Jody Grind

I may have mentioned this before, but Jody Grind was a band who appeared in Boston at the Assembly Rooms on 15th December 1970, and I was there! They were touring their Album of the time The Far Canal. I seem to have been a busy little groover in those days because the same month I saw Dream Police and Matthews Southern Comfort at the Gliderdrome. Of course, I missed loads of great bands at the time; Trees, The Strawbs, and Fotheringhay, but managed to catch T Rex and Ginger Baker's Airforce, all in a heady 12 months. Being a very poor student of only 16 years of age, together with a lack of appreciation of folk music, may have had something to do with it.

If you are wondering where you were but cannot remember that far back, this site http://www.marmalade-skies.co.uk/yearbyyear.htm has all the details, where I got mine. It will tell you what bands appeared where between 1966 and 1975, a long with lots more.

Here anyway is Jump Bed Jed from Jody Grind's Far Canal. Grind have more or less disappeared off the radar; even main man, Tim Hinkley's leads go to dead sites.



I think they have a sort of Yardbirds/Clapton/Bruce/Winwoody sound. What do you think?

UPDATE: I have been finding out about the Boston Gliderdrome, the venue that had so many headline acts in the sixties and seventies. It closed in 1973, due to regular bouts of vandalism on dance nights. The former resident DJ recalled:

They were happy times, which from a dance point of view came to an end with a spate of vandalism during the early 1970s.
On many Saturday nights at that time it seemed to be a competition to see how many seats could be slashed to ribbons, or how many light bulbs could be broken, and despite warnings that the dances would end if this wasn't stopped, there was no response – and dances ceased abruptly in March 1973 after several hundred pounds was spent on repairs, only for further damage to be caused the following Saturday night.

This is typical for Boston, which has always had a fairly unpleasant atmosphere at times, one that always bubbled over on high days and holidays and one which was a big reason I left and never went back. Wikipedia reports on a particularly nasty episode:

Most immigrants have come from East Europe and Portugal. This has led to some social tension, which came to a head during the 2004 European Football Championship, when something akin to rioting^[5] occurred briefly with windows being smashed and shops looted, police cars overturned and set alight. Trouble once again erupted in the town, when England were knocked out of the 2006 world cup by Portugal, and there were clashes between riot police and fans from England and Portugal. Some pubs and bars in the area were vandalised with windows being smashed and tables, chairs and glasses being thrown at rival fans, riot police and shops and bars. The local Portuguese bar called 'The Volunteer' was attacked by native youths, who threw missiles, smashed windows and were in possession of petrol bombs. The youths surrounded the bar and trapped the Portuguese supporters inside. Riot police broke the situation up soon after.

Interestingly for me, they opened the "Glider" again in the Nineties but closed it again after catastrophic losses due to poor ticket sales:

I think the biggest problem is that people just do not realise how much some of these groups cost. And I don't think I would be believed if I said the loss on the Paul Young (sold less than 300 tickets) debacle alone was in five figures!
It's not just the star attraction that has to be paid. There's advertising, lights and sound equipment, heating and lighting, the disco, extra staff and security people.

Tell me about it. Most bands you will have heard of, with any kind of track record, even one that is a bit old, will not start talking to you for less than five figures and an outfit that maybe had one hit but still struggles on can ask for a grand. I was trying to sell between 100 and 200 tickets in small venues so did not stand a chance with the big boys. But it was soul destroying to see the lack of interest in unknown artists who, in my opinion were hugely talented. Somehow, I think the culture of small to medium live music venue listening has changed. Nobody goes just to hear live music, neither will they take a chance on a band they don't know. They appear to go in order to get very drunk. It is impossible to do hear the band anyway because people talk over it. The live music scene is a bit depressing unless you go to specialist, smaller, gigs. I don't intend to get involved in that anymore. I am glad I went out on a bit of a high note.