Post by darkstar3 on Jan 27, 2011 1:23:08 GMT
Rolling Stone
April 2 1970
Page 12
Author Unknown
ROCK & ROLL’S REAL DIRTY
SAN FRANCISCO – Anti-obscenity clauses are now being written into the contracts of some bands, with the group being required to post a cash bond that they forfeit if there is any “illegal, indecent, obscene, lewd, or immoral exhibition” while they are on stage.
In some cases, the city requires that the hall manager write it into a contract with promoters before the promoter is allowed to book an act into that hall. In other cases, the building managers require it anyhow. In all cases, the band loses a lot of bread – from $1,000 all the way up to $10,000 – if anyone says or does anything which might fit the description in the clause.
The practice came to light recently when the Jefferson Airplane forfeited $1,000 in Oklahoma City. Airplane manager Bill Thompson says promoter Leonard Jay of Gold Star Productions tired to write it into the Airplane contract for February 27th. Thompson says he refused to sign the rider, but promised Jay that if anyone is required to forfeit $1,000 to the city, the band would take care of it.
Then the Airplane played the Civic Center Music Hall in Oklahoma City. They finished their set ten minutes before the midnight curfew, but the crowd wanted more. A cop tool the microphone and said the Airplane couldn’t play anymore because they “had to get up early tomorrow.” It wasn’t true, the band wanted to do an encore, and Paul Kantner responded to the cop by saying “that’s a bunch of bullshit.” That was all it took.
Exactly what happened to the cash that the Airplane forfeited is unknown. They paid the money, as Thompson had promised, and promoter Jay turned it over to the building manager, who, presumably, paid it to the city. Jay, however, seems to think he’ll get it back, and Thompson expects it, too.
According to Jay, it’s becoming common practice. He said it’s usually forced on the building manager by city law. The building manager naturally doesn’t want to have to pay it, so he includes it in the contract he gives to promoters who want to book an act into his hall. The promoter then attaches it as a rider to the contract he signs with the group. Ultimately, then the band is responsible for coming up with the bread.
“It’s happening in a good number of places now,” Jay commented. “We don’t really have trouble finding places to book groups now, but eventually we will have problems. The trend, Jay said, started after the Jim Morrison caper in Florida, but it’s now ‘getting stiffer and stiffer. In some instances, the hall manager will require the promoter to post a bond even if the city doesn’t require it.”
The practice seems to be most popular in the South, but it’s not confined to that area. Denver, for example, requires a $10,000 bond payable in 30 days in advance of the concert. That’s by far the stiffest requirement.
Thompson announced the Airplane will no longer play halls that have that kind of requirement. Two of their shows – in Oklahoma City and in Anaheim – were recently taped by paranoid hall managers, and he fears that lyrics like “up against the wall, motherfucker” and “doesn’t mean shit to a tree” would be considered obscene. In other words, the Airplane couldn’t even perform some of the their current material if they complied with the clause.
“Paul didn’t offend anyone at all in that hall. This is all part of the same thing with Nixon and the crackdown on FM radio, where they can’t play dope songs that are considered obscene. Free speech doesn’t exist in this country. Who’s to decide what’s obscene and what isn’t; what’s obscene to me may not be to you…what is this obscenity bullshit?” Thompson demanded.
While Jay said that where the law exists, it is enforced equally against all rock bands. Thompson claims that authorities are gunning for specific bands. He named the Airplane, the Doors, the Grateful Dead (who recently had to post $5,000 in Texas), Janis Joplin (Jay says she co-operated when he wrote it into her contract) and Country Joe and the Fish.
Fish manager Ed Denson explained that the hall manager had tried to pull this number on them in Oklahoma City, but that they gave it to their lawyer immediately, and he negotiated a new clause. Under the rewritten rider he obtained, the Fish would not have to forfeit a bond unless they were arrested and convicted (and the conviction upheld by higher courts) for obscenity. This, he said, would prevent $1,000 ripoffs like the one on the Airplane, because Kantner was never even arrested. The bond was forfeited as soon as he uttered the word, “bullshit.”
The Fish, however, have been banned from a number of halls are fighting in the courts now for the right to play. “I’m thinking of getting some bands together and suing the living shit out of these hall managers for abridging our right to free speech. That’s just a bunch of two bit fascist bullshit,” Denson stated.
A Doors spokesman admitted that the band has had similar hassles, but has never had to actually post a bond before going on stage. “We decided not to do a date rather than do that – we get them to drop it or we’ll drop the date,: he said, adding that they’d only had to cancel once so far.
END.
