The Rat Pack: The Original Bad Boys

The Rat Pack: The Original Bad Boys
Antonio G. Pereira © 2013 Antonio G. Pereira
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        The Rat Pack: The Original Bad Boys by James Kaplan and The Editors of Life. Published by Life Books An Imprint of Time Home Entertainment Inc. This is quite a fascinating softback magazine. An intriguing look back at a group of men at an important time of what became monumental and long, long overdue changes in the basic fabric of the United States of America. The Rat Pack aka The Clan or The Summit, were poised at the vanguard of this undertaking in U.S. History. One hell of a story is there, but it's still waiting to be told. Unfortunately, writer James Kaplan (along with the Editors of Life), fall into the same trap as writer Shawn Levy did in his book, 'Rat Pack Confidential', embellishing the truth: in whatever way you view reinterpretation. To give Levy credit, he does occasionally add some interesting information to the Rat Pack story, but has a bad habit of exaggerating. One has only to view 'The 60th Anniversary Celebration For Sammy Davis Jr.', (taped in 1990, shortly before he became so sick he couldn't leave home, but well enough to not only attend, but get up on stage and do some startling Tap Dancing with Gregory Hines, get up and give a long, warm embrace to Shirley MacLaine and get up onstage again to give a similar embrace to Michael Jackson {in essence passing the baton to him}) to see the deep love between Frank Sinatra (who started off the proceedings) and Sammy Davis Jr.; which puts to shame the garbage written by a few 'Experts', with regard to their relationship. The cover of this magazine (a photograph of Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra sharing a joke backstage at a Carnegie Hall benefit in honour of Martin Luther King Jr. and to aid the Civil Rights Movement, which at the time was exposing the horrendous racial climate in the south for all the world to see) is a perfect example of why this magazine is badly flawed. You will find nothing inside which will explain or tell you anything about the cover photograph or the circumstances under which it came about. What we do get in this magazine is plenty about Hollywood Showbiz Glitz and a peculiar and incomplete 'tsk tsk tsk, isn't that a shame' picture of Sammy Davis Jr., similar to the profile in the Shawn Levy book, 'Rat Pack Confidential'. If we're going to tell the whole story, let's remember in retrospect that in 1967 The Wasps took back Las Vegas. And it's stayed that way ever since. Having been taught a lesson by the Civil Rights Movement, with additional scrutiny by the New Government and no nonsense enforcement by the new Attorney General, the days of preaching Democracy to the rest of the world, while continuing lynching practices and segregation at home, was something the United States could no longer afford; as Democracy without Justice was exactly what it appeared to be, an empty contemptible lie. This of course is the rest of the 'embellishment of the truth' in this magazine, relating to Sammy Davis Jr. being booed by the Southern Delegates while singing the National Anthem at the Democratic Convention. These characters could see and feel a threatening change blowing in the wind. And now that there were National and (worse still) 'International' News Cameras there to capture all of this on film, there were no rocks to hide under anymore.
To give this magazine it's points though, the archival photographs (what there are of them) are beautifully presented. (I would have liked to have seen a comical black and white photograph of The Rat Pack reproduced in this book, that was once in Vanity Fair years ago. It showed a mock scene in which Sinatra, Davis, Martin and Lawford are seated next to each other. Dean Martin (feigning a wise guy with a cigarette), is picking a fight (backed up by a puffed up and smugly staring Peter Lawford) with an unsure and putting on a brave face Sammy Davis Jr., who is being nudged by the elbow by a supportive Frank Sinatra, to not back down and put up a fight.) The story of how the original Rat Pack came into being at Humphrey Bogart's home is very clearly retold in this magazine, as well as the birth of what became the original Las Vegas. An interesting footnote to all of this (strangely absent as it relates to the early Mafia influence in Vegas and the blatant racism that existed there) is the murder of Jazz and Be Bop Saxophonist Wardell Gray. Log onto http://www.maebrussell.com  click Articles, excerpts and notes, scroll down and click, 'The Covert War Against Rock' by Alex Constantine Chapter 7; for the footnote relating to Wardell Gray. For what 'The Rat Pack: The Original Bad Boys' is, which is a pulp publication, put out for mass consumption, this is pretty much typical of what you'd expect. Luckily, we have Sammy Davis Jr.'s three books, 'Yes I Can', 'Hollywood In A Suitcase' and 'Why Me?'. Additionally, Frank Sinatra's valet, George Jacob's book, 'Mr. S: My Life with Frank Sinatra', was quite an overdue surprise. Sam Giancana, who weaves in and out of The Rat Pack story and everything related to it, ended up as you would expect. A paranoid caged rat, whose ill gotten gains, by the time he was brutally murdered, didn't do him any good; as in the end even Sinatra distanced himself from him. British Investigative Journalist Anthony Summers pieced together some amazing research on the players in this real life drama in his three books, 'Frank Sinatra: The Life', 'Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover' and 'The Kennedy Conspiracy'. So there are other places to look where you can read and fill in the rest of this story.

