August 21, 2025 • 38 mins
Bradley Jay Fills in on NightSide
Cultural archivist David Bieber, who was an important part of WBCN and WFNX, joined us to chat about items in his archive that helped define Boston in the 70's. Included will be the detailed recounting of the night that Mayor Kevin White likely prevented a riot at the Boston Garden by springing the Rolling Stones from jail and getting them to the Garden in time to do the show! David was at that show and has the ticket stub. What events, venues, stores, restaurants, and more pop into your mind as helping define the seventies in Boston?
Cultural archivist David Bieber, who was an important part of WBCN and WFNX, joined us to chat about items in his archive that helped define Boston in the 70's. Included will be the detailed recounting of the night that Mayor Kevin White likely prevented a riot at the Boston Garden by springing the Rolling Stones from jail and getting them to the Garden in time to do the show! David was at that show and has the ticket stub. What events, venues, stores, restaurants, and more pop into your mind as helping define the seventies in Boston?
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Nike's Eye with Dan Ray. I'm going Easy Boston's
News Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm Bradley J for Dan tonight. Guess what I have
in my hands? You will never guess, So I'll go
ahead and tell you. I have me a Dave Maynard
Mayard in the Morning WBZ Boston coffee mug. How would
I ever have something like that? Don't you wish you
(00:26):
had this? Well, my guest brought it, and my guest
has brought many many things. David Bieber is his naming,
and he's a lifetime curator of stuff that's iconic American culture,
Boston area culture, and he goes back chronologically too. The
stuff he has brought here that we're going to talk
(00:46):
about is going to really engage you. And so when
you hear about these items and the stories that go
with these items, it's going to spark stories in you.
He is something from the Blizzard of seventy eight, So
we're going to focus on the decade of the seventies
and the Boston area and you'll see how that goes. David,
Welcome to the program.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Great to be with you, Bradley. Nice to be able
to showcase some of the toys and treasures from my archives.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
His name is David Beaver. He is it one hundred
thousand foot drop one zero?
Speaker 3 (01:18):
It's about ten thousand, ten thousand.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I'm telling everybody one hundred thousand. It doesn't matter. I
don't know what either one really looks like.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
I'm aspirational, so I'd grow into it, you know. Give
me the space and I'll fill it. No, I've got
ten thousand square feet at the Normwood Space Center in Norwood.
I had to leave the previous storage facility I had
been in about seven years ago. And the move entailed
two hundred and thirty seven pallets with approximately eighty five
(01:46):
hundred boxes. And it was Marx Movers that moved me
in twelve and a half tractor trailers. And if I
had any wisdom, I signed a twenty year least because
I don't want to do the move again.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Wow, all right, And so I know I have known
David a long time. I worked with David at WBCN.
David also worked at WFNX, and we see we see
each other probably more now than ever.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
We're night crawling all the time.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
David is definitely a night crawler. When I was doing
overnights at WBCN. He'd be there going through the parring
through the records, and I don't know what he was
looking for, but he was there. He's a late night guy,
and we have I don't see that they are really
going to mean a lot to you. Boston sports items,
Boston news items, boss electoral kind of things, radio promotional stuff.
(02:39):
And you say, well, Bradley Jay, I can't see it.
I want to see it. How are we going to
do this on the radio? Don't worry. First, I'm a
professional describer, so I will describe this stuff so you'll
know it better than if you saw it with your
own eyes. And secondly, during one of the breaks, maybe
at the bottom of this hour, during the news break,
I'm going to do a live Facebook so you can
(03:02):
see the stuff that we are talking about. I'll go
around the table and focus on each thing, and then
you'll know what it looks like. All you have to
do is go to my Facebook page, not yet, and
hopefully i'll have that up. I'll do it live well,
David's here, and you'll be able to see the stuff.
I only just thought of that method. That's why I
haven't done it already. So when you hear about some
(03:26):
of these items and the stories that go with it. Remember,
if it jogs memories for you and bring the stories
forth in your mind, share them six one seven, two, five, four,
ten thirty. If you have a collectible you want to share,
do that too, Or maybe have a question you want
to know if something's cool or not. You just want
(03:46):
to talk about an experience you got close to a collectible,
share that six one seven, two, five, four ten thirty.
All right, David, where do we start?
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yes, we decided we would start with a an open
letter from Peter Wolf and the Jay Giles Band regarding
the strike to save WBCN. WBCN as part of Boston history.
It was the rock station as far as I'm concerned,
And David and I have employment there in common, and
(04:19):
so does Peter Wolf, so that's a good place to start.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
So Peter Wolf was actually one of the original wbcndjs.
He was doing Late Night Overnight. He started back in
March of nineteen sixty eight, so we're talking significant decades ago,
and he came to a career crossroads where he had
to make a decision and actually a lot of the
things related to Peter Wolf's life or in his book
(04:46):
that just came out, a memoir called Waiting on the Moon.
Definitely go get it or check in for the audio book.
He does the reading himself. Anyhow, he was with the
Jay Giles Band and he was also doing late night
DJ at WBCN, and because of the timing, he had
to make a career decision. So after probably four or
(05:09):
five months, he had to leave a WBCN to focus
on what became a very successful career with Jay Giles Band,
as well as a great catalog of about eight solo
albums at this point. But in February of nineteen sixty nine,
nineteen seventy nine, I'm sorry. In nineteen seventy nine, the
ownership of WBCN transferred from the original owner, te Mitchell Hastings,
(05:34):
who had actually put the station on the air. New
ownership came on board, and there was great expectation that
these people were going to be very supportive and they
were going to spend money. And I was doing the
creative services at BCN. I was doing the marketing and
the externalization of the station and forging relationships with media
and advertisers and the music representatives, and we had a
(05:55):
great bouquet of flowers welcoming the new owners. I believe
it was Friday, the thirteenth of nineteen seventy nine. There
was yeah, and they came on with their own security people,
and they terminated about three quarters of the staff, including
most of the DJs. They kept a couple of the
ones that they thought were strong, Charles Lacuadera, Matt Siegel,
(06:19):
but overall it was just a decimation. And of course
what happened, I called Charles Lacuadera because he had done
the morning show six to ten and when this happened,
it was around noon, so he was already home and
I called him and I told him what happened. He
of course was aligned with the people who were already
creating a strike strategy, and he said, we're going to
meet tonight. We got to get together and figure out
(06:40):
what we're going to do. And I said, we can't
do it tonight. The clash are at the Harvard Square Theater, right.
It was the first American tour in the class, so
you know, we had to postpone that till Saturday, when
we came up as a kind of ongoing methodology of
how to forge community and advertise her listener support for
(07:01):
the people who were marching on the picket line in
front of the prew which from BCN was on the
fiftieth Florida the Prudential at that point, and we march
in the bitter cold for three weeks before the new
owners agreed that they had made a significant mistake. They
welcomed everybody back. There were ultimately no hard feelings, and
(07:22):
BCN went on to very significant greatness into the eighties
and nineties, and even to Bradley's credit, he was the
last man standing. Bradley Jay put the punctuation mark and
the exclamation point on the NWBCN with that song by
Pink Floyd seannaan You Crazy Diamond. It was also it
(07:45):
was August of two thousand and nine. And I think
the call letters exist somewhere in Florida at this point.
They're parked by the owners.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Why didn't you buy them?
Speaker 3 (07:58):
You're rich, too much responsibility. I want to collect things that.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Would be collecting, wouldn't it. Well, yeah, okay exactly, And
through the butterfly effect, I guess without things like this letter,
I might not be sitting here today. Because letters like
this helped them win the strike. And it is the
new management, the Tony and the Oedipus that hired me.
If they didn't hire me, I probably wouldn't be here today.
