Vinyl Schminyl Radio

Today is tuna day on the podcast. Hot Tuna that is with a great acoustic number for you!

Hot Tuna began during a hiatus in Jefferson Airplane‘s touring schedule in early 1969 while Grace Slick was undergoing recovery from throat node surgery that had left her unable to perform. Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady, Paul Kantner, and new drummer Joey Covington played several shows around San Francisco including the Airplane’s original club, The Matrix before Jefferson Airplane returned to performing in April to support the album Volunteers. Although Covington had been hired as Jefferson Airplane’s drummer, Spencer Dryden continued to perform with the Airplane and Covington was only called when needed.^[2] Their early repertoire was derived mainly from Airplane material that Jorma played and covers of American country and blues artists such as Rev. Gary Davis, Jelly Roll Morton, Bo Carter and Arthur Blake (Blind Blake). In addition to these shows, Jack & Jorma would play as a duo with Jorma on acoustic guitar. In September, 1969, the week of concerts performed at New Orleans House in Berkeley was recorded and released as a live album in 1970, Hot Tuna. This album is affectionately known by Tunaphiles as the “breaking glass album”, because of the sound of breaking beer glasses during the recording of “Uncle Sam Blues”.^[3] Jorma’s brother Peter Kaukonen soon replaced Paul on rhythm guitar and Marty Balin joined on vocals for the electric songs. Starting in October 1969, Hot Tuna would perform as opening act to Jefferson Airplane with a combination of both electric and acoustic sets, giving Kaukonen and Casady an opportunity to explore their love of traditional blues music, and also giving Balin and Covington a chance to explore soul-rock compositions. In 1970, RCA paid for the band to go to Jamaica to record their next album, now with Paul Ziegler taking over Peter’s spot, but the album was never finished.^[2] Papa John Creach was brought in to the band in late 1970 (Creach also joined Jefferson Airplane at the same time) and Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna finished their co-tour in November 1970 with shows at the Fillmore East.

Independent Hot Tuna

In September 1970, Hot Tuna performed two acoustic shows without Jefferson Airplane at Pepperland and received good reviews^[2] signifying that Hot Tuna could survive without the other band to support it. As Jefferson Airplane wound down and stopped touring after the Fillmore East shows, Hot Tuna—for whom live performance was always of prime importance—became an independent group consisting of Jorma, Jack, new drummer Sammy Piazza, and Papa John, moving fully to the electric band format. This line-up was documented on the album First Pull Up, Then Pull Down (1971), recorded live at the Chateau Liberte (a nondescript club favored by the band) near Santa Cruz, California. The studio albums Burgers (1972) and The Phosphorescent Rat (1973) followed, with Papa John leaving before Rat was recorded. These two albums featured compositions mainly of Kaukonen original material and included some of the guitarist’s most delicate and poetic works. David Crosby sang supporting vocals on the Burgers track “Highway Song,” and keyboard player Nick Buck made his first appearance on what would become a semi permanent tenure during the 1970s. As the band prepared for its 1974 tour in support of Rat, Jorma decided to have the band perform acoustic on the next tour and Piazza was let go.^[2] Jorma and Jack then proceeded to record Jorma’s first solo album, Quah.

Today we visit an old song sung by the man who wrote it. Michael Nesmith recorded this song after it became a big hit..check it out today!

Nesmith was born at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Houston, in 1942.^[1] He was an only child; his parents, Warren Audrey Nesmith and Bette Nesmith Graham, divorced when their son was four. He and his mother moved to Dallas, to be closer to her parents, sister, aunts and grandmother. Bette took temporary jobs ranging from clerical work to graphics design, and developed very good secretarial skills, including shorthand, and, auspiciously, touch typing. When Nesmith was 13 his mother invented a typewriter correction fluid later known commercially as Liquid Paper. Over the next 25 years she built the Liquid Paper Corporation into a multimillion dollar international company which she finally sold to Gillette in 1980 for US$48 million. She died a few months later at age 56.^[2]

In 1949, Nesmith, at the age of six, was enrolled in the Dallas public school system. An indifferent student, he nevertheless participated in choral and drama activities during his years at Thomas Jefferson High School in Dallas.^[3] He began to write verse poetry. When he was 15 he enrolled in the Dallas Theater Center teen program, where he featured in several plays.^{[citation needed]}

Before graduating from high school, Nesmith enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1960. He completed basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, was trained as an aircraft mechanic at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas, and then permanently stationed at a Strategic Air Command base near Elk City, Oklahoma. While in the Air Force, Nesmith obtained a G.E.D. and was discharged under honorable conditions in 1962. He enrolled in San Antonio College, a community college in San Antonio where he met John Kuehne (later to be known as John London) and began a musical collaboration. The duo won the first San Antonio College talent award performing a mixture of standard folk songs and a few of Nesmith’s original songs. He met another SAC student, Phyllis Ann Barbour, whom he later married.^[4]

While in college Nesmith began to write more songs and poetry and after his marriage to Phyllis in 1963 the two of them decided to move to Los Angeles so Nesmith could pursue his songwriting and singing career. At the time Phyllis was pregnant with their first child Christian DuVal. Nesmith began singing in folk clubs around Los Angeles and had one notable job as the “Hootmaster” for the Monday night hootenannies at The Troubadour, a West Hollywood night club that featured new artists. Here Nesmith met, socialized, and performed with many different members of the burgeoning new music scene in Los Angeles. Randy Sparks of the New Christy Minstrels fame offered Nesmith a publishing deal for his songs. It was while working at this publishing house that Barry Friedman, also known as the Rev. Frazier Mohawk, brought the ad for Monkees auditions to Nesmith’s attention. In 1965, Nesmith landed the role in the Monkees pilot, which was filmed in October 1965.^[5]

When the Monkees show ended in 1968, Nesmith enrolled part time in UCLA and studied American History and Music History. Michael and Phyllis’s second son, Jonathan, was born in February 1968. Nesmith’s third son, Jason, was born in August 1968 to Nurit Wilde, whom he met while working on the Monkees.^[6] In 1969, Nesmith formed the group First National Band with Kuehne, John Ware and Red Rhodes. Nesmith wrote most of the songs for the band including a single titled “Joanne” that received some airplay and was a mild chart hit for seven weeks during 1970, rising to number 21 on the Billboard Top 40.^[7] The First National Band has been credited with being among the pioneers of country-rock music.^[8]

Phyllis’s third child, and Nesmith’s fourth, daughter Jessica, was born in September 1970. Circa 1972, Nesmith started the record label Countryside Records with Jac Holzman, the founder of Elektra Records. Also, in 1972, Nesmith and Phyllis were divorced and he moved to Carmel, California. In 1974, Nesmith started Pacific Arts Records and released what he called “a book with a soundtrack” entitled “The Prison” as the company’s first release. In 1976, he married Kathryn Bild. In 1988, following the ending of this second marriage, he returned to Los Angeles where he had met Victoria Kennedy. They moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1992 and then returned to Carmel, California, in 2000. They were married in April 2000 in Monterey, California. In 2011, they separated and Kennedy filed for divorce.^[9]

Early career

After a tour of duty in the Air Force, he was given a guitar as a Christmas present from his mother and stepfather. Learning as he went, he played solo and in a series of working bands, performing folk, country, and occasionally rock and roll. His verse poems became the basis for song lyrics, and after moving to Los Angeles with Phyllis and friend John London, he signed a publishing deal for his songs. Nesmith’s “Mary, Mary” was recorded by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, while “Different Drum” was recorded by Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys. “Pretty Little Princess”, written in 1965, was recorded by Frankie Laine and released as a single in 1968 on ABC Records. Later, “Some Of Shelly’s Blues” and “Propinquity (I’ve Just Begun To Care)” were made popular by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on their 1970 album Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy.

Nesmith began his recording career in 1963 by releasing a single on the Highness label. Later, in 1965 with a one-off single released on Edan Records before he followed with two singles recorded—one titled “The New Recruit” under the name “Michael Blessing”, released on Colpix Records—coincidentally also the label of Davy Jones, though they had not met until The Monkees.

Can’t believe we haven’t featured this little number from Pink Floyd yet! Just like a great cup of coffee this will be a great start to your day.

The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released in March 1973. It built on ideas explored in the band’s earlier recordings and live shows, but lacks the extended instrumental excursions that characterised their work following the departure in 1968 of founder member, principal composer and lyricist, Syd Barrett. The Dark Side of the Moon‘s themes include conflict, greed, the passage of time and mental illness, the latter partly inspired by Barrett’s deteriorating mental state.

The suite was developed during live performances and was premiered several months before studio recording began. The new material was recorded in two sessions in 1972 and 1973 at Abbey Road Studios in London. The group used some of the most advanced recording techniques of the time, including multitrack recording and tape loops. Analogue synthesisers were given prominence in several tracks, and a series of recorded interviews with the band’s road crew and others provided the philosophical quotations used throughout. Engineer Alan Parsons was directly responsible for some of the most notable sonic aspects of the album, and the recruitment of non-lexical performer Clare Torry. The album’s iconic sleeve features a prism that represents the band’s stage lighting, the record’s lyrical themes, and keyboardist Richard Wright‘s request for a “simple and bold” design.

The Dark Side of the Moon was an immediate success, topping the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart for one week. It subsequently remained in the charts for 741 weeks from 1973 to 1988, longer than any other album in history.^[1] With an estimated 50 million copies sold, it is Pink Floyd’s most commercially successful album and one of the best-selling albums worldwide. It has twice been remastered and re-released, and has been covered in its entirety by several other acts. It spawned two singles, “Money” and “Time“. In addition to its commercial success, The Dark Side of the Moon is one of Pink Floyd’s most popular albums among fans and critics, and is frequently ranked as one of the greatest rock albums of all time.

Contents

Yeah, I know the weekend is over but we have a great one from Crowded House today to start off the week.

Crowded House are a rock band, formed in Melbourne, Australia and led by New Zealand singer-songwriter Neil Finn.^[1] Finn is the primary songwriter and creative director of the band, having led it through several incarnations, drawing members from New Zealand (his brother, Tim Finn and Eddie Rayner), Australia (Paul Hester, Nick Seymour, Peter Jones and Craig Hooper) and the United States (Mark Hart, and Matt Sherrod).^[1][2] Crowded House are referred to as The Crowdies by Australian fans.^[3]

Originally active from 1985 to 1996, the band has had consistent commercial and critical success in Australia and New Zealand^[4][5][6] and international chart success in two phases, beginning with their self titled debut album, Crowded House, which reached number twelve on the US Album Chart in 1987 and provided the Top Ten hits, “Don’t Dream It’s Over” and “Something So Strong“.^[7][8] Further international success came in the UK and Europe with their third and fourth albums, Woodface and Together Alone and the compilation album Recurring Dream, which included the hits “Fall at Your Feet“, “Weather with You“, “Distant Sun“, “Locked Out“, “Instinct” and “Not the Girl You Think You Are“.^[3][9] Queen Elizabeth II bestowed an OBE on both Neil and Tim Finn, in June 1993, for their contribution to the music of New Zealand.^[10]

Happy Mother’s Day  all.  We have a great new Radio Hour for your listening approval.

Ever since Bob Stern was old enough to go to downtown Chicago by himself, that is when he was hit by the broadcasting bug. That was at the age of 11. He had been an avid listener of  WLS-AM and WCFL the powerhouse Top 40 stations in Chicago in the 1960s. As soon as he stepped into the visitors gallery at WCFL and saw Joel Sebastian working the mike and pointing to his engineer to play the next song, Bob thought, “that would be a fun job.” It wasn’t until Bob went to college in Lincoln, Illinois that he actually got involved with radio. They were starting a student radio station at Lincoln College and Bob was one of the founding students of WLNX-FM. He had his own show a few times a week and eventually won Lincoln College’s first Communications Award For Broadcasting. As a junior Bob transferred to The University Of Illinois in Urbana where he was promptly embedded into one of the top college radio stations in the country, WPGU. Overnights, late nights, early evening, he was all over the clock…not so much early morning though. Bob had to get some sleep before his classes!
After college Bob wanted a gig in radio and sought out the Chicago market as a starting point. Working in a major market just out of college was just NOT
going to happen. His day job was working at WEA Records (Warner/Elektra/Atlantic) as a record picker in their Des Plaines, IL distribution warehouse. His night  job was as a board (bored) engineer at WVVX in Highland Park, IL for their foreign brokered time format. There were a number of different languages spoken while he was working..Polish, Pakistani, Indian, Chinese and yes even a little English. His weekend spot was at progressive rocker WXRD (The Crossroads) in Woodstock, IL. about 45 miles northwest of downtown Chicago. They eventually offered him a full time job but felt that what he was making with 3 jobs couldn’t add up to one full time gig, so he initially turned the offer down. They held an open house for the community one Saturday which Bob attended and met the owner of the station longtime Chicago radio broadcaster Mal Bellairs. He got a real good energy off of him and the town and if he was going to struggle this is where he wanted to do it.
So Bob moved from his parent’s home in Highland Park up to Woodstock.
He stayed for a little over 3 years ultimately winding up as the morning announcer. Wanting to spread his wings Bob decided to try for the next level.  A bigger market. Bob wasn’t the kind that wanted to travel from small market to small market (which a lot of radio guys did). He needed some stability and  told himself that if by the age of 25 he didn’t get into a bigger market he would go into sales. Consequently, the day after his 25th birthday Bob started selling radio time in Chicago and made twice as much money the next year. He still wanted to be in the radio business so he latched on as an account executive at WIND-AM in Chicago. That lasted a couple of years until he decided to make a radical move and head down to West Palm Beach, FL to work for news/talk WPBR as an account executive.   The station was right on Lake Worth Beach but he got homesick and  moved back to Chicago within the year.
That was 1983. Jump ahead 7 years to 1990. While Bob was selling consumer electronics for a pretty popular store in Arlington Heights, IL Bob had the itch to get back on the air. Radio station WCBR (The Bear) was doing a remote at the store Bob was working at and he asked the program director if there was any slots open. Bob was given one show on Saturday night from 9p until midnight.  it was a very progressive format that introduced a lot of bands that are still being played today.He spent a year doing that as well as a few years as a DJ at a large nightclub chain in Chicago as well as some private parties.

NOW
OK let’s move ahead to 2010 already. As a successful regional manager for an international electronics company Bob decided that the podcast is where he would step back into radio. A longtime Classic Rocker in the AOR format Bob created Vinyl Schminyl Radio. Alright, we have a separate page for that so you can go there now if you’d like.
Bob Stern wants to lend his voice, his passion for entertainment industry news, and his love of Classic Rock to the worldwide web. He would also like to be YOUR voice for any upcoming narration or commercial projects you might have coming up. This site will probably look a whole lot different a year from now than it does now. That is how things evolve.  We hope you enjoy Vinyl Schminyl.com