Modern Folk Quartet

During the Monkees Convention, we got to hear about one of those seminal moments that help you become what you are.  It was a casual question that got me intrigued.

Henry Diltz (amazing Rock Photographer) was asked how he got into the business.  He said he was touring with a band, waiting for their Phil Spector hit to be released.  Somewhere in Michigan, they had stopped by a thrift store and there was a table with a few old cameras.  He picked it up and started taking shots of the band clowning around.   When they had the film developed, it turned out it was "slide film", and so came back not as photographs, but as slides for a projector.  Suddenly, as these casual moments were projected on the wall, larger than life size, he saw a new kind of vision.

He was on tour with the Modern Folk Quartet, waiting for Phil Spector to release the song that was gonna make them all famous. He was the hotshot producer famous (then) for the Wall of Sound. It wasn't actually released until 1991! Called "This Could Be The Night", written by Spector and Harry Nilsson it was the hit that never was.  The clip shows it as the theme song for the film, "The Big TNT Show", which was a sequel to "The T.A.M.I. Show" (1964) both were concert footage films.  In the days before Youtube, a song needed to be released as a "Single" for it to count on the charts.

MFQ had originally gotten together in Honolulu around 1962, and worked with an amazing number of future legends before their breakup in 1966 (although they still get together periodically).  They worked with the Herb Cohen, the agent for Frank Zappa and Tim Buckley.  And Jim Dickson, the guy who would later produce the Byrds.  They did an (uncredited) song in the movie, "Palm Springs Weekend" (1963) with Connie Stevens & Troy Donahue.  It captures the "Traditional Folk" scene, as it grew out of the coffeehouses.  They're in a casino, doing the "Ox Driver's Song"  (WARNING!!  The sync is terrible, almost comical, I offer it for historical purposes.  If someone finds something better, let me know!)  Diltz is singing lead and playing banjo.  They are all in suits, because that's what nice young performers wore in those days.  And how the Beatles first appeared.

That guy in the glasses would go on to shoot Woodstock, the Doors, Jimi Hendrix, CSNY and most of Rock for the rest of his life.  Most of the extensive list can be found at his gallery, Morrison Hotel.

Chip Douglas had an interesting path, starting in a group called the Wilcox Three, which was modeled after the Kingston Trio.  After MFQ he joined the short lived Gene Clark Group, which featured the titular ex-Byrd, and a former member of the Grass Roots, Joel Larson.  The final member rounds out the earthy 60's band names, Bill Rinehart, formerly of The Leaves.

Douglas was essentially stolen from the Turtles (yes, the "Happy Together" Turtles) by Mike Nesmith who heard him at Hollywood's Whiskey A Go-Go.  He became the Monkees producer, a major shift in style from Don Kirshner.

Jerry Yester would join the Lovin' Spoonful and then go on to produce The Association, Tim Buckley and Tom Waits.  He married Judy Henske, who is a singer in her own right, and also rumored to be the prototype of Annie Hall (1977 film).

Cyrus Faryar was another interesting member, who was a friend of Dave Guard (of the Kingston Trio) and was asked to replace him after he left the group.  The guy who eventually ended up replacing him was John Stewart, the guy who wrote "Daydream Believer".  He also did not join the group which became the Byrds, although he was asked by Roger McGuinn.

There was a lot of influence on the Monkee music catalogue.  "Riu Chiu" was recorded on their 1964 album called "Changes" (does that sound familiar to anyone?  Isn't what the Monkees used for an album name after Peter left?)  If you listen to the arrangement, it sounds hauntingly familiar.  One of my favorite songs recorded by Peter Tork is "Come On In" (only available on a later Monkee Missing Links Album)  written by Jo Mapes.  MFQ did it in a much more uptempo version on Shindig (1965).  Additionally, MFQ also recorded a version of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Bells", set to music by Phil Ochs.

MFQ still performs together on occasion, and Diltz still performs "This Could Be the Night", as he did (fabulously) at the Monkees convention, backed by the fun cover band, The Characters.

It just goes to show you, that if this is NOT the night or the hit you've been waiting for, there may be many more excellent surprises for you along the way.

