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>>Somewhere in heaven there is a heck of a rock and roll band. Many of whom died at 27.
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>>I don't know if you got as much of it in Europe but the past couple of weeks there was an unbelievable amount of coverage of the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. Many of the acts you mention played there. Pete Townshend (one of my favorites too) famously threw Abbie Hoffman off the stage bodily. Hoffman grabbed the mike while The Who were playing to make a political announcement. Pete wasn't have it. "Get off my f*****g stage," he said.
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>>There were a couple of funny generational moments for me last weekend. Sirius/XM satellite radio simulated the three days of Woodstock, playing the same sets at the same times they occurred. Twice I was in the car with my older daughter, who is 19, with the radio turned in. Both times were interminable jams and/or off tune bellowing. She just rolled her eyes.
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>I will never forget 32 years ago, August 16th 1977. I was listening to Radio Luxemburg, a "pirate radio" which was very polular in Europe, and which transmitted from a ship in the Atlantic where no rules applied. This was AM, so I was used to a lot of interference. This day the reception was exceptionally clear, with absolutely no interference. This clear sound was so unusual that I press Record on my cassette radio. After a quarter the music was interrupted with a special message: " We can now, as the first radio station in Eurpoe, officially announce that Elvis Presley, the King of Rick, is dead"...!
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>I had to sit down, since I had a small shock. The atmosphere was magic, my gut hurt, it's something that you just can't describe. The rest of the day this radio station skipped all commercials, and only played Elvis, in tribute. I still have that cassette, it's in my safe.
That was one of those events where you remember where you were. I was an undergrad at Northwestern, taking no classes that summer and chasing women. Two buddies and I were on the way back to campus from Burger King when it was announced on the radio. We were on Asbury Ave. heading north. I remember it specifically.
Rolling Stone magazine, which was a lot more influential then than it is now, put out a special issue. The editor's note said we had this issue put to bed when the news came in. We rewrote eveything, working around the clock -- he was the first king we ever had.
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