ROGER BARRETT 1946-2006


Shine On You Crazy Diamond
A pioneer died at 60. The man that made many of the popular bands of the era raise their eyebrows in the late sixties with his and his band’s quirky, psychedelic pop-twinged music and writing has left for the great gig in the sky. The man was Syd Barrett. Or what he was known as most of his life as, Roger Barrett. Roger died of complications due to diabetes at age 60 this past week. In a nutshell, this was Syd in the plainest way I can put it. He was a pioneer in the sense that he helped get the psychedelic rave scene in London in the late sixties get a boost by being the most ‘out there’ artist and band leader in that genre. Keep in mind, many psych and space bands started out at that time. It just seemed that the ‘Pink Floyd Sound’ had what it took to get over the hump. Imagine if you will, it’s 1967-1968 in England. EVERYONE that was into the new revolutionary music movement knew who “The Pink Floyd” was. They were at the forefront. Their shows were THE party. The Beatles were even fans of them. But what went from “The Pink Floyd” to the “Pink Floyd” had extremely noticeable differences. Roger Barrett was an innovator in his avant garde, childish, euphoric way. LSD was in full force then, and everyone who was anyone was having a good time. Meanwhile, the band had 3 other fully capable members, Waters, Wright, and Mason. They were actually more or less straight most of the time. But not Syd. Imagine if you will, doing acid every day for almost 2 years. Every day. Now add into the mix, a slightly schizophrenic ingredient in his make up, on top of the highly creative, intelligent foundation that Roger Barrett was. This was a devastating combination, and extremely saddening. There were times before the end of his tenure that Syd was singing different songs on stage while the band was playing their chosen set list. Despite the band’s love for him, realistically, Syd had to go. It just wasn’t making sense anymore. Syd had literally and figuratively burned himself out. The band still loved Syd and even had the hope that an old friend of Syd’s, David Gilmour, would play his written music even if Syd couldn’t be present for touring and the like. Far fetched, but nonetheless, the inevitable was ahead. Syd left. Or I should say they just stopped bringing him to shows. Pink Floyd changed forever. Syd’s mark is permanently etched in the history and love for what is ‘Pink Floyd’ by its fans. Almost every album has had some kind of reference someway, somehow, of the madness that Syd endured while in, and out of Pink Floyd. Meddle, Dark Side Of The Moon (And if the band you’re in starts playing different tunes, I’ll see you on the Dark Side Of The Moon), Wish You Were Here (Shine On You Crazy Diamond, no detail needed there), The Wall (duh), Momentary Lapse Of Reason, The Division Bell, etc. The one cool thing I admired about the members, especially Gilmour, was that they always made sure that Syd got his royalties. Even 30 years later. Not bad for someone that was only on one album, technically. What I thought was even cooler was at the Live 8 concert when he got a shout out from a newly reunited Pink Floyd on stage. Syd died a year later. Maybe that’s what was needed. Some kind of closure. As for myself, I have to admit. I was never a big 'Barrett flavored' Pink Floyd fan. I mean, I am sure for the time it had to be excellent and revolutionary music. I also recognize that in my studies in music over the last 20 years that there are 3 kinds of Pink Floyd fans. Syd Barrett Floyd fans, Pink Floyd fans, and Gilmour floyd fans. Some intertwine with other fans….but the harshest and most non-forgiving fans have been the Barrett fans. Some walked away from Pink Floyd after Syd left, or when Atom Heart Mother was released in 1970. I myself love the Obscured By Clouds-Meddle era of the band. Even some of Ummagumma has made me smile at times. But let’s look at the facts. Pink Floyd became a totally different band. After Meddle, the band became a household name. Strings of sold out concerts and albums would follow as their success grew. Unfortunately, when the 'in crowd' in the media took to them, it was all over. Dark Side of the Moon was murdered by radio despite it’s perfection, Wish You Were Here was also beat up pretty bad by radio, Animals was brilliant but not favored by the new record reps during the punk movement, and The Wall was perfection(In a conceptual sense). But you can never get away from the fact that Syd was Pink Floyd. Do I think he was as masterful in writing and playing as Wright, Gimour, or Waters? No. Do I think Pink Floyd would have gone on with him if he cleaned his act up? No. Syd helps the enigma of what is Pink Floyd. I hate to say it, but it helps selling records. I am not saying that they all didn’t have a bond with him, but he was yesterday’s news in 1970. Even with the bizarre solo albums he released. Sure he inspired so many musicians. Bowie, Townsend, Robyn Hitchcock, even forerunners of the punk movement were enthralled by his image. Syd rose up, and fell down like a shooting star. A brilliant guy that lost the shine more or less. His mother took care of him in Cambridge for the rest of his days while he took care of a garden and lived his life. When his mother died, his sister took care of him. He was a productive person in a simple way and just kept to himself. There’s no mystery…no hidden message or secret. Syd became Roger. He was the first 5% of what would become Pink Floyd. Let’s let the man rest in peace now. All in all, he was an important component of a band that did far better without him. But he was the beginning.....Shine On You Crazy Diamond.
