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‘I’d like to put all oppressors in an oppressed position’: An interview with Phil Lynott, age 19
02.08.2021
06:13 pm
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A nineteen-year-old Phil Lynott photographed for Irish magazine Women’s Way in 1969.
 
In 1969, Thin Lizzy vocalist Phil Lynott was already singing with his fourth band, Orphanage, following his dismissal from the band Skid Row (featuring guitarist Gary Moore). Lynott was pretty laser-focused on making rock and roll his primary profession from a very young age after forming his first group, Black Eagles—a cover band, and his second, Kama Sutra, when he was fifteen. In 1969, during his short time with Orphanage, from which Thin Lizzy would soon spring, he was interviewed by one of the most popular women’s magazines in Ireland at the time, Women’s Way, for a column called “Beat Up” by journalist Heather Parsons. During his youth, Lynott had gone through more than his fair share of difficulties. His father was absent, and the young Lynott was subjected to relentless racially-motivated verbal attacks because of his mixed heritage. The racism was so bad in Manchester that Lynott’s mother Sarah sent him off to live with his grandparents in Dublin. All of these experiences, as well as others, made a deep impression on Phil, which he articulated in the interview in a rather profound way. Here are a few of the insights he shared with Women’s Way when he was just nineteen and about to become the biggest rock star in Ireland, and later known worldwide as the charismatic, cock-sure vocalist for Thin Lizzy. Let’s start with my favorite moment from the interview, when Phil was asked what he disliked the most:

“I’ll tell you what I dislike the most of all—those superior types who look down on any girl who hasn’t got the same views. What right does anyone have to be so critical? We’ve all got our own lives to lead and different ideas on how to do this. The place money has in people’s lives annoys me too. Okay, I know it’s essential, but at the moment it’s all-important to too many people. Another thing is social injustice. No. I’m not going to say anything about racial discrimination because people just say, ‘Oh, another coloured fella with a chip on his shoulder. Take all the things Bob Dylan writes about though—housing problems, people starving and dying, wars. I sometimes get very frustrated because I feel so strongly about these things and can’t do anything about them. I’d like to put all the oppressors into the oppressed position.”

If you just high-fived your laptop screen, congratulations. You, my friend, are on the right side of history along with Phil Lynott. Here’s a little more from Phil on the desire to have a child and be a good father, unlike his own father:

“Do you know what else I’d like to do? Adopt a kid. Now, why can’t single people do that? I’d like a kid, and I’d be good to him and look after him and give him a good life—better than he’d have in an orphanage. No pun intended!”

Of course, since this is a nineteen-year-old burgeoning rock star we’re talking about here, Lynott does give some insight into the stuff you’d expect a nineteen-year-old dude to be interested in. Such as girls with strawberry blonde hair, cars (especially if they are “kinky”), and not being the marrying type because he’s too much of a “flirt.” (He would marry Caroline Crowther eleven years later on Valentine’s Day.) You can read the entire interview here.
 

Phil Lynott giving a spoken-word performance of the song “Shades of a Blue Orphanage.” Lynott wrote the song as a tribute to his grandmother Sarah who raised him with her husband, Phil’s grandfather, Frank. It is taken from the television special ‘Me & My Music’ recorded in 1976 (but broadcast in 1977).
 
HT: Brand New Retro

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
‘Pop Quiz’ with Phil Lynott versus Morrissey, 1984
Roy Wood & Phil Lynott: As probably the Greatest Pub Rock Band in the World?
The rocker, the legend: The Phil Lynott Story
‘Supersonic’: Mid-70s footage of The Damned, Thin Lizzy & T.Rex performing on UK kids TV show
Thin Lizzy: Live Rock Palast, 1981
When a 70-year-old Grandmother played keyboards with Thin Lizzy
Your new car jam: One hour and twelve minute megamix of JUST THE GUITAR SOLOS from Thin Lizzy

Posted by Cherrybomb
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02.08.2021
06:13 pm
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Come together: Electrifying footage of Ike and Tina Turner


 
As 1968 rolled around, Ike and Tina had been performing as the “Ike & Tina Turner Revue” since the early 60s, doing tons of television appearances but they were only treading water, especially in America. Their luck had started to change in England in 1966 when they had a big hit on their hands in the UK thanks to producer Phil Spector and the song “River Deep – Mountain High” (written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich—the prolific husband and wife songwriting team who gave us, among other earwigs, “Da Doo Ron Ron.”). Though Ike is credited on “River Deep – Mountain High,” he was allegedly paid $20,000 by Spector to fuck off during the session which according to Tina was about as much fun as “carving furniture.” Spector considers the song to be his single greatest achievement, but when the single didn’t do that much in the U.S. this is what seemed to prompt his withdrawal from the music industry. That didn’t stop the Rolling Stones from tapping the Revue to open a dozen shows for them during their British tour that same year. (Where do you think Mick got his moves from? Tina Turner and Inez Foxx!)

