Hi Folks

Wed Sep 07, 2016 4:16 pm

Hi. I don't know if I made a typo or if some kinda glitch happened but I know how to spell Corporal. It seems I'm stuck with Corporel Clegg for now. Old timer Pink Floyd fans should know the name from the Roger Waters song. Anyway, just bought my first G&L and am poking around for info. My real name is Jim. I hope to be a good neighbor here. Cheers friends. Jim

Re: Hi Folks

Wed Sep 07, 2016 5:10 pm

Hi Jim.

Got any pix? USA or Tribute? Model, color, easy stuff??

Welcome to the addiction.

edg

Re: Hi Folks

Wed Sep 07, 2016 6:25 pm

Hi Jim,

Welcome to the G&L cult uh, uh club. :D Looking forward to seeing pics of yer new guitar. Another Floyd fan so I got the Corporal Clegg reference. Did you see/hear the new David Gilmour clip of him doing The Beatles Her, There and Everywhere? VERY good version. He has a new selection out or coming out that should be interesting.

Come around and jump in often. :thumbup:

Re: Hi Folks

Wed Sep 07, 2016 6:57 pm

Welcome to G&LDP!

Ken

Re: Hi Folks

Wed Sep 07, 2016 7:08 pm

Corporal Clegg wrote:Hi. I don't know if I made a typo or if some kinda glitch happened but I know how to spell Corporal. It seems I'm stuck with Corporel Clegg for now. Old timer Pink Floyd fans should know the name from the Roger Waters song. Anyway, just bought my first G&L and am poking around for info. My real name is Jim. I hope to be a good neighbor here. Cheers friends. Jim


Hello Jim,

I fixed the spelling of your username. I, too, am a fan and collector of early Pink Floyd, so I knew as soon as I saw you username what you were referring to.

Welcome to our site! :greet:

:ugeek:

Re: Hi Folks

Wed Sep 07, 2016 8:20 pm

Hi Jim,
Welcome!!

Re: Hi Folks

Wed Sep 07, 2016 11:16 pm

Craig wrote:
Corporal Clegg wrote:Hi. I don't know if I made a typo or if some kinda glitch happened but I know how to spell Corporal. It seems I'm stuck with Corporel Clegg for now. Old timer Pink Floyd fans should know the name from the Roger Waters song. Anyway, just bought my first G&L and am poking around for info. My real name is Jim. I hope to be a good neighbor here. Cheers friends. Jim


Hello Jim,

I fixed the spelling of your username. I, too, am a fan and collector of early Pink Floyd, so I knew as soon as I saw you username what you were referring to.

Welcome to our site! :greet:

:ugeek:


Hey Craig, thank you so much for fixing my user name without me asking. Nice of you. Jim

Re: Hi Folks

Wed Sep 07, 2016 11:31 pm

guitar_ed wrote:Hi Jim.

Got any pix? USA or Tribute? Model, color, easy stuff??

Welcome to the addiction.

edg


Here ya go:

Image

Thanks to all for the kind welcomes.

Re: Hi Folks

Wed Sep 07, 2016 11:41 pm

sam wrote:Hi Jim,

Welcome to the G&L cult uh, uh club. :D Looking forward to seeing pics of yer new guitar. Another Floyd fan so I got the Corporal Clegg reference. Did you see/hear the new David Gilmour clip of him doing The Beatles Her, There and Everywhere? VERY good version. He has a new selection out or coming out that should be interesting.

Come around and jump in often. :thumbup:


No, I haven't seen his Beatles cover yet, but I'll look. I saw his solo concert shows to promote his first two albums back in the day at the Beacon Theater in NY. I saw Pink Floyd 22 times. Once I saw them when I was 16 at Carnegie Hall, I would never miss a show in NY, NJ or CT again. Best was Radio City Musical Hall March '73 when Dark Side was really finished and this was the big rollout tour. I took a weeks vacation from my job in Feb. 1980 to see 4 of the Wall Shows at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. Spectacular. Plus I worked in a Kinks concert at St. Johns basketball gym to cap off the week.

