Constructive Anarchy: The Blog

Dying man couldn’t make up his mind which place to go to…both have their advantages,
“heaven for climate, hell for company!” Mark Twain’s Notebooks and Journals, vol. 3
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Fundamentalist Fungi once cornered Sammy and warned,
“Your writings will send you STRAIGHT TO HELL!:
To which he replied, “Are there Mint Juleps in heaven?”
“No…”
“Good cigars?”
“No…”
“Sex?”
“No!”
“Then book me a one-way ticket to the other place!”
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The inventor of their heaven empties into it all the nations of the earth, in one common jumble. All are on an equality absolute, no one of them ranking another; they have to be “brothers”; they have to mix together, pray together, harp together, hosannah together—whites, niggers, Jews, everybody—there’s no distinction. Here in the earth all nations hate each other, and every one of them hates the Jew. Yet every pious person adores that heaven and wants to get into it. He really does. And when he is in a holy rapture he thinks that if he were only there he would take all the populace to his heart, and hug, and hug, and hug! Mark Twain- Letters from the Earth

Peter King- Terrorist Bagman

Question: Recently I’ve heard Peter King compared to Joe McCarthy. Who is Joe? Plumber?
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No American ever claimed to be more Blue and White than Tailgunner Joe McCarthy. (Had he been able to carry on his good work, Joe would have eventually had the color Red removed from our flag.)

McCarthy feasted on the paranoia of the mid-Fifties like vampire. The Red Scare reached alarming proportions… Russia exploded its first A-bomb… Nixon nailed Alger Hiss, an accused Soviet spy in the State Department… The Rosenbergs had been convicted and executed… a British atomic scientist, who had worked on the A-Bomb was sentenced to a 14-year prison term for spying for Russia. Spies seemed to be everywhere. “Sensible people” built bomb shelters. First Wave Boomer kids experienced frequent air raid drills and cheery little educational films like What to Do When They Drop the Bomb. The most popular of these contained a catchy little song: “What do you do when you see the flash? Duck and Cover.” Yeah, right. That should solve the problem.
Television began reflecting our fear and paranoia with espionage shows like “I Led Three Lives”, “Foreign Intrigue”, “I Spy” and “The Man Called X.”
Then Joe shouted “Commie!” and everybody jumped.
McCarthy’s career, like Nixon’s, had recently been in the toilet. In a poll among reporters in Washington DC, Joe, then halfway through his first term, was rated last among United States Senators. McCarthy realized that he would have to act fast to keep his job. Joe delivered a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, in early 1950, in which he claimed, “I have here in my hand a list of 205 (State Department employees) who are known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party, and they are still working and shaping the policy of the State Department.” McCarthy had no list, but he gained a lot of supporters and national attention. He quickly became the leader of the popular crusade against Communism. During his entire Career, Joe never produced proof to convict even one American citizen of being a subversive and/or a Communist. He simply accused, and that was enough to destroy the lives of hundreds of Americans. Red Channels (the “Report on Communist Influence in Radio and Television”) was published on June 22, 1950. Three days later, the flames were stoked by the invasion of Communist forces into South Korea.
When the Republicans took control of Congress following the 1952 elections, McCarthy was awarded a committee and staff. Joe considered that as a green light to go after the Reds. He dove into his new job with a passion and realized immediately the incredible potential of television to spread his message. Joe had a plan. Every time his name was mentioned by anyone on the tube, Senator McCarthy evoked the “Fairness Doctrine” and demanded equal time. On camera Joe would then launch into a new unfounded and unrelated attack on Commies, instead of using the time to defend himself and his methods. According to him, there were Commies everywhere… in government, churches, schools and even in the American Armed Forces. Half of America believed McCarthy and the others were afraid to speak out for fear that they, too, may be accused.

Finally on March 9, 1954, “See It Now,” with Edward R. Murrow, presented “A Report On Senator Joseph McCarthy.” Film clips of Joe’s work were shown and Murrow commented, We must remember always that accusation is not proof, and that conviction depends on evidence and due process of law… This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy’s methods to keep silent. He didn’t create this situation of fear, he merely exploited it; and rather successfully.
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The audience flooded CBS with telegrams supporting Murrow’s views. Eisenhower praised Senator Ralph Flanders (Rep. Vermont), who earlier in the day had made a speech in Congress criticizing McCarthy. On March 11th the Army charged that McCarthy and his assistant, Roy Cohn, had threatened to “wreck the Army and Army Secretary, Robert T. Stevens, if recently drafted McCarthy staff member, David Schine, was not given preferential treatment.” Public hearings were scheduled for April.

