“Four people from the throng died violently, three of them by violent accident. The fourth, a still-nameless black man, was kicked and stabbed to death.”
“When I first saw the Ramones I said, ‘This is the best band in the world.’ I went up to them after the set and ‘You
guys are great! You guys are great!’ That’s all I could say.”
His story has been a series of fuck-ups, small and tragic. At 29, living at home under close supervision, he acknowledges what he has done: “I never wanted to hurt anybody.”
“What seems to be about to happen is what LeRoi Jones called Unity Music in 1966. It will include the entire range of black music, maybe in one long performance, but pivoting on the drums.”
Chandler has taken advantage of disco’s democratic playlist — which has given everyone from Cher to Cab Calloway another shot at the charts — but his second taste of success is tinged with bitterness.
Through his gospel classics like “Peace Be Still,” Cleveland retells a biblical love story for the plain purpose of reconciling people to God and one another.
“Stoned silly most of the time, more than half a million freaks from all over the country made the painful pilgrimage to Max Yasgur’s 600-acre farm to play in the mud.”