Re: Hi Folks

Fri Sep 09, 2016 12:27 pm

Corporal Clegg wrote:
sam wrote:Hi Jim,

Welcome to the G&L cult uh, uh club. :D Looking forward to seeing pics of yer new guitar. Another Floyd fan so I got the Corporal Clegg reference. Did you see/hear the new David Gilmour clip of him doing The Beatles Her, There and Everywhere? VERY good version. He has a new selection out or coming out that should be interesting.

Come around and jump in often. :thumbup:


No, I haven't seen his Beatles cover yet, but I'll look. I saw his solo concert shows to promote his first two albums back in the day at the Beacon Theater in NY. I saw Pink Floyd 22 times. Once I saw them when I was 16 at Carnegie Hall, I would never miss a show in NY, NJ or CT again. Best was Radio City Musical Hall March '73 when Dark Side was really finished and this was the big rollout tour. I took a weeks vacation from my job in Feb. 1980 to see 4 of the Wall Shows at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. Spectacular. Plus I worked in a Kinks concert at St. Johns basketball gym to cap off the week.


Massive Floyd fan here too. However they are not Pink Floyd without Rodger Waters, IMO. Saw two shows of The Wall at Nassau Coliseum. Saw the last show performed in the U.S. from the front row. I also had the once in a lifetime opportunity to work for them for four days in Miami during the rehearsals for the '94 world tour (Division Bell I think) at Joe Robbie Stadium. I watched several nights dress rehearsals from where ever I wanted to sit with only about 100 people in the stadium. It was awesome beyond belief, even without Rodger. Best stadium sound system I have ever heard. Sat about 100 feet out from the stage on a cooler full of imported beer with no-one between us and the stage. Like I said, did this three nights in a row and mostly just hung out during the day and messed around on stage when the band was not there. We just had to build and deliver a laser scanner and hang out and make sure it worked. It did. If you ever seen The Floyd, or some other bands, and seen the 90 degree horizontal wave of laser above Gilmore, his favorite laser effect, that's what we built for them. The two they had were sent off for repair and never seen again. It's mostly a front surface mirror mounted on a motor that travels 90 degrees left to right incredibly fast and makes that cool wave of light when you shoot a laser at it.

Anyway, a fun time was had by all. Here's a few pics from The Wall. I have some pics from the '94 but can't put my hands on them currently. One of the best moments was watching the band play "Wish You Were Here" all acoustic and during the day.

Tom

ps...sorry for the slight hijack...
Please do not use without permission
Image

Please do not use without permission
Image

Re: Hi Folks

Fri Sep 09, 2016 1:46 pm

Hi Jim. I'm a big Floyd fan too. I was 12 years old in 1980, so I didn't get to see the original band, but saw them in '87 and '94, and saw Gilmour on the About Face tour in '84.

I have two G&L Legacies that are my "tributes" to Gilmour: one is black, with black pickguard, white pickup covers, and a maple fretboard, which looks like his signature guitar. The other is the same but with a rosewood fretboard to match his guitar during the Animals era. Of course, now I will need to post some pics... ;-)

Welcome to the forum!

Re: Hi Folks

Fri Sep 09, 2016 9:20 pm

FZTNT wrote:
Massive Floyd fan here too. However they are not Pink Floyd without Rodger Waters, IMO. Saw two shows of The Wall at Nassau Coliseum. Saw the last show performed in the U.S. from the front row. I also had the once in a lifetime opportunity to work for them for four days in Miami during the rehearsals for the '94 world tour (Division Bell I think) at Joe Robbie Stadium. I watched several nights dress rehearsals from where ever I wanted to sit with only about 100 people in the stadium. It was awesome beyond belief, even without Rodger. Best stadium sound system I have ever heard. Sat about 100 feet out from the stage on a cooler full of imported beer with no-one between us and the stage. Like I said, did this three nights in a row and mostly just hung out during the day and messed around on stage when the band was not there. We just had to build and deliver a laser scanner and hang out and make sure it worked. It did. If you ever seen The Floyd, or some other bands, and seen the 90 degree horizontal wave of laser above Gilmore, his favorite laser effect, that's what we built for them. The two they had were sent off for repair and never seen again. It's mostly a front surface mirror mounted on a motor that travels 90 degrees left to right incredibly fast and makes that cool wave of light when you shoot a laser at it.

