GARY PIG GOLD Knows THEY AIN’T HEAVY…

It may well have been 48 years ago this month that Sgt. Pepper started going in and out of style. But possibly just as importantly – and equally entertaining, to say the least! – that hippity-heady month of June 1967 also saw another batch of northern British Invaders jettison their nice neat suits and throw a Technicoloured frock or two over the entire proceedings.

Doug Thompson: COVERING UP! VINYL RECORD COVERS CLASSICS!

I love album covers!  Not the shrunken down versions they use on CDs, I mean those gloriously creative (mostly) 12” vinyl record album covers.  I was looking through my vinyl record collection the other day and marvelled at some of the amazing designs of some of the covers.  Now, before we start delving into some classic album covers as well as a few personal favourites, a little history is in order, but don’t panic – there will not be a quiz later.

Frank Gutch Jr: Perspectives… Music— Does the Past Control Our Future? Music Snobbery. Lyricists, Take Note. Nightmare @ 20,000 Watts. And Information You Can Eat For Breakfast (Meaning, Notes…..).

Here I go on one of my cerebral journeys, most of which run into a brick wall and consign themselves to the ash heap.  I, like most of the world, have a very short attention span, it seems, and while I have bursts of genius (I swear!) little of it makes it to the outside world.  This time, the message(s) is(are) spurred by a link posted by friend Greg Phipps, with whom I worked at Peaches Records in Seattle in the 80s (Phipps, btw, records under the name Palestinian Israel-Jones, should you desire to visit his planet), who has been on a roll finding and posting or reposting questions and videos worth my, if not your, attention.  For instance, a couple of weeks ago, he asked about the negativity toward celebrities “selling out,” whoring their wares for profit.

Doug Thompson: CONFESSIONS OF A PROFESSIONAL ROCK AND ROLL INTERVIEWER – “AND SO, DEAR FRIENDS, YOU’LL JUST HAVE TO CARRY ON. THE DREAM IS OVER.”

I’ve been interviewing musicians, singers, actors, authors, record producers, session players and songwriters for almost 40 years…everyone from ABBA to Frank Zappa.  I’ve also produced over a thousand hours of radio programs that have been heard around the world.  Every interview and program has a story behind it.

This is one of them.

Doug Thompson: CONFESSIONS OF A PROFESSIONAL ROCK AND ROLL INTERVIEWER – “NOBODY TOLD ME THERE’D BE DAYS LIKE THESE…”

As a proud member of the first wave of the Baby Boom Generation, there are certain historic events that are indelibly etched in my memory banks.

For example, the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963.  Most of us who were alive then, remember exactly where we were when we heard the news.  I was in class in Edmonton (which was the same time zone as Dallas, so we heard around 1PM that President Kennedy has been killed.