Dear CREEM:

There’s a thing that needs straightening out. John Mendelsohn credits Bonzo Dog Band with the line used for the title of his column, “We Are Normal And We Want Our Freedom”. That line comes awfully close to one from Love’s Forever Changes album, “We’re all normal and we want our freedom,” which I believe preceded any Bonzo Dog albums. Whoever ripped off whatever from whomever, I think the incident goes to show the lack of attention being paid to what I think is a much underrated group, especially by people in Detroit.

I mean, I went to the Eastown on Christmas weekend to see Love, and I could not dig the kids who tried to boo them off the stage in order to hasten Alice Cooper’s appearance much as I like Alice Cooper too.

Thanks for the review of the Love albums.

Free John Sinclair!

Doug Van Tol

Aurora, Illinois

Dear CREEM:

Ah, what a frying pan the soul is slapped in when once you get your words in print! If I got burned by every poison-BIC hatenote from yokels in the toolies, I’d probly be a walking hamburger by now.

So this is the only time I’m gonna answer one o’ these this year. Probably cause this letter was so loaded with nitwhism that I can think of lotsa hotshot comebacks I might not have for the Mensa-ating Wayne McGuire scholars.

DEAR MR. 8 BALL:

Does that meaq yer the last one to go down the drain?

I met yer brother Hockey Puck one time at a fish fry in Chattanooga an’ I swore there must be something strange about that family when I saw him gulp down 28 still-screaming polliwogs in a row and when I asked him why he grinned: “Shows class, man!”

I could go on with more of this kickass invective, but it suddenly occurs to me that all men are brothers and there’s too much ugliness in the world

already.

Take care of yourself, Dogface. e

Lester “Satrap” Bangs

El Cajon, Ca.

Dear CREEMen and CREEwomen:

Just a note of thanks for bringing portions of our jazz catalog to the attention of your readers. Although Delmark began life as a jazz label, and in spite of the fact that more than half of the albums we have released have been in the jazz field, and in spite of our dubbing the 600-series ROOTS OF JAZZ all too few people (among the few who know of Delmark) think of us as a blues label and ignore the jazz releases.

Our plans for 1970 may interest you. To clear the decks and take some load off the shoulders of my assistant Bruce Iglauer (who is busy enough with his own fine magazine, Living Blues) I have given away the Jazz Record Mart mail-order department to Bill Lindeman who will be able to take it over immediately because he once worked for JRM in this capacity. This will enable Bruce, my wife Susan and myself to concentrate purely on Delmark activity. And Delmark will concentrate on jazz in 1971. Because of the wider spectrum of jazz and the greater market potential (a potential we never realized as fully, percentagewise, as we did the blues series) there will probably be more jazz on Delmark in 1971 than blues. All phases of jazz except shit-jazz and cocktail piano jazz and burned-out-imitation-dixieland jazz will be covered. George Lewis, Frank Chace, Dewey Jackson, Art Hodes and Earl Hines will be among the traditional artists represented in the 200 series. Anthony Braxton, Richard Abrams and other AACM artists will appear — we hope to be able, to record Joseph Jarman, etc. when they return from France early in the year, along with bop musicians such as Ira Sullivan, Sonny Stitt, Wynton Kelly and I am going to finally be able to release a second album by the Grant Green-Jimmy Forrest-Elvin Jones-Harold Mabern group because we have had a 400% rise in sales of their original album, All the Gin is Gone (404). Perhaps we can finally pry the second Archie Shepp-N.Y. Contemporary 5 album from Danish Storyville, and there’s some other excellent Europe recorded jazz available to us.

Finally we have a great blues scene in the offing. The February release of four albums will, I think, mainly serve to kick off the neglected career of Mighty Joe Young on the concert circuit. He will also appear on the Warner Bros, albums of the Ann Arbor Blues Festival, accompanying Turner and Vinson and this won’t hurt him at all, as he did a very creditable job. Roosevelt Sykes will probably not be able to carry a band with him wherever he travels but we hope that if there are festivals, he will be considered in this orientation. (Robert) Lockwood came to the AABF on his own last year — we hope his travel will be subsidized by bookings this year. And the honkies’ discovery of blues piano might be hastened and augmented by our anthology, Blues Piano Orgy.

Since Prestige is selling out to Fantasy, and Verve, World Pacific and Solid State (including Pacific Jazz) are being phased out by their conglomerate ownerships, and Cadet is inactive, it would seem that the jazz recording scene will be in the hands of the giant labels (ABC, CBS, etc.) and the tiny ones. I suppose (Chris “Arhoolie”) Strachwitz, (Bernard ‘ESP”) Stollman, Revelation, myself and Nessa may find ourselves with a vacuum to fill. Jazz has been in a hardship situation, even in the ghettoes of Amerika lately, but the generation seems to be discovering it in all its many forms. (We experience weekly the pleasant scene of kids picking up Jarman, Jelly Roll and Coleman Hawkins in one purchase.)

And would you believe a folk singer for Delmark — a guy who’s as creative and groovy as any blues or jazz-men we’ve issued? Who writes songs like “That Flag Decal on Your Car Won’t Get You Into Heaven” and “There’s a Hole in Daddy’s Arm”? Well, we haven’t signed him but I think we will be issuing the first recording by the first folk-singer I ever listened to who wasn’t more actor than singer-writer.

O.K. I guess you’ve had enough Delmark hype for one day. Wail on.

Bob Koester

Delmark Records

Chicago, Ill.