John ("Daydream Believer") Stewart Remembered

John Stewart, the musician and songwriter, died almost exactly 5 years ago (January 19, 2008).  

I just heard him on the radio singing a Nanci Griffith tribute song, "Last of the True Believers" on WFUV (Sunday Breakfast with John Platt).  Doing just a little research, I am constantly astounded at how many connections the radiate out from the songwriters who just happened to be involved in the Monkees' project.

Start here, with his recollections about writing the song: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtOYNwhG0kQ&feature=share

The most famous anecdote is about the producers not wanting to include the word, "funky" and replaced it with "happy".  "Now you know how funky/happy I can be"

But the phrase that stands out for me in this is "I went to bed that night and thought, 'The only thing I did today was write 'Daydream Believer,' ' ".  Talk about an overachiever.

HIS HISTORY:

He joined the Kingston Trio, LEGENDARY folk music group of the 50's, when Dave Guard left in 1961.  Oddly enough, the group (3 Boys playing folk music and gaining sudden and widespread fame) is sometimes attributed to the commercialization of Folk music in the 1950's.  

HISTORICAL ASIDE:.  

Keep in mind that Pete Seeger (b.1919) and the Weavers (active 1948-1955) had been successful, but had been victims of McCarthyism.  A group of "kids" taking over the reins of the spirit of the movement-but not all the political baggage was the inheritance of acts like Joan Baez, Dylan and even Peter, Paul & Mary.  As of 1965, there were actually a few pilot scripts floating around, one of them being a folksinging trio, 2 guys and a girl.



HIS WIDOW:
Read this touching interview with Buffy Ford on No Depression.
http://www.nodepression.com/profiles/blogs/buffy-fordstewart-keeps-john

RELATED INFORMATION:

His brother was Michael Stewart, we founded the group, We Five.  ("You were On My Mind" was their biggest hit, originally done by Ian and Sylvia).  He eventually became a record producer whose biggest hit was "Piano Man" by Billy Joel.

IN SHORT:

"Daydream Believer" came out of a larger folk music legacy.  When he wrote it, Stewart was heavily involved in the songwriting scene in California.  This one song out of his entire writing output allowed him to continue writing for the rest of his life. Except for a 2 year stretch of writer's block when his wife, the singer Buffy Ford, had a brain tumor.  He even wrote  after he learned he had Alzheimer's. If a creation can give back to its creator, this one certainly has.  Not just a matter of a seed being fruitful, but a way for it to keep giving.  Some art is like a seed which grows into a fruitful plant.  Some art is like HeLa cells.  Immortal and constantly growing.

More Links:

The Kingston Trio "official" website is here (I always "skip intro", no offense)

http://www.kingstontrio.com/html/home.htm

But I'd recommend Wikipedia for better linkage and better perspective.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kingston_Trio

Aside:

As a researcher, I'd always rather go to primary resources and am not always loving Wikipedia.  When I find better resources, I will update.

Also, as a Geek Blogger, I want to recommend a tribute site, which has started posting a few good pictures, but the "depositfiles" links somehow didn't allow access to songs.

"The John Stewart Appreciation Society"

http://daydreamdeceiver.blogspot.com/

His obit is here: 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/john-stewart-maverick-singersongwriter-771412.html

HeLa Cells:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Henrietta-Lacks-Immortal-Cells.html

#47 The Christmas Show

Every television show nowadays is essentially required to do something about Christmas.

Contrast this 1967 episode with other holiday TV standards in the immediately preceding years. "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer", the famous stop motion animation tv special from 1964.  Generations were raised on the premise that being different can pay off, it just takes a matter of belief, persistence,luck and friends.  Coming out of the highly conformist 1950's and early 1960's,  it offers a wholesome version of the James Dean, "Rebel Without A Cause" character.  Apparently, if you can rebel with a clear purpose in mind, one that preferably benefits society, you can redeem yourself.  Even "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (1965) accepts the existence of commercialism but includes moments of religious sincerity.

