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Book Nook provides readers with insights into the world of books. Vick Mickunas takes you into the center of the publishing world with the latest book buzz, book reviews, and exclusive chats with authors..Home > Blogs > Book Nook > Archives > 2008 > June > 10 > Entry
Grandmaster Flash was furious
Back in the late 1970’s I had some very interesting jobs. I worked for a free form radio station. At the same time I worked at a record store. Disco was dying and a strange new music was being born: we called it rap but now it is known as hip hop. I remember when we got our first crate of 12-inch singles on Sugar Hill Records. It was a song by the Sugar Hill Gang. If you were around in those days then you know the song. It was every rapper’s delight.
The next big one from Sugar Hill was by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. That single sold and sold. It was quite a thing to behold. The store was in an urban area and these kids who were buying this music were early adopters; hipsters if you will.
This was urban music - sounds from the city, from the east coast. Music was changing and so were listeners.
A couple of years later Grandmaster Flash came to Des Moines to perform. The concert was being held at an unusual venue, the downtown Marriott Hotel. The promoter was a guy we all knew as Sugar Bear. He owned Soul Fire Records, Sugar Bear’s Activity Center, and a Lincoln Continental with a TV set and carpeting on the hood. Sugar Bear was a bad dude. Really bad.
As the crowd waited for the doors to open Sugar Bear was moving through the area. He looked stressed. I knew Earl AKA Sugar Bear and I could see that there was some kind of problem developing.
A few minutes later it became clear that Sugar had fled the scene. The crowd was getting restive. Enter Grandmaster Flash. He walked into the crowd with angry determination. He had a baseball bat and he started swinging it at random members of the crowd. I turned to my date and said; let’s get outta here.
We fought our way through the people as Grandmaster Flash and his Furious Five waded into the crowd, baseball bats flailing. As we approached the door to the stairwell and our escape from the carnage two columns of Iowa Highway Patrol officers surged into the crowd. They were followed by a swarm of Des Moines Police officers. All the cops had clubs and they began whaling on the crowd as we fled down the fire escape. We got THE MESSAGE.
That was my encounter with Grandmaster Flash. He was furious. Now he’s a legend. He has just published his memoir: THE ADVENTURES OF GRANDMASTER FLASH - My Life, My Beats (Broadway Books).
I suppose I had better read it. When he refers to “My Beats” I’m assuming that is not a reference to his baseball bat or that thumping time he had back in Des Moines??
Vick Mickunas
Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment | Categories: midnight confessions
Comments
By Mick Polich
June 18, 2008 12:01 PM | Link to this
Victor - I thunbed thru the Grandmaster Flash bio at Barnes and Noble - didn’t see any ref to the baseball bat- weilding DSM incident, but then again, a nice metaphor for that dude’s life in print from what I gathered -yikes. “The Message” indeed!By Mick Polich
June 15, 2008 8:17 PM | Link to this
Vick, Excellent, humorous, and dangerous nod to the beginnings of rap - yep, I was one of those dudes who purchased “The Message” - that was pivotal, musically speaking. And land sakes, the concert flashbacks - it’s a wonder that we’re still in one piece from that time period. Yeah, “Big Earl’s Gold Mine” - never went ( but the Saydel district was my ‘hood’, and besides, there were other stripclubs up there). Halycon days ,to borrow an earlier e-mail quote,for sure. I’ve got some CD’s of the Don Archer Quintet at the Black Playboy Club back in the day -wonderful stuff, great era, glad to be out of it alive, like most everyone else. Thanks for the great blog, Vick! Mick PolichBy victor mickunas
June 11, 2008 5:39 PM | Link to this
Pete..you have an excellent memory. In regard to the equipment of Mr. Scaggs; I was on the equipment truck that went out to the airport to pick it up. It was a drum kit and not much else. After returning to the fairgrounds the riot took place - I would have been better off staying in the back of the truck sitting on the big trunk stamped BOZ SCAGGS.By Mark from St Paul
June 11, 2008 5:17 PM | Link to this
Big Earl’s Gold Mine? Damn, it’s hard to believe North Second Avenue actually went downhill after I left. I would have sworn it was already at rock bottom back in the ’70s/mid ’80s.By prose
June 11, 2008 3:11 PM | Link to this
Sure, I remember them all. Sometimes through, shall we say, “the fog”. The ice arena was called the Mousetrap then. There was quite a debacle with Sly and the Family Stone. A staggering Sly unable to talk or stand, let alone sing, touched off a melee. One note, Bozs’ equipment arrrived at the show you mentioned, but he did’nt. Also, I’ll never forget the ZZ boys not willing to play until the grass had been mowed around their backstage trailer at another gig. Caused quite a hitch in the proceedings.By Martha
June 11, 2008 2:28 PM | Link to this
While not exactly a riot, it was another ugly and rude 70’s Des Moines concert moment. Toots and the Maytalls opened for The Who. They were smoking hot- but there were plenty of boneheads in the crowd that booed and threw stuff. A little incredulous, they walked off stage. I thought they were better than the Who, wish I could have heard the rest of their set.By victor mickunas
June 11, 2008 11:08 AM | Link to this
Peter, since you remember Earl you probably will recall some other music-related riots in Des Moines. There was the infamous Taj Mahal/Wishbone Ash melee at the hockey arena that was ignited when somebody threw a tequila bottle at Taj who was the opener. Mahal had been trying to play a solo piece on his kalimba when an unruly fan lobbed the bottle onstage. Taj Mahal stormed off with the words: “I’m not the f*ing Rolling Stones”. Next, Wishbone Ash took the stage and tried to play their song “Time Was” and the power blew. After a long delay the power was restored. They tried again. The fuses blew. The crowd rioted. Then there was the ZZ Top/Boz Scaggs meltdown at the fairgrounds. I was working security. It was pouring rain. ZZ Top refused to play out of fear of electrocution. Boz Scaggs failed to show up. The crowd got ugly and stormed the portable stage, tearing it apart before surging over the barriers and into the backstage area to loot the beer coolers. I saw them coming. I tore off my shirt that marked me as “security” for the concert promoter. I ran for the hills. Ah, those were the days!By prose
June 10, 2008 8:48 PM | Link to this
Since I’ll never read the book please tell us readers about any juicy tidbits. Earl later opened Big Earl’s Gold Mine, a B.Y.O.B. strip club out by the Firestone tire plant in Des Moines. Sugar Bear is gone to his maker but the club bearing his name lives on. I remember him and his gold front tooth and wide grin very well. I believe he also had a brief interest in the Black Playboy Club next to the music store. Halcyon days.