(08:24):
I'd probably be I don't know something else.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
And that letter from Peter Wolf ran in at Peter
and the Guiles Band's own expense, ran in the Boston Phoenix,
in the real paper, in the National Radio and Records
trade magazine, which the title was Radio and Records. But
it was a statement to the public that the real
(08:47):
WBCN was on the street, marching and picketing. And this
was an incredible show of support. And the fact that
the strike resolved so positively is a testament to the
people who were so supportive.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
All right, let me read the letter to you. It's
it's interesting in large type, an open letter from Peter
Wolf and the Jay Giles Band regarding the strike to
save WBCNFM, heading the Jay gous Man, Mister Michael Wiener.
Is that how you say it? Yes, okay, mister Michael Wiener,
(09:24):
Hemisphere Broadcasting blah blah blah. Dear sir, as the representative
and spokesperson for the j. Giles Band, this letter is
to inform you that we support the strike of the
WBCN staff members. Furthermore, we insist that any and all
BC and station endorsements be made by members of our
band be immediately removed from the air waves until negotiations
(09:46):
are completed. So you know, they're not going to be
playing any little things like hey, this is Peter Wolf
and you're listening to Yeah, so they had to go.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
I don't think he was quite that solemn and soft
spoken person.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Peter goes on as a former WBC and disc jockey
and now as a listener. It saddens me that such
estrangement between management and staff has occurred at a time
when I feel the station was sounding better than ever
with hope for the future. Signed Peter Wolf, PS. And
this is really on there. PS. I only dig. The
only scabs I dig are the ones on my elbows.
(10:24):
That's very Peter. And by the way, thanks to Peter
for being a guest not too long ago to talk
about his fantastic memoir that David just referenced.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
And there's another kind of great summary book. It's called
Counterculture in Boston nineteen sixty eight to the nineteen eighties
by a regional writer named Charles Giuliano. He used to
write for the Herald. He is a terrific chronicler of
those times, the sixty eight to the nineteen eighties. And
(10:54):
the cover has pictures from the strike, including a sign
that says we won. There's picture of Peter, There's picture
Charles Blackwadeer and Tracy Roach and Sus Sprecker, Mark Parento.
He's wearing his BC and colors. It's a great book.
You can probably find it on Amazon.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Counterculture in Boston nineteen sixty eight to the eighties. Now again,
I'm going to do a live video of this so
you can peruse what we have here tonight. I'll probably
do it in about ten minutes. Also, it occurs to me, David,
we do a more formal video, take photos of the stuff,
and you you do the voice over. Now I will
addit a video like a formal video.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Which mine is yours, all right, okay.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
And I want this to be inclusive. So if you
hear about anything that jogs jogs memories for you or
brings back stories, you can tell I want this to
be inclusive. So six one, seven, two, five, ten thirty.
And so if you have a collectible you'd like to
talk about that that is kind of like this maybe
(11:55):
brings you back to the seventies in the Boston area.
Maybe you have something from Leechmere or you know something
like that, or maybe you maybe you ate at one
of the rest of Pizza Pad and ken Moore Square
in the seventies.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Tell those stories, Pewter, Pott and Herbert's there.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Okay, We're going to go to John and Melrose first
after this break.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Brodley j for Dan special guest David Bieber. He's brought
in lots of stuff that has to do with Boston
culture in the seventies, and I'm hoping it jogs memories
for you and stories that you want to share. We're
going to go to John and Tom and Linda, but
I want to give you a little hint tease what
David's going to talk about after that. David Bieber, my
guest actually got to ride in a bus from Boston
(12:43):
and Cambridge with the Grateful Dead. Now there's a story.
Let's go first to John in Melrose. Here there we go,
John and Melrose. Hi, John, You're on WBZ, Hi John, Hi.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
John, I can hi can you hear me?
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Yes, all right, We're gonna just got to move on
call back and try to get that sorted out. My brother,
it's Tom and Rhode Island.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
Hi Tom, Hey Bradley, it's Tom Sandman.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Oh my god, Tom Samman, my production hero, my clever guy.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Tom Samman was the production person he made. Tell him
what you did, Tom. You worked with Billy West and
without you, right, without you would have not been BCN.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
Well, well, I was very lucky when I got hired
at BCN as one of the highlights of my life.
And to be able to work with so many talented
people like Charles Lakwadera and Ken Shelton and Billy West
in production, Mark Parento, David Bieber and Cha Chi our pal.
And it's great to hear you two guys in the
(13:54):
same room again. It's been a while. And you know
what we did in our studio was we did the
stuff in between the records. So if it was a contest,
if it was a promotion, if it was a funny bit,
it was if it was a song parody, that's the
kind of stuff that we concentrated on. And the commercials.
(14:14):
We did commercials for dozens and dozens of clients and.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
The lunch songs.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Yeah, the lunch songs were big, you know. That was
the tradition that was started by Steve Lushbaugh in the seventies,
and then it was carried on by Tom Couch and
Eddie Garadefki, two very talented writers and producers. And then
Eli Sher did some lunch songs and Dave Wollman and
(14:41):
Doll Kate's and I.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
What was a highlight for you at BCN something Maybe
the fireworks that you did.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
Well, the fireworks were really a highlight. There was another
highlight called the Fool's Parade, which only happened on the radio,
and we had a lot of fun with that.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Explain what the Fool's Parade was.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Well, it was a real parade that went around the
radio station and the Fenway on April Fool's Day, and
we had microphones and marching bands and it sounded great
on the air.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
If you.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
You know, we're willing to suspend your disbelief, you could
actually believe there was a real parade out there.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
It was a fake parade. It was like War of
the World's kind of people believed it was true and
behaved as though it was true.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
They came out and we were able to do it
because of the invention called the cart the broadcast KRT.
We were able to put marching band sound effects on
an endless loop over and over, and that really helped
seal the deal. That was a highlight. But also you
know I had the chance, thanks to David Bieber and Oedipus,
(15:50):
I had the chance to meet and interview Paul McCartney
with Chachi. And you know most radio stations they send
their stars, but BC ended a different They sent the fans,
knowing that the fans would have the great answer the
great questions for the artists. And that's why you, Bradley,
got a chance to meet David Bowie. You were a
(16:10):
big Bowie fan a bunch of times.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Tom, I realiate you checking in.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
I have to tell one story of appreciation and gratitude
to Tom, because I had the opportunity, through Jayeleno, went
at Allied Advertising to go to New York. Paul McCartney
was promoting and give my regards to broad Street a
film that he had done. And I thought for a
minute or a day, and I said, I'd love to go.
I'd love to shake Paul's hand and get his signature.
(16:38):
But Chachi and Tom are the super beatle fans here
under the roof of twelve sixty five Bolston. So I said,
you guys gotta go, and they went, and I gave
a Sergeant Pepper album to be signed by Paul. And
in the shuffle of the interview, someone else's Sergeant Pepper
album got signed and mine didn't. So came back empty hand.
(17:00):
Did twenty plus years later, probably thirty years, Tom comes
up to visit me at the archives in Norwood and
he says, I have something for you, and he gave
me an autograph forty five on Apple Records, signed by
Paul mccle.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
That's great, And then guilt was lifted from here.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Well, no, there was no guilt, but it was a
great gesture and incredibly generous.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
All right, Tom, I gotta, I gotta. I really appreciate
the call, brother.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
I'll always be grateful. I got one quick story to tell.
This is the funniest line I ever heard, Tank pauls
Faruzza instead quote. I didn't know David Dieber was my
boss at BCN until I read Carter Allen's book.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Yeah, that's a great book. On WBC and if you're insured, folks,
Carter Allen's book.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
Tom, thank you so much, guys, go you sound great.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Thank you, Thank you Tom. Linda in Weymouth, Linda, short time.
What what can you tell us? I'm so glad you're
with us?
Speaker 5 (18:01):
Hi, thank you. I advertise you, folks. I'm just interested
in the mobilia he may have of the blizzard of
seventy eight.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Well, we're definitely going to get to that. Where were
you in the blizzard of seventy eight, Linda, I was
in Quinsey.
