The Mercury from Pottstown, Pennsylvania • Page 45

--O- Ta ---------Ii Entertainment Previews Music sights set on 1977 By MICHAEL SANGIACOMO Mercury Staff Writer little coming to the area music-wise for the remainder of 1976. So set our sights on The normally hyper-active Electric Factory Concerts which presents concerts at the Spectrum, Tower, Bijou Cafe, Academy of Music and other concert halls, is starting the new year with an almost clean slate. Officials said 1977 bookings have been light so far, but are expected to fatten up quickly when the year turns. Look for the Beach Boys in a return romp at the Spectrum Jan. 18.

At the Bijou, Karon Bihari ushers in the new year in her Dec. 29 to Jan. 1 engagement. She will be followed shortly after by Billy Paul of And Mrs. fame.

Jazz with Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond is slated at the Academy of Music in the near future. The Kinks will return to the area, but play the Tower (his time, and Diana Ross will be at the Shubert Theater in February. Barry Manilow, who appears in concert Sunday at the Astor Theater, Penn Avenue, Reading, will also hit the Academy of Music in February. In a truly bold, perhaps risky, venture, the Spectrum will present a series of longhair music concerts -the real longhair stuff that 1977. The same walls that echoed the music of Kiss and Foghat, will resound with the music of Tchaikovsky on Jan.

11. The Jan. 11 date is the first of the series planned. The Spectrum will be divided in half, and the of the hall will be used to enhance the sound, rather than compete with it. will be performed by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra under the wand of Robert Zeller.

Also, 14 soloists from the National Ballet of Canada will performdance interpretations of the music on a raised stage. The Spectrum floor will be carpeted and strewn with pillows to allow listeners to lie back and enjoy the music. A rear screen projector and a sophisticated laser beam light show will increase the visual effectiveness of the show. Among the selections planned are the and Fantasy which was used as the love theme to and Getting back down the earth, the Main Point promises to continue its music in 1977 with acts and old Dec. 27, a local band take a bow as Alan Mann and friends make their Point debut.

Jan. 7 to 9, jazz with Jack Directions featuring John Abercrombie. Jan. 14, 15 and 16 Dave Van Ronk and Chris Smither appear. Jan.

21 and 22 marks the return engagement of Jack What's Foghat and Boston at the Spectrum (SOLD OUT) Mary Travers at the Bijou (Tafe, 1409 Lombard Philadelphia. L03-9284 Tonight and Sunday Mel Tillis at the Latin Casino. Route 70, Cherry Hill, N.J. Barry Manilow at the Astor Theater, Penn Avenue, Reading. Rush at the Astor Theater.

Kiss, Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band at the Spectrum. Dec. 29 to Jan. 1... Karon Bihari at the Bijou Cafe.

Dec. 30 and 31... Kansas at the Tower Theater Dec. 30 and 31... Kansas at the Tower Theater.

Elliott. Looking into the new year. Chrysalis Records is predicting stardom for a new British band called The Babys, not to be confused with a rock band signed with Mercury Records. Chysalis was so impressed with a demonstration tape presented by the band, that a contract was signed within 15 minutes. At a pre-album release press party last week, area media folks were treated to a 20 minute video tape presentation of the band in concert.

The tape was good, but hardly long enough to base an educated opinion of the success probability of the band. On the whole. The Babys is a hard-rocking British band on the order of a Thin Lizzy. The members are certainly visual enough, and the music was highly polished. With the right amount of push, they could do well.

Time will tell. Reflection time. Looking back over the year, the second worst tragedy was the suicide of Phil Ochs. The biggest tragedy was that so few were affected by his passing. Sure, there was the big Phil Ochs memorial concert in New York, which was carried by some radio stations.

Then there were the usual obituaries and testimonials in the newspapers and magazines of the trade. But for the most part, Ochs passing was mourned by only a few, as the world kept spinning without the outspoken singer. Recently A and Elektra records got together and produced Of a double record collection of the finest moments of career. If you bought the album, there is probabjy very little I or any other writer could say that would convince you to do so. But if you do, cherish it.

I envy the person not familiarwith the music of Phil Ochs and purchases Of Foghat appear at the Spectrum tonight with Boston. I can recall the first time I heard Of The and other priceless songs of the master of protest. To hear all those songs in one sitting for the first time would be an intoxicating experience. In the Os PhilOchs emerged out of nowhere to show the poor, unenlightened masses the road to true freedom. Maybe he was a trifle overzealous.

I certainly put his ideas on a pedestal. But he thought he had answers. And he knew he had the means to get the message across. But somewhere things went awry. His compatriot, Bob Dylan, started to get away from the protest message and into the more conventionable, and salable, areas of music.

The others also drifted away, one by one, until Ochs was alone. His career started to slide 0 hill. He was an anachronism, a dinosaur, a biplane in a jet age. The stress showed. not easy he said backstage at the Main in 1975.

write the songs the way I used to. So playing my old stuff now, hoping to give it to the younger people never heard it Ochs was overweight, nervous and sweating profusely. Jim Stafford, the opening act of the show ambled up and began to show off his impressive electronic gagadgets he u.sed in his act. Ochs stood by and watched. He was impressed by ingenuity.

Perhaps he realized that Stafford was destined to quickly overshadow him was strangled while playing in Africa he said. vocal chords were partially crushed. hard to sing. might have a new commg he said hopefully recorded my last concert at Carnegie Hall several years ago. been released in Canada and will be released here if it does well At Carnegie was finally released.

But the music was rock and roll performed sarcastically by Ochs. It very good. That was the last Philadelphia appearance of Ochs. It was over, and he seemed to realize it. All his years of protest, his relentless desire to fight for justice wasted.

Some say the shootings at Kent State University killed Phil Ochs. They say he bear the thougi of students being murdered. Perhaps. Or perhaps it was apathy that killed PhilOchs. Could a man survive very long in a world that ignored his words of warning? What could be more frustrating than being ignored by the very people you are trying to help? In the end, maybe his suicide was revenge.

As Judy Collins put it, was a final shout, or curse perhaps, to the world that refused to let him Of is one of the finest musical accomplishments of the year. It is the heart and soul of its author No other album ever recorded can make that claim.