Miami 1969
In 1968 I did not listen to “words” of a song… or very little… I had no idea of what the message was. It was not totally understood in 1968 that there was a meaning to songs. It was only after a generation passed (say 25 years) that the truth began to emerge…
One of the Beatles mentioned “silly little love songs“… hmmm.. now that I am 71 years old, I can understand that. They were singing silly love songs.
This is to anyone who possibly may be interested in what was going on in 1968…
This is the “actual” music that one of them (Cream) wrote… but this is later (2005) … now you can understand the words.
If you can believe Wikipedia (which I can in this case)…smiling… Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce disliked each other and tried to destroy each others instruments before concerts… so yeah, it was time to break up. Bear in mind these three guys lived to tell about it.
There are many dead bodies strewn along the highway between then and now.
Here is the Cream when they were nuts…
In 1969… or 68… I’m not sure, but I think ’69, I went with a bud to Miami, just looking for a good time, (heterosexual), and asking a gas attendant, where was anything happening tonight (yes, ‘happening’) he said… go to “the World”he said. We went to the World.
http://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/12/thee-image-and-miami-rock-scene-march.html
As I remember, the Canned Heat was playing that night (but as they say ‘if you can’t remember’) … I do remember the drummer playing as the last to leave for a break… he played with every available hand and foot and then used his head for the symbols…
A beautiful girl crawled up to me and asked for a smoke… I offered a Marlboro … she said no.
As I remember, opening the doors of the old bowling alley offered up a good high… you would have had to have been there…. it was intoxicating…
Andersons of Colonial N. Carolina 
Ginger Baker, one of the all time greatest drummers.
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PogMoThointon
April 4, 2023 at 5:27 pm
I’ve wracked my brains trying to remember the band that night… the drummer did leave a lasting impression. It may well have been Mr Baker. Cream did play at The World.
Here is Mr Baker in his own words:
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anderson1951
April 5, 2023 at 2:21 am
One has to remember, that at the times I am referring to, none of these people were known to anyone. Now they are “bigshots”… back then they were “weirdos”.
And in my mind, Mr Baker is still a weirdo. (a bit too full of himself)
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anderson1951
April 5, 2023 at 3:21 am
The sad fact is that “Cream” was a greedy music executive’s invention. Eric was already well known from Mayall’s Blues Breakers, Jack and Ginger not so much. They had not played together nor were they mates. A doomed act from the beginning, just like Storyville. Jack died October 2014 and Ginger died in October 2019. Somehow Eric is still with us. Yes, I survived the 60’s in San Francisco and amazingly remember some of the events. When Bill took over the Carousel Ballroom and renamed it Fillmore West, he began hiring rent-a-cops to take tickets at the door. They were imminently bribable – a Maui Wowie joint or an Owsley Purple Flat got all of us in. The Canned Heat drummer I recall was Fito de la Parra. High times indeed!
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kanderson819
April 5, 2023 at 8:26 am
My conception is that Ginger Baker formed the group… he seemed a bit of a hot head to me…but what do I know.
I’m curious … do you remember the Canned Heat drummer playing with his head?
Also, as an aside, I’ve heard Ginger Baker once just stopped drumming…he did not like the volume of the racks of the guitarists… neither guitarist noticed him missing… they were in their world. Nor, I can only assume, did the audience.
I do remember “the World” being rather loud… of course at the time I had 19 year old ears. Or 18, I’m not sure..
Bear in mind that electric guitars were being “invented” at this time… and everyone had young ears…
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anderson1951
April 5, 2023 at 4:01 pm
LOL! I do remember Fito playing with every appendage, including his head! I agree – we all had young ears then. I’m only a year older than you but was in the right place at the right time so to speak. John Cipollina (Quicksilver, Copperhead, etc.) basically invented the amplification that was taken for granted a few ears later. I do recall hearing about Ginger just stopping but can’t recall where or when. He was known as quite reckless. I was a bit of an insider in the SF Bay Area rock and drug scene so probably heard stuff not recorded anywhere. Enough said!
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kanderson819
April 5, 2023 at 4:59 pm
Did you ever make it to the old Sportatorium in Hollywood Florida?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Sportatorium
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Larry
April 8, 2023 at 6:31 am
Never did…it was a fluke we stumbled into the World… I was easily spooked by big cities and did not like Miami… still don’t. Just looking back nostalgically, it was that I easily took it in stride the profound changes that were taking place around me. Smiling… what started this post was snooping around Youtube and running across Cream and realizing that those old songs had words that could be understood when the volume is turned below a Boeing 747 takeoff.
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anderson1951
April 8, 2023 at 8:14 am