THE BEAT GOGS ON

TH& BEAT GOGS ON

Beach Boys Make New Waves

New York City has been remarkably clear of pollution in recent days — clean air, crisp outlines, energy and sun. But then again, the Beach Boys have been here and always cut through the metropolitan muck.

The West Coast may be their environs, but New York audiences bide time between their infrequent appearances and tickets are gone shortly after they’re offered for sale. Three nights at Carnegie Hall and other local stops were all SRO. Of interest: a vague irritation among critics during their last tour grew this time and reached print in almost all of the reviews — the irritation with selfishness of that small part of audiences who can’t wait for all the surfing hits and won’t shut up for newer, more developed work. Even when it is announced at the beginning of the show that oldies but goldies will all be sung at the end of the show, moppets from various boroughs nervously shout for mother’s milk. Reds, speed, or what, no one can put their finger on what causes it, but the syndrome is evident with the audiences of major, older, rock groups, but doubly noticeable when the Beach Boys perform, because their newer material asks for listening. Consensus in rock critics was that the newer material was even finer than the old, and we would have to suffer the yelping somehow. Reproducing their full studio sound in performance, the Beach Boys are travelling with an extended family ofhorns, assorted percussion, keyboards, synthesizer, guitars and Mike Love on theremin.

The addition of Blondie Chaplin (guitar, bass) and Ricky Fataar (drums) from The Flame, a South African band, has proved a boon. Fataar, 19, has been playing drums steadily “for about ten years.” While young, he has the experience and ability which playing behind the Beach Boys requires. He also sings well. Happily, rumors to the contrary, Dennis Wilson is still there, now playing keyboards and singing some of his newer songs. Chaplin, 20, a very good guitarist, who played with The Flame for “about four or five years” is a knockout singer, too, a natural when he takes the lead on “Wild Honey.”

The band leaves in May for a European tour, but they have other plans afoot. Though long in demand in South Africa, they have refused to tour there. Now, with the addition of Chaplin and Fataar, they have laid groundwork for public appearances in that racist hellhole. According to South Africa’s divination, Fataar is “Colored,” Chaplin “Other Colored.” It would be the first time a South African non-white appeared onstage with whites. The Beach Boys, whose radical politics are essentially pacifist, would like to blow some minds. South Africa will have trouble if they let them in, but would probably have more trouble if they attempted to keep them out. Since the breakup of the Beatles, the Beach Boys are South Africa’s favorite rock band.

In line with the projected tour there, the group has been organizing pressure in Washington to force American firms with investments in South Africa to comply with the 1964 Civil Rights Act as amended, action that in the past CORE, SNCC, SDS, fought for and that black liberation groups are still trying to get.

The Beach Boys will also be going back into the studio again soon. Among new songs which will be heard will be material written by Fataar and Chaplin. A new album, Carl & The Passions, is expected sometime in May.

Good Rats Never Die ...

Responding to a letter a couple of issues back, an upstate New Yorker phoned in up-to-date information on a classically obscure New York band called the. Good Rats. The band, assumed dead by those few of us fortunate enough to have run across their fine 1968 album on Kapp, is apparently very much alive and getting their engines primed for a second bout with the recording industry.

As the situation was relayed to us, the band now calls itself Marcello (after their lead singer) and collectively owns a bar/club in Glen Cove, Long Island called Back Alley Sally’s. The club is apparently notorious for its bacchanale celebrations (the drinks were reported to cost only a quarter), and the band itself plays on weekends. Weekday nights will most usually find them playing at any number of bars throughout New York State, and, we are told, leaving enthusiastic impressions wherever they appear. They have produced a second album independently, and are now involved in the long and laborious process of finding a major label to purchase it. If it’s anywhere near as good as the first, it will be something to be on the lookout for. Just thought you might like to know . . .

High Times Upstairs

One of the most distressing rock and casualties of the late Sixties was the small club. Pressure-cookers for scenes building around all forms of music, they began to fall off when the ego of the musicians demanded larger pocketbook gratification: the small club gave way to the ballroom, which in turn gave way to the concert hall and ampitheatre. The tragic consequence of this growth pattern is that it serves to disrupt the artist/ audience intimacy which has always been the strength of any music.

