70s_stuff

Bumping into Geniuses

2008-08-25T17:14:15Z

Rock journalist. PR guy for Led Zeppelin. Nirvana's manager. Good friend to Kurt and Courtney. Record company executive. These are but a few of the descriptions you might apply to Danny Goldberg, whose latest book, Bumping into Geniuses: My Life Inside the Rock and Roll Business, hits the bookstores next month. In addition to the appellations I've already dropped, among the many behind-the-scenes tales Goldberg tells are how he covered Woodstock when nobody else wanted to, when he talked Kiss into taking it all off (makeup-wise), and how he launched Stevie Nicks' solo career. What emerges is the profile of someone savvy enough to know that doing business is all about relationships—and that you can't succeed at either one at the expense of the other.

For our purposes here, Goldberg also writes about such Paul Nelson favorites as Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Ian Hunter (whom Goldberg now manages), and Neil Young. Most importantly, he writes about Paul.

Touching on Paul's five years at Mercury Records, when Goldberg was writing for Circus magazine, he also reflects on Paul's role in the Warren Zevon saga in a lengthy and loving chapter about the singer/songwriter's final years (Goldberg was head of Artemis Records and released not only Zevon's last three studio albums but also the fine tribute album, Enjoy Every Sandwich: The Songs of Warren Zevon). He also reflects on Paul's memorial service at St. Mark's Church on September 7, 2006.

What emerges is Goldberg's admiration for both Paul the man and Paul the writer. As he wrote for RockCritics.com shortly after Paul's death:

Paul was hopelessly miscast as a PR guy. He was literally incapable of hyping an album or artist he did not believe in and was always apologetic when he called about a Mercury artist.... Paul was far more likely to go into a track by track analysis of the latest Leonard Cohen album on Columbia than even to mention a mediocrity on Mercury. I don't know how he got himself into a position where he was able to sign the Dolls (not normally the kind of thing a PR person could do at record companies) but I suspect he just wore out his superiors. But he did enjoy the expense account that allowed him to take a long list of writers to La Strada and other Midtown restaurants.

Towards the end of Bumping into Geniuses, Goldberg realizes that "People like me were only valuable to record companies to the extent we could identify and sign commercial talent. And the way that the business world judged your talent for picking and signing and working with artists was not how smart you were, how much you loved music, how hard you worked, what skills you had, or what critics thought of your taste. To be taken seriously by the grown-ups you had to be associated with big hits. That was the coin of the realm."

Which pretty much sums up why Paul Nelson's record company career ended in 1975.

Copyright 2008 by Kevin Avery. All rights reserved.

BBC public information adverts

2008-08-02T08:56:39Z

I just found this on you tube.

I remember these adverts really clearly.

A current press release

2008-08-02T08:40:51Z

Early jail release for Gary Glitter

Disgraced glam rocker Gary Glitter is to be released from prison early.

The 63-year-old, who is serving a three-year sentence in Vietnam for molesting two young girls, will be freed on August 19, Sky News reported.

Vietnamese authorities were quoted as saying he will be released in a fortnight, after being given a sentence reduction to mark Lunar New Year.

Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was arrested in November 2005 at Ho Chi Minh airport as he tried to leave the country.

He was convicted in March 2006 of committing obscene acts with two girls aged 10 and 11.

An official at Thu Duc jail, where he is being held, said: "According to Vietnamese law, Glitter will be freed on August 19.

"The decision on his release will be read before him that day. It will be signed by the director of the prison."

In Britain Glitter served half of a four-month sentence in 1999 for possessing child pornography.

the youngest one, in url

2008-07-19T12:52:07Z

Susan Olsen is raising the bar on reality-show-quality
by focusing on kitten foster care in a humorous way,
but this is a cause she promotes all the time, seriously.

Part of staying on the show is about Susan getting
the most views on her entry in the show's YouTube video contest!
A view (or several views) of this video is a victory
for Brady fans, orphaned kittens, and your fun weekend!

