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PLAYS: 181
(Duke Ellington - aka: National Treasure)
As part of our Fundraising week, I thought I would offer something completely unique and special. A previously unheard and unknown, recently discovered performance by Duke Ellington and his Famous Orchestra, along with members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic live at Hollywood Bowl from August 25, 1966.
This has never been commercially made available and you are the first ones to hear it since it was recorded that August night.
Get comfortable and have a listen.
And don't forget to hit the "donate" button lurking around on the site. It costs to remaster these things.
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DOWNLOADS: 35
PLAYS: 49
(Nancy Wilson - Nat "King" Cole - In a word, magic)
October 4, 1964 - hard to imagine it was 45 years ago this past week, but that particular Sunday night saw an extraordinary group of people assembled on stage at the Hollywood Bowl to raise funds and awareness for defeating a Proposition on the November ballot. Proposition 14, or the attempt by Realtor groups and the John Birch Society to nullify the Rumford Fair Housing Initiative that passed in 1963. A veritable who's who of Hollywood, with orchestra led by none other than Nelson Riddle and emcee's Joey Bishop and Milton Berle introducing a lineup of talent that included Nancy Wilson and Nat "King" Cole.
I've extracted the Wilson and Cole sets out for this segment. I will add the rest over the coming weeks.
This goes under the heading of "previously unknown concert tapes", as I don't believe any commercial (or otherwise) copy of this concert has been available before today.
For swaying around your abode on a Saturday night, you can't beat Canadian songstress Vanda King doing the old Irving Berlin standard, "You Can Have Him."
PS Also, don't miss Gordonskene's post of a full Peter, Paul, and Mary concert from The Hollywood Bowl (one hour long) at the main Late Night Music Club page.
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DOWNLOADS: 188
PLAYS: 494
(Peter, Paul and Mary - Mary Travers: 1936-2009)
Hearing the sad news this week of the death of Mary Travers, I was thinking about the great impact Peter, Paul and Mary had on the music scene from the early 1960s onward. Most people are so familiar with them now that it seems as though they've always been around - there never was a time without Peter, Paul and Mary. They've become so synonymous with American folk music and with pop music in general that it's hard to imagine a time when they were new and had just arrived and those songs so ingrained in our collective consciousness weren't quite familiar yet.
So it was interesting to listen to this concert, recorded live at the Hollywood Bowl on August 2, 1963 - and played here for the first time ever (it has not been available in any form anywhere). Hearing it with fresh ears and all the enthusiasm of a special event, even though it's from 45 years ago.
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DOWNLOADS: 188
PLAYS: 494
(Peter, Paul and Mary - Mary Travers: 1936-2009)
Hearing the sad news this week of the death of Mary Travers, I was thinking about the great impact Peter, Paul and Mary had on the music scene from the early 1960s onward. Most people are so familiar with them now that it seems as though they've always been around - there never was a time without Peter, Paul and Mary. They've become so synonymous with American folk music and with pop music in general that it's hard to imagine a time when they were new and had just arrived and those songs so ingrained in our collective consciousness weren't quite familiar yet.
So it was interesting to listen to this concert, recorded live at the Hollywood Bowl on August 2, 1963 - and played here for the first time ever (it has not been available in any form anywhere). Hearing it with fresh ears and all the enthusiasm of a special event, even though it's from 45 years ago.
You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!
DOWNLOADS: 38
PLAYS: 20
(Catherine Wheel - Couldn't have been the 90s without them)
Don't know about you, but one of my favorite concerts of the 90s was when Catherine Wheel was opening act for The Charlatans (UK) at The Hollywood Palladium in 1995. It took me straight back to the Delicado/Dope/Red Mountain/Orange blossom-scented days of 1968 when the Shrine Exposition Hall concerts in L.A. went on every weekend and people spent hours mesmerized by whoever was on stage at the time - soaking up sounds.
