Friday Fun: How Music Is Made

Here's a cool clip that Stones fans and musicians will really appreciate; the making of the song "Sympathy For The Devil".
I really learned a lot by watching these studio scenes, and as a (crappy) musician myself, it was fun to see the band stumble along and try to get it right.
If you sing or play an instrument, how many times have you tried different keys, rythyms or attitudes to get it right? It's good to see Mick Jagger forget the words, or just ad lib.
This video is from Jean-Luc Goddard's 1968 documentary "Sympathy For The Devil/One Plus One". In between studio cuts, there are scenes of (dated) street theatre and social commentary, trying to "hip" it up more than necessary. These studio cuts tell the whole story.
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And here is the fated night at Altamont when "All Hell Broke Loose":

June: Cute Hippie Chick Of The Month

Carly Simon

Yes kids, it's the first of June, and you know what that means: our regular feature- Cute Hippie Chick Of The Month!
Step into the "WayBack" machine and take a trip to the late '60's-early '70's and visit two pop divas. Now what red-blooded American boy could resist the charms of Carly Simon- long, lean and beautiful. Probably her first (and best) hit was "You're So Vain", a song rumored to be about Mick Jagger. But truthfully, Simon was pure AM radio, somewhat commercial and packaged. Ocassionally, a guy needs to step out with something a little dark and edgy. Gracie; where are you?

Yes, Grace Slick of "The Jefferson Airplane" was probably the original Bad Girl of rock. From "White Rabbit" to "Somebody To Love" her voice was unique and powerful, as was her stage presence. In the video below, Grace and the Band deal with an unruly bunch of Hells Angels.
The Altamont concert was to be the last blow-out of the '60's, and things began to go very wrong. Billed as a free concert featuring The Rolling Stones, some wise guy decided to hire the Hells Angels for security, and a lot of people got their asses kicked. Things started to get crazy while The Airplane was doing this set, here, and it just got worse as the night went on. During the Rolling Stones performance, Jagger was singing "Sympathy For The Devil" when a guy in the crowd pulled a gun- and was promptly stabbed to death by the Angels. Jagger later said the group would never play that song again.

From the 1970 film of the concert; "Gimmie Shelter".
The Altamont concert parallels an epic battle of light vs. dark, good vs. evil- Rock Stars vs. The Angels... and led to the image of a subculture within the counter-culture: "The Evil Hippie". (Take a look, it's a great read).