Showing posts with label Sixto Rodriguez. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sixto Rodriguez. Show all posts
May 21, 2021
February 14, 2018
September 16, 2017
September 13, 2017
Beemer Memory 17: Vietnam War Protests ~ 1973
1973 San Francisco Vietnam War protest flyer detail
detail photo by Styrous®
There seems to be an interest in revisiting the days of the Vietnam War lately. A few days ago I came across this flyer while going through my storage and it brought back memories of riding through the streets of San Francisco during the protests of the War in the first year after buying my Beemer. It was a very surreal time as were the emotions and fears it generated because of the possibility of being drafted. The War, the draft, along with a love affair, prompted me to consider moving to Canada which I did with disastrous results (link below: The Family Dogg). Just days after this particular protest in May of 1973, I packed up my bike and rode up to Crescent Beach, a little village south of Vancouver.
1973 San Francisco Vietnam War protest flyer
photo byStyrous®
1973 San Francisco Vietnam War protest flyer detail
detail photo byStyrous®
1973 San Francisco Vietnam War protest flyer
photo byStyrous®
1973 San Francisco Vietnam War protest flyer detail
detail photo byStyrous®
1973 San Francisco Vietnam War protest flyer detail
detail photo byStyrous®
1973 San Francisco Vietnam War protest flyer detail
detail photo byStyrous®
Viewfinder links:
They were very strange times!
Styrous® ~ Wednesday, September 13, 2017
June 13, 2014
June 12, 2014
Malik Bendjelloul ~ Searching for Sugarman & Sixto Rodriguez
photographer unknown
On October 8, 2012, I wrote an article on The Family Dogg & Sixto Rodriguez. It was prompted by a program I'd seen on television, 60 Minutes. I was delighted and amazed to learn about the saga and of the time, effort and money Bendjelloul had spent uncovering the story of musician Sixto Rodriguez and making a film of it. It was important to me because of the influence the music by Rodriguez had had on me in the early seventies.
I was so deeply affected by the memories the program stirred up in me, I wrote an article about it in less than a day; that almost never happens.
After I wrote it, I found Bendjelloul on Facebook and dropped him a line to thank him for his brilliant project. Although he was famous now, he had the time and courtesy to reply to me.
I was so deeply affected by the memories the program stirred up in me, I wrote an article about it in less than a day; that almost never happens.
After I wrote it, I found Bendjelloul on Facebook and dropped him a line to thank him for his brilliant project. Although he was famous now, he had the time and courtesy to reply to me.
"From: Facebook
To: Styrous
Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2012 1:45 PM
Subject: New message from Malik Bendjelloul
Hi Sty, Thanks a lot for your message! And... very nice and initiated blog, you know your stuff!
keep up the good work!
all the best,
Malik"
To: Styrous
Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2012 1:45 PM
Subject: New message from Malik Bendjelloul
Hi Sty, Thanks a lot for your message! And... very nice and initiated blog, you know your stuff!
keep up the good work!
all the best,
Malik"
To say I was blown away that he even took the time and effort to reply is putting it mildly but it demonstrates the caliber of the man and why I include it in this blog entry. Even though he was probably very busy, he responded to me; a rarity by many people much less a celebrity in today's world.
I was more than thrilled when I heard he had won the Oscar for best documentary at the Academy Awards a few months later on Feb. 24,
2013.
Malik Bendjelloul accepts the Oscar
for best documentary feature,
during the Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles
file photo from
(AP / Invision / Chris Pizzello/Invision)
I hope Malik is finally free of his demons!
Yesterday, I was horrified and shocked when I found out Bendjelloul had jumped in front of a
train and committed suicide a month ago on May 13, 2014. I just couldn't
believe a man who was so young and talented would do this. But
this is not the first time I have been touched by a tragedy such as
this. And every time I have not been able to understand the demons in a
person's mind that would drive them to such a violent action as this. I
probably never will.
The incident was covered by The Hollywood Reporter.
The documentary film, Searching for Sugar Man, is available on Netflix.
The documentary film, Searching for Sugar Man, is available on Netflix.
I hope Malik is finally free of his demons!
