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Another Fein Mess
AF Stone’s Monthly
June 2012

Quiz #1



Name this singer. Big in the 1960s, still around.

Answer at end of this column.

You Can All Join In 1

I don’t like to write this thing alone. I haven’t run the 1st record/1st concert thing at the top because I’ve run out of people to ask. A couple of seemingly reasonable people say they’re terrified of writing anything at all! I gladly accept reminiscences. Make ‘em a page or two, Tommy.

Then thee’s this other thing. In 1998, hearing “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On’s” rumbling call to arms hit me so hard I had to pull the car over and collect myself. A friend told me he had that same reaction to “It Came Out Of The Sky” by Creedence, long after it was in his DNA.


If you can’t write a whole thesis, how about your “First Blast.” Like the rebs firing on Ft. Sumpter, what first caused you to give yourself to rock & roll? What hit your ear?

I saw Elvis on Ed Sullivan, 1-8-57. and bought “Too Much” with the allowance I’d heretofore used to buy stamps for my collection, forever thereafter ditched. But I liked the tv performance better. It was in our car (back seat, old Dodge, new then) going down the Outer Drive in Chicago that I heard the drum beat and cowbell of “Suzie-Q” (Dale Hawkins) and it was like I was touched by Tinker Bell, only she used a hammer. Tom DiPierro, in the 1970s, told me that when he first heard “I Was Made to Love Her’ by Stevie Wonder he tried to jump out of his parents’ moving car.

Music has a big effect on people.
Contribute here, please!!

1 A great song by Traffic. When someone mentions Stevie Winwood, I say “Lucky guy. He played in Traffic and lived!”

‘Round Town

May 7 Frank Lee Sprague, right, watches the van being loaded for his move to Loveland, Colorado. Brother Bill Sprague also takes a breather.

May 7 Ronnie Mack’s first-Monday Barn Dance tribute to Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent was quite the to-do.

The Dusk Devils go nuts.

Rosie Flores and Dave Stuckey

I don’t know what it says on her drivers license, but here she’s known as Chantilly Lace.

Pickin’ and grimacin’, Harry Orlov bends a string behind Ray “Sharp Dressed Man” Campi

Rocky Burnette veered from the program to do “Train Kept A Rollin’” along with some Gene and Eddie songs.

Deke and Dave hold forth, Russell Scott dances with the fat lady.

Phil “Slim” Alvin bursts a blood vessel with Deke, Bill drummer Bateman and Captain Ron,
bassist from the Musical Chum Buckets, who often share the stage with Phil.

Elvis (real name) & Dave Eckles of Three Bad Jacks, with John Palmer on drums and fascinated
Steve Edwards on keyboards. (Dave was in Terror Train, a band I managed which is why you never heard of them.)

Joe Finkle (center) rocks out

Three girls step out of Midnight In Paris to greet Harry Anderson.

May 12 Skip Heller and Clair Costa pick and grin (not at this moment) at the Republic of Pie in North Hollywood

May 13 At Stories book store in Echo Park, Paul Body and John Tottenham swordfight the safe way.

May 19 Went with Jim Dawson and Diane to a screening of “Who’s Minding The Store” at Steve Worth’s house in Pacoima.

May 20 At Johnny Whiteside’s Messaround at Viva Cantina.


Todd Eckart (“Get the ‘H’ out of my name!”) and Laura Dewit croon.

The frenetic Troy Walker, everyman, with Dick Deluxe and the boys following frantically.

Then on to the Grand Ole Echo.


Ben Vaughn strikes a pose.

Cliff Wagner shakes the rafters on the back patio.

May 22 At the signing party for neighbor Annie Kelly’s latest “Rooms To Inspire” book,
photographer Tim “Weegee” Street-Porter snapped me with the Automatix’s Dave Philps.

Music

When I first heard “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” I thought there must be a meaning beyond the double entendre. I couldn’t imagine that someone of his stature would make a record giggling at the word stoned. I was 20, he was 25. This was grade-school stuff ... Pete Anderson, Dwight Yoakam’s longtime producer, plays Monday nights at the Moose Lodge in Burbank just to keep agile. 1901 Burbank Blvd ... Lisa Marie Presley doesn’t have anyone’s voice ... In “It Might Get Loud,” Jack White is the centerpiece who the big guys let shine. But his guard is dropped sitting before the standing Jimmy Page, who nonchalantly blasts the first notes of “Whole Lotta Love.” White can be seen, for a second, overcome by what he’s hearing - “He’s guy, doing that riff everyone’s heard a thousand times, right here!” - but recovers quickly with a nervous giggle ... Dwight Garner‘s 5-28 NYT review of Gregg Allman’s book says that GA’s first guitar was a “Silverton that Gregg purchased at Sears for $21.95.” Of course, only Sears sold that brand, and 22 bucks is $200 today. But Garner or his editor must have been thinking of the Durango-Silverton narrow gauge railroad when it came to the guitar name ... A Wikipedia entry for the Animals says their 1977 comeback album failed because of “the dawning of punk.” Well that’s a way to look at it .

