It's rare in music history when you can trace a major change to one person. In the case I'm going to talk about today you arguably can. Gram Parsons died September 19th 1973 of a drug and alcohol overdose. He had battled various addictions for years. All the while he was in the process of melding country and rock music into what we eventually called country-rock. Parsons was a smart guy from a wealthy Florida family who got interested in country music while at Harvard. He formed a group called the International Submarine Band in 1966 and an interesting album was released but not until the band had already broke up. Parsons joined the Byrds in 1968 and convinced them to make the country Lp “Sweethearts of the Rodeo”. He wanted to futher explore the intersection of rock, country, folk and blues so he and Chris Hillman left the Byrds and formed the Flying Burrito Brothers. The Burritos, featuring the harmonies of Parsons & Hillman and the fuzzy steel guitar of Sneaky Pete Kleinow released a groundbreaking piece of work called “The Gilded Palace of Sin”. With their long hair, rhinestone studded Nudie suits and hippie vibe, they played the honky-tonks of California along with bigger venues like the Fillmore West trying to convince cowboys and rednecks that this amalgam of two different types of music could meld into one. After one more Burritos LP “Burrito Deluxe” Parsons moved on, but not before befriending Keith Richards and actually recording a version of Wild Horses before the Stones did. He also was introduced to Emmy Lou Harris who you could maybe call his soul mate. They went on to record his critically acclaimed but commercially ignored solo record GP. Another solo record that was released after his death, Grievous Angel was similarly ignored by the record buying public but embraced by music critics. He was a trust fund baby and always had alot of money at his disposal which led to a major drug habit which eventually killed him. But his story wasnt over. Before he died, he stated he wanted to be cremated in Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California.He had often gone there to trip on LSD and had reportedly claimed to have seen UFO's. His stepfather though, had planned a funeral in New Orleans and wasnt going to invite any of his musical friends. His manager, Phil Kaufman, stole his body from the LA airport and in a borrowed hearse they drove it to Joshua Tree and, while being chased by police, partially cremated the coffin in the park. Parsons didnt record alot of music in his short life, but he was enormously important in the development of music in the late 60s and onward. You can argue that without the effort of Parsons and a few others there would be no Poco, no Eagles, no country -rock, alt-country as we know it. Parsons played at various times with many others that would go on to be members of some of the biggest groups of the 70's, Bernie Leadon and Jock Bartley among them. I'll leave you with some examples of his stuff including the song “Sin City” from the Burritos which is a beautiful piece of music in my opinion, emanating from a troubled soul.
It was also Sept 19th, 1979 when the first of a series of MUSE concerts was held at Madison Square Garden. It became known as the No Nukes concert and drew some of the biggest names together on stage.
Comments from former NFL officials on the roughing the passer penalties in the Packer/Viking game.:
“Those are not fouls”-Dean Blandino
“I think we are setting a dangerous precendent. You can't have that as a foul. There's got to be a line drawn closer to a more violent hit.”-Mike Pereira.
Also Brett Favre said yesterday that if the NFL is going to use the film of the Matthews hit as a “teaching tool” …it should be used to show how to tackle the correct way.
Despite the loss last night Christian Yelich keeps building his MVP case. With his 20th stolen base he becomes just the 3rd Brewer member of the 30 Hr/20 SB clus joining Ryan Braun and Tommy Harper.
I don't watch awards show but am seeing that Matthew Rhys won an Emmy for his stellar work in “The Americans”. If you havent dug into to that one yet…do it…and thank me later.
A new trailer is out for the upcoming season of “The Man In The High Castle which starts on October 5th on Amazon Prime…let the Resistance begin!
Things to annoy you today:
Professor Christine Ford and her family have had to move out of their house because of death threats. And once again, the right wonder why women don't go public more often against powerful men.
It is highly entertaining though that Ford seems to be taking control of the machinations of the Senate Judiciary Committee. She now says an investigation into her claims by law enforcement officials should happen before any hearing on the situation. With Flake and Collins already saying that a vote shouldnt happen until the committee hears from Ford, it would seem that the doddering and feckless Chuck Grassley and his clueless spear carrier Orrin Hatch are losing control of the situation. A strong woman mystifies them.
Quotes Of The Day
“Reporters from Politico called each of the 65 female HS acquaintances who, last week, signed a letter supporting Brett Kavanaugh. After his accuser came out on Sunday, only TWO said they still stood by him. The SS Kavanaugh is sinking.”-Rob Bennett
“If the ostensible point of the hearing is to get the truth, I don't think you can have a hearing without having Mark Judge under oath.”-Chris Hayes
“Personally I think we can probably find someone for the highest court in the land who didn't attempt to rape at any age, but perhaps I'm an idealist.”-Ashley Feinberg
“A nominee for SCOTUS must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he/she is a person worthy of being bestowed with that honor and power. It's not the other way around–we shouldnt have to prove that they are not worthy…when in doubt-NEXT NOMINEE, please.”-Martina Navratilova
“She was drunk, this rape is her fault” He was drunk, this rape isn't his fault.”-Chloe Angyal
“Stop infantalizing white men and pathologizing black ones. Kavanaugh, accused of attempted rape was 17: Trump defending his “very special” guy. All of the Central Park Five, falsely accused of rape were younger than 17: Trump said he hated them and called for their execution.”-Charles Blow
“I wrote to my Congressman, Bill Cassidy, concerning Kavanaugh. I shared with him, my story about my rape and why this is particularly triggering and hard for me, and many other survivors right now. He responded to my e-mail with Kavanaughs resume.”-Leah Trombatore
“Right now the FBI is : refusing to investigate Kavanaugh, refusing to stop Trump from weaponizing FBI documents in order to target FBI officials who investigated him and the Russian mafia and refusing to be accountable to Congress or the public about these decisions.”-Sarah Kendzior
“In other news: a big escalation of US trade war upon the rest of the planet plus more abuse of the declassification process for political ends. The claim that the “inner resistance” is protecting the nation from Trump's worst instincts looks even more threadbare today.”-David Frum
“Pochahontas. Crooked Hillary. Lying Ted. The name calling must stop. This is not how the leader of the free world should act. President Mushroomdick should know better.”-Ryan Stiles
“God's own country becomes stranger and stranger…but somehow they manage to return to normality. Everything–even lunacy–is mass produced here. But everything goes out of fashion very quickly”-Albert Einstein (on the McCarthy red-baiting in the 50's)
Songs of the Day ( I read yesterday about a new radio station in Denver called K-HIGH. Its like a normal news-talk station but instead of concentrating on politics it deals with marijuana issues including cooking, gardening, medical issues etc. The morning show is called “Wake & Bake”. It reminded me of some records that got played back in the 70's that dealt openly with pot. Now it seems those types of songs are frowned on. Instead country radio has a getting drunk song on it seems every hour. Anyway, here are some tunes that could certainly be a fixture on the Wake and Bake show. (and I shouldnt even have to say it, but just in case there are some blue noses out there…I am not advocating the use of marijuana…although I do believe that pot is certainly less of a danger to the country than alcohol, and adults should be able to make their own choices about this stuff.)
