Showing posts with label Knoxville Tennessee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Knoxville Tennessee. Show all posts
Saturday, November 5, 2016
Anybody Got the Time (Soundtrack of My Life)
Once spent, time is a commodity that can never be replaced. I've squandered more than a few precious hours in my life with television or other similarly idle pursuits. Agreed that rest and relaxation are important--a necessity--to each of us so I won't condemn all the idle time that I've spent. Still though, I could have done better in the past. And likely I will waste more time in the future. That's the nature of life for most of us.
Anybody Got the Time
In the fall of 1969 I entered college at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville as a shy young man after having spent the previous twelve years as a shy guy in public schools. I always had friends so I can't necessarily say that I was lonely even though I spent a lot of time being alone--that was often by choice. After entering puberty the one thing that I probably wanted most was a girlfriend.
Being in college didn't change my love life to much extent and any dating that I did do had no relationship to anyone I knew at the university. Since I didn't live on campus, but instead still lived at home with my parents, it was almost as though I lived two separate lives--one in the daytime as a student and one in the evenings with my friends, most of whom were not going to school or not going to school where I was going.
My friends at the university were not many and at such a large school as I was attending it was very rare that I even saw anyone that I knew as a friend during the daytime hours. I might see some of them on the hour-long ride to and from school where we might engage in conversation, but those were for the most part bus friends whom I rarely encountered in any other setting. To put it plainly, I had essentially no social life at college.
However this is not the real story that I wanted to tell here. What I wanted to tell about is how I spent my free time during the school day when I wasn't in class. I spent a lot of time in the undergraduate library reading books and magazines or occasionally studying or listening to music. I was especially passionate about music during those years. When I wasn't listening to music I was looking for new music that I could buy or plan on buying at some later time. My wish list was long, but money for music was not in great abundance.
The library was free. Spending time there was well within my monetary budget while time spent there studying was better than time spent watching television and the passing parade of people at the student center. My hours at the library were a cerebral adventure especially when I got sidetracked exploring things that were interesting to me.
For example in early 1970 I found a classical music magazine on the shelves. What drew me to that magazine is unclear since I was neither an audiophile nor a buyer of new releases in classical music. I did buy a fair amount of classical music albums, but they tended to be older releases I found in the cut-out bins. Whatever it was that made me pick up this magazine, I began to read through it and discovered a section where rock and pop albums were being reviewed for the first time. I suppose they were trying to expand their readership. Unsuccessfully I would guess judging from their odd album picks--in other words, unknown artists that would probably never get mentioned in the mainstream rock music magazines.
One album review that caught my eyes was the debut album by a New York group called the Good Rats. I immediately recalled having seen this album in the record section of the university center book store--a place where I spent a good amount of free time. The album sounded interesting enough for me to actually go to the book store and spring for the full price of a new album. After I took the album home and gave it a listen I was pleased that I had gotten it. Perhaps the album wasn't the most unique music in my collection, but it held a place in my heart. Maybe it was because I read about the album in that classical music magazine at the library.
The magazine had taken a chance on reviewing a genre other than classical and jazz so I had taken a chance on purchasing an album based on that review. Over the next few years the album received many spins on my turntable. Even if none of my friends seemed to notice the album, I liked it and that was what mattered most to me.
For a while I watched the record bins for a new Good Rats album release, but I never ran across any more after that first one. Eventually I stopped thinking about the group. When I happen to see the first album in my collection I'd ponder whatever happened to the group, but I figured they had disbanded and faded away.
That was until years later...
(to be continued next week...)
In this post I offer another in my Soundtrack of My Life series. Robin at Your Daily Dose has been doing the Soundtrack of my Life posts on her blog for a while now. I had done a few of my own "life soundtracks" on my Tossing It Out blog as well as the song series (starting at this post) I did for my 2014 Blogging from A to Z April Challenge on Wrote By Rote. Be sure to visit and follow Your Daily Dose for more Life Soundtrack info.
Saturday, September 27, 2014
A Book on the Window Sill
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| Building at 123 West Jackson Avenue in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, photographed in 1976. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
As mentioned in my most recent post at Tossing It Out, one of the books that I read over the summer months was The Third Strike by Jerry Gray. This is the second time that I've read this book which has been in my possession for over 40 years now. There's a story behind this book. I've decided to share that story here today at Wrote By Rote.
