Sun Ra

SUN RA

SUN RA

By Ken Dabish, ye olde editor

After Led Zeppelin' s expected shitty performance on Frlday the fifteenth of this month at the Grandeous Ballroom, the remainder of the weekend's bill just had to be better. I never expected anything like what went down Saturday and Sunday. I had had some vague idea of what to expect from Sun Ra from listening to various albums but I had never before caught them live. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Brother Wayne Kramer had informed me that "Brother Ra is hip to it all," and I found out "it's true!" when I saw it all.

Ra, who was on before the MC5 and after Cartoone and the Golden Earring paralyzed an unsuspecting audience who had come to the Grande to spend money and stay alive with the MC5. They had no kind of idea what Sun Ra was all about but they all walked out of the clip joint with some kind of glassy look on their faces and it wasn't the pot and it wasn't the acid. Sun Ra literally mesmerized the kids. Me too.

The Cartoone played killer sets both nights, satisfying the audience who expected just another British group. All of the dudes really bopped on stage while playlng.

The Golden Earring, from Holland, sounded alot like the Byrds musically; vocals were good, nothing like I had ever heard before. G.E. freaked the audience by playing the Byrd's Eight Miles High in a truly killer fashion and I even enjoyed it (I have a bad habit of not enjoying another group's adaptation of an original-type-hype).

The great thing about Saturday and Sunday was that the people were really happy. Probably 'cause it only cost the kids $3.50 instead of the usual $4.50 Gibb and Glantz charge for one group. GET DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!