ROCK & ROLL NEWS

ROCK & ROLL NEWS

Ginger Baker while working on his new movie Zachariah in Mexico suffered a physical breakdown. He and his wife are now in England where he is in a private hospital recovering. No telling how long he will be recouperating.

Baker’s replacement in the flick will be Elvin Jones, formerly the drummer with John Coltrane’s Quintet. (Jones is rumored to have said of Baker, “That man ain’t been enlightened.”)

HOLLYWOOD -Country Joe and the Fish are busy gettin’ it on again. They’ve got a new lp due shortly, with a new one from Joe McDonald also about to appear. Barry Melton is making plans for his first solo album. There’s a heavy tour coming up and the group is signed to several films, including Zachariah (they’re doing the soundtrack with the James Gang, Doug Kershaw and New York Rock and Roll Ensemble), a Roger Corman flick about a gas that offs adults and of course, the Woodstock film. Country Joe also recorded and wrote the score to Quiet Days in Clichy, the film to be made from Henry Miller’s book of the same name.

The Seeds are back together again, minus 2 members and a gain of 3 new They’ve added a new drummer, lead guitar and bass player, which will give ex-bassplayer Sky Saxon, the chance to do nothing but sing. They are planning to appear at several night spots around the L.A. area. The only original member besides Sky Saxon is Daryl Hooper, who plays organ.

Diversified Management Agency has signed contracts with ten major Michigan groups forexclusive bookings in the state. Groups signed include the Amboy Dukes, MC5, Alice Cooper, Brownsville Station, Parliaments/Funkadelics, Stooges, Savage Grace, The Frut, Jack Burningtree and Suite Charity. The agency has been in existence for only 12 weeks.

HOLLYWOOD - Let It Be, the next Beatles flick will be out in April, MGM tried to snag the show but UA, which had released the first two Beatle movies, again won out.

UA/Liberty will also release the next Beatle album, a three record set, which is the soundtrack from the movie. Supposedly to retail for $15, the package will include a book.

MUSCLE SHOALS, ALA. -Fame Recording Studios are to be the subject of a Swedish documentary film later this month. The program was filmed in January. Featured in the film, of course, are “The Fame Gang’’, also known as the Allman Brothers Band. There is also hope that the program will be aired by the National Educational Television Network in this country. Jo Ann Kelly will be touring with Johnny Winter. Reports of Miss Kelly’s talents have been coming across the ocean for years, from Britain where she resides. She has an album on Epic and some cuts on the Blues Anthology albums on Immediate.

Love is off to England, at last. Blue Thumb and Harvest (Blue Thumb’s British distributor) Records will be promoting the tour. Love has enjoyed much more success in Britian than the U. S., though this is the first tour of England forthe ever-changing rockers.

There’s a new record label out this month, Happy Tiger, owned by Hungry Tiger Restaurants and Flying Tiger airlines.

The label’s first release is by the original Them, sans Van Morrison, of course. The group will be coming over next month, from Britain to do a series of concerts.

LOS ANGELES -Buddy Holly’s old band the Crickets are back together with most of the original members in the present group.

Delaney of Delaney and Bonnie is credited with re-forming the group; Bramlett will produce their album, a collection of Buddy Holly’s hits.

The Bermuda Rock Cruise has been cancelled. The Cruise was to have consisted of a voyage from N.Y. to Bermuda and back. No reason was given for the cancellation, however.

NEW YORK-Janus Records has signed HarveyMandel to a long term production recording contract. Mandel, presently, lead guitarist with Canned Heat, was signed along with his producer, Abe Kesh. Previously the duo had recorded a couple of solo albums for Phillips.

Kesh is a disc jockey on KSANfm in San Francisco and has also produced Blue Cheer, Chuck Berry, Lynn County, and Graham Bond, all for Mercury/Phillips.

Prior to being a solo act Mandel had been a member of Charley Musselwhite’s blues band.

The Stones will play their second Finnish concert on June 7 at the Helsinki Ice Hall which has a capacity of 11,000. If they sell out, we’ve won.

John Ono’s new single “Instant Karma” was produced by Phil Spector. The reason is supposed to be that he needs a number one record to get in the U.S. (part of his visa?) And of course, Phil Spector only produces hits.

Carl Wayne has left the Move after being their lead singer for the past four years. The rest of the Move will continue as a trio.