Rolling Stone
April 2 1970
Page 18
JANIS FINED $200 FOR OFFENDING COPS
TAMPA, Fla. – Misdemeanant Janis Joplin failed to appear in Municipal Court here on March 4th, to face charges of alleged obscenity. She was found guilty and fined $200, plus court costs.
Judge Nick Falsone termed the 26-year old singer’s conduct as “very reprehensible” and fined her $100 on each count of profanity when her attorney did not contest the charges.
Miss Joplin was arrested last November and charged with making obscene remarks to policemen who interrupted her performance when they attempted to control an audience at Curtis Hixon Hall.
Miss Joplin objected to the use of bullhorns and violence by the police to force the crowd away from the stage.
It was – in fact – she who tried to quell the trouble in the face of the police provocations.
END.
Rolling Stone
April 2 1970
Page 20
COKE HAS GOT THE NARCS JUMPING
MIAMI - The switch, apparently, is to the real thing. Coke is coming into the United States, through Miami, in quantities worth millions of dollars at a time. And despite the high cost of snorting (a regular one gram dosage costs $50), “the traffic of cocaine is growing by leaps and bounds,” according to Dennis Dalyle, head of the local Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.
Where in 1967 22 kilograms of coke were confiscated in the US, the figure jumped to 90 keys last year, according to the Customs Bureau. And it is estimated that for every kilo seized, 10 evade the narcs.
Just last week, local narcs hauled in 10.5 kilograms - 23.1 pounds – of pure snow and more than 1000 caps of cocaine – total value $8.5 million.
Dalyle attributes the coke binge to a smuggling ring he says is controlled bya “Cuban Crime Syndicate, which could be called the ‘Cuban Mafia.”’
The white powder comes from coca bush leaves cultivated mainly in Peru and Bolivia. According to Dalyle, there are two principal partners in a typical smuggling operation: One in South and Central America – who buys the coca, sets up the labs, and dispatches couriers to take the snow up to the States, usually by plane. The other boss, in Miami, handles travel, security, accounting, and ‘quality control – cutting pure cocaine for wholesale and retail trade.”
And, with both narcs and smugglers getting hipper to the realities of the cocaine business, techniques are becoming more sophisticated. Smugglers have been assuming the guise of businessmen and tourists.
The syndicate has also begun recruiting younger people in the States who get $1,000, expenses, and a free round trip to a Latin America city for the task of bringing backs several packages of souvenirs. Nice work if you can get it.
END.
April 2 1970
Page 12
Author Unknown
ROCK & ROLL’S REAL DIRTY
SAN FRANCISCO – Anti-obscenity clauses are now being written into the contracts of some bands, with the group being required to post a cash bond that they forfeit if there is any “illegal, indecent, obscene, lewd, or immoral exhibition” while they are on stage.
In some cases, the city requires that the hall manager write it into a contract with promoters before the promoter is allowed to book an act into that hall. In other cases, the building managers require it anyhow. In all cases, the band loses a lot of bread – from $1,000 all the way up to $10,000 – if anyone says or does anything which might fit the description in the clause.
The practice came to light recently when the Jefferson Airplane forfeited $1,000 in Oklahoma City. Airplane manager Bill Thompson says promoter Leonard Jay of Gold Star Productions tired to write it into the Airplane contract for February 27th. Thompson says he refused to sign the rider, but promised Jay that if anyone is required to forfeit $1,000 to the city, the band would take care of it.
Then the Airplane played the Civic Center Music Hall in Oklahoma City. They finished their set ten minutes before the midnight curfew, but the crowd wanted more. A cop tool the microphone and said the Airplane couldn’t play anymore because they “had to get up early tomorrow.” It wasn’t true, the band wanted to do an encore, and Paul Kantner responded to the cop by saying “that’s a bunch of bullshit.” That was all it took.
Exactly what happened to the cash that the Airplane forfeited is unknown. They paid the money, as Thompson had promised, and promoter Jay turned it over to the building manager, who, presumably, paid it to the city. Jay, however, seems to think he’ll get it back, and Thompson expects it, too.
According to Jay, it’s becoming common practice. He said it’s usually forced on the building manager by city law. The building manager naturally doesn’t want to have to pay it, so he includes it in the contract he gives to promoters who want to book an act into his hall. The promoter then attaches it as a rider to the contract he signs with the group. Ultimately, then the band is responsible for coming up with the bread.
“It’s happening in a good number of places now,” Jay commented. “We don’t really have trouble finding places to book groups now, but eventually we will have problems. The trend, Jay said, started after the Jim Morrison caper in Florida, but it’s now ‘getting stiffer and stiffer. In some instances, the hall manager will require the promoter to post a bond even if the city doesn’t require it.”
