By Dawoud Kringle
Michael Jeffrey is remembered as the former manager of Eric Burton and the Animals and the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
By Dawoud Kringle
Peter Grant was perhaps the quintessential artist manager of his era. The legendary manager was equal parts savvy businessman, loyal caretaker, and protector for his clients and friends, as well as fearsome swashbuckling rock & roll behemoth (he stood 6’5” and weighed more than 300 pounds) who nobody in their right mind would ever cross.
By Dawoud Kringle
The artist managers presented in this three-part series are Brian Epstein, Peter Grant, and Michael Jeffrey. The 60s and 70s were a time of volatile transformations in the music business. A retrospective of these three artist managers from this period can be instructive.
Text by Bruce Gallanter (Downtown Music Gallery, October 22nd, 2021)
“Halifax” By the Hampton Grease Band
From ‘Music to Eat’ – 2 LP Set on Columbia (rel in 1971)
Wouldn’t you like to come to Halifax
Air mass is moving eastwardly
Wouldn’t you like to come to Halifax
Air mass is moving eastwardly
The land is fertile and filled with life
We wish you would come there and spend some time
Yes, We wish you would come to Halifax
You like to spend some time there
We wish you would come to Halifax
Come and breathe some of our air
You can worship at the church of their choice, the church of your choice
Colonel Edward Cornwallis
He founded the home of Englishtown
He established a civil government
He brought strength to the English position
He established a civil government
We wish you would come to Halifax
You like to spend some time there
We wish you would come to Halifax
Come and breathe some of our air
We have many refreshments and entertainment…
We have the largest ships and vessels also
Six thousand six hundred thirty eight miles of grated roads
Six thousand six hundred thirty eight miles of grated roads
And alot of gravel too, and alot of gravel too
Every city has an airport and alot of gravel too
The telegraph stations, their owned and operated
By the federal government.
The telegraph systems, their owned and operated
By the federal government.
There are no TV stations,
First radar is to protect
Set up as the engine number two
To maintain the level of the dew…
From the fall of 1969 until it closed in June of 1971, I attended nearly 20 shows at the Fillmore East. It was located at the corner of 2nd Ave & 4th St, right around the corner from the first location of DMG on East 5th St (1991-2003). It was my favorite rock music performance venue ever and I’ve been to hundreds of others (places & gigs) since. There were usually three bands starting at 8pm (and later at 11pm) and the ticket prices were $5 (orchestra), $4 (mezzanine) & $3 (upper mezz)!
Text by Joe Yanosik
Copyright of image: The Plastic People of the Universe
The Plastic who of the what? Never heard of them and I’ve been playing music for decades, you might say. Well, it’s not your fault. Even on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean where they’re from, the Plastic People (actually from Czechoslovakia, not the Universe) remained obscure. In America, fans of alternative music may simply know them as a cult band who made weird, experimental music. In fact, the Plastic People of the Universe were one of the greatest rock groups to emerge from Central Europe during the Communist era and their incredible history should be known far and wide by everyone who plays music for a living.
Formed in Czechoslovakia in 1968 shortly after the Warsaw Pact Invasion in which Soviet tanks and troops crushed the liberal period known as the Prague Spring, the Plastic People of the Universe endured two decades of persecution from the Communist regime simply because they refused to conform to the Soviet “normalization”. Since the era of Stalin, the Communists knew the importance of controlling the art in a society and they used art as propaganda to promote their own fake reality. They were fully aware of the power of music and art and couldn’t let it be created freely for fear that the truth would escape.
