The Avengers
The Cheaters
Clone
Crime
Deadbeat
The Dils
D.O.A.
The Enemy
The Feelings
Fast Food
Formica & The Bitches
Generators
The Telepaths
Ice Nine
The Invaders
The Lewd
Liars
Macs Band
The Mentors
Missing Persons
The Moberlys
Negative Trend
Neo-Boys
The Offs
The Ratts
Readymades
The Refuzors
Eric Schmidt
S’nots
Sub-Humans
Teeth Like Crazy
The Telepaths
The Tu Tu Band
Upchuck
Violent World
Weirdos
Zeros
Writing the history of a band or a venue can be a daunting task; especially when the author knows far less on the subject than many of his or her readers. It’s with this trepidation that I approach writing about The Bird. In most cases the music histories I write rely on research, articles, written or oral histories and scholarly reports.. One-on-one interviews and original documentation also helps; but in the case of The Bird, there is not much documentation or written histories. Online blogs and books that mention The Bird often repeat the same exact entries word-for-word. This, in my view is a very poor practice and plagiarism. However this is the internet age where people recycle all kinds of information they don’t need to be accountable for.
There are at least two authors I know that have done independent research on The Bird There are also others who have kept the memory of The Bird alive in their own individual ways. I did not arrive in Seattle until 1979; almost a year after The Bird had ceased to exist. Many of the musicians who had played at The Bird had left Seattle for greener pastures even before the advent of The Bird including The Mentors, The Lewd, The Screamers, Penelope Houston who would front The Avengers. All were no longer on the scene by the time I’d arrived. Still, many of the fantastic friends I would make in Seattle had been involved or regulars of The Bird.
Many of us have foggy memories of our past, and very little ephemera to document The Bird exists, so I have had to rely on incomplete information and small bits I have learned from friends about The Bird over the years. It is in this spirit that I ask you read this story, keeping in mind that what I am trying is to build a history of The Bird…a history that has been seriously overlooked. I hope what I write here is accurate, but I know I cannot live up to that hope throughout this story. This is meant to be the basic outline of a realistic, accurate and detailed portrait of one of Seattle’s most important cultural touchstones. I welcome corrections, additions, suggestions, photos, posters and most of all, memories. As I’ve said, the history of The Bird has never been properly recorded.. What I have … Read more›
Tommy Dorsey
Jimmy Dorsey
Paul Whiteman
Benny Goodman
Eddie Lang
Hoagy Carmichael
Coleman Hawkins
Bing Crosby
Al Rinker
Red Norvo
The Complete Columbia Recordings Of Mildred Bailey (Mosaic, 2001)
At Her Rare of All Rarest Performances – Mildred Bailey (Kings of Jazz, 1981)
Red Norvo Featuring Mildred Bailey – Red Norvo & Mildred Bailey (Portrait Masters, 1989)
The Blue Angel Years 1945-1947 – Mildred Bailey with Ellis Arkins Trio (Baldwin St. Music, 2000)
She was a superstar in the 1930’s and 40’s. She introduced Bing Crosby to the music of Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith. She worked with the most famous big bands of the era. Tony Bennett said
“From 16 to 20 years old the only thing I listened to was Mildred Bailey. I just said I want to sing like her” She provided the template for the “girl singers” from Ella Fitzgerald to Anita O’Day. She introduced Billie Holiday to the famous producer John Hammond. She started from the speakeasies of Spokane and Seattle and made her way to Los Angeles and then to The Savoy Ballroom and Stork Club in New York City. Yet Mildred Bailey and her contributions to jazz and pop music have all but been disregarded. She is the most famous jazz singer of the 1930s and ‘40s that you’ve never heard of.
Over the years there’s been attempts to replace her to the stature she once had, but she still remains a cult figure who is absolutely loved by her fans. Every one of her recordings have been available for years-most of them have been in continual release since 1951 when she died. Her entire Columbia Records catalogue has been lavishly presented as boxed sets in both LP and CD formats for decades. So it must be asked-in the words of jazz critic Michael Steinman; “Who Erased Mildred Bailey?” It certainly wasn’t singers like Tony Bennett,mentioned above. It wasn’t Bing Crosby or Frank Sinatra who helped her out at the end of her life. It wasn’t a change in taste; The Big Band sound and jazz/pop singers were in their heyday when she quit the music industry. It wasn’t for a lack of exposure on the new media of television…she even had her own television program at one time.