The Move were among the first British groups to begin destruction of amplifiers and instruments on stage. They once progressed as far as an actual automobile but have regressed so far in recent months as to not break even a d rumstick.

CHICAGO -Jerry Butler has resigned with Mercury Records. The r and b singer whose biggest hit was “Only the Strong Survive” will tour England in March. He is also to host six tv shows on the NET “Soul” variety show.

Butler’s Foundation Record Productions has also negotiated a deal with Mercury to produce several Foundation acts including Jackie Ross and Butler’s brother Billy.

Steve Booker, who has been drumming as a solo act for some time, and who once played with Detroit’s legendary Spike Drivers, appears on the new Winter Consort Album. Booker was drumming at the Gaslight in New York when the group invited him to sit in.

Booker also has a new group of his own, with Pat La Rose on guitar and John Sauter, formerly bassist with Otis Spann and Sammy Lay. The group will feature the world’s first electric drums.

Ian Andersoa of Jethro Tull got married in London to a secretary from Chryaslis, his manager’s office.

Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass have completelybroken up. Herb says he doesn’t need the work and he doesn’t like to tour. The Baja Mariamba Band has also parted company. (They haven’t been doing that great in the sales bit for last year.)

NEW YORK -ABKCO Enterprises, Allen Klein’s front for managing the Beatles and Rolling Stones, ended 1969 with a $6,538,192 gross with net income of $792,149. The earnings were for the fiscal year which ended Sept. 30. For the final three months of 1969, the company reported net income of $793,505 on gross income of$3,136,888.

ABKCO also said that the ^ company and Apple Corp. Ltd. and Apple Records, Inc., has arrived at an agreement whereby ABKCO will receive certain portions of the Beatles recording royalties.

All of which means Allen Klein is pretty f nch, indeed.

Gary Duncan has rejoined Quicksilver Messenger Service, bringing with him the infamous Dino Valente (“Let’s Get Together”). They’re now a crew of super-stars what with Nicky Hopkins and all.

In an unusual move, Ray Charles has re-signed with ABC Records after announcing several weeks ago that he was ending his distribution agreement with the company, for his Tangerine label. The first album issued under the new agreement will be Bay Charles Sings and Plays the Beatles and Ray Charles sings and Plays Ray Charles, a two record set.

Cont. Next Page

DETROIT-WABX promises to hold its free summer concerts in and on various city parks, lawns and cultural strongholds again this year. The first one will kick off at Tartar Field, site of most of last year’s rock fests, on May 24. Perenigl nice guy, Jerry Lubin is in charge.

WABX is also planning the killer TV ruse again; the first program was shown February 21 and featured Joe Cocker, Fleetwood Mac, Gordon Lightfoot, John Lee Hooker, and Terry Reid. Dangerous Dave Dixon will produce.

WABX The stations’s rock and roll news is being expanded. It’s slated to go twice a week instead of just once. The old Monday slot will be retained and in addition some Thursday news will be shot out to keep it together for the upcoming weekend.

Kinks Kancel

The Kinks have been forced to cancel their second swing around due to the illness of their drummer, Mick Avory. The tour ended when Avory’s doctor refused to let him continue because of a severe case of hepatitis. The group does, however, expect to be back in the States by June.

Avory, John Dalton and Dave Davies all flew back to London late last week while leader Ray Davies remained in New York with manager Grenville Collins to take part in talks

regarding the group’s next tour.

The West Coast tour planned for April has been canceled, though the group may come back for the Easter pop festival in Miami. The next full tour will begin in late May and may possibly be extended to cover all of the summer, if festival gigs come through.

The tour had been going well until the unexpected cancellation brought it to a halt; during one four day break Davies had flown back to London to do a dramatic television performance but otherwise the group had been in the States continuously since November.

L.A. - Reprise has negotiated contracts with two new, or old, rock groups, the Youngbloods and the Beach Boys. The company will handle the new Youngbloods’ label and also the Beach Boys’ Brother Records.

The move of the Youngbloods to Reprise was not really surprising since they had long been known to be dissatisfied with their old company, RCA, and have much in common with many of Reprise’ other acts.

