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(Nancy Wilson - Nat "King" Cole - In a word, magic)

October 4, 1964 - hard to imagine it was 45 years ago this past week, but that particular Sunday night saw an extraordinary group of people assembled on stage at the Hollywood Bowl to raise funds and awareness for defeating a Proposition on the November ballot. Proposition 14, or the attempt by Realtor groups and the John Birch Society to nullify the Rumford Fair Housing Initiative that passed in 1963. A veritable who's who of Hollywood, with orchestra led by none other than Nelson Riddle and emcee's Joey Bishop and Milton Berle introducing a lineup of talent that included Nancy Wilson and Nat "King" Cole.

I've extracted the Wilson and Cole sets out for this segment. I will add the rest over the coming weeks.

This goes under the heading of "previously unknown concert tapes", as I don't believe any commercial (or otherwise) copy of this concert has been available before today.

You get to hear it first.

For swaying around your abode on a Saturday night, you can't beat Canadian songstress Vanda King doing the old Irving Berlin standard, "You Can Have Him."

PS Also, don't miss Gordonskene's post of a full Peter, Paul, and Mary concert from The Hollywood Bowl (one hour long) at the main Late Night Music Club page.

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(Peter, Paul and Mary - Mary Travers: 1936-2009)

Hearing the sad news this week of the death of Mary Travers, I was thinking about the great impact Peter, Paul and Mary had on the music scene from the early 1960s onward. Most people are so familiar with them now that it seems as though they've always been around - there never was a time without Peter, Paul and Mary. They've become so synonymous with American folk music and with pop music in general that it's hard to imagine a time when they were new and had just arrived and those songs so ingrained in our collective consciousness weren't quite familiar yet.

So it was interesting to listen to this concert, recorded live at the Hollywood Bowl on August 2, 1963 - and played here for the first time ever (it has not been available in any form anywhere). Hearing it with fresh ears and all the enthusiasm of a special event, even though it's from 45 years ago.

Maybe not so dim and distant.

Further evidence it's all timeless.

Thank you Mary.

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(Peter, Paul and Mary - Mary Travers: 1936-2009)

Hearing the sad news this week of the death of Mary Travers, I was thinking about the great impact Peter, Paul and Mary had on the music scene from the early 1960s onward. Most people are so familiar with them now that it seems as though they've always been around - there never was a time without Peter, Paul and Mary. They've become so synonymous with American folk music and with pop music in general that it's hard to imagine a time when they were new and had just arrived and those songs so ingrained in our collective consciousness weren't quite familiar yet.

So it was interesting to listen to this concert, recorded live at the Hollywood Bowl on August 2, 1963 - and played here for the first time ever (it has not been available in any form anywhere). Hearing it with fresh ears and all the enthusiasm of a special event, even though it's from 45 years ago.

Maybe not so dim and distant.

Further evidence it's all timeless.

Thank you Mary.

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(The Brothers Four - riding the crest of the Folk Wave)

Over the past several weeks I've been adding the other acts that appeared on this Folk Concert in 1965. Bud & Travis, Ian & Sylvia, Judy Collins and now, The Brothers Four.

Probably one of the more commercially successful of the folk acts to come out of the late 1950's/early 1960's period, they cut a wide swath of popularity and enjoyed considerable chart success with pop single releases and a stream of hit albums.

They've undergone many personnel changes over the years, but are still actively performing today.

But here they are as they were in 1965 - headlining at The Hollywood Bowl.

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(The Beach Boys - all wrapped up in a big package of innocent)

When my friend Gary Schneider ran a link to some previously undiscovered Beach Boys performance photos, I got the idea to drag this tape out of the vault and give it a listen. I figured as long as someone was discovering lost photos of the Beach Boys, I might as well compliment the situation by offering a lost concert, right?

It's the classic concert format so prevalent in the 1950's and early 60's. A dozen acts would perform two or three numbers each and an MC kept things rolling. Nobody ever got bored, but nobody ever really got to hear the band play either.

This concert was organized by local radio station KFWB in conjunction with the YMCA on October 19, 1963. Part of it was televised (although I've never seen any videotape of this show or word that it's survived).