The fact is that there doesn’t seem to be a simple answer to why Mildred Bailey has been erased from our collective musical consciousness, and the answer remains elusive to this day.
Mildred Bailey was born Mildred Rinker on February 27, 1903 in Tekoa Washington, a small farming community about an hour southeast of Spokane Washington. Mildred’s mother, Josephine had been deeded land there and created a farm on the land she owned. Josephine was one quarter Native American. Her ancestors were what became known as the Coeur d’Alene tribe. Owners of valuable property by tribal members … Read more›
The Lewd
The Tupperwares
Ze Whiz Kidz
The Telepaths
Meyce
The Cockettes
In a Better World – The Screamers [Mostly live recordings] (Extravertigo Recordings/Xeroid Records. 2001)
The Screamers – Live In San Francisco: Sept 2nd 1978 [ video] Target Video, 2004
122 Hours of Fear- The Screamers; Rvng Presents JD Twitch [Unofficial Release], (Rvng International, 2008)
Screamers Demos 1977-1978; The Screamers (Sob Records, 2013)
In 1976 Three guerrilla-drag performers turned punk rockers left Seattle for Los Angeles. The trio was Rio de Janeiro (David Gulbransen) Melba Toast (who would later take the name Tommy Gear) and Tomata du Plenty (David Xavier Harrigan). The three had been part of the loose-knit theater, cabaret and street performing troupe Ze Whiz Kidz. When the three split from Ze Whiz Kidz they had also gone on to form a band called The Tupperwares. The Tupperwares had created a bit of a stir in Seattle, but were left without bookings and many venues to play. Clubs, taverns and bars were the province of cover bands and any other (inexpensive) local outfit that was a sure draw that would bring in crowds. Seattle nightlife in the mid-70s also consisted of disco’s-like most American cities; not only because it had become fashionable, but because it was cheaper to pay one person-the DJ- to pump out recorded hits that kept people dancing and drinking. The advent of the disco craze had ruined the careers of hundreds of thousands of local bands across the US and stifled the creativity of working musicians.
The antidote for a small number of artists, musicians and fans of original music was a startling reaction to the state of things with a new form of do-it-yourself, makeshift clubs that would pop-up and just as soon disappear. It would also foster a movement that was coming out of New York City and London; punk rock Punk rock itself was a do-it-yourself artform created by young, discontented artists, musicians and impresarios. It was out of that milieu that The Tupperwares arose. Los Angeles had become a hot-spot for a newer form of punk that differed from the movements in NYC or London. It was angrier, more passionate and closer to assaults on audiences rather than pure entertainment. Whereas bands like The Ramones, The Talking Heads, Blondie and Television relied on conventional melodies, precision and musicality the west coast version of punk rock was more free-form and relied on the outrageousness of characters like Darby Crash of the Germs, Alice Bag of The Bags, and the provocation of bands like Black Flag. There were notable exceptions, including the political ethos of The Dead Kennedys and the American-roots rock based band X.
The Tupperwares decided to take a chance on L.A.,but either out of legal necessity or pure creativity changed the name … Read more›
Ze Whiz Kidz
The Cockettes
The Tupperwares
The Screamers
Ze Fabulous Pickle Sisters
The Telepaths
In a Better World – The Screamers [Mostly live recordings] (Extravertigo Recordings/Xeroid Records. 2001)
The Screamers – Live In San Francisco: Sept 2nd 1978 [ video] Target Video, 2004
122 Hours of Fear- The Screamers; Rvng Presents JD Twitch [Unofficial Release], (Rvng International, 2008)
Screamers Demos 1977-1978; The Screamers (Sob Records, 2013)
It’s difficult to tell the story of much of alternative West Coast art, performance, painting and punk rock without recognizing the genius of Tomata du Plenty. His troupe, Ze Whiz Kidz are also an important element in the evolution of the Seattle alternative social and arts scene…but they deserve to have their complete story told, so we will leave their history for another post.
Tomata du Plenty (David Xavier Harrigan) was born, depending on who you choose to believe, in New York State, in Queens NYC, in Brooklyn near Coney Island or in Coney Island”). The facts seem to point to Queens, but I prefer to think he was born in Coney Island simply because it conjures up delightful, weird entertainments, a certain amount of artiface and slightly tattered around the edges. It reminds me of the jumbled construction that improbably holds up the famous Cyclone Roller Coaster and zillions of uncovered treasures that are, in fact, nothing more than metaphoric “glad-rags”. These were all the wonderful characteristics I associate with the singer/performance artist/painter Tomata du Plenty.
