"The History of Rock: 1966" by the Editors of UNCUT Magazine

"The History Of Rock: 1966" by the Editors of Uncut Magazine

For sure something happened in 1964, and maybe it was the year when I turned 10, and really became aware of music pop culture around me.  To my ears, '64 was full of bouncy music made by people with odd accents.  It was the first time in my life that I realized that there was music being made that appealed to me, and not only that, and perhaps even more important, it came from another culture.  By 1966, I was introduced to the word and aesthetic of "sophistication." 

"The History of Rock" is a monthly publication published and edited by Uncut Magazine, where they use the archives of New Musical Express and Melody Maker regarding contemporary music at that time.   It started off with "1965," and now I just finished reading the entire issue of "1966."   I have read so many books and articles dealing with the British invasion, that in this late stage of my life, it is totally refreshing to read archival material as when things were happening or in proper english, as it happened. 

The Rolling Stones and The Beatles were at their dizzy heights of making incredible recordings as well as being the prince (Stones) and King (Beatles) of the pop world at the time.  The beauty of this magazine is obtaining the role of the journalist at this time.  Most I think were mostly press relations, and not only worked for the music papers, but also for the artists as well.  So, one does not get critical attacks, but mostly acknowledgment and of course, praises.   It is ironic that at this moment in time in the U.K. great music was being produced by all sorts of bands and artists:  Donovan was making great recordings with Mickie Most, The Small Faces were getting more sophisticated as they entered the Andrew Loog Oldham world, and the Fab Four was spending more time in the recording studio, where one gets the amazing "Revolver" album.   Due to the times, Brian Jones was adding more exotic instrumentation to the Stones recordings, which made their masterpiece "Aftermath" such a classic and brilliant album.   Even shit records produced in England were at the very least, good constructed pop.  

Also UK readers and listeners were fully accepting the genius of Roy Orbison, early Simon & Garfunkel, and the beautiful Beach Boys.  It seemed for once, that the UK and the U.S. were in-tuned at the same time and place.   A pop utopia taking place, and ears was stretched out to the West Coast to India.    "The History of Rock" 1966" captures that series of moments as it happened.   Also great photographs and this is a perfectly designed magazine. 

- Tosh Berman

February 16, 2014

February 16, 2014

Lun*na, my wife, just finished reading “The Borrowers” by Mary Norton.  I never read this book, or heard of it, till she picked it up as a recommendation from a friend of ours.   The book is about a family that lives in a house in the U.K. and unknown to them, is a group of very small people who secretly live in the same structure.  What they do to survive is ‘borrow’ but according to Lun*na it is more like stealing various goods that they need in order to live.  Not only pieces of food, but fabric, but also small items that can be used as chairs or tables as well. 

I imagine like a lot of people we’re always missing items in our house.  For me it is generally a specific book, but I think the most frequent disappearance is that ‘other’ sock.  How in hell does that disappear on a regular basis?    Or one’s favorite pen or pencil.  I have a tendency to collect bookmarks from various stores, and pretty much they disappear quite quickly in the household.   A very deep mystery to me. 

I dont know about you readers, but Lun*na and I have these series of conversations, which pretty much goes like this:

“Lun*na that movie we saw last night “The…. Oh what ever it is called with…. I forgot his name, but he was in …….  That movie about a heist robbery in …. some European city, you know what I am talking about! ”

“Yeah, we saw it with …. Oh God, what’s his name.  We just had dinner with him …. Oh shoot!  I got his face in my brain, but the name is located in the back of my tongue…. Ah

“Yes, I know exactly who you are talking about, that’s. …. Well, yeah I know who you are talking about.

“Ahh….”

And so forth.  Of course this could be caused by our advancing age, but let's supposed, and this is Lun*na’s theory, that Borrowers do actually exist, and they take our memories away and when in the mood they return them.

The thing is we hear noises in the middle of the night.  Drawers being opened and closed, a creek here or there, or once in a while we hear an object being dragged on the floor.  Once we awake, or the next morning, we don’t see or miss anything.  It is usually later when we noticed that an object is missing or a specific fork or piece of fabric.  I think any normal person would get up from their bed to check out where these sounds are coming from, but to be honest here, I am scared.  While I’m in bed, I wish to avoid anything that is happening at night.   For instance when we had the huge earthquake in Los Angeles in 1994, I stayed in bed, when the quake hit at 4:30 am.  Even with the crashing sounds of objects falling or being smashed, I just couldn’t get myself out of the bed.  When the crisis is happening I want to go back to sleep.   So hearing things being moved about in the middle of the night, is just an excuse for me to shut that off in my world, so I can go back to sleep.

Not too long ago Lun*na and I had another discussion where we could not recall the name of someone or the restaurant we went to the night before.  To my growing alarm, when I looked at her as she was trying to remember the name of the restaurant, I saw something very tiny near her ear lobe.  As she kept on talking, I gently went up to her, to get a closer look, but at the same time, I didn’t want to alarm her.  What I saw was a very small figure, and it seemed that this object was blowing something in her ear.  Lun*na all of sudden yelled “Clifton Cafeteria” as her memory came back, but at that instant, the small figure disappeared, like it didn’t exist in the first place. 

This happened again, when I couldn’t remember a name of a film we just watched the night before, and Lun*na swore she saw something on my shoulder, but I couldn’t feel or see it.  But once she saw it, and comment on seeing something weird near my ear, I suddenly remembered the film.  Which by the way, I can’t remember what it is just now.  Nevertheless, we both agreed that the Borrowers do exist, and unlike the book, they do return certain objects - like that sock, but more important, memories do come back time-to-time.