Speaker 5 (18:21):
I was teaching a working with a workshop special needs
and I knew of the what do you call it?
Back up? But I did leave. They closed us down,
so we weren't stuck in anything of that. And I
(18:43):
couldn't should have taken homework home to Mark in grade,
but I didn't. I figured it'd be over tomorrow the
next day, a little that I know.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Yes, Well, I'm going to do a video of this
and you'll be able to see the Boston Sunday Glow
Blizzard of seventy eight headline, and it shows the abandoned
cars on what must be rooted one twenty eight. I'll
take a picture of that that was. That was in February, right,
that was kind of a year when not much happened
in Tall Boom.
Speaker 6 (19:12):
That was a big one, February nineteen seventy eight. All right, beauty, Linda,
thank you so much. We get to Mark and John
and Mel. John's gonna give it another shot. We'll see
after this on WBZ.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
You're on night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Well, here we are. It's Bradley Jay tonight and for
Dan and with David Bieber archivist. I guess you would
call him a cultural archivist. We're focusing on Boston in
the seventies and do some thinking about what that might entail.
That's Red Sox stuff, that's music band stuff, and much more. David,
(19:51):
we have. We're gonna go to John and Melrose again
and give them a shot. John. Okay, good good.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
David, Johnny l how are you?
Speaker 5 (20:02):
Hey?
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Good?
Speaker 3 (20:02):
How are you another broadcast veteran?
Speaker 4 (20:07):
Great to hear you on VZ. You know I got
my start and advertise it on WDZ.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
So what do you got for us? John?
Speaker 4 (20:15):
Hey? I got a quick question, David. In the archives
that you have, do you have any of the WFNX
air checks from the shows of recordings or is that
over when they sent it to Northeastern.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
I may have some things, but the great transference of
the various Phoenix companies, including the bound volumes of Boston
After Dark, Boston Phoenix, Cambridge Phoenix, the real paper, the
air checks, the interviews, the record library as such as
it was. All of that you know has gone to
(20:48):
Northeastern University. But the late Stephen Mintage, who was the
owner of all of these media properties and as he
wanted to be most known the publisher. He died I
think in twenty eighteen, but in twenty thirteen I worked
with him after he shut down the Boston Phoenix. I
(21:08):
worked for about seven months in the transference of all
of that content to Northeastern, and Steven's mandate was it
does not just be available for scholarly and academic purposes,
but that it'd be open to the public. And you
need to schedule an appointment with the people at the
Snow Library at Northeastern, but you will have success and
(21:30):
they're very accommodating and generous people. I recently sent a
friend of mine from Madrid, Spain, who was working on
a Velvet Underground book, and he turned the pages of
all of those bound volumes from nineteen sixty seven to
nineteen seventy on the hunt for any reference to the
Velvet Underground, either a review or a concert club listing
(21:53):
or an ad. So they took care of him. They
didn't know him, and I ran a little interference for him.
But you know it's available. So if you're looking for something, Johnny,
it's there.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
Yeah, definitely, that's great information. Do I get time for
a quick beat the story?
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Sure?
Speaker 4 (22:11):
By last day at FNX, after fifteen years, I've only
seen Steven Mindeter's Mercedes in the parking lot up and
Lynn twice.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
So he was the boss, so everyone knows the deal.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
Yeah he was.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
He was Bruce Springsteen's the boss of music. Stephen was
the boss of media of.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
Fn Do I come driving in second time, Steven's Mercedes
is outside. They go, this can't be good, So I
go in there. And of course it was the day
where they announced that they sold to I had I
believe it was back then in twenty twelve, and the
manager at the dead time was there after they made
the announcement. Okay, you got ten minutes to go into
(22:53):
your office and clean it out. I'm going to forget this, David.
So I go into my office. Now my office was
all and I is compared to yours, David. At the Phoenix,
you know, but there was still fifty thousands of pictures, events, tickets,
tax stage passes everywhere. And my boss came in and said, hey,
you got to get out of you know, you have
(23:15):
to get out of the building. And you were standing
right behind him, and you said to her, you go, Johnny.
You can stay as long as you want, take your
time and clean your stuff up, and I'll never forget that.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
That's my day. Thanks John. That's a good story.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Great to hear from you.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
To go to Mark and Boston. Hi, Mark, you're on
wb Z on that side.
Speaker 7 (23:32):
Good Adan. I heard you talking about the fake parade
at on DCM, but I was wondering if either of
you were there. Maybe we've already discussed this previously. I
missed a few misses about the fake Bruce Bringstein concert
at Friendwick Park.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
I don't know anything about that. Yeah, I guess we're
going to depend on you. Do you know anything about that? David?
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Well, uh no, I mean go ahead, if you did,
you were you listening into them? What year was that
do you think?
Speaker 7 (24:00):
Well, it was sometime in the eighties, because I was
hanging out with a friend who said he listened to
it and he believed it, and maybe he made it.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Maybe he just made it up.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
We did a lot of We did a lot of
fascinating things as far as marketing and promotion. One year,
I think it was the twentieth anniversary of the station
in nineteen eighty eight, and we bought out the entire
Worcester Centrum for an Aerosmith free concert and the only
way you can get tickets was via WBCN And that
(24:32):
was one of the great great events that we did.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
And I don't know if you remember this, but this
is that's the night I accidentally jumped on Stephen Tyler's
back on stage. Oh you know that story?
Speaker 8 (24:41):
No?
Speaker 2 (24:42):
No, what is that like?
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Father planning it? He ain't heavy, he's my brother.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
I don't have time to tell it now, Well maybe
I should do. I'll do the brief. I'll tell you what.
Thank you very much, Mark, and I'll take the next
few seconds to tell that story. If not, now, when
so you mentioned this concert, it was a big We
had a party bus that DJ's went at one point,
we're all going to get up on stage. That was
part of the thing. Thank all the bcn BC and
(25:08):
fans for supporting us for twenty years. Everyone got in
for freezer. They're all in a good mood and we're
all the jocks are on the edge of the stage
kind of waiting to go out and do that thank
you thing. The song being played was walk this Way,
and it's a big big deal. If you're right on
the stage fifteen feet from Stephen Tyler doing walk this Way,
(25:28):
it is a kind of a life changing moment. But
this was even more life changing. I'm standing on the
side of the stage on a riser about eighteen inches high,
and Stephen, during the song, comes over to me. He's singing,
you know it's and he coming over to me. Everybody
can see this. A whole b c entrum points to
(25:50):
his back. He bends over and points to his back.
He keeps pointing to it insistently, and I'm thinking, what
does he want? It looks like he wants me to
jump on his back. But that cannot be. That's that's impossible.
If I do this and I'm wrong, it is career ending.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
It's bad.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
So he goes back and starts singing the song more
Wow dance way, and then he comes back does it again.
He looks at me, points to his back insistently, and
what do I do? I mean, she whizz. You gotta
go for it. At this point, I guess, And so
(26:28):
I did jump on his back during walk this way,
and he was It turns out that's not what he wanted,
but he was a good sport. He stumbled around, give
me a piggyback ride for like whatever. The rodeo time
is eight seconds and maybe maybe ten seconds, and I
(26:49):
was struck by how big I was compared to him
and heavy. He was really good there. There was no
security rushed out and tackled me or anything. And after
a while he dropped me down. It's a good sport.
I went back to my station. It turns out can
you guess what he wanted? No, you can't. He wanted
a congo line. He wanted me to put my hands
(27:10):
on his waist and do a congo line, which someone
else figured out and they did have a congo line,
but that was a I suppose I should have been embarrassed,
but I wasn't. How was I supposed to know. I
had to make a decision, and you know, it's rock
and roll. You got to go for it. I guess
how would it be if if I didn't do it?
