Fact #161432
When:
Short story:
The Byrds embark on their tour of South Africa without singer and guitarist Gram Parsons, who refuses to set foot in a nation where apartheid is official policy. Parsons announces that he will form a new 'Southern soul group playing country and gospel oriented music with a steel guitar.' Thus The Flying Burrito Brothers are born.
Full article:
Roger McGuinn (The Byrds] : Gram didn't quit, he was let go because he didn't want to go to South Africa with us (July 1968). He said he wouldn't play to segregated audiences. We went down there as a political thing, to try to turn their heads around, but he didn't want to participate in that, but it wasn't for political reasons. It was because he wanted to stay in London, England, UK, Europe. He dug it there, dug Marianne Faithful and The Rolling Stones and he wanted to stay in that scene.
He refused to go to South Africa and his reasoning was sound from one point of view, but he didn't understand, or he was unwilling to comprehend my point of view. I'd known Miriam Makeba since I'd worked with the Mitchell Trio back in the early 1960's. Miriam was from there and she managed to escape with the help of Harry Belafonte or somebody. She told me what a horrible place it was. I knew all the political strife they were into and I wanted to go over and do what I could to help it out … help the black people get liberated.
I went over and told the white press over there that the blacks were getting armed. I personally knew people who were sending money over there to arm the blacks. I told them there was going to be a bloodbath unless they let up on their apartheid laws. Well, that's like going to Georgia and telling them to integrate. We got threatening letters, telegrams, phone calls in Durban.
Climatically, I enjoyed the country except I had the flu there. I got about a 103-104 degree fever. I had to work through it because we had this (pejorative term deleted) promoter from England who had hepatitis and went to South Africa to recuperate because it was summer down there when it was winter in England and vice-versa. It was winter down there and I caught the flu and they don't have heat in the hotel rooms so I would be sweating all night long and it would be 40 degrees in the room. I kept the flu about two weeks.
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Roger McGuinn : Gram Parsons was good, but he wanted to steer The Byrds into country music exclusively and once I realised that, I didn't like it. Basically, he wanted the band to fire me and hire a steel guitar player.
(Interview with Johnny Black for Mojo Collections)
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He refused to go to South Africa and his reasoning was sound from one point of view, but he didn't understand, or he was unwilling to comprehend my point of view. I'd known Miriam Makeba since I'd worked with the Mitchell Trio back in the early 1960's. Miriam was from there and she managed to escape with the help of Harry Belafonte or somebody. She told me what a horrible place it was. I knew all the political strife they were into and I wanted to go over and do what I could to help it out … help the black people get liberated.
I went over and told the white press over there that the blacks were getting armed. I personally knew people who were sending money over there to arm the blacks. I told them there was going to be a bloodbath unless they let up on their apartheid laws. Well, that's like going to Georgia and telling them to integrate. We got threatening letters, telegrams, phone calls in Durban.
Climatically, I enjoyed the country except I had the flu there. I got about a 103-104 degree fever. I had to work through it because we had this (pejorative term deleted) promoter from England who had hepatitis and went to South Africa to recuperate because it was summer down there when it was winter in England and vice-versa. It was winter down there and I caught the flu and they don't have heat in the hotel rooms so I would be sweating all night long and it would be 40 degrees in the room. I kept the flu about two weeks.
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Roger McGuinn : Gram Parsons was good, but he wanted to steer The Byrds into country music exclusively and once I realised that, I didn't like it. Basically, he wanted the band to fire me and hire a steel guitar player.
(Interview with Johnny Black for Mojo Collections)