New York, with the Bitter End and the Gaslight, has managed to maintain some semblance of a small club scene, due largely to the booking leverage which they have built up over a long period of time. When a new club can make a go of it without such established leverage, however, it must certainly be seen as a healthy sign. Such is the case with Upstairs at Max’s Kansas City, and it marks the juncture of some of the forces which helped to make it happen the first time around.

Photos by

The upstairs room at the popular nitery has occasionally been opened in the past — for engagements such as the Velvet Underground, Alice Cooper, and the Sidewinders — but never as an ongoing public institution. When we visited the club in mid-March, however, the atmosphere was such that one could easily assume it had been there all along.

The club comfortably seats over 200 people, with drinks served up from the bar downstairs. Playing on the night we visited was Tidbits, an excellent young band which has made their name on their effortless ability to have a good time and show the audience the same. Between numbers there was a running dialogue between members of the band and the audience, creating a genuinely personal framework for the musicaj goings-on. Given the opportunity for involvement, members of the audience responded by investing more of themselves than you’ll ever find is the case at Madison Square Garden.

The Upstairs is run by Sam Hood, who managed the Gaslight when that club virtually fostered the folk resurgence in the early Sixties. His experience brings to the club an efficiency which is never allowed to interfere with the basic musical experience. Also actively involved is Arthur Gorson, who came to prominence as the manager of such as Phil Ochs, Tom Rush and Eric Andersen. He’s currently mounting a media assault under the name of No Soap Music, which encompasses management, production and radio projects.

Artists who have already appeared at the club include John Herald (former lead singer with the Greenbriar Boys and an exceptionally talented performer), Exuma, David Blue and Elephant’s Memory. To see small clubs like Upstairs at Max’s succeed would be a welcome dose of the kind of medicine we’re all in need of. What’s happening where you live?

Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters’ London Supersessions

Chuck Berry arid Muddy Waters both have new albums coming out which were recorded in London with a crew of cracker-jack British rock an rollers. Perhaps inspired by the success of the Howlin’ Wolf London Sessions lp, producer Esmond Edwards - who took the photos shown here - went to England on tour with Muddy in December and with Berry in February, cutting new albums while they were in London.

Muddy's album features Steve Tinwood, Rick Grech, the long-lost ex Hendrix Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell, Rory Gallagher, Georgie Fame (!) and a host of others. The album features several tracks on which a four piece horn section is used, as well as one cut (“Walkin’ Blues”) on which only Muddy and guitarist Sam Lawhorn perform. Titles include “Key to the Highway,” “I’m Ready,” “Blind Man Blues,” “I’m Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town” and “Who’s Gonna Be Your Sweet Man When I’m Gone.”

The Berry album features one studio side and one live side. The live tracks were recorded ^t Coventry,, during an outdoor festival held there on February 3rd. Berry’s band for that date included personnel mostly from the Roy Young Band: Robbie McIntosh on drums, Owen McIntyre on guitar, Dave Cafinetti on piano and Nic Potter on bass.

The studio tracks have more stellar personnel: Ian MacLaglen and Kenny Jones of the Faces on piano and drums, respectively, Grech on bass and Derek Griffiths on guitar.

Berry recorded mostly new songs in the studio — “Let’s Boogie,” an old Little Walter tune called “Mean Old World,” “I Will Not Let You Go,” and an instrumental called “London Berry Blues” — while the live material is drawn from his vast catalogue of rock legends: “Reelin’ and Rockin’,” “My Ding-A-Ling” (What Berry calls musisex.) and “Johnny B. Goode.”

As for the rest, the pictures tell the story. Don’t they?

Weed Legalized .. . Sort Of

In a 6-1 decision on March 9, the Michigan State Supreme Court ruled that the state’s existing marijuana laws were invalid. Until the new state laws on the subject went into effect on April 1, therefore, the ruling created a situation where marijuana was technically legal throughout the greater part of Michigan.

The court ruled that the classification of grass as a harmful narcotic (which put it in the same category as

life-draining heroin) violated the equal protection clause of the United States Constitution. The court’s decision was directly related to the 2Vi years spent in prison by John Sinclair (which, the court finally agreed, constituted “cruel and unusual punishment”) and may be traced in no small part to the work of the Rainbow People’s Party on behalf of the then-imprisoned Sinclair.