(27:30):
You know, I like the way it turned out much
much better.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
I think if you ever had a business card, your
logo should be that a drawing of Brandy j riding
Steven Tyler into the sunset.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
We have many more artifacts that get into many more
areas of the seventies in Boston, and if anything, jog's
the story for you, we want to hear about it.
If you have a collectible, we want to hear about it.
Six point seven two five, four ten thirty Real quick,
David in San Francisco. How are you feeling, David, I'm.
Speaker 8 (28:02):
Doing pretty well. Thank you. Bradley. First of all, brother,
I want to tell you your show yesterday was one
of the best I've ever heard from you. With the
history of Boston and then the nuclear stuff.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Was I set the bar pretty low, so it's it's
that difficulties to pass myself. Well. Thank you. I really
appreciate that confidence. Thank you. The live car.
Speaker 8 (28:29):
Yesterday was it was just super I was really uh glued,
but The reason I called Bradley is I want to
ask you, where's your all time favorite number one song?
Speaker 2 (28:40):
That's getting kind of away from what we're doing. But
I'll just be to be fast, I'll say David Bowie Heroes,
Heroes by David Bowie.
Speaker 8 (28:47):
Okay, I'll tell you mine, and you might agree with me,
But my favorite is walking in the Rain by Flashing
the Pan.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Oh my god, you know what. I like that one
better than Heroes. It is the only song I tried
to cover it I couldn't. It's the only song I
ever called a radio station to find out what it was.
Speaker 8 (29:06):
The two main guys in that group, we're a guy
named Harry Banda and George Young. And I don't know
much about Harry Bando, but George Young is the older
brother Malcolm and angers hung from a CDC and then
and Young.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
They were a songwriting team and they were also in
the Easy Beats.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
Yeah, they went all the way back to the Easy
Beats and the mid nineteen sixties.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
On my Mind, Yeah, covered by David Bowie. See how
that comes full circle?
Speaker 3 (29:38):
Oh wow, do you do that in the pin Ups album?
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Yeah? Okay, I believe so. God it helps because that
was his album of covers. Yeah, okay, David, wonderful call,
and we need to move on, so we'll get to
more of these artifacts and hopefully jogs from Boston seventies
memories for you on w BZ.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on w b Boston's
new radio.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
All right, who Now, I just did a live video
showing some of the artifacts that we are speaking about,
actually most of them. I'm going to end that, end
the stream, and that went live to my Facebook page
and LinkedIn, so that will help you visualize some of
the items we're talking about if you are savvy enough
(30:23):
to get onto my Facebook page. Bradley, Bradley j all right,
David Bieber, get closer to that microphone there.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
All right, So I think next what I want to
talk about is a beautiful portrait of Jerry Garcia, shot
in black and white by a great photographer, Michael Dobo.
And this, to me is a classic study black and white,
silhouettes and points and just beautiful. And it relates to
(30:51):
nineteen seventy one at Sergeant Jim The Grateful Dead. We're
playing back in those days Record Companies Warner Brothers was
where The Grateful Dead were aligned. There was a lot
of tour support and marketing and advertising. The record companies
would actually underwrite tours just so that the bands could
(31:12):
play in front of a lot of people at an expensive,
low dough concert price. I was at that point the
music director of wbu R, and they actually played music
back in those days, and I was tasked with going
to a holiday inn on mass ab in Cambridge to
interview the band. Now, the way I got around in
(31:33):
those days was my thumb. I was hitchhiking everywhere. I
would hitchhike from Boston to Cleveland, where my family was.
I would hitchhike from Boston to Cambridge.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Whatever. However, any best stories are hitchhiking stories, absolutely, and
so I hitchhiked this holiday in.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
I did my interview with the band, Jerry and Bob
and all of the members, and they said, hey, you know,
are you going to the concert tonight. You know we're
supposed to play at Sergeant Jim Boston University. It's two
dollars to go. I said yeah, And they said, well,
you know, how are you getting there? I said, well,
I'm hitchhiking. They said, well, why don't you come on
(32:11):
the bus. We don't know where we're going. There was
no GPS in those days, there were no other means
of getting there. I was the guide, the tour guide
to get the Grateful Dead to the gig, you know,
get me to the party on time. And went from
Cambridge over the bridge and then downstore Drive and there
it was all right.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
I have to drill down a little bit on this.
You went on the bus, on the bus, and so
what was it like on the bus? Describe the bus,
Describe the vibe. Who was on the bus with them?
Speaker 3 (32:39):
Oh, it was on them?
Speaker 2 (32:40):
And then was it red velvet or something?
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Oh no, no, it was just very primitive. I mean,
there was no luxury. This was the beginning of the
band's tour. I remember connecting with a guy named Dennis
McNally who's kind of the official historian of the Grateful
Dead and he's written a number of books and been
the spokesperson for them for many decades. But that was
a thrill. I mean, in that one year at wu
(33:05):
R when I was music director in seventy one, the
people that I interviewed or I encountered, I know that
David Bowie is a particular fan of yours. But I
interviewed him.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
David is a big fan of mine.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Yeah, And I interviewed David Bowie with a guy named
John Hockheimer, who's the DJ at w R. We spent
two hours talking to David Bowie. He was on a
tour that was, he had no working papers because in
those days there had to be an exchange of artists.
You know, if seven British musicians came to America, seven
(33:42):
American musicians could go to England. And it was a
very kind of quota system back and forth. So Bowie
did not fit that quota for performing yet, and all
he could do was a media tour. And this was
before I had met Lou Reed and other people in
the Warhome Brigade, and he had not met these people.
He wanted to know everything. That was his mission, that
(34:04):
was his goal. And he was even still at that
point on Mercury Records. He hadn't even been signed to RCA,
where he in a subsequent year had great, great success,
but he hadn't adopted the Ziggi persona or any of that.
So we had people like that. We had BB King,
we had Paul Cantner from the Jefferson Airplane. We had
(34:28):
Don McClane slightly before American Pie and sadly b are
so impoverished. In those days, we didn't have any recording tape.
So if you believe the theory that all the radio
waves the bounce out there in the cosmos, someday be
able to retrieve.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Yeah, you have to get in a very fast car
to catch up to that. Yeah. Wow, what a great story.
Now I think we have time to delve into one
of the big time stories. The Oh you know, this
is a good time to segue from bus to bus.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
So from riding on the bus with the Grateful Dead
A couple of years later, bussing in Boston. If we're
talking about the most consequential events of the nineteen seventies
in this vicinity, bussing was a major, major issue. This
was a situation that really initiated in nineteen seventy four
(35:27):
and desegregation was court ordered in Boston and that meant
the bussing of students in Roxbury to South Boston and reverse.
And it was a very very brutal time, kind of
an ugly part of the history of the city. A
(35:48):
lot of contentiousness, a lot of police you know, kind
of protecting students there. I brought in a book called
Boston Riots, which is called Three Centuries of Social Violence.
