Читать книгу Sonic Boom: The Impact of Led Zeppelin. Volume 1 - Break & Enter - Frank Reddon - Страница 11

Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck, grabbing a bite in a quiet moment off stage.

Courtesy: Howard Mylett Collection, used with permission. Enzepplopedia Publishing, Inc.

Loui Malone was right there, at the height of the 1960s San Francisco music scene. As well as enjoying those heady times, she was in a documentary that was selected to be viewed at the Cannes Film Festival in 1969. A picture of her walking with friends on San Francisco’s famous “Hippie Hill” hangs in Cleveland, Ohio’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, freezing forever that moment in time.

As if all of this weren’t enough excitement in her life at the time, Loui Malone also got to see and meet The Yardbirds in Ruidoso, New Mexico on September 7, 1966. In this interview, Malone recounts that fascinating experience and piece of popular music history. She also saw Led Zeppelin on the band’s First U.S. and Canadian Tour when the group debuted at the Fillmore West in San Francisco, California, on one of the nights between January 9 and 12, 1969.

REDDON:

Hi, Loui! After emailing back and forth, it’s great to speak to you. Thanks very much for permitting me to interview you. I’ve really been looking forward to this for quite some time.

MALONE: Hi, Frank! Nice to talk to you. I’m glad you’re so interested in my recollections. That was an amazing piece of my life. It’s gratifying someone else has some interest in this very special era gone by.

REDDON:

My interest is more than a passing one, I guarantee you that. Let’s start by having you talk about your experience with The Yardbirds in Ruidoso, New Mexico. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems like a rather remote place to see them.

MALONE: No, that’s right. Although Ruidoso is very beautiful, it’s not a place where you might expect to see a group like The Yardbirds. Ruidoso is two hundred miles south of Albuquerque, New Mexico, which most people are familiar with. It’s also sixty miles west of Roswell. Ruidoso actually means “noisy waters”. It’s a tourist town - a skiing town in winter and a nice summer spot for recreation and historical points of interest and natural beauty. It has many amenities for enjoyment there, year round. A racetrack called Ruidoso Downs is quite an attraction because of its quarterhorse racing.

Ruidoso brought in a few bands but not many because it’s a relatively isolated place. I do recall that another British band, Paul Revere and The Raiders, came through but not a great many artists toured through Ruidoso.

REDDON:

I’m familiar with Roswell because of all the UFO sightings associated with it, right?

MALONE: That’s right. Roswell is the UFO place! I was a big Yardbirds fan about 1965-66. They were always my favourite and I couldn’t believe they were coming to Ruidoso. My friends had a local band called The Bossmen. They were to be the warm-up band when The Yardbirds were scheduled to play here at the Ruidoso Convention Center. It was probably in 1966 or 1967. The night before The Yardbirds were to perform, the hot water heater/boiler or whatever, blew up! The damage was extensive enough to cancel the concert. They needed to find another place to hold the concert and in a big, BIG hurry!

The Bossmen were actually in charge of a place in Ruidoso that served as a local haunt for a night club/music venue. It was called “The Hut”. It was owned by some buddies of theirs in Roswell, but The Bossmen were running The Hut for them. So, between my friends in The Bossmen, some others and the promoters of The Yardbirds, they decided to play at The Hut. Ironically, it was right across from the Ruidoso Police Station!

REDDON: Yup, I get the picture!

MALONE: Yeah, it was quite amusing. The Bossmen played at The Hut regularly. It was a very popular place for the kids in town to hang out for music and a fun night out. The Hut wasn’t a big place, by any means. It had high wooden roof rafters and wooden floors; yet it had an innate charm that translated into a cozy atmosphere you might find at a smaller music club. I think it was originally a roller rink, the way it was built. The best way to picture it is like an old gymnasium. A bunch of us set about cleaning The Hut up, to get it ready for where The Yardbirds were now going to play all of a sudden, the very next night.

We worked like crazy people all night and managed to get it ready, with next to no notice. It’s a fond memory and we all had a good time doing it. We knew it was going to be an amazing concert in a most unlikely place, so that kept us cleaning like mad as well. We couldn’t believe this was going to happen. My favourite group - The Yardbirds - playing in my town and I was helping to make it possible! We didn’t know how many people were coming but we knew there would be a lot of them.