During the period when the state laws were declared to be invalid, decent citizens in certain communities were protected by city ordinances controlling the devious drug. In lovely Walled Lake (the home of CREEM) however, no such law existed on the books, and one diligent CREEM staffer took it upon himself to investigate the situation more closely. Lighting up a joint in a local laundromat, he waited for a reaction so that he might explain the situation to any interested parties. The only person who seemed to notice was a wizened old derelict, who inquired as to whether the reporter could spare another one of those “French cigarettes”. Oh well....

Mark Farner Please Call Home

We were more than a little surprised at the news of a press conference to be held in Grand Funk manager Terry Knight’s New York office on Tuesday, March 21st. Not much had been heard from our Boy Wonders since their last tour, the first in some time that hadn’t sold out every stop, and rumors had begun to abound. At last, we thought, some order will be given the tales.

But we couldn’t go to the press conference, being mired in Walled Lake, so a friend and contributor went for us. “The press conference was held,” he reported, “in what I assume was Terry Knight’s own office at Capitol Records in New York: the walls covered with a leatherette fake pigskin, the floors in a pumpkin, thick-pile rug, a sofa, chairs,' very ‘masculine’ as the decorating magazines would have it; a box of a desk in a kind of burled wood formica; on the walls, photos of the group and framed posters from Shea Stadium and a French appearance; behind the desk, a row of framed gold records gleaming in the lights from the tv cameras. The room was crowded with press, sitting on the ledges of the window wall, standing all around the room which ain’t really big enough for this sort of thing, trying to see through the cameras and the cameramen. Terry Knight entered froni a door to the side, and sat behind his desk, looking cool in a maroon turtleneck jersey.

“His statement was then passed out. He read it like a drama student. It was written for a drama student, and read in his .usual hyperbole. No exclamation marks in it or his delivery but high drama nevertheless.”

We received a copy of the statement, on Terry Knight Enterprises Stationery. It begins:

“After having devoted the better part of the last three years of my life to the creation, development, promotion and direction of the world renowned rock group known as Grand Funk Railroad, I was shocked to learn froip indirect and unofficial sources that another man was alleging to persons and firms with whom we have contractual and other relationships, that he was the sole and exclusive representative of the group known as Grand Funk Railroad.

“These shocking and unbelievable statements came but five days following a meeting and dinner in my home with the members of the group at which time nothing was said whatsoever relating to any such other individual being involved in the group’s professional affairs.

“Further, the group’s attorney . . . ; had held numerous discussions both in the offices Of GFR Enterprises Ltd. in New York and with the individuals in their own homes in Michigan. No such statements were supported, nor references made to any third party entering into our mutual business relationships.”

The statement went on, in the same tone, to describe the events of “Monday afternoon, March 13th” when Knight received a call from the assistant manager of Chase Manhattan Bank “advising me that a man had just left his office after attempting to change the signatures of those empowered to withdraw funds from the GFR Enterprises, Ltd1, account... ”

The man was identified, Knight continued, as John L. Eastman, famed New York showbiz attorney and Beatle nepotist. “I immediately placed a telephone call to the secretary of GFR Enterprises, Ltd., Donald Brewer (the group’s drummer).. . He informed me at that time that John L. Eastman had been authorized to act as attorney oh his individual behalf...”

At a later meeting, Knight says, Eastman informed him that he was representing Brewer “in strictly an investigatory manner” only concerning Don’s personal affairs.

But, Terry added, Eastman also said that he was acting as attorney for the other two members of the band, Mark Farner and Mel Schacher. “I received no substantiation of that allegation from any of the members of Grand Funk Railroad until yesterday morning, five days after our meeting, at which time I received a letter signed by the members ... to the effect that John L. Eastman of Eastman and Eastman was to act in their behalf and that I was no longer to represent or act as a manager or representative of the group.

“I was further advised that any and all agreements including management, recording or otherwise were ‘terminated.’

“There was not then nor has there ever been a single word spoken in explanation of this outrageous, unfounded, inexcusable attempt to stifle my career.”

