Post by duckbarman on Mar 29, 2018 16:55:52 GMT
I'm just in the process of adding the following entry to the Hot Rails site - dunno if Buck recalls anything about any of this, but I'll share it here anyway...
For a long time now, I've been trying to pin a date on a certain, somewhat notorious, private performance by BOC (no, not Camp Swan Lake!! That was SFG!!) that could possibly even be considered to be the gig that helped launch the band's career as "Blue Oyster Cult"...
Here's the context, so you know the period I'm talking about - in July 1971, the Lucas demos had eventually secured the band an audition in front of Clive Davis - (spoiler alert!!) they passed!! - and by the end of July had signed their contracts as "Blue Oyster Cult".
BTW: this Stalk Forrest to BOC transition period has always been a little murky to document - by the start of August, although they were officially now "Blue Oyster Cult", they were still playing gigs over the next 2 months as "Stalk Forrest" (eg they played "The Colonel's Garter" in Edwardsville PA on 4 Sep 1971 under that name). (However, by the end of October they were exclusively playing as BOC, and indeed had a mini NE college tour with Mahavishnu/The Byrds during Nov-Dec 71 as BOC.)
In October 1971 they were in the Warehouse studio recording their first LP, and that came out in January 1972.
So that's the period in question.
Now, I'd heard tales that the band once held a big press-junket at their Dix Hills bandhouse - they bussed in all the great and the good luminaries of the East Coast music press (otherwise often known as Sandy Pearlman's mates), plied them all with "mood enhancers" and whilst they were all in a favourably "receptive" state, the band played a gig for them.
The subsequent positive reviews of the band that resulted from this genius ploy helped the fledgling band take flight... But I was never able to find out just when it happened.
I made some enquiries: Albert remembered the party but thought this:
It was after the first album was out, maybe as we were working on the second album. It might have been the night Patti Smith gave me the lyrics to Vera Gemini which was close to my birthday, May 24th. That was quite a party.
We had a Hammond organ and Leslie in the living room. We might have played an early version of 7 Screaming Diz Busters. I seem to recall that we played inside and the people listened on the lawn. Joe would probably have the most reliable memory.
Joe said:
Yes, the famous press party. It was wild. I thought we played in the living room of the house, but it might have been on the patio. I'm not sure.
There was a full sized bus parked in the driveway and bunch of press people. I don't remember specific names at that time, but everybody seemed to be having a grand time.
What I remember the most from the whole night was the band wanted to make a dramatic entrance. So Eric said let's all pile into my car, a souped-up Chevy Camaro.
So the five of us squeezed in his car and he gunned it across the lawn, making all kinds of noise. There was dip in the lawn and the car bottomed out on a small hill, but we kept going. Jumped out of the car and went right to the bandstand and played our usual manic set.
As far as the specific date goes I'm think spring of 72 is about right. It was after the first album was out and we were rehearsing what became the Tyranny album. I wrote Dizbusters and Hot Rails and Wings Wetted Down in that house.
The Martin Popoff book mentions the shindig, and again quotes Albert's idea that the whole thing was a birthday party for him:
"We had a little birthday party for me at our band house in Dix Hills. We even had people from the record company come out, and we served them hash brownies. Everyone got so stoned. It was a total disaster."
The theory that it was Albert's birthday that was the raison d'etre for the party seems a bit too grand - bussing in journalists in coaches from NYC, a gig on the patio etc etc - all this just for a birthday bash?... it just doesn't seem likely to me...
And also I thought both Joe and Albert were wrong about the approximate date - it HAD to be earlier, and I'd more or less settled on it being to mark the release of that first LP, namely sometime in January 1972.
But I've just come across the following Sunday, 17 October 1971 piece by Lillian Roxon - she had a column called "Top of the Pop" in the New York "Daily News" (only the last paragraph is germane, but I might as well quote the article, because it sets the context):
-----------------------------------------
The Top of Pop - Of Hoopla & Happenings
By Lillian Roxon
This has been quite a week for rock events. But you have to look at them altogether before you see the pattern that emerges and what it has to teach us.
Event number one: John and Yoko Lennon fly, at great expense, a whole bunch of mostly art critics to, of all places, Syracuse, where Yoko has taken over three huge floors in a local museum. The writers, naturally charitable, tactfully concentrate on her not him, say
Yoko, despite her naive obsession with an approach to art now a good 10 years out of date, is to be commended for her hard work and unquestionable sincerity.
