Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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T II BY CHUCK CROMER Entertainment Writer The TV rock concerts have had a profound effect on the music business. For me, however, the effect has been negative. In my opinion it is one of the worst things to have happened in the music business in the last two years. For background information, the TV rock shows I refer to are In Concert, Midnight Special and Don Kirschner's Rock Concert. opinion The best effect of the TV rock concert has been its giving the rock musician tremendous exposure. A musician 'can. be seen by more people when he does one TV concert than he could if he did an extensive live concert tour on the road. Ac cordingly, it allows people to see groups they never may be able to see in person. In the past, the music fan would be able only to associate a record with a name while now he can associate the record with a group's ap pearance on TV. a N ffects Before TV rock c musicians were F halls. They had to survive. For those people who can't afford to pay the admission price to see the group in live concert, the TV concert is the next best thing. It's also a cheap date. These also have made rock music a multi-billion dollar business. With more exposure and publicity, an artist can sell more records. The more records he sells, the more money everyone connected with the business makes. Now, after just a few TV concerts, a musician can go the "rags to riches" routine in a brief time. Now for the bad points Because of TV exposure, groups charge more money to perform live. This causes the ticket prices to go up. In the past two years, ticket prices have nZ A4" OnRo ame, these )laying small to be good doubled, and in some cases, tripled. Because of TV mostly, groups that charged $5,000 a concert eighteen months ago now are charging between $15,000 to $20,000 to perform today. The biggest problem of all is that promoters are paying these prices for an artist's services. Another problem of TV rock shows is so many groups per form horribly on them. When these shows first aired, the groups generally performed well. Very rarely anymore are there any good shows. Several shows come to mind. The shows that had Argent, Johnny Winter, T. Rex, Allman Brothers, Doobie Brothers, Uriah Heep on tape, were horrid. Could these bands 'aa' 4llHee ek eg be as bad as all that? Musical groups mostly put on acts on TV to make one like them. In the old days, they used to play their music naturally, but not now. Being natural doesn't see; putons do. In essence, most groups have sold out for the money--themselves and us. One of my major complaints against the TV concert is we lose that one-to-one contact with the musician. Before TV rock came along, these musicians were playing small halls. They had to be good to survive. Now the same artists play in large coliseums and do a routine fifty-minute set where they don't even think of a one-to-one con tact with the audience. In the past, we would beg for an encore and on almost always they would honor our pleads. Today, in many shows, or pleas go unanswered. A person used to be in heaven just to say that he or she saw the Allman Brothers in concert. Now it's no big thing. All one has to do now is turn the TV on around midnight and watch any. one of the three rock shows. His Fine Films ( Sponsors Wi Beginning January 25, the Columbia Fine Films Com mittee, in cooperation with the Irvin-Fuller Company, is presenting a Winter Film Festival, consisting of seven films at the Gamecock Theatre, Parkland Plaza. Films to be shown are: "Key Largo," with Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Edward G. Robinson and Lionel Barrymore; " The Tall Blond Man With One Black Show," a French burlesque; "King of Hearts," a- satirical comment on war starring Alan Bates; "Le Explosion BY WILLIAM WELSH Entertainment Writer Last sunday night at Carolina I witnessed an explosion-a musical explosion ignited by the white god of blues and rock, Johnny Winter. The atmosphere was right--a packed coliseum twitching with anticipation. Brownsville Station, a warm up group for Winter, hit rock bottom and then crystallized as cheerleaders. But as fans know, any court jester sounds good while waiting for a king. Winter popped out from a puff of smoke, the nativity of a raging fire to continue throughout the concert. Winter's entourage of songs ranged from "Highway 61 Revisited" to "Jumping Jack Flash"; Winter's genius stampeded the audience when he got down to the nitty gritty blues. He and his guitar were sole performers. fttive chances are better than 50-50 that within a month his group will be on one of the shows, singing his latest Top 40 single. If you're really lucky he may even be on twice in one night. I leave you here with the great heartbreaker of my life. Several months ago Shawn Phillips appeared on In Concert. I was almost in tears after watching his set. He had a five man band playing with him that destroyed my, and probably his, con centration. His set was in terrupted by two commercials. Two years ago Shawn Phillips performed for our Spring Thing at Township Auditorium. He was on stage for three hours and except for his last song, he was all alone up there. During that time he captivated the audience of 2800 people. Shawn never appeared in a hurry; he was one of the most relaxed performers I've ever seen. He was on a one-to-one basis with the audience. That was the way everyone, including Shawn wanted it. It truly hurt me to see him in an unnatural position on TV. Do you see what the TV rock shows have done to him? ommittee ater Festival Sex Shop," rated X; "Fat City." Student season tickets are $6, allowing the purchaser to see any five films; all seven may be viewed, the remaining two ata $1 each if the ticket is shown. Season tickets are available at Russell House. A bonus to all ticket holders is a wine and cheese party in the' Imperial Ballroom of the Carolina Inn at 6 p.m. Sunday, at which time "A Star Is Born," starring Judy Garland, will be shown. Films may be viewed in dividually for $2. Of Winter The stage was blue from mood and light. Winter's light show reminded me of psychedelic railroad signals, especially when he did "Silver Train." I felt I was on a trip, never to land without a return ticket. And when Winter blurted out "Rock and Roll Hootchie Koo" he made Rick Derringer sound like Little Lord Fauntleroy. The entire show was powerful yet mellow--it's music that hits you in the gut. When he did "Can't You Fecl It" I felt a sarcastic overtone; I was sitting right under the speaker boom. Johnny Winter got three curtain calls Sunday night each time the crowd more demanding. On the last call, matches fired up, chants were in unison and Winter returned, performed "Rock Me Baby" and departed. I left a raw nerve, but feeling good.