What's on here are the last two acts of the show, The Surfaris and The Beach Boys. The Surfaris jam through four numbers, three as a medley and the Beach Boys get to do an extra number because well . . .they're the headliners.

Like all of the Bowl recordings it's raw and not mixed with any thought of history transpiring on the microphone. It's just a record of an event that happened that luckily escaped the dumpster.

With the exception of the impromptu acapela KFWB jingle at the end, no one else has heard this tape, until now.

Think of it as a nod to mid-summer.

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(Judy Collins (w/Bassist Bill Lee) - at the cusp of being a household name )

Going back to the 60s this week - Judy Collins in her return appearance at the Hollywood Bowl from 1965. The same concert I featured a few weeks ago with Ian & Sylvia's first Hollywood Bowl performance, and Bud & Travis' last Bowl appearance. This is Collins still steeped in Folk Music tradition, not quite the next step that would cement her place in the 1960s lexicon, but right at the cusp.

History as it evolved.

Here it is, the complete set.

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(Oscar Levant - worlds Greatest Neurotic who chummed around with Gershwin)

As long as we're still in Fourth of July weekend mode, I thought I would toss in a little Gershwin as interpreted by his friend Oscar Levant for good measure.

This is a Hollywood Bowl concert from July 25, 1950 featuring Levant, along with the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Artur Rodzinski, playing the Gershwin Concerto in F, a bunch of encores which included some DeFalla and ended up with a solo version of "Rhapsody In Blue".

Never available commercially, and from the original raw transcription disc masters.

And as we like to say here at Newstalgia "You heard it here first!"

Okay, I admit for being a sucker for Fourth of July shows. Stirring songs and fireworks wend their way into my cynical soul and I shake free those constraints to really, really love celebrating our independence. I grew up with a family tradition of a picnic under the stars and the fireworks show at the Hollywood Bowl. At least, that's what I used to do. Last night, I had to content myself with the Boston Pops on TV while comforting my frightened puppy; my husband got to take the kids to a bluff not far from our home where they could watch three different fireworks shows along the bay.

This morning, it's me cowering, wishing I could hide under the sofa at the prospect of the Sunday shows. It's safe to say that Sarah Palin's inexplicable "I'm saving Alaska by quitting early" move will be at the forefront of the conversation, especially on FoxNews Sunday, having bagged successor Lt. Gov. Parnell. VP Joe Biden will be on This Week, but he'll be followed by the intolerable roundtable featuring Tony Blankley and George Will, opining on Iraq, Palin and Franken. The only saving grace? We are spared David Gregory and Meet the Press, which is pre-empted for Wimbledon coverage.

ABC's "This Week" - Vice President Joe Biden.

CBS' "Face the Nation" - Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

NBC's "Meet the Press" - Pre-empted by coverage of Wimbledon tennis.

NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show" - Panel: Gloria Borger, Bob Woodward, Joe Klein, Tina Brown. (repeat)

CNN's "State of the Union" - Former Secretary of State Colin Powell; Mullen; Queen Noor of Jordan.

CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" - Fareed speaks to British Foreign Secretary David Miliband about why Iran is so angry at Great Britain. Plus, a discussion on aid in Africa -- are celebrities throwing money at the problems or making an actual difference?

"Fox News Sunday" - Mullen; Reps. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and John Boehner, R-Ohio; Alaska Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell; former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark.; and former George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove.

So, what's catching your eye this morning?

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(Sky Saxon and The Seeds - L.A.'s own - r.i.p. Sky)

With the news of so many passings yesterday (Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett), the news of the passing of Sky Saxon took something of a backseat in all the outpourings and tributes.

But those of us who remembered the band very well, and that particular summer of 1967, and playing our copies of the first Seeds album to the point of wearing them out, will always remember what a profound affect they had on the music scene in Los Angeles in the 60's.

This is from the KHJ Appreciation Night concert of April 29, 1967. It's also the concert that featured Buffalo Springfield and Brenda Holloway. I've been hesitating to put this up, because the sound quality isn't all that great, and a little worse than the others. But considering the events, and considering this concert captured who they were - I let history speak for this one and let it stand as a tribute to a wonderful band we could never seem to get enough of.

Sky will be missed.

