By Billy Florio

It was around noon on a cold Thanksgiving Day in Salakha Valley. The freezing wind ripped through people as they traveled home. Meanwhile, on the radio, afternoon Disc Jockeys, DJ Scratch-n-Sniff and Tony were taking the air for their “DJ Scratch-n-Sniff and Tony show.”

“Hey everybody, it’s Thanksgiving,” DJ Scratch-n-Sniff called over the airwaves. “And the time’s approaching to eat your turkey, for department stores to start their Christmas sales and for classic rock radio stations, to break out copies of Alice’s Restaurant and do the once-a-year playing of the side-spanning title track.” “That’s right Scratch,” Tony remarked, “This is usually the only time that this song gets played.” With that DJ Scratch-n-Sniff put the record on and proceeded to play the only song on side one, the 18 minute 20 second, live “Alice’s Restaurant / Massacree.” “Enjoy.”

After the song began, Tony turned to DJ Scratch-n-Sniff. “Scratch, I’ve always wondered, why do we play this song every Thanksgiving? I mean, I know the events of it take place around Thanksgiving Day, but that doesn’t seem to be the focus of the song. It seems more to be a folk song that takes a humorous look at the establishment and the draft. It was perfect for the Hippie culture in the late ’60s when it was recorded, but now it just seems dated.” DJ Scratch-n-Sniff sat and thought for a second. “Do you have a better Thanksgiving song to play? This song is the only reason why this album is even known. Everyone remembers ‘The Massacree.'”

“Yeah, about that,” Tony shot back. “How come we never play the second side of this album? There’s some good stuff on it that no one remembers. And that’s a shame, cause some of it equals, if not betters, the excellence of side one.” “Like what?” “Well,” Tony answered. “The ’60s psychedelic folk pop of ‘Chilling Of The Evening” and ‘Highway In The Wind’ is well worth flipping the record over. Also, ‘The Motorcycle Song’ and ‘Now And Then’ are forgotten gems of the folk world. This stuff beats the Youngbloods or Brotherhood of Man any day of the week. They’re amazing songs that deserved to be heard! Why don’t we play them?”

“‘Cause we’re owned by Clear Channel.” “Oh yeah, almost forgot.” And with that, Tony shut up.