Greg Mitchell is the author of more than a dozen books and now writer/director of three award-winning films aired via PBS, including “Atomic Cover-up” and “Memorial Day Massacre.” Now watch trailer for acclaimed 2025 film “The Atomic Bowl” coming to PBS in July. Before all that, he was a longtime editor of the legendary Crawdaddy. You can still subscribe to this newsletter for FREE. Sustain this newsletter by ordering one of his books.
Colbert loved the parade flopping as the protests soared.
Hitting the road again for a few days so a light posting today. I know you want your cartoons at least!
But first, did not know until today that Ray Charles sang lead with the Beach Boys in this live version of Brian Wilson’s co-written “Sail On, Sailor.” What a treat.
Next, let us celebrate the 60th anniversary this week of the two-day recording session for what some call the greatest single ever released, “Like A Rolling Stone” (I still have the 45 that I bought in summer of 1965). You’ve heard it a million times but probably not like the following:
This is the isolated Paul Griffin piano track. I could put this on a loop and listen to it all day.
And here’s the isolated and justifiably famous Mike Bloomfield lead guitar track:
Something else unusual: Striking front cover for this week’s New York magazine.
From Tunes to Toons
Another sketch from NYC “No Kings” rally by Steve Brodner:
Luci Gutierrez, The New Yorker:
A golden oldie from the Nixon era:
Thanks for sharing the Griffin and Bloomfield pieces. Interestingly, while the Griffin piano work definitely sounds like "Like a Rolling Stone", I don't think I would have been able to identify Bloomfield's guitar work as being from that recording--it doesn't reveal the melody at all. It's brilliant in that way. It calls to mind a story you may be familiar with that Al Kooper tells (I saw him tell this at a show he did some years ago at the old BB King House of Blues club in NYC, with Griffin in his band) in which he thanks Griffin for Al's role playing organ on the track. Al had never played an organ, so when he sat down to play it, he didn't know how to turn it on. Fortunately, the story goes, Griffin, who had been there before switching seats to play piano, had left the organ on. (In "A Complet Unknown", when the Kooper character sits down at the organ, they have another character come over and turn the switch on for him.)
From toxic overexposure during its run on the radio, I still cannot stand to hear even a few bars of the song, but I appreciate the artistry of Dylan and Mike Bloomfield.
Good cartoon selection, especially the one with Nixon and the dominoes, on the 53rd anniversary of the arrests of the Watergate burglars.