The DuMont and ABC television networks had little or no daytime programming, and thus decided to carry the full 36 days of the Army/ McCarthy Hearings. The public tuned in and quickly became addicted and many Americans stayed home from work or school to watch. The program reminded them of the good old days of the Kefauver Crime Committee Hearings. But, this new show was confusing. “Which ones are the good guys?”

Tailgunner Joe had been our champion during the past four years, defending us from our greatest fear… the Commies. Up until the hearings, Americans had known only of Joe’s legend, but now, here he was moving into their living rooms, with heavy baggage in hand, for thirty-six straight days. Mark Twain had predicted the result of McCarthy’s intrusion into our lives half a century earlier: “House guests and fish begin to stink after three days.” Joe had come off as Superman in small doses in his quest for “Truth, Justice and the American Way.” But now, the public got an overdose of McCarthy and his methods of bullying, smearing, accusing falsely, blackmailing and slandering. Finally, Joe was stopped dead cold when Counsel Joseph Welsh asked him point blank: Have you no sense of decency, Sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency? Until this moment I think I never really gauged your recklessness and cruelty… Have you finally lost every shred of human dignity and compassion?

The hearings were unable to produce any official decision, but that mattered little. The unofficial decision of the public was that Tailgunner Joe was an idiot. Game show panelists began mimicking McCarthy’s frequent and outrageous outbreaks of “Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman…” Senator McCarthy became a laughing stock and soon drank himself to death.

What was the scariest SciFi monster of all time?

Do you walk the walk? Have you ever been to Michael Jackson’s Neverland?
Of course I’ve been there! I am the Guru of Pop Culture.
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The fabulous fictional estate of Richie Rich pales in comparison to Neverland in its prime. Each year Michael Jackson threw a wonderful party for his employees and their families and friends. I was buds with the Ranch audio/ visual expert and in 1996 my wife, daughters (9 and 15) and I jumped down the rabbit hole to Neverland…a magic world created by a real billionaire boy.
Neverland
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Above: The main house (closed to us) overlooked a beautiful lake…
Statues of children laughing and playing everywhere. The one exception was a statue of Peter Pan (Disney, not English tradional) peering in a window of the main house (Michael’s office or bedroom?). Music blared from rock speakers everywhere on the 500 developed acres of the 1600 acre estate.
Behind the house was a big two-story building (open to us) filled with pinball and virtual reality machines and a jukebox that included the usual plus Muddy Waters, BB King, etc (??!!!).
We then hopped on the train to the amusement park area.

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Above: Does this look familiar? It should…an exact copy of Disneyland’s Main St Station.
Michael’s park was so much better than Disneyland. No lines, unmanned vending carts where you could reach in and grab a free ice cream or bag of candy…a Ferris wheel, merry-go-round, zipper, spider, sea dragon, wave swinger, super slide, dragon wagon kiddie roller coaster. My kids rode the Viking Ship over and over again (usually the only ones on board). And then we hopped on the smaller train to the zoo.
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Who could have ever guessed that the theme of Michael Jackson’s zoo was Albino Animals? The line was too long to ride the elephant so my kids fed raw chickens on a pole to the alligator. Great family fun!
Then, back on the train to the twin threater where two kid flicks were playing. Caught a five minute welcome special Michael had shot just for this occasion…and, at the urging of my youngest…off to the bumper cars…The best ever! When it was time to leave I had to drag Alissa kicking and screaming from her car back onto the bus.
The following summer we did it all over again. Thanks, Michael.
Poor MJ…another kid robbed of childhood (Liz Taylor, Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, etc) by wannabe, greedy parents.
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JOE JACKSON: “Give me custody of Michael’s so-called childen and I will beat those brats into Superstardom. They own 200 of Michael’s unpublished songs and they need a loving grandpa to whip them to fame. So, Let’s Beat It! In 2 months these little freaks will have an album on my Ranch Records label and a tour…and I will have more hot chicks and bling.”

Michael Jackson’s evil father Joe not named in will

Click on the image below for bigger map.
Back to Bartcop

Why is American Rock & Roll so bland? Ever another era so boring?