Because of that association, those two bands that night in 1995 will always have a warm place in my heart. It pointed out to me that times don't change - perceptions do. Good music is timeless.
Catherine Wheel were a band with a long history - one that went from 1990 to 2000; the whole decade. And they were always changing and evolving and going in different directions. No two albums ever sounded the same. They had, and still have, a loyal following. So maybe including this track tonight isn't going to be much of a surprise. But it's nice to be reminded if you haven't played them lately.
This track was issued as part of the Show Me Mary ep, shortly after their second album Chrome was released. These Four Walls didn't wind up on an album until their compilation, "Like Cats and Dogs" of singles and b-sides was issued in 1996.
I think you'll get the idea they influenced a lot of bands in the 90s - and those bands would freely admit it.
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DOWNLOADS: 148
PLAYS: 32
(The Brothers Four - riding the crest of the Folk Wave)
Over the past several weeks I've been adding the other acts that appeared on this Folk Concert in 1965. Bud & Travis, Ian & Sylvia, Judy Collins and now, The Brothers Four.
Probably one of the more commercially successful of the folk acts to come out of the late 1950's/early 1960's period, they cut a wide swath of popularity and enjoyed considerable chart success with pop single releases and a stream of hit albums.
They've undergone many personnel changes over the years, but are still actively performing today.
But here they are as they were in 1965 - headlining at The Hollywood Bowl.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but Tom Arnold is not exactly known as a towering intellect. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure he's a very nice man; he's certainly built a pretty decent career in a notoriously difficult industry, no small feat. But when you think of politically astute Hollywood types, Tom Arnold isn't exactly the person that comes to mind.
But the multi-millionaire Hannity (who is so out of touch with everyday Americans he insists that ham costs on 79 cents/pound) didn't count on the former meat packer from Iowa whose whole act centered around being a common man actually championing policies that help the average American, instead of the corporate oligarchy. Progress Not Congress breaks down some highlights:
00:58 – Blakeman says: We got Medicare and we got Medicaid, what did we get for it? We got abuse, fraud, and mismanagement.
01:11 Arnold replies: You don’t think the private sector has fraud and abuse (like the government)?
01:15 Blakeman replies: But not to the scale of government.
This whole exchange is laughable. The fact that Blakeman is even trying to claim that the private sector, which is strictly in business for profit, is not as corrupt as the government, is idiotic at best.
01:21 Blakeman asks: What’s your recourse if government provides you with substandard health care? What are you going to do, sue the government?
I would like to know what Mr. Blakeman thinks his recourse would be if he received substandard care from a private insurance company?
As for recourse if you are receiving substandard care from a public health plan, yes of course you can sue the government. Why would an American not be able to sue the government? It happens all the time.
But even before that, an American has a litany of contacts at their disposal in the form of public, elected officials that would act as the patient’s advocate, and they do it for free, and they would do it well because their job depends on making their constituents happy, and keeping their voters alive.
Blakeman has no idea what he is talking about.
01:59 Hannity says: You cannot deny someone care in this country because of their inability to pay…no it is not happening all of the time.
Hannity’s lack of knowledge on the issues is staggering. Hannity’s previous claim can be refuted in two ways.
1. It is true that if a patient comes to the emergency room of a hospital without health insurance, the hospital is required to treat them. The hospital can and will turn around and bill that patient for services rendered. This ultimately leads many down the road of bankruptcy. Keep in mind, that a woman with breast cancer, to build off of Hannity’s analogy, cannot go into a hospital and say “I need treatment, but I can’t pay for it.” The hospital is not required to, and most likely won’t, treat that woman’s condition.
2. Americans are denied care all of the time by insurance companies who refuse to cover certain procedures, or simply refuse to provide coverage to someone with a preexisting condition.
Tom Arnold was correct when he said “It’s happening all the time.”
Sean, Brad, dudes. You just got totally pwned by Tom Arnold.