Terry added that, if the contract was terminated, the result would be “disastrous financial consequences, the scope of which cannot be imagined.” He mentioned the group’s contract with Capitol and the scheduled appearance of Grand Funk for a week long engagement at Madison Square Garden in June, a move unprecedented in rock. Knight then opened himself up to questions from the press. “He sees Eastman’s move as ‘an attempt to push me out of the picture,’ ” our friend reported. “ ‘These boys whom I have known for eight years have been taken aside,’ he said, with the same sense of melodrama, ‘and persuaded to make this move . . . enticed and induced by some means unknown to me.’

Knight then announced that he was suing John Eastman for five million dollars for “inducement to breach” his contract with the band. He wasn’t suing Grand Funk, he said, but instead was bringing the matter before the American Arbitration Association, “seeking to enjoin them from further breach . of contract.”

Knight also said that he was calling for a new record to be released (“provided the public” in his term) within the next thirty days.

“In closing,” the statement concluded, “I wish to point out that I have specifically refrained from seeking punitive damages in any amount at this time from Grand Funk Railroad. I simply cannot believe that a career which has in less than three years taken three young men from obscurity in Flint, Michigan to the highest pinnacle in the entertainment industry could be so deliberately divided both aesthetically and financially.

“Accordingly, I have taken approapriate steps to stop this outrage.”

“When asked how he arrived at the five million figure, he said something about ‘the damages to me are inestimable.’

“Asked about his cut of their money, Knight said he would rather not go into that. He always seemed to be reading from some invisible cue card, in this unreal press release language that yet seemed quite natural for him — guess he’s been doing this for such a long time, it seems the only way to communicate.

“His final statement was, ‘I’m fighting for more than my business life — I’m fighting for one of ihe greatest contributions to the youth of the world.’ Whew.”

According to sources in New York, the split came as a result of a several hundred thousand dollar oil deal Knight had made with the group’s money as a “tax shelter.” Apparently, one of Knight’s associates then told the group that the whole deal was blown, so that they not only didn’t get the tax shelter, they didn’t have the money then either. But other complications do exist.

It had been thought that the group had resigned with Knight — who has the Capitol contact, the group not being signed to Capitol but rather to Terry in a straight production deal — when they acquired their own label with the release of E Pluribus Funk. As it turns out, they didn’t resign, and the contract supposedly expires in June.

Further, the group is reportedly upset by the fact that Knight allegedly is taking over 50% perhaps as much as 75% of the group’s royalites.

A number of parties have been rumored to have the inside track as the band’s new manager, but the most likely choice is apparently Jack Calmes, who owns Showco Sound and also manages Bloodrock, Freddie King and Uriah Heep.

Ah, but it wasn’t over yet. On March 26, we received a telegram which read, as follows:

LAW SUITS TOTALLING 55 MILLION CHARGING FALSE DOCUMENTS, FRAUD AND CONSPIRACY AGAINST GRAND FUNK RAILROAD AND JOHN L. EASTMAN AND INVOLVING MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, INC., WILL BE DETAILED BY TERRY KNIGHT AT A PRESS CONFERENCE IN HIS OFFICES, CAPITOL RECORDS, 1370 SIXTH AVENUE, 16TH FLOOR, TUESDAY, MARCH 28, 11:30 A.M. THIS IS A NEW MAJOR DEVELOPMENT IN TERRY KNIGHT’S 5 MILLION LAWSUIT AGAINST JOHN L. EASTMAN IN WHICH HE CHARGES EASTMAN WITH “DELIBERATE, WRONGFUL AND MALICIOUS INTERFERENCE WITH THE CONTRACTUAL RELATIONSHIP” BETWEEN HIMSELF AND GRAND FUNK.

RSVP SHELDON ROSKIN 867-8500

Once more we dredged our friend out of bed and shuttled him off to those masculine walls. He reported:

“Upon closer examination, the desk doesn’t look like wood-like formica but a huge block of solid marble set on a smaller mirror-finish metal block. Very impressive; except it might still be formica.

“T. Knight was wearing white duck pants and blue turtleneck, looking more worn than before. One of the gold records is slightly crooked.

“This time Terry was much more guarded about statements and frequently turned to his attorney, seated beside him, who answered most of the questions turned to him in evasive legal remarks.”