Since The Bossmen were heavily involved with The Yardbirds coming to Ruidoso in the first place, they took on the many tasks that aren’t always thought of, as you hand your ticket in to go see a show. It’s easy to forget how much planning is involved by all concerned: musicians, promoters, venue staff, etc. It all comes together. The preparation that goes into bringing a group to any place, anywhere is lots of fun and provides a real education in the process. We found that out when we cleaned up The Hut the night before! We divided up the duties that we could take care of. Since I had my Dad’s big car, I was put in charge of meeting The Yardbirds at the airport and then picking them up from their hotel to take them to the concert.

REDDON: Thank heavens Dad had a big car, eh?

MALONE: Yeah, you’re not kidding! That was about the best job and I got it. I don’t recall what hotel they stayed at but I do remember picking them up. It was a real thrill. There I was, picking up my favourite group from the airport and chauffeuring them around. How cool was that for a teenager?

REDDON: I know, that’s too much. You must have been thrilled to pieces.

MALONE: I surely was! When I picked The Yardbirds up at the airport for their appearance at The Hut, it still sounds funny after all these years but it’s a very fond memory. They all seemed like very nice guys. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed chatting with them. It was quite the experience. I don’t know if this means anything to you but this is the way it was. Jeff Beck was sitting next to me in the front seat in the middle and Chris Dreja was in the front seat passenger side, next to Beck. Jimmy Page and the others were in the back seat. We all talked on the way to the concert. Jeff Beck offered me a stick of Doublemint gum!

REDDON:

I remember that gum! There used to be television commercials with pairs of twins and stuff with the goofy jingles.

MALONE: Yes! I also noticed that Jeff Beck had a big hickey on his neck. I razzed him about that and he took it very well!

Once we got to The Hut, The Bossmen went on first. Then The Yardbirds played. The place was packed and there were tons of people out in the street trying to hear what was going on. I don’t know if they had tickets because of the spillover from a larger venue but no one was causing trouble. All the security concerns about big concert events over the years that have occurred…we never gave them a second thought. It wasn’t even in the equation. It was a different time back then. Everybody was dancing and having a great time wherever they were.

There weren’t any crowd problems inside, either. There wasn’t any organized seating, really, inside The Hut. That’s the way it was in those days. Everybody was there for a hassle-free night of great music, thanks to The Yardbirds. They were incredible. It’s one thing to hear their records but when they’re playing and jamming as they go along on the songs you already know from the recorded versions, it’s a whole different experience. And that’s what they did. They jammed a lot on most of their numbers that night. I don’t recall what songs they played exactly but they played all their hits and then some. The concert was about two hours. Page was so loud, as was the rest of the band, but they sounded great!

All The Yardbirds were fabulous, just fabulous! I really loved jazz as well and improvisation was something I liked most about music. I think what impressed me most about them was their ability to improvise. It’s a genuine talent to be able to do that and they all had it. Page and Beck were especially fantastic. They complemented each other with an almost sort of musical telepathy. They jammed during many of the songs.

What impressed me the very most about The Yardbirds coming to Ruidoso and playing a concert? The fact that they didn’t slack off at all. You could tell they were very serious about what they were doing and very, very professional about it. The Yardbirds had so much fun while they were performing. You could feel it very strongly. I noticed the same thing with Janis Joplin and Big Brother and The Holding Company and Led Zeppelin when I saw them. All these bands had a great time on stage and it came shining through. Enjoying themselves and the audience they were playing for - that’s what it was all about for them. They felt the music and then you did, too.

The Yardbirds were all so focused, every one of them, catching the groove of one another at the same time they were all seemingly in their own respective, little worlds. The Hut was a very small place and not even where they were originally supposed to play in Ruidoso, like I said earlier. It didn’t matter to them at all that they weren’t in a huge venue. They gave it their very best, no matter what had happened, or was happening around their stop in Ruidoso.

The Hut went nuts for them, too. It was craziness from the first notes! Everyone loved their performance and it was truly memorable for us in so many ways. The fact we pulled together and pulled off the concert was a separate type of reward for those of us involved. What a special time!

REDDON:

That’s a remarkable recollection. How about after the concert? Did you get to party with The Yardbirds or did they go as quickly as they came?

MALONE: No, we spent some time with them. After the concert, I think they stopped and signed autographs for awhile and then we took them out to have a drink. We went back to The Bossmen’s house and had a party. I remember Jimmy Page was hanging around with a girlfriend of mine and I mainly talked with Chris Dreja at length about music. I was extremely impressed at how much knowledge Dreja had about all kinds of music. In particular, he said he wanted to turn me on to an album by this one artist which was incredible. He told me to swing by the hotel the next morning bright and early and he’d play the album for me, before I had to take the whole group back to the airport. As well, my friend, Karyn Turner, went out with a guy named Robert Fercus, who worked in management for The Yardbirds.

