As a kid growing up in Queens, NY in the fifties, music was a huge part of my life. It had just begun to wrestle with the antiseptic sounds of Doris Day and Pat Boone and was for the first time called Rock ’n Roll. A lot of that early sound was Doo Wop, music of black groups, perfected in the acoustics of urban, high school bathrooms. Elvis hit and the world of contemporary music changed forever. There were no electronic distractions back then and you had 78’s, 45’s, radio and early television. American Bandstand was a true phenomenon and the daily dancers became heart throbs, watched religiously, mostly by young girls.
I kind of grew up along with the music and there was nothing more important in our lives. When the sixties hit, new music from groups like the Stones and Beatles and Beach Boys were a bona fide social occasion. The artwork on the LP’s even mattered. It was a cultural explosion in every sense of the word.
For now, I just want to make the point that music has always been an incredibly important part of my life. As a youngster, I never thought my work life would ever intersect with this passion of mine, but it sure did and weaved its way throughout my history. I am reminded of it, because thirty years ago this weekend, the first concert in the Music in the Pines series took place on the side of a mountain in Santa Fe, NM and I will catch up with it in a minute or two.
I worked at a bunch major ad agencies in NYC and at one of them, I put advertisers dollars in a syndicated radio series, featuring British rock music. I became friends with the fellow who put it together and we actually went to a high level meeting at the UN to talk about staging a Beatle reunion, with proceeds going to UNICEF. It was a fantastic idea, but it turned out my English friend was no closer to the group than his accent. While at the USA Cable Network, I traveled to Phila. in the early 80’s to explore putting on a late night concert series, which went as well as the reunion idea.
When I unwittingly found myself in between agency jobs, looking for a quick buck, I purchased a load of albums and eight tracks that “fell off the truck”. This involved the Mafia and midnight rides in the back of black Cadillac, sandwiched between two large fellows, being told I was going to live, because Mario liked me. I borrowed cash I didn’t have from family and spent a number of weeks selling the hot product to music stores all over the City. The Nassau County DA even wanted to speak with me about my adventure.
At my last job, before leaving for NM, I sold national advertising time in Casy Kasem’s Top Ten, which you can Google, because it’s not worth the explanation. Suffice it to say, it was a musical countdown series.
Within weeks of arriving in Santa Fe, I got involved with marketing a John Huston Film Festival, which connected me with a host of wonderfully colorful, local characters. One guy was actually on the stage at Woodstock and you can hear him on the album. He was a true promoter. Another fellow was a real professional in the areas of staging, sound and lighting.
After the festival, I worked with that promoter on a Rudolf Nureyev performance in Albuquerque. Now, we come to the Music in the Pines story, the impetus for this musical tale. Somehow, some of us got into discussions about staging a summer concert series on a mountainside, right behind The Evergreen Restaurant, on the way to the Santa Fe Ski Basin. Through a series of twisted events, I became the promoter of this musical extravaganza. I was responsible for booking the acts and negotiating with them. My production friend took on the responsibility for staging the series. The logistics were a true nightmare. Early every Sunday morning, we created a venue on that mountain side. I pretty much ran the show, even getting on stage to introduce the acts. It was one of the truly great experiences of my life. I have too many stories, involving the individual artists, etc. The first weekend show began with the Coors truck catching fire right in front of the restaurant, because the road up the mountain was too much for it.
Shortly after that summer, I got involved with an English record label, called RunRiver Records, another long story. I spent several years working with the label, even securing them US distribution. The owner, an Anglophile, formerly living in NM, had just enough money to get launched and then promptly went under. Some of the acts were really good and under slightly different circumstances, could have become famous artists, but that world is a treacherous one and still is.
We are nearly done with my musical adventures. When I left NYC in ’87, I promised myself never to take a conventional job again, which I pretty much held to and that got me involved in so many ventures, you wouldn’t believe where it took me and this is not the time.
After the demise of the label, I did take a job, but it was still miles away from the hell of the urban bureaucracies that held me prisoner in the City. I was instrumental in launching a new radio station in Santa Fe, KBAC, Radio Free Santa Fe. I was the sales guy and there was another person responsible for creating the music, something called an Adult Alternative format. It became a real force in the community, a vital member of the local scene. We had absentee owners, who rarely visited and we pretty much ran the station. Ultimately, it was sold to much more intrusive ownership and it was time to move on.
Somewhere along the way, I befriended a guy, because i was selling herbal remedies from Belize and he was interested in going there to shoot a video about the person creating these remedies. We became good friends and began working with him on some of his TV production projects. Between us, we came up with the idea of acquiring Gospel music videos and we were able to place The Gospel Collection on BET, Black Entertainment Television, a successful national cable network. I dealt with a host of record labels in the genre and it was yet another musical adventure with wonderful people. We sold the videos to viewers through an 800 number and split the revenue with the labels.
Gospel music brought me to Kauai, the income just enough for me not to freak out about moving all the way here. It ran its course and I was back into my life adventure and still am today.
I have loved music from the time I was a kid, sitting on my stoop, listening to Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers sing, Why Do Fools Fall In Love?, on my little turquoise, transistor radio. I think we are extremely lucky if we get to spend time around things we love and I am so fortunate to have these fabulous memories, making me love music even more as I have gotten older.
Thank you so much for listening to my music stories.
I don’t know how to make the damn poster any larger. Use your fingers:
