1968 Conqueror of American Rock - Chapter 157



Only Noblemtl

157. Share Your Heart (7)

As the festival began, all the accommodations, restaurants, cafes, and clubs on the Sunset Strip became busy. The festival lasted for a month, so many music lovers came to visit. A strange phenomenon began to occur in which people who used to go on vacation to Hawaii or Florida in December began to come to LA for vacation.

When the main bands played in earnest at Kings Club and The Age of Rock, huge crowds gathered. If you buy a free pass, you get a stamp with the date on your wrist. If you show this mark, you can freely visit four clubs in one day.

They also sold T-shirts with the phrase ‘Share Your Heart’ printed on the back, with a list of artists who contributed to the song.

Although club performances were the main event, new musicians busked on the streets. They performed their own songs, but added to the year-end atmosphere with Christmas carols.

Food trucks and street vendors that were not usually there were also lined up on the streets. Couples, friends, and families enjoyed a variety of street food such as tacos, churros, popcorn, hot dogs, and cotton candy.

The streets were filled with Christmas trees and banners that read “Share Your Heart” to promote the purpose of the festival. Red, white, and green balloons hanging with national flags of all nations gave off a Christmas atmosphere even in LA, where there was no snow.

KMTV took to the streets to cover the excitement of the festival.

“Hello, KMTV viewers, this is Jack White! Today, I’m not on the Tonight Tonight Show, but at the Sunset Strip Charity Festival. Wow, this is a huge crowd. I’ve never seen so many people in the middle of downtown LA. Let’s chat with the citizens for a moment.”

Jack White approached and greeted the crowds lining up in front of The Age of Rock.

“Whoa! It’s Jack White!”

People who recognized Jack, who was already a celebrity, cheered.

“Hahaha, nice to meet you. Where are you from?”

Asked a young black woman with short hair.

“I’m from Indiana. It’s Michael Jackson’s hometown. Actually, I don’t know much about rock music. But this time, I heard Diana Ross and Michael Jackson singing with rock bands and I was completely enchanted by them, so I took a vacation and came here.”

“Yes. By any chance······.”

Jack smiled awkwardly, expecting something.

“Of course I know Jack participated in the song. It was really touching to see him cry.”

Jack felt a little embarrassed, but he pretended to cry for a moment, which made the on-site citizens laugh out loud. Then he handed the microphone to an Asian man behind him.

“Hello, where are you from?”

“I come from Koreatown, which is close to here. We are a Korean family.”

“Oh, Korea is the home of sparkling ripples!”

“Yes, that’s right. Actually, I’m just a family man who knows nothing about music. I immigrated to the U.S. and worked my butt off to feed my family. Now, I run a small supermarket. But I read in the newspaper that singers from the U.S. 8th Army who came from Korea were very popular in the U.S., so I became interested. So I went to see the movie with my family and became their fan.”

He was with his wife and children, all wearing donation T-shirts under their outerwear.

“I’m a huge fan of Annie Unnie. I’m so happy that I can brag to the kids at school that she’s a Korean celebrity.”

“I’m going to be a great guitarist like my brother James. I used to listen to music and practice guitar in secret because I was afraid of getting in trouble with my parents, but now I can play it confidently in front of them, haha.”

Jack was moved as he interviewed Korean families.

‘If there had been musicians like James when I was young, my life wouldn’t have turned out this way······.’

Jack also interviewed citizens in front of other clubs and talked to new busking bands to convey the excitement of the scene.

* * *

“Wow, it’s Korean! Stella, James, brothers! Come here!”

Annie’s loud voice echoed throughout the mansion, and we gathered in front of the living room TV.

“Oh my, they really are Korean. The father must be a first-generation immigrant, judging by his awkward English pronunciation. The kids must have come here as babies or were born here, judging by their fluent English.”

“Yeah, sis. But he’s my fan, hehe. When I was in Korea, I only had military fans.”

“Why, Jake was your biggest fan too.”

“Inma, Jake was a soldier too.”

“Oh, I see.”

“James, my son wants to be like you. You little punk, you have such wild dreams.”

We leisurely watched Jack’s report on the scene on TV at home.

The month-long festival is like a marathon. Today is the day when Traveler, London Smog, and a new band perform. Tomorrow is Aerosmith and Queen, the next day Stella & EGO and Tom Waits, then Judas Priest and Van Halen. Our Sparkling Ripple will be on stage on the weekend.

After interviewing the Northern Line, Jack went south. KMTV was a music station, not just for Kings and the CW.

The street scene on TV was quite different from ours, but this was the original Sunset Strip I had seen in music magazines.

Jack coughed violently at the cigarette smoke from the leather jackets, jeans, long-haired white youths, and the slutty groupies.

– Wow, it’s Jack White!

– Yes, knock knock knock······ Nice to meet you······knock, here you are.

