Well, I'm going where the water tastes like wine

There were many wonderful bands in L.A. in the late '60s. Among them was a blues band called Canned Heat. I was lucky to see them several times, including both these memorable gigs:

Also recorded live at the Kaleidoscope around this time was the album which would find later 1971 release with the deceptive title, Live At Topanga Corral (later renamed Live at the Kaleidoscope), under Wand Records; as Liberty Records didn’t want to release live album at the time and manager Skip Taylor did not want a lawsuit.^[9] The band would end 1968 in a big way at a New Year's show in L.A.'s Shrine Auditorium with Bob Hite riding a painted purple dayglo elephant to the stage^[10].

Actually, it was the Shrine Exposition Hall, on the north side of the Shrine Auditorium, where many great concerts took place in the mid-late '60s. The elephant with Bob 'Bear' Hite riding came in from the main entrance doors, and walked slowly toward the stage. Bear was wearing nothing but a diaper, as a proper New Year's baby should do. When they got to the stage, Bear hopped onto the stage and the elephant, who I assume was being led by a handler, left peacefully.

Here's a poster from the Kaleidoscope concert. I'm pretty sure it was Saturday, March 23 when I went with 2 friends/band members:


I had a poster for this show for many years, I guess it's lost now. The building housing the Kaleidoscope has been many venues during its life, as this web site presents:

The glamorous supper club - theatre was built by Carroll to supplement his highly successful New York landmark. The lavish establishment featured a huge revolving stage, swings which dropped from the ceiling, &
"The Most Beautiful Showgirls
in the World".

After Carroll's death in a 1948 plane crash, the theater was sold, then reopened in 1953 as a dinner club, the Moulin Rouge, home to 50's TV show "Queen For A Day".

Later, in the mid 60s, after the successful run of John Hartmann's Kaleidoscope, The theater was home to Gary Bookasta's "the Hullabaloo", a popular teen hangout/nightclub which featured many of the popular new bands (Yellow Payges, Palace Guard, Wild Ones, Pat & Lolly Vegas, etc.), of the era.

The theater would later undergo major renovations and reopen as the Aquarius Theatre, home of the West Coast production of the revolutionary stage musical, "HAIR". The Aquarius also became known for staging Rock Concerts featuring many of the biggest 60s groups.

Here's what was special about Canned Heat. From the Playboy After Dark series, this live appearance shows both raw blues as well as the lovely "Going Up The Country" as sung by Alan 'Blind Owl' Wilson. Note especially Blind Owl's superb blues harp playing. The opening and ending are cut off, but it's still a fine performance by one of L.A.'s best blues bands:

At last, my love has come along . . .

We recently watched "Cadillac Records", the fictionalized history of Chess Records. While much of the details were wrong, the basic story had resonance. Chess single-handedly brought 'race' and blues records to a largely unaware audience. Leonard Chess seems like a visionary today:

Leonard and his brother Phil were involved in the black nightclub scene on the South Side of Chicago by 1947. They soon became associated with Aristocrat Records, and moved the company away from black pop and jazz and closer to pure blues music with artists such as Muddy Waters, Sunnyland Slim and Willie Dixon. Leonard Chess himself played bass drum on one of Muddy Waters's early sessions. In 1948, the Chess brothers took control of the company and in 1950 renamed it Chess Records. "My Foolish Heart" (Gene Ammons), "Rollin' Stone" (Muddy Waters) and "That's All Right" (Jimmy Rogers) showcased the company's new direction.

During the Chess heyday, the early recordings of an acoustic Robert Johnson morphed into the electric adventures of Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, and Howlin' Wolf. This music in turn was embraced by young musicians in England, and eventually brought home to the U.S. as the '60s kids flipped out over remakes of early Chess hits by The Rolling Stones, among others.

What was it all about? Here's Howlin' Wolf doing Smokestack Lightning:




Here's Muddy singing a Willie Dixon song:




And here's Willie:




But Chess's biggest hit was arguably the first true 'crossover' recording, a song that made it up high on both Pop & R'n'B charts:

The song became James's signature song and was the third in a string of successful songs from her Chess Records debut album At Last!. Upon the song's release in April 1961, it became her second number 2 R&B hit and crossed over to pop radio, reaching number 47 on the Billboard Hot 100. Despite its rather low pop chart standing, the song is well-known and is still played regularly on oldies radio stations.

Indeed.

Heaven's New Blue(s) Star

Koko Taylor has passed away, she was 80 and it was a helluva run.

I was lucky enough to work with her on two occasions, in two different towns, in two different states, 2 years apart, in the mid-1980's. The shows went great, she and her band were so tight and so good I wondered why the hell they were working clubs and allowing me to run sound for them. She had more W.C. Handy awards than any other artist.

If you ever saw her you know that she was a force of nature. A big woman with a voice to match but nice as pie and funny. There was nothing ladylike about her singing, just pure woman, and you knew this was not a woman to be messed with. She was nice to me but could be hell on club owners and booking agents. Yet another thing I admired about her.

When I worked with her she traveled with her husband, Pops Taylor. He was an almost diminutive man that dressed sharp and was fiercely protective in a professional and polite way. I remember when a friend told me of his passing in 1989 and I felt saddened and wondered how she could go on. But she did, and some of her best years were ahead of her. Amazing for a someone who didn't have a music career until she was 38.

At 80 she was still doing 70 dates a year and was looking forward to her next tour in Europe and developing new material.

Here's another personal remembrance by Blue Girl.

Koko, I just Can't Let Go: