You Tube!

I’ve just uploaded 5 videos to my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjgcSvb5riojGVFQnxYcjgg

which I established expressly for this exercise. My favorite band ever is Commander Cody and His Lost Planer Airmen. I’ve never been happier than I’ve been at their concerts. I’ve been privileged to establish relationships over the years with Bill Kirchen, Commander’s lead guitarist, and the Commander himself. Both are still touring, if not still together, except from time to time. In their heyday, there was nobody like them. 7 Ann Arbor hippies cranking out country, old rock’n’roll, boogie woogie, and western swing while everyone else was doing slick rock and singer-songwriter stuff. Now they call it “Americana” and practitioners are myriad. They were the hottest live band in the land, but couldn’t translate that to the big time success they so richly deserved. In those days, videos of bands weren’t common, but I’ve come across a couple. First is a video John and Yoko produced of a benefit for activist John Sinclair held in Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor 12/10/71. From a star-studded bill that included John himself, Bob Seger, Stevie Wonder, and Phil Ochs, the Commander and boys stole the show. The whole movie is on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqbHsUcuN6I&t=3026s. From that, I’ve extracted the magical 8 minutes featuring the Commander and boys. I’ve also clipped out the three songs they performed: “Down to seeds and stems again blues”, “Hot rod Lincoln”, and “Jailhouse rock”.

The boys made it to Hollywood, playing themselves in “Hollywood Boulevard”, a send up of B-movies done by a couple of Roger Corman protegées https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074633/. Featuring ample sex, plenty of bare breasts, and a little murder, the movie is a hoot. The boys get to play their number over a tender seduction scene, sampling a tune they borrowed from a 1911 Irving Berlin composition, with a few embellishments. The masthead of the movie includes Godzilla, who does make an appearance. So I guess the boys can include him as a co-author on their C.V.s.

So here are the links. A few may not be “published” on YouTube till tomorrow. But they’ll be there. Try not to have Too Much Fun

Whole show:

Seeds & stems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb_Bz4SssxM

Hot Rod Lincoln:

Jailhouse Rock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0rYQ97fJBU

Everybody’s doin’ it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI73MfmDYSM