Still, the Revue was still technically without a hit in the U.S. Undaunted, Ike, Tina and the band would take up a residency in Las Vegas. They also recorded a few albums that year and in 1969 including, The Hunter, which would yield a Grammy nomination for Tina for her vocal work on the title track. Ike would also get a Grammy nod in the Best Rhythm & Blues Instrumental Performance category for his record A Black Man’s Soul while leading his other funky outfit, Ike Turner & The Kings of Rhythm. At the end of 1969, the busy Revue was touring yet again with The Rolling Stones.

Here’s a clip of Tina’s absolutely incendiary performance of Otis Redding’s “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” taken from Gimme Shelter documentary.
 

 
Much more Ike & Tina after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Cherrybomb
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08.09.2017
11:02 am
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Woody Allen gets into a pillow fight with a six-foot brunette in the pages of Playboy, 1969
04.14.2017
11:35 am
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Woody Allen about to pummel actress Bettina Brenna with a pillow in ‘Playboy,’ February 1969.
 
Shindai, the ancient art of Japanese pillow fighting, is also known as “bed fighting.” Which while it sounds sort of kinky, it also sounds like it could get a little dicey if you were actually angry at the person you were going to tangle with. And I’m pretty sure if the word “fighting” is involved somebody is fucking mad at someone else so there’s that to consider. Apparently going to battle with pillows is/was considered a way for couples to navigate through a domestic dispute quickly so they could get on to the “make-up sex” part after becoming aroused by pummeling your partner with pillows. Okay.

The sexy therapeutic process works like this—let’s say that your partner had been unfaithful to you. Instead of heading off to divorce court or worse, both parties engage in a pillow fight. After cutting a small slit in each pillow and a few brief ceremonial-type acknowledgments the battle can begin. If the cheater’s pillow loses all of its feathers first, they are obliged to “bow down” and touch their mate’s toes before assuming a fetal position so that the victor can beat the crap out of them with their full pillow. Which is pretty much exactly what photographer and author Jerry Yulsman—who often shot Jack Kerouac—and his pictorial of Woody Allen and actress Bettina Brenna is all about. The gorgeous actress (who is 6’1 to be precise) had just appeared in the 1968 film Funny Girl and her magazine spread with Allen was captured for Playboy in the February 1969 issue (Volume #16, No. 2).

Believe it or not, Shindai has evolved into an actual competitive sport is which is as nuts as it sounds. If you’d like to learn more about Japanese pillow fighting (because of course you do) there is a book that was published back in 1965 by author Ellen Shumaker called Shindai: The art of Japanese bed-fighting that according to one reviewer is “a light, pleasant read with lots of pictures.” Some of the images that follow are NSFW.
 

 

 
More after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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04.14.2017
11:35 am
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Think Pink: Drool over vintage automotive marvel the ‘Pink Panthermobile’


An ad by auction house Robson Kay for ‘The Pink Panther Car’ credited to auto builder and designer Jay Ohrberg.
 
Before I decided to go to an actual (for the most part) college, I had given some thought to attending a vocational school so I could become an automotive mechanic. I was fascinated with cars when I was young and I still am thanks to my dad encouraging my curiosity under the hood. Somewhere along the line, I decided to become a journalism major, but my love of cars—especially Mustangs—has never faded. Which brings me to the topic of this post—a futuristic car constructed in 1969 called the “Panthermobile.”

The origins of the Panthermobile are, from what I can surmise, a bit contested. Many reliable sources point to the legendary car builder and designer Jay Ohrberg as the man responsible for the creation of the Panthermobile. Which is completely reasonable as Ohrberg has created and tricked out many other famous cars like the 1969 Dodge Charger from The Dukes of Hazzard, the DeLoren from Back to the Future and KITT the chatty car from David Hasselhoff’s other boob tube show, Knight Rider just to name a few. A quick visit to Ohrberg’s official site where his creations are cataloged which includes photos of a vehicle referred to as “The Pink Panther” car and also the “Pink Panther Limo.”

There are other sources that credit the great car designer Ed “Newt” Newton, the long-time pal of Rat Fink creator and fellow car designer and hot rod enthusiast Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. Together Newton and Roth designed the “Orbitron”—a car comprised of parts of Roth’s 1955 Chevy, some Corvette valve covers, the backside from a 1956 Chevrolet and Lincoln breaks. Just looking at the Orbitron seems to lend more credence to the belief that Ed Newton is, in fact, the brainchild behind the Panthermobile which was built using the body of an Oldsmobile Toronado.

