Rushton Moreve

[westen44]

From time to time, I like to focus on bassists who are obscure, but still have some significance.  In reading about Rushton Moreve (Steppenwolf's original bassist,) I discovered a few things.  Magic Carpet Ride was actually co-written by him.  He was kicked out of the band after their second album.  His girlfriend (who was Aldous Huxley's granddaughter) had convinced him that California would sink into the ocean; so he refused to travel there.  Years later, though, he did die in an accident in California.  It wasn't in an earthquake, but obviously following his ex-girlfriend's advice to stay away from California looks like it would have been a really good idea after all. 

[Stjofön Big]

Huxley's granddaughter! It's here you get the interesting stuff. And news! (Which this was, for me!)

[westen44]

Huxley's granddaughter! It's here you get the interesting stuff. And news! (Which this was, for me!)

Well, I did get that from Wikepedia.  I do think it's probably true, but it isn't like it comes from a book written by a scholar.  On the other hand, try researching Rushton Moreve on the Internet and you won't find much.  By the way, that wasn't even his real name. 

[Stjofön Big]

Wikipedia ain't bad, in no way I think! Spent the early hours of this day reading about Richard Manuel from The Band, and his whereabouts in the beginnings. Connections to the Revolts, Fab Four, the great Full Tilt Boogie Band and others. Had to make a real race to do what I was supposed to do, before my wife got home from work! (Made it, but I almost didn't break the goal line!)

[westen44]

Wikipedia can be good, but I tend to be careful with it.  When Joe South died, Wikipedia had Billy Joe Royal dying the same day.  It's true Billy Joe Royal sang some Joe South songs, but how someone got so confused that he seems to have got the two people mixed up, I don't know. 

[Highlander]

It's a first-point-of-reference research tool, and a pointer down the road for where you need to be - for most of my stuff its well past the point of usefulness, but some things still surprise me...

[Dave W]

I've found a lot of errors in Wikipedia. Some entries are well-supported by research, others are full of often-repeated legends.

Take Link Wray, for example. He was a serial exaggerator, and his Wikipedia entry repeats some of those fabrications. For example, his claim to be 1/2 Shawnee (he was 100% Caucasian); the origin of Rumble (debunked by The Diamonds); the story about Rumble being banned by some radio stations; the story about the holes he supposedly poked in his speaker -- all false.

[the mojo hobo]

One of the amusing things about the internet is that anyone can be a publisher, but few have the skills of an editor relying on spellcheck to act as copy reader so you end up with things like this (from Link Wray's Wikipedia entry):

Link meant his first wife, Elizabeth ...

[Stjofön Big]

I agree completely, don't belive it all! But I think Wikipedia can be a door opener for your search, an entrance.
Concerning Link Wray, I'm really curious, cause he seemed to make an affair of his Native roots. As in his album from -72 (I think) with the cover that makes him look all Native (link goes to Amazon, for obvious reasons): http://www.amazon.com/Link-Wray/dp/B001NYD0UY/ref=ntt_mus_ep_dpi_16

[Dave W]

I agree completely, don't belive it all! But I think Wikipedia can be a door opener for your search, an entrance.
Concerning Link Wray, I'm really curious, cause he seemed to make an affair of his Native roots. As in his album from -72 (I think) with the cover that makes him look all Native (link goes to Amazon, for obvious reasons): http://www.amazon.com/Link-Wray/dp/B001NYD0UY/ref=ntt_mus_ep_dpi_16

I remember seeing that album cover when it first came out and thinking, what the hell? That was retouched! I've seen Link in person, he had pale white skin and he also had brown hair before he reinvented himself as an Indian. Then there were his two fair-skinned blonde brothers, who never claimed Indian blood. But most of all, a suspicious person did research through Ancestry.com a few years ago and discovered that his mother's family was white as could be, which means that all the stories he told, like the one about how they had to hide under the house when the Ku Klux Klan rode, were just figments of his imagination. Because I know so much he said about himself was false, I also don't believe other things he said, like the story about him losing a lung to tuberculosis.

I'm not targeting him, it's just an example. With certain famous people, some people will believe anything and repeat it.