Corporate Seeds of Pop Music Mediocracy…AKA Mouseketeers

Why is American Idol so popular? No A-Stars in 10 years!

Do celebrities ALWAYS die 3-at-a-time?

Philadelphia and NYC World Series in 2009. Most boring ever?

What’s up with Roman Polanski’s obsession with little girls? Is it true that short people have no one to love?

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ABOVE LEFT: Lewis Carroll’s sexy photo of 5-year-old Alice Liddell - the real Alice in Wonderland.
Upon his death the family destroyed journal pages covering Carroll’s 6-year relationship with this child.
Center- Charlie Chaplin always like them underage. On 23 October 1918, Chaplin, age 29, married the popular child-actress, Mildred Harris, who was 16. Chaplin at age 38 became involved with the then 16-year-old Lita Grey during preparations for The Gold Rush in which she was to star as the female lead. They married on 26 November 1924. Chaplin waited until Oona (daughter of Eugene O’Neill) turned 18 to marry. He was fifty-four. 8 kids…the last when Charlie was 73.
“Hey, Dad, wanna pass the football with me?”
RIGHT: Woody and Soon-Yi…sick,sick,sick.
Don’t even get me started about Jerry Lee Lewis and his 13-year-old cousin.

Loved David Carradine in Kill Bill, but Kung Fu was the weirdest TV hero ever!

It’s still not weird enough for me! American TV heroes are always a reflection of the times.
Today, Jack Bauer on 24 finds a good reason to torture every week…but the Cheney Fear Years are over and so is 24. Kiefer Sutherland defied everything father Donald belived in, and now the son in arrested for a DUI every other week. Is he happy for aiding and abetting the worst president ever?
But back to Kung Fu- 1972-75 (the last 3 years of our Occupation of Vietnam):
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By the early 1970s most Americans had realized that the Vietnam “War” was lost and this epithany was reflected in our TV heroes:
One glaring deficiency in the pages of TV Guide in the Seventies was a lack of superheroes.
Little Boomer boys always intuitively surfed channels for champions to idolize and emulate…
from Captain Midnight to Davy Crockett to Superman and Batman.
But, in the early-Seventies, they found only two very strange candidates:
The Six Million Dollar Man and Kane in Kung Fu. Both reflected our defeat in Vietnam.
Steve Astin, a typical American male, too civilized and flabby to be a superior fighting machine, faced recall. His one dim hope was to use American technology to defeat the mighty Asian barbarians.
TV offered a second hero with Kane…an Asian who easily defeated large groups of inferior Caucasians, with complete focus of mind and body. Kane symbolized the anti-Tarzan. Local link- Puzzling Evidence
American TV Heroes during the Vietnem Era:
1964: Television embarked on the greatest sales campaign of all time, in an effort to sell patriotism. As usual, Boomers were the targets of the pitch. The networks pushed the “glory of war” concept with “12 O’Clock High”, “Combat”, “World War I” and “The Lieutenant”, and tried to sell “War is fun” with “Gomer Pyle, USMC”, “Broadside”, “No Time for Sergeants” and “McHale’s Navy”. 1964 Puzzling Evidence archive
1965: TV continued their stale old sales pitch of “War is Fun”, with new shows like “Hogan’s Heroes”, “The Wackiest Ship in the Army”, “Mr. Roberts” and “Mona McCluskey”. In honor of Texan, LBJ, TV presented Army fun set in the Old West on “F-Troop”. TV networks decided to pull another old trick out of the hat… the Red Scare. “Look out! There are Commie spies everywhere!” Television then offered to save us with its amazing group of counterspies: a British spy (in honor of the Beatles) on “Secret Agent”, a black spy (in honor of MLK) on “I Spy”, and, “Would you believe”, a silly spy on “Get Smart”? Again, in honor of Lyndon, the networks even claimed that spies and counterspies once roamed the Old West in “The Wild, Wild West.” PE
1966: Teens laughed at “Batman” and TV tried to slip in an old WASP favorite, “Tarzan”. But, Tarzan was cancelled right after the Tet Offensive of 1968, when those sneaky Asian Commies caught us by surprise and seriously kicked some white butts.
“The Green Hornet” was only new superhero on the tube in 1966 to realize that some non-Whites may be equal, or even superior, and thus hired Bruce Lee (as Kato) to watch his back. PE 1966
1967: Hippie/Yippie kids shut off TV.
1968: TV cancelled “Combat”, “Twelve O’Clock High”, “F-Troop”, “Rat Patrol” and “Garrison’s Gorillas” during the 1967-68 season. The fate of our nation now lay in the hands of Gomer Pyle. PE
Which brings back to Kung Fu and David Carradine…

When, how and why did Instant Replay and our taste for repeated Slomo violence begin?