The cover photograph is a world famous one by Stanley Foreman,
who actually won two Polisher Prizes for spot photography. One
(36:12):
was for a woman and her child falling off of
outdoor fire as.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
I remember that one, yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
And the other one that he shot is of this
teenage hooligan who is attacking a lawyer and a civil
rights activist named Ted Lansmark, who I still see occasionally
around town. He is still here. He was on the
receiving end of what looked like an attack with an
(36:39):
American flag, and it is such a dramatic encapsulation of
those troubled times. The title of that photograph is popularly
known as the Soiling of Old Glory, and it's just
a sad history, but nonetheless a very vital photograph. If
(37:00):
Dennis Lahine actually wrote a book called Small Mercies which
touches upon both that period in South East as well
as not only bussing but also the strange times of
white Bulger in that era as well.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
By the way, if you want to share this at
some point, you can google Nightside on Demand and it's
right there, and there's a share button and everything. So
if you know anybody that would be interested in this
that might not know what's going on, share it with him. Also,
I did post successfully. I see. I believe, I believe,
I see. I did post a live video including the photos,
(37:41):
the best I could do because I couldn't really see
what was going on, had a guess of the artifacts
we're talking about. And I do want to remind you
if any of these things we're talking about remind you
of memories, maybe you were there for bussing, maybe you
were there for the Blizzard of seventy eight, please do
call share. I'd love to hear your story. Sorry, we
would love to hear your story. Six one, seven, two, five, four,
(38:04):
ten thirty. We want to hear you on WBZ
It's Nike's Eye with Dan Ray. I'm going Easy Boston's
News Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm Bradley J for Dan tonight. Guess what I have
in my hands? You will never guess, So I'll go
ahead and tell you. I have me a Dave Maynard
Mayard in the Morning WBZ Boston coffee mug. How would
I ever have something like that? Don't you wish you
(00:26):
had this? Well, my guest brought it, and my guest
has brought many many things. David Bieber is his naming,
and he's a lifetime curator of stuff that's iconic American culture,
Boston area culture, and he goes back chronologically too. The
stuff he has brought here that we're going to talk
(00:46):
about is going to really engage you. And so when
you hear about these items and the stories that go
with these items, it's going to spark stories in you.
He is something from the Blizzard of seventy eight, So
we're going to focus on the decade of the seventies
and the Boston area and you'll see how that goes. David,
Welcome to the program.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Great to be with you, Bradley. Nice to be able
to showcase some of the toys and treasures from my archives.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
His name is David Beaver. He is it one hundred
thousand foot drop one zero?
Speaker 3 (01:18):
It's about ten thousand, ten thousand.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I'm telling everybody one hundred thousand. It doesn't matter. I
don't know what either one really looks like.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
I'm aspirational, so I'd grow into it, you know. Give
me the space and I'll fill it. No, I've got
ten thousand square feet at the Normwood Space Center in Norwood.
I had to leave the previous storage facility I had
been in about seven years ago. And the move entailed
two hundred and thirty seven pallets with approximately eighty five
(01:46):
hundred boxes. And it was Marx Movers that moved me
in twelve and a half tractor trailers. And if I
had any wisdom, I signed a twenty year least because
I don't want to do the move again.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Wow, all right, And so I know I have known
David a long time. I worked with David at WBCN.
David also worked at WFNX, and we see we see
each other probably more now than ever.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
We're night crawling all the time.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
David is definitely a night crawler. When I was doing
overnights at WBCN. He'd be there going through the parring
through the records, and I don't know what he was
looking for, but he was there. He's a late night guy,
and we have I don't see that they are really
going to mean a lot to you. Boston sports items,
Boston news items, boss electoral kind of things, radio promotional stuff.
(02:39):
And you say, well, Bradley Jay, I can't see it.
I want to see it. How are we going to
do this on the radio? Don't worry. First, I'm a
professional describer, so I will describe this stuff so you'll
know it better than if you saw it with your
own eyes. And secondly, during one of the breaks, maybe
at the bottom of this hour, during the news break,
I'm going to do a live Facebook so you can
(03:02):
see the stuff that we are talking about. I'll go
around the table and focus on each thing, and then
you'll know what it looks like. All you have to
do is go to my Facebook page, not yet, and
hopefully i'll have that up. I'll do it live well,
David's here, and you'll be able to see the stuff.
I only just thought of that method. That's why I
haven't done it already. So when you hear about some
(03:26):
of these items and the stories that go with it. Remember,
if it jogs memories for you and bring the stories
forth in your mind, share them six one seven, two, five, four,
ten thirty. If you have a collectible you want to share,
do that too, Or maybe have a question you want
to know if something's cool or not. You just want
(03:46):
to talk about an experience you got close to a collectible,
share that six one seven, two, five, four ten thirty.
All right, David, where do we start?
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yes, we decided we would start with a an open
letter from Peter Wolf and the Jay Giles Band regarding
the strike to save WBCN. WBCN as part of Boston history.
It was the rock station as far as I'm concerned,
And David and I have employment there in common, and
(04:19):
so does Peter Wolf, so that's a good place to start.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
So Peter Wolf was actually one of the original wbcndjs.
He was doing Late Night Overnight. He started back in
March of nineteen sixty eight, so we're talking significant decades ago,
and he came to a career crossroads where he had
to make a decision and actually a lot of the
things related to Peter Wolf's life or in his book
(04:46):
that just came out, a memoir called Waiting on the Moon.
Definitely go get it or check in for the audio book.
He does the reading himself. Anyhow, he was with the
Jay Giles Band and he was also doing late night
DJ at WBCN, and because of the timing, he had
to make a career decision. So after probably four or
(05:09):
five months, he had to leave a WBCN to focus
on what became a very successful career with Jay Giles Band,
as well as a great catalog of about eight solo
albums at this point. But in February of nineteen sixty nine,
nineteen seventy nine, I'm sorry. In nineteen seventy nine, the
ownership of WBCN transferred from the original owner, te Mitchell Hastings,
(05:34):
who had actually put the station on the air. New
ownership came on board, and there was great expectation that
these people were going to be very supportive and they
were going to spend money. And I was doing the
creative services at BCN. I was doing the marketing and
the externalization of the station and forging relationships with media
and advertisers and the music representatives, and we had a
(05:55):
great bouquet of flowers welcoming the new owners. I believe
it was Friday, the thirteenth of nineteen seventy nine. There
was yeah, and they came on with their own security people,
and they terminated about three quarters of the staff, including
most of the DJs. They kept a couple of the
ones that they thought were strong, Charles Lacuadera, Matt Siegel,
(06:19):
but overall it was just a decimation. And of course
what happened, I called Charles Lacuadera because he had done
the morning show six to ten and when this happened,
it was around noon, so he was already home and
I called him and I told him what happened. He
of course was aligned with the people who were already
creating a strike strategy, and he said, we're going to
meet tonight. We got to get together and figure out
(06:40):
what we're going to do. And I said, we can't
do it tonight. The clash are at the Harvard Square Theater, right.
It was the first American tour in the class, so
you know, we had to postpone that till Saturday, when
we came up as a kind of ongoing methodology of
how to forge community and advertise her listener support for
(07:01):
the people who were marching on the picket line in
front of the prew which from BCN was on the
fiftieth Florida the Prudential at that point, and we march
in the bitter cold for three weeks before the new
owners agreed that they had made a significant mistake. They
welcomed everybody back. There were ultimately no hard feelings, and
(07:22):
BCN went on to very significant greatness into the eighties
and nineties, and even to Bradley's credit, he was the
last man standing. Bradley Jay put the punctuation mark and
the exclamation point on the NWBCN with that song by
Pink Floyd seannaan You Crazy Diamond. It was also it
(07:45):
was August of two thousand and nine. And I think
the call letters exist somewhere in Florida at this point.
They're parked by the owners.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Why didn't you buy them?
Speaker 3 (07:58):
You're rich, too much responsibility. I want to collect things that.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Would be collecting, wouldn't it. Well, yeah, okay exactly, And
through the butterfly effect, I guess without things like this letter,
I might not be sitting here today. Because letters like
this helped them win the strike. And it is the
new management, the Tony and the Oedipus that hired me.
If they didn't hire me, I probably wouldn't be here today.
(08:24):
I'd probably be I don't know something else.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
And that letter from Peter Wolf ran in at Peter
and the Guiles Band's own expense, ran in the Boston Phoenix,
in the real paper, in the National Radio and Records
trade magazine, which the title was Radio and Records. But
it was a statement to the public that the real
(08:47):
WBCN was on the street, marching and picketing. And this
was an incredible show of support. And the fact that
the strike resolved so positively is a testament to the
people who were so supportive.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
All right, let me read the letter to you. It's
it's interesting in large type, an open letter from Peter
Wolf and the Jay Giles Band regarding the strike to
save WBCNFM, heading the Jay gous Man, Mister Michael Wiener.
