Thanks for that! Those scenes sprang up everywhere, it seemed, during the '60s and '70s where there were cheap rents and willing participants. It continued in the '80s and '90s in Hollywood, Athens, Seattle, Olympia, Chicago, the Lower East Side, Williamsburg, Minneapolis and many other locales. It would seem to be less prevalent now, and the causation between the rise of the web and social media as the default explanation is tempting but perhaps flawed. What has definitely changed is a hollowing out of the marketplace where musicians could earn a decent living playing live and self-publishing their work, once distribution changed from physical recordings to streams, among other negative factors, that have collectively discouraged the development of new scenes even in the few places where the cost of living is reasonable...
Really interesting in so many ways. You cover so much ground here that's relevant to that era and not only to Laurel Canyon. It especially takes me back to the bizarre situation in which women were winning more rights and yet actually losing real power in certain ways at the same time. You've captured that dynamic very well.
Thanks! I made it a point when I started the research to talk to as many women involved in the scene as I could find, at whatever level of engagement, because I feel women are underrepresented in the accounts of this era; as most of the stars were guys (Joni, Judy, Cass, Michelle notwithstanding) who routinely referred to their 25-year-old girlfriends as their "old ladies" at the dawn of modern feminism says something about the sexual dynamic in the canyon and beyond at that moment, which vastly favored prerogatives of men. That said, there were a handful of women who took their places across the rock and roll infrastructure on their own terms. I did a post on them earlier you might have missed, check it out if so...https://michaelwalker404649.substack.com/p/theyre-with-the-band
Thanks so much for the link. Again, really interesting, especially their perception that the industry had essentially morphed into your bog-standard sales operation by the mid 70s and was no longer the highly open, fluid, intimate, and innovative environment it had been.
Have you written anything about how rock evolved into sub-genres (folk, rock, hard, psychedelic, etc.) and the channeling of artists? I'm interested in understanding that better and have not found it easy to suss it out.
Amazing how scenes form organically. "Hip Mecca of the West" was the term our local newspaper once used to describe Old Fairhaven, now part of Bellingham, Wash. In the late '60s early '70s, the rents were cheap and a scene coalesced around musicians, lawyers, potters, and artists devoted to the changing times. Alaska Silver & Ivory was one such, and their jewelry was sold from an antique railroad car in Fairhaven. Our own little "Laurel Canyon."
Thanks for that! Those scenes sprang up everywhere, it seemed, during the '60s and '70s where there were cheap rents and willing participants. It continued in the '80s and '90s in Hollywood, Athens, Seattle, Olympia, Chicago, the Lower East Side, Williamsburg, Minneapolis and many other locales. It would seem to be less prevalent now, and the causation between the rise of the web and social media as the default explanation is tempting but perhaps flawed. What has definitely changed is a hollowing out of the marketplace where musicians could earn a decent living playing live and self-publishing their work, once distribution changed from physical recordings to streams, among other negative factors, that have collectively discouraged the development of new scenes even in the few places where the cost of living is reasonable...
Really interesting in so many ways. You cover so much ground here that's relevant to that era and not only to Laurel Canyon. It especially takes me back to the bizarre situation in which women were winning more rights and yet actually losing real power in certain ways at the same time. You've captured that dynamic very well.
Thanks! I made it a point when I started the research to talk to as many women involved in the scene as I could find, at whatever level of engagement, because I feel women are underrepresented in the accounts of this era; as most of the stars were guys (Joni, Judy, Cass, Michelle notwithstanding) who routinely referred to their 25-year-old girlfriends as their "old ladies" at the dawn of modern feminism says something about the sexual dynamic in the canyon and beyond at that moment, which vastly favored prerogatives of men. That said, there were a handful of women who took their places across the rock and roll infrastructure on their own terms. I did a post on them earlier you might have missed, check it out if so...https://michaelwalker404649.substack.com/p/theyre-with-the-band
Thanks so much for the link. Again, really interesting, especially their perception that the industry had essentially morphed into your bog-standard sales operation by the mid 70s and was no longer the highly open, fluid, intimate, and innovative environment it had been.
Have you written anything about how rock evolved into sub-genres (folk, rock, hard, psychedelic, etc.) and the channeling of artists? I'm interested in understanding that better and have not found it easy to suss it out.
Amazing matrix of talent
Truly--a core of about 30 of them became nationally known out of hundreds--
Thanks! It really was unique in that regard for a while--
Amazing how scenes form organically. "Hip Mecca of the West" was the term our local newspaper once used to describe Old Fairhaven, now part of Bellingham, Wash. In the late '60s early '70s, the rents were cheap and a scene coalesced around musicians, lawyers, potters, and artists devoted to the changing times. Alaska Silver & Ivory was one such, and their jewelry was sold from an antique railroad car in Fairhaven. Our own little "Laurel Canyon."
How warmly human, a truly unique community.
Thanks for the storytelling.