Anyway, the next day after The Yardbirds’ concert in Ruidoso, I could have picked a better time to go to the hotel, if you know what I mean…but it probably wouldn’t have mattered if I had gone later, either. There was no good time to stop by! And, I just want to say for the record, I was never a groupie. I never slept with any bands or artists. Once you did that, they stopped talking about the music!

REDDON: I think I know what you mean. Understood!

MALONE: Anyway, the artist Chris Dreja had spoken of so highly was Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention. I had seen The Fuggs. Zappa was brilliant and avantgarde. Chris Dreja and I got along really well and it was fascinating conversation to speak with someone so well-versed in so many kinds of music. Eventually that day, I took them back to the airport. We said our good-byes and off they went. It’s an experience I’ll always regard as one of my best memories. It was all so incredible.

REDDON:

I’m completely captivated by your account and experiences with The Yardbirds in Ruidoso, New Mexico. Thanks very much, Loui, for telling me all about it and all the great information you provided in the process. When you originally contacted me a few months ago, you also mentioned you saw Led Zeppelin on the First U.S. and Canadian Tour at the Fillmore West in San Francisco between January 9 and 12, 1969. I’ve been researching that tour for the past decade plus, so I’d be very keen to hear any recollections you may have of experiencing Jimmy Page’s new band, Led Zeppelin, in 1969.

MALONE: As I’ve already said, I was never a groupie of any description, for any artist or band. I just wasn’t into anything like that and it was the music that really mattered to me. Because I spent a great deal of time at the Fillmore West, I got to know quite a few of the musicians who were also there a lot, to at least be able to say hi to. Some of them included Janis Joplin, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Grateful Dead, Country Joe and The Fish.

REDDON:

Before we get into what you thought about Led Zeppelin at the Fillmore West, when did you come to San Francisco and what was the big attraction?

MALONE: I went to San Francisco in 1966. When I got there, the first thing I did was find a little flat in the Haight-Ashbury district. The whole “hippie thing” started there. The idea of the entire hippie credo was to form a utopian type of society. The idea was to barter, trade, give, share whatever you were able to do to create a better existence for the next person and society at large. You took people for what they were; there was a great sense of tolerance and understanding, acceptance.

And you know what, really? Contrary to popular belief, there weren’t that many freaks around, as is so commonly associated with that era. The whole hippie scene centered on music. Actually, Chet Helms started the whole San Francisco hippie music scene with the Avalon Ballroom and The Family Dog. He was interested only in the music and didn’t care about the business aspects of it. We had a place at Haight and Cole, across from The Straight Theatre, on the second floor of an apartment. We used to shine lights on The Straight Theatre and its sign from our apartment. In return, we were able to get into The Straight anytime for free. It was an excellent place to see all manner of blues performers, especially, which I was very interested in.

REDDON: That would be a trip! What blues acts did you see there?

MALONE: There were all kinds of blues artists…both “Kings” - B.B. King and Albert King, who were magnificent and a host of others. It was in the setting of a small theatre and a great place to see them. I used to hang out at The Family Dog and the Avalon of course, which were opened by Chet Helms.

REDDON:

Yes, I wasn’t aware that Chet Helms got the whole San Francisco music scene going in the 1960s with the Avalon Ballroom. If it hadn’t been for Chet Helms and a free-spirited lady who was a close friend of his in the 1960s, whom I met by fate in the Boston Public Library in October 1997, I wouldn’t be talking to you today! Strange how these things work out. On the topic of who was in at, or very near, the ground level of the music scene in San Francisco in the 1960s…enter Bill Graham. What can you tell me about him, since you hung around the Fillmore West quite a bit?

MALONE: Bill Graham, you could say, was the first “businessman” when it came to the new music sweeping San Francisco in the 1960s. Most importantly, Bill Graham was a great humanitarian. He saved lots of lives at this time.

REDDON:

Oh yeah? I’d like to find out more about his humanitarian activities in a moment or two. But first, could you provide me with your perspective of how Bill Graham impacted the San Francisco scene, with reference to his promotional activities?

MALONE: Although Bill Graham fiercely loved the music and had a vision of what was and wasn’t good, he was very interested in making the great music that came to San Francisco a business, too. So he opened the Fillmore Auditorium, after the Avalon Ballroom which was started by Chet Helms, as I said a moment ago. Eventually, the business Bill Graham created outgrew the Fillmore Auditorium. So he opened the Fillmore East in New York City and moved to a new venue in San Francisco that he called the Fillmore West. That reminds me…I got dosed at the Avalon Ballroom one time. There was lots of acid at concerts which really brought out the sounds and the colours.

