LETTERS

LETTERS

The musical eyeballs and ears of America are now focused on Detroit. With the recent recognition of the MC5 by Time, Rolling Stone and the New York Times, the new music is to come out of Detroit.

With other top Detroit groups, such as the SRC, Bob Segar System, and the Amboy Dukes, the Detroit musical scene is now where it’s at. But how long can we keep Detroit, now a truly beautiful musical scene, from becoming another Boston? Or for that matter, another L.A. or San Francisco?

Boston, just a little while ago, was going to be “The Boss-town Sound” for all America to feast their ears upon. MGM poured money into the paws of inexperienced groups that were to become the sound of Boston. MGM lost thousands; most of the loss came from1 the Boston branch. The president of MGM fired the whole board of directors at Boston, and replaced them with new men who were put on a restricted budget.

The California scene lasted longer than Expected, but soon, became the material for music critics everywhere. The sound of their criticisms rang through the ears of everyone — the groups are just a big hypo job. Just pick up any magazine on music, and you’ll find something knocking the Doors, Janis Joplin, or other California groups.

I’m writing this to try and avoid a catastrophe. The , record companies of America should look -for something new and different in Detroit. They’re bound to find some talented musicians, that can write. some original material, and can probably keep bringing out more and more material. Let’s hope that the record companies can see ' well enough to tell if the group has been together for at least a couple of years, and to see if they get along, together, because you don’t make much money from a group that can’t work together, or even stay together.

And now to the Detroit groups who have made it on a national label: Let’s all get off our ego trips and get down and turn your stage presentation into something. Get on down and write songs — songs of revolution, songs of love — I don’t care. Groups of local fame — do your own thing — don’t copy the other groups to the extent that you could be them. Is it making sense? What does a city do with cheap reproductions, but throw them out?

Let’s address this one to the Grande and other ballrooms and . dance halls — bring in the local 4 groups, show them off, get the

record company people’s attention. Don’t instruct the groups on what they should do — it’s their show, let them do it.,

Radio stations, WABX and WKNR-FM, keep the local sounds as well as the national groups coming over our radios. Just don’t hype the groups up too much — people will get uptight and start screaming about commercialism and how it’s just a big farce. Let’s not get out of hand in broadcasting “underground” rock. The two stations we have are all Detroit needs, and it will keep the j competition down, which as you" j know from our capitalistic 1 governement, means sponsors and the commercials might become just too much to keep the radio free from becoming controlled by local business. Look at Top 40 radio, and you’ll see what I’m getting at.

Keep Detroit going by taking it nice and easy. Local papers of the underground — keep the super-type out of the paper, but of course, keep the good vibes going. Keep Detroit in, front of the world of good music, and Detroit will never -die. ap

Kurt Von EbeMein

Dear Mr. Reay,

Don’t let a good paper with farlimited potential become another comic book of 'misinformation! Specifically I am refering to the article by Eric Jagers on Three Dog Night (issue = 2.)

As a personal „ friend of the group, I am disturbed primarily not by the criticism, but the erroneous content and unprofessional manner in which the text was written.

My criticism are: First of all at no time during Three Dog Night’s three performances did they do “Dance To The Music.” Was Jaggers dreaming? Secondly, the drum solo that was described as “Toadish” paralleled Baker’s only in that they were both drum solos. Jaggers stated that he didn’t know the name of the song - it was a Latin American Song.

When Jaggers came into the dressing room at the Grande, he was asked to leave. Therefor no formal or informal interview took place. This about on the same level as the guy who wrote a review of ' the Windsor Pop Festival having never been further than Chicago.

I find it hard to believe that with all the musically knowledgeable - people in the Detroit area, that Creem would stoop to the level of printing something like “One neat thing was the only group I ever saw use Bruce amps was the Buffalo Springfield..

At best, this foolishness could have been printed in the ‘letters” column. Don’t try to pawn it off as an article or review of a talented band. Why not leave the reporting to people with some professional, musical or humanitarian significance instead of wasting space with little stories written by star-f-kers.

For Sale: 1 Framus 12 string guitar, $100. All psychedelic.

VE 9-8976.

Pear Editor:

Thanks for the Creem. Surprisingly, it’s quite good, by contemporary standards of rock critism. I had about given up on the Detroit scene. The Fifth Estate'is bad news. I stopped reading that “Kill the Cops”-sht along with the sh?t in the regular newspapers^ a couple of months ago when' I realized it is as bad for the organism as eating, sugar or taking speed. Down trips are simply not necessary, and I’m no eseapist either.

The MG5 are here now and I wish they’d leave. They’ve been getting pretty bad reviews all over, so hopefully they’ll fade into obscurity real soon. A very close friend of mine, who has also been working with frontiers of science and should know better, had dinner with the MC5 and Said they seemed to understand when he told them about the constructive things we are doing here but I doubt it. Anyone whois still raving about that bullsh-t “throw a rock at a cop” revolution when there is already such a fantastic revolution going on all around is practicing such an advanced form of blindness that I suspect a serious mental disturbance hiding behind their revolutionary front. Man, we went through all that sh-t on Haight Street. Every so often all the kids would go sit in the middle of the street and chant the “streets belong to the people” and the cops would come along and tear gas them. And what would they have done with the street anyway? Sit in it and create a growing pile of garbage and Coke cans and cigarette butts and sh-t ju§t like they had on the sidewalks. It seems so obvious to me that anyone can have anything they want, if only they have adse for it. That’s just the way the universe works. Those of us who know what to do with the power and the responsibility to. order our lives have not found it lacking. And remarkable changes have taken place. I have known ■many of the important figures on the local revolution scene and I honestly wouldn’t want to see any of them with political power over me, honest! Listen to the Beatles man, really.

Celestially yours,

The greater body c/o Greg Shaw

California

FREE CLASSIFIED ADS FOR MUSICIANS AND ARTISTS

CREEM OBSCENE

The issue of Creem^magazine and its editorial policy in relation to obscenity has been mentioned often and with various comment . Various perverts have suggested that, though it lacks Overt obscenity ;(i.e./f-k -sh-t; g-d e-c, e-c, e-c) it is none, the less very obscene? Some of these suggestions might be critical 1 evaluations - others mere sexual fantasy.

It seems a vast number, regardless of political or social position, are up tight about obscenity. There are those who say Creem. is deficient because it won’t print some of those “essential” words and there are those who even found our innocent name and pretty young. Creem girl pregnant with blithering obscenity - --Not enough/too much!

. r Well, the hole thing is absurd?1 The changing shades of obscenity are elusive; one man’s obscenity is another man’s food.

Some honest stores accept Creem because it says f-rk instead of f-k. Everybody knows what f-k means. Some would say f-k instead of f-k is more obscene than just plain f-k. Others would say that d-shes are more “realistic than spelling out the, words - for the constant and* inveterate use of f-r letter words soon becomes no more meaningful than+$%/&*”.

Obscenity is a matter of perspective and this paper will never \ print , something that is obscene from our point of reference.

Oh yes, listen to WXYZ FM for an example of true obscenity or go to a new club downtown (for, singles) called the “meet Market”. ,

Barry Kramer