Antion’s Blog
Dealey Plaza, Texas
In August 2019, for the first time, I drove through Dealey Plaza, in Dallas, TX. This was the location of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22nd, 1963. It felt particularly poignant coming to this place on a day when our nation is in shock and mourning victims of more senseless violence. Like most people of my age, I remember only too well where I was when I heard of that heinous act. On that Friday I was with a band, playing a gig at a town called Banbury in England....
Recording with Paul McCartney
Magic Moments in the Summer of Love #4 – Recording with Paul McCartney Chris Barber was a legendary figure on the Brit music scene. In 1967, he was 37, much older than the rest of we rock musicians. He mostly played trombone, although he dabbled in other instruments, and was a seminal figure on the early Brit Trad Jazz (Dixieland) scene from the early 50s onwards. It was his 1955 recording of Rock Island Line – featuring Lonnie Donegan on vocals – that would become an international smash,...
Charles Lloyd – London 1967
Magic Moments in the Summer of Love #3 – Charles Lloyd In the years preceding my joining The Animals, I had been a huge jazz fan, almost to the point of fanaticism. After my first LSD experience in April of 1967, I mostly quit listening to jazz. I was moving into different realms in my consciousness and looking for new sounds, new experiences, music I would never have previously considered. Yet an exciting jazz album made its way into my life in the summer of 1967, the Summer of Love. It was...
Giorgio Gomelsky and The Beatles
Magic Moments in the Summer of Love #2 – Sergeant Pepper When I returned from the US to London, at the end of April 1967, the energy in London was exciting and so was mine. I was stoked from my first tour with the band, plus a trip around the world, plus going to India, plus … well, you get the idea. During that summer, London would turn into a place of magic for thousands of young people, hippies if you will. I want to share some of those magic moments, not in any chronological order, rather...
Isley Brothers Summer of Love
I promised you some magic moments from summer 1967, also known as the Summer of Love. Here's: Magic Moments in the Summer of Love #1 – The Isley Brothers During the mid-60s, American R&B music became very popular in the UK. Originally, Brit artists would cover great R&B songs that stood no chance of radio play on the BBC and get hits with them. Like Wayne Fontana’s cover of Major Lance’s Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, or The Swinging Blue Jeans’ cover of Betty Everett’s You’re No Good. Even...
Dee Time – London 1967 – and Marriages
29th August, 1967 Only two days later, we were slated to appear on one of the UK’s hottest TV shows. Simon Dee was originally a pirate radio DJ on Radio Caroline. In 1967, BBC 1 gave him his own TV show, the first chat show on Brit TV, called Dee Time. It proved to be hugely successful and Simon became a phenomenon on Brit TV. For anyone with a new record, hoping to get on the charts, an appearance on Simon Dee’s hip talk show was essential. Also on the show was Keith West, who had a surprise...
The Summer of Love 1967 – From San Francisco to London Part 2
August 11th, 1967 I had returned from California to London to find the Brit version of the “Summer of Love” in full swing. On August 11th, we played the Friday night session of the national Jazz and Blues Festival. I had played this festival in 1965 with Steampacket at the Richmond Athletic Grounds. In 1966, the festival moved to Windsor. It was a popular festival, although the Jazz content was quickly being phased out, in favour of crowd-attracting rock acts. Worth noting is the debut of a...
The Summer of Love 1967 – From San Francisco to London Part 1
24th July, 1967 I returned to London with a swagger in my step. After all, I was 22 years old and I had played not only the first rock music festival in history, but also two legendary venues in California. I would like to think I was not full of myself, but I probably was, even if I tried not to be. Although the San Fran musicians I met were mostly easy-going guys, they had a very low tolerance for attitude. That was not the way to get yourself noticed over there. I took note and certainly...
Living With The Dead
July 10th, 1967 After the gig at the Whiskey, we were free. The tour was over and we had two weeks before our next commitment. Bill Kreutzman, Phil Lesh and their ladies had very graciously invited me to come back to San Francisco and spend some more time with them. John Weider had a girlfriend he wanted to visit there. So, a few days later, John and I flew back up to San Fran. We still had the return half of our first class ticket that brought us to LA for the Monterey Festival so we decided...
David and Tina Meltzer
July 6th, 2019 David Meltzer was a poet and musician of the Beat Generation and San Francisco Renaissance. Some of his contemporaries were Gary Snyder, Kenneth Rexroth and Lawrence Ferlinghetti who described David as "one of the greats of post-World-War-Two San Francisco poets and musicians". I was introduced to David and his wife Tina in mid-1969 by a mutual friend. They lived in a house in Mill Valley, Marin County, California, nestled in a redwood forest and unreachable by car, you had to...
First Time at the Whiskey a Gogo
July 6th, 1967 After finishing at the Fillmore, we flew back to LA to play a few days at the Whiskey a Gogo. The Whiskey – that’s all we, and everybody else ever called it – is located on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, very close to Beverly Hills, in an area known as the Sunset Strip. The Strip is only 4 or 5 blocks long but is packed with restaurants and clubs. Nowadays, the Whiskey is a legend. It’s still going and it holds the unique distinction of being the only nightclub inducted...
Wheat Belly at the Gurdwara
June 25th, 2019 For my friends who may not know, a Gurdwara is a holy gathering place for Sikhs, also called a Sikh Temple. Every gurdwara has a kitchen and a place to eat, because food is a vital part of Sikh spiritual practice. Langar is the name for the food that is served after any Sikh gathering. Sikhs are known all over the world for distributing langar to those in need and when disaster strikes. Wheat is the backbone of any langar, with dozens, hundreds or even thousands of roti...
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