Anyway, a fun time was had by all. Here's a few pics from The Wall. I have some pics from the '94 but can't put my hands on them currently. One of the best moments was watching the band play "Wish You Were Here" all acoustic and during the day.

Tom

ps...sorry for the slight hijack.


No hijack taken. It's cool to swap stories. The real Pink Floyd were like nothing anyone can just imagine. That surround PA was something no fan could be ready for if they hadn't been through it before. My first concert was at Carnegie Hall in NYC in 1972 when I was 16 and a junior in HS. I almost always tripped at Floyd concerts and this one was my baptism under fire. As people were filing in I wasn't sure if I was hearing chirping sounds and things to screw with your head from behind. Then it got louder and I noticed the banks of speakers behind us and on the sides and stage. The were featuring Meddle but did a proto Dark Side of the Moon with Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun. My final show was in '94 at the old Yankee Stadium in da Bronx.

They were still a surround sound act without Roger so I'd have to disagree that they weren't Floyd without him. I saw the "Pros and Cons of Hitchiking" with Eric Clapton on guitar which was in surround at the Medowlands Byrnes Arena and saw a "conventional" show of Roger reprising Dark Side at Jones Beach around 2005 I think it was. I never sat up close at any Flyd concerts but had good orchestra seats many times. At the Wall Shows, the crew dressed in black and had the crossed hammer arm bands. I so wanted one of those. I took friends who had not seen Floyd before and were terrified by some of the ways they opened--like in the Wall the plane came down overheas and the volume was blitzkriegingly loud, then it exploded behind a corner of the Wall and a baby crying was whooshed around. People who thought they were going to see a rock show where you could call out for you favorite songs were put on immediate notice that this is like nothing you have any say in. Just yield to this massively powerful vision and shut up. We're very privileged to have experienced that--it won't come again. At Roosevlt Stadium in Jersey City NJ I saw Floyd there twice. One tof the times a guy climbed way up on top of the stadium's light tower, and on a small catwalk he was doing a Russian dance were they squat and alternate shooting out a leg during the fast part at the end of "One of these Days". He would have splatted right on us if he fell. I think he look his "lunatic" cue a bit too seriously. I have tapes I made with a hand-held recorder starting with the "Animals" shows at Madison Square Garden ca 1977. I recorded everything after that and they came out surprisingly well. Cheers'

Re: Hi Folks

Fri Sep 09, 2016 9:23 pm

cho wrote:Hi Jim. I'm a big Floyd fan too. I was 12 years old in 1980, so I didn't get to see the original band, but saw them in '87 and '94, and saw Gilmour on the About Face tour in '84.

I have two G&L Legacies that are my "tributes" to Gilmour: one is black, with black pickguard, white pickup covers, and a maple fretboard, which looks like his signature guitar. The other is the same but with a rosewood fretboard to match his guitar during the Animals era. Of course, now I will need to post some pics... ;-)

Welcome to the forum!


Hiya Cho. Glad you got to experience the surround sound Floyd. Did you see the About Face show in NY? If so, we there.

Re: Hi Folks

Sat Sep 10, 2016 11:19 am

I saw that show at MSG, like you, there were chemicals involved. It was either the 3rd or 4th of July and people were throwing M-80's around both before and during the show. As loud as the band could be, the M-80's would drown them out, echoing around MSG and it was deafening. Rodger actually stopped the show and said "If you continue to throw bombs we are going to have to stop playing."

Another quote from that show was one of my all time favorite Rodger Waters quote. It was the Animals tour so they had the giant inflatable pig. When it came out he said "Do you like my pig? He's not a very nice pig, but he's a BIG pig!"

The surround system was freaky. Wish I had seen the Pros and Cons tour with or without Clapton. Still one of my favorite albums.

