Started Thinking, Music.......
Posting below about Wilson Pickett got me thinking about musical influences. Probably the single biggest person to influence where my musical tastes ended up was my older brother, Chief. Father of Surly@ http://www.surlycamera.blogspot.com/ . Surly's the one to blame for getting me started with this blog thing.
Chief, ordered a build it yourself Crystal Radio kit from the back of a comic book or some magazine once. That's how you did things back then. You sent off a letter through the mail with a check, cash or money order in it and waited for weeks for the Mailman to deliver your goods to you. Comic books had an especially good collection of ads for young knuckleheads. Popular Mechanics, Outdoor Life and Mad Magazine had great ad sections in the back too.
After it arrived, He and the Old Man put it together over a day or two. I think it cost him about $4.75, shipping included. Yeah, sounds cheap, but a new pair of Levis jeans were only $3.25 then.
That Little Radio Rocked. After dark it just got better and better. The later it got, the better the reception became for all the Good Stations. Memphis, Little Rock, N'awlins and a zillion others playing Soul Music.
Chief would buy 45 rpm records from Mrs Blanchard at the local record store and play them on our Montgomery Wards record player too. In the Summer, he and his friends would commandeer the garage and hang out and play records all friggen day and night. This was at least 40 years ago in the pre-FM radio explosion.
I was just a little, Cross Eyed Fucktard at the time, and like all little brothers, I'm sure I was a pain in the ass to have hanging around. Chief was pretty cool about it most of the time though, except when he was doing his, Rico Suave bit with Lumpy Legs, the girl who lived next door. That shit made more sense a few years later, but at the time I didn't get it.
Chief turned me on to WMPP also. WMPP was a Black oriented station out of "East Chicager Heights, Illernois". Great music station with really cool DJ's like "J Cobb, working on the job. Playin' a stack-o-wax, Higher than a Bulls back. Put the needle in the grove and watch me move!". They also had some crazy bastid who went by the moniker of "The Rag Man". The Rag Man was always dispensing bits of advice such as "Driving is like Bowling. You gots to keep it in your own lane". Or "If you Drink and Drive, you gonna end up with the police as a chaser". Funny shit, even for a kid.
I had eye surgery again, when I was 12 or 13 to straighten those fuckin' crossed eyes some more. Chief bought me 2 record albums to listen to while I was lying around the house blind as a bat with the friggen bandages on. Vanilla Fudge and the Beach Boys, Pet Sounds. How cool was that?
Yeah, he pretty much was the driver on where my musical car ended up going. Same thing with motorcycles. He took me to the drive in to see "On Any Sunday", Which is still the definitive motorcycle movie.
Cool shit that made a lasting impression. Now that I'm an Old, Cross Eyed Fucktard, I still like Soul Music and Motorcycles.