Richard P. Havens 2013

Richard P. Havens 2013
Antonio G. Pereira © 2013 Antonio G. Pereira
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Richie Havens http://www.motherjones.com/mixed-media/2013/04/richie-havens-political-passion-late-folk-singer-dies-72 was quite a remarkable musician. From his first albums on Douglas Records, Richie Havens Record and Electric Richie Havens (both beautiful albums covering traditional Folk Songs and Bob Dylan - a deeply moving version of 'Nora's Dove' in the former, and a powerful version of 'Oxford Town' in the latter) through his albums on Verve Forcast, Mixed Bag (which contained his gorgeous Jazz arrangement of Jesse Fuller's 'San Francisco Bay Blues, and the Anti-Nuclear/Civil Rights Anthem 'Handsome Johnny' {the song he co-composed with Academy Award winning actor Lou Gossett}), Something Else Again (with the beautiful exploratory title piece with Richie on Sitar and Jeremy Steig on Flute, and the pretty, laid-back Jazzy 'Sugarplums' with Eddie Gomez on Acoustic Bass {as well as playing the hell out of a set of Congas on fellow stablemate, the very talented Janis Ian's song 'Look To The Rain', on her album, The Secret Life Of J. Eddy Fink}), to the records on his Stormy Forest label that finally broke him worldwide; Alarm Clock (with his re-arrangement of George Harrison's 'Here Comes The Sun'), The Great Blind Degree (interpreting Graham Nash, Cat Stevens, Dino Valente aka Chet Powers, Pete Townsend and James Taylor), the masterful live in concert set, Richie Havens On Stage {also performing with the Folk and Gospel group Fresh Flavor - a performance of 'Hear Zeus' Anger Roar' from Don Kirshner's Rock Concert is included among the videos at the end of this article}, Portfolio (another great album with covers of 'It Was A Very Good Year' and 'What's Going On' {also containing his artwork}), and Mixed Bag II (with the breathtakingly beautiful Native American homage to this land we call America 'The Indian Prayer' {This song brings to mind the songs of the late Native American musician Eugene Beyale, and his strikingly beautiful and powerful albums, Morning Star and Eagle Chanter (both LPs released on Eagle Chanter Music Inc.); in particular his gorgeous duets with Patricia Klause on the songs 'Great Spirit Father' and 'Children', on his second album Eagle Chanter.}, which has Richie backed by Fresh Flavor, and also on this album the best re-arrangement of Dylan's 'Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands' I ever heard.) Discovering his work will be an historical treasure for many generations to come.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PriMAXKwDJo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq_LCBNivJg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KjRnh-TBno

The Jazz Forum Magazine Archive

The Jazz Forum Magazine Archive
Antonio G. Pereira © 2013 Antonio G. Pereira
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'Jazz Forum: The Magazine Of The International Jazz Federation', has been for almost half a century, a source of the finest coverage of the music that exists. The complete archive is now available, and can be read and studied online. A wonderful trove of memories, information and inspiration.

http://www.polishjazzarch.com/en/regulations.html

http://www.polishjazzarch.com/en/englishversion.html

Experts

Experts
Antonio G. Pereira © 2013 Antonio G. Pereira
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Those who care

Share

Those who don't

Won't

And those who steal

Are eventually (when they least expect it)

Revealed . . .