Rock Humor

“Paperback Writer,” 2 written by Mark Shipper in 1977, was a “reimagined” history of the Beatles, including their 1979 reunion, a failed album on Columbia and their relegation to middle bill on a Peter Frampton tour. It was unique - rock writers are many things, but none are funny 3 on purpose.

2 I just got a spare copy the hard way - from a late friend.

3 In “The Greatest Rock & Roll Stories” (1998) I threw in the ‘fact’ that “The Tender Trap” and “The Happy Organ” were the first songs to specifically address female and male genitalia. But I’m no Shipper.

Quizzical

What do these three things have in common? - Can’t Buy A Thrill, Brain Salad Surgery, and The Mystery Trend (a minor late 60s SF band)? Answers at VERY end ...

TV

There’s a baffling ad, with Robt DeNiro on a couch in front of a tv asking two black 20s people if they’ve gone to the bathroom and other stuff you’d say to toddlers, before they watch the Tribeca Film Fest, which DeNiro sponsors. DeNiro has a black wife so I suspected these were his kids, but they’re not. Not racially charged, just peculiar ... “Kermit’s” April appearance on Colbert was a long unfunny plug for a movie. The same in May for Sasha Baron Cohen on the Daily Show. Seeing him interviewed as the dictator he plays in his new movie was entertaining to no one ... I learned the obvious recently, that mid-1950s films “A Face In The Crowd” and “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter” are treatises against television. In the former, the cunning country hick manipulates millions through tv. In the other, Tony Randall stops the film to give the audience a break, because television has conditioned them to concentrate only a few minutes at a time ... Martin Beshir is the best male host on CNBC, Dylan Ratigan next. The others gather below ... What is that junk they run below the bottom-blocking banners on CNN and others? I noted “Three die in fire in Wisconsin,” for fear there’d be a test ...

Words

A rockabilly club here is offering “50’s Lessons.” How to buy a new car for $1500? How to adjust a tv antenna? Keeping minorities in their place? ... Vin Scully, the LA Dodgers announcer, is cherished for his longevity and style, but my thrill comes when says a bouncing ball “caroms.” Of course this is plain English, but tell it to (all) writers today who use “careen,” which means atilt ... On CSPAN a guy says “The reason why is because xxxx.” This is tridundancy. He wrote a book, but never took a journalism class ... The power of the contract. Agents fight to get their actors’ names placed first on movie print ads. On one current ad, the romantic male is on right, romantic gal on the left. His name is above her and hers above him. Doesn’t anyone look when they lay out ads? It’s more common than uncommon ... LATimes hed - “L.A. Flamenco cred.”

Congress

* John Edwards’ personal fund
* a president’s fib about sex
* sports people’s use of drugs
* radio payola
* honesty in tv game shows
* membership in the communist party

It’s something to do between the bidding of the banks.
Where is the new Teddy Roosevelt?

Ou Pear?

In 1971, a couple of months after me and gf Bonnie moved into a small house ($95 mo) on a large lot in La Selva Beach (you know, near Aptos), the tree in front started dropping pears. Big ones, hundreds. It was like being in fairyland -- real food fell from trees. After living in Chicago and Colorado, this was like the Garden of Eden..

I owned a Champion predecessor (Universal?) juicer and ran quite a few of those babies through it, but guests and us got pretty tired of it and many pears fell and stayed there. But I never tired of pear juice and bought it when I moved to less fertile residences.

Now try and find it. I hadn’t, actually, til recently. I looked down a juice aisle and learned that only pineapple juice and tomato comes in cans. I see pear only as an ingredient in mixes, the fruit equivalent of pink slime.

The fact that I only just started missing it after 40 years means it’s not too crucial. Today when I ask a grocery clerk for it I can get the same look I got at frys when I asked if they had cassette players. 4

4 My pocket portable is broken. I need it for a certain tape. Failing to locate one online or in stores, I nabbed one at a thrift store. The cheeky clerk gave me the old-person discount without asking, probably because of the item.