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(Bud & Travis - at The Hollywood Bowl one last time)

Continuing the 1965 Folk Night at the Hollywood Bowl (last week was Ian & Sylvia and their first appearance at The Bowl) comes what became the final Hollywood Bowl appearance of Bud & Travis, who come on right after Ian & Sylvia. A regular fixture on the West Coast folk scene since the late 1950's, they performed numerous times at venues like The Ash Grove and had a loyal following.

This performance, aside from being their last Bowl appearance before splitting up, features a lot of material from their The Bud & Travis Latin Album which their label, Liberty was reluctant to issue. Fortunately for everyone they did as it showcases the remarkable talents these two had.

Sadly, both Bud and Travis are gone - Travis having died in May of this year. There are a number of fan sites devoted to them, and I have included a couple for you to check out.

Further evidence that good music is timeless.

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(Ian & Sylvia - no record collection worth its salt was without them)

Back to the Hollywood Bowl this week. This time from 1965. The first Hollywood Bowl appearance of Ian & Sylvia. They had been together since 1959 and were performing and recording regularly up to the early 1970's when folk music more or less waned from the pop scene. But in 1965 it was still pretty much holding its own and Ian & Sylvia had a loyal following.

This concert, part of the Hollywood Bowl "Folk Night" series also featured the first Bowl appearance of Josh White, as well as Bud & Travis, Judy Collins and The Brothers Four. I'll add those in the coming weeks.

But here's Ian & Sylvia, as they sounded one night in 1965.

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(Newstalgia Goes Country . . . .well, for twenty minutes anyway)

A big departure from previous Backstage Weekend entries. I admit to not being much of a Country-Western fan, outside of the Willie Nelson/Waylon Jennings/Johnny Cash/Merle Haggard school and almost didn't put it up this weekend. But the Haggard set changed my mind.

This tape came as a complete surprise - sitting in the vault with only a date(September 9, 1967) and "Reel One" written on its spine, I was pretty clueless as to the contents.

Turns out, it's a concert featuring all acts on Capitol Records Country-Western roster (along with Buck Owens, Tex Ritter and several others) performing at The Hollywood Bowl.

The Glen Campbell set is interesting in that he was still pretty much straddling Pop as well as Country music, doing his rendition of Roy Orbison's "Crying" and his, at the time, latest single "Gentle On My Mind".

Merle Haggard has an abbreviated set. Abbreviated because the tape ran out in the middle of a song featuring Bonnie Owens. Presumably there is more on "reel 2", and as soon as I find it, I will put it on.

But for now here is the Glen Campbell and most of the Merle Haggard sets from the concert of September 9, 1967.

(Merle Haggard in 1967 - well on his way to achieving Legend status)

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(Back by popular demand - the whole show)

A few weeks ago I put up an excerpt of a Hollywood Bowl concert from 1962 featuring Dave Guard's Whiskeyhill Singers. It drew a huge response and the overwhelming request was for more. Since I had put up the initial clip before the snappy new Crooks and Liars embed player was up and running, I was only able to use YouTube and their somewhat limiting 10 minute maximum to play the piece.

Now that things are new and improved, I've decided to run the concert complete and without edits or interruptions - just as it happened that night in 1962.

Okay fans, have at it!

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(Fresh from their visit to Americas Drug Store)

My apologies for being late posting this weekend. I was debating whether or not to put this track up at all. As with the previous Hollywood Bowl posts from August 16, 1968, this one has a ton of audio problems, and they aren't relegated just to the technical side. There are a lot of flat notes and strange harmonies.

But in the end I figured as long as I issue a caveat, you could be potentially a lot more forgiving than the original equipment was that recorded this concert and bear in mind we're talking a historic document here.

Here is Eric Burdon and The Animals from August of 1968. The lineup had been revamped completely since the days of "House Of The Rising Sun" and the sound was a lot more raw and experimental than was previously the case, with songs like "Monterey" "San Francisco Nights" and "Sky Pilot" breaking the mold of the traditional blues outfit and branching off into a new direction.

With the massive amounts of distortion and wrong notes though, this is still an enjoyable piece of history and an interesting turning point from the era of the 45 to the era of the Lp (the chunk of black plastic that went around and made sound via a needle grinding into the groove).

It's still a wonder any of us survived.