about scorpio rising

Every year when I watch the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s new inductees deliver their acceptance speeches, I’m moved to hear the titans of the music business thank their mothers. Just last week it was new Rock Hall of Fame member Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers who got me all choked up when he gave an emotional shout-out to his mom. So, like the rockers who inspire me, I thank my mom for allowing me to develop my rock persona. On this Mother’s Day, I thank her for all the things she never did.

“A man walks into a bar,” so the story goes. And sometimes it results in something big. In 1960, German art student Klaus Voormann heard some groovy music pouring from a seedy Kaiserkeller Club in the St. Pauli red light district of Hamburg, Germany, walked inside, and discovered a band of five amphetamine-charged, leather-clad English boys rocking the house apart. You could reckon that Mr. Voormann, who turned 74 on April 29, had the distinction of being the first international Beatles fan. And a whole lot more.

Give an old record a loving home! Saturday, April 21, is the fifth annual Record Store Day, so visit one of your local independently owned shops, browse the bins, and buy a platter full of sound that you can actually hold in your hands — a shiny groooovy disc with a sleeve that doesn’t require a magnifying glass to read! And even if you were foolish enough to get rid of your old turntable, stop in and browse anyway. It’s like taking a trip in a time machine.

If you’re a fan of British-accented electric blues, give a nod and a wink today to one of the genre’s founding fathers, Alexis Korner, April 19, 1928 to January 1,1984. In the early 1960s, in a rainy land far from the steamy Mississippi Delta, there lived a small band of missionaries who spread the gospel of American blues music to British artists seeking spiritual enlightenment beyond the pulpit of mindless pop and traditional jazz. Alexis Korner was among those prophets, forming England’s first amplified R&B/blues band, Blues Incorporated, with fellow bluesologist Cyril Davies in 1961. Band members included now legendary performers such as singer Long John Baldry, drummer Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones, keyboardist Graham Bond, and singer/guitarist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker of Cream.

The 1960s music scene had it all: folkies, mods, electric bluesmen, surf singers, soul scorchers, R&B belters, psychedelic hipsters…and one falsetto-voiced ukelele player who went by the name of Tiny Tim. No course on the decade’s pop culture would be complete without a mention of this eccentric celebrity. Mr. Tim, born Herbert Khaury on April 12, 1932, in Washington Heights, Manhattan, to a Polish Jewish mother and Lebanese Catholic father, personified the “let your freak flag fly” philosophy of the late 60s.

Happy 49th birthday to John Lennon’s first “beautiful boy,” Julian. Young Julian’s drawing of classmate Lucy (in the sky, with diamonds) Vodden inspired John to write one of his most famous songs. He also inspired what is arguably the Beatles’ biggest hit of all time, “Hey Jude.” Paul McCartney has long maintained that he began writing the song as “Hey Jules,” in an effort to comfort young Julian during the divorce of his father and Cynthia Powell in 1968.

Can you imagine 1960s psychedelic rock music without the mystical aura of the sitar? We have Ravi Shankar to thank for that distinctive sound. The world’s most renowned sitar player, who turns 92 years old today, inspired many of rock’s most famous musicians to incorporate the traditional Indian stringed instrument into their songs. Ironically, Ravi, a classical musician, never sought fame among the titans of rock. They sought him. His sitar vibe was unique to Western ears, and once rock’s 1960s alchemists discovered that sound, it would make a major impact on Western culture.

Thirty-one years ago this week, Blondie’s “Rapture” became the first rap song to hit the number one spot on the Billboard chart, introducing a whole new audience of white Americans to a provocative musical genre emerging from black artists like Grandmaster Flash, Kurtis Blow and the Sugarhill Gang. A blonde on blonde chick rapping about a man from Mars who eats up cars, bars and guitars? Yes, brave, sexy Debbie Harry and her band of New York / New Wave punk-hipsters put their own spin on a distinctly urban black musical style – and it worked!

Most recording artists in the 1960s were singing about lovin’ your brothers and sisters regardless of the color of their skin, but few practiced that ethos better than Sly Stone, who assembled the first – and one of the few – interracial, dual-gender rock bands of the era: the iconic Sly and the Family Stone. They perfectly summed up the generation’s quest for total acceptance with their number one hit, “Everyday People,” a song which produced one of the most popular catchphrases to emerge from rock culture: “different strokes for different folks.”

With the sad passing of the ever-youthful Davy Jones last week, I beg the question: who was your favorite Monkee? I loved them all, but my childhood favorite was the pixie-faced Micky Dolenz, who turns 67 today. Why Micky? Well, I just loved his sweet smile, sexy singing, incessant clowning and his mastery of silly voices and cartoonish mugging.