It becomes a rock events all the same when the local press ruin everything by ignoring Yoko and asking John a thousand tired questions about the Beatles. Listen, it's nice people still remember who the Beatles are, right?
Event number two: Frank Zappa invites, at great expense, 60 members of the rock elite, to a huge loft just off the Bowery, for "interviews and discussions" and screening of some footage from a Mothers film. Many of the 60 don't show (they are sulking because Frank made the mistake of screening his film "200 Motels" to New York friends a good week before he showed it to reviewers) but 200 of the city most determined scenemakers gatecrash. Everyone has a good time, of course, but ever business-like Zappa, who is there only to get attention for himself and his film, is not smiling.
Event number three: Hookfoot, at great expense, throws a party with six varieties of Baskin-Robbins ice cream and champagne in collapsible plastic glasses. There is a big run on Rocky Road, but no one, for the life of them, can tell you what Hookfoot sounds like. Never mind, they'll at least remember the name.
Event number four: Blue Oyster Cult, at great expense, bus the entire East Coast rock press (and Detroit's own Lester Bangs) into darkest Long Island for a day in the woods. Ten varieties of cheeses, great heaping plates of fresh fruit and, oh, yes, freshly baked brownies with a strangely musty taste. After the sun has gone down, the band plays a set
that has people literally screaming in ecstasy. "It's the music of the spheres," one man shouts. There is a faint suspicion there may have been "something" in the brownies but, honestly, the sounds were totally cosmic. Totally.
-----------------------------------------
:-)
Anyway, if all the above happened the week ending 17 October, my best guess is that the party occurred on the previous Friday/Saturday night (8 or 9 Oct 1971) - obviouisly rather earlier than I previously thought.
It would have been too late to celebrate the contract signing but too early to celebrate getting the Byrds tour or the album release, so I'm not quite sure if the party was to signify anything specific, after all... it sounds like it was just to say "Here's BOC, we're new kids on the block, but we'll shortly be having an LP out... now how about a nice glass of wine and a hash brownie...?"
BTW: I'd love to have heard that set - from what I can tell, they'd already started recording the first LP - or were just about to - and so the songs played that night might well have been pretty formative - maybe there were even one or two which didn't make the final cut for the album... all those journalists present, and not a photograph anywhere that I can find... then again, maybe they were all unable to stand up by that point...
For a long time now, I've been trying to pin a date on a certain, somewhat notorious, private performance by BOC (no, not Camp Swan Lake!! That was SFG!!) that could possibly even be considered to be the gig that helped launch the band's career as "Blue Oyster Cult"...
Here's the context, so you know the period I'm talking about - in July 1971, the Lucas demos had eventually secured the band an audition in front of Clive Davis - (spoiler alert!!) they passed!! - and by the end of July had signed their contracts as "Blue Oyster Cult".
BTW: this Stalk Forrest to BOC transition period has always been a little murky to document - by the start of August, although they were officially now "Blue Oyster Cult", they were still playing gigs over the next 2 months as "Stalk Forrest" (eg they played "The Colonel's Garter" in Edwardsville PA on 4 Sep 1971 under that name). (However, by the end of October they were exclusively playing as BOC, and indeed had a mini NE college tour with Mahavishnu/The Byrds during Nov-Dec 71 as BOC.)
In October 1971 they were in the Warehouse studio recording their first LP, and that came out in January 1972.
So that's the period in question.
Now, I'd heard tales that the band once held a big press-junket at their Dix Hills bandhouse - they bussed in all the great and the good luminaries of the East Coast music press (otherwise often known as Sandy Pearlman's mates), plied them all with "mood enhancers" and whilst they were all in a favourably "receptive" state, the band played a gig for them.
The subsequent positive reviews of the band that resulted from this genius ploy helped the fledgling band take flight... But I was never able to find out just when it happened.
I made some enquiries: Albert remembered the party but thought this:
It was after the first album was out, maybe as we were working on the second album. It might have been the night Patti Smith gave me the lyrics to Vera Gemini which was close to my birthday, May 24th. That was quite a party.
We had a Hammond organ and Leslie in the living room. We might have played an early version of 7 Screaming Diz Busters. I seem to recall that we played inside and the people listened on the lawn. Joe would probably have the most reliable memory.
Joe said:
Yes, the famous press party. It was wild. I thought we played in the living room of the house, but it might have been on the patio. I'm not sure.