Styrous ~ June 12, 2013
~
October 8, 2012
20,000 Vinyl LPs 12: The Family Dogg & Sixto Rodriguez
photo by Rom Salicki
I started the Vinyl LP series because I
have over 20,000 albums I am selling; each blog entry is about an album
from my collection. Inquire for more information.
~ ~ ~
(click on any image to see slideshow)
illustration art by
Steve Thomas Associates
photo of album cover by Styrous®
Late in 1973 I bought Roland's Head because I was snagged by the graphics (what a surprise!).
My favorite song from the album is a fantastic and utterly unique rock song, Riker's Island, by Albert Hammond, Michael Hazlewood and Steve Rowland.
A syncopated, anvil-like beat starts the song off. The singer is a man
in a cell of the infamous prison looking through the bars of his cell
at Manhattan. He sings of
the horror of prison, the women he's known, the things he's seen and the judge/system that put him there. As the song nears the end it
reaches a crescendo of jittery, dissonant, electronic noise/sounds that
are an audio reflection of the lights coming on in the velvety dusk as the city descends into night and madness engulfs his mind. Not a pretty but a thought-provoking
song! The only song to surpass it is A Day In the Life by The Beatles. By the way,
the history of Riker's Island is an incredible topic to read about!
One of the songs on the album, "I Wonder", by Sixto Rodriguez, turned out to have special significance for me at the time I bought it. I had just broken up a love affair because of the wandering eye of my partner at that time (not uncommon, the early seventies was the age of free-love, after all). The affair had involved my moving to Canada to live (love makes you do crazy stuff), so, it was a pretty big deal.
The lyrics of I wonder were particularly pertinent to my situation:
I wonder how many times you've been had
And I wonder how many plans have gone bad
I wonder how many times you had sex
And I wonder do you know who'll be next
I wonder I wonder wonder I do
I wonder about the love you can't find
And I wonder about the loneliness that's mine
I wonder how much going have you got
And I wonder about your friends that are not
I wonder I wonder wonder I do
I wonder about the tears in children's eyes
And I wonder about the soldier that dies
I wonder will this hatred ever end
I wonder and worry my friend
I wonder I wonder wonder don't you?
I wonder how many times you been had
And I wonder how many dreams have gone bad
I wonder how many times you had sex
And I wonder do you know who'll be next
I wonder I wonder wonder I do
I returned to San Francisco when the affair was over and as
I listened to the song over and over again in the days, weeks and
months following the breakup, I wondered and it became the song for my
life at that moment in time. I wept my bitter tears but I kept listening to the song and I kept wondering. And as I wondered and listened I enjoyed the visual pleasures of the album itself.
I loved
the album
when opened
it was a gatefold album cover
photo of album cover by Styrous®
flash forward 39 years later . . .
I was watching 60 Minutes last night and they had an article on a "lost" musician named, Rodriguez. His music had reached mythic proportions in South Africa, where he was more popular than Elvis or the Beatles. He'd never been there. No one there knew anything about him. It seems there was a story that he'd set himself on fire onstage during a performance. Even when word spread that he had died, his records continued to sell. South Africans called him the soundtrack to their lives (ironic that one of his songs was for me as well). The amazing part of the story was that no one (except me, apparently) in the United States had ever heard of him. Rodriguez, now 70, was living in poverty in Dearborn, MI, completely unaware of his 40 years of fame.
The television show made me dig into my record collection for the The Family Dogg album because it had six songs on it by Rodriquez, including the one I'd cried over for so many nights.
Sixto Diaz Rodriguez was born on July 10, 1942, in Detroit, MI. He was the son of an immigrant worker from Mexico. Motown producer, Dennis Coffey, discovered him in the late 1960's and co-produced Rodriguez' first album, "Cold Fact".
Cold Fact album
Ransier and Anderson – photography
The first and second album got good reviews but bombed in the United States and he went into obscurity here. But Rodriguez had become an icon in South Africa. It was the 1970s and under apartheid political repression was at its height. Rodriguez's lyrics resonated with people who were fed up with the system. Stephen "Sugar" Segerman said, "We didn't know what the word anti-establishment was until it cropped up on a Rodriguez song. And then we found out it's OK to protest against your society, to be angry with your society." Rodriguez didn't know his records had been selling like wildfire in South Africa. He never saw a penny from them.
