First some background: My father being a proud Black man who had just finished serving his country during the Korean Conflict (War) knew he wanted to move his young family into a new neighborhood with new schools and a public park and bird sanctuary near by. Northeast Philadelphia developed as a result of 'White Flight'(whites moving out of older sections of the city where blacks could find affordable housing). I did not have much contact with children of my age in the Northeast because of fear of the unknown on the part of my neighbors. The music I listend to was not influenced by anyone in my community until I got to highschool. My parents gave me a radio and much to their chagrin I took to listening to Country music and I loved it. From there I went to Frank Sinatra and then Motown. 45s were the music mode of the day and I listened to songs, not artists.
For the ages of 11 through 17 I can remember hearing The Gressroots' Live for Today, The Beatles' Tomorrow never Knows, Nina Simones' Four Women, The Supremes' Reflections of My Mind, Cannonball Adderleys' Mercy, Mercy, Mercy, the Temptations' Ball of Confusion, Blues Magoos' We Ain't Got Nothin Yet, John Lennons' Cold Turkey, the Associations' Requium for the Masses and Creams' White Room. These days I listen to a lot of Avant Garde, electronic, polyphony, contempoary Japanese Psychedelic, jazz and a lot of the music previously mentioned. When I got to highschool I did listen to Alice Cooper but we all have our skeletons (check out "The Ballad of Dwight Fry). It's the music that keeps me together!
