45 years ago, this month - the Jimi Hendrix Experience opening for The Monkees. Who came up with that pairing? Who should be opening for whom? And while we're at it, WTF is that apostrophe doing in "Monkee's"??
FWIW, the worst concert pairing I ever experienced came in the early 70's when folksinger Danny O'Keefe opened at the Celebrity Theater for Bruce Springsteen and the East Street Band. Yeah. For the first 45 minutes, it was just Danny, an acoustic guitar, and 5,000 stoned/drunk Springsteen fans foaming at the mouth and ready to PAR-TAY!! We were not very nice to Mr. O'Keefe, who was only doing what he was being paid to do. I can't say I'm proud of the way the crowd acted, but jeez, did anyone stop to think about the difference in the two genres?
4 comments:
This is too funny – my sister was at this very show! She was 13 years old and accompanied by my mother, (a very proper, very conservative woman). To this day, I have a hard time believing that my mother saw Jimi Hendrix in concert!! I know she had to have suffered greatly through the show, but she did it in order that her daughter could go see her favorite band, the Monkees. My sister tells me that Jimi Hendrix got a little of the Danny O'Keefe treatment, but most in the audience simply sat in stunned silence while Jimi played. It was all a little overwhelming for the 12- and 13-year old Monkees fans. As for Danny O'Keefe, I remember that show well as I lived in Scottsdale at the time. Even though I was not at it, a couple of friends who were big Springsteen fans were, and I heard first-hand reports the next day. Interesting that Springsteen does not seem to have opening acts any more....
Springsteen was big in Phoenix because KDKB (or maybe it was still KCAC) gave his first 2 albums plenty of airplay. "Born To Run" was just about to be released, and IIRC he played some songs from it.
I can tell you the opening song - the 50's classic "And Then She Kissed Me". Fantastic, yet it's never made it to a Springsteen album. Fortunately, there's YouTube.
In fairness to Jimi, he hadn't hit it big yet in 1967. I just found another band he did session work for back then - a short-lived group called "Eire Apparent". Jimi allegedly played bass for them for their only album.
I recently caught a very well done Hendrix documentary on my local PBS station - “Hear My Train A Comin”. Well worth watching.
As for KDKB, I have very fond memories of that station from the 70's – you just never knew what they might play. You just can't find radio like that anymore. And I do remember them playing a lot of Springsteen's early stuff. For some reason, I especially remember “The Fever”, a tune he never officially released until many years later, but KDKB played a lot of. Don't know where they got it from, but whenever I hear that tune, it takes me back to those days in Phoenix, listening to KDKB. I also have vague recollections of Springsteen in the KDKB studio, kind of mumbling his way through an interview, but then having fun spinning records and playing DJ for an hour or so. Hard to believe that was nearly 40 years ago.
I rarely listen to KDKB nowadays, for the reason you mention - they don't surprise me anymore. KSLX is even worse.
If you still live in the valley, here are two radio stations worth listening to. but they both have their drawbacks.
KCDX 103.1. Commercial-free, they play all the music KDKB used to. Except no metal. DRAWBACKS : they have a weak signal, so unless you live in the east valley, you might not pick it up. also, they sometimes use the same playlist day after day, and other times aren't even on the air for days at a time.
RADIO FREE PHOENIX. If you liked the obscure sh*t KDKB used to play, you'll love RFP. it's also commercial free. If you remember the DJ Andy Olson from long ago, this is his creation. DRAWBACK : RFP is an internet radio station only. They were on the radio for a while a couple years ago, but i think it got too expensive for them.
Other than that, Phoenix radio sux.
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