Is that how you say it? Yes, okay, mister Michael Wiener,
(09:24):
Hemisphere Broadcasting blah blah blah. Dear sir, as the representative
and spokesperson for the j. Giles Band, this letter is
to inform you that we support the strike of the
WBCN staff members. Furthermore, we insist that any and all
BC and station endorsements be made by members of our
band be immediately removed from the air waves until negotiations
(09:46):
are completed. So you know, they're not going to be
playing any little things like hey, this is Peter Wolf
and you're listening to Yeah, so they had to go.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
I don't think he was quite that solemn and soft
spoken person.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Peter goes on as a former WBC and disc jockey
and now as a listener. It saddens me that such
estrangement between management and staff has occurred at a time
when I feel the station was sounding better than ever
with hope for the future. Signed Peter Wolf, PS. And
this is really on there. PS. I only dig. The
only scabs I dig are the ones on my elbows.
(10:24):
That's very Peter. And by the way, thanks to Peter
for being a guest not too long ago to talk
about his fantastic memoir that David just referenced.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
And there's another kind of great summary book. It's called
Counterculture in Boston nineteen sixty eight to the nineteen eighties
by a regional writer named Charles Giuliano. He used to
write for the Herald. He is a terrific chronicler of
those times, the sixty eight to the nineteen eighties. And
(10:54):
the cover has pictures from the strike, including a sign
that says we won. There's picture of Peter, There's picture
Charles Blackwadeer and Tracy Roach and Sus Sprecker, Mark Parento.
He's wearing his BC and colors. It's a great book.
You can probably find it on Amazon.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Counterculture in Boston nineteen sixty eight to the eighties. Now again,
I'm going to do a live video of this so
you can peruse what we have here tonight. I'll probably
do it in about ten minutes. Also, it occurs to me, David,
we do a more formal video, take photos of the stuff,
and you you do the voice over. Now I will
addit a video like a formal video.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Which mine is yours, all right, okay.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
And I want this to be inclusive. So if you
hear about anything that jogs jogs memories for you or
brings back stories, you can tell I want this to
be inclusive. So six one, seven, two, five, ten thirty.
And so if you have a collectible you'd like to
talk about that that is kind of like this maybe
(11:55):
brings you back to the seventies in the Boston area.
Maybe you have something from Leechmere or you know something
like that, or maybe you maybe you ate at one
of the rest of Pizza Pad and ken Moore Square
in the seventies.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Tell those stories, Pewter, Pott and Herbert's there.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Okay, We're going to go to John and Melrose first
after this break.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Brodley j for Dan special guest David Bieber. He's brought
in lots of stuff that has to do with Boston
culture in the seventies, and I'm hoping it jogs memories
for you and stories that you want to share. We're
going to go to John and Tom and Linda, but
I want to give you a little hint tease what
David's going to talk about after that. David Bieber, my
guest actually got to ride in a bus from Boston
(12:43):
and Cambridge with the Grateful Dead. Now there's a story.
Let's go first to John in Melrose. Here there we go,
John and Melrose. Hi, John, You're on WBZ, Hi John, Hi.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
John, I can hi can you hear me?
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Yes, all right, We're gonna just got to move on
call back and try to get that sorted out. My brother,
it's Tom and Rhode Island.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
Hi Tom, Hey Bradley, it's Tom Sandman.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Oh my god, Tom Samman, my production hero, my clever guy.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Tom Samman was the production person he made. Tell him
what you did, Tom. You worked with Billy West and
without you, right, without you would have not been BCN.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
Well, well, I was very lucky when I got hired
at BCN as one of the highlights of my life.
And to be able to work with so many talented
people like Charles Lakwadera and Ken Shelton and Billy West
in production, Mark Parento, David Bieber and Cha Chi our pal.
And it's great to hear you two guys in the
(13:54):
same room again. It's been a while. And you know
what we did in our studio was we did the
stuff in between the records. So if it was a contest,
if it was a promotion, if it was a funny bit,
it was if it was a song parody, that's the
kind of stuff that we concentrated on. And the commercials.
(14:14):
We did commercials for dozens and dozens of clients and.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
The lunch songs.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Yeah, the lunch songs were big, you know. That was
the tradition that was started by Steve Lushbaugh in the seventies,
and then it was carried on by Tom Couch and
Eddie Garadefki, two very talented writers and producers. And then
Eli Sher did some lunch songs and Dave Wollman and
(14:41):
Doll Kate's and I.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
What was a highlight for you at BCN something Maybe
the fireworks that you did.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
Well, the fireworks were really a highlight. There was another
highlight called the Fool's Parade, which only happened on the radio,
and we had a lot of fun with that.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Explain what the Fool's Parade was.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Well, it was a real parade that went around the
radio station and the Fenway on April Fool's Day, and
we had microphones and marching bands and it sounded great
on the air.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
If you.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
You know, we're willing to suspend your disbelief, you could
actually believe there was a real parade out there.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
It was a fake parade. It was like War of
the World's kind of people believed it was true and
behaved as though it was true.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
They came out and we were able to do it
because of the invention called the cart the broadcast KRT.
We were able to put marching band sound effects on
an endless loop over and over, and that really helped
seal the deal. That was a highlight. But also you
know I had the chance, thanks to David Bieber and Oedipus,
(15:50):
I had the chance to meet and interview Paul McCartney
with Chachi. And you know most radio stations they send
their stars, but BC ended a different They sent the fans,
knowing that the fans would have the great answer the
great questions for the artists. And that's why you, Bradley,
got a chance to meet David Bowie. You were a
(16:10):
big Bowie fan a bunch of times.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Tom, I realiate you checking in.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
I have to tell one story of appreciation and gratitude
to Tom, because I had the opportunity, through Jayeleno, went
at Allied Advertising to go to New York. Paul McCartney
was promoting and give my regards to broad Street a
film that he had done. And I thought for a
minute or a day, and I said, I'd love to go.
I'd love to shake Paul's hand and get his signature.
(16:38):
But Chachi and Tom are the super beatle fans here
under the roof of twelve sixty five Bolston. So I said,
you guys gotta go, and they went, and I gave
a Sergeant Pepper album to be signed by Paul. And
in the shuffle of the interview, someone else's Sergeant Pepper
album got signed and mine didn't. So came back empty hand.
(17:00):
Did twenty plus years later, probably thirty years, Tom comes
up to visit me at the archives in Norwood and
he says, I have something for you, and he gave
me an autograph forty five on Apple Records, signed by
Paul mccle.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
That's great, And then guilt was lifted from here.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Well, no, there was no guilt, but it was a
great gesture and incredibly generous.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
All right, Tom, I gotta, I gotta. I really appreciate
the call, brother.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
I'll always be grateful. I got one quick story to tell.
This is the funniest line I ever heard, Tank pauls
Faruzza instead quote. I didn't know David Dieber was my
boss at BCN until I read Carter Allen's book.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Yeah, that's a great book. On WBC and if you're insured, folks,
Carter Allen's book.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
Tom, thank you so much, guys, go you sound great.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Thank you, Thank you Tom. Linda in Weymouth, Linda, short time.
What what can you tell us? I'm so glad you're
with us?
Speaker 5 (18:01):
Hi, thank you. I advertise you, folks. I'm just interested
in the mobilia he may have of the blizzard of
seventy eight.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Well, we're definitely going to get to that. Where were
you in the blizzard of seventy eight, Linda, I was
in Quinsey.
Speaker 5 (18:21):
I was teaching a working with a workshop special needs
and I knew of the what do you call it?
Back up? But I did leave. They closed us down,
so we weren't stuck in anything of that. And I
(18:43):
couldn't should have taken homework home to Mark in grade,
but I didn't. I figured it'd be over tomorrow the
next day, a little that I know.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Yes, Well, I'm going to do a video of this
and you'll be able to see the Boston Sunday Glow
Blizzard of seventy eight headline, and it shows the abandoned
cars on what must be rooted one twenty eight. I'll
take a picture of that that was. That was in February, right,
that was kind of a year when not much happened
in Tall Boom.
