This week's episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM focused more on psych and featured music that ranged from moody to abrasive. Without releasing it, I assembled a playlist that had a bunch of southern bands. It's always strange when coincidences like that pop up. Anywho, check out this episode's summary below!
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| Henry Laurens as seen during his appearance on Laugh-In |
During the first set you heard a mystery band, The Checkmates play a track from their sole single Talk To Me. There's not a lot known about the band besides they were from Laurens, South Carolina which is a small town that's named after a controversial founding father named Henry Laurens. Laurens was one of the largest slave owners and served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the South Carolina Militia during war campaigns against the Cherokee. In private correspondences Laurens wrote about his wishes to free his slaves but he never ended up doing so, besides his personal servant George. Strangely, Laurens had a great fear of being buried alive, which lead him to become one of the first non-indigenous persons in the continent to be cremated. His son, John Laurens, who was more outspoken about his moral outlook on slavery, had a similarly interesting life but, mainly due to his early demise, has faded somewhat into obscurity.
After The Checkmates, you heard Jefferson Handkerchief, a parody "band" that released a silly song about a hippie that has trouble getting close to girlfriend due to her being a "flower child" and him having strong allergies. Although the concept is funny, the song reminded me of early Beatles parodies that felt like a square poking fun at something they didn't quite understand or felt was unworthy of praise. The flip side is a rebranded version of The Champs' The Little Matador, which sounds identical to the original. This is because Dave Burgess, the primary songwriter/guitarist for The Champs was the creative force behind Jefferson Handkerchief. I'm Allergic To Flowers is the sort of record you'd put on with some friends and have a giggle.
And finally, we concluded this episode with two tracks from a cool compilation named Ghost Riders which was released in 2022 and features some strangely haunting album art. Each track on the compilation left me feeling nostalgic and homesick even though I was sitting in my own room! The Tresa Leigh track that I played, Until Then, was one of two versions of the song that Leigh recorded with the other version being made available for the first time in 2023. Afterwards, you heard The Mod 4 perform A Puppet and I mentioned a great article on Downstate Sound which goes over the band's history including their performance on Happening in 1969. The compilation features a bunch of coming-of-age tunes that have a home recorded feel, so if that's the sort of thing that you're into, give it a listen.
And that's it for this episode! Thanks for reading the blog and be sure to listen over the air on KUCR 88.3FM on Saturdays at 9pm PST or listen to an archived version of the show here. You can also listen through KUCR.org, Radio Garden, or Tune-In.
Check out this week's playlist below:
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