Click here to help her WIN

Additionally, please spread the word to your friends who are Brady Fans, Animal Lovers,
or just Spending A Lot of Time Online Anyhow

More lovely Knitware!

2008-07-11T14:24:22Z

Oh yeah!!!

Another lovely knitware photo from the 70's mag I picked up at a car boot sale!

And as you may notice, the models here are showing beautifully, just how wonderfully versatile the 'around the neck' bit can actually be! - You can wear it around the back, around the front or simple off the shoulders.

Lyrics Quiz

2008-06-29T13:23:12Z

Here are the answers to the lyrics I posted a while back--

1. Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath Black Sabbath

2. I Can't Tell You Why The Eagles

3. Mother Goose Jethro Tull

4. Tie Your Mother Down Queen

5. When The Levee Breaks Led Zeppelin

6. Ready For Love Bad Co.

7. Ziggy Stardust David Bowie

8. Roundabout Yes

9. Moonlight Mile The Rolling Stones

10. Wish You Were Here Pink Floyd

Another Lyrics Quiz

2008-06-19T03:38:05Z

I thought I'd post another lyrics quiz, this one a little more album-oriented and more toward the rock/metal end of the spectrum. Have fun!

1. "The race is run, the book is read, the end begins to show
The truth is out, the lies are old, but you don't want to know."

2. "Look at us baby, tearing our love apart
Aren't we the same two people who lived through years in the dark?"

3. "Saw Johnny Scarecrow make his rounds
In his jet black mack which he won't give back, stolen from a snowman."

4. "I'm gonna make out all night, I've got a sweetheart hand
to put a stop to all that."

5. "Cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good."

6. "Now I'm on my feet again, better things are bound to happen."

7. "When the kids killed the man I had to break up the band."

8. "Catching the swirling wind, the sailor sees the rim of the land."

9. "Made a rag pile of my shiny clothes, gonna warm my bones."

10. "And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?"

Perceiving the Doors

2008-06-10T11:28:40Z

Paul Nelson didn't write a lot about the Doors--and he only briefly met Jim Morrison--but what words he did put to paper were poetic, to the point, and unashamedly revealing of a critic yearning to understand not only the the band's music but the nascent and far from established new art form called rock & roll. For instance:

And Jim. To see him sing is like witnessing a man dangling in some kind of unique and personal pain. Watching Morrison come face to face with some ultimate truth in song can be truly frightening. The shrieks and screams come from a subconscious layer under the conscious artistry: Morrison is levels, not all of them pretty.

When I learned that the intense and talented writer and director Tom DiCillo (Living in Oblivion, Box of Moonlight, and his most recent film, Delirious, are among his best) is feverishly at work on a Doors documentary, I forwarded him Paul's rare writings about the group, the best of which is "Perceiving the Doors," a piece written for the long out-of-print songbook We Are the Doors. "What an amazing writer," DiCillo responded. "It is pretty astonishing. I particularly liked his analysis of the Doors' sound":

When they play, they seem to be held together by both terrific, almost terrifying, strength and by sheer nervous tension. They expand, contract, and the song is stretched like a live thing to a point of birth or breaking or both. The passion is always contained within the control. Ray [Manzarek] plays the organ like a holy man, his thoughts almost as visible as smoke, while Robby [Krieger] oozes out those slow, melted flamenco notes as if he were shaking them from a slow-motion guitar. John [Densmore] is all speed and power on the drums, a perpetual-motion machine. And Jim. To see him sing is like witnessing...

"It is close to my own view of what distinguishes the group," DiCillo continued, "but he writes extremely eloquently and with real, knowledgeable detail. I thought his review of the first album showed real perception." In fact, so alive was Paul's forty-year-old prose that DiCillo had a request: "Can you please pass my admiration on to him?"