Speaker 6 (19:12):
That was a big one, February nineteen seventy eight. All right, beauty, Linda,
thank you so much. We get to Mark and John
and Mel. John's gonna give it another shot. We'll see
after this on WBZ.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
You're on night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Well, here we are. It's Bradley Jay tonight and for
Dan and with David Bieber archivist. I guess you would
call him a cultural archivist. We're focusing on Boston in
the seventies and do some thinking about what that might entail.
That's Red Sox stuff, that's music band stuff, and much more. David,
(19:51):
we have. We're gonna go to John and Melrose again
and give them a shot. John. Okay, good good.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
David, Johnny l how are you?
Speaker 5 (20:02):
Hey?
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Good?
Speaker 3 (20:02):
How are you another broadcast veteran?
Speaker 4 (20:07):
Great to hear you on VZ. You know I got
my start and advertise it on WDZ.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
So what do you got for us? John?
Speaker 4 (20:15):
Hey? I got a quick question, David. In the archives
that you have, do you have any of the WFNX
air checks from the shows of recordings or is that
over when they sent it to Northeastern.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
I may have some things, but the great transference of
the various Phoenix companies, including the bound volumes of Boston
After Dark, Boston Phoenix, Cambridge Phoenix, the real paper, the
air checks, the interviews, the record library as such as
it was. All of that you know has gone to
(20:48):
Northeastern University. But the late Stephen Mintage, who was the
owner of all of these media properties and as he
wanted to be most known the publisher. He died I
think in twenty eighteen, but in twenty thirteen I worked
with him after he shut down the Boston Phoenix. I
(21:08):
worked for about seven months in the transference of all
of that content to Northeastern, and Steven's mandate was it
does not just be available for scholarly and academic purposes,
but that it'd be open to the public. And you
need to schedule an appointment with the people at the
Snow Library at Northeastern, but you will have success and
(21:30):
they're very accommodating and generous people. I recently sent a
friend of mine from Madrid, Spain, who was working on
a Velvet Underground book, and he turned the pages of
all of those bound volumes from nineteen sixty seven to
nineteen seventy on the hunt for any reference to the
Velvet Underground, either a review or a concert club listing
(21:53):
or an ad. So they took care of him. They
didn't know him, and I ran a little interference for him.
But you know it's available. So if you're looking for something, Johnny,
it's there.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
Yeah, definitely, that's great information. Do I get time for
a quick beat the story?
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Sure?
Speaker 4 (22:11):
By last day at FNX, after fifteen years, I've only
seen Steven Mindeter's Mercedes in the parking lot up and
Lynn twice.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
So he was the boss, so everyone knows the deal.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
Yeah he was.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
He was Bruce Springsteen's the boss of music. Stephen was
the boss of media of.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
Fn Do I come driving in second time, Steven's Mercedes
is outside. They go, this can't be good, So I
go in there. And of course it was the day
where they announced that they sold to I had I
believe it was back then in twenty twelve, and the
manager at the dead time was there after they made
the announcement. Okay, you got ten minutes to go into
(22:53):
your office and clean it out. I'm going to forget this, David.
So I go into my office. Now my office was
all and I is compared to yours, David. At the Phoenix,
you know, but there was still fifty thousands of pictures, events, tickets,
tax stage passes everywhere. And my boss came in and said, hey,
you got to get out of you know, you have
(23:15):
to get out of the building. And you were standing
right behind him, and you said to her, you go, Johnny.
You can stay as long as you want, take your
time and clean your stuff up, and I'll never forget that.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
That's my day. Thanks John. That's a good story.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Great to hear from you.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
To go to Mark and Boston. Hi, Mark, you're on
wb Z on that side.
Speaker 7 (23:32):
Good Adan. I heard you talking about the fake parade
at on DCM, but I was wondering if either of
you were there. Maybe we've already discussed this previously. I
missed a few misses about the fake Bruce Bringstein concert
at Friendwick Park.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
I don't know anything about that. Yeah, I guess we're
going to depend on you. Do you know anything about that? David?
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Well, uh no, I mean go ahead, if you did,
you were you listening into them? What year was that
do you think?
Speaker 7 (24:00):
Well, it was sometime in the eighties, because I was
hanging out with a friend who said he listened to
it and he believed it, and maybe he made it.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Maybe he just made it up.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
We did a lot of We did a lot of
fascinating things as far as marketing and promotion. One year,
I think it was the twentieth anniversary of the station
in nineteen eighty eight, and we bought out the entire
Worcester Centrum for an Aerosmith free concert and the only
way you can get tickets was via WBCN And that
(24:32):
was one of the great great events that we did.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
And I don't know if you remember this, but this
is that's the night I accidentally jumped on Stephen Tyler's
back on stage. Oh you know that story?
Speaker 8 (24:41):
No?
Speaker 2 (24:42):
No, what is that like?
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Father planning it? He ain't heavy, he's my brother.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
I don't have time to tell it now, Well maybe
I should do. I'll do the brief. I'll tell you what.
Thank you very much, Mark, and I'll take the next
few seconds to tell that story. If not, now, when
so you mentioned this concert, it was a big We
had a party bus that DJ's went at one point,
we're all going to get up on stage. That was
part of the thing. Thank all the bcn BC and
(25:08):
fans for supporting us for twenty years. Everyone got in
for freezer. They're all in a good mood and we're
all the jocks are on the edge of the stage
kind of waiting to go out and do that thank
you thing. The song being played was walk this Way,
and it's a big big deal. If you're right on
the stage fifteen feet from Stephen Tyler doing walk this Way,
(25:28):
it is a kind of a life changing moment. But
this was even more life changing. I'm standing on the
side of the stage on a riser about eighteen inches high,
and Stephen, during the song, comes over to me. He's singing,
you know it's and he coming over to me. Everybody
can see this. A whole b c entrum points to
(25:50):
his back. He bends over and points to his back.
He keeps pointing to it insistently, and I'm thinking, what
does he want? It looks like he wants me to
jump on his back. But that cannot be. That's that's impossible.
If I do this and I'm wrong, it is career ending.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
It's bad.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
So he goes back and starts singing the song more
Wow dance way, and then he comes back does it again.
He looks at me, points to his back insistently, and
what do I do? I mean, she whizz. You gotta
go for it. At this point, I guess, And so
(26:28):
I did jump on his back during walk this way,
and he was It turns out that's not what he wanted,
but he was a good sport. He stumbled around, give
me a piggyback ride for like whatever. The rodeo time
is eight seconds and maybe maybe ten seconds, and I
(26:49):
was struck by how big I was compared to him
and heavy. He was really good there. There was no
security rushed out and tackled me or anything. And after
a while he dropped me down. It's a good sport.
I went back to my station. It turns out can
you guess what he wanted? No, you can't. He wanted
a congo line. He wanted me to put my hands
(27:10):
on his waist and do a congo line, which someone
else figured out and they did have a congo line,
but that was a I suppose I should have been embarrassed,
but I wasn't. How was I supposed to know. I
had to make a decision, and you know, it's rock
and roll. You got to go for it. I guess
how would it be if if I didn't do it?
(27:30):
You know, I like the way it turned out much
much better.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
I think if you ever had a business card, your
logo should be that a drawing of Brandy j riding
Steven Tyler into the sunset.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
We have many more artifacts that get into many more
areas of the seventies in Boston, and if anything, jog's
the story for you, we want to hear about it.
If you have a collectible, we want to hear about it.
Six point seven two five, four ten thirty Real quick,
David in San Francisco. How are you feeling, David, I'm.
