I tell you, little buddy, this whole island is bewitched.
You remember, we were shipwrecked together.
Welcome to this bonus episode of Sound Opinions.I'm Jim DeRogatis.My co-host is Greg Kott.And if you want to be the first to hear our bonus podcast, become a Sound Opinions member on Patreon like Ryan Eves of Raleigh, North Carolina.Wow.
My heart's been breaking for North Carolina after the hurricane.I hope everyone recovers well.Thank you, Ryan, for supporting the show.And you have our support in return.
There's no telling what either Greg or I will talk about in one of these Desert Island jukebox picks that populate the bonus podcast.We've never got a shortage, Greg.
There's always more music way under the radar or out of left field or stuff we've loved forever that we never just got around to talking about.Give us a little hint.What are you going to talk about?
Well, I'm going to pay tribute to an arts teacher that I had in junior high school. Wow!Greg Cott going with the reminiscin'.I'm very eager to hear about that.That's in a minute on Sound Opinions.
Sound Opinions is supported by Goose Island.Since 1988, Goose Island's been brewing beers in the spirit of Chicago.
You can find 312 Weed Ale, Big Juicy Beer Hug, and so many other limited releases at either of Goose's locations in Chicago, Goose Island Beer Company, Chicago's Beer. Welcome back to Sound Opinions.
Greg, you're going back to upstate New York to reminisce a bit, right, for the Desert Island Jukebox?
I am, yes.Well, you know, the school year has begun, as we all know.Oh, yeah.And we, yes, we do know that.
I'm in the midst of it, yeah.
Yes, indeed.And, you know, my daughter, one of my daughters is a teacher in a public school in the Chicago area. And so I'm very cognizant of the issues that they face on a day-to-day basis.
And one of the things that we talk about is, does your school have an arts teacher?Nearly half of all Chicago schools have only one arts teacher position, and some of those haven't even been filled yet.That's at the start of the school year.
That includes visual arts and music.Yes, any kind of art teaching.And I know that my daughter, Marissa's school, in Norwich has an art and a music teacher at that school, which is great.Fantastic that that's being emphasized.They should be there.
A lot of times it's up to the discretion of the principal whether they even think it's worthwhile to have a person on the budget that will be teaching the arts.
Well you've got teachers having to buy supplies for their own classrooms and then things have to be cut.
Believe me, I know all about that stuff and it's amazing.
But constantly, and we dealt with this when we were newspaper guys too, that the arts sort of got, you know, they were second class compared to politics and all the quote-unquote important stuff.
That park district meeting is way more important than that concert that you're covering tonight, whatever the case may be.
And that may be true, but the point is that you need that cultural coverage just as much as any reader, and the same thing with schools.
I think the fact that the schools would not emphasize arts as an important area to introduce your students to is wrong.
So I just wanted to pay tribute, because when I started out in Catholic schools, and after six, I didn't have any arts courses in those.It was just straight up.I ended up going to junior high, started seventh grade, I started going to public school.
And it was kind of eye-opening, because all of a sudden you've got gym classes, and then you've got arts classes, and all this other stuff that I wasn't getting in Catholic school.
And the arts classes, in particular, were really intriguing to me and eye-opening.And I will never forget my first arts teacher.It was a woman by the name of Miss Izzo.I don't even remember her first name.I'm not sure I knew her first name.
You're not allowed to use first names when you're in school.
Oh, yeah.And I was somewhat intimidated by her, because she was a very commanding presence.I knew she was an older woman.She wasn't like a newbie right out of college.She'd been around.
I would estimate that back in the day, she was probably in her 40s.
I had no idea but the point being that she was an intimidating figure but also incredibly knowledgeable and incredibly enthusiastic so we would do Drawing and arts visual arts and we would do we would play our recorders and remember the recorder.Oh
You got a recorder.You had to whip those out, you know, but and and whatever we were doing Whatever we were working on at the time whether it was watching a movie or writing an essay about some arts event She had music on when it was appropriate.