“Man”liness

At the turn of the 70s, hippie restaurants sprang up. But tension was built in: if they’re selling, they’re The Man.

I encountered this when a waitress at a new restaurant balked when I asked for more coffee: “I’m not a WAITRESS” she grrred. She was the co-owner. She WAS the waitress but resented it. And how can I forget the longhaired health food store employee in Northern California who, when making my peanut butter and sprouts sandwich, stopped to suck the peanut butter off his fingers. “HEY, STOP THAT” I, a fellow longhair, yelled. Of course, now I was The Man.

In April I went for the first time to Toi, a Thai restaurant on Sunset . (There was a time, 1974, that I knew every Thai restaurant in Hollywood. There were three.) When Diane and I opened the door we heard hard rock music and saw a waiter in black t-shirt and jeans with a roadie-type chain clipped to his belt attached to his wallet. We went in anyway.

But since it’s for rockers he was not around much, and when I went to the counter to pay, the girl gave me a tiny adding machine slip. I asked if there was an itemized bill and she said “We don’t normally do that,” as in “What’s your problem?” Her boss, or a bossy guy, ripped one from an adjacent machine and handed it to me brusquely.

Wherever I go these days, I’m The Man.

Economics

In the Jerry Lewis documentary, he says “My father worked as an emcee at burlesque shows for $60 a week.” So? That was plenty of money in 1945 ... Similarly my friend says gas isn’t that high. In 1957 it was 20 cents, and $1 an hour was a living wage. Five gallons for an hour’s work. Do people make $20 an hour now? At four bucks a gallon it’s the same. ($10/hr. is more common so for them it’s double 5) ... Interesting guy on Antiques Roadshow. He was a janitor for a concert promoter in the 1970s and took a box of blanks. Typed the concert name on an IBM Selectric and saw shows free for years ... I got a can of Friskies cat food marked Salmon. Might was well let Simba live high. The I looked close and saw the little word “with” above. In other words, the usual amalgam of fish extrania, with an eyedrop of salmon ... Postage went up just a penny. From my earliest days I couldn’t believe that something could be carried cross country for 7 cents, 29 cents (Elvis stamp) or 44 cents. It’s a ridiculous bargain. The govt should run it, as it did in the first place. It’s a perk of being a citizen, of paying taxes ... Producers of the current cheerleading musical, “Bring It On,” deny it has any connection to the cheerleading movie, “Bring It On.”

5 This excepts freelance writers. A tank costs them a week’s salary, some weeks.

(S)Hit list

- “Sin City” for Vegas
- Sex, Drugs and XXXX
- The Good, the Bad and XXXX
- old school (it’s old, alright)
- “growing” anything but plants

Fuck’em Danno

Jan 9, the crew from the Hawaii 5-0 tv show told Pearl Harbor veterans to pipe down so they could get their shots. “We rented this space, you get out” they were told.

Such territoriality is one of the drawbacks of living in LA, esp Hollywood (which is a town, not a movie set, though some businesses, homes, vacant lots rent to them). I am loath to complain about their disruptiveness, as it is not that bad. It’s not a flood. It’s not gunfire. They are rude, but it’s not a day in New York.

What rankles everyone without a headset or clipboard is the strutting of these people, like they’re doing god’s work.
- Jaywalk with their back to you? Sure, you’ll stop.
- “Wait, we have to take that shot again, stay where you are.”
Aggravating, but, again, not toxic.

Still you wonder where these creatures get the arrogance. Was it taught? I’ve never been to film school, is there a course on Our Divine Rights? The producer in Hawaii couldn’t have summed it up better than in this prepared statement: "Any rudeness by our staff can only be attributed to haste to finish our work.” Short version: To hell with the Pearl Harbor survivors. What show do they have?

Uh Huh

A report in the 3-19 NYTimes that filmmaker (Kony 2012) Jason Russell had been detained by police “after he was found running around naked and yelling incoherently in his San Diego neighborhood” offered the explanation, from his wife, that many attacks on his film were personal “and Jason took them very hard.”

Taking this evasion on its face, columnist David Carr added “The easy lesson might be that journalism is not a game of bean bag, and it would be best left to professionals.”

Yeah, this character would not have gone wacky if criticism was solely in the hands of Carr and erudite confreres.

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