TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT!

TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT!

Ice Alexander

At the Ballroom last week when I was looking for Brian Auger I asked Chuck Berry ‘who was playing last’. He replied “Chuck Berry”. About 2 days later it struck me as weird that

he didn’t say “Me”.

The cover of Teegarden and Vanwinkle’s second album, soon to be released, shows Skip and Dave on the porch of a shack - and I mean ‘shack’ - with an elderly down home black friend and a young spadeling strongly resembling the one on the cover of ‘O.K. Ken’ the second Chicken Shack album. Visions of the black slave market - “Spadeling for hire - Get your picininni here, - ideal for album covers and very young white cocktail parties.”

Goodbye Smothers Brothers!

New Doors album out soon with strings and other such Garbage. Will they never give up. I would have thought after Jim Morrison’s penis won the Creem “Stage Act Award” of 1969, that jivin’ jim would have gone back to being a professional obscenity.

Joni Mitchell is planning a tour of universities with James Taylor. I could venture into diggin’ that!

“Wish, you were back with us” department includes Jim Rockwell; The Jagged Edge; The Thyme; Dave Brubeck; Danny’s blue jeans and old style Carolyn Hester.

Stooges will soon be available on round plastic.

So will Frost.

The question of the week is -“Will Johnny Winters’second album be made of white plastic with albino grooves?”

Ask as hard and as often as jtou like but WABX cannot now play “In a gadda da vidda” as somebody “dropped” their only copy. Shame!

Jaundice Joplin returns to Detroit. So does every other artist and band who can’t get a gig elsewhere.

I see Croakey Buckley as yet another album out. Isn’t he pretty on the cover?

As he settles in, it’s nice to hear Dick Powell get more and more relaxed and more and more into the music. It must be a very difficult adjustment from almost pure jazz to the non-format format of ‘ABX.

All you people who keep bitchin’ about how untidy and messy the. Ballroom is - did it ever occur to you to go and offer your services to help clean up after Friday and Saturday nights. I mean the Ballroom is generally spotless up ‘til Friday but there is just too much to do on Saturday and Sunday to clean the whole place in time for the night’s show.-Amen.

Spare a thought for all those nice high school people who will now book modern bands for high school dances. I’m sure it isn’t easy to persuade a straight committee that the kids really want to see the 5 and the Dukes, etc. instead of Lawrence Welk type bands or 1958 hangovers.

It’s nice to see Keener getting it together by picking up the Frost single - almost as nice to see CK pick up the Frigid Pink single.

News comes in that the frantic five have split from Elektra, (or vice versa), to go to join those sons of fun Atlantic.

Also rumored th.at the irrepressable Stooges may follow their brothers although that’s only a rumor.

Red White & Blues have decided, after the fashion of all good white blues bands, to change their guitarist. Catfish are/is coming -Another Jim (unclean) Cassilly special.

Genesis (the label - not the group) is shortly to have it’s first album released in the form of the Rationals No. 1 - a precis of the boys progress along with a look into the future. The album will reportedly include the 2 sides of their past Genesis single (Guitar Army b/w Sunset) along with the two sides of their next 45 one of which has to be that famous Rats song “Temptation’s ‘bout to Get Me.” Also to be included is a medley of old Rats hits.

So Eric/Stevie/Ginger want $25,000 for a gig eh! Best of luck to ‘em. I can see it all now, - Tales of Brave Mr. Fantasy, Ginger-colored rain, Paper sunshine of your love -the mind boogies.

ABX swell guy, as he like to call himself, (along with Terry King and Steve Winston), Dan Carlisle is about to go on a vacation. Reportedly heading for California, Danny will be gone for about two weeks. I really think it’s a shame that I am sitting here with three albums recorded in Chicago that I can’t give to the radio stations to play. The albums were recorded by Fleetwood Mac on their last tour and feature, as well as the Mac, Willie Dixon; Buddy Guy; Otis Spann and Shaky Horton. They can’t be played yet as the material is not yet copy write. Shame!

There is soon to be a little caveman (or woman). Congratulations to Jerry & Rose Lubin. Also sympathies to Larry and Jennifer Miller for the illnesses which keep striking their family.

Jan and Lorraine - old time Detroit folkies are shortly to release an album featuring a couple of tunes by Richard Keelan - another old time Detroit folky. The album cover is to be a poster of the pair done by Mrs. Keelan, who is also “with child.”