1964: The American public acquired a morbid fascination for violence and pain from the repeated viewings of the Kennedy and Oswald murders, and the TV networks catered to this new taste with new technology. Instant replay, in slow motion, offered audiences a chance to fully appreciate the exact point of violent contact. “Watch closely… the injury occurred right there. What a hit! I didn’t know a human body could bounce that high. Let’s look at that again.” The ratings and advertising fees shot sky high, as sports fans stayed away from stadiums to watch bone-crushing tackles, baseball beanings and flaming race car crashes in slo-mo on TV. Puzzling Evidence 1964
LATE 1963: The great personal tragedy that drastically altered Richard Kimble’s life struck on September 17, 1963. Barely two months later (on Friday, November 22nd) all of America received an even more devastating blow. As fate would have it, an emotional Walter Cronkite interrupted the soap opera, “As the World Turns”, to announce that the President had been shot.
For four painful days our world stopped turning, as regular TV programs (and commercials!) stood aside for breaking news and special reports. Most Americans hurried to a TV and camped out for the duration. We were stunned. How could this happen? Kennedy was so young and strong, so full of life. At first, Americans felt that television owed them a normal happy ending. Anything less than JFK’s full recovery just wouldn’t make sense. We waited. The usual half-hour passed, and we received no news. “Maybe this is a special, one hour pilot,” we thought. We continued to wait… but, still no news, and no happy conclusion. This scraped right across the grain of many years of careful brainwashing/ conditioning by the networks. “At least give us some damn commercials as a relief from all this tension.”
Kennedy’s funeral served as the culmination of the most tragic series of events ever covered by television, and the most unbearable for Americans to watch. We felt as if we had been locked up in a dark dungeon for four days, and then beaten, tortured and brainwashed for no apparent reason. Our captors forced us to watch the same nightmare images over and over again: amateur Super-8 footage of the assassination, blown up, slowed down, and examined frame-by-frame.
For the first and only time in its glorious career, America’s greatest salesman hadn’t made a single pitch for nearly four straight days. Finally on Monday night, a few stations returned to their regularly scheduled programs. It seemed like an eternity since escapism had been offered and America jumped at the opportunity. The intro of the first program on ABC (“Outer Limits”) assured us that “There is nothing wrong with your TV set. We are controlling transmission… we will control all that you see, and hear (and think)…” PE

Why all this fuss about Phil Spector?

Young Einstein
Phil Spector wrote, arranged, played played guitar, sang and produced the best-selling record in the country by the age of 17. To Know Him is to Love Him stayed in the Billboard Hot 100 for 23 weeks, in the Top Ten for 11 of those weeks, and commanded the #1 chart position for three weeks.
By coincidence, the epitaph on his father’s (who committed suicide when Phil was 10) tombstone read, “To Know Him was to Love Him”.
From Puzzling Evidence My free e-book on American pop culture:
By 1962 the oldest Baby Boomer turned Sweet 16 and Teen Dreams became the hottest commodity in pop music. One young man had his finger on the pulse of the market. Phil Spector found the perfect mixture of Teen Dream and rebellion in songs like “He’s a Rebel”: “Just because he doesn’t do what everybody else does/ that’s no reason why we can’t share a love… He’s not a rebel to me.” Before Phil reached voting age he was a multi-millionaire and considered as one of the top geniuses in pop music.
Spector’s famous “Wall of Sound” changed the recording industry (for better or worse is another question) forever. Instead of employing the usual three or four-piece Rock & Roll combo (in the Buddy Holly mold), Phil added extra guitarists, backup singers, strings, brass, reed, percussion and keyboard players, in fact, just as many musicians as could fit into the largest recording studio available. This gave the music dramatic new dimensions at first, but after a while, the songs became the “Wall of sounds-a-lot-like-Spector’s-last-record” music. Boomers liked it anyway because they had grown accustomed to mass production mediocrity. Real R & R intimidated them at the time… the kids just wanted a few Teen Dreams.
On Feb 9, 1964 the Beatles assassinated Phil’s Wall of Sound, Phony Teen Idols, Brill Building Pop, Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, the Beach Boys Suburban Myth and Folk Music with their first of appearance (of 3) on the “Ed Sullivan Show”. Beatles- 1964- Puzzling Evidence.
And thus, we entered the Second Golden Age of Rock&Roll…

What are the most evil American toys?

