Guess Who Played The White House In 1970 (?)

 

Guess which five of these people are in The Guess Who?

  

Remember when it was an honour to receive an invitation to visit the White House and meet the President of the United States? Recently, it's been a polarizing question about the political/personal statement it insinuated by meeting the current President and his personal baggage, for obvious reasons. We usually associate sports teams that won national championships (NFL, NBA, NHL MLB etc.) with visiting the White House, but this was extended to a Canadian rock band, The Guess Who in 1970. This event coincided with a visit from (then) Price Charles and his sister Anne to the White House and the band performed on the front lawn as a personal request from President Nixon's youngest daughter, Tricia Nixon, who was a Guess Who fan. Ironically, the band was riding the success of their #1 North American hit, American Woman, but was told not to play it, which was weird and bizarre.   

 

The Winnipeg Free Press reported on the event. “I had mixed emotions about the White House,” Cummings reflected years later. “It was strange. All the guests were white, all the military aids were white in full military dress, and all the people serving food were black. It seemed terribly racist. And the way the White House was landscaped it kind of looked like you were in Alabama in the 1840s before Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. It left a bad taste in my mouth. They wanted a Commonwealth act when Charles and Anne went there. We were the token Commonwealthers.” The contradiction inherent in the Guess Who’s appearance at the Nixon White House was not lost on guitarist, Greg Leskiw. “Here was one of the most hated politicians of the hippie generation and your subculture tells you this guy is bad,” he mused. “Then someone says, ‘Do you want to play the White House?’ But we all wanted to do it because it was something very few people get to do.”

 

This is a recording I didn't know anything about until recently, but I thought the concept and dynamics were good timing. This weekend is the Juno Awards (that I rarely watch), which honours and awards the "best" of Canadain music. Winnipeg's, Guess Who have been honoured numerous times and are a member of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and have an upcoming tour with the reunited, Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman that will take them through Canada and the US from May to August. See them while you still can!

Enjoy!

 

 

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use.

Please share! 

 

 

The Guess Who
White House
Washington, DC
July 17th 1970

Conversion = SBD>?>CDR Trade>EAC>Wav>Flac 

Sound Quality approx  7 out of 10 
samples to be provided 
sorry no artwork 
A Bargain Basement Tape Production 

Setlist

01. Bus Rider
02. Undun
03. We're Comin' To Dine
04. Close Up The Honky Tonks
05. No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature
06. These Eyes
07. Hand Me Down World
08. Share The Land
09. No Time

The Guess Who- 1970-07-17  Washington, DC FLAC. rar

 

Grapes Of Wrath- Walker Theatre, Winnipeg, MB. October 25, 1991

 

 

It's already March and I finally attended my first concert of the year, this past Saturday at the Park Theatre, The Fuse, a local treasure, that are celebrating their 50th anniversary. For the past decade or so, The Fuse have played an annual fundraiser (once a year) usually in March and I make an effort to attend. I've also bought a ticket and a flight for a concert in Vancouver, in April (more details on that in a later post), which I am very excited about and I return to the Park Theatre this week, March 26 for the Grapes of Wrath Acoustic Duo show. With this spattering of shows this early in the year, my hope is that 2026 will be my return to watching more live music. I've had a bit of a dry spell the past few years and I really do enjoy watching concerts and the next two I definitely need to record!

 

To get you warmed up for the Grapes of Wrath event this week, I dug up a live recording (not mine) from 1991, when the band was arguably in their height touring These Days, before Kevin Kane left the band in 1992. They've reformed and released more records since, but their heyday was definitely in the late 80's/early 90's, with classic albums, Treehouse and Now And Again. This recording is almost 35 years old and the historic Walker Theatre, has since been renamed the Burton Cummings Theatre. I don't usually buy "bootleg" live recordings, but I found it in the used CD bin of a local record store several years ago and I was intrigued, because I've never seen or heard this before (why didn't I go?). I saw the band during the Now And Again tour in 1989, when the opener was a somewhat unknown, Sarah McLachlan. The sound quality here is excellent, as it's a radio broadcast (probably CBC) and the show is a good length, my version is 2 CD's. I don't know exactly what to expect with this recent acoustic tour that lands here on Thursday, but I will try to get a good recording, stay tuned!

Enjoy! 

 

 

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use.

Please share!

 

 

GRAPES OF WRATH
Walker Theatre
Winnipeg, MB
October 25, 1991
FM Broadcast> CD> FreeRip> Wave> FLAC

Disc 1
01. Away
02. Stay
03. The Most
04. You May Be Right
05. Thru To You
06. I Can Tell
07. I Can't Find My Way Home
08. Backward Town
09. The Time Is Near
10. All The Things I Wasn't

Disc 2
01. Travelin'
02. Days
03. I Am Here
04. Peace Of Mind
05. A Fishing Tale
06. What Was Going Through My Head
07. Miracle
08. Oh Lucky Man
09. See Emily Play

GRAPES OF WRATH- 1991-10-25 Walker Theatre, Winnipeg, MB FLAC. rar