While those who lie

Sink slowly

In a quicksand of their own making (struggling to get out)

Grasping (and richly)

In a seething bluster

As millions slip by

The John Lennon Letters

The John Lennon Letters
Antonio G. Pereira © 2013 Antonio G. Pereira
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        The John Lennon Letters. Edited And With An Introduction by Hunter Davies. Published by Little Brown and Company. New York. Yes folks, that's the same Hunter Davies who wrote the only authorized Beatles biography, that was originally published in the Fall of 1968. What we have here is a fascinating look at John Lennon's life through his written and typewritten correspondence with people during his lifetime. For example, from the first time I saw it in Ray Coleman's 'Lennon' biography, I was mystified by the illustration that John Lennon drew in his first Christmas Card to Cynthia Powell in 1958, of the two of them together; which is reproduced in The John Lennon Letters. Their appearance of dress and hair, resembles what they would look like circa 1967/68. The problem with this book, good as it is, is that it's not a complete picture; and therein lies it's major flaw. I find it a little odd, (or maybe questionable is a better word) that there are no letters in this book with Dick Gregory, Ron Dellums (who by the way, John is quoting in letter 167 in Part Fifteen, from a statement he read on The Dick Cavett Show {see the DVD 'Lennon NYC', or the book, 'Come Together' by Jon Wiener, Chapter 19 pages 214-215}), or anyone from Motown (Photographs do exist of The Beatles and Brian Epstein posing with The Motortown Revue. {Need I mention the mutual influences of Motown and The Beatles on each other?} I remember seeing a full page black and white photograph {taken circa 1966? - this is of course apart from the photos of Beatles and Epstein visiting with Berry Gordy and his family http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/Berry%20Gordy.html  } in what must have been a limited edition giant Motown Songbook, in The Musique Boutique on Broadway near Columbus Circle; in the late '70s or early '80s. This store may have been a relation to The Musique Boutique that existed near Picadilly Circus in London during the early 1970s. This was a music bookstore that carried rare and hard to find UK versions of Rock and Soul music books.) or surprisingly, Clara Hale (The late Gil Noble, who had a long running Public Affairs program on the Channel 7 ABC Network, here in New York that ran for decades named, 'Like It Is', and on which Gil interviewed an International array of guests from every continent on the planet {Who can forget Gil airing the footage of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in one of his last speeches, speaking to an audience here in New York at Riverside Church, about why he was against The War In Vietnam. And not only giving an accurate and detailed history of The United States involvement in that country, but with an unsettling Soothsayer's Vision, predicting the final outcome of the war.}, conducted a fascinating interview with Clara Hale {who started Hale House in Harlem}. This was in the early 1980s, and took place around the time that HUAC and McCarthy participant and devotee, "I hope they all get botulism" Ron, and 'Just Say No', 'Stop The Madness' Nancy, Reagan, tried to recognize 'the coloured woman who started the place for drug addicted babies', and co-opt Hale House into their agenda. During the interview on 'Like It Is', which was after this recent obvious co-opt attempt had taken place on television, Clara Hale mentioned in passing to Gil Noble that 'John and Yoko had not only been donating money to Hale House for a long time, but used to come up to visit often; long before Ron and Nancy were in the White House.) The Letters to Derek Taylor (Part Twenty) are mostly hysterically funny and loaded with puns, although with the occasional racial crack at Jews or Blacks or (technically in one sentence), the jap/anesque version of Taylor's autobiography (a throwback to ye olde english humour when Britain had an {don't laugh} EMPIRE?). Interesting that it's in this section and to Derek Taylor in particular, that Lennon lets loose with these type of asides, as in his (sort of) 1973 autobiography, As Time Goes By', in Part 20 London 1969, Derek Taylor who otherwise wrote quite an informative and interesting book, makes quite a blatantly (unless of course, he was paraphrasing someone else?) racist remark referring to blacks. {As well as being intellectually presumptuous, this all access to informational dissemination, while being 'oh so convincing', type of reconfigured for the 1980s Reagan/Bush/Thatcher/MTV AngloAmerican Transatlantic mentality, that spawned progeny like the SGT. Pepper: It Was Twenty Years Ago Today documentary (Although interestingly, it is Abbie Hoffman