GI Joe and Barbie:

1964…The birth of GI Joe and Vietnam

As the oldest Boomer boys (nee 1946) hit draft age. Coincidence?
1964: Bob Hope entertained happy troops in Vietnam on his Christmas Special, and Santa left an amazing new toy for younger Boomer boys under the tree… GI Joe and all his Friendly Fire Accessories. Joe (like Barbie) appeared as a realistic, grown-up doll, except for the absence of reproductive gear. But, Joe’s huge guns (a Freudian cure for feelings of inadequacy) dwarfed Wyatt Earp’s, so he, unlike Babs, found a release for his sexual frustrations.
Follow-up from Bob: Did George W. Bush own a GI Joe?
Greg: Of course! When Sears published the 1st GI Joe ad in 1965 (below left) Little Dubya circled his fav in red crayon…and dreamed that one day he would become…(right)…just like Poppy!
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QUESTION:
Bob: That explains a lot, but GI Joe is ancient history.
Greg: Think so? Click here to check out a brand new (2009) straight-to-DVD “Catapult-the-propaganda” GI Joe movie: The Rise of Cobra.
Obama upsets American War Profiteers and they asked Joe to promote their 2012 candidate.
Below left is the Baroness from Cobra…Does she remined you of anyone?
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…and, speaking of airheads:

50 years ago…The birth of Barbie and credit cards!

As the oldest Baby Boomer girls (nee 1946) entered teendom. Coincidence?
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ABOVE LEFT: 1959 First Barbie, Mastercard and Visa. RIGHT: Barbie 2009
In 1959 the Toy Industry drooled as they recognized the gigantic new puberty market of Baby Boomer kids…record toy sales for the past decade, and Mattel didn’t want to lose their best customers.
Barbie was hatched that year, and Boomer females have never been satisfied with their bodies since. Babs transcended dollhood and became a lifestyle, a role model to help adolescent girls make the painful transition to adulthood. Barbie possessed everything an All-American girl could possibly desire: a perfect face, figure, hair, a fabulous wardrobe and an ideal boyfriend (Ken). Barbie was the first doll with boobs, which seemed natural, since the sale of training bras increased by 50% in 1959 as the oldest Boomer girls turned 13 and began to notice serious changes in their anatomy. How could they compete with Barbie? At full scale, Babs’ measurements would have read: 40DD- 18- 26. Her breasts defied gravity and stuck out, high and well formed (and nippleless), and her exaggerated, hourglass waist could only have been achieved in the real world by the removal of a few ribs and vital organs. Barbie’s long, slender legs must have been achieved in a month on the Gitmo torture rack, or as the result of some terrible disease (which also caused her nipples to fall off?). If a real woman owned a full-scale figure like Barbie’s, she would be the most popular photographic subject in medical journals since the Elephant Man.
Nonetheless, every little Boomer girl in America simply had to own a Barbie and as many accessories as her parents would tolerate. Mattel’s production line could barely keep up with demand. They started the Barbie Fan Club, and soon membership exceeded that of the Girl Scouts of America. Each subscriber received regular fan club letters with tips on how to become an all-American Dream Girl, and a complete shopping guide of the latest additions to Barbie’s wardrobe. Teenieboppers dropped all other dolls and concentrated on helping Barbie get ready for her next big date with Ken. In fact, Barbie’s entire schedule consisted of getting ready for dates, shopping, trying on new clothes and experimenting with new hairstyles and makeup. It is interesting to note that 1959 was also the year that Visa and Mastercharge cards were introduced.
Barbie’s life was not cluttered with any visible signs of education, marriage or career (until 1985, with Barbie’s “Home Office Center”), but no one seemed to wondered where she got all the money for her beautiful house, swimming pool, spa, horse, snazzy sports car, and more than a thousand expensive outfits. Perhaps Barbie was the mistress of a very wealthy man? What other job could she possibly qualify for that could earn her enough to maintain her luxurious lifestyle? Closer examination will dispel the mistress theory, however… Mattel neglected to provide Barbie with the physical equipment necessary to perform the duties of such an occupation. Ken has been the only guy to date Barbie during the past half century because he, too, has nothing going on below the waist or above the neck.
This vain, self-centered, materialistic, hollow-headed, sexless, cold, plastic princess served as the adult role model for little girls throughout the entire history of our generation. On her twenty-first birthday in 1980, 112 million Barbies had been sold…one for every American female.
With Barbie as a role model for little girls, and GI Joe for little boys, it’s amazing that the Baby Boomer Generation turned out as well as it did.

