This episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM had a ton of hard-hitting garage rock, both obscure and well known. There were some slower psych vibes towards the end of the show, but for the most part we kept the energy high. If you missed out on hearing the episode during its initial airing, you can still listen through the KUCR Archive. You'll have to hurry though, because episodes are only on the archive for a few weeks before they're gone! As always, you can also find this episode's playlist below but first, let's go over some of the topics I covered.
Towards the beginning of the show, you heard The Mojo Men's song She's My Baby and I mentioned that, early in the group's career, they had ties to Sly Stone as both a producer and songwriter. According to Ben Fong-Torres' book Not Fade Away: A Backstage Pass to 20 Years of Rock & Roll, Stone recorded tracks with The Mojo Men during his time with Autumn Records and planned on using the name: "Sly and The Mojo Men." However, Stone was unsatisfied with the results and decided against releasing the tracks.
In the liner notes for The Mojo Men: Whys Ain't Supposed To Be - The Autumn Sessions,
Paul Curcio is quoted as saying: "Jim and I co-wrote a lot of songs
with Sly. We'd hang around with him at his house, and he'd always tell
us that he would never put his own group together until he could have
the number one band in the world." It appears that The Mojo Men didn't live up to Stone's standards and there is no evidence that he ever performed live with the band, especially since he had taken a break from gigging during this time in order to focus on his work with Autumn. Despite this, Stone is described as a former member of band on several articles floating around the web.
Besides Stone parting ways with The Mojo Men, the group's original drummer, Dennis DeCarr, was booted over creative differences and was replaced by Jan Errico, who had just left another Autumn Records band, The Vejtables. According to Curcio, The Mojo Men had the chance to incorporate Grace Slick into the band, due to her being friends with several members, but Errico was deemed to have a wider range of talent, as well as, a nicer personality. As a testament to her talent, Errico sang and drummed simultaneously during her time with both The Mojo Men and The Vejtables, a feat which many musicians find difficult. If Jan's last name sounds familiar, it's because she is the cousin of Greg Errico, who was the first drummer for Sly and the Family Stone, adding another connection to Sly Stone.
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| Bit-A-Sweet (?) performs Out of Sight, Out of Mind in Blonde on a Bum Trip |
As the show continued you heard The Bit-A-Sweet perform their song Out of Sight, Out of Mind which was featured in a strange low-budget film from 1968 named Blonde on a Bum Trip. The film is very rough around the edges, and features unusual narration, wobbly acting, and iffy audio. At its core Blonde on a Bum Trip has the occasional glimmer of charm but you really have to slog through some weird stuff to find it.
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| "He looked at what I was making and told me I had the color all wrong and to be more careful." |
The movie focuses on the misadventures of Susan, a chemistry major that is convinced by her roommates to produce LSD for their enjoyment and profit, and how their reckless behavior led to the death of another young woman named Vanessa, as well as, the investigation that followed.
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| The villains of the story lounge during an impromptu investigation |
If you want to understand the vibe of the movie without watching it, imagine sitting in a room with an acquaintance as they begin showing you home videos. Eventually the videos start having odd sexual encounters, drug use, and moral finger wagging. Bum Trip feels like a watered-down version of that scenario. Yikes!
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| Trying not to look at the camera while eating a sugar cube |
Even trash film connoisseurs may struggle with the stilted audio, frequently missing dialogue, and long drawn-out scenes of half-naked people rolling around, but there is definitely some ironic humor to be found. If you can find a decent copy for cheap or free I'd say it's worth a casual viewing but, in my opinion, it's not something that's really worth seeking out.
And finally, we ended the show with The Mighty Hannibal's fuzzy and funky song Good Time. The Mighty Hannibal really hit his stride towards the end of the 60s and early 70s and it's a little surprising to me that he isn't recognized more. I mentioned another song by Hannibal named Hoedown that came out in 1983 that melds bluegrass, disco, and funk. It's super bizarre and according to the man himself, the song was a "big hit in the Netherlands." If you are interested in The Mighty Hannibal, I suggest you check out this archived article by Chad Radford for Creative Loafing. The article paints a vivid picture of Hannibal and features a funny anecdote about Hannibal interacting with Neil Diamond which I won't spoil here.
Anywho, that's it for this episode's blog post! Thanks for reading 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: