Everyday Creation
This show has to do with different kinds of creation: human, divine, and a third kind that connects the two. Our human creativity is easy to talk about because clearly we're prolific creators. We make music, we write, we cook; we establish businesses, we design gardens, we invent things. The list goes on and on. Another kind of creation is divine. We feel its presence when, for example, we contemplate birth, death, our life purpose, or have a quiet realization that there's something bigger than us. The third kind is perhaps a little more difficult to grasp and yet, with a little practice, it's easy to put into action. This is the personal power each of us has to direct our thoughts, words and actions every day toward what we want in our life and world, rather than what we don't want.
This sounds heavier than it is. For me, this show is an acknowledgment that while we're all here to learn and grow and do our best, there's still plenty of opportunity to relax, laugh, love, and enjoy this playground we call life. So my hope is that you'll get some enjoyment and illumination out of these episodes. Here you'll find interviews with delightfully creative individuals; short stories about some who have passed away; and essays about personal power.
I'm Kate Jones, host and creator of Everyday Creation. Thank you for following my show.
Everyday Creation
Brewer & Shipley Didn't Take "One Toke Over the Line" Seriously, Then It Became a Hit
Mike Brewer began his music career writing songs and playing in coffee houses, eventually meeting Tom Shipley in Cleveland. They recorded their first album in 1968 and played mostly in Midwest college towns.
Their song "One Toke Over the Line" was inspired by a backstage experience involving hashish. They wrote it in an hour and never thought to include it in a concert until one time they did it as an encore. The audience loved it, so they put it on their "Tarkio" album. The song reached #10 on Billboard's Hot 100 despite the Federal Communications Commission's ban on drug-related songs.
It even made it on "The Lawrence Welk Show." You can watch here.
You can listen to Brewer & Shipley's version here.
Brewer & Shipley had two other Hot 100 hits: "Tarkio Road" (No. 55) and "Shake Off the Demon" (No. 98).
The image in this episode's thumbnail shows Brewer & Shipley in 1971. Brewer is on the right. Attributed to Nick DeWolf, the photo originally was posted to Flickr as 020313 by steve the archivist, CC BY-SA 2.0.
This tribute is one of 41 stories that Sheldon Zoldan, a longtime journalist, has written and recorded in honor of the music notables who passed away in 2024. He's written tributes for other years as well. You can listen to the ones from 2023 on Everyday Creation. We'll have the 2022 tributes available later this year.
Sheldon also is the creator of Song of the Day, a story that he sends by email to a list of subscribers. To get on his subscriber list, email shzoldan@comcast.net with the subject line ADD ME TO SOTD.
This is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to Everyday Creation, available on YouTube and in podcast directories including Apple, Audible, iHeart and Spotify.
Sheldon:
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Michael Brewer had a long, successful music career,
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but it was one song
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that shadowed him throughout his life.
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Brewer, who was half of the duo Brewer
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& Shipley,
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died December 17
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at his home in Branson, Missouri.
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No cause was given.
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He was 80 years old.
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After high school, Brewer began writing his own
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songs and traveling the country playing in coffee
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houses.
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He was playing in Cleveland when he met
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Tom Shipley, who would later become his singing
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partner.
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Brewer moved to Los Angeles, where he eventually
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hooked up with Shipley.
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They recorded their first album in 1968
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and then decided to move back to the
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Midwest.
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They made their living playing in college towns,
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mostly in the Midwest.
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The legend of "One Toke Over the Line"
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got its start during one of those concerts.
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Somebody passed around some strong hashish,
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and just before going on stage,
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Shipley said he was "one toke over the
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line."
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Brewer laughed at the line. The next day,
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they wrote the song in an hour.
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They never thought to record it. They played
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it as an encore at a concert
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only because they had run out of songs.
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The audience loved it, and so did their
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record company.
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So they put it on their next album,
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"Tarkio."
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They released it as a single in 1971,
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and it reached number 10 on Billboard's Hot
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100,
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despite the Federal Communications
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Commission cracking down on radio stations playing drug
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songs.
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"One Toke Over the Line" got banned by
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stations in several cities.
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The song didn't get banned from the squeaky
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clean "Lawrence Welk Show."
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Gail Farrell and Dick Dale sang it. The
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producers thought it was a religious song because
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of the words "sweet Jesus."
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After the song, Welk said,
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"And there you heard a modern spiritual."
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Brewer & Shipley had two more Hot 100
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hits, "Tarkio Road" at number 55
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and "Shake Off the Demon"
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at 98.
Kate:
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That was Song of the Day creator Sheldon
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Zoldan.
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And I'm Kate Jones,
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host of Everyday Creation.
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Thank you for joining us today.
