Oliver Sacks: Musical Minds Airs On PBS' NOVA

Music affects more parts of our brains than language does—clearly humans are musical animals. What can music tell us about our minds? And what can our minds tell us about music? Can the power of music make the brain come alive? Can it aid people battling severe neurological disorders? And why did Nietzsche declare that "without music, life would be a mistake?"

Tony is an orthopedic surgeon who had no formal musical training. [Then] he was struck by a bolt of lightning. He is now a composer and performer, playing to sell-out audiences.

Throughout his career, neurologist and acclaimed author Dr. Oliver Sacks has encountered myriad patients who are struggling to cope with debilitating medical conditions. While their ailments vary, many have one thing in common: an appreciation for the therapeutic effects of music. According to Sacks's latest book, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, anatomists cannot identify the brain of a visual artist, writer, or mathematician—but they can recognize the brain of a professional musician.

Stream this video for free now through July 7 only!

You can stream this NOVA presentation to a PC or other
device now through July 7, after which it will only be
available on DVD. (Click here to learn how to stream video.)

Debuting this past June, this episode of the long-running PBS series, NOVA, follows four afflicted individuals and even peers into Sacks's own brain to investigate music's strange, surprising, and still unexplained power over the human mind. With Sacks's help, Musical Minds highlights the unusual physical disorders four individuals face—chronicled in Musicophilia—even as it underscores how these people manage, survive, and transcend, often triumphantly. As Sacks says, it seems that music can bring back the feeling of life when nothing else can.

NOVA even puts Sacks himself into a functional MRI (fMRI) machine for two experiments. One of these shows Sacks's overwhelming neurological response when he listens to Bach's Mass in B Minor; but, when compared to a similar piece from Beethoven, his brain is almost unresponsive, revealing his clear distaste for the latter composer.

To us at Floydian Slips, this research—clearly presented in this intriguing NOVA episode—provides vindication why we, and not others, require music in our daily lives in order to function at all. This phenomenon was wholly inexplicable until now.

Note: An earlier book by Dr. Oliver Sacks, Awakenings, was made into a Oscar-nominated film starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro.

Rocking At the Red Dog: Psychedelic Age Begins

Planting the Seed(s) of the Psychedelic Age

We've been doing a lot of research as of late, using the '67 Summer of Love as a focal point. Arriving late to the party, what George Harrison saw disturbed him as he played street minstrel to thousands. His first-hand summation was amplified by PBS's American Experience worthy retrospective presented 40 years later (view it online for free). All of the sour grapes makes Floydian Slips glad we didn't accept Dr. Tim's admonition to tune out—not completely, anyway. (Tuning in and turning on were suggestions more easily accepted.)

The Beats aside, what's not well-known is the real backstory to the burgeoning Haight-Ashbury scene before the tour buses put the district on a freak show site-seeing route. It starts two years earlier, with the opening of the Red Dog Saloon in the unlikely location of Virginia City, NV.

The story gets two pages in I Want To Take You Higher—The Psychedelic Era 1965-1969, a magnificent coffee table volume issued by the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. As worthwhile as this volume is for any collector's library, the complete story is best told in Rockin' At the Red Dog—The Dawn of Psychedelic Rock. The expose that Life magazine missed, this comprehensive video includes rare photos, original footage of a pre-Janis Joplin Big Brother and the Holding Company, and interviews with many of those who were an integral part of the scene.

The best documentary on the ‘60s
ever made. Red Dog Saloon rocks!

Michael Simmons—Rolling Stone, L.A. Weekly, High Times, BAM

The Charlatans get a lot of attention for reasons best told by the video, an obvious labor of love for Director Mary Works (Assistant Editor, Titanic, Saving Private Ryan). Other groups included in the piece are Quicksilver Messenger Service, Grateful Dead and the Jefferson Airplane, although the viewer should not expect them to be a focal point. Rather, Rockin' At the Red Dog is really the story of how a handful of people began a cultural revolution that spread across America in a few short years. Interesting sidenotes include noted poster artist Anton Kelly on the advent of rock posters, and a look at Bill Ham's development of the de rigeur psychedelic light show.

