Melanie (Safka) who featured strongly in 1969 as well as the early 1970s, performing at Woodstock.
Apparently, she was inspired to write her greatest hit "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)" after looking out into the crowd at Woodstock and seeing just that – people lighting candles as it started to rain while she was on stage.
Johann Peter Schickele an American composer, musical educator and parodist, best known for comedy albums featuring his music, which he presented as being composed by the fictional P.D.Q. Bach, purportedly one of the twenty or more sons of J.S.Bach. Separate from P.D.Q., he composed more than a hundred works which included symphonies, chamber music, choral works, and soundtracks to films such as “Silent Running” and “Where the Wild Things Are”
He was also a member of the Prog/Art Rock group The Open Window which released one s/t album in 1969 (see "24 Hours from Tulsa" discussion) and the members of which composed the score and lyrics for the famous and controversial, in its day, theatrical review, “Oh! Calcutta!”.
Wayne
Kramer, the guitarist who co-created MC5 – one of the rawest, most
influential and politically engaged bands in US history – has died aged
75. His Instagram page announced the news: “Wayne S Kramer. Peace be
with you. April 30 1948 – February 2 2024.”
Born and raised in Detroit,
Kramer teamed with teenage friend and fellow guitarist Fred “Sonic”
Smith, each of them influenced as much by free jazz as they were by
R&B and rock’n’roll. Along with the frontman Rob Tyner, they made
MC5 into an incendiary force in their city’s music scene, alongside
peers such as the Stooges.
MC5
(short for Motor City 5) quickly built a formidable live reputation
playing on bills with the likes of Cream, and were signed to Elektra in
1968. Their debut album, Kick Out the Jams, was released the following
year: a live recording from Detroit’s Grande Ballroom where the band had
made their name.
The band were proud of their
working-class roots and were charged with revolutionary zeal from the
outset; manager John Sinclair formed the White Panther Party and the
band protested against the Vietnam war and the Democratic National
Convention. Buoyed by an astonishingly heavy guitar sound from Kramer
and Smith, the words “kick out the jams” – hollered by Tyner on the
album’s title track – they became synonymous with resistance, and
pointed the way towards the punk rock of the 1970s.
“People
said ‘Oh wow, “Kick out the jams” means break down restrictions,’ and
it made good copy, but when we wrote it, we didn’t have that in mind,”
Kramer later said, explaining it was directed more at bands who would
incessantly jam.
MC5 in 1967. L-R: Fred Smith, Michael Davis, Dennis Thompson, Wayne Kramer and Rob Tyner. Photograph: Leni Sinclair/Getty Images
The
group hopped to Atlantic Records and released their first studio album,
Back in the USA, in 1970, followed by High Time the next year. Each
album flopped commercially; bankrupt and mired in drug use, MC5 split in
1972.
Kramer continued his music career
alongside dealing drugs, and was jailed for four years following a bust
in 1975. After his release in 1979, he joined funk-rockers Was (Not Was)
and was an itinerant figure on the New York City underground music
scene, but spent much of the 1980s out of the spotlight, working mostly
as a carpenter. In the mid-90s he began releasing music again, as a solo
artist signed to punk label Epitaph Records.
Tyner
and Smith died in the early to mid-1990s, but in 2001 Kramer formed a
supergroup to perform MC5 music, including the Cult’s Ian Astbury and
Motorhead’s Lemmy. While the lineup didn’t stay quite so starry, MC5
were reignited as a touring entity and played gigs across the world in
various iterations, including a 50th anniversary tour in 2018. That year
he also published his memoir, The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5 and
My Life of Impossibilities.
At the time of his
death, Kramer was preparing to release a long-awaited third studio album
from the band. Explaining why he was returning, Kramer said: “I think
it was time to reignite that spirit of 1968, the spirit of my
generation, when we were all young people. I think we’re at a very
dangerous time in our history. And I think if we don’t all organise,
come together, and step up, we could lose it all. Democracy could go
away. The forces that we’re up against are not joking. This is not
playtime. This is serious.”
A release was being planned for spring 2024.
In
later life, Kramer also co-created the US arm of Billy Bragg’s Jail
Guitar Doors initiative, providing musical instruments for prison
inmates.
Among those paying tribute to Kramer
following his death was former collaborator Tom Morello, guitarist with
Rage Against the Machine. “Brother Wayne Kramer was the best man I’ve
ever known,” he wrote. “He possessed a one of a kind mixture of deep
wisdom & profound compassion, beautiful empathy and tenacious
conviction.”
^^^Big loss indeed! I was lucky enough to get some of his releases from Emusic before leaving there. This will require a visit to the vinyl to reminisce about the past.
Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny I was reminded recently that one of the best parts of the emusers that it was great not to see politics being stuck into everything. But, recent events brought to mind that good people doing nothing quote and I just have to say it.
Putin is a murderous thug!!
Once more- Putin is a murderous thug and will find out that no man is above the law - just like Trump has found out and will continue to find out. Our world doesn't need autocratic leaders who will or want to kill their opposition.