Wherever he was actually born he was brought up in Montebello, California where his Irish-American parents moved when young David was nine years old. Tomata claims he ran away to Hollywood at age 15-not as daring as it may seem since Montebello is adjacent to Los Angeles and only about 15 miles to Hollywood and Vine. It’s unclear if he kept in contact during that period with his parents, but there’s nothing that points to him being thrown out of his parents’ home because he was gay. If his parents were welcoming it would have made a convenient escape from the streets of Hollywood.
In 1968 he hitchhiked to San Francisco and wound up in the Haight-Ashbury. The twenty-year-old David Harrigan met George Harris and became a member of the psychedelic gender-fuck troupe, The Cockettes. The Cockettes were founded by the transplanted New Yorker Harris (1949-1982) and were influential in helping to usher in not just the modern Gay Liberation movement, but Glam Rock as well. When Harris moved to San Francisco he’d undergone a metamorphosis. He changed his name to Hibiscus and fell in with a vanguard circle of flamboyant, LSD dropping, hippie drag queens that performed gender-bending free theater on the streets. Hibiscus would eventually organize the entourage into The Cockettes. The Cockettes would later make silent films, … Read more›
Buddy Holly
Little Richard
Tommy James
Frankie Avalon
Bobby Darrin
The Number One Ballads – Jimmie Rodgers (Roulette,1959
The Best of Jimmie Rodgers Folk Songs – Jimmie Rodgers (Roulette, 1961)
Town and Country – Jimmie Rodgers (Dot, 1964)
It’s Over – Jimmie Rodgers (Dot 1966)
Child of Clay – Jimmie Rodgers (A&M. 1967)
The Best of Jimmie Rodgers – Jimmie Rodgers (Rhino, 1990)
Sweeter Than Wine: The Very Best of Jimmie Rodgers 1957-1962 (Westside 1998)
It sounds like the plot of a 1950’s film noir movie. It’s December 1st, 1967. A man leaves a party. As he drives down the San Diego Freeway in the San Fernando Valley he sees a bright light in his rear view mirror. The light gets brighter so he pulls over on a side road. He thinks maybe it’s a friend who’s also left the same party. The man in the car following him walks toward the driver’s car and the driver rolls down his window. As soon as he does, the man in the following car begins to beat him with something hard-probably a tire iron. He is left unconscious with a broken arm and a severely fractured skull. But the story isn’t the plot of a movie. The man who was beaten was Jimmie Rodgers, a fading star from the early days of rock and roll. A man that was one of the pioneers of early pop, rockabilly and electric folk music.
A few days later the attacker comes forward. He’is an off-duty policeman named Michael Duffy. Later Duffy would claim he pulled Rodgers over for “erratic driving”. Rodgers remembers the light was “real bright. Like a train light. I pulled over to stop. I thought it was Eddie Samuels who was my conductor. He was staying at my house at the time. Rodgers says that once he rolled down the window he was struck by a tire iron. “He hit me in the side of the head so hard, the left side of the skull, that it split the skull on the right side”.
The off-duty policeman says once Rodgers pulled over he got out of the car and during his arrest, Rodgers fell over (backward) resulting in a fractured skull and a badly broken arm and knocking him out. Duffy says he then drove to the nearest telephone and called two of his LAPD friends that were on duty, Raymond Whisman and Ronald Wagner.
Duffy says they all converged on Rodgers’ car and his unconscious body laying on the side of the road rather than inside. They decide to pull Rodgers’ body back into his Cadillac,and take off. No calls for medical assistance. No report of the incident. No mention in any of their daily log reports. No test for intoxication. No record of Duffy attempting to book Rodgers for a crime.
