The times they are a-changin’. Part IV. One of the most prominent and high profile events of the 60’s decade was the Kennedy Assassination on November 22, 1963, in Houston, Texas. Scholars agree that Kennedy’s Presidency had fostered a surreal state of Utopia, not only in the United States but all over the Western World. His predecessor, Dwight Eisenhower was the last of the “Old Guard”, a hold-over from that generation that spawned Hitler and Stalin, while Kennedy represented a refreshing change of the guard, perhaps even a new beginning. Kennedy didn’t have any special powers, he couldn’t change the ills of the world, but that didn’t really matter. Young people thought he could make a difference and for that matter, it was perceived that he did have the power to be a new age messiah. His death laid a whole heap of reality on the adolescent sect and actually set us up for what came next. An invasion that had nothing to do with war and bombs…..the dawn of the Beatles. The Beatles came to North America and performed 3 consecutive Sundays in March, 1964. They already had hit songs on the radio so it was a huge event to watch them on the Ed Sullivan Show. But the Beatles appeal and charisma had an astounding effect on the business of making music in North America. Contemporary music was limping along with nothing really jumping to the forefront. But the Beatles changed the way the kids looked at the people who played live music. Even the lowly Astronauts saw a surge in popularity. A few months before, we would draw 25 people at the Forrester’s Hall in Westmount and think we had a big crowd. After we changed a few things in the music selection, we drew as many as 200 kids. Now you ask: What were those changes that turned mediocrity into moderate success? The answer to that question was the music played on the radio. I loved the new British rock that I heard on CJCB after 7 o’clock in the evening. I boldly suggested to Shelton that I wanted to do some of the British hit songs since he had little or no interest in doing songs with more than 3 chords. The first song I learned was the Beatle rocker, “I Saw Her Standing There”. I even learned the bass run so I could teach it to our bass player. The second song was another rocker by the Swinging Blue Jeans, “The Hippy Hippy Shake”, complete with my note for note copy of that fabulous guitar break. The next song after those two were successfully added to the repertoire was the Gerry and The Pacemaker ballad, “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying”. That song starts off on a beautiful chord, (CMajor 7th) and actually turned out very well. And I talked Shelton into doing the Beatles version of Chuck Berry’s, “Rock and Roll Music”, which he really enjoyed singing. But I couldn’t really convince myself that the Astronauts would fulfill my deep hunger to play music as my life’s work. It was a good start but the rest of the players didn’t really see themselves as anything other than part time, weekend musicians who happened to be playing in a band. I saw myself in a different place, part of a different scenario. Although being just 17 years old, and hungry to play gigs in better venues, and craved to do music that I knew was way too complex for the talent level in the Astronauts, I began to see that this neighborhood band was not the vehicle to take me to where my dreams wanted to reside. I kept my options open and waited to see if there was somewhere I could fit in and take my unrealistic aspirations to another level. That opportunity came in the form of a chance meeting in a local music store with Northside guitar player, Ike Keating of the famous Rockin’ Saints. Now here were the people that would teach me and help me expand my own talents and introduce me to a lifestyle that took me almost 50 years to break.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 22:06:08 +0000
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