blackboard Jungle

Princeton Riot Blackboard Jungle

Bill Haley & His Comets singing “Rock Around the Clock”

Princeton Riot Blackboard Jungle
L-R: Louis Calhern, Glenn Ford Sidney Poitier in Blackboard Jungle
Princeton Riot Blackboard Jungle

 Communists everywhere

In the 1950s many Americans thought they saw Communists in every nook and cranny. And Americans blamed what they defined as social ills on Communism’s influence.

Civil Rights? Communism.

Folk music? Communism.

Homosexuality? Communism.

The Beat Generation? Communism.

Juvenile delinquency? Communism.

Rock and Roll? Communism.

Princeton Riot Blackboard Jungle

Ed McBain

The novel Blackboard Jungle was published in 1954. Ed McBain, using the pseudonym Evan Hunter,  wrote the book.  The following year Richard Brooks directed the film.

The film reinforced the popular view that teenagers, particularly those who lived in the cities, were out of control. Disrespectful. Lazy. Intemperate.

The movie opened with Bill Haley & the Comets “Rock Around the Clock.” The song was actually the B-side of a single the band had released in May 1954, “Thirteen Women (and Only One Man in Town).” The single didn’t go far on the charts. Not until its now-famous B-side opened the movie.

Princeton Riot Blackboard Jungle

Rock Around the Clock

           On July 9, 1955, “Rock Around the Clock” became the first rock and roll recording to hit the top of Billboard’s Pop charts. The song stayed there for eight weeks.

Princeton Riot Blackboard Jungle

10 Times the Clock

It was on this date, May 17, in 1955 that the so-called Princeton Riot occurred.

According to Princeton dot edu, “On May 17, 1955, the juvenile delinquency drama Blackboard Jungle closed its run at Princeton’s Garden Theater. That night, 10 enterprising students met at a local record shop to purchase copies of the film’s groundbreaking theme song, “Rock Around the Clock.” The plan, as revealed in the next day’s “Prince”: to blare Bill Haley’s hit single at 11 p.m. from “key places” on campus “in hopes of triggering an outburst.

Blackboard Jungle
NYT article
Princeton Riot Blackboard Jungle

Earlier Memphis Ban

That Blackboard Jungle was in the news was not new. On March 28, 1955, Memphis, Tennessee’s censor board had banned the film.

In fact 1955 was a tough year for rock and roll promoters. On May 22,  Bridgeport, Connecticut authorities had cancelled a Fats Domino concert because of the dangers of “Rock and Roll.”  Similar rock and roll concert cancellations due to local officials’ fear of possible violence occurred in Boston, Atlanta, Newark, Asbury Park, New Jersey, and Burbank, California.

And remember that the Ed Sullivan Show had presented only the top half of Elvis Presley’s first appearance.

As for that Princeton riot, the faculty committee suspended four students.

Princeton Riot Blackboard Jungle

Princeton Four

Blackboard Jungle
NYT article
Princeton Riot Blackboard Jungle

Clare Boothe Luce objects

On August 26,  Blackboard Jungle was removed from consideration at the Venice Film Festival because of objections by the U.S. Ambassador to Italy, Clare Boothe Luce, but the movie received four Oscar nominations (won none).

Today considered a landmark film about the 1950s. And though Bill Haley’s song was not the first rock and roll song, it is often credited with making rock and roll popular far beyond its 1950 boundaries.

Princeton Riot Blackboard Jungle

Mamas Papas Monday Monday

Mamas Papas Monday Monday

If you were near a radio in May 1966 (and who wasn’t?), “Monday Monday” was the song you heard. John Phillips wrote it and it became the single off the Mamas and the Papas’ debut album, If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears.

Mamas Papas Monday Monday

No toilets permitted, but

Like many 60s counterculture pieces, the album cover became controversial. It is humorous to me that the controversy did not involve the fact that four adults–two men and two women–sat together in a bathtub. I guess keeping their clothes on avoided any issue. (I wonder whose idea it was to use a bathtub to begin with?)

Mamas Papas Monday Monday

But including the toilet in the picture ruffled feathers and subsequent covers included a scroll to cover the toilet.

Mamas Papas Monday Monday

toilet valves are OK

The fact that you could still see the toilet valve mechanism apparently was OK. Ah well… [Thank you Cliff Lubin (Facebook page) for pointing out that the possessive apostrophes after their names are also an error. New groups suffer such calamities.

Second thank you to Edward David Jennings who pointed out that legendary photographer Guy Webster shot the photo]  As popular as they were, “Monday Monday” was the only #1 hit by the Mamas and Papas.  Dunhill released it in March and hit #1 on May 7, 1966. It remained there for three weeks. Those of you familiar with the song already know that it has a false ending. The song pauses for a moment, then actually closes. Ironically, the previous Billboard #1 song, “Good Lovin'” by the Rascals, did the same thing.

Mamas Papas Monday Monday

Monterey International Pop Music Festival

The Mamas and the Papas helped organize the Monterey International Pop Music Festival in June 1967. Their performance included “Monday Monday.” It was a bit simpler sound than their single which the Wrecking Crew, those ubiquitous and amazing session musicians, backed.

Here is that Monterey performance:

On March 2, 1967, the Mamas and the Papas won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for this song.

Mamas Papas Monday Monday

Divorce

As is often the story, the Mamas and the Papas broke up in 1968 due to infighting. They reunited briefly in 1971 for contractual obligations

John Phillips re-formed a Mamas and the Papas in 1982. The group included founding member Denny Doherty and two new “Mamas”: Mackenzie Phillips (daughter of John) and Elaine “Spanky” McFarlane.

The original Mamas and the Papas were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria on January 12, 1998. The three surviving members [Mama Cass had died in 1974] sang “California Dreamin’,” after Denny Doherty exclaimed, “We’ve been waiting here all day to do this, as most of you have, so without further ado, we’ll try to get on with this!”  [Rock and Roll Hall of Fame bio]

Today only Michelle Phillips is alive. John Phillips died in 2001 and Dennis Doherty in 2007.

Mamas Papas Monday Monday