I informed him that Paul had passed away in 2006. "I had no idea," he replied, "It touches me deeply. It has much deeper meaning now."

Copyright 2008 by Kevin Avery. All rights reserved.

some nice 70's fashions

2008-06-08T11:16:30Z

I found a 70's mag at a car boot this morning!

Here are a couple of nice designer fashions from '72ish.

Can't say I ever wore anything like this myself - although I do seem to remember a knitted swimsuit I really hated from around that time!

Guess who and what

2008-06-06T15:47:27Z

Just for fun!

1. Name the TV show - Hawaii 5-0

2. Name the group - Bay City Rollers

3. Name the game - Pong

4. Name the TV show - Sesame Street

5. Name the toy - Etch a Sketch

6. Name the band and the single

7. Name the TV show - Happy Days

8. Name the group - The Sweet

9. Name the type of bike

10. Name the TV show - The Mary Tyler Moore Show

Have fun
C.x

Television trivia! (altered from a 'Writers Block' question)

2008-05-22T16:53:46Z

If you could be cast on any TV show from the 70's, who would you play?

70s_stuff @ 2008-05-21T11:28:00

2008-05-21T10:29:01Z

Sorry if I'm being a bit quiet in the community at the moment. I've got college work to finish and hand in so I'm working like mad to get it finished. I'll post something as soon as I can.

Everyone else In the meantime, do feel free to post things 'cos I do keep taking breaks and I enjoy reading what other people have written.

Rod Stewart

2008-05-11T22:40:46Z

The backstory: In the early Seventies, Paul Nelson accepted a publicity job at Mercury Records. One of the artists with whom he worked closely, and with whom he became good friends, was Rod Stewart. During Paul's five-year tenure at Mercury (he eventually was promoted to A&R, in which capacity he would sign the New York Dolls to their first recording contract), Stewart produced some of his best albums, including Gasoline Alley, Never a Dull Moment, and one of the best rock & roll albums of all time, Every Picture Tells a Story.

In 1975, the same year Paul resigned from Mercury and returned to writing full-time, Stewart switched labels and landed at Warner Bros. where his first album was Atlantic Crossing. Writing in Rolling Stone, Paul gave the album a rave review, concluding: "If Atlantic Crossing isn't Rod Stewart's best record—and it isn't—it at least comes within hailing distance of earlier masterpieces."

In 1978, Paul wrote one of his best articles, a lengthy, praising piece that sympathetically depicted Rod at odds with his ex-lover, actress Britt Ekland, who was suing him for $12 million, at odds with the burgeoning punks, who had singled him out as their anti-poster boy, and at odds with the critical mass in general, who were of the opinion that he'd sold out and gone Hollywood (which he literally had, having relocated from England).

In 1981, Paul co-wrote a book with Lester Bangs that pilloried Stewart and his music, with Paul recanting much of his earlier praise. He wrote: "As a young man in his twenties, Rod Stewart seemed to possess an age-old wisdom: some of the things he told us we could've learned from our grandfathers. In his thirties, however, he suddenly metamorphosed into Jayne Mansfield."

Fast-forward to Thursday afternoon when I received a phone call that asked: "Can you meet Rod Stewart for drinks tonight?" I'd been trying to secure an interview with him for almost a year and a half. Four hours later, I found myself at the St. Regis Hotel in Manhattan, across the table from a very dashing and dapper-looking Rod Stewart. (Due to a miscommunication between his manager and publicist, he'd been waiting for me for twenty minutes there in the sedate Astor Court—while I'd been waiting for him for twenty minutes around the corner in the rowdy King Cole Bar and Lounge.) Looking still very much the young rogue on which he'd made his reputation, the 63-year-old Stewart was charming and funny and, of course, occasionally bawdy. My scheduled fifteen- to twenty-minute interview ended up lasting almost forty-five minutes.