Jimmy Hastings has died, but I haven't yet found an official obit. You'll know his sax and flute work with bands like Caravan, Hatfield and the North and others on the progressive scene. A highlight:
Vienna was my favorite album as a teenager. Back when I had to decide a few times a year which single LP I could afford to buy, Ultravox were the only band I bought everything by. Though they were in many ways of their moment, the Vienna album wore a deep enough groove in my mind that I can still hear little wrong with it.
Comments
Mars Williams
Paywalled unfortunately.
Geordie
Coincidentally, I’ll be playing some Amon Düül II on tonight’s show.
Saw him once in Glasgow doing his film thing. Lots of nice tributes popping up.
I don't remember if it what someone here or on the old EMusic board, but thank you for getting me to listen to him.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/01/arts/music/les-mccann-dead.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/01/arts/music/les-mccann-dead.html
Apparently, she was inspired to write her greatest hit "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)" after looking out into the crowd at Woodstock and seeing just that – people lighting candles as it started to rain while she was on stage.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/24/arts/music/melanie-dead.html
He was also a member of the Prog/Art Rock group The Open Window which released one s/t album in 1969 (see "24 Hours from Tulsa" discussion) and the members of which composed the score and lyrics for the famous and controversial, in its day, theatrical review, “Oh! Calcutta!”.
(Sources AMG and ProgArchives).
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/17/arts/music/peter-schickele-dead.html
Wayne Kramer, co-founder of rock band MC5, dies aged 75
Guitarist helped to give Detroit band their powerful, politically charged sound and continued their legacy into the 21st century
Wayne Kramer, the guitarist who co-created MC5 – one of the rawest, most influential and politically engaged bands in US history – has died aged 75. His Instagram page announced the news: “Wayne S Kramer. Peace be with you. April 30 1948 – February 2 2024.”
Born and raised in Detroit, Kramer teamed with teenage friend and fellow guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith, each of them influenced as much by free jazz as they were by R&B and rock’n’roll. Along with the frontman Rob Tyner, they made MC5 into an incendiary force in their city’s music scene, alongside peers such as the Stooges.
MC5 (short for Motor City 5) quickly built a formidable live reputation playing on bills with the likes of Cream, and were signed to Elektra in 1968. Their debut album, Kick Out the Jams, was released the following year: a live recording from Detroit’s Grande Ballroom where the band had made their name.
The band were proud of their working-class roots and were charged with revolutionary zeal from the outset; manager John Sinclair formed the White Panther Party and the band protested against the Vietnam war and the Democratic National Convention. Buoyed by an astonishingly heavy guitar sound from Kramer and Smith, the words “kick out the jams” – hollered by Tyner on the album’s title track – they became synonymous with resistance, and pointed the way towards the punk rock of the 1970s.
“People said ‘Oh wow, “Kick out the jams” means break down restrictions,’ and it made good copy, but when we wrote it, we didn’t have that in mind,” Kramer later said, explaining it was directed more at bands who would incessantly jam.
The group hopped to Atlantic Records and released their first studio album, Back in the USA, in 1970, followed by High Time the next year. Each album flopped commercially; bankrupt and mired in drug use, MC5 split in 1972.
Kramer continued his music career alongside dealing drugs, and was jailed for four years following a bust in 1975. After his release in 1979, he joined funk-rockers Was (Not Was) and was an itinerant figure on the New York City underground music scene, but spent much of the 1980s out of the spotlight, working mostly as a carpenter. In the mid-90s he began releasing music again, as a solo artist signed to punk label Epitaph Records.
Tyner and Smith died in the early to mid-1990s, but in 2001 Kramer formed a supergroup to perform MC5 music, including the Cult’s Ian Astbury and Motorhead’s Lemmy. While the lineup didn’t stay quite so starry, MC5 were reignited as a touring entity and played gigs across the world in various iterations, including a 50th anniversary tour in 2018. That year he also published his memoir, The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5 and My Life of Impossibilities.
At the time of his death, Kramer was preparing to release a long-awaited third studio album from the band. Explaining why he was returning, Kramer said: “I think it was time to reignite that spirit of 1968, the spirit of my generation, when we were all young people. I think we’re at a very dangerous time in our history. And I think if we don’t all organise, come together, and step up, we could lose it all. Democracy could go away. The forces that we’re up against are not joking. This is not playtime. This is serious.”
A release was being planned for spring 2024.
In later life, Kramer also co-created the US arm of Billy Bragg’s Jail Guitar Doors initiative, providing musical instruments for prison inmates.
Among those paying tribute to Kramer following his death was former collaborator Tom Morello, guitarist with Rage Against the Machine. “Brother Wayne Kramer was the best man I’ve ever known,” he wrote. “He possessed a one of a kind mixture of deep wisdom & profound compassion, beautiful empathy and tenacious conviction.”
I was reminded recently that one of the best parts of the emusers that it was great not to see politics being stuck into everything. But, recent events brought to mind that good people doing nothing quote and I just have to say it.
Putin is a murderous thug!!
Once more-
Putin is a murderous thug and will find out that no man is above the law - just like Trump has found out and will continue to find out. Our world doesn't need autocratic leaders who will or want to kill their opposition.
You'll know his sax and flute work with bands like Caravan,
Hatfield and the North and others on the progressive scene.
A highlight:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/mar/18/steve-harley-obituary
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-68853477.amp
Legend.