By 1973 I had been working at Acme Premium Supply Company in Knoxville, Tennessee for a couple of years. Acme was a wholesale carnival supply company dealing in plush toys, carnival glass, and all of the other prize items given to winners of carnival games. It was a quirky business that provided me with the flexibility of work hours during the school year and the opportunity to work as much as I wanted during the summer months.
During the first half of the 70's I was attending the University of Tennessee full time most of the year. In the peak carnival season of the summer months I worked full time at Acme with all of the overtime they had available and there was plenty to be had. Due to the seasonal nature of the business there were periods when there would be work lulls and the warehouse would operate with minimal staff. Since I was a favored employee who could be depended upon to be reliable, the company would keep me on duty even if there wasn't much to be done as far as the daily sales and shipping operations.
There were always the maintenance duties of cleaning, organizing warehouse spaces, and restocking where merchandise had dwindled to low numbers. So even if there were few customer sales or ingoing and outgoing truck traffic, there was always something to be done. Some days I worked at a more leisurely pace because speed wasn't essential to get things done.
When the main warehouse was overly stocked to the point there was no more room to safely store merchandise, we kept some of that overstock in a Jackson Avenue warehouse nearly two blocks away. This extra space was in an old building that was one of many that filled an entire block. Most of the buildings were empty and most likely condemned for use. Apparently the building we used had been deemed usable, but it was not in the best shape. My guess is that these buildings dated back to the early part of the 1900's or perhaps even earlier.
Occasionally when I found myself working alone in this old building, I would explore the upper floors. Nothing above the first floor was in use since it was not practical, and possibly not safe, to use those spaces. There was an old freight elevator, but it seemed not to be operational. There was an eeriness in those empty dank upper floors. The hollow cavernous space echoed as I walked through it.
At the back side of the building were a few tall windows that overlooked the railroad tracks and beyond to East Knoxville. I was drawn to the windows for the view as I would ponder my thoughts, worries, and dreams. This lonely place was the ideal spot for contemplation though more than once I contemplated the possibility that the building I was in could collapse with me in it.
During one of my early explorations when I was drawn to the back windows, I noticed a small book on the window sill. Judging from the amount of dust that had settled upon the book it appeared to have been there a very long time. After dusting off the cover I examined the book.
The compact book with a green hard cover had "The Third Strike by Jerry Gray" printed in gold letters. The book only had sixty pages. The chapter titles intrigued me. Titles like "Rain in the Bowery", "Battle of the Bottles", and "Climbing the Heights of Darkness" piqued my curiosity. Six short chapters was the extent of the book.
Taking the book home with me I read it that night. The writing was quite good--poetic prose with a somberness that made me even more curious about the book and why it was in that old warehouse. The story of Jerry Gray lingered in my thoughts. I decided that one day I would write a story or perhaps a novel about a character inspired by this "Jerry Gray" even though there was little more that I knew of him than what was written in this book.
My guess is that this book was a publication that may have been intended for free distribution to those suffering from alcohol dependency. The story is about one man's struggle with alcoholism until he eventually loses the battle. There are moments of deep introspection, revelation, but ultimately hopelessness for the author who exhorts others to heed his warnings and take charge of their own addictions.
Since the area where Acme Premium Supply was located was an area frequented by winos and homeless alcoholics, my supposition would be that one of these poor souls who sometimes had found refuge in the building our company was now using for extra storage had been given the book at an AA meeting or by some party wishing to help inspire someone who was in the depths. If this scenario were the case, it was probably something that had happened years prior to my finding the book. The warehouse had probably been abandoned for several years before Acme started using it.
Eventually after many moves and over a decade of living on the road, my found copy of The Third Strike became lost in all my stuff that had been in storage at my parents house. The memory of the book stayed with me over the years and often came to my mind. After I moved to where I now live I would sometimes look through boxes that were still packed to try and find this book. Finally, this year before taking my vacation trip, I found the book. It was time for another read through of this book that had haunted me for so many years.