It was Eddie … Read more›
Rob Morgan – Vocals and Mayhem
Joey Kline – Guitar and Vocals
Keith Lowe -Bass
Jimmy Thomas (J.T.) – Guitar
Bruce Laven – Keyboards
Bill Ray – Drums
Mary K – Slinky
The Fishsticks
The Pudz
Pamona Boners
Ernest Anyway
New Age Urban Squirrels
Crosby, Squirrels, and Nate
The Young Fresh Fellows
“Take a letter Maria” b/w “Take me to your (leader)” – The Pudz, (Teenie Wompum 1981)
Take me to your (leader) – The Pudz (The Seattle Syndrome Volume One [Compilation] Engram Records, 1982)
Beautiful Sunday / Seasons in the Sun / The Hustle”; split 7-inch EP with Show Business Giants (Blobs, Vol. 2), Way Out! Records [Canada] 1991)
Harsh Toke of Reality [CD] (Popllama, 1993)
Let It Be – The Squirrels, The Exotic Beatles [Compilation]. Exotica Records [UK] 1994)
The Squirrels, Scrapin’ For Hits – The Squirrels [27 song “Best Of” CD], Poplust Audio, 1996)
Not So-Bright Side of The Moon – The Squirrels (Popllama, 2000)
Live Bootleg Volume One – The Squirrels [limited edition CD-R & Booklet] (Poplust Audio Archival Series 2001)
Oz on 45 b/w Alone Again (Naturally) (PopLlama, 1988)
On September 21 2017 Iggy Pop was hosting his “Iggy Confidential” show that’s become semi-regular Friday night fare on the UKs BBC 6. About three quarters through his show he dropped the needle on a song almost everyone familiar with the early 80’s Seattle music scene. It was The Pudz doing “Take Me To Your (Leader)”. More than a few Seattle listeners ears pricked up immediately and hopefully a few others’ around the world. After the song finished Iggy related what a horrible year 1981 was-the year The Pudz single was released. Iggy mentioned “pooping out” Zombie Birdhouse and how he’d been relegated to opening for A Flock of Seagulls at New York’s Peppermint Lounge; he was so humiliated he built himself a cross to drag onto stage with him. Then he went on to tell his audience what a great little band out of Seattle The Pudz were, and that they were a high point for him during that awful year. One person who heard the broadcast (via the quick thinking of a friend who was streaming it.) was Rob Morgan… the genius behind The Pudz, and for the last four decades one of most visible guys on Seattle’s music scene…25 of which were spent leading The Squirrels-or one of the many iterations of the band. First he tells me about Iggy playing one of his Pudz records;
“That was mind-blowing”says Rob. “Being a bright shining spot for him in a shitty year. I just about had a heart attack, then when he actually starts singing R.B Greaves’ ‘Take A Letter, Maria’ (the flip side of Take Me To Your ( Leader) and cracking himself up I felt like ‘that kind of validates my entire career; of all the people who gave me shit for being a quote-unquote “cover band”-which we’re not. If we were a cover band we’d be doing songs people actually wanted to hear, and playing in Holiday Inns for real money. We wouldn’t be taking Terry Jacks’ Seasons In The Sun and speeding it up faster and faster before it becomes Van McCoys’ Do The Hustle.
What Rob didn’t mention is that he has at least one other important and influential fan; or he did have until he died in 2004: The great British DJ, John Peel. Peel kept a box of records near his … Read more›
Phil Otto – Guitar/Bass/Vocals
Dave Ford – Guitar/Bass/Vocals
Jerry Frink – Percussion
Terry Pollard – Drums
Raw Meat
Steddi-5
Beat Pagodas
New Style – rapid-i, 5-song EP, online only (dadastic! sounds, 2013)
The first thing the former members of rapid-i want to make clear is that their name pre-dates the wide success of R.E.M. Their name evolved out of the same expression (Rapid Eye Movement) but it was coined in 1980, about three years before the debut of R.E.M.s album, Murmer on I.R.S. Records. The point isn’t really that important except to point out that the small “i” in the name is a reference to Prince-Far-I, the dubbiest of the deep-dub artists to come out of 1970’s Jamaica…go through the used records racks and find a copy of one of the the tuffest records of all time; “Prince Far I & King Tubby “‘In The House Of Vocal & Dub”. rapid-i was not a reggae band, but their respect for a wide range of artists brings up accomplished and experimental pop artists and music figures. They name artists like Mark Smith and The Maffia as well as Smith’s former band The Pop Group. Linton Kwesi Johnson, James Chance and the Contortions, James Blood Ulmer, Adrian Sherwood, King Crimson and The Sex Pistols among the jazz greats.
It might seem these guys were all over the map musically, but it’s clear they were more interested in musical execution and innovation than any particular genre. This interest showed up in their own music, whilw doing a ripping version of the funky Barney Miller theme song-written by Jack Miller and Allyn Ferguson with the killer bass line performed by Chuck Berghofer. The rapid-i version is practically note for note-not because they were anything near a “cover band”, but because, hell…why mess with something near-prefect?