The addition of the Beach Boys to Reprise comes as something of a shock, however, since tfye group had previously recorded some 22 albums and uncountable sincles for Capitol, the old distributor of Brother. The group has been on the wane for the past several years, though, and hopefully Reprise can give them the promotion necessary to rise again.

The Beach Boys have a single being released this week with an album due out in March. It’s not definite as to when the first Youngbloods’ material will be released.

The Holy Modal Rounders, who have been around longer than a lot of us would like to think about, have written the original score for Operation Sidewinder, in which they will also perform. The show starts March 12.

Dead Popped

NEW ORLEANS -The Grateful Dead were busted here for possession of marijuana in January. They were arrested in the same French Quarter hotel in which members of the Jefferson Airplane were popped in November.

Nineteen people were arrested in the Dead raid. They were in town to open up a new rock place, the “Warehouse”, which would be New Orleans first ballroom for rock groups.

The only group members not arrested were Ron “Pigpen” McKernan and T om Constanten. the group’s lead singer and drummer. Busted in the Dead’s entourage was the famous Owsley, LSD king chemist.

NEW YORK -Gene Ammons, who was recently released from prison in Illinois after spending seven years there for possession of one joint, has run into an incredible legal hassle.

It seems that Ammons can’t play in New York City because of a law which forbids parolees to play in bars. In order to get a special dispensation to do so, he must be photographed, have a doctor’s examination and an in person appearance before a board of Liquor Control Authorities.

Of course, even given that he does all that, they wouldn’t promise to grant him the permit.

Ammons was one of the premiere saxophonists of the early fifties. That he is being treated this way now is little short of incredible and terrifying, but not surprising, considering the way that New York City cabaret cards have traditionally been handled by the Authority. For example, Thelonius Monk, one of the true geniuses of modem jazz, was for years barred from playing New York clubs because of an ancient marijuana bust, and many other prominent jazz musicians have been from time to time denied access to what are virtually the only jazz clubs in the country.

NEW YORK - Sid Bernstein, who made his mark on rock and roll by producing the Beatles’ Shea Stadium concert and managing the Young Rascals, is planning an international pop festival in Appledom, Holland (20 miles from Amsterdam) for the first week in August. He is presently negotiating contracts with several European and American firms to sponsor the gala event. Phillips of Holland figures prominently in his plans’, with the idea being to hit on them for $1,000,000. He has also offered the Beatles $1 , 000,000 a night, for one to three nights of festing. But they’ve declined to answer.

CHICAGO - Chess is adding several new titles to its “Vintage Series”, including two anthologies Pop Origins and Souled Out. Both are collections of former hit singles recorded on Chess/Checker. This month’s Vintage release also includes five or six jazz albums.

LOS ANGELES-Tim Buckley, mopop of the month, has his first feature role in a film coming up, playing a musician. The film is entitled “Christian Licorice Store,” the title taken from Buckley’s song on his second album “Pleasant Street”. It’s a Michael McLaughlin production starring the unfortunate Beau Bridges.

Flash! John Sinclair, former MC5 manager, Chairman of the White Panther tribe of the Youth International Party, poet and hippie leader (?), has agreed to do an album with Bob Thiele of Flying Dutchman Records. The album will contain John’s poetry and speeches, recorded before he was imprisoned last July.

Free John!

PHIL A. -Pete Seeger appeared in a benefit concert, to a standing room only crowd of approximately 3,000, at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music, Sunday night, February 8th. The proceeds went to financially plagued Sing Out! magazine and "the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors.

Seeger virtually shared the concert’s spotlight with James Kirpatrick, a friend and co-worker of the late Martin Luther King. Kirpatrick said that he first met “brother Seeger” at Resurection City, in Washington, during the Poor Peoples Campaign.

The concert featured songs which dealt with the social problems facing us, including war, poverty, racism and environmental pollution. An added feature was a surprise appearance by Len Chandler, who got the audience to join in on many of the songs.

The Academy, accoustically one of the best concert halls in the world, rang with the sound of 3,000 people clapping their hands and joining in oh the singing. Seeger promised that he, Kirpatrick, and Chandler would return and added, “It’s great,, the music we make in here but what’s more important is what we do after we get out of here.”

Radio Free America

Roland Young fired a month or so ago from KSAN, San Francisco (see Creem Vol. 2 no. 9) is back on the air at KPFA, also in Frisco. Young was fired for broadcasting a listener’s statement supporting Black Panther Chief of Staff David Hilliard’s right to free speech. Young is also a news reporter for the Black Panther, the Party’s newspaper.