REDDON: So I’ve heard!

MALONE: Winterland was another venue that Bill Graham used. It was an ice skating rink used for the bigger events in San Francisco and the surrounding areas. Blue Cheer was also around at the time and they were fantastic. Hendrix played free in Golden Gate Park and a friend of mine grabbed me and said, “You gotta go hear this guy!” Another time I saw Hendrix, we dropped acid and he was playing a song that incorporated an extended jam. It was brilliant and I was at the side of the stage for that. I just love that Woodstock riff he played. I’ve been lucky to have been in the right place at the right time on many occasions in the 1960s. I’ve seen and heard so many talented musicians and I’m truly grateful to have been a part of it.

REDDON:

How interesting! Now, please tell me about Bill Graham’s humanitarian work in the 1960s.

MALONE: There were lots and lots of drugs around, as you can well imagine in San Francisco, throughout the 1960s. Some people seemed to handle them and get away with it. Others couldn’t and it either consumed them, killed them or both, eventually. Lots of these people on the San Francisco scene in the 1960s had bad luck…or a bad break or experience or all of that. Bill Graham would see a problem with someone and step in when he saw someone in trouble. He was aggressive and a man of action who always tried to help someone in need.

In many cases, Bill would provide them with a job in one of his businesses, to get them on the right path and help them out. He did a great deal of that. I’ve always admired and respected him for that. One way he would help all the time, is that he’d keep a big barrel of apples at the top of the stairs when you went into the Fillmore West for a concert or to pick up your tickets. Lots of times, an “apple a day” sort of thing would be enough to help someone out who might not have eaten for awhile because they were strung-out on something. Who knows? There are a million reasons why having those apples available as a healthy snack was such a great thing to do.

REDDON:

All right! What can you tell me about seeing Led Zeppelin perform at the Fillmore West on the group’s First U.S. and Canadian Tour, when the band played from January 9 through 12, 1969?

MALONE: I was very impressed with Led Zeppelin, for the same reasons I liked The Yardbirds so much. At no time did I think of Zeppelin as a blues band. You hear many people slot The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin and other groups, as either “this” or “that”. You couldn’t do that with The Yardbirds and it was the same with Led Zeppelin.

Led Zeppelin was definitely cutting edge all the way. I knew it instantly when I saw them perform in San Francisco. They had lots of different types of music mixed into whatever they were playing. You would think they were getting into one musical genre - they would give you just enough to make you think they were going in a particular music direction – and the next thing you knew, they were heading elsewhere. You were suddenly going along for a musical exploration into another totally new musical area, in a matter of seconds. They were wonderful at doing that.

It gets back to improvisation, mainly. I’ve always loved it and that’s what Zeppelin was delivering, just as The Yardbirds had. But Zeppelin was cutting edge rock’n’roll, coloured by all kinds of different musical influences along the way. It’s actually hard to describe, they were into so many things in any song they were doing live. They definitely weren’t playing bubble gum music!

As far as music coming out of San Francisco in the mid-late 1960s goes, the music and the Bay Area musicians were much less “produced”. There were local garage bands all over that were obviously greatly influenced by the English bands. Groups like The Yardbirds, Cream, Ten Years After, The Who were either listened to on record, or were coming over to the States and playing San Francisco as a tour stop. Led Zeppelin has always been a big influence in so many ways everywhere. At the start, it was here in San Francisco and they impacted the music scene in a big way when they played here. Always did.

The music that the local musicians on the San Francisco music scene were playing was completely different from the music being created and performed in Los Angeles during the mid-late 1960s. Were you aware of that?

REDDON: No, I had no idea! Can you tell me what the differences were?

MALONE: Oh yeah, it was like day and night the differences between the San Francisco music scene and the one going on in LA. The San Francisco bands were much more into raw improvisation, very extended at times. Think of The Grateful Dead and their often elaborate and lengthy improvisations. I love the long, improvised solos, as I’ve already told you once or twice! The long solos parallel the improvisational philosophies of jazz and the classics, which I love so much.

Improvisation was a mainstay for the San Francisco bands. Their records were also much less produced. They had a “take it or leave it” feel to them. What was on the records was precisely what was played, a kind of genuine effort put on the vinyl that wasn’t pretentious. You got the music the musicians offered, not a creation that was highly produced and then produced again. Groups like Big Brother and The Holding Company, The Grateful Dead, Country Joe and The Fish, Middle Earth and Steve Miller, to name some of them all had this feeling on their records. And when they were performing.

