Tag Archives: Woodstock Birthdays

Birthdays, Music of the 60s, Woodstock Music and Art Fair

Who Roger Daltrey CBE

1 Comment

Who Roger Daltrey CBE

Happy birthday

March 1,  1944
Who Roger Harry Daltrey CBE

Who Founded Who?

In a sense, Roger Daltrey founded the Who.  It was he who recruited  John Entwistle in 1961 to form a band.  It was Entwistles suggestion to ask Pete Townshend to join the new band, the Detours.

Who Roger Daltrey CBE

Early on…

Daltrey’s daytime job was in a sheet metal factory, even making the band’s guitars. Interesting, since Pete’s later smashing of his guitars obviously required wooden ones.

The young band went through the usual young band growing pains adding members, firing others, changing its name to The Who, then changing it to The High Numbers, before changing it back to the Who in November 1964.

By that time, Pete Townshend was the leader of the band because of his ability to compose songs, but Roger Daltrey became the front man to sing Townshend’s songs. The famous swirling mic became Daltry’s signature.

Who Roger Daltrey CBE

1965 Who released

On December 3, 1965, the Who released their first album, “My Generation.”

Who Roger Harry Daltrey CBE
My Generation album cover
Who Roger Daltrey CBE

1967 breakout

1967 was a break-out year in the US where they appeared for the first time. One of their performance was well-timed. On June 18 they appeared at the Monterey International Pop Music Festival and were included on both its movie and soundtrack album.

Having said that, during a July – August tour that year, they opened for Herman’s Hermits.

In 1968 they began to headline and in 1969 Pete Townshends “Tommy” with Roger Daltrey embodying the character on stage, put them among the elite of rock groups.

Who Roger Daltrey CBE

Who Woodstock

Invited to perform at Woodstock, the band wasn’t certain whether to, but finally did. Like Monterey, it became a huge piece of that famous festival.

The Who’s Woodstock encore: My Generation

Who Roger Daltrey CBE

Roger Daltrey

Like many groups, members began to release solo albums, and Daltry released his first, Daltrey,  in 1973.  He has released eight solo albums, but others in collaboration as well as a children album, The Wheels on the Bus.

The Who continued, sometimes sporadically,  despite the death of Keith Moon in 1978 and John Entwistle in 2002.

The Who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

Who Roger Daltrey CBE

Teenage Cancer Trust

Since 2000 he has been a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, a charity that builds specialized wards for teenagers with cancer in the UK and in   November 2010, Roger and Pete Townshend launched Teen Cancer America.

Avant garde music, Birthdays

Guitarist Extraordinaire John Fahey

4 Comments

Guitarist Extraordinaire John Fahey

Remembering, appreciating, and recognizing his genius
February 28, 1939 — February 22, 2001

John Fahey

Guitarist Extraordinaire John Fahey

First light

I’m not sure when I first heard John Fahey. Probably on New York’s WNEW-FM and during Christmas time 1968 when his The New Possibility album came out.

Guitarist Extraordinaire John Fahey

Guitarist Extraordinaire John Fahey

Unique

I was often on the musical lookout for something new, good, and an outlier. For me, John Fahey fit all three. It seemed like he was doing more without words (most of the time), than many musicians were doing with them (most of the time).

Even a song as simple as Amazing Grace had this seesaw rhythm to it that somehow enhanced the whole experience. Songs seemed to stretch out slowly to new paths. The New Possibility.

Backstory 

His story is similar to others who found the music was their avocation. Both parents liked music and played the piano. Before television’s takeover, pianos were often a home’s entertainment system. John’s parents brought him to local bluegrass concerts near their home in Tacoma, Maryland. And like so many other young people, hearing Jimmie Rogers lighted an acoustic flame.

Unlike many young people, hearing Blind Willie Johnson ignited a love of the acoustic blues. His own playing progressed to the point that he began to record his music, but thinking no company would be interested in pressing the music, he decided to start his own label and name it after his hometown.

Tacoma Records

Thus in 1959 Tacoma Records was born.

To honor his musical progenitor, he  decided to name himself Blind Joe Death. He pressed only 100 albums. Of course they are very rare today, but thanks to that world-wide-internet, we can hear that album:

Guitarist Extraordinaire John Fahey

California

Fahey graduated from American University and moved west where he met fellow blues enthusiast, Alan”Blind Owl” Wilson. Wilson, of course, later went on to co-found Canned Heat, a band named after, what else, an  old Tommy Johnson‘s blues song.

Fahey’s Tacoma label struggled on, but he insisted on finding other musicians whose abilities far outweighed their commercial prospects. He discovered fellow guitarists Leo Kottke, Robbie Basho, Bola Sete, and Peter Lang, as well as pianist George Winston.

Health and lifestyle issues plagued Fahey. Tacoma was sold and Fahey eventually moved to Salem, Oregon where to survive he sometimes sold one of his guitars or rare records.

Guitarist Extraordinaire John Fahey

John Fahey

Guitarist John Fahey pioneered the American primitive guitar style. (Photo from John Fahey site)

Revenant Records

In the late 90s, a new generation discovered his genius and Fortuna smiled. Or at least she grinned a bit. He released new albums, created a new label (Revenant Records) Not surprisingly it sought out obscure recordings of early blues, old-time music, and things that caught Fahey’s fancy.

In 2000, he published a book of loosely autobiographical stories, ”How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life” (Drag City Press). In it he said: ”I never considered for a minute that I had talent, What I did have was divine inspiration and an open subconscious.”

On February 22, 2001 Fahey died at Salem Hospital (Oregon) after undergoing a coronary bypass operation.

References

Guitarist Extraordinaire John Fahey

Birthdays, Woodstock Music and Art Fair

Canned Heat Bob Bear Hite

1 Comment

Canned Heat Bob Bear Hite

February 26, 1945 — April 5, 1981

A common love

With a common love of blues and 78 rpm records, Bob “The Bear” Hite and Alan Blind Owl Wilson founded Canned Heat in 1966 .

Hite described his love of music as emanating from his parents. His father had played trumpet with Sammy Kaye’s band, but had to quit. His mother had sung with Mal Hallett and his Orchestra.

Canned Heat Bob Bear Hite

Pre-Heat

Hite loved records and collected them from an early age. When his church’s old folks home bought a new hi-fi player, it gave him all the old 78s.

Around 1964, Hite had met fellow record and music enthusiast, John Fahey, who loaned a tape to Hite then disappeared for a year.

Around 1965, Hite got a job, no surprise, in a record shop and Fahey showed up looking for his tape. Hite invited a Fahey to his parents’ apartment to listen to music. By the end of the night Hite, Fahey, Alan Wilson, and Mike Purlaman had formed Canned Heat. The name came from, again no surprise, the name of  a 1928 Tommy Johnson song by that name.

Canned Heat Bob Bear Hite

Electric Heat

When Fahey found out that the band would be electric he left. An acoustic enthusiast, he’d go on to forge new sounds almost always on his own.

The band went through the common growing pains of personnel leaving, personnel replaced,  playing where no one cared for what they played, playing what they didn’t care to play, getting a contract, going on the road but broke.

A Fort Worth, TX radio station found and loved their ‘Boogie Music’ and ‘On the Road Again’ songs. Slowly their reputation grew, and an invitation to the Monterrey Pop Festival followed.

Canned Heat Bob Bear Hite

Wood Heat

Their Woodstock story is an interesting one. After landing in New York City, tired, and hearing reports of mayhem at the festival they almost decided to stay in New York and skip the Fair. Luckily, they made it.

Even sitting 100+  yards away, I could see Bob Bear Hite in that Saturday evening’s dusk just fine.  They followed the serene Incredible String Band and preceded the momentous Mountain. And for those of us there, we still don’t understand why their Woodstock bump wasn’t even bigger, despite their music being part of the soundtrack.

According to Hite, We played the gig and had a real good time and then couldn’t get out. We ended up ripping off one of the trucks they used for equipment and somebody left their limo there with the keys in it, so we took that. That was Woodstock. We didn’t get to see much of it. (see Traveling Boy link below)

Canned Heat Bob Bear Hite

Bob Bear Hite

On September 3, 1970 Alan Wilson died. Canned Heat continued. The band lived the life of rock, particularly Hite. In 1981, according to the Team Rock site: At the centre of it is their vocalist and harmonica player, Bob ‘The Bear’ Hite. With his scraped-back black ponytail and gut-length beard, the 38-year-old is 300lbs of Californian gregariousness and pharmaceutical fearlessness. The Bear is already sky-high.

According to Wikipedia, On April 5, 1981, during a break between sets at The Palomino Club in North Hollywood, Hite was handed a drug vial by a fan. Thinking it contained cocaine, Hite stuck a straw into the vial and snorted it. The drug turned out to be heroin and Hite turned blue and collapsed. Some roadies put Hite in the band’s van and drove him to a nearby home where he died.

Canned Heat Bob Bear Hite