Don’t It Always Seem To Go - - -

With all the talk around town about cutting back on the big name acts at Taste Of Chicago, and then tossing Celtic Fest and other formerly stand-alone events into the watered-down mix, it might be a good time to remember ChicagoFest. This 10-day outdoor celebration sprang to life on the lakefront every August, from the late 1970s through 1983. From what I can remember, ChicagoFest was always viewed in some quarters as an extravagance the city could ill afford, but for music fans, it was pure heaven. If one of the current mayoral candidates could figure out a way to bring it back, and make a profit, that would be something worth voting for.

ChicagoFest already had one foot in the grave by the time number VI came around. It had been abandoned by the mayor’s office and shagged from its normal home at Navy Pier (before its transformation into a major tourist attraction) and relocated to Soldier Field (before its transformation into whatever it’s supposed to be now). Still, this Chicago Park District managed version drew an amazing assortment of acts that could be enjoyed for a paltry $8 per day admission.

Rock and roll headliners on the Main Stage that year included Sammy Hagar; Charlie Daniels Band; The Beach Boys; Chicago; The Hollies with Graham Nash; and a Joe Walsh/Cheap Trick double bill that also included The Elvis Brothers. The Temptations, The Four Tops, and Mary Wells performed on opening night, and other Main Stage attractions included Alabama, George Strait and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band; and The Impressions featuring Jerry Butler and Curtis Mayfield.

The Pepsi-Cola Rock Stage offered a mix of local acts like Heavy Manners, Scraps, Bohemia, B.B. Spin, Sirenz, The Kind, Phil ‘N’ The Blanks, and Spooner (actually from Wisconsin), with national acts like Red Rockers and Marshall Crenshaw. The Budweiser Blues ‘N’ Bud WXRT Stage served up the likes of Koko Taylor, Son Seals, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Buddy Guy & Junior Wells, Luther Allison, King Sunny Ade, Corky Siegel Band, Willy Dixon, and Big Twist & The Mellow Fellows. Steve Goodman, Bonnie Koloc, Heartsfield, Doug Kershaw, and Jethro Burns kept things rocking at the Old Style Beer Country Stage, and Stanley Turrentine, Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Judy Roberts, The Original Ramsey Lewis Trio, Angela Bofill, and Wynton Marsalis were among the better known acts who performed at the Miller Highlife Jazz Scene. There was also a Vintage Rock Stage that brought in The Turtles, The Buckinghams, The Association, and David Clayton-Thomas.

As an avid Hollies fan, I was thrilled with their performance. A mist rolling in off Lake Michigan gave that night’s performance an added tough of magic as the band played a number of its biggest hits. The Allan Clarke-Graham Nash-Tony Hicks harmonies were perfect, and the concert ended with an extended version of “Long Cool Woman” that included a bit of the old standard “Shakin’ All Over.” Afterward, the crowd was chanting, “Hol-lies, Hol-lies, Hol-lies!”

Each year of ChicagoFest brought another banquet of astounding talent. I can still remember picking up the schedules in record stores, and planning how many nights I would be going. By comparison, Taste Of Chicago, even before its recent downsizing, has always seemed like barely a mouthful.

45 RPM Memories

A semi-regular feature about some of my favorite single records from the past.

A post I did a while back on “Leave Me” by The Hollies got me thinking about how some songs are able to fully convey the anger and bitterness of breaking up without resorting to violent imagery. On his syndicated radio show Underground Garage, Little Steven Van Zandt is in the midst of a Valentine’s Day Trilogy that covers the many facets of romantic relationships. Part Three, which airs next Sunday on WXRT here in Chicago, will celebrate the joy of finding true love. Part Two dealt with the less heart-warming subject of revenge, and included the predatory songs “Boom Boom, Out Go The Lights” and “Hey Joe.” Both are considered classic rock ‘n’ roll, or blues/rock in the case of “Boom Boom,” but as much as I respect Van Zandt, I’m still uncomfortable with these songs, especially considering the eternal epidemic of violence toward women in society.

One of the nonviolent break-up songs that came to mind was “Strike 3,” the B-side of a 45 record from the early 1980s by the Chicago band, Scraps. A male rock critic at the time blasted “Strike 3” as sexist, but I disagree. A man has the right to leave a relationship if he’s being played for a fool, and that’s what’s going on in this guitar-driven punk rock tune. The protagonist, as voiced by lead singer Pat Deane, even gives his girlfriend a trio of warnings that if she doesn’t stop messing around with other guys, he’s leaving. “Strike two, what the hell you trying to do? If you swing like that, baby, we’ll be through.” The girlfriend’s decision to go right on cheating brings a justified call of “Strike three, you blew your one last chance.” In the end, as Deane laments, “I lose you and you lose me,” no one has won, but at least no one wound up in the morgue.

The record’s A-side, “Gossip,” was a clever satire that still holds true in today’s celebrity obsessed culture. Guitarists Glenn Miller and Joe Minor help propel the song as Deane sings, “When you tell me a secret, it’s no secret any more.” Scraps also released the impressive 12” single “Hits/Temporary Love.” They were big on the Chicago club scene in the late 1970s/early 1980s, and those of us who lived on the southwest side were particularly proud of them because they got their start at Haywires, one of the few clubs in our placid neck of the woods where you could actually see punk and new wave bands. Deane had even gone to the same grammar school as me.

I was writing for a paper called Metro Calendar at the height of Scraps’ popularity, and my publisher Larry McManus claimed that Deane once told him that he remembered me as being a snot in our school days. I chose not to believe McManus since he was a perpetual wiseguy who also claimed that the lead guitarist for another local band smashed a Twinkie in his ear.

So, even if their lead vocalist did call me a snot, here’s a big thank you to Scraps for all the enjoyment they gave us.