I’m so sick of McCain and Palin with their “I’m a maverick” crap. What is a maverick anyway?

Taking Back the Family Name
THE REAL ORIGINAL MAVERICK
The original maverick was Maury Maverick, the grandson of Samuel Maverick, from whom the name Maverick first entered the American lexicon. Because Samuel never branded his herds, unmarked cattle became known as mavericks.
While the family name is an old one, Maury was a radical politician from San Antonio, Texas, who who served two terms in Congress (1935-1939). There, he led a bloc of progressive Democrats who supported Roosevelt and the New Deal and even sought to push them to the left. In 1935 the Washington Herald labeled this posse of liberals “The Mavericks.”
Maury Maverick and his namesake, Maury Maverick Jr., champions of the common man, peace, and conservation, embodied what the word came to represent.
Michael King in the Austin Chronicle wrote, “The late Maury Maverick Jr. was a friend of mine … and, like all the Mavericks before him (especially his legendary father, who once faced down a right-wing lynch mob), was a truly independent thinker and politician who regularly defied entrenched corporate and political power, including his own Texas Democratic Party, in defense of minority rights, workers rights, anti-war activism, and the whole panoply of human rights.”

It didn’t bother us when Ford Motor Company used the Maverick family name for their new car. We didn’t care that Tom Cruise’s character in Top Gun was named Maverick, and we were amused when Madonna used our name for her record label. It is part of the American vernacular. But when McCain and the media placed it in a political context, using the maverick label as the centerpiece of his presidential campaign, each and every member of this family was appalled. We continue to be. Fontaine Maverick

Every president should heed the words of Uncle Ben- With great power comes great responsibility.

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The actual Stan Lee quote first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962)…The first Spider-Man story: “WITH GREAT POWER THERE MUST ALSO COME — GREAT RESPONSIBILITY!”
in last panel of narration…not from Movie Uncle Ben.
Let’s get real…did comic guy Stan Lee or FDR create this line?
From a speech that FDR was to deliver at the Jefferson Day Dinner in 1945…the day before he died: “Today we have learned in the agony of war that great power involves great responsibility.” (From Nothing to Fear, ed. by Ben D. Zevin, p. 464 of the 1961 Popular Library paperback; the book was originally published in 1946 by the World Publishing Company.)
A similar remark is in FDR’s 1945 state of the union address: “In a democratic world, as in a democratic Nation, power must be linked with responsibility… .” (From Living Ideas in America, ed. by Henry Steele Commager, p. 703 of the 1951 Harper & Brothers hardcover.) link to News From Me

Who the hell is Mitch Mitchell? I’m 20…why should I care?

Jimi Hendrix is the GUITAR HERO of Rock & Roll!…The best ever! The Einstein of the electric guitar…No one today is worthy to tune Jimi’s strat.
But, in 1966, R&R was completely dominated by White Boy Rock…
No chicks, no mixed bands with off-color musicians on hippie playlists.
Jimi was the lead guitarist for black bands like Little Richard, the Isley Bros, etc, but was getting nowhere as a solo act…playing at little clubs like Cafe Whaaa in NYC for $25 a night when he was spotted by Chas Chandler (Animals bassist and record producer).
Chas scooped up this unrecognized American National Treasure, smuggled him into England and teamed Hendrix up with young white boys Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding.
The Experience conquered Europe. Clapton (Godshead), Page, Harrison, Richards and Townshend hung the heads in shame after they witnessed Hendrix magnificence.
Click “continued” below to read much more on how fellow Americans finally recognized Jimi Hendrix as the greatest guitarist in Rock history at Monterey (1967).