There was a full sized bus parked in the driveway and bunch of press people. I don't remember specific names at that time, but everybody seemed to be having a grand time.
What I remember the most from the whole night was the band wanted to make a dramatic entrance. So Eric said let's all pile into my car, a souped-up Chevy Camaro.
So the five of us squeezed in his car and he gunned it across the lawn, making all kinds of noise. There was dip in the lawn and the car bottomed out on a small hill, but we kept going. Jumped out of the car and went right to the bandstand and played our usual manic set.
As far as the specific date goes I'm think spring of 72 is about right. It was after the first album was out and we were rehearsing what became the Tyranny album. I wrote Dizbusters and Hot Rails and Wings Wetted Down in that house.
The Martin Popoff book mentions the shindig, and again quotes Albert's idea that the whole thing was a birthday party for him:
"We had a little birthday party for me at our band house in Dix Hills. We even had people from the record company come out, and we served them hash brownies. Everyone got so stoned. It was a total disaster."
The theory that it was Albert's birthday that was the raison d'etre for the party seems a bit too grand - bussing in journalists in coaches from NYC, a gig on the patio etc etc - all this just for a birthday bash?... it just doesn't seem likely to me...
And also I thought both Joe and Albert were wrong about the approximate date - it HAD to be earlier, and I'd more or less settled on it being to mark the release of that first LP, namely sometime in January 1972.
But I've just come across the following Sunday, 17 October 1971 piece by Lillian Roxon - she had a column called "Top of the Pop" in the New York "Daily News" (only the last paragraph is germane, but I might as well quote the article, because it sets the context):
-----------------------------------------
The Top of Pop - Of Hoopla & Happenings
By Lillian Roxon
This has been quite a week for rock events. But you have to look at them altogether before you see the pattern that emerges and what it has to teach us.
Event number one: John and Yoko Lennon fly, at great expense, a whole bunch of mostly art critics to, of all places, Syracuse, where Yoko has taken over three huge floors in a local museum. The writers, naturally charitable, tactfully concentrate on her not him, say
Yoko, despite her naive obsession with an approach to art now a good 10 years out of date, is to be commended for her hard work and unquestionable sincerity.
It becomes a rock events all the same when the local press ruin everything by ignoring Yoko and asking John a thousand tired questions about the Beatles. Listen, it's nice people still remember who the Beatles are, right?
Event number two: Frank Zappa invites, at great expense, 60 members of the rock elite, to a huge loft just off the Bowery, for "interviews and discussions" and screening of some footage from a Mothers film. Many of the 60 don't show (they are sulking because Frank made the mistake of screening his film "200 Motels" to New York friends a good week before he showed it to reviewers) but 200 of the city most determined scenemakers gatecrash. Everyone has a good time, of course, but ever business-like Zappa, who is there only to get attention for himself and his film, is not smiling.
Event number three: Hookfoot, at great expense, throws a party with six varieties of Baskin-Robbins ice cream and champagne in collapsible plastic glasses. There is a big run on Rocky Road, but no one, for the life of them, can tell you what Hookfoot sounds like. Never mind, they'll at least remember the name.
Event number four: Blue Oyster Cult, at great expense, bus the entire East Coast rock press (and Detroit's own Lester Bangs) into darkest Long Island for a day in the woods. Ten varieties of cheeses, great heaping plates of fresh fruit and, oh, yes, freshly baked brownies with a strangely musty taste. After the sun has gone down, the band plays a set
that has people literally screaming in ecstasy. "It's the music of the spheres," one man shouts. There is a faint suspicion there may have been "something" in the brownies but, honestly, the sounds were totally cosmic. Totally.
-----------------------------------------
:-)
Anyway, if all the above happened the week ending 17 October, my best guess is that the party occurred on the previous Friday/Saturday night (8 or 9 Oct 1971) - obviouisly rather earlier than I previously thought.
It would have been too late to celebrate the contract signing but too early to celebrate getting the Byrds tour or the album release, so I'm not quite sure if the party was to signify anything specific, after all... it sounds like it was just to say "Here's BOC, we're new kids on the block, but we'll shortly be having an LP out... now how about a nice glass of wine and a hash brownie...?"
BTW: I'd love to have heard that set - from what I can tell, they'd already started recording the first LP - or were just about to - and so the songs played that night might well have been pretty formative - maybe there were even one or two which didn't make the final cut for the album... all those journalists present, and not a photograph anywhere that I can find... then again, maybe they were all unable to stand up by that point...
