Play Me (1972)

I can't find my concert ticket stub from his show in Madison in the mid to late 70's but I was there.

All The Young Dudes

More hair-band than glam-rockers, "Mott The Hoople" had a brief shining moment thanks to David Bowie. The lyrics of the previous post reminded me of them:

Sole Sacrifice

Carlos Santana practically invented "Latin Rock" in the 1960's. He had started out as a blues and jazz influenced musician, but in San Francisco he met Latino and African drummers who beat different rhythms. Hanging around the developing hippie scene in San Francisco, he and his band noticed that girls would spontaneously dance in new and interesting ways to the exotic sounding rhythms--usually with much more hip gyration. He and the band liked this from a stage's eye view, and so the fusion stuck.

The band Santana made its national stage debut at Woodstock in 1969. Three successful albums later, the band had begun to fray, with Carlos wanting to move more towards jazz. Caravanserai (1972) was the last Santana album that I liked. Half the band left him afterwards and later formed the core of the band Journey.

A favorite track from Caravanserai, called Waves Within:

For LL: Cisco Kid

Commenter LL couldn't take my previous post, a song penned by the L.A. band War. I know he likes things South of the Border, so there's always this instead:

Indians Sweat And Seethe Over Power Failure

"Little Martha"

Paperboy Memories

[the following is based on a comment I left over a Trooper York's blog a few weeks ago]

I've been working since age 12:

I had a morning paper route circa 1972-75, until I was old enough for a regular job. I had part-time jobs all the way through high school and college and even when I went on vacation to Italy in 1979.

Back then, I'd rise every morning at 5:30 AM rain or snow to bring people the Wisconsin State Journal. I took over the route from my older brother who in turn got the route from a friend. That's the way those things were passed around back then--sort of like Packer's season tickets.

Afternoon routes were the most coveted among boys then because...well...because you didn't have to get up every morning at 5:30 AM rain or snow and bring people the morning news -- you could do it after school instead. Of course that meant you couldn't go out for football or any other sports but hey: some boys played and some had to work. But having a morning route, I was able to have it all: work, study (lol) and go out for football. But my football career didn't get past Junior Varsity.

One of my better paperboy memories are the special treats I used to get from customers like the one I mentioned here. Another memory is of the young girl I had a huge crush on and whose family was on my route. Back then we had to go around and collect money due for the paper. I never went to her house because I felt embarrassed about being her paperboy. Her family got a free paper for maybe a year or so.

Most of all I remember the political times back then. I watched the demise of the Nixon Administration little by little and delivered that news every day. I still remember the black-inked headline moments:

SATURDAY NIGHT MASSACRE

AGNEW RESIGNS

SMOKING GUN TAPE

until finally...

PRESIDENT RESIGNS AS FORD SWORN IN

Those were rougher times for civil politics.


_______________________
My son is now the same age I was when I started working. And he's starting to want things the way I did. Freedom and economic independence.  There aren't many jobs now like I had for 12 year olds. Grown-ups in cars deliver newspapers now. He needs a lucky break like I got when I was twelve. I think I've got this figured out too.

50 years Of MyTunes: The Best of 1972 IMHO

Machine Head & Made In Japan ~ Deep Purple
The Eagles ~ The Eagles
Harvest ~ Neil Young
Can't Buy A Thrill ~ Steely Dan  <---- My pick
Honky Château ~Elton John
Exile On Main Street ~ The Rolling Stones
The World Is A Ghetto ~ War
Ziggy Stardust ~ David Bowie
Thick As A Brick ~ Jethro Tull
Smokin' ~ Humble Pie

Miscellaneous singles from 1972:

Good Hearted Woman ~ Waylon Jennings
Play Me ~ Neil Diamond
City Of New Orleans ~ Arlo Guthrie
Walk On The Wild Side ~ Lou Reed
Superstition ~ Stevie Wonder
Papa Was a Rollin' Stone ~ Temptations
Lean On Me & Use Me ~ Bill Withers
You're So Vain ~ Carly Simon
All the Young Dudes ~ Mott the Hoople
Listen to the Music ~ Doobie Brothers
Stuck in the Middle ~ Stealers Wheel
Go All the Way ~ Raspberries
Brandy (You're A Fine Girl) ~ Looking Glass
Time in a Bottle ~ Jim Croce
Jungle Fever ~ Chakachas
Troglodyte ~ Jimmy Castor Bunch
[added]:
Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress ~ The Hollies

Presidential Politics: 1972

My favorites are the two in the bottom left.

Close Encounters of the Flash Flood Kind

[Image Removed By Request Of Copyright Owner]

Back in the summer of 1972 our family went on a camping trip out west to the Black Hills of South Dakota and also to Wyoming. We drove I-90 all the way with stops at Mitchell's Corn Palace, the Badlands, Wall Drug Store, Mt. Rushmore and Devil's Tower. There were four people, a dog and a sick rat in a rat cage in a 1966 Mustang pulling a small trailer. How we did that must have amazed my parents.

Back then our people's sensitivities towards Native Americans (or Indians as we still called them) were just emerging.  I learned only later that the Black Hills were sacred to the Sioux and that my people had effectively desecrated their land by carving up Mt. Rushmore. At the time, Crazy Horse Monument wasn't much to look at yet.

We camped at a campground near Keystone, SD very near Mt. Rushmore. After that we moved on to Wyoming and spent a couple days at Devil's Tower National Monument. On the return trip, we passed back through the Black Hills and then spent the night outside of Rapid City so as to be poised for the interstate sprint across the plains back east along I-90. My dad was always a big proponent of splurging on a motel before heading back home on his road trips. It rained that night and we awoke early, probably catching a bite to eat before hitting the road--I really don't recall.  What I do remember is tuning into the AM radio as as we drove back east to Wisconsin. Cracking AM radio reports of flash flood destruction struck us dumb, especially as the local news described how places and campsites that we had just visited had literally been swept away during the night. I don't think that any of us had ever come so close to harm's way before or since.

Here's a description of the flash flood: Link