Ramble Tamble
“The road to creativity passes so close to the madhouse and often detours or ends there.”― Ernest Becker
There was no sunrise on this new year’s morning, just clouds….clouds settling on the mountaintops, coming to electric life as the sun dozily came up behind them. Last night was a culmination of a crazed weekend of gathering: Lowell High School 35th Reunion, KALX’s 65th anniversary party during UC Berkeley homecoming (I got to hang with Oski), my daughter’s birthday party at the fab Cut in San Francisco, my mom and a few friends with apples and honey and Manhattans, bringing in 5783 with a very sweet, harmony-filled Rodef Sholom service the next morn, hundreds of people at Crissy Fields with shofars, bagpipes and the Jazz Mafia and The Church of John Coltrane going through the act of Tashlique: throwing out the bad vuggum of the past year, and ending it all last night with my brothers and Chinese food. It has been a weekend of friends, family and reconnections, a reminder of the micro-communities that we are all a part of…and the significance they all play in the life.
It being Rosh Hashanah, The Jewish New Year, I wanted to thank you all for being another oh-so-important group in my life: thank you for reading and supporting this newsletter. What started as a mere act of getting me to write regularly has become very meaningful to me and I truly appreciate you all (and am humbled, to be honest, that many of you take the time to check in to The Signal).
Even with all going on this past week, I had time to check out the new CCR documentary on Netflix: Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall. I had not heard much about its release: it just showed up on the platform, with a title that made it appear to be just a live show (which I still would have been excited about). The program is part documentary part long-lost live show recording….showcasing the four members of the band having the time of their lives as their singles, one after the other, month after month, keep hitting the charts: being the only band in the world to compete with the Beatles. Knowing the hate and anger that was to come after the band broke up, it was so nice to see them young, happy…a band…a killer band…releasing and performing songs that are classics today.
I loved Creedence as a kid…who didn’t who came across their music….that best of comp that made the rounds in the lates 70s/early80s which showcased how legendary their songs were. I was working at Warner Bros. when Fogerty was on the label….wanting to run into him even though having heard such foreboding things about him as a prickly person. I was in my office one day when someone speedily rushed in and then stopped almost dramatically. I looked up: it was John Fogerty. He looked at me…totally lost…out of sorts. He asked where Lenny Waronker’s office was. I pointed him the right direction. He thanked me and walked off. That was that. I sat next to him shortly after for a tribute to (I think) John Lee Hooker at the Palace. It was a sit down affair and he was at the table next to mine, our backs inches away from each other for most of the night. I remember Rufus Thomas taking the stage and Fogerty getting up in the middle of his electrifying performance and walking off. I always wondered how he could do that to Rufus Thomas.
As is well known, Fogerty had distain for almost everyone in his past…not even allowing his brother and the rest of CCR to play with him at their Rock n Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony (even with them all present). And yes, Fogerty hated Saul Zaentz and CCR label Fantasy Records as well, claiming they had screwed him out of his master and publishing profit. After Fogerty had his hit Old Man Down The Road, Fantasy sued him saying that he ripped himself off by rehashing a song they owned, Run Through The Jungle. I had a meeting with Lenny Waronker the afternoon after he testified on Fogerty’s defense, taking the stand as a star witness about how musical artists often had a style that reverberated throughout their various songs, their artistic signature. The suit was eventually dropped.
With all the dark futures CCR would witness, it was so sweet to see them play an incredible set at The Royal Albert Hall during their peak band period. My old friend Ray Farrell posted a nice piece about the doc recently on social media. He allowed me to share it with you….
This new Creedence Clearwater Revival doc on Netflix seems to be under the radar. If you are a fan it's well worth your time. The first half chronicles their history up to and including their first European tour. It's a condensed band history - John provided more detail in his biography. The second half is what I assume is the complete Royal Albert Hall show. What a great live band! I was a yon teen when they were together so I didn't get to see them. On rhythm guitar, Tom was the master of control and understatement as you'd find in a great r&b band. I saw Tom's post CCR band Ruby w/ Randy Oda a few times @ Keystone Berkeley.
