Not sure who all gets it but PBS is showing a two hour special on Ahmet Ertegun and his Atlantic label today at 10 pm.

"...no longer shall you trudge 'cross my peaceful mind."

Hey, thanks, I didn't know that! We get PBS here: PBS rocks!

Interesting show! I missed the first half, will look for re-runs.

I could not turn it on before 10, and it had already started. First thing on the tape is The Cream performing "Sunshine of Your Love".
Was that a long way into the show? I let the tape run all night so it might have rerun later on.

I happened to tune it in when Ertegun & Mick were chatting with each other.
I think they showed clips from "Ladies & Gentlemen..." (Brown Sugar & Happy)
Discussed Sticky Fingers zipper...causing the records to warp etc...1st 50,000
were returned. Also discussed doing business at Studio 54 & C***sucker Blues movie etc...


IORR............but I like it!

Did anyone catch the best part of the show? Mick Jagger doing his impression of Peter Grant, the big burly manager of Led Zeppelin? He put on this worker's accent and goes "Mick, I got three kinds of Cocaine. One I give Jimmy, one for meself, and one I got fa you!" LOL
They did a pretty long segment on Zeppelin, actually before they got to the Stones. When Jagger wants to, he can be very funny and lively. Ahmet said at some point that Mick doesn't like pushy people and that is why Ahmet got them. Mick and Ahmet said they did all their business 70's style: at the disco. They kind of did all the business real fast in "niches" as Jagger said, and partied the bulk of the time. Mick also laughed about @#$%& Blues. Said everyone wnated their "heroin segment" in there, but no one who was anyone wanted to be in there. E.g they went trough some changes to remove Ahmet from the film because he could not be associated with it. Jagger laughed and said that by the end everybody wanted to be removed "and there was no film left". Jagger obviously had much ove and respect for Ertegun. Only saw Keith for one quick minute.
Page and Plant were very nice about him. They put all these people face to faCE with Ertegun so they were saying al these things direct;y to him.
Many great stories - how Ertegun really created white rock. Or harvested it and gave it to the world. Atlantic was going to go down Wexler said only on R&B. Theu needed the big money.

"...no longer shall you trudge 'cross my peaceful mind."

Of course the producers ignored the greatest white soul band of all time, The [Young] Rascals. I guess 13 top 40 hits for Atlantic, including 3 number ones, is insignificant compared to the big business that the posturing of Led Zeppelin brought in. Jerry Wexler got out at the right time.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2007-05-03 17:58 by keithfan64.

This documentary had so much good material that it was a real drag to see Kid Rock as representative of today's music. No mention of the great Donny Hathaway. Little time spent on the splendid Arif Mardin who really contributed to some of Atlantic's best including Hathaway. Of course, the Rascals!!

Mick was great but then he was one of the few intelligent musicians on the show.
Also one of the few people who would mimic Peter Grant who was quite a thug. English Musicians I knew would always say, "Now you know, dear, you mustn't get anywhere near that Zeppelin bunch. They're all animals."

Stonesrule, that is what I was thinking too, when Jagger did that. That Jagger is one of the very few people who could get by with making even a little fun of Grant. I just recently read a bunch on Led Zep (never one of my fave acts or people) and Grant, Bonzo and Bonzo's buddy -some road manager- sound like trouble. Not just in a crazy on the road kind of way, but downright criminal.
Arif Mardin was a name I kept waiting for too.
The thing is whith someone of Ertegun's stature; someone who has done so much with such impressive results, it is impossible to cover it all in 2 hrs. They did allright. Of course many people were going to be omitted. Look at how much time was given to Led Zep comopared to Aretha and Otis.
At least there was a LOT of Ahmet himself.
What they need now is someone to put together a 12 hour series for PBS on Atlantic, Ertegun. Wexler etc.

"...no longer shall you trudge 'cross my peaceful mind."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-05-03 19:55 by ChelseaDrugstore.

ChelseaDrugstore Wrote:
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Bonzo and Bonzo's buddy -some road manager- sound like trouble. Not just in a crazy on the road kind of way, but downright criminal.


Do you mean Phil Kauffman - the guy that stole Gram Parsons body?

Wasn't looking too good, but I was feeling real well.