Speaker 8 (28:02):
Doing pretty well. Thank you. Bradley. First of all, brother,
I want to tell you your show yesterday was one
of the best I've ever heard from you. With the
history of Boston and then the nuclear stuff.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Was I set the bar pretty low, so it's it's
that difficulties to pass myself. Well. Thank you. I really
appreciate that confidence. Thank you. The live car.
Speaker 8 (28:29):
Yesterday was it was just super I was really uh glued,
but The reason I called Bradley is I want to
ask you, where's your all time favorite number one song?
Speaker 2 (28:40):
That's getting kind of away from what we're doing. But
I'll just be to be fast, I'll say David Bowie Heroes,
Heroes by David Bowie.
Speaker 8 (28:47):
Okay, I'll tell you mine, and you might agree with me,
But my favorite is walking in the Rain by Flashing
the Pan.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Oh my god, you know what. I like that one
better than Heroes. It is the only song I tried
to cover it I couldn't. It's the only song I
ever called a radio station to find out what it was.
Speaker 8 (29:06):
The two main guys in that group, we're a guy
named Harry Banda and George Young. And I don't know
much about Harry Bando, but George Young is the older
brother Malcolm and angers hung from a CDC and then
and Young.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
They were a songwriting team and they were also in
the Easy Beats.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
Yeah, they went all the way back to the Easy
Beats and the mid nineteen sixties.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
On my Mind, Yeah, covered by David Bowie. See how
that comes full circle?
Speaker 3 (29:38):
Oh wow, do you do that in the pin Ups album?
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Yeah? Okay, I believe so. God it helps because that
was his album of covers. Yeah, okay, David, wonderful call,
and we need to move on, so we'll get to
more of these artifacts and hopefully jogs from Boston seventies
memories for you on w BZ.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on w b Boston's
new radio.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
All right, who Now, I just did a live video
showing some of the artifacts that we are speaking about,
actually most of them. I'm going to end that, end
the stream, and that went live to my Facebook page
and LinkedIn, so that will help you visualize some of
the items we're talking about if you are savvy enough
(30:23):
to get onto my Facebook page. Bradley, Bradley j all right,
David Bieber, get closer to that microphone there.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
All right, So I think next what I want to
talk about is a beautiful portrait of Jerry Garcia, shot
in black and white by a great photographer, Michael Dobo.
And this, to me is a classic study black and white,
silhouettes and points and just beautiful. And it relates to
(30:51):
nineteen seventy one at Sergeant Jim The Grateful Dead. We're
playing back in those days Record Companies Warner Brothers was
where The Grateful Dead were aligned. There was a lot
of tour support and marketing and advertising. The record companies
would actually underwrite tours just so that the bands could
(31:12):
play in front of a lot of people at an expensive,
low dough concert price. I was at that point the
music director of wbu R, and they actually played music
back in those days, and I was tasked with going
to a holiday inn on mass ab in Cambridge to
interview the band. Now, the way I got around in
(31:33):
those days was my thumb. I was hitchhiking everywhere. I
would hitchhike from Boston to Cleveland, where my family was.
I would hitchhike from Boston to Cambridge.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Whatever. However, any best stories are hitchhiking stories, absolutely, and
so I hitchhiked this holiday in.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
I did my interview with the band, Jerry and Bob
and all of the members, and they said, hey, you know,
are you going to the concert tonight. You know we're
supposed to play at Sergeant Jim Boston University. It's two
dollars to go. I said yeah, And they said, well,
you know, how are you getting there? I said, well,
I'm hitchhiking. They said, well, why don't you come on
(32:11):
the bus. We don't know where we're going. There was
no GPS in those days, there were no other means
of getting there. I was the guide, the tour guide
to get the Grateful Dead to the gig, you know,
get me to the party on time. And went from
Cambridge over the bridge and then downstore Drive and there
it was all right.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
I have to drill down a little bit on this.
You went on the bus, on the bus, and so
what was it like on the bus? Describe the bus,
Describe the vibe. Who was on the bus with them?
Speaker 3 (32:39):
Oh, it was on them?
Speaker 2 (32:40):
And then was it red velvet or something?
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Oh no, no, it was just very primitive. I mean,
there was no luxury. This was the beginning of the
band's tour. I remember connecting with a guy named Dennis
McNally who's kind of the official historian of the Grateful
Dead and he's written a number of books and been
the spokesperson for them for many decades. But that was
a thrill. I mean, in that one year at wu
(33:05):
R when I was music director in seventy one, the
people that I interviewed or I encountered, I know that
David Bowie is a particular fan of yours. But I
interviewed him.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
David is a big fan of mine.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Yeah, And I interviewed David Bowie with a guy named
John Hockheimer, who's the DJ at w R. We spent
two hours talking to David Bowie. He was on a
tour that was, he had no working papers because in
those days there had to be an exchange of artists.
You know, if seven British musicians came to America, seven
(33:42):
American musicians could go to England. And it was a
very kind of quota system back and forth. So Bowie
did not fit that quota for performing yet, and all
he could do was a media tour. And this was
before I had met Lou Reed and other people in
the Warhome Brigade, and he had not met these people.
He wanted to know everything. That was his mission, that
(34:04):
was his goal. And he was even still at that
point on Mercury Records. He hadn't even been signed to RCA,
where he in a subsequent year had great, great success,
but he hadn't adopted the Ziggi persona or any of that.
So we had people like that. We had BB King,
we had Paul Cantner from the Jefferson Airplane. We had
(34:28):
Don McClane slightly before American Pie and sadly b are
so impoverished. In those days, we didn't have any recording tape.
So if you believe the theory that all the radio
waves the bounce out there in the cosmos, someday be
able to retrieve.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Yeah, you have to get in a very fast car
to catch up to that. Yeah. Wow, what a great story.
Now I think we have time to delve into one
of the big time stories. The Oh you know, this
is a good time to segue from bus to bus.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
So from riding on the bus with the Grateful Dead
A couple of years later, bussing in Boston. If we're
talking about the most consequential events of the nineteen seventies
in this vicinity, bussing was a major, major issue. This
was a situation that really initiated in nineteen seventy four
(35:27):
and desegregation was court ordered in Boston and that meant
the bussing of students in Roxbury to South Boston and reverse.
And it was a very very brutal time, kind of
an ugly part of the history of the city. A
(35:48):
lot of contentiousness, a lot of police you know, kind
of protecting students there. I brought in a book called
Boston Riots, which is called Three Centuries of Social Violence.
The cover photograph is a world famous one by Stanley Foreman,
who actually won two Polisher Prizes for spot photography. One
(36:12):
was for a woman and her child falling off of
outdoor fire as.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
I remember that one, yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
And the other one that he shot is of this
teenage hooligan who is attacking a lawyer and a civil
rights activist named Ted Lansmark, who I still see occasionally
around town. He is still here. He was on the
receiving end of what looked like an attack with an
(36:39):
American flag, and it is such a dramatic encapsulation of
those troubled times. The title of that photograph is popularly
known as the Soiling of Old Glory, and it's just
a sad history, but nonetheless a very vital photograph. If
(37:00):
Dennis Lahine actually wrote a book called Small Mercies which
touches upon both that period in South East as well
as not only bussing but also the strange times of
white Bulger in that era as well.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
By the way, if you want to share this at
some point, you can google Nightside on Demand and it's
right there, and there's a share button and everything. So
if you know anybody that would be interested in this
that might not know what's going on, share it with him. Also,
I did post successfully. I see. I believe, I believe,
I see. I did post a live video including the photos,
(37:41):
the best I could do because I couldn't really see
what was going on, had a guess of the artifacts
we're talking about. And I do want to remind you
if any of these things we're talking about remind you
of memories, maybe you were there for bussing, maybe you
were there for the Blizzard of seventy eight, please do
call share. I'd love to hear your story. Sorry, we
would love to hear your story. Six one, seven, two, five, four,
(38:04):
ten thirty. We want to hear you on WBZ
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.