Also wish I could have gotten my hands on some of the Hammer arm bands or flags from the wall. I have looked for years on EBAY for them and have never seen one up for sale. I have always wanted a tattoo. One day I finally decided what it is that I wanted inked for eternity on my body. I was forty at the time. Since I couldn't get an arm band:

Kind of a crappy photo, taken in mirror and down rez'd too many times.
Image

Tom

Re: Hi Folks

Sat Sep 10, 2016 12:00 pm

FZTNT wrote:I saw that show at MSG, like you, there were chemicals involved. It was either the 3rd or 4th of July and people were throwing M-80's around both before and during the show. As loud as the band could be, the M-80's would drown them out, echoing around MSG and it was deafening. Rodger actually stopped the show and said "If you continue to throw bombs we are going to have to stop playing."

Another quote from that show was one of my all time favorite Rodger Waters quote. It was the Animals tour so they had the giant inflatable pig. When it came out he said "Do you like my pig? He's not a very nice pig, but he's a BIG pig!"

The surround system was freaky. Wish I had seen the Pros and Cons tour with or without Clapton. Still one of my favorite albums.

Also wish I could have gotten my hands on some of the Hammer arm bands or flags from the wall. I have looked for years on EBAY for them and have never seen one up for sale. I have always wanted a tattoo. One day I finally decided what it is that I wanted inked for eternity on my body. I was forty at the time. Since I couldn't get an arm band:

Kind of a crappy photo, taken in mirror and down rez'd too many times.
Image

Tom


Ha, kewl tat.

You're right about Clapton. Every time he started to play anything in the way of a solo, thousands of worshipers yelled EEEE CEEE. It was annoying and counterproductive. It was like a sports event where people yell out initials or last names like Cruuuuuuuz whenever the guy makes a play. Waters was probably having a quiet fit.

I was at that fireworks show too. There was an explosion up toward the stage and the band stopped and Roger said "you stupid effing <censored word>. Those of you who want to play with fireworks need to eff off and let the rest of us get on with it". There was also an incident at MSG involving a union contract which precluded Floyd from using their own lighting crew on the spotlights. Then when they had that big disco ball that opened into a flower-shaped array of reflectors which was supposed to stop and beam hundreds of lights into MSG, the house crew guy missed the target and all the drama about this slowly-opening flower-looking thing did not pan out. Roger yelled "you stupid assholes..."and a fusillade of expletives at them. I didn't really get what the complaint was because the music was enough to carry the day until I saw it done correctly at another show on that tour. That had to be rankling to erect and control that huge effect only to have some weak link in the chain screw it up. Were you by any chance at the Nassau Coliseum Wall show where during "the trial" sequence somehow the power to the projector and sound was completely shut down? I feel bad for those whose only Floyd show included that embarrassing flub. There was no live music being played during the trial animation and the loss of power had the effect of Toto pulling back the curtain on the Wizard of Oz. Of all the shows I saw, those were really the only hiccups. Everything else was super--not to be missed. Jim

Re: Hi Folks

Sun Sep 11, 2016 12:38 pm

Fortunately, The Wall shows I saw went off according to plan, as far as I know anyway. I saw the 5th and 7th shows. It's funny, if you look at some accounts, they will tell you that they did 7 shows in LA and 5 in Nassau Coliseum. It is the other way around though. I have a funny story about how I got my tickets to the 5th show but that's for another time and place. Needless to say it involves being thrown out of the venue for trying to sneak into the box office. They later added two more shows and I had a friend that worked the local Ticketron machine. She let me in five minuets early ahead of the hundreds of people waiting in line and the first two tickets were front row inside isle seats. All told I left with 18 tickets all in the first seven rows. Best time ever and perhaps the best show I have ever seen. I sold most of my tickets the next day for twice what I paid and thought I made great money. This was the first concert I recall where tickets were going for 300 bucks the day of the show. I paid 18 and change. I hate the system now where a show like this is priced out of reach for so many people. Not always face value but the big ticket brokers manage to scarf up all the good seats and then charge ten times what they paid. I just hate it, it feels like I am being held hostage. I also think that in most cases the band and promoters are in on the action.