The practice seems to be most popular in the South, but it’s not confined to that area. Denver, for example, requires a $10,000 bond payable in 30 days in advance of the concert. That’s by far the stiffest requirement.
Thompson announced the Airplane will no longer play halls that have that kind of requirement. Two of their shows – in Oklahoma City and in Anaheim – were recently taped by paranoid hall managers, and he fears that lyrics like “up against the wall, motherfucker” and “doesn’t mean shit to a tree” would be considered obscene. In other words, the Airplane couldn’t even perform some of the their current material if they complied with the clause.
“Paul didn’t offend anyone at all in that hall. This is all part of the same thing with Nixon and the crackdown on FM radio, where they can’t play dope songs that are considered obscene. Free speech doesn’t exist in this country. Who’s to decide what’s obscene and what isn’t; what’s obscene to me may not be to you…what is this obscenity bullshit?” Thompson demanded.
While Jay said that where the law exists, it is enforced equally against all rock bands. Thompson claims that authorities are gunning for specific bands. He named the Airplane, the Doors, the Grateful Dead (who recently had to post $5,000 in Texas), Janis Joplin (Jay says she co-operated when he wrote it into her contract) and Country Joe and the Fish.
Fish manager Ed Denson explained that the hall manager had tried to pull this number on them in Oklahoma City, but that they gave it to their lawyer immediately, and he negotiated a new clause. Under the rewritten rider he obtained, the Fish would not have to forfeit a bond unless they were arrested and convicted (and the conviction upheld by higher courts) for obscenity. This, he said, would prevent $1,000 ripoffs like the one on the Airplane, because Kantner was never even arrested. The bond was forfeited as soon as he uttered the word, “bullshit.”
The Fish, however, have been banned from a number of halls are fighting in the courts now for the right to play. “I’m thinking of getting some bands together and suing the living shit out of these hall managers for abridging our right to free speech. That’s just a bunch of two bit fascist bullshit,” Denson stated.
A Doors spokesman admitted that the band has had similar hassles, but has never had to actually post a bond before going on stage. “We decided not to do a date rather than do that – we get them to drop it or we’ll drop the date,: he said, adding that they’d only had to cancel once so far.
END.
Rolling Stone
April 2 1970
Page 18
JANIS FINED $200 FOR OFFENDING COPS
TAMPA, Fla. – Misdemeanant Janis Joplin failed to appear in Municipal Court here on March 4th, to face charges of alleged obscenity. She was found guilty and fined $200, plus court costs.
Judge Nick Falsone termed the 26-year old singer’s conduct as “very reprehensible” and fined her $100 on each count of profanity when her attorney did not contest the charges.
Miss Joplin was arrested last November and charged with making obscene remarks to policemen who interrupted her performance when they attempted to control an audience at Curtis Hixon Hall.
Miss Joplin objected to the use of bullhorns and violence by the police to force the crowd away from the stage.
It was – in fact – she who tried to quell the trouble in the face of the police provocations.
END.
Rolling Stone
April 2 1970
Page 20
COKE HAS GOT THE NARCS JUMPING
MIAMI - The switch, apparently, is to the real thing. Coke is coming into the United States, through Miami, in quantities worth millions of dollars at a time. And despite the high cost of snorting (a regular one gram dosage costs $50), “the traffic of cocaine is growing by leaps and bounds,” according to Dennis Dalyle, head of the local Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.
Where in 1967 22 kilograms of coke were confiscated in the US, the figure jumped to 90 keys last year, according to the Customs Bureau. And it is estimated that for every kilo seized, 10 evade the narcs.
Just last week, local narcs hauled in 10.5 kilograms - 23.1 pounds – of pure snow and more than 1000 caps of cocaine – total value $8.5 million.
Dalyle attributes the coke binge to a smuggling ring he says is controlled bya “Cuban Crime Syndicate, which could be called the ‘Cuban Mafia.”’
The white powder comes from coca bush leaves cultivated mainly in Peru and Bolivia. According to Dalyle, there are two principal partners in a typical smuggling operation: One in South and Central America – who buys the coca, sets up the labs, and dispatches couriers to take the snow up to the States, usually by plane. The other boss, in Miami, handles travel, security, accounting, and ‘quality control – cutting pure cocaine for wholesale and retail trade.”
And, with both narcs and smugglers getting hipper to the realities of the cocaine business, techniques are becoming more sophisticated. Smugglers have been assuming the guise of businessmen and tourists.
The syndicate has also begun recruiting younger people in the States who get $1,000, expenses, and a free round trip to a Latin America city for the task of bringing backs several packages of souvenirs. Nice work if you can get it.
END.