rather rare records.

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introduction to the endless sixties

THIS IS A CONCEPT SITE—and anyone who was into rock in the ’60s or is a record collector now knows something about ‘concept albums’—whose purpose is to present articles, essays, and pictorials about “the Sixties,” accentuating the positive about the people, music, books, movies, art, and events that occurred then and which live on in fact or spirit decades later. [Continue reading]

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on the joys of listening to complete albums versus single tracks

LORD KNOWS WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR on the internet that I stumbled over “You Should Listen to CDs” on the Wired website. The article was subtitled, “If vinyl is for hipsters and streaming is for everyone else, maybe the forgotten format is for you.” This only makes sense to younger readers, not us old-timers. [Continue reading]

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stranded on a desert island with paul mccartney and endless electricity

LAST YEAR THE QUESTION of “Why was Paul the most successful out of all the Beatles?” turned up on Quora. Of course, I chimed in with an answer. But before I post that here, I want my readers to understand a few things: For the period 1963-1969—you know, when he was a member of a band called the Beatles—I consider Paul McCartney to be the most creative bass player in pop music along with being one of the best songwriters and singers. [Continue reading]

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I just began a new publication all about elvis on medium

WE LAUNCHED our new publication Tell It Like It Was on Medium on January 1, 2019. The articles within address popular music, primarily rock & roll from the ’60s. “We” are John Ross (my favorite music blogger), Lew Shiner (my favorite novelist), and myself. We love the music (and the books and the movies and the styles and the girls girls girls) of that era. [Continue reading]

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check out bleeding heart liberal petitions on facebook

I HAVE A FACEBOOK PAGE titled Bleeding Heart Liberal Petitions. Most days, I receive a slew of emails with petitions for various causes such as saving an endangered species, urging my representatives in state and federal government to vote for or against a particular bill, protest an injustice, etc. I read them all, sign most of them, and add a few to the Facebook page. [Continue reading]

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if you’re not a psychonaut, then what are you?

THIS ARTICLE STARTED AS A JOKE but will serve as an introduction to psychonautics for the non-experienced. I use the word “experienced” here in its Hendrixian meaning, referring to the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s “Are You Experienced?” from their 1967 album of the same title: “Are you experienced? [Continue reading]

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looking at the foresight of “wild in the streets” fifty years later

“DON’T TRUST ANYONE OVER 30!” That was one of the mottos the countercultural aspect of the so-called “youth movement” had in the ’60s and it was provided by Jerry Rubin. When he made that statement in 1967, there is a good chance that he knew exactly the kind of effect that it would have then. [Continue reading]

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a look at 101 swinging chicks of the swinging ’60s

AT CHRISTMAS A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO, I met my sister’s boyfriend Mark, who was two generations younger than I was. Not understanding what his tastes in anything were except that he liked good-looking women, my present to him was a book, Swingin’ Chicks Of The ’60s. It’s a collection of photos and biographies of 101 women famous for their beauty decades ago. [Continue reading]

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in advance of lew shiner’s “outside the gates of eden”

ONCE AN ALIENATED, overly creative teenage misfit, Lew Shiner has been a critically successful writer for more than thirty years. His novel Glimpses won the World Fantasy Award in 1994 for Best Novel. He has also been one of my favorite writers since I was turned on to his novels twenty-some years ago.  [Continue reading]