The changes in keys and difficult rhythm patterns of their original compositions were clever moves for them to share onstage. One might not understand exactly what they were up to but audiences weren’t left out as if their musicianship was an “inside joke”. The bands joy and exuberance in pulling off a slick musical move never cane off as intellectual and snobbish. The audience could see their open enthusiasm and glee. The band didn’t care if it’s audience was classically trained, musically illiterate or astute jazz and classical musicians. They openly invited them to enjoy what they were doing. In fact, one of the apparent “inside jokes” they shared with the audience was covering the Barney Miller theme…It proved finding brilliance in the most mundane, unexpected places.… Read more›
Calvin Law – Hammond C3, Vocals
George Horton – Guitar
Greg Barnes – Bass
Lester MacFarland – Bass, Saxophone, Hammond B3
Manuel Stanton – Bass
James Adams – Drums
Wayne Bibb – Drums
Robbie Hill – Drums
Dave Domineck -Drums
Mr. Clean and The Cleansers
The Black and Black Affair
The Family Affair
Mr. Lee and The Exotics
The Black On White Affair
Cold, Bold and Together
Cookin’ Bag
Until The Real Thing Comes Along 7″ b/w Sweet Soul Lady (Topaz Records, 1968)
Bold Soul Sister, Bold Soul Brother 7″ b/w A Bunch of Changes (Topaz Records, 1970)
“Auld Lang Syne”/”A Bunch of Changes”/”Sweet Soul Sister, Sweet Soul Brother” – The Black and White Affair, “Wheedle’s Groove; Seattle’s Finest In Funk & Soul, 1965-75” Compilation (Light In the Attic Records, 2004)
“Funky Manuel” – The Black on White Affair, Quantic Presents the World’s Rarest Funk 45’s” Compilation (Jazzman Records, 2009)
Ask a Seattle music fan what were the great periods of Seattle music. Most would quickly name “Grunge” and The Seattle Sound of the late 80s until the mid-90s. (Pearl Jam, TAD, Soundgarden, etc.) Some would recall the first successful era I Seattle music-the days of the 50/60s teen-dances that spawned The Northwest Sound; The Wailers, The KIngsmen, Don and The Good Times, The Sonics, among others. To many there’s not much worthwhile in between The Northwest Sound and The Seattle Sound except for a smattering of arena acts like Heart, a handful of great psychedelic outfits, a few rock festivals or the inventive punk and post punk of bands like the U-Men, The Blackouts or Student Nurse.
Then ask the same fan to name the great black and African American artists the Northwest has produced. Inevitably the first name that will come up is Jimi Hendrix. Then maybe silence…a few folks might mention Ray Charles or Quincy Jones; but to be honest, Ray Charles was a Florida import biding his time in the Jackson Street clubs before chasing real fame elsewhere. Charles had been born in Albany Georgia, but spent most of his formative years in St. Augustine, Orlando, Jacksonville and Tampa…not Seattle.
Quincy Jones is an (almost) native son, having been born in Chicago, then moving to Bremerton at age 10, and finally to Seattle. Jones left Seattle at a fairly early age after time at Seattle’s famous Garfield High. It was here that Quincy Jones and Ray Charles first met. Neither would have imagined the mark they’d leave on American music. Jones reminisced in a 2005 PBS American Masters episode focusing on his career: “When I was 14 years old and Ray Charles was 16, our average night went like this: We played from seven to 10 at a real pristine Seattle tennis club, the white coats and ties, [playing] ‘A Roomful of Roses’ . . . From 10 to about one o’clock, we’d go play the black clubs: The Black and Tan, The Rocking Chair, and The Washington Educational and Social Club-which is a funny name, funkiest club in the world. We’d play for strippers and comedians and play all the Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson and Roy Milton stuff, all that R&B. It was a vocal group. Then, at about 1:30 or 2 a.m., everybody got rid of their gigs and we went … Read more›
August 9, 1987 was without a doubt one of the high water marks in Northwest music history. It was the “last blast” for Chicago’s Big Black, one of the most influential indie bands in the US back then. The band was led by Steve Albini who would go on to be the engineer/producer of some great records, including ones by The Pixies, The Jesus Lizard, Cheap Trick, Nirvana and The Stooges. In 2004 Albini estimated he has engineered or produced over 1500 albums. He’s done scores since then.