In 1997, Segerman set up a website, called 'The Great Rodriguez Hunt', with the intention of finding information about the mysterious US musician of 'Cold Fact' fame. In the same year Brian Currin established 'Climb Up On My Music', a tribute site to the life and works of Rodriguez. When Rodriguez was "found", both sites were combined into the Rodriguez website.
In 1997, Segerman set up a website, called 'The Great Rodriguez Hunt', with the intention of finding information about the mysterious US musician of 'Cold Fact' fame. In the same year Brian Currin established 'Climb Up On My Music', a tribute site to the life and works of Rodriguez. When Rodriguez was "found", both sites were combined into the Rodriguez website.
Then, in 1998, his fans invited him to tour South Africa. During the sold-out concerts, his fans knew and sang the lyrics to his songs. He finally received the adulation that should have been his for so many years. Unfortunately, when he returned to the US, none of this came back with him and he once more sank into obscurity until a new film project was born.
Four years ago, a Swedish
filmmaker, Malik Bendjelloul, heard about Rodriguez and decided to shoot a documentary about
him. The film, now captivating audiences across the country, is being
talked about as a possible candidate for an Academy Award. It's released
by Sony Pictures Classics and called "Searching for Sugar Man." Bendjelloul said, "This might be one of the best stories I ever heard. It was like Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty, or something like that. I never heard a story in my life that was so close to one of those classic fairytales, and had such a wonderful soundtrack, too. You know, it was just-- I was just ah -- I just fell in love with this story."
so, back to The Family Dogg
Besides, I Wonder, The View From Rowland's Head, featured five other songs by Rodriguez: "Like Janis", and "Crucify Your Mind" . . .
photo of record label by Styrous®
. . . "Inner City Blues", "Forget It" and "Advice to Smokey Robinson".
photo of record label by Styrous®
Chris Spedding* was session guitarist on the album
and Madeline Bell* sang backup vocals
photo of album cover detail by Styrous®
photo of album cover detail by Styrous®
The Family Dogg line-up for The View from Roland's Head was:
Steve Rowland (vocals, guitar, drums)
Albert Hammond (vocals, guitar)
Mike Hazlewood (vocals, guitar)
Gary Taylor (bass, guitars)
Ireen Sheer (vocals)
Sue Lynn (backing vocals)
Chris Spedding (guitars)
Alan Parker (guitars)
Barry Morgan (drums)
Doug Wright (drums)
Tony Carr (percussion)
Phil Dennys (piano, organ)
Christine Holmes (vocals)
P. P. Arnold (vocals)
Doreen De Veuve (vocals)
Pam "Zooey" Quinn (vocals)
* Madeline Bell sang back up for Dionne Warwick, Dusty Springfield, Donna Summer (who died this year in May), the French disco group Space, Georgio Moroder and many, many others.
* Chris Spedding has been session guitarist for Nucleus, Jack Bruce, John Cale, Elton John, Mike Batt, Paul McCartney & The Bay City Rollers.
The Family Dogg originated, in Madrid, Spain in 1965 when Steve Rowland and Albert Hammond met. Throughout their career, some of Family Dogg's guest musicians included: Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, Elton John (piano), Alan Parker (guitars), Barry Morgan (drums) and PP Arnold (vocals)
Videos
A medley of "I Wonder", "Ryker's Island", "Like Janis" and "Crucify Your Mind" sung by The Family Dogg can be heard on YouTube.
"I wonder" sung by Rodriguez can be heard on YouTube.
Other songs by Sixto Rodriguez can be heard on YouTube.
Rodriguez did a performance of "I Wonder" at Amoeba Music, a record store in Berkeley. The performance can also be seen on You Tube.
"I wonder" sung by Rodriguez can be heard on YouTube.
Other songs by Sixto Rodriguez can be heard on YouTube.
Rodriguez did a performance of "I Wonder" at Amoeba Music, a record store in Berkeley. The performance can also be seen on You Tube.
Thanks to Sixto for writing the great tunes and to the Dogg for playin' 'em. I still love them even after 40 years.
And, yes, I still wonder.
And, yes, I still wonder.
The entire collection is for sale. Interested? Contact Styrous®
Styrous ~ October 8, 2012
~
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)