Stewart fondly remembered Paul Nelson as I did my best to stir up his memories and remind him of incidents that had occurred more than three-and-a-half decades ago. As I sipped on my Bloody Mary (which, according to legend, had been invented by King Cole bartender Fernand Petiot, circa 1939) and he on his martini, we traded stories: his about the Paul he knew, me about what had happened to Paul in the many years since Stewart had seen him last.

I even quoted Paul's contention that Stewart had "metamorphosed into Jayne Mansfield" and asked him how it had felt having his friend savage him in book form. I asked him if there had been any validity to what Paul had written. And he answered every question honestly and to the best of his ability.

What he had to say will appear, of course, in the Rod Stewart chapter of Everything Is an Afterthought.

When Stewart's twenty-seven-year-old wife Penny Lancaster arrived, he announced that the interview was over and rose to greet her. When he introduced us, he told her, "We've been talking about a dear old friend of mine." And before we parted, he wished me luck with the book and added, "Thank you for just doing it."

Copyright 2008 by Kevin Avery. All rights reserved.

It's Search Engine Time!!

2008-05-08T18:06:35Z

Final Winner Of Quiz Was - misstiajournal

The cheaters week winner is - gairid

1. Yes sir, already told you in the first verse and in the chorus but I will give you one more chance.
Baccara - Yes Sir I Can Boogie (gairid)

2. Is this a private number love affair with your phone booth lover.
City Boy - 5705 (gairid)

3. I wish I could climb right through the telephone line.
Peaches and Herb - Reunited (misstiajournal)

Lyrics Quiz Wk 5

2008-05-01T16:07:53Z

Final Winner Of Quiz Was - misstiajournal

1st misstiajournal - 41 points
2nd gairid - 35 points
3rd pdbmn- 28 points
4th space monkeys (alainajohnson) - 19 points
5th Saibrrmen - 2 Points

Week 5 Winner - = gairid & misstiajournal

=1st misstiajournal - 13 points
=1st gairid - 13 points
3rd pdbmn - 9 point
4th space monkeys (alainajohnson) - 4 points

1. Some try to tell me thoughts they cannot defend.
The Moody Blues - Nights In White Satin (spacemonkeys)

2. Feel the rhythm, check the rhyme, come along and have a real good time.
Chic - Le Freak (misstiajournal)

3. Oh yeah and now it seem my only chance is giving up the fight.
ABBA - Waterloo (misstiajournal)

4. One hundred watts scream man my ears are bleedin'
Generation X - Valley Of The Dolls (spacemonkeys)

5.You didn't stop to make me feel better by leavin' me a card or letter.
Carpenters - Please Mr Postman (misstiajournal)

6. I've written you letters that I'd like to send if you would just send one to me.
Randy Vanwarmer (pdbmn) - Just When I Needed You Most (misstiajournal)

7. I said, I was down and out with the blues, I felt no man cared if I were alive.
Village People - YMCA (misstiajournal)

8. I can see the sunset in your eyes, brown and grey and blue besides.
Peter Frampton - Baby I Love Your Way (misstiajournal)

9. And the boss don't mind if you act the fool.
Rose Royce - Car Wash (misstiajournal)

11. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Will love last forever, I know that it must.
Slik - Forever And Ever (gairid)

13. She was very pretty. He thought he was in love.
Electric Light Orchestra (gairid) - Diary of Horice Wimp (pdbmn)

14. He never draws the curtians at all. He lives in his own world.
The Tourists -The Loneliest Man In The World (gairid)

16. So if love everlasting, isn't what you're asking. I'll have to pass, girl
The Osmonds - Love Me For A Reason (pdbmn)

17. I spend my time moving to dreams and a phase. It's a crazy love.
I Was Made For Dancing (pdbmn) - I Was Made For Dancing (gairid)

I hope you had fun xx

The Bedtime Routine!

2008-04-29T23:37:18Z

This really brings back memories for me.

This is a public information film that was made in 1979. It was shown every night as the very last thing before the TV company shut down for the night.