The setting for Big Black’s Last Blast was a century-old nformer steam plant near Boeing field in south Seattle. The steam plant had been abandoned so long ago that it no longer produced electricity-not even the facility itself was electrified. Generators had to be brought in to power the show. The audience stood on the large concrete floor in front of a large riser, or took to the catwalks high above the stage. James Husted and former member of The Blackouts Roland Barker-who would go on to play with Ministry -provided wafting, ethereal sounds as the crowd filed in. The show itself began with Stephen Jesse Bernstein doing a reading that ended with one of his best lines ever. The sound was set to echo his final words…This IS music, asshole…This IS music, asshole…This IS music, asshole.
Big Black played what woud (arguably) be it’s last show and they pulled no punches. They meant to go out with the kind of blast they were known for. None of this improbable scenario at this improbable venue could have taken place without Larry Reid (CoCA’s program director and Administrative director Susan Purves pulling the strings.Larry had somehow finagled his way to become the program director of Seattle’s Center On Contemporary Art (CoCA). Perhaps “finagle” isn’t the right term. Larry had been involved in music and art for years. He was an idea man…a BIG idea man. With one foot squarely in the art world and the other in punk rock, he managed to bring both together a series of events that included everything from Lydia Lunch and Jim Thirwell leading a discussion on the artist’s responsibiity to society (“none” concluded Ms. Lunch) an early appearance of GWAR-in their full anime- monster gear, “Failure To Discriminate” an animalistic robotic destruction derby by Survival Research Laboratories, the German industrial band Einstürzende Neubauten and … Read more›
The Fabulous Wailers
Buck Owens
The Sonics
Arlin Harmon
Don Costa
Ike and Tina Turner
Etta James
Loretta Lynn
The Fabulous Wailers at The Castle – (Etiquette, 1961)
Be My Baby b/w “So Much – Gail Harris, (Etiquette, 1962)
They Never Taught That At School b/w “Don’t Make The Angels Cry – Gayle Harris (Carlton 1962)
Here Come The Hurt” b/w Don’t You Love Me No More – Gayle Harris (Carlton, 1963)
Ain’t Gonna Let Me Down b/w Here I Go Again – Gayle Harris (DCP International, 1965)
Gail Harris was a seasoned pro when she first appeared with Tacoma’s Fabulous Wailers in 1959 at the age of 13. By then, The Wailers had become a regional powerhouse and were creating a national reputation.
In 1958 the Wailers had made a demo of an instrumental called “Tall Cool One”. The demo came to the attention of Clark Galeshouse, head of NYC’s Golden Crest Records. Clark signed a record deal and had the Wailers re-record the song in a Lakewood studio, just outside Tacoma in February of 1959.
The instrumental “Tall Cool One” b/w “Roadrunner” was released in June of 1959 and peaked on the Billboard charts at number 36. Shortly after “Long Cool One” fell off the charts, their second single “Mau-Mau” b/w “Dirty Robber” was released in August of 1959. It only made it to number 68 on the Billboard charts, and their third single, but the band was making enough of an impression that it landed them an East Coast tour and appearances on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand and The Allen Freed Show.
In December of 1959, the Wailers label, Golden Crest Records recorded and released an album to capitalize on the band’s success. The album was titled The Fabulous Wailers, a name they would later use to distinguish themselves from Bob Marley’s band, also known as The Wailers. Golden Crest was eager to have the band relocate to New York City, but the group declined (probably under orders of their parents) and returned to the Northwest. Golden Crest soon lost interest in promoting the band even though they were still under contract with the label. Golden Crest Records would eventually drop them, but their contract would create some problems in the immediate future of The Wailers.
Shortly after returning to the Northwest, the band took on a new singer and frontman, “Rockin’ Robin” Roberts, whose birth name was Lawrence Fewell Roberts II, not a name that conjures up the image of a rock and roll idol with greased back hair and skin-tight pants. Roberts had previously worked with another popular Tacoma band, Little Bill and The Bluenotes.
