DIG THIS WITH BILL MESNIK AND RICH BUCKLAND- THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS
My Fellow Americans, Life is actually just a microscopic, deluded moment in time, so let's cut to the freakin' chase. One look at our impending election debacle can solidify my case. It has been my contention since birth, that the answer to every difficulty we encounter on this sacred yet demented Stone, can be revealed with ultimate clarity through the ultra neurotic engagements of Music, Art, Literature, Film, Poetry and a good Pastrami sandwich. Why would any sane human spend so must time on a film set (Do you know how long you gotta wait until your 8 second deliverance of an edited beyond repair line gets a chance to become a professional embarrassment etched in time forever? ) or expend so much energy in a recording studio, piecing together another ode to a man or woman who could not care less how much love existed within your digestive tract? It's all about hymns and prayers and a quest for mercy and forgiveness and silence and faith. We were blessed with Charles Bukowski, Gene Chandler, Lenny Bruce, Mitch Ryder and a legion of creative explorers whose influences provided the air we breathe. So Let's Dance! This site shall explore the reaper, find a way to disarm the stench of injustice, discover some true loves and talk it all over before it's all over. So what's the worst that our desires could produce? Failure? So sue me. I'm going to require your assistance in making as much trouble for the grown-ups as possible. Let the record show that my childish heart yearns to disrupt the madness. Join me Ladies and Germs!
With Gratitude For Gena Rowlands, Nancy Sinatra, Jerry Quarry, Leo Gorcey, Arthur Alexander and Joey Heatherton, Your Splendid Bohemian, Rich Buckland.
DIG THIS WITH BILL MESNIK AND RICH BUCKLAND- THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS
BILL MESNIK'S SUNNY SIDE OF MY STREET PRESENTS: GUITAR BOY BY SIR VICTOR UWAIFU AND HIS MELODY MAESTROES (PHILLIPS, 1966) - EPISODE #86
I miss Amoeba Records in Hollywood. When I was working a few blocks north of there, I’d visit a few times a week during my lunch break. They had a warehouse full of oddities of all mediums and genres, books, films and memorabilia. It was on one of these mid day excursions that I came across an album entitled: “The Rough Guide to Psychedelic Africa”. This was earmarked and marketed for people just like me. The music contained therein varied quite a bit from my idea of psych, but I love discovering new stuff so I couldn’t pass it by.
“Guitar Boy” was one of the tracks on this collection, by Nigerian national hero - the musician, writer, sculptor, and musical instrument inventor Sir Victor Uwaifo (1941-2021), who achieved the very first gold record there with “Jeromi” in 1965. The genre is called High Life, developed in Ghana, a former British Colony on the west coast of Africa. It’s style is immediately recognizable as Afro-Cuban, with it’s fusion of Afro beats with western melodies played by guitars plucked in staccato arpeggios.
Guitar Boy was banned for awhile because of it’s connection to a failed coup in April ’67, which was led by a Lt. Samuel Arthur (later executed), who marched prematurely into Broadcasting House Accra, announced the coup, and ordered the record to be played. Wow! You can’t make this shit up.
