Peter Buck heard things differently. His musical preferences were not those expected of a suburban Atlanta teenager. Among his favorite bands were Iggy and the Stooges, Crazy Horse and the Velvet Underground.
In a conversation with rock journalist Anthony DeCurtis, Buck recalled marching to his own drummer, "Living in Roswell, Georgia, in 1971, everyone liked the Allman Brothers. I can't tell you why; that's all there was to it. It was a law."
1971 was the year of "The Allman Brothers Band at Fillmore East," a classic that set the standard for live albums in all genres of popular music. The album made a ...
Announcer: Fox News. We Rant. You Submit. Now Live From Our News Desk In New York, Far Away From Any Real Americans, Is Bambi Lear, With Breaking News
Bambi: Good afternoon. Fox News has learned of an effort by conservative Christians and Republican Party leaders to amend The Ten Commandments. Let's go now to our reporter in Washington, Hal Gullibal.
Hal: Thank you Bambi. Yes, today we can now confirm that Republican Party leaders and their conservative Christian supporters are working to amend the Ten Commandments by eliminating the sixth commandment, Thou Shalt Not Kill.
Bambi: Republicans have never been happy with that ...
A song can be the result of a long and roundabout journey, one with roads off the beaten path that dart off here and careen there.
Doc Pomus' "Lonely Avenue" indicates some hard traveling. There's much history in what inspired Pomus. There's history in the making of the song and there's history in the impact of the song.
"Lonely Avenue" offers perspective on the pain of Calvary's hill, and the pain of a junkie. The journey behind the song included a childhood trip that Pomus, afflicted with polio, made to Warm Springs, Georgia. Among the others seeking treatment in Warm Springs was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, just elected President of the United States. There Pomus experienced ...
Seismic Event .... 74 million Americans may have felt the earth shifting, Sunday evening, February 9, 1964. The 74 million, 34% of the USA's population, sat in front of their televisions watching The Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. The impact left by The Beatles that evening was definitive and sustaining.
The 5 songs performed by The Beatles on the show did not imply radical changes in pop-rock subject matter. "All My Loving," "Till There Was You," "She Loves You, and "I Saw Her Standing There"" were innocuous, as was "I Want To Hold Your Hand," then the number one song in ...
Gregg Allman wanted to return the favor. By chance, a man in southeast Georgia had proven helpful to Allman. Believing the man had gone above and beyond the call of duty, Allman told his new friend that if there was ever anything he could do, just let him know.
There was something Gregg Allman could do. The new friend explained his involvement with a cause dear to his heart: Joseph's Home for Boys in Statesboro, Georgia. Statesboro..... How perfect is that? In this case, Gregg wouldn't sing about the blues in Statesboro, he would help ease them.
Allman learned about the mission of Joseph's Home for Boys. ...
Just Exactly Where I've Been....Gregg Allman wasn't kidding. On the last verse of "Wasted Words," from the Allman Brothers Band's "Brothers and Sisters" album, he gets the message across.
Well I ain't no saint and sure as hell ain't no savior.
Every other Christmas I would practice good behavior.
That was then. This is now.
Don't ask me to be Mr. Clean 'cause, baby, I don't know how.
Summer '73. The Allman Brothers Band emerged from tragedy and artistic challenges to deliver what some still consider their finest studio album ever. The music was holding up great. Fans had wondered, though, how Gregg was holding up. The brash lyrics of ...
Much insight has been gathered from the songs of Bruce Springsteen. Many of the observations he has shared are about the America he inhabits: the country where tens of millions have listened repeatedly to his albums and stood in line to see him play at clubs, halls, theatres, arenas, and stadiums. It's an America where Bruce Springsteen has been legendary for his ability to engage and rouse those who come to hear the two dozen or so of his songs they have adored for 10, 20, 30 and even more years. It's also the America that Bruce Springsteen has made clear he loves. Let there be no doubt; the songs ...
Celebration and Resolution. On February 10 of this year, Joan Baez brought her message in song to the White House. It was the same message she brought to hundreds of thousands at Woodstock in August '69 and to those who marched in Washington on behalf of civil rights in August '63. In front of President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and other guests, including the Vice President and Cabinet members, Baez sang "We Shall Overcome" with reverence, hopefulness and a sense of gratitude that the times, and hearts had changed since she and Bob Dylan sang at the Lincoln Memorial on that summer day nearly 47 ...
Gregg Allman was running late. Very late. He had been invited to a private party by Governor Jimmy Carter. Allman was certainly a special guest, but that night the guests of honor were Bob Dylan and The Band, in Atlanta for a pair of concerts at the Omni. Sadly, Allman was so late that by the time he arrived at the Governor's Mansion, Dylan and The Band had already left. Carter was getting ready for bed. But from Jimmy Carter's perspective, Allman was not too late. He welcomed Allman inside, put on a shirt and poured some scotch. He needed to talk with Gregg ...
Fans of the Allman Brothers Band were up in arms. They were seriously angry. Again.
Response to the ABB's recent "Win Lose Or Draw" album was not positive. The loyal fans were not disappointed; they were enraged. They knew Duane Allman would have never allowed his band to release such a halfhearted effort. Yet atonement awaited. The Allman Brothers Band was back on the road. Fans were hoping for more of the legendary concerts that brought the group wide acclaim. On Sunday night, October 5, 1975, the ABB was to play the Omni Coliseum in Atlanta, roughly 80 miles north of ...
Fans of the Allman Brothers Band were up in arms. They were seriously angry.
It's August '75 and the sixth album by the Allman Brothers Band, "Win Lose Or Draw," had just been released. Only two years before, their triumphant and nearly perfect "Brothers And Sisters" album made its way into stores and to the top of the charts.The album was a marvel from start to finish and incredibly challenging for any band, no matter how focused, to follow.
Scott Freeman, author of "Midnight Riders, The Story of the Allman Brothers Band," recalls that with "Brothers And Sisters," the band "had something ...
This article has been revised and expanded since its initial posting on 4/26/2010
As Vice President of the United States, Hubert Humphrey should have known better. Don't mess with Soul Brother Number One.
James Brown was just across the room. It's May '68. He's dining as a guest of President Lyndon Johnson at a White House state dinner. The president left a note on Brown's place card that said, "Thanks much for what you are doing for your country. LBJ."
In his autobiography, James Brown, The Godfather of Soul, Brown noted Johnson had little to say that night, choosing to concentrate on his food. "He was ...
James Brown may have been telling more than he intended on his 1974 hit, "Papa Don't Take No Mess."
Papa didn't cuss
He didn't raise a whole lotta fuss
But when we did wrong
Papa beat the hell out of us
Papa was calm but Papa could explode. As it was with James Brown.
The man's smile could light the way on a starless night. His music inspired and enthused. James Brown couldn't make the lame walk but he could make the rhythmically-challenged learn to groove.
Yet James Brown had that downside. There were the violent explosions in his personal life. There was the mess he left behind ...
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