Joining Richard Syrett in the middle two hours of the show, native Tennessean author with a passion for rock and roll, R. Gary Patterson, discussed a fascinating compendium of premonitions, coincidences, hoaxes, and other urban legends surrounding some of the worlds most beloved and mysterious rock icons. He detailed the legend associated with the influential blues musician Robert Johnson, who supposedly went to a deserted crossroads along Highway 61 in Clarksdale, MS to sell his soul to the devil in order to become a great guitarist, with the caveat he would die young. At the age of 27, Johnson died from strychnine-laced whiskey, said to be poisoned by a bar owner who was jealous that Johnson was carrying on with his wife, Patterson recounted.
Patterson recalled a 2001 road trip to visit the crossroads at Highway 61 and a nearby cemetery (Johnson claimed to have learned to play the guitar in a cemetery). A woman in his party saw a snake on one of the headstones and proceeded to beat it with a stick. They also bagged some dirt from the crossroads. Strangely, within a day of the trip, the woman who hit the snake was hospitalized with a brain aneurysm, and another in their group suffered a heart attack, he reported.
Patterson delved into mysteries related to the Beatles and John Lennon's use of the number 9 and the odd ways it intersected their music, and Lennon's life and death. He also detailed some of the 'Paul is Dead' clues and theories. There are allegedly discrepancies in McCartney's height from 1966 to today, and changes in his voicegrams. The changes in his voice are likely due to aging, said Patterson, who suggested that the Beatles may have deliberated planted the 'Paul is Dead' clues as a lark, and as a way to explain their use of hidden messages in case they were called to testify in the Charles Manson murder trial (Manson said he was acting on messages from the Beatles song Helter Skelter). Patterson will be appearing at a special live event in Toronto on October 15th.
Jethro Tull & Ian Anderson
In the first hour, the leader of the band Jethro Tull, Ian Anderson, talked about the 17th agricultural inventor his band took their name from, as they get ready to embark on a tour of "Jethro Tull - The Rock Opera," telling the story of the original Jethro Tull's life. The 17th century Tull came up with some pioneering tools, such as the horse-drawn seed drill, Anderson noted, adding that his new tour will feature many of his band Jethro Tull's best known songs, combined with new material related to the original Tull, and some modern day parallels such as GMO farming. Anderson pioneered playing the flute in a rock band, and recalled the momentous day at a music store when he trading his 1960s Fender Stratocaster guitar for a microphone and a flute.
The last hour of the show featured Open Lines.