Many years ago I worked with Tom Fogerty's son Jeff Fogerty. I could occasionally ask Jeff questions to ask his dad. I learned that on tours, the set list did not change. John rarely spoke to the audience between songs. There was a vague recollection that they played one unrecorded song on tour, once or twice.
When I moved to Berkeley in '76, my first job was in the Oakland Sears mens clothes dept. One night John came in. He asked if Wranglers were as good as Levi's. He bought a pair after my pitch. Trying to be cool, I asked, "Is your name John?", like I knew him from the hood:) . He laughed and said "Yes it is" This was at a time when he was very low profile. I was careful about asking too many questions. I asked if he was still making music. He said he had recently released a new single. After the next day off, when I punch in, my boss said that some guy left something for me the day before. In a bag was an autographed copy of his "Evil Thing" single.
L’Shana Tova….
I love Jaan Uhelszki. I am so psyched for a new Creem….just loving the spoltlight she is (deservedly) getting….
The making of a poet: Robert Lowell’s posthumous ‘Memoirs’
The article offers a great dive into very interesting….if not dark…life of Robert Lowell….one of the great modern poets.
A church with open doors: the ecstatic power of Pharoah Sanders
It is pretty widespread knowledge at this point that we lost a Jazz giant over the weekend, Pharoah Sanders. I wrote a piece on social media about the time he played Stern Grove with the Alonzo Ballet. The truth: throughout his career up until his death. Promises, the record he put out last year with an electronic artist and an orchestra is phenomenal. So worth a listen. I got to see Sanders at least a dozen times, including the night of the LA Riot where he kept his gig. What a superstar.
Archaeologists Discovered 7,000-Year-Old Structure Older Than Stonehenge or Pyramids of Giza
“The structure, known as a roundel, dates to the Neolithic period and archaeologists believe it was constructed between 4900 B.C.E. and 4600 B.C.E. The roundel, and others like it in Europe, are considered to be the oldest massive structures in Europe.”
The Hidden History Of San Francisco Graveyards
I grew up hearing the stories of the graves below my feet at the Legion of Honor. Paula Frazer wrote a song about uncovering part of a skeleton while excavating the area, called The Hand.
Spel Against Demons
By: Gary Snyder1
The release of Demonic Energies in the name of
the people
must cease
Messing with blood sacrifice in the name of
Nature
must cease
The stifling self-indulgence in anger in the name of
Freedom
must cease
this is death to clarity
death to compassion
the man who has the soul of the wolf
knows the self-restraint
of the wolf
aimless executions and slaughterings
are not the work of wolves and eagles
but the work of hysterical sheep
The Demonic must be devoured!
Self-serving must be
cut down
Anger must be
plowed back
Fearlessness, humor, detachment, is power
Gnowledge is the secret of Transformation!
Down with demonic killers who mouth revolutionary
slogans and muddy the flow of change, may they be
Bound by the Noose, and Instructed by the Diamond
Sword of ACHALA, the Immovable, Lord of Wisdom, Lord
of Heat, who is squint-eyed and whose face is terrible
with bare fangs, who wears on his crown a garland of
severed heads, clad in a tiger skin, he who turns
Wrath to Purified Accomplishment,
whose powers are of lava,
of magma, of deep rock strata, of gunpowder,
and the Sun.
He who saved tortured intelligent demons and filth-eating
hungry ghosts, his spel is,
NAMAH SAMANTAH VAJRANAM CHANDA
MAHAROSHANA
SPHATAYA HUM TRAKA HAM MAM
This poem is featuring a new book by Gary Snyder called Uncollected Poems, Drafts, Fragments & Translations from Counterpoint Press
"In a bag was an autographed copy of his "Evil Thing" single." Best Fogerty story EVER. Wrangler the company has had it's moments. Not all of them great. But, yeah... Best Fogerty story EVER.