It should be noted that, without the Red Dog's pioneering trailblazers, there very well may never have been an Avalon, a Fillmore, a Winterland, a Grande Ballroom, a Boston Tea Party, a Monterey Pop Festival, or a Woodstock. Netflix subscribers may instantly view this entertaining documentary; others may stream it over the 'Net using Amazon's Video On Demand service for a nominal fee.

Led Zeppelin: "Roadwork" Visits The Grande

Probably one of the best books about rock 'n' roll you'll ever see. — Pete Townshend

Shortly after WKNR's owner, Nellie Knorr, passed away, I got one of those "blue sky" phone calls from "Uncle" Russ Gibb (the latter being chronicled elsewhere in this blog). Among the topics of discussion was Russ' mentioning to me of Tom Wright's terrific photojournal, Roadwork—Rock & Roll Turned Inside Out.

Wright was the official photographer of The Who's first couple of U.S. tours, that group having debuted their Tommy rock opera at Russ' Grande Ballroom in Detroit. When one early tour came to an abrupt end, Tom returned to the Grande to take a turn as its manager. Later, he was instrumental in constructing the buildings for Richard Songer and Russ' Goose Lake International Music Festival (for which I serendipitously served on the film crew). Later, Wright toured with and photographed other rock groups, including Rod Stewart & the Faces.

One very amusing story came out of Wright's stint at the Grande, involving the "The New Yardbirds" (you may know them as Led Zeppelin). Surf over to this National Public Radio site, where you can also hear an interview with Wright. The story I allude to is further down the page and is entitled, Chapter 17: The Grande.

Hendrix In Detroit: Voodoo Child Rocks F1 Garage

Cuz I'm a Voodoo Chile...

I was blessed—or so you may think—to be one of those who heard/saw Jimi play live. It was back in—what, 1968?—at Detroit's Masonic Temple. I'm indifferent about having heard Jimi that particular evening, though, for two reasons.

First, Soft Machine, playing a warm-up role to Hendrix, completely stole the evening, between an incomparable light show and music that matched. If you've never heard Slightly All the Time from their Third release, reading this blog just paid off for you in spades. For me, this is one of those "desert island" recordings. Need I say any more? CONDITIONS: You should not be interrupted nor distracted in any way while listening to this piece for the first time, so maybe "lay back 'n groove on a (sunny) day" with this on your MP3 player, away from the Frisbee players, or wait until you know you have the house/apartment/yurt to yourself.

Back to the concert. Hendrix not only came on stage very late, but proceeded to put on one of the worst shows of his brief career with the Experience. In either Charles Cross' Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix or Kramer and McDermott's Hendrix: Setting the Record Straight (I don't remember which, but both are great reads), the author(s) point to Jimi's Cherokee blood vis a vis his reaction to alcohol as the culprit. Some 39 years later (!), I surmise this probably accounted for the exhibit we saw at Masonic that evening.

But I'm still very much a fan. So if you've got a moment, I'd like to relate another Hendrix, uh, "experience." The scene again is downtown Detroit, this time hosting its first Formula 1 Grand Prix event, with the Renaissance Center garage being given over to the likes of Team Lotus, Renault, McLaren, Ferrari, and the like. After checking out some decent bands playing in Hart Plaza and hoisting a few, fellow F1 fanatic Dave Collie (RIP) and I started indiscriminately yanking on RenCen garage doors until, voila, our "Open, Sezme" command was magically acknowledged!

Strutting in like we belonged, what was that we heard? Getting louder as we approached Team Lotus? You betcha...those famous opening bass lines to Voodoo Child eminating from a pair of very sizeable speakers. It was fabulous. And LOUD—reverberating off of that massive concrete structure where another "Jimmy"—he of the Teamsters—is reported to be forever entombed. (A Pillar of Esteemed Citizenship?) Anyway, I don't think I've ever heard that track (no pun intended) sound so good. And yes, a rubber frog hung from the ceiling of the Renault garage.

What I didn't know—until last year—is who was responsible for those fabulous bass lines. I just assumed it was Noel Redding and let it go at that. But then I rented Classic Albums: Jimi Hendrix: Electric Ladyland from Netflix. You should, too. For the Hendrix fan, the DVD is so interesting, and so well produced, it very well may end up as a purchase for my library. Heck...it's an EXPERIENCE!

So who is our mythical bass player? I'm not going to tell you, but you may click here if you'd like to spoil the surprise with a hint.