Join me this Saturday for a musical romp through the smoke rings of your mind. We shall start right at 7am with a long opus that is a testiment to the creative power of one of Steve Winwood’s early bands. He had many, but it was Traffic that had that incredible blend of rock, blues, jazz and folk music. Somehow it all worked. The band Jethro Tull tackled some rather weird subjects in their music. It immediately set them apart from everyone. Starting with a lead singer and front man who didn’t play guitar, and wrote songs, not about cars, or girls, or drugs or being free, or getting harrased by the man or any of that. Instead the band’s songs were more about the dregs of forgotten, downtrodden people. The poor and twisted, right out of a Dicken’s novel. Canned Heat will do a tribute to Wilbert Harrison with a song that was the mantra of the revolution. This week marks the passing of Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson. He was the founding memeber, singer and harp player with the Heat.  In fact we shall take a look at a day in the life of the Revolution, September 4th 1970. Dlyan sings a song to and about either Joan Baez or Edie Sedgwick or possible someone we don’t even know. Mysterious. Clapton will team up with his old bandleader John Mayall, The Animals will show us why they were the second biggest band out of England in 1965, and of course the Beatles, with only 2 songs, will put the entire revolution in it’s proper perspective. Steve Miller was writing great songs at the end of the 60s, we shall hear one of my personal favorites, do you have one? Let me know. I’ll fire up the incense, and whatever else is appropriate this weekend. Join me in a love fest, a happening, a trip, a gathering of the tribes, right here this Saturday the 4th. I’ll be waiting behind the beaded curtain.

The 2nd most important band out of England in 1964

Steve Miller with one of my all time favorites

Hey my brothers and sisters, and other assorted family members. I think we have a great show this Saturday AM. Starting with one of the most familiar guitar virtuoso players in the world. A man whose sound defies description. He is an original and he will kick off the show at 7am. We’ll talk a bit about Keith Moon, who would have turned 64 this week. Pete will remember him, and we of course will play the Who, at least once. Some interesting Doors triva about a time when they were on Ricky Nelson’s A-B-C summer series Malibu U. Suffice it to say it was weird. Cream’s beautiful fusion of blues and psychedelc will be in evidence and we will play some later day CCR. That would be their last two albums. Doug Cosmo Clifford’s garage was the scene of the Factory and it’s where the bands last great album would take place. The Rolling Stones, thanks to the late Brian Jones, used some interesting instruments in their early work. Some of it will absolutely transport you to a higher place. We’ll also play something from a band that although not a household name, probably influenced more bands and musicians than any other touring band at the time. From Dave Mason, to Eric Clapton to Leon Russell to John Lennon,  to some of the finest players in the South, Delaney and Bonnie  had something going on.  Also, Canned Heat for the good vibes, Joni Mitchell because we can, and the Kinks on the anniversary of thier biggest song ever. All this music will collide and come together under the tent we call the greatest show on earth. Say You Want a Revolution, our flashback to the 60s and early 70s.

The Delaney and Bonnie Road Show.

It’s usually around the middle of August I start thinking about the Woodstock Festival. I am still amazed by the scope of it. The spirit of those kids through 3 days of Hell and Rock and Roll. Just a passing thought, but I tip my hat to those who were in attendance, and having a great sense of the moment while it was happening. They talk about the Woodstock Nation and indeed it was. There is something empowering about being in the mix, with hundreds of thousands of people experiencing the same high. Well, that thought is gone, now what? ..this Saturday at the Revolution, we’ll start with a song Steve Winwood wrote and the big band Chicago took and turned it into one of the fine jams we expect from the late 60’s. How bout some Pink Floyd from the earlyBarrett days, Syd was the man who really gave Pink Floyd their name , Rodger Waters will have a word to say about this subject. CSNY defined a genre of music that was part singer-songwriter and part rock and roller. The infulences were many but all came from a place that lent itself to some amazing harmonies. We will experience that just the way we did before, I believe that’s called Deja Vu. Paul McCartney was done being a Beatle in 1970, whether he wanted to be or not. His first solo album proved he had a lot of great music left and he knew how to put it all together. He knew the studio, he wrote the material and played all the instruments. It was a simple, homemade little project that had some wonderful music on it. It was right around this time, 1970, that Elton John was performing in L.A. in front of the biggest record lable moguls in town. His reputation preceeded him and expectations were high. Elton ripped through a stunning set of original material, he had fire, he had it all. I’ll play a tune that pretty much clinced the deal for him, he never looked back after that. Also around that same time, 1970, Dave Mason was off on his solo career after leaving Traffic. Another amazing song from his early days will be featured this Saturday. O.K. that’s the deal, keep feeding each other, o.k. you two, keep nursing each other. Be Free.