“Wow, what kind of cigarettes are you smoking like that? Uncle Jack, you’re having a hard time.”

Jack barely cleared his throat and interviewed them.

– We’re from Texas. We came to see Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. But we fell in love with a band called KISS. They’re the sexiest devils, hahaha!

A long-haired white man sticks his tongue out at the camera.

“Ah, that’s gross! What the hell is that? I think KISS is weird and kind of gross. They’re just copying our parade.”

– Sunset Strip is definitely the street where you can feel the best rock spirit, haha.

– Is there a band you like over there?

– Of course! I’m a huge fan of Sparkling Ripple. I also like Stella & EGO. But when I go there, I can’t smoke and······.

Even in his hazy state, he was aware of the camera and stopped trying to say the next words.

“You’re not in your right mind. I thought your eyes were unfocused for a while now. Tsk tsk.”

Annie clicked her tongue as she watched the man giggling on the screen.

Then, as the sound of music and cheers got closer to the screen, the camera turned to the scene where the members of KISS were parading on a truck, and people were waving and cheering for them.

“Oh, you suckers. I don’t have any personal ill feelings towards you, but I just get a bad feeling whenever I see you. I hate that tongue too, ugh.”

As far as I know, KISS was a more wholesome band than you might think. They would never fall for Anthony’s strong temptation. However, they were so hot-blooded that they were nymphomaniacs who never turned down a single groupie.

Therefore, the cat’s intuition is accurate.

“Hey, James. Anyone can see that it’s just a copy of our music video. And the free pass that Devil’s gave us was your idea, and we copied it.”

As soon as Jack’s interview ended, KMTV immediately played the music video for our new song ‘Sk8er Girl’.

“Poohahaha, the PD is a genius. He connects with me, hahaha!”

Even if we didn’t do it that way, people would know that we did it first.

Still, I love you, PD-nim.

* * *

The festival continued every day. Young musicians from all over the United States who dreamed of becoming rockers flocked to the Sunset Strip. Reporters from all over the country, as well as the national broadcast stations, were busy covering the street festival.

Two men were drinking coffee in a cafe under the blinding California sun in December. Both had long black hair, black sunglasses, black clothes, and black shoes.

“How is it that the popular Deep Purple is coming to such a small club?”

Tony Iommi said, wiping the coffee off his mustache with a tissue.

“I think you came for the same reason as me.”

Ritchie Blackmore crossed his legs and pretended to play the guitar with his right thumb and index finger on the seam of his trousers.

The two men are the leader and guitarist of a band, respectively. Along with Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, they have been experimenting with each other to create a heavy metal guitar sound.

But then an unknown oriental band showed up at Woodstock and showed off some ridiculous guitar sound. No one said anything to anyone, but everyone analyzed and studied James Choi’s guitar tone.

When they first released their live album, there were rumors that it was fake, that they had overdubbed crunchy gains multiple times, that it was impossible to do live, etc. But they proved at Woodstock that their sound was stronger than the album.

Moreover, they appeared on pirate radio and captured the hearts of the British people by successfully hosting the Pilton Festival.

And then, a while later, word came out on pirate radio that he was selling his own booster pedals in a small music store.

“John Sher is a big shot in the music industry on the East Coast of the United States. If you refuse his request, it will be difficult to make music in the future. And Michael Lang is the one who planned Woodstock.”

“Hey, Richie. Let’s stop beating around the bush and have an honest conversation between guitarists. You’re definitely here for that pedal, right?”

“Wh, what······ pedal.”

Ritchie Blackmore was a very proud man. It was the first time in his life that he had thought of imitating someone else’s sound.

Then Tony Iommi placed the yellow pedal on the table, saying, “You’re on the same side as us, so now be honest with me.”

Ritchie Blackmore lifted his sunglasses with his hand, checked the pedals with his naked eye, and smiled.

“Okay, I said it first, so you say it too.”

“Ugh, I really couldn’t say anything and suffered so much. You should never, ever say anything to me today.”

“That goes for me too. I don’t even tell the members about what happened today. They’re drunk every day anyway······.”

“Tommy, you would know if you tried it. I just got it and tested it. When you step on it, the sound is definitely powerful and the gain is greatly increased. This pedal is truly revolutionary. But the problem is······.”

“So the noise level also increases significantly?”

“That’s right. It doesn’t really matter if you turn down the volume knob momentarily or play continuously. That guy James Choi has amazing hand control, so you can barely hear any noise.”

Ritchie Blackmore was a guitarist who never left his hands out when it came to hand control. His trademark skill was the ability to constantly turn the three knobs on his Fender Stratocaster while playing.

The two sat in the cafe until the sun went down, discussing James’ guitar tone endlessly.

At that moment, from far away on the Sunset Strip, the refreshing sound of rock music sung by a female vocalist and the sound of people cheering came closer and closer.