Johnny Thunders, Wayne Kramer, The MC5 and more stories, songs and memories...
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
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Back when dogs could talk, Eisenhower was president, Poodle skirts were in and Doo wop groups wandered the earth, there was a group from Allen Park, Michigan who released several records. One of these records was not only a hit, but a transformative event in Rock & Roll. Several years back I went to a weekly contest attended by a team of former and current broadcasters. I ended up sitting, each week, next to Scott Vertical. It turns out we had worked for the same company and in the same building for many years but had never met. We ended up, not surprisingly, talking about music. In subsequent weeks, I would email Mr. Vertical obscure, but what I felt were excellent, records/songs. Invariably he would say "ya I've got that on my iPod". One week, Mr. Vertical emailed me back and said what a great tune I had just sent him and that he was adding to his play list. That song was by a group called " Tim Tam and the Turn On's". "Wait a Minute" starts as a Doo wop tune, but quickly turns in to a hard charging rocker. As if by magic, it turns from '50's dreck in to the future of Rock & Roll. I attended my first "rock" concert/show as a sophomore in high school. Actually my first was a sock hop in Jr. High that stared a band called "Pepper and the Shakers". I have almost no memory of this event and can only imagine what my thoughts were. Probably 'is there a bake sale in here?'
The first show was at my High School with "The Third Power" headlining and "Harpo Jets" opening. Why are many of the great musical artists (Roky Erickson, Syd Barrett, Brian Wilson and Daniel Johnston, to name a few) schizophrenic? This kicks ASS! Great memories from "Swinging Time" on CKLW CH. 9 in Windsor, Ontario, which broadcast into Detroit. Sylvester was a large black man and a "Disco Queen" in every sense of the phrase. He had a hit record on radio and in the clubs.
I was to meet Sylvester, Butch Brown the R&B promoter for the distributor and Sylvester's manager and Motown legend Harvey Fuqua at a furniture store remote for WGPR. Butch picked that weekend to get married so he could use the Rolls limo he had rented for Sylvester and Harvey on the record company's dime. The dancers counter balance the menacing look of the lead singer. Late summer 1966. Hot, we had never heard of air conditioning. 1 AM and dad says "let's go for a ride". We head for the '64 brown (Almond Fawn) Chevy Biscayne parked at the curb. Head down Chalmers and turn right at Jefferson on the way to Belle Isle. Dad driving and me (all of 11) riding shotgun. Dad pulls a pack of Chesterfields out of his shirt pocket and snaps his Zippo open, lights a smoke and snaps the lighter closed all in one move.
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Jeff Allen
Vertical asked me to join his blog as a guest expert on "Nuggets" era music... Psychedelic, Garage and Fuzz. Are there others more qualified? You bet, but they weren't asked. He's also letting me write about anything I want… We'll see.
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