Tom

Re: Hi Folks

Sun Sep 11, 2016 1:48 pm

FZTNT wrote:Fortunately, The Wall shows I saw went off according to plan, as far as I know anyway. I saw the 5th and 7th shows. It's funny, if you look at some accounts, they will tell you that they did 7 shows in LA and 5 in Nassau Coliseum. It is the other way around though. I have a funny story about how I got my tickets to the 5th show but that's for another time and place. Needless to say it involves being thrown out of the venue for trying to sneak into the box office. They later added two more shows and I had a friend that worked the local Ticketron machine. She let me in five minuets early ahead of the hundreds of people waiting in line and the first two tickets were front row inside isle seats. All told I left with 18 tickets all in the first seven rows. Best time ever and perhaps the best show I have ever seen. I sold most of my tickets the next day for twice what I paid and thought I made great money. This was the first concert I recall where tickets were going for 300 bucks the day of the show. I paid 18 and change. I hate the system now where a show like this is priced out of reach for so many people. Not always face value but the big ticket brokers manage to scarf up all the good seats and then charge ten times what they paid. I just hate it, it feels like I am being held hostage. I also think that in most cases the band and promoters are in on the action.

Tom


Up until now I only thought there were 5 Nassau Coliseum shows of which I attended 4. (I needed a break 'cause "colors" were involved, so I scheduled only 4 out of 5 plus I had The Kinks show at St. Johns that Saturday. I had to return to my busy-ass job on Wall Street after the weeks vacation of partying so perhaps it was best I didn't know there were additions. And true about ticket prices. At that time, the Wall Shows were the most expensive tickets I had ever purchased. They were $20 and I thought it was a bit outrageous at the time. Who'd have thought? I wanted to go see Brian Wilson's show in Newport News VA around my birthday in July and the cheapest seat was $95 with some over $400. To me Brian Wilson is America's greatest musical well-spring. All of his stuff going back to the beginning with the Beach Boys stands up today and forever. I think maybe only Ray Davies and Andy Partridge (of XTC/Dukes of Stratusphear) are England's best who come close in terms of being prolific and/or brilliant in ways that probably won't be equalled--especially since the world has changed and record introductions are not what they once were. Honorable mention to Pete Townsend (potentcy) and Elvis Costello (prolific). Floyd by far were best at the live experience by far. I was a big Captain Beefheart fan--seeing him abou 10 times and Frank Zappa who played NY perennially throughout my youth. My last concert was Dweezel Zappa doing Zappa Plays Zappa in Richmond in 2010. I'm 61 now. So I think I'm done going to concerts but more alive than I've ever been as a musician myself. Cheers.

Re: Hi Folks

Mon Sep 12, 2016 10:24 am

My other tattoo is the Barking Pumpkin Records logo. No photo cause it's on my back shoulder. Needless to say it gets some looks while I am at the pool or beach. Major Zappa fan as you can tell from my screen name. I lived right outside NYC in the '70s and '80s and would practically live in the city when he came to town. We would go to every show, every day. Between the NY venues and colleges in the New England area I have seen him more than 70 times including quite a few shows with Beefheart, what a trip. He used to play in a small club in Westport, CT. sometimes and was a hoot to see his solo acts.

Most of the Zappa shows I went to I had front row seats and also took some great photos when they were not trying to throw me out. Lost a few rolls of film from time to time.

Sounds like you may have lived nearby too.
Tom

Re: Hi Folks

Mon Sep 12, 2016 11:43 am

FZTNT wrote:My other tattoo is the Barking Pumpkin Records logo. No photo cause it's on my back shoulder. Needless to say it gets some looks while I am at the pool or beach. Major Zappa fan as you can tell from my screen name. I lived right outside NYC in the '70s and '80s and would practically live in the city when he came to town. We would go to every show, every day. Between the NY venues and colleges in the New England area I have seen him more than 70 times including quite a few shows with Beefheart, what a trip. He used to play in a small club in Westport, CT. sometimes and was a hoot to see his solo acts.

Most of the Zappa shows I went to I had front row seats and also took some great photos when they were not trying to throw me out. Lost a few rolls of film from time to time.

