A new documentary, "The Stones and Brian Jones" (plus, his dulcimer)
May 8, 2023 9:34 PM Subscribe
A new documentary on the founder of the Rolling Stones will be on BBC Two next week, May 15 from 9 to 10:30PM. Interview with film-maker Nick Broomfield in The Guardian, the inside story of Rolling Stone Brian Jones. "He epitomized the dazzling 60s and then was gone." But what about the kid who swiped his electric dulcimer, 1n 1966? There's
Not the harpy zithers struck with little spoons called hammers, this concerns the Mountain or Appalachian dulcimer, the long, flat box usually played on the musician's knees. (Joni Mitchell used one on "Blue"). But Brian employed one earlier than that, on Lady Jane, and he got somebody to make him an electric version, so they could play the song live (as they do here, on the Ed Sullivan show).
Now, there's a journalist in The Washington Post named John Kelly, with a weekly column in which he unearths local trivia. Earlier this year he related how Brian's instrument went missing after their 1966 show at the Washington Coliseum, in A stolen Rolling Stones dulcimer: You can sometimes get what you want (archive link). The story prompted the criminal's sister to come forward, and the new information was published a few weeks later, in It's all over now: We found the kid who stole Brian Jones’s dulcimer (archive link).
The Appalachian Dulcimer, previously.
Not the harpy zithers struck with little spoons called hammers, this concerns the Mountain or Appalachian dulcimer, the long, flat box usually played on the musician's knees. (Joni Mitchell used one on "Blue"). But Brian employed one earlier than that, on Lady Jane, and he got somebody to make him an electric version, so they could play the song live (as they do here, on the Ed Sullivan show).
Now, there's a journalist in The Washington Post named John Kelly, with a weekly column in which he unearths local trivia. Earlier this year he related how Brian's instrument went missing after their 1966 show at the Washington Coliseum, in A stolen Rolling Stones dulcimer: You can sometimes get what you want (archive link). The story prompted the criminal's sister to come forward, and the new information was published a few weeks later, in It's all over now: We found the kid who stole Brian Jones’s dulcimer (archive link).
The Appalachian Dulcimer, previously.
Then, same guy who swipes (and later returns) it also gets backstage at the same venue with his friends by impersonating an opening act (including arriving by police motorcade) and, separately, meets the Beatles in their dressing room when they play D.C.
I have for many years known of the tale of the kids who got backstage at a Beatles gig by audaciously turning up early and saying, “Uh, yeah, we’re The Cyrkle.” I had no idea there was a prologue featuring... an impulsive heist by one of them. Thanks for the story.
For years I have pondered creating an FPP about how very different the musical world was when it was less connected, and unscrupulous promoters could, for example, pass off a random four-piece band from Texas as an English five-piece group that had broken up two years earlier. Bonus: the fake band contains two-thirds of what will in a few months be ZZ Top.
I guess in an era when the audience might know the appearance of an act from just an album cover or two and maybe a single spot on “Shindig” or something, it was feasible. I wonder how many people of my parents’ generation think they saw, I dunno, The McCoys doing “Hang On Sloopy” in a small club downtown in 1965 when it was actually some scammers pocketing the cover charge.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:30 AM on May 9, 2023 [4 favorites]
I have for many years known of the tale of the kids who got backstage at a Beatles gig by audaciously turning up early and saying, “Uh, yeah, we’re The Cyrkle.” I had no idea there was a prologue featuring... an impulsive heist by one of them. Thanks for the story.
For years I have pondered creating an FPP about how very different the musical world was when it was less connected, and unscrupulous promoters could, for example, pass off a random four-piece band from Texas as an English five-piece group that had broken up two years earlier. Bonus: the fake band contains two-thirds of what will in a few months be ZZ Top.
I guess in an era when the audience might know the appearance of an act from just an album cover or two and maybe a single spot on “Shindig” or something, it was feasible. I wonder how many people of my parents’ generation think they saw, I dunno, The McCoys doing “Hang On Sloopy” in a small club downtown in 1965 when it was actually some scammers pocketing the cover charge.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:30 AM on May 9, 2023 [4 favorites]
Lap dulcimers are great, but the ergonomics suck. Ricky Wilson of The B-52s had the right idea: take an electric guitar , leave off the middle two strings, and tune the top two in unison. It does mean you need a separate guitar for every key you play in, though.