It obviously worked because as a family we would sing it as we went round turning everything off for the night!

70's Space Hopper

2008-04-27T18:44:12Z

Cross posted to found_items

I came across this yesterday and it made me smile

Lyrics Quiz Wk 4

2008-04-24T22:54:48Z

Week 4 Winner - gairid

1st gairid - 5 points
=2nd alainajohnson - 4 points
=2nd misstiajournal - 4 points
4th pdbmn - 1 point

Current Leader - misstiajournal

1st misstiajournal - 28 points
2nd gairid - 22 points
3rd pdbmn- 19 points
4th alainajohnson - 15 points
5th Saibrrmen - 2 Points

1. If you give a little more than you're asking for, your love will turn the key.
Andy Gibb - I Just Want To Be Your Everything (misstiajournal)

2. Could it be? Really be, really babe? Could it be, my babe?
David Bowie - Fame (alainajohnson)

4. 'Cause I couldn't bear to see what I might see.
Tony Olando And Dawn - Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree (gairid)

6.But there ain't any use in pretendin' it could happen to us any day.
Ace (pdbmn) - How Long (gairid)

8. He kissed my mamma's face and brushed her tears away.
Paper Lace - The Night Chicago Died (gairid)

11. So if love everlasting, isn't what you're asking. I'll have to pass, girl
The Osmonds -

12. I got the blues, please come see, what your loving means to me.
Blondie - Sunday girl (alainajohnson)

13. You got me spinnin', baby, you know I'm in a trance.
Amii Stewart (misstiajournal) - Knock On Wood

The lyrics quiz

2008-04-21T18:23:00Z

Hi all

If you were waiting for the quiz , I'm going to delay it maybe until tomorrow as I've had a bit of an accident this afternoon with two of my fingers and they are really painful. If they are still painful in the morning I'm going to the hospital and get them checked out in case I've broken them.

Sorry Luv C.x

Happy Birthday

2008-04-16T21:34:52Z

Happy Birthday to misstiajournal

Heres a couple of piccies to hopefully bring a smile to your face!

click on them to get the bigger pictures

Nice shirt and pink trousers!

ohh err mississ! this was a piccie given to me by an elderly aunt when I was about 11!
hmmmm now I can't for the life of me think why I never got rid of it! lol.

Lyrics quiz wk3

2008-04-14T15:05:55Z

Week 3 Winner - pdbmn

1st pdbmn - 18 points
2nd alainajohnson - 11 points
3rd misstiajournal - 9 points
4th gairid - 5 points

Current Leader - misstiajournal

1st misstiajournal - 24 points
2nd pdbmn - 18 points
3rd gairid - 17 points
4th alainajohnson - 11 points
5th Saibrrmen - 2 Points

1. So if love everlasting, isn't what you're asking. I'll have to pass, girl
The Osmonds (gairid)

2. Please be waiting for me baby when I come around. We could make a lot of lovin' 'for the sun goes down.
Starland Vocal Band - Afternoon Delight (misstiajournal)

3. I got the blues, please come see, what your loving means to me.
Blondie (alainajohnson) -

4. All of the bad feelings have disappeared.
Johnny Nash/Jimmy Cliff (gairid) - Can See Clearly Now (misstiajournal)

5. You got me spinnin', baby, you know I'm in a trance.
- Knock On Wood (misstiajoural)

7. Good lovin’ still gets in my eyes. Nobody believes what you say.
The Bee Gees - Jive Talkin' (misstiajournal)

8. She goes downtown, the boys all stop and stare.
Nick Gilder (gairid) - Hot Child in the City (misstiajournal)

9. And their thoughts turn to their own little girl, sweet 16 ain’t that peachy keen.
Boomtown Rats - I Don't Like Mondays (pdbmn)

