Saturday, October 13, 2007

I Love the 70's (Music)

I graduated from high school in the 70's. I graduated from college in the 70's. I met my wife in the 70's. I love the 70's.

I dont' really care for the clothing or hairstyles of the 70's (of course I have to say that now since I don't have much hair left), but I really like the music from that decade. We had some great bands then: the Doobie Brothers, the Eagles, Aerosmith, and Led Zeppelin. Other groups I liked were the Marshall Tucker Band, the Allman Brothers Band and the Ozark Mountain Daredevils. However, my most favorite groups were Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Some of these guys are still touring, although they appear to have aged a lot worse than I have [ big grin ]!

My junior year in high school, I wrote my term paper--remember those?--on ELP and that was no easy accomplishment since personal computers or the internet didn't exist. I spent many a Saturday at the library, searching through the card index for anything I could found about those guys. I got an "A", which incidently back then, had to be at 93 or above. None of this 90 crud! I was at the 1974(I think it was) concert in Tulsa, OK which was recorded and heard on the King Biscuit Flower Hour. I think I read somewhere that some of that same recording is part of ELP's Welcome Back My Friends...(Live) album.

I got to thinking about all this 70's stuff this morning while I was listening to an internet "classic rock" station. I had to go in to work and since no one was there, I took the opportunity to crank up my speakers and "blast through the past" with some of my favorite tunes. While I was listening to ELP's "Karn Evil 9," I rembered a couple of projects I had done in college, which I dug out as soon as I got home.

Below is a pen and ink sketch of Keith Emerson. The second piece was an album cover assignment done with a combination of pen and ink, opaque watercolor and acrylic. Pretty dated looking, but I like it. Just for kicks, here's an opaque watercolor of Todd Rundgren from the same college semester.

Artwork : Keith Emerson

 

Artwork : Emerson Lake & Palmer

7 comments:

Baxter said...

Hey, Keith, I like your art work. You're pretty good! I enjoy your "memory lane", it's about, if not the same, time frame as my own. Music is such a powerful etch on our beings! I can hear a song and remember what time frame it's from based on where it takes me back in my memory. My preference for music however was late 70's early 80's. Loved the saxaphone (sp)! I had this amazing collection of albums from that era (half-speed masters, virgin vinyls, direct master recordings, imported). At one time I was looking to sell them to a record store, they were transitioning over to cd's so he had no interest in them. I hadn't enough fore-sight to see that they would be quite a collector's item in a time where the word "album" is unfamiliar to many. They were in excellent condition! If you want to email me, I'll tell you what happened to them.

Rick Frueh said...

"Pictures at an Exhibition"

I saw them all, including Rundgren several times on the underground circuit. He travelled with a group call "Rennaisance" and early Peter Frampton.

Rick Wakeman became a Christian.

Madison Square Garden, Philadelphia Spectrum, and many small venues were my haunts. I loved myterious rock such as Jethro Tull and Renaissance, and I also loved glam rock i. e. Bowie et. al..

My favorite were the Beatles. I could never draw mbut I was a singer/songwriter and I played keyboards and guitar.

Keith said...

Rick: Wakeman's Six Wives... is STILL one of my favs.

Keith said...

BTW, I played the drums.

Unknown said...

Graduated in 78 myself. Rocked out to some Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin and Van Halen today (the real van halen with David Lee Roth in the 70's (You really got me). Unfortunately during my fundamentalist period I trashed all my CD's. What was I thinking.

Cheers

Dave "movepastor" Anderson

Keith said...

Just listened to "JUMP" myself. Small world. Thanks for stopping by.

Unknown said...

Mmmmhmmmmmm nothin like some Dooooobie Brothers!! They've got a great show comin' up on October 25th at the House of Blues out here in Texas
which everyone should be goin' to! Gonna be some classic country and one helluva relaxing night =) For you Texas fans out there that are (or aren't, shame on you) going,
do any of ya'll listen to Lonestar 92.5 or been to their website at http://www.lonestar925.com/ ? They've got the latest country hits on the radio, as well as your favorite
classics ranging from alternative, outlaw, classic rock, and country classics! If you need the latest concert tour dates for Texas, Lonestar has an extensive
calendar with links to each artist. You can also listen live, buy the music online, or enter one of their many contests.
Currently they're giving away tickets to the Black Crowes concert - but that's not all - if you win, you get 2 tickets, VIP passes, and a complete backstage tour!
Sadly I'm workin with them to promote so I doubt they'll let me enter, so that means ya'll gotta get on it for me! Someone's gotta enjoy those sweet passes hehe.
Seriously, go check out the site or tune in at Lonestar 92.5! See ya'll at the concert!