Sounds like you may have lived nearby too.
Tom


I lived in Brooklyn for 35 years, Manhattan for 5 and on the South Shore of Long Island just north of Jones Beach in a town called Baldwin until moving to Virginia Beach at age 54. My clique in high school in Brooklyn was a group of musicians and avant garde music lovers--Beefheart, Sun Ra, Zappa. We would go into the Village (the drinking age was 18 because of Vietnam but no one carded us) and see the emerging jazz fusion artists like Larry Coryell, Chick Corea, Al DiMeola, Stanly Clark, George Benson (before he became known as a singer), Steve Marcus,--other small club acts like Roy Buchannan, Keith Jarret, Leo Kottke. older jazz dudes like Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon, Milt Jackson, Ron Carter, Barney Kessel, Tal Farlow & Jim Hall. We were a bit snobby about the Led Zeppelins and Judas Preists and other profession wrestling with guitar bands LOL of the world but were crazy for the Who, The Kinks, Floyd, Tull, Procul Harum. Then the new wave--XTC (saw them in '81 before they quit and became studio geniuses similar to how the Beatles were freed by not having to write for performance when they stopped touring in 1966), Talking Heads, The Clash, Big Country, Elvis Costello. I'm a big fan of Alanis Morissette having seen her twice since 2004. Big fan of a group called Kula Shaker which is headed by the son of child actress Hayley Mills--Crispian Mills. He has fused the Hindu raga sound into psychedelia like George Harrison once did. My brother is turning me on to the Claypool Lennon Delirium featuring Sean Lennon. I've only heard a bit but they are getting great reviews for re-visiting psychedelia with new vitality. And speaking of psychedelia, how could I not mention Hendrix. My first LP that I bought with my own money was "Are You Experienced". One of the coolest shows I also attended was DEVO at Radio City Music Hall Halloween 1981. They were spectacular--wireless guitars let them leave the stage walk down the aisles, climb the side walls, return to the stage, stand on these treadmill thingies and roll back into dark little houses for each guy. Then of course we had to see a Zappa Halloween show at the Palladium the next day. Greatful dead, New Riders, Commander Cody, Jefferson Airplane, James Brown, Chuck Berry, Bo Didley, James Gang, Stephen Still and Manassis, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Beach Boys, three of Brian Wilson's new shows since the "Smile" release in 2004. I'm sure I'll come up with a few more. But being a native NYCer gave me natural access to all the great stuff starting in 1970 with Sly and the Family Stone at MSG at age 15. Boom lacka lacka.

Re: Hi Folks

Tue Sep 13, 2016 4:33 pm

Wow, sounds like a better way to access the venues than I had. We used to have to ride in on the train. Sometimes we stayed in the city for a week like when Zappa was playoff the felt forum or Paladium and the like. I used to play tennis with Lary Coryell's wife and sometimes him too. They lived in my town and I worked at a tennis club where it was part of my job to fill in if one of a foursome didn't show up. Sometimes Chic or Al or even Stanley Clark would be tagging along. Always saw the Return To Forever guys in Westport or Port Orange. Dave Brubeck and his family lived in my town too. My brother took piano lessons from his son Darius and we used to have his band play at our parties. McCoy Tyner lived there too and I went to high school with his son. Many great musicians loved the area so it was a great area to see some of the best acts in very intimate settings. I remember seeing John McLaughlin and L. Shankar at small rooms in NYC where there were only 50 or 60 people in the place. They would sit on Persian carpets and just play acoustic. The music and passion would virtually drive me to tears. Then again, so would some of the Zappa solos I have heard.

We saw all this guys in and around NYC, Devo, The Dead (although I have never owned a Dead album), Alman Bros, Little Feat, the list goes on and on. There wear so many venues and college campuses there wasn't an act you couldn't see if you wanted to. My one big regret is not going to see Bob Marley at the Palladium before he died. It was the '70s and for some reason I didn't want to be the only white guy in Washington Square Park at a Bob Marley concert. Reggae had not quite caught on with the mainstream American White folks yet. Wish I had gone.

When I moved away from the area the music scene was not near what had been going on in the NYC area and I had to come back to continue to see any good shows. I lived in Maine so Boston was ok for some things. Portland had a decent show about once a year but that was about it. Later I got into the recording and live audio business and got to mix some good bands either FOH or often do monitors. Nothing like my hero though, bands like Willie Nelson, George Thoroughgood, Chubby Checker, Michael Bolton and a whole host of other either up coming talent or old school talent. I worked for Disney so all kinds of acts would come through and play for like $50K plus expenses plus a whole VIP vacation for their families. They didn't need to lug a PA or lighting system there so it was a good little thing for them. Like I said, too many to remember them all but I covered a lot of talent and styles.

