Greetings! Things keep happening that I want to tell you, so I'm going to start writing so they don't get out of hand. (Right now I'm listening to Ziggy Stardust -- Moonage Daydream). I'm been playing Tyranny and Mutation by Blue Oyster Cult a lot lately along with Brian Auger's Second Wind. Will try and get the Coryell album soon so I can hear the sex, but right at the moment I still have no job and money is not floating around.
I have gone to a couple of concerts. Last Friday I saw Seals and Crofts at Saratoga. They were fantastic and played a variety of materials that I wasn't expecting. They played a jazzy piece with Seals on sax and Crofts on electric piano that was out of this world. At the end they played hootenanny country & western with Seals playing the fiddle. Quite a few of the songs from Summer Breeze album were played. A thoroughly enjoyable concert.
I also saw Pink Floyd on Sunday. Incredible, I don't' know how to describe it. The visual effects were fantastic with lot of lights and dry ice -- a gong with a ring of fire around it and one of those multi-faced balls that sparkle when light shines on them and they are turning and just sends out many rays like a giant eye when not turning. They played the whole first side of Dark Side of the Moon plus other material that I was familiar with, but don't know off which albums or the title. The sound system was quadraphonic and we were lucky to get seats in the amphitheater. Not all of what they played was music, but it was all incredible to watch to shut your eyes and be overwhelmed by the sounds.
I just put on the other side of Ziggy Stardust which reminds me, I had a dream in which I was in a huge record library and I was trying to remember all of the records you have mentioned to me so that I could take them out and listen. The first and only one I picked up was Rio Grande Mud -- the dream ended but I don't remember how.
This Friday I am going to see Allman Bros. with my friend Chris. I'm really looking forward to it. Other good people are coming that I would like to see: America, Beach Boys, Blood Sweat and Tears and some more that I can't remember right now.
The radio station you heard with the woman disc jockey was WGY 810 and the show is Ellen at midnight and she is on from midnight to 5 am all week. Since you mentioned it and another friend mentioned it, I've been listening and enjoying. Last Sunday WGY played really nice jazz in the afternoon. On the whole, though, radio has been very repetitive. There is a relatively new station WGFM -- rock 99 (affiliated with WGY) which started out very promising but is now playing the same stuff over and over again such as Hocus Pocus and You Can't Always Get What You Want (Rolling Stones). It gets very tiring to hear the same stuff even if you like it.
Of the jazz people you mentioned the only one I am at all familiar with is Cal Tjader -- Mon has some records with him playing which I haven't heard in awhile, so when I get time I will dig them out, listen, adn make some comments. Freddy Hubbard is another familiar name, but I have no music to go to the name -- I'm sorry but I don't remember the song you were referring to by him. I'll try and look up the other names in my old issues of Downbeat to see what I can find.
I'm going to stop for the moment -- more later.
Hi ya. I'm catching the end of the "American Top 40". Actually catching isn't the right verb because I've been listening to it from the beginning. #4 was Billy Preston's "Will it go 'Round in Circles", one of my favorite songs. Really like dancing to it.
I went to the Allman Bros quite fucked up but it was fun. Chris and I have been friends since high school -- she's a Scorpio, too. They were incredible! (I think that maybe that is the only adjective I know?) The first band the Marshall Tucker (or Trucker) was really nice -- very pleasant and what a lead in because they played the same type of music.
Allman Bros. just played and played. People were yelling out requests and the lead guitarists said not to bother because they were going to play everything. They just about did, it was so good! All of the songs were long and some were at least 20 minutes. From the Live at Fillmore East album they played "You Don't Love Me", "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed", and "Whipping Post". They played a lot from Eat a Peach but I don't know the titles, plus they played a new song. They played for a good hour, took a regulation set break and were back for at least an hour and a half. The concert didn't end until about 12:30 am and there were 25,000 people.
In the second half the lead guitarist played straight for three songs, just coming down to a plateau and then taking off again. Watching the drummers was a real trip because there were two different styles of drumming, but they really played together and just kept everything cooking.
The work on the house continues. Dad and I are going the taping -- he knows more than me, but we are both amateurs. Mom painted the woodwork and the room is starting to pick up. My aunt called and she is in Joliet, Ill and said that Bob called and they had trouble so they probably couldn't' get to Joliet until Monday night, so they won't get here until Wednesday or Thursday. I'm really getting excited! That will give us more time to get the house together.