who hints at the fact that there are voices missing in this self-congratulatory ITV documentary), and the amateurish and calculated accompanying book, by the way, being prime examples of uneasily (and knowing it while you're doing it) half-telling a very uncomfortable and intricately more complicated historical story of the 1960s; and avoiding the fact that you're looking through a transparent glass, and can see people on the other side. Now what do you think they see from their side? Do you think you should go find out? mmmm.... Do you think maybe this book might help?: 'A Pictorial History of the Negro in America' -revised edition- by Langston Hughes & Milton Meltzer - Published by Crown Publishers, Inc., New York} But to give Derek his due (he was smart and savvy enough to take complete advantage of the British Invasion {thanks to The Beatles, and of course Brian Epstein hiring him in the first place} http://www.dermon.com/Beatles/Veejay.htm   while being British was in season here in the U.S.), he wrote some pretty decent liner notes for Billy Preston's first solo album on Apple Records, 'That's The Way God Planned It' (albeit while strangely avoiding mention of Preston's direct connection with The Beatles through Little Richard, when they were Little Richard's opening act in Hamburg in 1962 http://www.musicmaven.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/little_richard-beatles.jpg   {see Billy's reminiscence in the book, 'Memories Of John Lennon' - Published by HarperCollins - Pages 219-220}). It's worth mentioning while we're on this subject, that loaded mother of a photo of The Beatles with journalist Larry Kane, taken during the 1965 American Tour. Placed historically in and quite appropriately, Chicago (already witness to, and as the '60s wore on {see The World Book Encyclopedia Yearbooks - 1964 through 1969 Published by Field Enterprises Educational Corporation, Chicago Illinois}, some of the worst racial hatred and flagrant abuse of Civil Liberties experienced in the United States), John is holding up to the camera, the current issue of Ebony Magazine he had been reading with the cover headline, 'The White Problem in America'; which you will find reproduced in the accompanying DVD to Larry Kane's book, 'Lennon Revealed', and at this remarkable blog http://meetthebeatlesforreal.blogspot.com/2010/08/girls-who-got-to-meet-beatles-part-1.html In Part Sixteen of The John Lennon Letters, it's really good to see John's very accurate response to rather obnoxious remarks made by Todd Rundgren in a Melody Maker interview. Todd, a very professional but mostly derivative songwriter, gets put in his place permanently. (See the very revealing 1998 interview, "Todd Rundgren: Go Ahead, Ignore Me!" Go to the Internet Archive http://www.archive.org  Type http://beatpatrol.wordpress.com/2008/09/01/barney-hoskyns-todd-rundgren-go-ahead-ignore-me-1998/  into the Wayback Machine Click Browse History and choose 2010) Since the publication of Cynthia Lennon's 2nd autobiography, 'John', and then May Pang's book, 'Instamatic Karma', now that The John Lennon Letters has published correspondence from this era, there seems to be a grey area situation where you have to make up your own mind. One thing becomes clear in this book however, John was always very generous financially, to his relatives. It's touching to read the story in Part Fourteen, of the letter John wrote to musician Steve Tilston. (This story was first printed in the Aug. 16th, 2010 edition of the British newspaper The Telegraph, under the heading 'John Lennon letter to aspiring Folk Singer received nearly four decades later'. Though the reproductions of the photographs that begin each part of the book, and the letters, are excellent and beautifully done, (the simple design of the book itself is gorgeous) there is a very careless picture research mistake made at the beginning of Part Six; using an obvious photo of John by a pool in L.A. in 1973 (that is from a series of photos taken for the cover story of the interview he gave to Crawdaddy for their March 1974 issue) and attempting to pass it off as Lennon at home in Kenwood in the late '60s. A similar careless picture research job was done in The Beatles Anthology book, in the beginning chapter on John Lennon, attempting to pass off a photo of a teenage John with either a relation or one of his Aunt Mimi's borders, as John with his Uncle George. The only authentic picture of a very young John Lennon with his Uncle George, is the one in Chapter 1 of the companion book to David L. Wolper's film, 'Imagine: John Lennon'; and it is a moving photograph to see. Overall though, The John Lennon Letters is a remarkable book, sure to make quite a lot of people the world over, very happy; for in it, we get a pretty good snapshot of the life of someone who meant so much and continues to have meaning to so many.