Dear, CREEM:

I am writing just to add a word of praise and encouragement — I have been reading CREEM regularly for only about three months but I find it to be Continued

the best paper on rock I have seen. With all the bullshit in Rolling Stone and the weirdness of Fusion, et. al., your paper is a welcome pleasure and insight into our culture. I especially enjoy Dave Marsh’s and Lester Bang’s articles. The piece on the Stooge’s is a classic — like Lester, it took me a while to get into Funhouse, but once I did, it was dynamite. And Dave really hits home with his review (?) of Grand Funk’s Live album. The line: “Grand Funk gives people what they want and the scary part is not that they do that, it’s that people want it... ” really hit home.

A few weeks ago, there was a concert here, with the MC5, Bob Seger and the Amboy Dukes (sadly, I think the Stooges were supposed to be here instead of MC5 but they weren’t. . . ) The MC5 wasn’t very good, while Bob Seger did a dynamite set — but the Amboy Dukes performance, which, lest I get carried away, was worse than Grand Funk on a bad night! And do you know what? Everybody in the auditorium, I believe, loved it They were screaming for more of the lead guitarist’s unbelievably bad riffs. Oh well, I won’t go on here because I’m sure you get the message. But it’s strange . . .

Anyway, keep on keepin’ on, cause you’re really into some fine shit.

Moe (of the Bird) Atlanta, Georgia

(Moe’s Bird, to be precise, is the Great Speckled Bird of Atlanta, the city’s dynamite underground paper. It’s undoubtedly one of the two or three finest undergrounds on the planet and may be written to at: The Great Speckled Bird, Box 54495, Atlanta, Ga. 30308. Subscription for the weekly newspaper is $6 a year and it’s well worth it. It’s on our recommended reading list, to be sure.)

Dear Editor.

I’ve just received your Vol. 2 No. 18 magazine through the hand me down method* At first I was pleased at your articles but then I saw your record reviews. They stunk! That guy, Alexander Icenine, didn’t give Led Zeppelin any concrete judgement. He just wrote his own little ego trip at the expense of Led Zeppelin III. The same

holds true for Michael Ross’s massacre of John Lennon’s album and Gus Soline’s debauchery of Dylan’s New Morning. This was tolerable, but Dave Marsh’s views of the music of the sixties which made the Pakistan disaster look like the first spring shower compared to today’s music which Dave thought was the forty days of rain which killed the earth. First, his article was supposed to be a review of Grand Funk’s live album which at the end he admits to not even listening to in its entirety. How bad is that! I feel that the Beatles were pretty good, maybe even better after they descended tp “putrified prissiness” in ’67. He proceeds to tear down Blind Faith, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jeff Airplane, Nice, Brian Auger arid the Trinity, (anybody who calls Jules Driscoll and “abortion” has got to be crazy). Robert Plant, Grand Funk Railroad, and finally the fans themselves. What is this, a record review or a condemnation of rock on the whole? Your mag is supposed to cater to the rock crowd. Music and the musicians is your topic. Don’t rip it to shreds. Give your magazine a chance and give the people like the Beatles and Led Zeppelin some credit for the market that they have left you.

You also give an offer to anyone who would like to submit articles for publication. I’d like to write record reviews for you. I guarantee that they would not receive any adverse opinions for the style in which they would be written. Maybe I would draw criticism because I happen to like groups like the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppeling, Creedence Clearwater Revival, etc. With a world full of hate where the flower children want love, why not spare all the hate in your record columns. I’d write you a review now but my record buying budget is empty and I still gotta buy John Lennon’s album.

Thank you,

Jim Gedicke

Notre Dame, Ind.

(Just to clear one thing up - CREEM is a musical magazine in the sense that we write about music as the source and substance of our culture. A primary fount of energy, not the be-all and end-all. And we don’t “cater to” anyone. Especially music and musicians, since that’s been too much of a policy in the youth culture for too long, And. .. well, “Stop children/What’s the

sound?/Everybody better look what’s goin down ” - Ed.)

Dear CREEM:

Just picked up on the Frijid Pink’s new album, Defrosted. They are no weak link. Wow!

Bill Krohn

Kalamazoo, Mich.

Dear CREEM:

Well, fuckin’ Dave Marsh man, got to be a killer rock and roll maniac. Me too, man. Be’s that way sometimes! The Brownsville Station review was a killer! B.S. is one of the best rock and roll bands I’ve ever seen and I can testify. In the times I’ve seen ’em work out, I danced and carried on through the whole thang. My body was sore for two days. Well, Detroit is rock and roll Jim! (Oh yeah, can you believe* Rolling Stone gave B.S. an ace review. Right on!)

Bob Kubat 4

E. Detroit, Mich.

Dear CREEM:

Thanks for existing as a paper dealing with music and art as part of the New National totality. Your latest issue really totalled me, especially John (Sinclair)’s piece on liberation music. I saw your rec in Sun/Dance, and am now hooked for life. Enclosed is the five and a half honk for a subscription and that copy of Funhouse.

John Sinclair’s work deserves a wider audience. Will a collection of it be coming out soon? And are back issues of your sheet available?

REVOLUTION IN OUR LIFETIME,

Charlie Stevenson

Baltimore Md.

(John should have a book out soon, called Street Writings/Prison Writings, publisher as yet indefinite, though the book most assuredly will be out. It’ll be an anthology of his writings from the beatnik days all the way to his incarceration and then the writings since he has been imprisoned.

Back issues of CREEM are available for 50c apiece from CREEM, 3729 Cass, Detroit Michigan. Some numbers are not available; that includes all of Volume 1 and Vol. 2 No. 1 and 13. Let us know if you’ve got any of those and we can maybe work out a deal. -Ed.)