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THE COLLEGE NEWS ~ Friday, March 3, 1967

Out and "Plays It” at the Point;

Page Eight

Eric Andersen Sells





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' by Cindy Ayers '68

_ AS Marcia Ringel and I sat in
. the audience at the Main Point
Saturday, February 25, the full
significance of what we were plan-
ning struck us. We. stared at the
gaunt young singer with cheek-
bones so high they almost hit his
eyebrows and cheeks so coolly
hollow they looked like shadows,
Not to mention his great shaggy
hair.

‘*How. can we--do-it???-we mut-
tered feverishly. ‘‘Do we dare?”
But we had little -choice--the
Editor of the NEWS was counting
on.us, and besides we’d bragged

to so many of our friends already '

that we couldn’t back down now.
So when the 10:00 show ended,
we knew it was about to happen
*-our interview with Eric Ander-
sen was imminent.

Nervously we crept downstairs,
where entertainers at the Point
spend their intermissions. ‘The
place was empty. As we stood
there almost in relief, we heard
voices from a small room toward
the back and realized that that was
where we should be. Fearing that
he might be resting or naked, we
stood uncertainly in the middle of
the floor, whimpering ‘‘Hello’’
and wishing that we were some-
where else, Gathering her last
flakes of courage, Marcia called
tremulously, ‘‘Mr. Andersen?’
(calling ‘‘Eric”? seemed too inti-
mate and shouting ‘‘Eric Ander-
sen”? was OUT of the question.)
He heard us, told us to come in,
and-we knew that escape was no
longer possible,

When I first found out that
Marcia and I were todo this inter-
view, the questions I planned on
asking were (1) Did you get my
letter? and (2) Who is this Debby
Green who played the guitar on
your second album? After that,
I just hoped we would be able to
think of enough questions to fill
the time,

Finding questions turned out
to be hardly the problem, The
difficulty was finding enough time
to get in all we had to ask and all
he had to say. Anyone who has
heard his records and then saw
the show this weekend would un-
derstand why the topic that dom-
inated the interview was thefolk-
rock trend; in music and more
particularly in Eric Andersen.
We were especially interested in
the statement he made during the
show to introduce one of his newer
songs, more rock than folk; ‘I
know what you’re thinking,’’ he
said, ‘‘he’s sold out, he’s gone
over!”? So we.asked him why
he said it--did he feel guilty?
Had people been accusing him of
defecting? The truth is that he
doesn’t feel guilty-at all, although
he knows there are staunch tra-
ditionalists who will refuse tolis-
ten to anything but pure folk (and
these days they’ll have a hard time
finding that) and this makes him

Andersen that it did give a deeper,
richer sound and was, on many
songs, more expressive. People
seem to want a balance.of oldand
new, but he said that it’s hard to
decide what songs to do when
you’re limited to about six ineach
set. We asked how he felt when
he had finished a show--tired,
glad it was over...? He said
that normally he wants to keep
playing because he just “gets

. into the groove of a show’? when

he has to quit,

The discussion of folk-rock led
to the album he cut this summer
and which Vanguard is just re-
leasing, called ‘**Bout Changes

‘and Things, Take II.”* This record

was made for release in Britain,
and is composed of the same songs
found on his second American
album, ‘** ? Bout Changes and
Things.” He seemed a little
worried about the reaction of the
public to this record, fearing that
his fans would feel cheated or
misled. The main difference be-
tween the two albums is that
‘Take II’? is the folk-rock new
band version of the previous al-
bum and was not originally de-
signed for sale in America,

He does, however, have a fourth
and brand new album coming out
Can Alley.” This’ wi
last Vanguard record after which
he will switch to a new label--
perhaps Columbia or R.C,A, Vic-
tor, although he has not yet per-
manently decided.

When questioned about his con-
cert program, Eric told us that
he hopes to extend it soon, and









adelphia, ~When I saw him at the
Point inOctober, it was announced
that he would be doing a concert
at Philadelphia’s Town Hall in
December. But December came
and the concert didn’t. I asked
him why and he said, .‘‘I knew I
wouldn’t be able to fill the hall,??
His theory is, if you’re going to
do a big concert, do-it, if you.
can’t, don’t try. Not only is it
depressing to the performer him-
self to play to a half-filled house,
but you’re also, he feels, cheating
the contractor and wasting the
time and efforts of the promoter,
(And it’s not too good for his own
reputation, either.) ‘‘Besides,’®
he said, ‘‘I hate Town Hall. It’s
a graveyard.” He said that if he
does do a concert in Philadelphia,

‘he’d rather do it at the Academy

of Music than at Town Hall, It’s
more alive.

We asked Mr. Andersen if he
had ever had any formal guitar
lessons, ‘‘No,’’ -he said, ‘‘I
taught myself when I was about
13.7 He used as models old
45’s -- calypso, Elvis Presley.
In fact, one of the songs on his
second album, ‘‘That’s Alright Ma-
ma’? was an old Elvis song. He
seldom uses songs written by
other people -- on this second
album there are two which he
learned from someone else, on
his first album, ‘‘Today is the
Highway’’, he has adapted.a song

7 nate
$9-O-9-96-99-5465-4469.646654.6545346005 ss Cbs rewuvwvu we $44464646464464646464444444) 4443) 4144 44 in kid)



: photo by Susan Nosco
Friend of author, Eric and author pose for photographer who is completely overcome by the
majesty and glory of his presence.

from another arrangement -- and
doesn’t write songs specifically
for other singers, although Judy
Collins has recorded his ‘‘ Thirsty
Boots’ and, he informed us, Peter
Paul, and Mary are planning to
use another of his on an album
soon.

Our moment ofglory wasdraw- -

ing to a close as we heard the
first part of the show (Robby

Robinson) ending above us. Em-
barrassed, but determined not to
let the chance go by, I handed
him the record jacket from
* ‘Bout Changes and Things?’
which I had been clutching on my
knees under a Mozart record I
was taking to a friend, mumbled,

“I hate to be a teeny-bopper,
but could you, I mean would
you....? and gave him my pen,
‘The real reason is out,’? he
said, ‘‘Autographs, ha! Little
did I. know the trué reason.”
But he must havelikedsigning it,
because he then took my friend’s
Mozart record and signed ‘‘Mo-
zart’’ and, after some thought,
added, ‘‘Alias Eric (Flash) An-
dersen,’?' when I suggested
‘*Wolfgang’’, he laughed, added a

Sings of Frustration, Violets, and That's Alright —

“Ww, handed back the records,

and the interview was over.
Stumbling upstairs, blinded by
the radiance of the miracle
(‘we DID it’?) we ran into our
photographer who had justarrived
and, since Eric was right behind
us, she asked him if he would
mind if she took a few pictures.
He didn’t, and so she did -- with
him sitting between Marcia and
me with his. very arms around
our very shoulders, and Marcia’s

very glasses on his very face

for a few minutes -- while our
very dates coldly stalked out the
door and sulked in the car.

It was really ending at last.
The best part was that he proved
to be engaging off stage as on--
he’s not protesting. His only
*protest song’’, “16-year
Grudge’’, he laughingly introduc-
ed as ‘fa song of teenage frus-
tration and deep social signif-
icance.”? One of his best-known
songs, ‘‘Violets of Dawn’’, with
its poetic beauty is far more his
style. He makes contact with
people; no matter. what the style
he gets through to them. And
his striking good looks are even
more so in person (my contact
lenses melted). Just before we
left, ‘‘Hey,’’ he said, ‘“Younever
asked me the major influences on
my life!” Realizing our unfor-
givable error, we hastened toask.
‘¢Pat Boone,’’ he replied. {





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