I recorded this show last night. I thought That Ahmet was so full of music
and laughter that he had it in his blood. The interview with Mick was
wonderful. Mick doesn't like to talk about the old days as we all know
but I think his respect for Ahmet shows in this piece.
To think that Ahment saw the Rolling stones Was the last thing he saw on
this earth! The only thing I wish I saw more of was Keith Richards.
I'am sure he has a story to tell or two!
All is all a wonderful tribute to a true original. For all intents and
purposes saved the Stones in the Seventies. I am sure the Stones could
have signed a more lucurative deal. But seeing that the Altantic
was so concerned about musical talent Was the saving grace.
I think that they just partied like crazy, but what a way to earn a living!
Life is just a cocktail on the Streets!
Thank you PBS for the documentary. Next time have one on Mick Jagger!

No Cincy. His name was Cole. I think his first name was Richard. Every time you read of a particularly crazy Bonzo roadwar tale he is with Cole. Like when he took a dump in that groupies shoes. Or there was some usher or guard at one of the shows who did something minor wrong. Oh he did not want to let one of Grant's relatives in for free becasue he did not know them. Just doing his job. Bonzo beat him up. But then Grant came in, took him inside a room, Cole stood guard, and they hurt the dude bad. "Anybody rememeber laughter?"

"...no longer shall you trudge 'cross my peaceful mind."

Aretha live in England was about the greatest thing I've ever seen. On the other hand, Kid Suck's phony N.O. jive talk was too disgusting for words. I wish he had jumped up on Jerry Lee's piano when the Killer was a little younger!

Chelsea Drugstore, you're so brave! I was hesitant about naming Richard Cole...don't know why. Jimmy Page is a fine player but not so fine a human being.

In reality Ahmet was quite a bit less than a saint. I always found it embarrassing to see him really out of it, falling and stumbling, eyeing the chicks etc. But he made a lot of English boys big bucks and helped them regularly obtain all kinds of drugs...

Part I enjoyed most was the young Ahmet and his genuine love of music and the footage of these great R n B singers and musicians. Some exhilarating moments!

Neshui was the truly classy Ertegun.

As mentioned earlier....i only saw the Stones segment (& part of B. Midler)
Does anybody know exactly when the Ahmet/Mick segment was filmed?
Could it have been done at the Beacon...right before the accident?
Sorry if this has already been covered.


IORR............but I like it!

I believe that some of Mick and other rock stars footage had been gathered over past two or three years.

Well Ahmet looked pretty fragile already.
Stonesrule, when you talk about Ertegun stumbling etc, when was that? Are you talking about other times you saw him?

"...no longer shall you trudge 'cross my peaceful mind."

Ahmet's been getting fragile for last ten years or so. He was 83 when he died. I don't feel comfortable speaking rather disrespectfully of him now that he's gone. "Other times" would include from the 1970s on. He knew how to live the high life. A man's gotta do some thing when he's out on the town watching his acts, seeing new talent etc. And he did.

Damn I would love to see this, but in the UK we don't get PBS!

However on sky tv (satellite) there are two excellent channels - performance and sky arts, they both show really cool concerts and music documentaries etc, and sky arts has NO commercials!

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What's your favourite flavour?...........Cherry Red!!

As I see it, the problem with rockumentaries as well as books about music, is that they are created by people who chose to go to film or journalism school, not become musicians. That know how to edit tape but this does not make them experts on music although they become our historians on the subject. Thus we get a history of Atlantic Records that omits the Rascals completely but gives us five excruciating minutes of Bette Midler singing about the clap.

I have it coming on DVD.

keithfan64 wrote: "As I see it, the problem with rockumentaries as well as books about music, is that they are created by people who chose to go to film or journalism school, not become musicians. That know how to edit tape but this does not make them experts on music although they become our historians on the subject. Thus we get a history of Atlantic Records that omits the Rascals completely but gives us five excruciating minutes of Bette Midler singing about the clap."
***********

Keithfan64....I know what you mean..but that could be said about everything.
Everything includes the bias of the person who created it, edited it, filmed it, wrote it...etc...etc......whether it's a music documentary or the nightly news.

We can only assume that reps from Atlantic Records were used as consultants.

I also cringed during the Bette Midler segment.


IORR............but I like it!