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All Things Brewer & Shipley |
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After
years honing their craft as solo folk
artists and then as staff songwriters for a major record label, in 1968 Brewer and Shipley
finally got the chance
to record their first album on A&M Records.
But the title of their album
Down In L.A.
also reflected their discontent with
California.
So
Michael and Tom decided to leave L.A. and move back to the Midwest
despite a newly released album on A &M and mutual friends who were
starting to make it big in bands such as The Association, Buffalo
Springfield, and The Byrds.
Tom
described their decision, "There was a music scene built
up in Kansas City, and Michael and I used to come during Christmas and
it was great. There would be clouds in the sky -- you don't see clouds
in L.A., just the haze. There was a significant period of time when we
were essentially homeless. Then we set ourselves down with all these old
friends to try and get a musical production company going."
Good
Karma Productions,
a Kansas
City based management and production company, was formed to produce and manage founding artists Brewer & Shipley,
Danny Cox, Ted Anderson, Chet Nichols, and later The Ozark Mountain Daredevils. The
Good Karma management team consisted of Stan Plesser, owner of the
legendary Vanguard Coffee House, Dan “Mort” Moriarty, Gary Peterson, and
they were soon joined by
Gary’s brother Paul.
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The Good Karma offices were housed in a old three story house at 4218
Main, just across the street from 'The Vanguard' that had
served as the primary Kansas City venue for Brewer & Shipley, Danny Cox
and many other artists on the folk circuit including the Nitty Gritty
Dirt Band and Steve Martin. The family communal
atmosphere was evident at the Good Karma headquarters. Artist
Danny Cox had an apartment on
the top floor, manager Gary Peterson had an apartment on the second floor,
while Good Karma reception
was on the first floor and the actual working offices were in the
basement.
After outgrowing the limited audiences that could be accommodated at
'The Vanguard,' the Good Karma management team bought a larger venue that held
2,000 people and founded another legendary Kansas City music venue called
the
Cowtown Ballroom.
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Karma =
The Buddhist belief that whatever you do comes back to you, e.g. if you do
something good, something good will happen to you. |
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All Things Brewer & Shipley |
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