There is some discussion of sleeping arrangements because they are not married but are living together. I think it will all work out -- the easiest is for them to stay in Nana's room because she has two beds, but anyway....
Last night my friends called and said they were trying to think of something to do, so they would come and pick me up. This time the total group came to seven (Marc, Dave, Bernie, Laurie, Garry, Doug, and me). We ended up going to the Super 50 Drive-In so named because it is on rte. 50. Both pictures were shit but one was better than the other and we all had fun mocking them out. Perhaps you have seen the titles in the newspaper: "Bummer" and "The Hitchhikers".
"Bummer" was a bummer. The story was about groupies and what could happen to them. The second flick "The Hitchhikers" was better but it had no plot. It was about a hippy gang (several girls and the male leader) who stuck up people who picked up girls hitching. A lot of it was funny because of the cliches used. For instance they wreck the truck one night while having a "wild" party where everybody was really messed up. Oh yeah after they mugged the victims they left a sign which said Have a nice day. Oh well so much for an evening of enlightenment.
Monday 25:June '72 -- Yay! Guess who I got a letter from today!?! I was hoping I would hear from you soon. Last night I had a dream about you -- you had come to visit me -- the locale was a conglomeration of here, Buffalo and other places.
I really enjoyed your letter. I can tell that you feel about the country the same way I do. I really love it here because the land is beautiful and there are lots of birds singing. Lately I've been seeing lots of broken eggs -- the only one I can identify is the speckled light blue of a robin's egg. (I think of my brother Robin everytime I see one.) We also have squirrels or at least one squirrel living here now plus some pigeons that must be from the city (Schenectady) who liked the country and went back and brought their friends. I love cities but the country is my home.
I still haven't travelled much, though there is so much that I haven't seen yet. I really want to see all of the country that the U.S. has. I really flip out when I think of going overseas and seeing Greece, Rome, the pyramids, Stonehenge, plus the Incan cities in the Andes. (I hope I got that right -- I always mix then all up.)
I agree with your discussion on drugs. I don't regret my experiences -- they have brought me a lot and have helped me to overcome some of my inhibitions quicker than I probably would have at a normal state. In this respect drugs are similar to dreams -- with both my feelings are very intense but I am becoming more able to feel intensely at my normal state. I also agree with sharpness. If I first lieten to something new when I'm stoned, I have to listen to it straight to see if I really liked it or not. I don't think I will stop all drinking and smoking because both are something that I like to do with people I'm close with but the enjoyment, not as a compulsion. I feel fortunate that for almost all of the things I have experienced I have no regrets.
Earlier this evening my friend Chris came over to visit. It ws really nice -- I played records for her -- Blue Oyster Cult's Tyranny and Mutation, Beach Boys' Holland, 1st side of Brian Auger's Second Wind, and 1st side of Frank Zappa's Hot Rats. Now I have on Yes' Fragile. A lot of her friends are married so she really enjoyed just sitting, listening, and shooting the shit. You were the first person I had met who really enjoyed that.
Do you know how you are going to live in Pittsburgh? Are y ou going to be in an apartment or the dorms? I'm nervous and excited at the same time and I want to do well. Tomorrow I'm going to Albany to fill out an application to work part time in the fall in the university's library system. Did I tell you that I also applied at the Saratoga County Library? I'm closer to the Schenectady library, but I am a resident of Saratoga County so I couldn't work there. (Tried to apply about 5 years ago at the Schenectady library.) Also my friend Marc is going to introduce me to a friend of his who is in Albany's school. I will be able to buy his textbooks if the same ones are used plus a lot of the work is independently interviewing people and Mike (Marc's friend) works in the state library and he know good people to interview. This is an unexpected lucky break. I also have to have a physical and send to to SUNYA to finish up my last admission requirement.
Tomorrow I'm going to meet my friend Evelyn for lunch. She is a friend but also acts like a mother because she has a daughter my age. I met her two summers ago when I worked in the Schenectady branch of the New York State Employment Service. She has finally gotten her wish to be transferred from Schenectady to Amsterdam, where she lives.
Did I tell you I got a B in German? What a nice surprise. Glad to be finished with that.
Well it is getting late so I'm going to end now and put this in an envelope. Take care of yourself and write back as soon as you can.
Enclosed is a picture of me taken last summer when I was in Yonkers visiting Vicki. I'm such a toughie.
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