Gil Noble Feb.22nd, 1932 - April 5th, 2012/Thank You Gil

Gil Noble Feb. 22nd, 1932 - April 5th, 2012/Thank You Gil
Antonio G. Pereira © 2013 Antonio G. Pereira
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http://gilnoblearchives.com

Go to the Internet Archive: www.archive.org Type www.theroot.com/views/gil-noble-funeral into the Wayback Machine. Then choose 2016.

Ultimate Hendrix: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Concerts and Sessions

Ultimate Hendrix: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Concerts and Sessions
Antonio G. Pereira © 2013 Antonio G. Pereira
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Ultimate Hendrix: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Concerts and Sessions by John Mcdermott with Billy Cox and Eddie Kramer. Published by Backbeat Books-An Imprint of Hal Leonard Corporation. This is quite a handy little reference book (which by the way, incorporates some entries from an earlier 1995 book by the same authors entitled, 'Jimi Hendrix Sessions: The Complete Studio Recording Sessions, 1963-1970' Published by Little, Brown and Company {For additional information there is also 'Plug Your Ears' by Kees de Lange and Ben Valkhoff. To access, go to The Internet Archive http://www.archive.org type http://www.cs.kun.nl/~tvdw/pye/left.html into The Wayback Machine and click Take Me Back, and the extremely rare, ''Scuse Me While I Kiss The Sky: The Life Of Jimi Hendrix' by David Henderson. This is the softback 2nd printing (of 'Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child Of The Aquarian Age' - Hardcover - Doubleday 1978) Published by Bantam Books in 1981, which contains a selection of photographs by Jim Marshall, not found in any other edition or book anywhere.}). Nicely put together with a pretty good selection of photographs. Reminiscences by key people who knew Hendrix during his lifetime. (And in this instance, we get a rest from the subtle right wing leaning, superimposed onto Hendrix politics, by some assorted characters and opportunists looking for a buck, that populated certain earlier books. {It would be instructive here, to remember a quote from Eddie Kramer near the end of an interview he gave to Q Magazine in the June 1992 issue: "I socialized very little with him outside the recording studio. He had a small circle of very close friends, but there was a boundary beyond which one would not step."}) An interesting appearance found in 'Ultimate Hendrix', is by Decca Records Chief of A&R, Dick Rowe (who you might remember for the immortal words, "Not to mince words Mr. Epstein, we don't like your boys' sound. Groups of guitarists are on the way out. You have a good record business in Liverpool. Stick to that.") making another wrong call. Getting involved with Ed Chalpin and releasing the rip off records 'How Would You Feel' and 'Hush Now'. It's a real delight reading about the recording of the Axis Bold As Love album, during which Hendrix really came into his own in the recording studio. When he and Eddie Kramer met, they clicked right away. The story about Hendrix playing drums on one of his new songs, 'Try Out', at the end of 1967, is just amazing to read; as his talent continues to blossom. One really ends up wishing that a film camera could have been there to capture some of these events, as they are remarkable. What is also informative is that throughout August of 1968 (along with the alternating and very productive recording sessions for 'Electric Ladyland' at The Record Plant in New York), as the Experience toured across the U.S. and leading up to the Winterland/Fillmore West residency of concerts, how varied their set list was at each concert. From the song listings, it appears that Hendrix was very flexible in that the band was not performing the same exact songs at every concert date, but liberally going through practically their entire recorded