Sox-knockin' rock

£X! .V &AW MUSIC CORNER By Robert Feuer MOST ROCK N’ roll these days is little more than wallpaper, having been replaced years ago by a wide-ranging supply of alternate sounds. Gone are the days when music was a battleground between generations, when en¬ trenched bastions of Puritanism and racism did everything they could to pull the plug on a “new” musical style based on compositions black people had been playing for years. Radio was the front line of this cultural revolution; platters spun by late-night maestros catering to the impressionable minds of schoolkids tuning in on their transistor radios after their parents’ world went to sleep. In Guerneville that music lives on, thanks to Sister Glitz who, on her radio show “Sox Knockin’ Rock,” airing Fridays from 8 to 10 p.m. on KGGV (95.1 FM,) shares a massive music collection she calls her “treasure trove.” She counts as her favorites Otis Redding, Buddy Holly, Smokey Robinson, the Coasters and Little Richard. Sister Glitz’s first radio experience occurred at the age of four when, on a visit with her mother to a radio studio, the youngster tripped over a cord and unplugged the whole station. As a 14- year-old, in her hometown Stockton, she was “listening to the radio all the time, searching for oldies stations,” she says. She remembers Wolfman Jack’s late night show, and church gospel broadcasts her parents tuned in to on Sunday fishing trips to the mountains. Her early aspirations to become a disc jockey were sidetracked by authority figures who told her girls were not welcome in the profession. Now, at KGGV, she is living her teenage fantasy. At age 20, Sister Glitz’ family moved to a house in Cloverdale that had been built by her great-great-great grandfather during the 1870s. In 1973, with her husband, KGGV’s cowboy hero River Ranger, she moved to Guerneville where they currently reside. While teaching at El Molino High School and various private schools, Sister Glitz had two children and retired to become a full-time mom. Her son, now in his 20s, works at a music store in Cotati and plays with the progressive metal band Ancient at Birth. He thinks his mom’s music is “old fogey music.” But Sister Glitz never stopped rocking. Along with River Ranger, his sister, “and some Guerneville Community Church women we roped into being backup singers,” Sister Glitz says, she started a band, the Passions (later the Fits of Passion), covering those “oldies but goodies.” Since saxophone was a major part of early rhythm and blues and rock n’ roll, she purchased one for $30 at a flea market and learned the instrument with the aid of an instructional book and video. Within a few months she introduced her sax into the band. Their first public appearance occurred at a talent show at the church. Lacking a drum, River Ranger became “the rhythm machine,” says Sister Glitz, carrying the beat by clapping with a box placed over his head. Among their performances over the years, the Fits of Passion did instructional shows, titled the History of Rock n’ Roll, at the Guerneville School, but when two members quit they disbanded after an appearance at the 2007 Bodega Bay Fisherman’s Festival. Sister Glitz fondly recalls one of the highlights of the band’s career, playing at their daughter’s wedding last year. “We were surprised they wanted us,” she says. Talking about the origins of the music she loves, Ms. Glitz says, “You take the threads of gospel, blues, a dash of jazz, country, and you mix them all together.” After World War II, she goes on to say, people were increasingly mobile, old barriers were breaking down, newinfluences appearing. It was a golden age for radio, which played a large role in these transformations. White artists, most prominently people like Elvis Presley, and later the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, brought attention to music that was deeply rooted in the black culture. As rock n’ roll became “more recognized, publicized, more mainstream,” she says, serious fans dug below the surface to discover the original artists behind the “new” music. “What I like about early rock n’ roll is the feeling that grabs you, a simplicity. I like being able to hear each instrument. Also the rawness; you can tell they were having fun with it.” In April, Sister Glitz will be doing her 100th radio show. Her next goal is “to get the band back together,” she says, “I’m on a mission from God, like the Blues Brothers.” ■ Sox-knockin ’ rock