Elton, is it a wig or real?

This Saturday is National Garage Sale day and we have cleaned out some great relics to rock with. This weekend marks the End of the Doors, whether they knew it or..and that is where we’ll start at 7am sharp, no loitering. How bout some good ol family feeling from the Allman Brothers. Like all great bands from the South, they have plenty of church and gospel in their music. Dicky Betts will show you that “Love is Everywhere”. We picked up some happy carefree stuff from the Beatles to start the 8pm hour, today will mark the 45th anniversary of their 1965 tour opener at Shea Stadium. The largest rock concert to date at the time. Screaming New York teens going wild and listening to the Beatles do Twist and Shout. Dylan hung out with the Beatles that weekend and turned them on to some conscious altering substances. They dug it and it showed in their next album’s Rubber Soul and Revolver. We’ll also highlight a band that was so damn good, had so many good writers and guitar players and singers that there was no way they could stay together for more than a couple of years. I have a song that the Guess Who will do that was not real poplular in the Nixon Whitehouse. Invited to play for the Prez and his freinds, Pat Nixon stepped in and requested they don’t play their big hit. They did anyway. I’ll play it too. The Scottish flower child, the cosmic spirit, the mystic muse, Donovan will contemplate the pros and cons of bannanas, The Rolling Stones will get down and dirty with some Willie Dixon, Steve Miller will take us back to the Fillmore and an anniversary of a famous recording studio in Greenwhich Village turns 40 this weekend. We’ll throw in a a couple of one hit wonders and soon the wonder of it all will open your eyes, close your mouth, open your mind and finally close the bathroom door. If this sound like just what your were waiting for, your right. See you Saturday Brothers and Sisters.

Here are the Beatles kicking off their 1965 tour at Shea Stadium.

This week we will honor our old Friends of the Devil, the Grateful Dead. Actually it’s Jerry we will remember this week which has been designated as “Jerry Week” in San Francisco. This August 9th will be the 15th anniversary of his death. Besides playing a killer set of Dead tunes, I’ll let you kow about a few more Jerry related things going on in the coming week. The moring will start when we sing up the Sun around 7am, the Beatles will take us down Abbey Road, and as you know, that usually leads to some pretty good things. We’ll include a scoop of Vanilla Fudge, and get into some early Fleetwood Mac when Bob Welch was an important part of the band. Iron Butterfly will add to the heaviness of the proceedings with a nice long trip into the Garden of Eden, long enough for us to go outside and groove on a brand new day in Sacramento. All we ask is that we share everything, so take a big ol hit and pass it on. As the Dead would say “What a long strange trip it’s been”.

Happy Jerry Week Captain Trips.

Hey once again my brothers and sisters. Here we are at the end of July, and what have we learned?..who knows, was anyone even paying attention? Some significant milestones this weekend include the birthday of Ahmet Ertegun the music mogal who started from humble beginnings to establish Atlantic Records and to go on and sign Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Big Joe Turner, and rockers like CSNY, The Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin. He also was a co-founder of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He died backstage at a Rolling Stones concert when slipped and fell. He was 83. Other milestones include this weekend in 1962 when Mick Jagger moved into a flat with Brian Jones in London’s Chelsea section. The Rolling Stones were starting to brew! Meanwhile the Beatles were using an 8 track recording device for the first time back on this weekend in 1968 at Trident studios where they were recording Hey Jude.

This week on the Revolution we will get into some Beatles for sure, something from Sgt Peppers, and a dash of the White Album also. The Rolling stones have announced their end of the world world tour will start next year and run until 2011, the 50th anniversary of the band..hats off to the Stones..We shall also serve the hungry munchie crazed hippies a nice buffett of tidbits from the likes of Brewer and Shipley, Canned Heat, Simon and Garfunkel, the Byrds and the Buffalo Springfield. Our music, our generation, our lives, our flashback. Man, I just hope we can all come down in time for work on Monday..Peace Out.

Here is the Stones happy birthday message to Ahmet Ertegun.