Another super session at London’s Speakeasy Club recently. In a jam were Dave Mason, Jimi Hendrix (of course) Alan Price and Jim Capaldi.

Liberace (not the liborace - yes THE Liborace) has a special of English T.V. this month in which he does kind of a super session himself with Dusty Springfield and Phillis Diller.

Stevie Winwood featured^ on some cuts on Joe Cockers album soon to be released. Joe will be in town on the 10th with the Who, who are reportedly performing their 214 hour opera (Deaf Dumb and Blind Boy) on stage.

As far as We know, the only recordings made by Mason Wood Capaldi and Frog are now available on a cheap series of Englands Island label. The album also includes Spencer Davis, Traffic, Jethro Tull, Spooky Tooth, Fairport Convention and Nirvana.

Two Hendrix concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London were filmed to be shown as a major feature film over here. Appearing with Hendrix in the movie will be Soft Machine Mason Capaldi Wood and Frog, Van der Graaf Generabor and Fat Mattress, the group fronted and managed by Experience bass player Noel Redding (with guest appearance by Manford Mann’s drummer, Mike Hugg on piano).

RCA Records have just -reportedly - paid their highest signing fee over for the Toronto born band “Lighthouse”. It is also thought that Verve records were well compensated for the loss of Skip Prokop (ex-Pauper) whose drumming is a strong feature of the band. One wonders if A2 will also be compensated for the loss of Ralph Coles (ex-Thyme) who is presently contracted to the Ann Arbor agency.

Hello Wil Man Fischer!

Reportedly booked for Russell J. Gibb’s destructo pop festival to be held sometime in May are Richie Havens, Sun Ra, the Larry Corryell band (possibly featuring Jack Bruce), the Band and Terry Reid. Whoopee!

Dennis Day, of the Detroit Federation of Musicians, last week filed charges against Mike Quatro Inc. One point of evidence was the Creem interview (issue 4) with Mr. Quatro wherein he referred to some local groups as “schmuck bands”. Mr. Quatro defended this by explaining that his definition of “schmuck” is different, apparently, to that in general use. Mr. Quatro also admitted two major charges filed against him; those of: - double contracting, an easy way to rob a band of money; and claiming exclusive booking contracts with certain bands when, in actual fact, no such contracts were existant. His defense against these charges was that he was unaware that robbing bands and booking agencies was against union rules, which it obviously is. Ignorance - Mr. Quatro -is

Chris Farlowe is the first artist to be signed to Polydor records American division.

It is now difficult for John Sinclair to talk to me as I am now a member of the press and “you never , can tell what’s going to be printed so you’ve got to be careful what you say.” Can this be the man who so staunchly demands that you should say what’s in your mind?

Ex-Spoonful Jerry Yester and Zal Yanovsky have joined Bizarre (Zappa’s label) as producers.

Now that we’re almost on the moon - let’s musically civilize the people in Bonegap, Illinois and such other centers of cultural ignorance. How can you sleep at night knowing that there are people living in this country who have never heard classics such as “Like a Rolling Stone” or “Whiter Shade of Pale”?

And so on

and so forth.

UNION HA.

It was reported, just before deadline time, that the Musicians Union of Detroit is going to take little, if any, action against Mike Quatro Inc. despite the many charges levelled against him, two of which he openly admitted at the Union' meeting on Tuesday 22, May. Mj. Quatro claims ignorance of Union by-laws as his defence.

The Unions’ decision on this matter is one which has caused much comment. Further news of developments will appear in Creem No. 6. _1

IRON BUTTERFLY - Steve Miller

Yes folks the Butterfly were back. For those of you who managed to get tickets to the memorable knock down, drag out, stick it in your too much Iron Butterfly Concert of “68” and saw them, you probably, as I most certainly did, dug ‘em’. Last weeks concert was amazingly similar in the way that INA-GADDA-DA-VIDA composed much of their set (total 4 songs). I ask you do we really need this crap. We saw them in ‘68’, we saw them in ‘69’, will we see them in ‘70’? You bet your Ron Bushy, I won’t. Ahh, but Steve Miller saved the day. I am certainly glad Miller palyed before the Fly, for it gave me much needed courage to remain and witness what was to happen next.

Truly the Gods must smile on Steve for his music is tuned for the ears of the same.

I remain temporarily, Reece