Along with “Rockin’ Robin” Roberts came dissent. Roberts was pushing to record a souped-up version of a song written in 1956 by Richard Berry. The song was “Louie Louie”, created by Berry, who was inspired by the song “El Loco Cha Cha” written … Read more›
Billy Tipton – Piano
Dick O’Neil – Drums
Kenny Richards – Bass
Ron Kilde – Bass
Louvenie’s Western Swingbillies,
George Meyer
Ross Carlyle
Scott Cameron
Billy Tipton Plays Hi-Fi On The Piano – Billy Tipton (Tops Records, 1957)
Sweet Geogia Brown – The Billy Tipton Trio (Topps Records, 1957)
Billy Tipton – Billy Tipton ( Calle Mayor [Spain] 2017)
When Billy Tipton died on January 21st 1989 he was penniless, living in a mobile home, and his ability to play piano or saxophone had been destroyed by years of ravaging arthritis. He led a very private life with only a small circle of friends in his adopted home-town, Spokane Washington. He and his jazz trio had disbanded years earlier. During their time they had played small joints, Fraternal Hall dances and cocktail lounges for little pay throughout the mid-west and west coast. Billy had only two recordings to show for his almost 50 years in music. Both albums had been released in 1957. Essentially his passing would have gone unnoticed by anyone except his loved ones and a handful of professional friends. The rest of us would never know a thing about him.
But as Billy lay on the floor of his kitchen dying of a hemorrhaged peptic ulcer a paramedic called by Billy’s son William (against Billy’s wishes) loosened Billy’s pajamas in order to try resuscitate him looked up at William and asked;
”Did your father ever have a sex change?”
That single question would make Billy Tipton one of the most talked-about jazz performers for the next few decades. It would also lead to public debates, books, research papers and magazine articles on gender, personal identity, transexualism, deception and an individual’s right to live as they wish.
Billy Tipton was pronounced dead when his body arrived at Valley General Hospital in Spokane Washington. Later the Medical Examiner told Billy’s family what the paramedic seems to have confirmed-that Billy had been born a female. In an attempt to keep this from the public Billy’s estranged wife Kitty arranged for his body to be cremated, But before the cremation occurred the local press had discovered the story. After financial offers from the media poured in Kitty and one of their sons went public with the story. The first newspaper article was published the day after Tipton’s funeral and it was quickly picked up by wire services. The story went around the world immediately
Billy Tipton had presented as a man for over 50 years, had been “married” five times (all of them were “common law” marriages) travelled non-stop with his trio and adopted three boys with his final wife. All of them, including Billy’s associates and friends swore they had no idea that Billy had been born female…not even … Read more›
We recently purchased an almost complete collection of Helix Magazines from the generous Jerry Jermann. One issue came with this fantastic wrap-around “Sky River Festival And Lighter Than Air Fair” poster cover. The iconic Walt Crowley is credited with it’s design. At the time Walt was the art director of The Helix, who’s staff and friends were mostly responsible for the festival. Notice the clever way the wrap-around took advantage of the “ split fountain” effect-one that uses two separate colored inks at either end meeting in the middle as a third. This example is probably the result of pouring four horizontal bands of ink (top to bottom blue/red/yellow/blue). No matter how it was done, this is one of the best uses of the process we’ve ever seen, and it’s clear Crawley’s drawing was specifically designed with the intention to be printed exactly as it appears.
The festival itself was held Labor Day Weekend, 1968 near Sultan WA in a 40-acre pasture owned by Betty Nelson. Although we prefer to believe the “Sky River” referred to is some unknown visionary, LSD-fueled floating waterfall that’s inferred in the illustration, “Sky River” is actually a clever reference to the adjacent Skykomish River. The “Lighter Than Air Fair” refers to a tethered helium balloon on site for attendees to rise above the crowd. In fact, the first balloon flew off by itself before the festival even began. It took quite a bit of scouting to find a replacement, but one was found in Spokane and hastily made it’s way across the state just in time. One of Sky River’s organizers,Paul Dorpat, later reflected on the impetus for the festival- The “Piano Drop” that had taken place earlier in 1968: ““We thought if we could do a Piano Drop and get 3,000 people to come into a narrow road near Duvall, we could probably do a festival.”
According to many who attended, the line-up shown in this Helix wrap-around came closest to the actual bill, although ultimately there were plenty of additions and no-shows. There’s still some inconsistent memories of the performers that actually took part, but we know the Grateful Dead took part (The Grateful Dead’s full set was filmed) and we’ve been told this poster is the closest thing to the final line-up. Other acts are certain to have played. Country Joe and the Fish (who had taken part in an earlier … Read more›
