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The Bethlehem Asylum story (an autobiography as told by Russell Samuel Buddy Helm) The summer of love came late to the Deep South. Some say it never came at all. There were no real rednecks in the Bethlehem Asylum, it was a colorful coat to wear in order to fit in, unless you were black or had really long hair or were a snotty college drop-out or a folk singer or a jazz musician, or a blues player or a minister of the Universal Light Church or just too freaky to pass as a redneck. Which we were. We stood out like a sore but bright colorful thumb in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi in the late sixties, early seventies. The band traveled all over the South playing festivals, bars, concerts, antiwar rallies, love-ins, art happenings and plain old rock 'n roll bashes. We stood out because we were busy doing what we loved doing which was playing great music: Our Music. We wrote it as a band even though the publishing went to certain names (mostly to the record company). When we were on stage the music was always fresh and exciting. The lyric might be the same every time, along with the chord changes and hopefully the back-ground harmonies but the spirit was always new. As Jimm Neiman, the bass player/Captain Ego put it "We played the sound track to whatever movie was going on." The actual experience of living as a teenager in the late sixties playing in a rock 'n roll band was not anything like what the corporate media of today says it was. Being alive then was a question of choices. Either I could have gone to Vietnam and gotten killed like most of the other good ol' boys I went to high school with or follow my heart and soul which meant risking my neck in more immediate places like Little Havana in Miami listening to great Salsa where they hated long hairs so much they stuck a gun in my face on a Saturday night corner on Calle Ocho. Or getting into black bars in southern ghettos where being white meant you were in big trouble. But that's where the important music was; In the dangerous places. Performing at antiwar rallies where the undercover CIA/FBI were taking our pictures. We were doin' it for the music. But we were forced into politics by the events of the day. The Six O'clock News was showing body bags getting filled up with parts of good 'ol boys of every color in some god-forsaken jungle in a place nobody had every heard of. The music was a voice that grew up out of the ground and found its way into the throats of people. We could do anything. Either that, or get chopped up in the custom-made meat grinder. Things haven't changed much. One thing that seemed different then was Hope. A sense of real Hope. Not the kind of Hope where you hope you make a killing in the Stock Market, but the kind of Hope where you knew that you could change the world for the better. Even in the Deep South. This seemed like a possible reality just beyond the horizon. A Utopian dream of happiness, equality and enough for everybody. It had been predicted and we were at the beginning of it. Just how much at the beginning we didn't realize. We were also very naive. The Bethlehem Asylum would not have been such a success if it did not have a core group of supporters and followers. The people who drove across swamps and police blockades to see and hear the band thrash out their Jazz, R 'n B Country Blues Rock 'n Roll ol' time religion mystical voodoo kind of music. We wrote songs about them and sang about them on stage. We didn't really have many songs about how some girl had done me wrong or some other safe subject. The songs were about the more troubling questions about honesty and soul. Although we certainly had our share of songs referring to the good things in life. This story is for those who managed to survive a traumatic yet joyful and historical time and are still able to remember the real magic, love and Hope that we still cherish today... (Adapted from website notes by Russell Samuel Buddy Helm) www.buddyhelm.com/bethlehemasylum.html Special thanks to Eldridge Wear for being custodian of the Asylum Charles Dechant - Tenor & Soprano Saxophone, Flute & Vocals Christian Gandhi - Piano & Trombone & Alto Flute Danny Finley - Lead Guitar & Vocals Jimm Neiman - Bass & Vocals Buddy Helm - Drums & Percussion Bethlehem Asylum update - Christian has disappeared, Buddy is in L.A., Jim is gone, Charlie is playing sax with Hall And Oates, Danny worked with Kinky Friedman and Billy Joe Shaver and has his own music as Panama Red. 1. Child Of The Mountain (Danny Finley) 3.15 2. Sailboat Ride (Danny Finley) 3.10 3. Earth (Christian Gandhi) 9.50 4. Sea Rider (Charles Dechant) 6.43 5. Talkin' 'Bout Love (Charles Deschant) 6.43 6. It's About (Danny Finley) 5.13 7. Lady Author (Danny Finley) 4.02 8. The Year's Biggest Rain (Danny Finley) 4.39 9. Another Time Another Place (Christian Gandhi) 2.12 10. I Know A Lonely Man (Danny Finley) 2.28 11. Ring My Bell (Charles Dechant) 3.15 12. Blind Man's Bluff (Charles Dechant) 4.30 13. Tales From The Citadel: Vol.1 (Jimm Neiman) 14.01 (Tracks 1-6 Commit Yourself A-10106, released 1970, tracks 7-13 Bethlehem Asylum A-10124 released 1971 Ampex Records) Recorded at Capricorn Sound Studios, Macon, Georgia, except Tales From The Citadel recorded at Criteria Studio, Miami, Florida Executive supervision: Frank Fenter Engineered by Johnny Sandlin Produced by Bethlehem Asylum by special arrangement with Phil Walden & Associates, Inc 1970-1971 Check out the artist's website: http://www.buddyhelm.com/bethlehemasylum.html Track List: 1. Child Of The Mountain 2. Sailboat Ride 3. Earth 4. Sea Rider 5. Talkin' 'Bout Love 6. It's About 7. Lady Author 8. The Year's Biggest Rain 9. Another Time, Another Place 10. I Know A Lonely Man 11. Ring My Bell 12. Blind Man's Bluff 13. Tales From The Citadel: Vol 1 Suggested CDs:
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