From notes of the press conference: “ ... as of this moment, GFR is halted in its tracks... I don’t know where GFR is at this moment; I don’t know whether they’re locked in a room somewhere or ... I have a very grave concern as to where they are ...”

Asked whether he anticipated hearing from them as a result of the suit, Knight replied, “I couldn’t say, but we’ll certainly hear from them in court.”

Our correspondent continued, “Since most of the questions were inevitably more legal than the first conference, there were fewer satisfactory answers and no exciting ones. I asked him about the meaning of a ‘blank resolution’ mentioned in point (b) page 2 of the statement but they referred me to the document on record at the court and wouldn’t give any indication in nonlegalistic terms what this meant.”

Knight’s announcement, in terms of impact, was pretty much summed up in the telegram. The tone of the statement was, however, revelatory; Terry’s original statement had been almost along the lines “all right boys, let’s sit down and talk things over — let by-gones be bygones, water under the bridge and all that.” Well, apparently, the bridge has washed out and the trestles have fallen down. There’s trouble in Grand Funk nation, brothers and sisters, and it looks like civil war.

“I have, however, upon information and belief,” read the statement, “learned of the following:

“(a) That on date or dates prior to 10th day of March, 1972, Mark Farner, Donald Brewer and Melvin Schacher willfully, maliciously and deliberately schemed, plotted, planned and conspired together with John L. Eastman to prevent the carrying out of the necessary and proper business affairs of GFR Enterprises, Ltd. by illegally attempting to remove me as President, Director and General Manager of the Corporation.

“ . .. I have ... as a stockholder of GFR Enterprises, Ltd. and on behalf of all other stockholders similarly situated instituted law suits against Mark Farner, Donald Brewer, Mel Schacher and John L. Eastman which total Ten Million ($10,000,000.00) Dollars.” -

The statement went on to say that the film of the Shea Stadium concert was now being claimed “individually” by Farner, Schacher and Brewer, “notwithstanding the knowledge that the Corporation is the sole owner of not only the film but also the name ‘Grand Funk Railroad.’ ”

For this Knight’s statement continued, he was suing the foursome (Mark, Don, Mel and Paul’s father-inlaw) for an additional ten million dollars.

Furthermore, the statement continued, “on March 2, 1972, GRF Enterprises, Ltd. entered into a contract agreement with Madison Square Garden Center Incorporated for a series of concert engagements there in June with the full knowledge, consent, approval and at the direction of the members of Grand Funk Railroad. In accordance with the terms of that contract, the Corporation deposited the sum of Ten Thousand ($10,000.00) Dollars as the initial deposit due.

“On March 23, 1972, the attorneys for GFR Enterprises Ltd. were notified that Madison Square Garden had received a telephone call from Donald Brewer who represented that he was a performed with Grand Funk Railroad and he therefore advised Madison Square Garden that Grand Funk Railroad would not be performing pursuant to their contract.”

For this, Knight said, in conclusion of a sentence which is a fully Bangsian seventeen lines long, he was suing for an additional $5,000,000.00

In all of these suits, Knight had filed as a stockholder of GFR Enterprises, and on behalf of all other stockholders in GFR. In addition to that, he added, the Corporation, itself, was suing, the Boys in the Band and Eastman for a total of $25 million dollars.

And then, this: “For each and every allegation hereinbefore discussed and for the conspiracy and plot to defame and malign and injure my name and reputation and for the false and defamatory statements made to bank officials which were intended by their maker and were understood by the bank officials to whom they were made that I was unfit to hold office as the President and Chief Operating Officer of GFR Enterprises Ltd., and was unfit to hold employment in my chosen field .and for the extreme anxiety, mental strain, anguish and suffering and physical and emotional distress these acts have occasioned, I have individually instituted law suits against Mark Farner, Donald Brewer, Melvin Schacher and John L. Eastman seeking damages which total an additional Five Million ($5,000,000.00) Dollars.”

It looks ridiculous, we all agreed, but we don’t really have any concrete solutions about what to do about it. You can’t take sides, because Terry really did help to build this band, as surely as any manager had ever done. And even as 'much as our sympathies lie with Mark and Don and Mel as representatives — even surrogates — for ourselves — well, there’s something painful about the break-up of anything which has looked so familial.

