Shoshone vs Mohawk
While I was in Cheyenne, Wyoming last week, I saw an impressive statute of
Chief Washakie.
It stands out in front of the state capitol.
He was the leader of the Shoshone tribe for 60 years.
History describes him as a moderate who negotiated a large tract of good land for his people.
Later, of course, there were incursions on the property but Chief Washakie was a wise ruler and held his own.
The temperature was hovering in the teens/ low twenties so this was a "quick" shot.
I wanted to duck into the capitol and get out of the frigid and fierce Cheyenne Wind.
I had lived in Kansas long ago and the wind came sweeping across the plains, slowed only by barbed wire and wooden posts.
Later, I had dinner at
Sandfords Grub & Pub, downtown on a busy Saturday night.
My brother got an 8 oz steak and a baked potato that might have weighed several pounds. It was huge.
I opted for a grilled chicken "burger" with mixed veggies on the side.
Our server came by often, promising our food would be here "soon." That actually dragged out to about 30 minutes but, finally we could start to eat.
When she brought the check, she said the manager had comped the meal because of the long wait. My brother asked if the manager could stop by - he wanted to kiss her!
The manager had a distinctive, well-groomed hair style and chin whiskers. A hand shake instead of a kiss.
With the cold temps, and the howling wind, probably a good idea to grow his hair long for extra warmth.
After I got back from Wyoming, I was seated down front for the
James Taylor concert at the Coliseum. He was backed by a 10-piece talented band.
What a terrific almost 3-hour show!
I was a typical audience member, growing up with his music in the 60s and 70s.
The first of his five Grammy Awards was "Fire and Rain," followed in 1972, by "You've Got A Friend."
In his more than 40-year musical career, he has sold more than 100,000,000 albums. Yikes.
If you click the link, I found the evening's set list.
I am sure you will find many memorable songs that you enjoyed growing up.
Drums, congas, penny whistle, violin, accordion, saxophone, bass guitar, three backup singers and an array of keyboards.
The show was spectacular and had the crowd on it's feet quite a few times.
The lighting and sound was so good, you forgot your chair was sitting above the hockey ice surface in a large arena.
I think everyone in the world now has a phone or tablet to take photographs.
(Click on the photos for more details.)
After seeing the heads full of hair up in Wyoming, Taylor's bald
pate really stood out.
He spent the 20-minute intermission, sitting on the front edge of the stage, signing photos, some albums and posed for hundreds of pictures/.
When he got up to start the second set, he whipped out his soft hat and wore that for the rest of the show.
I came home and saw that I had his vinyl album "Sweet Baby James" sitting in front of my extensive CD collection.
I also still have a turntable. Might crank that up in a day or two.
Nice hair James.
Labels: 100 million albums sold, 5 Grammy Awards and a Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, James Taylor, Sweet Baby James
My short "Stax of wax"
It started as a project to convert the music on a 12" LP (Long Play) record to a CD.
An album I really liked was NOT available online as an Mp3 so I needed to do it myself.
My turntable had not been used in years. I blew off dust and saw the only speeds were 331/3 and 45.
My folks had a pile of old 78s downstairs but I had no way to listen to them.
My small collection seemed centered in the early to mid-sixties.
I recently took pictures of CCR's John Fogerty in a concert in Atlanta so I knew he still had The Voice.
The LIMELITERS were very big in Folk Music in the Sixties.
I'm sure the individuals went on to bigger and better things but I'm just not aware of any huge follow up hits.
I did come across some 5th Dimensions and a Mama Cass Elliott disk.
Wonder if she ever would have stopped by the California Dreaming restaurant here and looked out on our harbor? Do they serve ham sandwiches?
Saw some other of my musical friends from the 1960s recently.
Paul Simon performed in Atlanta earlier this month with an 8-piece band. No sign of that other curly-headed fellow he used to sing with.
Sweet Baby James Taylor played in Columbia last year and his son was onstage with him.
He looked older than his dad did on the album.
Record cover art. Wow.
Now THERE was a remarkable 12" x 12" canvas for artists and photographers.
Sometimes, inside, they would spread out and cover the entire 12" x 24" surface.
Huge four-color wall posters often were enclosed.
But, it's time to get back to dubbing a hard-to-find album by Craig Hundley.
That's the one that started this nostalgic trip back in time.
Craig was a 12-year old prodigy in the jazz world.
I never saw him perform but the album caught my ear.
Does anyone else out there know anything more about him?
He'd be about 50-60 now and I hope he continued playing.
No trace of him online though.I Googled him.
I'll make sure his music continues even today on Smartphones and I-Pads.
Labels: 12 inch LP, 5th Dimensions, 78s, CCR, Craig Hunddley, Credence Clearwater Revival, Google, John Fogerty, Mama Cass Elliott, MP3, Paul Simon, Sweet Baby James
400th BLOG. Yikes.
Moments in time.
My
400th posting on my blog.
Marked by a "1970s time travel" experience.
Yes. That is
James Taylor in concert in Columbia a few days ago. Still in fine voice.
His
Sweet Baby James album came out in 1970 with the intensely personal song
"Fire & Rain."He sang the title song as well as
"Fire" and
"Carolina On My Mind" but not
"Steam Roller."
His "Special Guest" on the stage was his son Ben Taylor.
Singing, playing and banter was good from his barefoot boy.
The 63-year old dad broke his left leg skiing last week and quipped he was doing fine
"thanks to some great chemistry." Ben added
"Guess we should stop saying 'break a leg.'"There were wooden stools on stage but both stood up to play and sing as well.
Earlier in the day I stopped at the Columbia Museum of Art.
Enjoyed 2 hours of time tumbling through the 60s, 70s and 80s.
No picture-taking was allowed inside but here's the poster out front with Punk stars
The Ramones.
This classic shot captured a moment at Eric's Club in Liverpool,1977.
Get over to Columbia before this goes away.
The Beatles, Janis Joplin, baby-faced Keith Richardson and The Stones, Elvis, Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar on fire, Kurt Cobain...all these and more were caught in front of these cameras.
Richard Avedon on his 1961 shot of the
Everly Brothers:
"A portrait is not a likeness....but an opinion."Outrageous album covers were being imagined and created long before
Photoshop.
Officials in Morocco were reluctant to allow placing actual giant inflated red balloons along the top of sand dunes at dawn but that was the vision of the album designer.
The funniest part of this looking back experience was using my
Smartphone and
GPS guidance system to find these places.
(Click images for detail. Koger Center for the Arts was aggressive enforcing no cameras..but only on the front row! Flashes going off all around the hall and my little non-flash camera acted as a magnet.
Easy-to-get-to rules enforcement.)
Labels: Ben Taylor, Bob Gruen, Columbia Museum of Art, Elvis, Fire and Rain, GPS, James Taylor, Janis, Jimi Henrdrix, Koger Center For The Arts, Richard Avedon, Smartphone, Sweet Baby James, The Ramones