45 years ago Bob Dylan shocked the “folkies” by plugging in with the Paul Butterfield Band at the his 1965 appearance at the Newport Folk Festival. Half the people almost had a heart attack, the other half thought it was kind of cool. We’ll start the show at 7am with a couple of things from Bobby Dylan..voice of a generation. In Fact we will also play some Paul Butterfield Band’s early chicago blues stuff..Spencer Davis will tell us what influenced his soulful rock and roll on his 71st birthday..old man!. Double shots of the Doors and the Who should bring it all back home and we’ll go deep into Deja Vu for a Neil Young classic. Carlos Santana turned 63 this week, he is still building his Empire in many financial interests, clothing, wine, his brand is on a lot of things. He still plays some of the hottest guitar around. We’ll drop in some of his work from 72. Steve Miller who has left the stadium, but not the building will wail with some work he did with his old buddy Boz Scaggs. One of my favorite jug band turned pop band is the Loving Spoonful, count them in for this Saturday. Well that’s it for this week, actually there is a lot more, I mean we have 3 hours to fill up. Me?, I’m gonna stick out my thumb and hitch down the coast, I have a date with a Sunset somewhere over the horizon. Stay cool and Be You.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1TKUk9nX…

This Saturday morning we will feature mini-sets from the artists who had a profound effect on the music of the 60s. We’ll start with a perfect foursome from Neil Young. These are live performances he did in 1971 at Toronto’s Massey Hall. Just Neil and his guitar, much like his Thursday night performance at Mondavi Center this Thursday. This is new material, and the audience really got it’s first listen to songs that would appear later with CSNY. Cream will always rise to the top and it does when we delve into the Disreali Gears album, the finest fusion of blues and psychedelic music ever to waft over the scene. The Grateful Dead’s American Beauty record was such a breakthrough for what is now called Americana music. This is organic stuff and it moves me like no other Dead Album before or since. Some Early Beatles of course, they only changed the way a whole generation of youth would think, dance, sing and dress. The Stones Sticky Fingers album sizzels from front to back and it was a showcase of the kinds of killer hooks that Keith would become famous for. The first band to break out of San Francisco in a big way was the house band at the Fillmore. Their 1967 Album Surrealistic Pillow was on every record player in every house I was in that year. It was on the radio, it was in our heads. Feed Your Head!..Another Bay Area Institution was CCR, they brought more Americana to our ears and made it cool to wear flannel again. Led Zeppelin and Elton John. Two very different English and music sensibilities, both important to the evolution of the revolution.  It’s the big ones this weekend brothers and sisters. Bring your good vibes and clean up after yourselves.

The Jefferson Airplane “Today” from Surrealistic Pillow. Live at the Fillmore.

Hey, the incense is burning, and the tribe is gathering again this Saturday for our flashback to the 60s…We’ll start with one of the hottest English bands ever, featuring Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page..it’s a real rave-up. Rave-up is the term the English used to define a song that keeps building in momentum and has plenty of room for jamming. Neil Young will give us a peek into his acoustic side before he takes the stage at the Mondavi Center next week. We’ll hear a band that represents the East Coast mindset of the revolution, it was different from us out here on the coast. Some organic rock and roll from the Golden State will be featured in the second hour. Later it would be called Americana, then, it was just good time picking. I have a mess of Beatles singles, Steppenwolf, The Who and Jethro Tull. Put on that headband and Beatle Boots and meet me at the Van. Psychedelic and far out man.

Well we have a 4th of July weekend and we’ll celebrate our independence by expressing our freedom. Freaks, we will free up our souls with some sweet rock and roll from those days when we were young and feeling frisky. The Byrds, The Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead should satisfy our California roots. Let’s face it, the real cultural revolution took place here in the Golden State, eventually everyone figured out we were having a good time and they joined in also. Neil Young will bust out with some early Crazy Horse stuff, Traffic will go into a long dreamy jam, perfect for inner reflection and George Harrison will show us why his soul was always searching for the inner peace. Procal Harum will show off why Robin Trower was their best guitar player ever and Rod Stewart will break from the faces and launch his solo career with some real flair. We’ll take a side trip to the White Album with the Beatles, hot off their enlightened trip with the Maharishi. And Leon Russell who is coming to Harlow’s soon, will step out onto the tightrope. Now, don’t you feel free. The revolution, a great intro into the Eagle’s top 200 classic rock songs of all time. The trip starts at 7am sharp, see you there.