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DOWNLOADS: 160
PLAYS: 73
(Judy Collins (w/Bassist Bill Lee) - at the cusp of being a household name )
Going back to the 60s this week - Judy Collins in her return appearance at the Hollywood Bowl from 1965. The same concert I featured a few weeks ago with Ian & Sylvia's first Hollywood Bowl performance, and Bud & Travis' last Bowl appearance. This is Collins still steeped in Folk Music tradition, not quite the next step that would cement her place in the 1960s lexicon, but right at the cusp.
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DOWNLOADS: 201
PLAYS: 204
(Bud & Travis - at The Hollywood Bowl one last time)
Continuing the 1965 Folk Night at the Hollywood Bowl (last week was Ian & Sylvia and their first appearance at The Bowl) comes what became the final Hollywood Bowl appearance of Bud & Travis, who come on right after Ian & Sylvia. A regular fixture on the West Coast folk scene since the late 1950's, they performed numerous times at venues like The Ash Grove and had a loyal following.
This performance, aside from being their last Bowl appearance before splitting up, features a lot of material from their The Bud & Travis Latin Album which their label, Liberty was reluctant to issue. Fortunately for everyone they did as it showcases the remarkable talents these two had.
Sadly, both Bud and Travis are gone - Travis having died in May of this year. There are a number of fan sites devoted to them, and I have included a couple for you to check out.
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DOWNLOADS: 161
PLAYS: 155
(Ian & Sylvia - no record collection worth its salt was without them)
Back to the Hollywood Bowl this week. This time from 1965. The first Hollywood Bowl appearance of Ian & Sylvia. They had been together since 1959 and were performing and recording regularly up to the early 1970's when folk music more or less waned from the pop scene. But in 1965 it was still pretty much holding its own and Ian & Sylvia had a loyal following.
This concert, part of the Hollywood Bowl "Folk Night" series also featured the first Bowl appearance of Josh White, as well as Bud & Travis, Judy Collins and The Brothers Four. I'll add those in the coming weeks.
But here's Ian & Sylvia, as they sounded one night in 1965.
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DOWNLOADS: 191
PLAYS: 101
(Newstalgia Goes Country . . . .well, for twenty minutes anyway)
A big departure from previous Backstage Weekend entries. I admit to not being much of a Country-Western fan, outside of the Willie Nelson/Waylon Jennings/Johnny Cash/Merle Haggard school and almost didn't put it up this weekend. But the Haggard set changed my mind.
This tape came as a complete surprise - sitting in the vault with only a date(September 9, 1967) and "Reel One" written on its spine, I was pretty clueless as to the contents.
Turns out, it's a concert featuring all acts on Capitol Records Country-Western roster (along with Buck Owens, Tex Ritter and several others) performing at The Hollywood Bowl.
The Glen Campbell set is interesting in that he was still pretty much straddling Pop as well as Country music, doing his rendition of Roy Orbison's "Crying" and his, at the time, latest single "Gentle On My Mind".
Merle Haggard has an abbreviated set. Abbreviated because the tape ran out in the middle of a song featuring Bonnie Owens. Presumably there is more on "reel 2", and as soon as I find it, I will put it on.
But for now here is the Glen Campbell and most of the Merle Haggard sets from the concert of September 9, 1967.
(Merle Haggard in 1967 - well on his way to achieving Legend status)
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DOWNLOADS: 1467
PLAYS: 1950
(Back by popular demand - the whole show)
A few weeks ago I put up an excerpt of a Hollywood Bowl concert from 1962 featuring Dave Guard's Whiskeyhill Singers. It drew a huge response and the overwhelming request was for more. Since I had put up the initial clip before the snappy new Crooks and Liars embed player was up and running, I was only able to use YouTube and their somewhat limiting 10 minute maximum to play the piece.
Now that things are new and improved, I've decided to run the concert complete and without edits or interruptions - just as it happened that night in 1962.