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Ryan H. Walsh's book "Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968" - while nominally centred on Van Morrison's early years - is mostly about the Boston music scene in the 60s. A chunk of the book records how promoters would create several clones of a popular group to keep up with demand, and what happened when the real band ran into the copy. Very different times indeed, when a local scene was defined by city limits and radio range.
posted by scruss at 6:56 AM on May 9, 2023 [5 favorites]
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unscrupulous promoters could, for example, pass off a random four-piece band from Texas
Ryan H. Walsh's book "Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968" - while nominally centred on Van Morrison's early years - is mostly about the Boston music scene in the 60s. A chunk of the book records how promoters would create several clones of a popular group to keep up with demand, and what happened when the real band ran into the copy. Very different times indeed, when a local scene was defined by city limits and radio range.
posted by scruss at 6:56 AM on May 9, 2023 [5 favorites]
I wonder who Jones got to make/mod that instrument?
Lap dulcimers are great, but the ergonomics suck. Ricky Wilson of The B-52s had the right idea: take an electric guitar , leave off the middle two strings, and tune the top two in unison. It does mean you need a separate guitar for every key you play in, though.
At least Wilson still had a full set of frets.
Several modern manufacturers make dulcimers meant to be played in a more guitar-like fashion, which is an interesting folk hybrid that goes back at least 30 years. But the lap style of playing always seemed very weird to me until I heard such instruments with a more formal tradition. A young woman by the name of Johanna Dumfart gives this lovely demonstration of the Raffele, which seems to be a slightly upscale version of the Appalachian dulcimer. Or the grand daddy of the family, the concert zither, demonstrated by a gentleman named Rolf Loth, a technique that just breaks my brain.
posted by 2N2222 at 5:12 PM on May 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
Lap dulcimers are great, but the ergonomics suck. Ricky Wilson of The B-52s had the right idea: take an electric guitar , leave off the middle two strings, and tune the top two in unison. It does mean you need a separate guitar for every key you play in, though.
At least Wilson still had a full set of frets.
Several modern manufacturers make dulcimers meant to be played in a more guitar-like fashion, which is an interesting folk hybrid that goes back at least 30 years. But the lap style of playing always seemed very weird to me until I heard such instruments with a more formal tradition. A young woman by the name of Johanna Dumfart gives this lovely demonstration of the Raffele, which seems to be a slightly upscale version of the Appalachian dulcimer. Or the grand daddy of the family, the concert zither, demonstrated by a gentleman named Rolf Loth, a technique that just breaks my brain.
posted by 2N2222 at 5:12 PM on May 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
That's some contrast between the article and the reader comments. Jones hid a dodgy character beneath that choir boy appearance.
posted by epo at 7:26 AM on May 10, 2023
posted by epo at 7:26 AM on May 10, 2023
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True enough. I have a Seagull M4, which is very short of frets. I didn't realize the electric version — M4 Spruce EQ — was so (relatively) inexpensive.
I will now have to pester my Austrian boss for a Raffele: great find!
posted by scruss at 4:26 PM on May 10, 2023
At least Wilson still had a full set of frets.
True enough. I have a Seagull M4, which is very short of frets. I didn't realize the electric version — M4 Spruce EQ — was so (relatively) inexpensive.
I will now have to pester my Austrian boss for a Raffele: great find!
posted by scruss at 4:26 PM on May 10, 2023
A close inspection of the Ed Sullivan video shows they're lip-syncing, or whatever they called it then. That may be Mick singing live, put everybody else is just going through the motions. Towards the end Brian's strumming is clearly unsynchronized, and the studio track's harpsichord (played by Jack Nitzsche) is audible. For the real thing, here's Lady Jane in 1966, from Got Live If You Want It.
posted by Rash at 4:26 PM on May 10, 2023
posted by Rash at 4:26 PM on May 10, 2023
I love the ergonomics of my lap dulcimer. The secret is to use a strap around your waist like it's wearing a seatbelt so it won't slide off your lap. Combination of a dulcimer and a looper is aces for improvisational stage storytelling.
posted by sonascope at 3:38 AM on May 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by sonascope at 3:38 AM on May 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
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Then, same guy who swipes (and later returns) it also gets backstage at the same venue with his friends by impersonating an opening act (including arriving by police motorcade) and, separately, meets the Beatles in their dressing room when they play D.C.
Magic was flowin' man.
posted by riverlife at 10:30 PM on May 8, 2023 [1 favorite]