output, up to that point. One is left with the impression that after the late 1968 Winterland residency of gigs, that Noel Redding (and probably Gerry Stickells) were outsiders just there to do their jobs and not get in the way. It will be interesting to see which 'Hendrix Experts' begin to squirm when the full story of Jimi Hendrix' and Bumps Blackwell's association is finally told. {I've also found it a little peculiar that none of the experts have ever to this day mentioned Sly Stone's very lengthy interview, which he gave to Strobe Magazine (which was a very good 1960s Pop Culture publication) here in New York, that was published in their Sept. 1969 issue; in which he mentioned Hendrix' Jam with Sly and The Family Stone on the Fillmore East stage in May of 1968, when The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Sly and The Family Stone were on the same bill. There was also a Record Review of Electric Ladyland published in the previous July 1969 issue of Strobe.} It has been mildly amusing since the bygone days of the Reagan era, to see the emergence of, or to put it more accurately, 'reappearance of' the element that existed in the '60s era, who attempted to view everything they saw occurring around them that made them uncomfortable, {such as the Political and Racial issues of the day, (and of course The Vietnam War) bleeding into the music} as extraneous. It was fascinating to watch how quickly one's viewpoint could change, once a Draft Notice to report to the nearest Induction Office was received in the mail.  A big fat booboo in this book is a dated photograph citing Hendrix as performing at Woolsey Hall at Yale University on Nov. 16th, 1968, when the entry for listed gigs indicates Boston Gardens on that date. Bizzarely, there is NO ENTRY for Woolsey Hall, Yale University at all. At this point in history, it's a little late in the game for anybody to continue to buy the consistently unconvincing stories by people who assisted and worked for Micheal Jeffery, as to where the bulk of Hendrix' fortune disappeared to, without raising some hard questions. Especially since Eric Burdon (who is very much alive) raised similar questions about the whereabouts of The Animal's money, in his two autobiographies. For one thing obviously, the PPX Ed Chalpin $1.00 Contract suit that hung over Hendrix head all that time, was a candidate for any Trial Judge worth his salt (with the assistance of the right kind of lawyers batting for Hendrix in his corner, and pointing their fingers in the right direction), to take Ed Chalpin by the scruff of his neck and the seat of his pants and show him the door out of the courtroom. I mean you really begin to question what kind of legal representation Hendrix was getting. Other than Electric Ladyland Studios being built, this cat was making an incredible amount of money for that time. Where was all of this money disappearing to? And the staged 'reformation of the original Experience' interview in Rolling Stone with John Burks in 1970, shortly after the questionable circumstances of the demise of The Band Of Gypsys, followed by what Hendrix' ultimate decision was (to tour with Billy Cox and Mitch Mitchell), points right back to Michael Jeffery's motives. And isn't it interesting that when Hendrix begins touring again in April of 1970, his first two concerts in Los Angeles and Sacramento have The Buddy Miles Express as one of the opening acts? Given that Sky Church/Gypsy Sons and Rainbows was an experiment, after the demise of the original Experience, what are we REALLY supposed to buy into about Mike Jeffery? For other questions in the Hendrix story, check this posting http://observer1984.blogspot.com/2007_10_01_archive.html Nevertheless, this is a marvelous book. And Billy Cox finally gets his due for his immense contributions. A nod of appreciation to the folks at Experience Hendrix. Worth checking out.