The Third Strike was the first of the books I read this summer. It was still as good as I remembered it being. The small volume now resides on my bookshelf where I will undoubtedly pick it up now and then to drink in the beauty of the words. Too bad that this "Jerry Gray"--a pseudonym as revealed in the Foreword--wasn't writing more and drinking less. That is, if this author story is actually true. It really doesn't matter who wrote the book. A good book is a good book. I almost wish this one were longer. Or if the person who did write it wrote other similarly well written books that I could be directed to. Maybe I'll never really know. Or maybe one of you reading this knows something about this book, this author, or anyone affiliated with either.
Do you ever explore old abandoned buildings? Have you ever found an abandoned book that influenced you in a big way? Do you have any ideas or knowledge about Jerry Gray, The Third Strike, or Starr Daily?
Saturday, September 20, 2014
The Concert Series: The Hello People
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| 1978 Todd Rundgren (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
During this year's Blogging from A to Z April Challenge Michele at Angel's Bark for the letter "C" wrote about concerts she had attended. Her post brought to mind some of my own concert memories. In my comment response to her post I suggested that I might use her idea as an occasional series topic. This post will be the first of a sporadic series that will most likely correspond to Battle of the Bands posts that you will find on my blog Tossing It Out. If you haven't visited to vote on my current Battle I hope you will drop by before Sunday evening September 21st at which time I will tally the votes to come up with the most favorite artist of the two I've presented. The winner will be announced on my post of Monday the 22nd.
The Sounds of the Silent
Many of us undoubtedly have fond memories of concerts we've attended. Most of mine come from my college years and the decade or so that came after those years. I had more time to spare, less obligations to care about, and more friends who were more than willing to join me in my concert experiences. Actually there were more than a few concerts that I attended by myself since my eclectic music interests took me to events that no one else I knew was willing to join me.
Another of the reasons that I attended so many concerts was that they were relatively cheap--anywhere from free to five or six dollars. The big concerts with two to three big acts averaged about five dollars each. I don't recall paying for parking for most of these, but if we did pay to park the fee was only a dollar or less. A concert night was not a huge outlay of cash even considering I was only making $1.75 to $2.50 an hour at the job I worked during my off school hours.
One of the more outstanding concerts (they were almost all outstanding for that matter) was in May of 1972 with the line-up of the headliner Alice Cooper, the band Free, and Todd Rundgren with The Hello People backing him up. Alice Cooper was the draw for most attendees--I was certainly an avid fan. Free was a bonus. Their song "All Right Now" had been all over the radio as a huge hit. They rocked and would have been a great headline band.
However, the pairing of Todd Rundgren with the Hello People was the act that interested me the most. I'd already been a Rundgren fan for a few years and had a couple of his albums. But the Hello People? I owned their first two albums having found them in cut-outs and loved their music. What a surprise to find two great acts unpretentiously paired as an opening act. Being able to see Todd Rundgren in concert was definitely cool, but to see the Hello People coming to Knoxville, Tennessee was a totally unexpected treat.
I will say here that Rundgren and the Hello People delivered a great concert far exceeding any expectations I had for them. Honestly I didn't know what to expect, but the show they put on would have been enough for me. I would have been happy to sit through a couple hours of their act with no other accompanying groups.
After the coliseum lights darkened and a myriad of lighters flamed up to ignite the joints that were a staple of any rock concert back then, the stage lights came up to reveal a group of mimes. The white-faced characters began a typical mime routine. They were proficient in their mimery, but there was no clear indication as to why the mimes were there until they took to their instruments. As they broke into a jazzy tune from their second album, the Hello People broke the silence barrier and began doing what they did best--playing music.
Todd Rundgren soon joined them and the collaborative group skillfully addressed a series of some of Todd's best songs. The Hello People were solid as a back-up band. The set was too short for my tastes. As I have already noted, I could have devoted the entire evening to nothing but these fantastic musicians. But alas, the set ended all too quickly and proceeded to the next two acts.
I wish there was a filmed record of the Todd with the Hello People. There may very well be since I've run across at least one YouTube clip of them. I'd like to see the entire set as I saw it on that May night in 1972. Those concerts all went by so quickly that it's hard to remember a lot of the details.
Here's the YouTube clip that I've found:
Those concert years were great times. It was cheap entertainment compared to now when the cost of parking alone can often exceed an entire night out back in the 70's. There were many great entertainment events that I witnessed during that time. I'll try to recapture some of those memories in future posts on Wrote By Rote.
What great concert memories do you have? Were there any groups who surprised you with their presentations? What do you like best about going to hear music artists perform live?
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