KPFA is a listener - supported station owned by Pacifica, while KSAN belongs to the gigantic Metromedia empire.

PHILA. -Talk about hype, Sweet Stavin’ Chain could give lessons in it. In an attempt to gain national fame for the group and its leader Danny Starobin, and to put Philadelphia back on the map as a center of rock and roll, a massive letter writing campaign is being promoted by the group.

In an effort announced in full page ads in local underground papers and on radio, Sweet Stavin’ Chain asked the Philly community to write letters to Hugh Hefner demanding that Starobin be put on the centerfold of Playboy magazine’s April issue. Letters are also being requested to be sent to Johnny Carson, asking that the band appear on his television show, and to the editor of Life Magazine requesting that a cover story be written about the band.

Starobin and company will soon be circulati ng petitions and holding “Write Ins” to help in the effort. Prizes will be given to those who write the most letters.

LOS ANGELES-A1 Kooper, supersession originator(so much so that his new Columbia release is called Kooper Session) is in Hollywood to score Norman Jewison’s film ( Landlord which stars Pearl Bailey, Diana Sands, Lee Grant and Beau Bridges. Jewison is the Canadian who directed “The Graduate”.

It seems that so many British bands have broken up and reformed under new names that it’s now time for them to break up and reform under the same old ones. Cases in point-Steve Winwood’s Traffic and Jimi Hendrix’ Experience. Both groups have reformed with their original personnel (Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Dave Mason, and Chris Wood in Traffic; Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding in the Experience.) and will be touring the states come spring. Or so they say.

Screamin’ Lord Sutch reports that the Stones have been signed to Warner Bros. Which Warner Brothers continues to deny. But it is virtually definite that the Stones have left London and are looking for a new company. Given Jagger’s statements about Apple, they probably won’t go that route so who knows? Even Motown, the rumors, say, is in the running.

NE WYORK-(LNS)-Abbie Hoffman’s Revolution for the Hell of It will be made into a feature-length movie by producer Hilliard Elkins and director Jacques Levy. Hoffman will help write the screen play(if he is not in prison, that is.)

Production is scheduled to begin in March on locations in New York, Washington, Chicago and other parts of the country. The film, based on Hoffman’s book, will use both actors and non-professionals.

Hoffman was convicted of “crossing state lines with intent to riot” February 18, however, as well as given an eight month contempt sentence by Judge Julius J. Hoffman on February 14. He is a member of the Chicago 7, popped for conspiracy to create a festival of life in Chicago in 1968. He is presently in prison pending the setting of appeal bond. And obviously innocent.

Due to nefarious rumors and stuff, Delaney and Bonnie with Eric, etc. failed to appear in Detroit on February 13. Advance ticket sales had virtually disappeared, due to constant rumors that Clapton and Co. would go over to the Eastown to jam with Jack Bruce, who was also in town that night.

Ticket sales picked up on the day of the gig but by then it was already too late. Robin Seymour is negotiating to bring ’em back in a couple of months or so; they even offered to play a freebie i so D&B freaks could see them here. H

Corporation, a Texas firm, was the financial backer of the show, and it was they who backed out.

MGM is preparing the soundtrack album for “Zabriskie Point”,which will include music personally selected by director Michelangelo Antonini. Titles include John Fahey’s “Dance of Death”, “Dark Star” by the Grateful Dead, “I Wish I Was A Single Girl Again” by country singer Roscoe Holcomb ...(A Bob Dylan favorite), “Tennessee Waltz” by Patti Page (!?!?!), the Rolling Stones’ “You Got the Silver”, “Sugar Babe” by the Youngbloods and several original compositions. The original music consists of three songs by Pink Floyd, 2 by Kaleidoscope, 1 by Viva (viva!), and one by Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead.

Zabriskie Point is Antonini’s first American made film.

Sick Stone

Sly Stone canceled his second Detroit appearance in the last three months February 20th, again at the last minute and again because of “illness”. Stone was reported to have collapsed after his performance February 13 at Madison Square Garden. He has been told to relax and not perform for' at least two months. Two rumors were flying about in New York, one that Stone is down due to his liver and another that he has bleeding ulcers.