So there was and it wasn't just classical music.She would play Contemporary music and it was almost like having a radio rock radio station, you know Like all of a sudden she's got this pile of singles and these albums one day.
She says we're gonna learn about improvisation today So, she puts on this record and I've never heard it before.Well, it turns out to be Iron Butterflies in Agatha DeVita.Wow.Which had come out like the year before.This is in the late 60s, right?
I'm in seventh grade.I'm like 11 years old or whatever.
and it's she plays the entire the whole 20 something minutes side long album cut 17 minutes of in a guy to devita side long track and i'd never heard anything like it i have to say we were all just sitting there going wow this is kind of like mind-blowingly
What is going on?You know, it was, and it was catchy and weird.And some of us thought it was too long, you know, and you kind of go, is this going to ever, as the song was going along, she said, you know, pay attention.What's going on?
Are they sticking to the song?And then you go, well, no, they're doing their own thing here.And so we learned about improvisation and it was great.I'll never forget the sound of that Vox continental organ.
I don't think I was conversant with what that instrument was or what was making that sound. After that, I was like, I gotta hear more of that sound.I like that sound.
See, I've been trying for years to get you to play the Farfisa organ I have, which is very close.The model I have is very close.
Right, right.And you won't touch it.They're close cousins.It's a portable keyboard, an electronic instrument. And that sound, Doug Engle was the guy and the vocalist who wrote the song and was playing that vox.
Eric Braun, the guitar player, came up with that great riff.It's just indelibly etched in my brain forever.
So it wasn't the story that they were trying to say, in the garden of Eden, baby, but they were so stoned that it came out in the garden of Eden?
The guy who wrote the song was telling, I think, one of the other musicians, you know, the guy says, hey, we got to write this down.What's the name of the song?And he was slurring, In a Garden of Eden.
It came out, In a Garden of Eden, sort of phonetically. And they went with it.They kind of kept that going.And that added to the mystery of the song.
But then, you know, she told us about stuff like, the melody of this song is actually based on a 13th century Gregorian chant.And I don't remember that in the moment.She said stuff that was like, it was like a foreign language to me.
What is it, 13th century Gregorian chant?And I looked it up later on, and it's got this kind of melody.And basically, what it is, it was the Day of Wrath, which is about the end of the world.
Monks would sing this in an abbey, and it was like this very haunting kind of melody.Because you're wondering, why is this melody so haunting?Well, that's why it is, because it's based on this, you know.
In another lifetime, you were a monk, because you also love Procol Harum, you know, for the organ thing, and that's got that whole, you know, flashback to the Gregorian.
Well, have you ever been in a monastery where they're singing, the monks are singing?It's trippy, man.It is pretty cool.I mean, it's kind of like, it's a different sound altogether.
So, the combination of those factors just kind of, you know, it blew my mind.
And Mrs. O, thank you so much for blowing my mind in class that day because I'll never forget it.You know, I don't remember every teacher I ever had.No, but some stand out.I'll never forget her.I'll never forget that class.
And I'll never forget that song.So, here's a little bit of In Agada De Vida by Iron Butterfly.We're not going to do the whole 17 minutes.Well, you know, we could.But we'll give you a little bit of that on Sound Opinions.
Don't you know that I'm lovin' you In a gullible beat, oh baby Don't you know that I'll always be true Oh, won't you come with me And take my hand
In a God of DeVita, much shortened from the original 17-minute version.There is a three-minute single that the record company made them put out.It actually sold millions of copies, the album and the song.
But wow, the 17-minute experience on Young Greg was pretty motivational. I gotta say, shout out to arts teachers.Shout out to Mrs. Izzo.Thank you so much for that.We need arts teachers in school to blow young minds.
We absolutely do.That is it for this bonus episode.For more full episodes, visit soundopinions.org.To sponsor the show, email sponsor at soundopinions.org.
Sound Opinions is produced by Andrew Gill and Alex Claiborne, our Columbia College intern, Max Hatlam, and our social media consultant is Katie Cott.Thanks for listening.
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