We tried to reach Mark Farner. He was off in Georgia, buying horses for his farm near Flint. We didn’t really have any idea of how to get hold of the other two Funks. And Terry can’t talk much these days, because of the lawsuits. Don’t suppose the band could either, if we did get hold of one or all of them. Eastman — well, Eastman isn’t talking but he’s an afterthought anyway.

We switched off the typewriter, went upstairs and turned on Survival. Loud.

Return Of The Screaming Lord14.1

We picked up the phone the other day, and on the other end was old friend Lord David Sutch, the Fifth Earl of Harrow and a veritable walking history of British rock and roll. Though Lord Sutch has released two albums in this country (the latest being Hands Of Jack The Ripper), few people Stateside are aware of the extent of his history.

The saga began in 1960 with an outrageous (even by today’s standards) rock and roll outfit called Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages. The band immediately carved a name for themselves with the bizarre novelty of their live shows and a fixation on old horror movie themes. At this time Sutch’s hair measured a full eighteen inches (I960?), and was given to stunts like rising from coffins or breaking out of cages. The band’s repertoire consisted mostly of imported rock (they being “hooked on Chuck Berry” by Sutch’s own admission, and they often spiced up these tunes with provocative theatrics. (In “Great Balls Of Fire”, for example, they’d light bonfires around the stage, and they were even known to bring on a live Himalayan bear for performances of — what else — “Running Bear”) Next to such as Cliff Richard and the Shadows, they looked almost obscene.

Over the years, the Savages have springboarded many illustrious names: Nicky Hopkins, Jeff Beck, Matthew Fisher, Jimmy Page, Mickey Waller, Vince Melouney, Noel Redding and Keith Moon. His original rhythm section of Rick Brown and Carlo Little left the band to join the Rolling Stones but returned shortly thereafter, convinced that the Stones would never become a viable proposition.

The band had several minor British hits with songs like “All Black & Hairy” and “I’m A Hog For You Baby”, but their theatrical antics established them in a way which easily outdistanced record sales. Lord Sutch, with his outrageous appearance and rock and roll sensibility, was almost immediately touted as the symbol of the developing rock and roll lifestyle in Great Britain.

He put his symbolic value to concrete application when, in 1964, he ran for Parliament in youthful opposition to Harold Wilson on the Teenage Party ticket. In his platform he called for the 18 year old vote, commercial radio (all stations were government supervised) and tax reform, all of which have since come to pass. He additionally called for Buckingham Palace to be converted into a housing development, and the establishment of a Beat College for up-andcoming musicians. Despite the fact that nearly all of his potential voters were well below the voting age, he put on a remarkably respectable showing on election day. Pictures of him sharing a victory cigar with Wilson even reached Time, and the symbolic victory was of no small importance.

Not long after, in opposition to English policy government-controlled radio (which, he logically maintained, was tailored to suit only the taste of the voters), he instituted the first of the pirate stations — Radio Sutch — on a fishing boat three miles off the coast. He played all the rock and roil which the BBC wouldn’t go near, and spotlighted tapes sent in by local bands, thereby helping to give the growing scene a much-needed sense of substance. He insists that his “weather reports were better than any of the BBC’s programs,” and that surely must have been the case, for the government worked long and hard to close him down. When they finally did, however, several others (Radio London, Radio Caroline) were there to follow his lead.

American audiences, introduced to Lord Sutch only through records, actually carry a somewhat distorted view of him. He’s not so much a singer as a performer, and the difference is that between a record and a live show. He respects his audience enough know that he is responsible for providing them with something more than just another show. “What I’m selling,” he told us, “is an atmosphere .... good times. And good times will outlast any record album.” The proof of that pudding is Sutch himself: although he’s never had a real hit record in Europe, after twelve years he’s still in constant demand as a performer, and draws huge audiences wherever he appears.

Why then, you might well ask, is it that Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages have never toured here in the States? The answer is quite simply that David’s presentation requires several people and a considerable amount of equipment and assorted props, and such great traveling costs could only be absorbed if the demand for Lord Sutch became great enough. Translated, it means ya gotta have a hit. We hope that Sutch makes it, not nearly as much for him as for us. Genuine showmen are hard to come by; and with twelve years of experience, few can lay claim to the authenticity which has always been the trademark of Screaming Lord Sutch.