Monday, July 21, 2008

AMEHOF's 2007 Induction Ceremonies

Hi!

Noel promised readers that he'd post a notice when the videos of AMEHOF's 2007 induction ceremonies were posted on their YouTube page, so here it is. Have a great day!

:~)aniel

Sunday, July 13, 2008

James McMurtry show July 19th

Just announced: James McMurtry, Saturday July 19th, at the Last Exit, southwest corner of Southern and Priest in Tempe. Best working songwriter in America today, and also responsible for some of the finest protest songs since Mr. Zimmerman reinvented the form 40+ years ago. You can probably find videos of "We Can't Make It Here Anymore" and "Cheney's Toy" on YouTube if you want to check him out. Contact the Last Exit at 480-557-6656 for more information.

More KCAC tapes are on the way. Ron Wortham, Hank, Marty, and Toad make appearances along with Bill. Several of the tapes are from Spring 1971, whereas most of the tapes I've previously digitized seem to be Summer 1970. One of the tapes has speeches from an antiwar rally held at the Arizona State Capitol on the first anniversary of the Kent State shootings. Anybody remember this event???

Tom

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Deleted Thread...

Greetings. The post and comments concerning the Bill Compton videos has been removed. Out of respect for Bill, this topic and comments that followed were removed as they were not pertinent to him. Bill was inducted into the Arizona Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame in 2005 and his family and friends are very proud of his accomplishments. The Hall of Fame created a wonderful tribute video about him which is available on their website. William Compton inspired a generation of music listeners. Rock on, Mr. Compton!

I'm disabling comments for this post so that we can all get back on track here. I didn't know I could do that, but am glad the option is there. My apologies to any who may feel slighted by this, but I have received communications from several people I greatly respect who have convinced me this is the best course. If any other administrators on this blog would like a more explicit explanation please email me and I'll be glad to provide it. I wish you all a fine day.

:~)aniel

Saturday, July 05, 2008

Jeff and Jennifer Crawford's KCAC Tapes

As long-timer bloggers know, Jeff and Jennifer Crawford of Phoenix have preserved an amazing collection of KCAC tapes, and they have very generously made the tapes available for archival copying. There have been some major technical glitches, but I'm finally making significant progress on getting the tapes digitized.

The tapes I've worked on thus far are almost all public-affairs programming with very little music (although one tape has a pretty wild live-in-the-studio session with the Beans, just before they left for San Francisco). But the public-affairs material, recorded in 1970, is stunning. Most notably, there are lengthy Bill Compton interviews with Ted Mote, Executive Director of the Arizona Chapter of the ACLU; Morris Starsky, the ASU professor who was fired for having attended an antiwar rally; and Gary Peter Khlar, all-around gadfly to the powers that be, who later served in the State legislature and the Phoenix City Council. All three interviews discuss civil rights, free speech, the political use of fear and intimidation, biased media reporting, and the erosion of Constitutional liberties. (Sound familiar?) Bill also interviews two army wives, identified only as Karen and Brenda; Karen's husband was a POW and Brenda's had been MIA for three years. Hank interviews some local Yippies (Randy Overmeier and Frank Fiorre - these may not be the correct spellings; anybody remember these guys?) and U.S. Senatorial candidate Sam Grossman, just a few days before the 1970 election. There's a good deal of programming about the dangers of speed, including taped announcements from Frank Zappa and an interview with a local speed freak who warns everyone else not to touch the stuff.

On a lighter note, there are many episodes of "Switchboard", the audio bulletin board that ran every two hours where Bill or Hank (or whoever was on the air at the time) would read various announcements: "dude needs a ride to Houston tomorrow, will buy gas; Linda has some groovy free kittens; Doug needs two roommates, long-hairs only, $45 a month each; 1957 Chevy, runs fine, $100"; and so on, always followed by a phone number. One of the announcements is that "Toad Hall needs a place to live, 2 or 3 bedrooms, refrigeration, and a fenced back yard, $125 or less a month".

From a historical perspective, these tapes comprise an oral history of Phoenix during the Nixon/Vietnam era. The people who were deeply involved in the issues of the day tell their own stories, in their own words and their own voices, while the events themselves were still unfolding. The tapes also prove, for today's audiences, that once upon a time radio was creative, community-based, intelligent, challenging, and FUN!

The Crawfords have been extraordinarily generous in allowing others to have access to these irreplaceable tapes. We are discussing ways to have them permanently preserved and to make copies available (as mp.3s) to interested parties. Please join me in thanking Jeff and Jennifer Crawford via new posts to the blog, and keep checking in for more news!

Tom

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Blues at the Rhythm Room Friday July 4th

The Jackie Payne and Steve Edmonson Band will be putting on a different type of fireworks show at the Rhythm Room on the 4th of July. This is fine blues band that is getting lots of national acclaim. Here are some excerpts from Living Blues magazine, October 2006:

"Veteran R&B singer Jackie Payne and versatile West Coast guitarist Steve Edmonson share a vision for a blend of deep soul, gospel, and many blues styles... Payne's edgy and emotive voice calls to mind the heydays of O.V. Wright and Bobby "Blue" Bland... Edmonson's chameleonic guitar work struck the necessary balance that makes 'Master Of The Game' [their 2006 CD] such a fulfilling listen."

Check out some youtube videos at http://youtube.com/results?q=jackie+payne+steve+edmonson&search_type=.

And yes, there's an Arizona connection: Steve Edmonson is the son of Travis Edmonson, a Nogales native who became famous as half of the 1960s folk duo Bud and Travis, and who later recorded with fellow Arizona native Katie Lee. Travis is 75 and confined to a wheelchair, but he will be there cheering his son on at the Rhythm Room.

Sorry for the short notice - I just found out about this gig earlier today. Hope to see some of you there,

Tom