Actress Maureen O´Hara has passed away, aged 95. I read her biography “´Tis Herself” (Simon & Schuster, 2005) a few years ago and it was fantastic. She worked with all the greats. When John Wayne was close to dying she got Congress to give him a medal that said “John Wayne – American”. She was one hell of a lady.
She will be missed.
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40 years ago now, Deep Purple were about to launch what would become the final tour of the 70s. There is so much history of interest in those months when it all unravelled out of control and I have decided to highlight some of the most interesting highs and lows on this blog. The tour started in Hawaii on November 8, but we will get to that.
This version of Deep Purple spent some time in Europe and particularly the UK in October 1975 – Jon Lord, David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes guested on Roger Glover´s “The Butterfly Ball” concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London on October 16, a show that Ian Gillan guested as well. In fact, it was Gillan´s first gig after having left Deep Purple in 1973, and the roar of the crowd got him back into the world of music again. This event also featured actor Vincent Price, whom Deep Purple wrote a tribute to on their last album “Now What?!”. But the interesting thing about this night in London was that a good chunk of the old Purple got to mix with the new.
The plan then was to do the Far East and then turn to America after Christmas, followed by gigs in Europe in the Spring and Summer, and then a second trek of the States followed by a break for other activities (solo albums etc). They did not quite make it, and it is an interesting tale.
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Saw the 2007 documentary “Amazing Journey – The Story of The Who” by Murray Lerner and Paul Crowder today. To me, good rock is such a high – when a band gets it right it is such an amazing feeling. This documentary takes you through a journey that these few individuals have gone through (half the original band is gone) and you can feel the rollercoaster of emotions. I would say that rock music was a renaissance of artistic brilliance that pushed the West even further and when you view this film it is all there. It can be painful, but those bursts of total abandon and brilliance actually mean something. The Who is part of that puzzle.
Was it the last epic era of the West? Well, we shall see.
(Thank you Kalle for showing me this film).
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Darned good traffic on the blog right now, lots of Black Sabbath fans popping by at the moment which is good fun. Also healthy interest in my western stuff, the interview with my Tornado Blaze model Ellinor sticking out at the moment.
The 2000 interview with David Coverdale is always a top draw, and I have noticed that his wife has seen it (she used an image on her page), so that is nice. Steve Lukather seems to have checked his stuff out, I can certainly see links. All in all, I can see that loads of people – some that are pretty famous – has been here.
I like this little world of mine, it is what it is.
(My images: model Ellinor in 2012 and Tony Iommi in 1989).
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Bought a few boxes of high energy biscuits, nine bars in each package. One box will keep you going for a week. These small boxes actually weighs quite a lot, so you can also use it to bash somebodys head in if the Zombie collapse has occured.
And yes, I am watching The Walking Dead right now…
But seriously, this is good stuff to have around. Good to go for a full decade as well. See if you can find some online in your neck of the woods.
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As long as I live, I will never forget October 1975 and the release of two of my all time favourite albums side by side – guitarist Tommy Bolin´s first solo album “Teaser” and his first (and it would soon turn out to be the only) studio effort with Deep Purple, “Come Taste The Band”. Tommy Bolin was a rising star, and this was his big moment.
Looking back, the sheer talent of this guy was just unbelievable – here he dominated two powerful rock albums and proved very quickly the enormous potential at a very bright future. The media loved Tommy, there is no denying that (I have got the reviews and the articles to prove it), and for a while there it seemed that he had saved Deep Purple and opened up what seemed like a healthy fourth chapter – and I recall how much the fans appreciated it at the time. Sure, there were doubters who would not accept the change, but enough people did and surely there was enough talent in this band to succeed again.
Then we had the world tour and the drugs and everything that sent the whole thing south, and fast. Singer David Coverdale left the band in March 1976 and that was it. By December Tommy was dead of an overdose.
But October 1975, that was a very special moment for me. This music has stood the test of time and I think it was a time of magic and hope.
I love that period, it was a beautiful thing.
(Top image of original post has been removed due to EU regulations)
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trinkelbonker 