The Los Angeles scene by contrast? There was much more emphasis on the music’s production value. Theirs didn’t have that laid-back, experimental feeling apparent in the San Francisco bands and their recordings. Bands on the LA scene weren’t into improvising half as much as the San Francisco groups. They were much more heavily produced on record. A good example? The band that people instantly associate with the LA scene in the 1960s is The Doors. They were a slickly produced band, especially on record.

But I recognize preferences are a state of mind. I guess you could call those of us who think like I do about the respective San Francisco and LA scenes of the 1960s, somewhat elitist or musical snobs. But that’s the way it was. Those differences did exist between the two scenes and the music that’s been recorded is proof of that.

REDDON:

That’s an amazing comparison I would never have made myself. Thanks for bringing it to my attention and telling me all about the subtle and not-so-subtle differences between music in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Very engrossing stuff.

Okay, given both the San Francisco and Los Angeles music scenes and the influence the British bands had on those music scenes of the U.S., how do you think Led Zeppelin fit into all of this? Was their music completely cutting edge, somewhat laid back, laid back, under-produced, over-produced, etc.? What did you think of them in comparison to what was going on in San Francisco and Los Angeles, when you first saw them at the Fillmore West in January 1969?

MALONE: That’s an amazing comparison I would never have made myself. Thanks for bringing it to my attention and telling me all about the subtle and not-so-subtle differences between music in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Very engrossing stuff.

Led Zeppelin was mind-blowing when I saw them at the Fillmore West. I was never a musician but I always was very strongly connected to music in general. I expressed myself through dancing. It’s multi-dimensional: moving through time and space, creating emotion and culture. People danced at the Fillmore West, often barefoot on the parquet floor. Sometimes, you would step on a hot cigarette butt which you always wanted to avoid! We used to either sit on the floor or stand at the back or side of the stage.

The light shows at the Fillmore West were also fantastic. As well, another good light show company, Jerry Abrams’ “Headlights” and, later, Little Princess 109, did amazing presentations. The centre part of the Fillmore West stage was more raised. The stage area around the side-walls was lower.

There were black lights at the Fillmore West. People would paint their faces with iridescent paint. It was like a movie when you were there. All this was happening to the music and lights. The general energy of the crowd made it all very intense. Everywhere, there was freeform dancing in front of the stage…it depended on the music. Bill Graham did an exceptional job of promoting the events. He used to mail out the coming attractions on postcards. So did Chet Helms – he did it first!

REDDON:

What other memories do you have from the 1960s, in addition to seeing The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin?

MALONE: Other recollections from back then? There are so many…I’ll give you a few of my favourites.

REDDON: Excellent, I’m all ears!

MALONE: I met Pink Floyd at the Fillmore West and interviewed them for the local paper. It was such an exciting time for me as a teenager in the 1960s. I also got to be in a movie made by United Artists, called Revolution. It was filmed in 1968. They flew me to the Cannes Film Festival in France. That was an honour because they chose one film per country. At the Cannes Film Festival, I ran into a troupe of travelling theatrical and musical people who called themselves “Human Family”. One of the people I knew did sound for Pink Floyd and it was really something to run into somebody I knew from here, over in France. That was very cool! It’s a small world. So, that’s one off-shoot of the whole “hippie culture” that was truly a memorable experience for me.

The documentary I was in, Revolution, was about sex, drugs and rock’n’roll. The film actually preceded Woodstock and United Artists suppressed it so that it wouldn’t compete with Woodstock. A friend of mine saw Revolution on PBS [Public Broadcasting Service] and Showtime. Now it’s available on DVD with some Big Brother. Revolution was also chosen to represent the United States at Venice and Locarno. It was the first film in history to be chosen for three festivals because it was cutting edge, both innovative and artistic.

We filmed many of the people in it twenty years later (in 1987). The film was recut and re-released as Hippie Revolution. That one is not available. My street and “movie” name was “Today Malone”.

REDDON:

I’d very much like to see The Hippie Revolution sometime. If you ever hear of it becoming available, could you let me know?

MALONE: Sure thing! It would be neat to see it again.

REDDON:

It’s obvious you led an incredibly eventful and fun existence throughout the 1960s. It has been a real education speaking with you, Loui. Thank you so much for allowing me to interview you.

MALONE: It’s been my pleasure, Frank. Let me know how you’re doing on the project, all right?

REDDON: Sure thing Loui, I’ll keep you posted and good-bye.

MALONE: Good-bye!