Tom

Re: Hi Folks

Tue Sep 13, 2016 10:16 pm

FZTNT wrote:Wow, sounds like a better way to access the venues than I had. We used to have to ride in on the train. Sometimes we stayed in the city for a week like when Zappa was playoff the felt forum or Paladium and the like. I used to play tennis with Lary Coryell's wife and sometimes him too. They lived in my town and I worked at a tennis club where it was part of my job to fill in if one of a foursome didn't show up. Sometimes Chic or Al or even Stanley Clark would be tagging along. Always saw the Return To Forever guys in Westport or Port Orange. Dave Brubeck and his family lived in my town too. My brother took piano lessons from his son Darius and we used to have his band play at our parties. McCoy Tyner lived there too and I went to high school with his son. Many great musicians loved the area so it was a great area to see some of the best acts in very intimate settings. I remember seeing John McLaughlin and L. Shankar at small rooms in NYC where there were only 50 or 60 people in the place. They would sit on Persian carpets and just play acoustic. The music and passion would virtually drive me to tears. Then again, so would some of the Zappa solos I have heard.

We saw all this guys in and around NYC, Devo, The Dead (although I have never owned a Dead album), Alman Bros, Little Feat, the list goes on and on. There wear so many venues and college campuses there wasn't an act you couldn't see if you wanted to. My one big regret is not going to see Bob Marley at the Palladium before he died. It was the '70s and for some reason I didn't want to be the only white guy in Washington Square Park at a Bob Marley concert. Reggae had not quite caught on with the mainstream American White folks yet. Wish I had gone.

When I moved away from the area the music scene was not near what had been going on in the NYC area and I had to come back to continue to see any good shows. I lived in Maine so Boston was ok for some things. Portland had a decent show about once a year but that was about it. Later I got into the recording and live audio business and got to mix some good bands either FOH or often do monitors. Nothing like my hero though, bands like Willie Nelson, George Thoroughgood, Chubby Checker, Michael Bolton and a whole host of other either up coming talent or old school talent. I worked for Disney so all kinds of acts would come through and play for like $50K plus expenses plus a whole VIP vacation for their families. They didn't need to lug a PA or lighting system there so it was a good little thing for them. Like I said, too many to remember them all but I covered a lot of talent and styles.

Tom


Kewl, Tom. Nice sharing with ya. I never bought a Graeful Dead record either. Someone lent me "Live Dead" on pre-recorded cassete and I never gave it back and one time I was in a store with a fried who grabbed an eight track of Axamoxoa off the self and stuff inside my coat. I wasn't into shopt-lifting or anything but it didn't look good taking it out. So I just booked with it in. I only saw them one--the night before Pink Floyd at Radio City in March '73. The New Riders opened for the Dead and I considered 7 hours of "cowboy crap" at the time and it never took off with me too much. I did see a free New Riders show in Central Park though. It's cool you know Larry Coryell. My best friend was a great guitarist and songwriter who wore Coryell glasses. Larry got to recognize our clique by noticing my friend Tom with those glasses. We saw him a dozen times or more--Town Hall, Maxes Kansas City, The Public Theater, Village Vanguard, a club called "My Father's Place" in Roslin Long Island a few times. A club down town Brooklyn that was trying to make it back a decade or two before Brooklyn became "gentrified", the Village Gate, the Bitter End, Central Park, I'm sure there were more. Coryell was our favorite guitarist. The only group I saw in Pink Floyd numbers was the Kinks. I saw so many Kinks shows I couldn't name them all. The first one was at MSG in the Felt Forum in '74 which was a big theatrical performance of their three record concept album called "Preservation". I sat in the first row on two occasions and had Ray Davies rain Heineken on me. What a character. My neighbor when I lived in Manhattan was Dr. John the Nite Tripper. We'd hang out and have dinner on occasion and I'd get in on some legendary stories from him. Cheers bro.