10. I can take the afternoon, the night-time comes around too soon 
Rainbow - Since You Been Gone (gairid)

11. Let's do the milkshake, you're selling like a hot cake. Try some.
M - Pop Muzik (pdbmn)

12. To sit around and wait for you, but baby can't you see.
Olivia Newton John - Hopelessly Devoted To You (alainajohnson)

13. How could we let it slip away, we've come too far to leave it all behind.
Chicago - If You Leave Me Now (misstiajournal)

14. There's a knock on the door and just for a second I thought I remembered you.Tubeway Army - Are Friends Electric (pdbmn)

15. I know your antiseptic, your deodorant smells nice.
X Ray Specs - Germ Free Adolecent (pdbmn)

16. My love is strong enough to last when things are rough, Its magic.
ABBA - Take A Chance On Me (alainajohnson)

70s_stuff @ 2008-04-07T19:22:00

2008-04-07T18:37:42Z

Week 2 Winner - misstiajournal

1st misstiajournal - 7 points
2nd gairid - 6 points

Current Leader - misstiajournal

1st misstiajournal - 15 points
2nd gairid - 12 points
3rd Saibrrmen - 2 Points

1. You tried to teach me right from wrong. Too much wine and too much song, wonder how I got along.
Terry Jacks (gairid) - Seasons In The Sun (misstiajournal)

2. He says I sorry but Im out of milk and coffee, never mind sugar we can watch the early movie.
Rod Stewart - Do ya think I'm Sexy (misstiajournal)

5. And felt your heart beat close to mine, like the trembling heart of a captive bird.
Roberta Flack - The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (gairid)

6. From Ibeza to the Norfolk Broads, rule Britannia is out of bounds.
David Bowie - Life On Mars (saibrrmen)

7. How could we let it slip away, we've come too far to leave it all behind.
Chicago (gairid)

8. In my mind and in my car, we can't rewind we've gone to far
The Buggles - Video Killed The Radio Star (misstiajournal)

9. Now he's at home doing 9 to 5, living his brave life of lies. But when he turns off to sleep, all memories keep.
LaBelle - Lady Marmalade (misstiajournal)

10. Well she's faster than most and she lives on the coast.
T-Rex - Hot Love (gairid)

Lyrics quiz wk1

2008-03-31T21:13:28Z

Week 1 Winner - mistiajournal

1st mistiajournal - 8 points
2nd gairid - 6 points

Current Leader - mistiajournal

1st mistiajournal - 8 points
2nd gairid - 6 points

1. I need a man who can keep me satisfied. I better shape up.
John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John - You're The One That I Want (misstiajournal)

2. Miles and miles of empty space in between us. The telephone cant take the place of your smile.
Leo Sayer - When I Need You (misstiajournal)

3. It's written in the moonlight and painted on the stars.
David Soul - Don't Give Up On Us Baby (gairid)

4. When I was down I was your clown. Nobody knows it.
Elton John & Kiki Dee - Don't Go Breaking My Heart (gairid)

5. Ev'rytime I'm with you baby, I can't believe it's true. When you're laying in my arms we do the things you do.
Exile - Kiss You All Over (misstiajournal)

6. Seemed like the real thing only to find mucho mistrust, love's gone behind.
Blondie - Heart Of Glass (misstiajournal)

10. Please swallow your pride, If I have things you need to borrow.
Bill Withers - Lean On Me (gairid)

70s_stuff @ 2008-03-17T16:13:00

2008-03-17T16:16:50Z

I'm going to be away for the next couple of weeks so misstiajournal is going to stand in as moderator while I'm away.

Be lovely for her!

Thanks

Great 70's Decor

2008-03-12T21:58:23Z

I seriously love interior decor from the 70's....i have a dining set from the 70's and am going to paint that room accordingly and am going to get a 70's couch and do the living room 70's-ish too!

This picture is from Easy Steps to Successful Decorating by Barbara Taylor Bradford, who has had more success writing fiction....the book was published in 1971....

i just love the colors here...