The Purple Lights Of Pemberton or Optimus Prime Attacks!
The heatwave kicked off Saturday afternoon. The radio station has been going through some renovations as well as the college in mainly getting this building cool. And cool I mean air-conditioning. In the 11 years I have been doing the show here, there has never really been a stable climate at the studios. That’s what happens when you build a radio station in a storage facility. I never seemed to care. I just always dressed accordingly. The station had been shut down most of the week due to transmitter upgrades. I figured there would be a small chance I wouldn’t have a show on Saturday due to the repairs. But, low and behold, Saturday we were in business. I listened to the station most of the day to keep track of any flubs in signal. Nothing. Sounded the best I had heard in recent memory. So I rounded a pretty good show together and got myself ready for Saturday night. On the way up to the station, I lost the signal in my Jeep. I called JBird and the lines were busy. The next thing you know, my call waiting is going off. It’s J.
”Dude, we have no power”
“What do you mean no power, what happened?”
“The station is pitch black…..wait the backup lights just came on…”
“Is it raining there? A storm maybe?”
“Not to my knowledge…”
“I will be up there in a bit…”
I get to the station, well just before it at the bypass to see 3 fire trucks, 5 police cars, 2 PSE&G trucks and a first aid squad truck. A traffic conductor proceeds to tell me that the transformer across the street exploded. Exploded? How? I mean, I know how they explode, but why on my watch? At any rate, disgusted, I rode to the station to find JBird wheeling his stuff out to his truck. When I say the college had no power, there was no power. Computers, security desk, nothing. So at this point, I was ready to chalk the show up as a loss and leave. I decided to stay one hour to see if the power came back on. Meanwhile, I am on the phone constantly with Brett, our station manager explaining the nonsense that happened at the college. One of our security gaurds was acting as if we would never have power EVER AGAIN. I called Roger.Lee in Atlanta to let him know to throw on a rerun of last week’s show, and that I would inform him of any changes in the next hour. At 11:05pm, the power came back on. But all the networks were shut down. Useless at this point. So I decided I would be the odd man out and help Big Bob Lovin move to his new place right up the street in Tabernacle. I booted up the boards, turned on the portable AC units, took a meter reading, grabbed my mail, and headed out of the station. Hey, at least I have a show for next week ready to rock…
Glistening
I left the station and headed down the bypass to see that wow, there are a lot of people around here during normal hours. This was the first Saturday I had to leave the college since 1997 that I couldn’t do my radio show because of technical problems. So it was strange to see Pemberton alive. I arrived at Big Bob’s and helped him and Keith get ready to move out of his old house in Easthampton. When I arrived, it got hotter. The weather was unbearable. 11:30 at night, and it was 82 degrees. Unreal. I insisted that I help Bob the way he has helped out our program over the years. Once we started packing the moving truck, I was burnt. It wasn’t like you sweat and then cool down with a nice breeze…any breeze that did come was hot and unenjoyable. It wasn't like, "ahhhh its summer" hot, its like "..someone call 911 this person is convulsing!" hot. We started making some serious progress till about 1am when Val showed up with some friends. That was when I realized two things. Never help someone move when you have flip flops on, and secondly, don’t stop your momentum. That messes things up usually. I headed home and responded to upset listeners about not being on. It was off to sleep in the sweltering heat. By Sunday, my buddy Pete, host of The Pete Palma program at 91.5FM, and I went for a cruise down to Ocean City, NJ. It was late, but honestly, it’s always therapy for me. Some of the best head clearing on earth is gassing the Jeep up and heading down route 559. The smell of salt and the bay is so comforting…the sound of the waves crashing on the beach. It makes you realize that you are privileged to even be here to notice these things. I play the lottery, often. If I win...I've decided, this is where I will go. Permanently.