So who exactly came up with the idea for the Panthermobile? According to the book Americas Wildest Show Rods of the 1960s and 1970s authored by respected car historian Scotty Gosson, it appears that the design was conceived by Ed Newton and was then given to Bob Reisner of The Pink Panther Show.  Reisner then handed it off to a small team led by bonafide car legend and the inventor of the covetable “candy apple red” paint color Joe Bailon (aka “Candy-Apple Joe”) to build. This theory is also documented in the book by David Fetherston, Show Car Dreams. Now that’s some Scooby-Doo-style investigative reporting for you, Jack.
 

A shot of the impossibly cool interior of the Panthermobile.
 
The car itself was, of course, various shades of pink in and out and measured a whopping 23-feet in length. Behind the pink cockpit of the car lies a sick seven-litre engine and then something sexy called the “Pleasure Capsule.” This part of the Panthermobile lives up to its name as it is tricked out with a bar; pink satin upholstery; pink shag carpet; an old school pink push button phone and seats already in the recline position. It was also equipped with a little black and white television and a camera that allowed the driver to spy on the party going on in the back. The car was featured in a live-action intro for The Pink Panther Show cartoon during its very first season in 1969 which showed the car rolling through the streets of LA on its way to Mann’s Chinese Theatre, despite the fact that the Panthermobile never was, and probably still isn’t, street legal.

The Panthermobile was sold at an auction in 2007 for a cool $143,500. By 2011 the car had fallen into disrepair when it made another appearance at an auction in England where it was purchased by Galpin Auto Sports (who also credit Newton with the creation of the vehicle) in Los Angeles. The engine was toast, the interior of the car was a mess and the pink paint on the exterior of the car had been updated on more than a few occasions. Galpin’s restoration was so spot-on it is almost as though the Panthermobile had just emerged from some sort of super-secret hermetically sealed garage from the early 70s. I’ve posted a load of photos of the original Panthermobile and the new and improved Panthermobile below for you to check out.
 

The original Panthermobile.
 

 
More after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Cherrybomb
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04.05.2017
11:07 am
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Jim Morrison declares ‘Fat is beautiful’ 1969
04.03.2013
01:06 pm
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A “meatier” Jim Morrison by Andrew Kent, 1969
 

“I felt like a tank, you know, I felt like a large mammal. A big beast. When I moved through the corridors, or across the lawn, I just feel like I could knock anybody out of my way, you know? I was SOLID, man! It’s terrible to be thin and wispy, because, you know, because you could get knocked over by a strong wind or something, man.”

An animated version of a 1969 interview Jim Morrison did with Howard Smith in Los Angeles. The Lizard King discusses his college diet, how he once weighed 185 lbs and proclaims oh so poetically that “fat is beautiful.”

Then he challenges Smith to arm wrestle!

Animation by Patrick Smith. This is pretty genius.

 
Via The World’s Best Ever

Posted by Tara McGinley
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04.03.2013
01:06 pm
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Rolling Stones promo clips for Music Scene TV show (1969)


 
Amazing and hilarious, especially the clip with the mother and child. Here are The Rolling Stones at their satanic peak doing promo clips for the 1969 ABC-TV show Music Scene. Wikipedia had this to say about this odd phenomenon:

Existing promos initially used to sell this show to ABC affiliates featured the improvisational group The Committee, which featured actor Howard Hesseman (then using the name Don Sturdy), as well as the Rolling Stones. The promos implied that the Stones would be appearing with some regularity on the program. However by the time The Music Scene went on the air, the Committee was nowhere to be seen and the Stones never appeared on the show.

 

 
This of course sent me scurrying about finding clips from the actual show. Richard previously posted this one of Sly and the Family Stone. Here are a few other great ones for your weekend viewing pleasure:
 
Three Dog Night doing Laura Nyro’s “Eli’s Coming.” Heavy Hollywood/ Satanic/ pre-Manson/ Rosemary’s Baby vibe going on here.

 
CSN&Y kicking out a potent “Down By The River.”

 
More clips after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Brad Laner
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06.04.2011
11:22 am
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Incredible recordings of Roman Polanski’s interview with the LAPD, 1969

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Backporch Tapes have just uploaded these two incredible recordings purported to be of Roman Polanski’s lie detector interview with the LAPD August 16 1969, just one week after the murder of his wife, after Sharon Tate.

The overall sound quality is poor, and Polanski sounds confused and upset, but certain questions and answers can be heard clearly - Polanski’s psychological state, his medication, his knowledge of the Polish army, and on the second clip, Polanski’s thoughts about the killer’s motives, and his suggestion of looking for something much more “far out.”
 

Lie Detector Test: LAPD interview Roman Polanski August 16 1969
 

Lie Detector Test: LAPD interview Roman Polanski August 16 1969, in which he discusses possible motive.
 
Previously on DM

Uncanny resemblance to Charles Manson appears in Sharon Tate’s last film


 
With thanks to Simon Wells
 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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04.02.2011
06:24 pm
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