Getting back to the Monkees' episode, the main trope is about reversing the viewpoints.  Instead of buying into the cynicism of the age, it is the responsibility of adults to gain the perspective of children. That's what the plot is loosely based on anyway; the boys babysit while the emotionally distant aunt goes off on a cruise (although all the family wants in reality is to be together during the holidays).  The goofiness of the 4 guys is rejected at first by the humorless child, but through their charm (and selflessness which ends up costing them their entire salary) they break through the emotional wall of the kid and make him cry and even SMILE.

The most prominent and best thing about the casting of this episode is the use of Eddie Munster; Butch Patrick, who played the werewolf/vampire boy from 1964 to 1966.  The Munsters totalled 70 episodes (vs the Monkees' 58), he already had more experience in front of the camera than The 4 Boys.  In a departure, here he embodies a "cool, calculating machine"; an adult psyche in a child's body which is essentially the opposite of the band.  Child-like playfulness embodied in physically mature adults.  Old enough to kill and barely able to vote; even the idea that they might not need supervision (a landlord, an agent, an adult figure) remained in question during the pilot.

(On a personal note of opposite-land, I first experienced the series as a summertime perk in Boston.  The Xmas show always seemed odd after a swim in Walden Pond.  L.A. was a land of Christmas in July, where all the snow was made out of white flakes of plastic.  I could accept all other incongruities, but the weirdest was not being able to have the show during an actual Christmas season.  As an adult, it is now slightly absurd for me to actually watch it in December.  But I have long since reconciled myself to being surprised by the show in ways I can never suspect.)

This surprise attack is taken to another level in the one musical number of the show. Instead of the typical romp of the latest Monkee single, the audience is teased by a medley of familiar tunes, sung by the "FairyTale Singers" (uncredited!) who will return for that next episode.  As a special gift to the audience they harmonize on an obscure (yet astoundingly beautiful) Spanish song (a Villancico written in 1553), called "Riu Chiu".  It is possible they got it from their producer, Chip Douglas, who had been in the Modern Folk Quartet (which also featured their on-set photog, Henry Diltz).  Or from another folk source, The Kingston Trio's 1961 album, "Goin' Places", on which it is attributed to a musicologist and is called "Guardo el Lobo".  (Note that John Stewart, writer of "Daydream Believer" had been a member of the Trio) Peter had been an NYC Village folk singer himself, so he was probably aware of it, if not the one to propose it.

Regardless, it is an example of preservation, popularization and the generosity of stepping outside of the circumscribed role of "pre-fab product".  If the phantom 3rd season had actually been realized, in the "Laugh-In" like format proposed, this might have been typical of the band (& brand's) evolution.  The final episodes included Frank Zappa and Tim Buckley. Their opening act on tour was Jimi Hendrix.  If they had managed to steer the ship away from the likes of the Don Kirschners and into the uncharted territory of the rock music of the late 1960's, they might have been able to cultivate & spotlight a whole generation of lesser known artists.

The final "gift" and act of generosity within this episode is a very simple, yet highly emotional sequence.  They allow the camera to run for the extra few minutes they have at the end, to allow the behind the scenes personnel to appear in front of the national audience.  Most of the crew seem to be a mixture of the old guard and the new.  The cameraman who worked on "Circus Boy" when Micky was 10 is the same one now; he's known afectionately as "Lippy" and used to take Davy home to dinner  The makeup man is a treasured elder. But most seem to be young (mostly male) and clown around, as if they are the less glamorous dopplegangers of the band.  Literal and figurative stand-ins.

This is not a matter of just breaking the fourth wall, it is a matter of removing it entirely.  In my entire personal history of television watching, I have never seen a similar scene.   Especially not WITHIN the context of the actual show.  Documentaries showing the "backstage reveal", are commonplace.  Where else in American television has the very simple (and heartwrenchingly human) desire to say, "Hi Mom!" actually happened in front of the camera?  Never an entire crew, never introduced by name by the performers, never thanked in full, never as part of the actual show, never a matter of "Look, there is nobody behind the camera now!" because even the cameraman has abandoned his post to join the ruckus.  Like an airplane flying without a pilot. It's extremely unprofessional, and completely riveting.

Watch the show on Youtube here, or right here on this page, you know you want to!!