Mitch Mitchell helped Jimi break the color line in Rock & Roll

Just as Pee Wee Reese helped Jackie Robinson in baseball

WTF? How are Jimi and Jackie connected?
Three important Pop Culture events have moved America closer to the ideal proposed by our founding fathers: ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL:
1) 2008: Barack Obama broke the color line in American politics.
2) 1967: Jimi Hendrix broke the R&R color line.
3) 1947: Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in sports.
Robinson received many death threats during his first season.
The St Louis Cardinals refused to play against a negro until NL president, Ford Frick, told them, “Good, in that case you will begin your year with 18 losses to Brooklyn.”
When Jackie ran out to his position at second base for the first time in Cincinnati the crowd booed and called Robinson every vile name possible…Until shortstop Pee Wee Reese (from Kentucky) walked over and gave Jackie a hug.
That simple gesture stunned the racist crowd and it was time to “Play Ball!”

As a climax to Monterey, America discovered Jimi Hendrix. He could do it all. Jimi played roots Rock with Little Richard, funky R&B with the Isley Brothers, and lots of Soul and Blues on the “Chitlin’ Circuit”. He dug Dylan, and if Bob had the nerve to sing with that terrible voice, then so could Jimi. Hendrix didn’t have much initial success as he fronted a group at little clubs like the Café Wha? in Greenwich Village for $25 a night. But, Chas Chandler of the Animals spotted Hendrix and convinced him to come to England, where he teamed Jimi up with Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell to form the Jimi Hendrix Experience. The band burned up all of Europe. The Experience remained a rumor here in America, and hadn’t even been asked to play at Monterey until Paul McCartney recommended the group.

The Experience managed to grab the closing spot on the bill, but they would have to follow two tough acts. The Who climaxed their set with “My Generation”. Townshend leaped all over the stage and smashed his guitar to bits, as Daltrey swung his microphone over his head and then crashed it on the cymbals as smoke bombs exploded. Next up, Jerry Garcia of the Dead wasted no time in winning over the crowd: “Folding chairs are for folding up and dancing on.” The audience obeyed. Finally, the unknown Experience took the stage and the crowd sat dumbfounded through the first couple of numbers. They had never seen or heard anything like Jimi. Hendrix plowed into a heavy-duty version of Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” and the audience snapped out of its trance and leaped to their feet. Jimi played his guitar with his teeth, behind his back, over his head and between his legs. He humped one of the amplifiers as he continued on with “Wild Thing”. Jimi made tender love to his Stratocaster, caressing the strings, and then gently laying it down. But, instead of climbing on top as the crowd now expected, Hendrix doused the guitar with lighter fluid and set it aflame. The screaming feedback from the Strat pierced the air with a terrible death moan. This was obviously a mercy killing of his dearest love, with thousands of witnesses in attendance. The Experience lived up to their name.
The Beatles and Dylan will probably be rated as greater influences on the Boomer generation in the final analysis, but Jimi made all the pieces fit. Monterey became a melting pot in which the many voices of the counterculture movement blended together for the first time, and Hendrix acted as the catalyst. As a fluent artist in most of the major musical languages, Jimi translated Blues, R&B, R&R, Funk, Folk, Jazz and Psychedelia into a tongue that any Boomer could understand.

Like Jackie Robinson in baseball, Hendrix broke the color barrier in Rock. Before Jimi, even superstars like Chuck Berry and Little Richard played with all-Black backup bands, restricted to R&B, Funk, Soul and, more recently Motown… the Negro League of Rock & Roll. White covers usually outsold the originals. But, with Hendrix, color became irrelevant… He was simply one of the two best guitarists (kids called Eric Clapton “Godshead”) at a time when teenagers considered that to be the noblest of skills in the most honored profession. Clapton, and perhaps Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Mike Bloomfield may have been Jimi’s equals as far as technique went, but none could match his versatility or mastery of electronic gear. In Hendrix’s large, gifted hands a guitar became the blast of a machine gun, the roar of fighter jet, the fury of hell, the flutter of angel’s wings, soft rain or cross-town traffic. Young guitarists today still try to analyze the work of the master. Hendrix brought Rock & Roll into the Space Age. Jimi made Monterey, which in turn led to Woodstock.

Published by Greg at 01:49 AM on August 16, 2011

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