TICKETS TORN IN HALF- Terry Reid @ Bitter End January 1974

January 1974
Date unknown early 1974: TERRY REID at Bitter End: Terry was hiding for the last two years from Mickey Most, as was “most” of his roster of artists.After basing himself in California with the likes of David Lindley and Graham Nash, Terry returns with a new look, a new record company and a new collection of tunes. Using my limited connection at Atlantic I received two press passes for Terry Reid at The Bitter End. David Lindley was and is an amazing guitarist, anything with strings he can master,saw him with Jackson Browne at PHILHARMONIC HALL a few months ago and Terry was in great voice this night. At one point Terry dropped his slide which rolled out to my seat. After the show I picked the slide up, sought out a stage guy to return it. He said ,“Terry’s right back there”. Bingo, Terry answers the door and is most thankful. The pictures on Terry’s website from THE BITTER END gig, both on stage and backstage are mine.

ON THE TURNTABLE: January 12, 1969-Led Zeppelin-LED ZEPPELIN aka Len Zefflin

WHATEVER BECAME OF LEN ZEFFLIN?

Ah, the joys of being an opening act for a major rock band. Consider the following: you are four young men from England, traveling together for the first time as a new up and coming act. Since your band has been recently signed to a major record label, say, ATLANTIC RECORDS, it has been decided by shared management that you will tour with a label mate of some renown, The VANILLA FUDGE. It’s late 1968 and THE FUDGE is, well, still relying on their remake of THE SUPREMES “You Keep Me Hanging On” to put hineys in the seats. You meet up on the west coast for your scheduled romp across The States, 41 dates, with fees ranging from a low $320.00 to a high of $1500.00. At some point your band will leave THE FUDGE and finish the short tour opening for IRON BUTTERFLY of “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” fame.So, who or what is this band?

Ladies and Gentlemen…LEN ZEFFLIN. (cue applause). In short order,club owners will know how to spell the name for they will make some headlines, in one year’s time they will release two noteworthy albums, and in two years time they will be the biggest concert draw in America.

1968/1969:

For those who only know of the power and popularity of Led Zeppelin of latter days, let me take you back to a time before their very first album hit the stands.

Jimmy Page was one of the “three”, the triumvirate of rock guitarist gods who moseyed through a British band of some renown named THE YARDBIRDS. This band ,who legend states took their name from Charlie YARDBIRD Parker was somewhat known in the USA, but more popular in their homeland of Great Britain. Without giving the long history of the Yardbirds let’s just say they got a CRAWDADDY (a club) gig when the spot was vacated by THE ROLLING STONES, a band on the move. Eric Clapton was the YARDBIRDS guitarist at that time who became uncomfortable with the band veering away from it’s blues roots, heading into a pop direction. Clapton leaves and suggest Jimmy Page take his spot. Page was the “go to studio guitarist” at the time and didn’t want to vacate that profitable role, so PAGE suggested JEFF BECK who took the gig.

With BECK’s influence the YARDBIRDS moved toward a psychedelic route with fuzz tones, feedback, and overall guitar virtuosity. By 1966 JEFF BECK was voted Melody Maker’s GUITARIST OF THE YEAR.When the bass player drops out of The Yardbirds JIMMY PAGE steps in for a spell. When a new bassist is recruited PAGE stays on for a BECK/PAGE new dual guitar attack approach. Beck gets sick, misses a few gigs and ultimately leaves the band to Page.With the lead singer Keith Relf’s alcoholism and the band not having any more hits, as well as with the rise of CREAM and JIMI HENDRIX, soon most of The Yardbirds disappeared, leaving Jimmy Page with the name. To fulfill  some contractual commitments,with a new manager PETER GRANT on board, the band hits the road as THE NEW YARDBIRDS.

Page had recruited TERRY REID as vocalist but he, with a new MICKIE MOST contract, could not leave. Reid suggested a friend, ROBERT PLANT who brought along his drummer friend JOHN BONHAM. Page called his studio buddy JOHN PAUL JONES for bass and keyboards and after a short tour of Scandinavia, the NEW YARDBIRDS hit the studio to record what would become LED ZEPPELIN’s debut.

The album is released January 12,1969. Some of the tunes hit the New York FM airwaves after the band’s now legendary performance as the opening act for IRON BUTTERFLY at FILLMORE EAST January 31 and February 1, 1969, this being Led Zeppelin’s first US tour. Pete my buddy at Dubbings Electronics attended one of those shows that weekend. He raved about this new band who blew Iron Butterfly off the stage, leaving Iron Butterfly to play just one song, their hit IN A GADDA DA VIDA, and according to Pete, Led Zeppelin came back out due to the booing of Butterfly and the calls for “more” Zeppelin. I have never been able to verify that but Pete said it,so…it must be true.

A few days later while at work Pete asked me to join him to see LED ZEPPELIN at THE SCENE a club in Manhattan. With little provocation I agreed to go to the Wednesday night show. But alas, the shows were cancelled due to John Bonham’s son falling at home in England and Bonham was needed there. So, I made due by purchasing LED ZEPPELIN and listening to the debut album, over and over again.

January 12,1969: LED ZEPPELIN is released.I almost burnt that record out. It was on heavy rotation with JETHRO TULL’s “This Was” on my turntable.Geez, it was so good in early 1969, and is still a good listen today.Nothing like it at the time. Dump the cd, get the vinyl.

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD: Chapter 33-HONKY TONKYING

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD: Chapter 33-HONKY TONKYING

We tried in vain to get STONES tickets for their (1969) MADISON SQUARE GARDEN performance. Skipping school the day tickets went on sale, I took the next train after my Dad’s train so as to not be caught, to Brooklyn and then by subway to my cousin’s house off of Church Ave. When I arrived I asked my aunt not to say anything about me being there to my mom, her sister, when the next spoke. She just smiled. The  box office was to open at 10AM, which it did and the shows were SOLD OUT in a manner of minutes. The remaining ticketless crowd, us included, became restless and angry.  Not too happy, my cousin and I walked across Seventh Avenue toward the Blarney Rock to get a beer (phony ID worked since summer of 68 on Wall Street but no one asks for proof) when we were confronted by a drunken “hard hat” who harassed us about long hair. It’s only noon and this dude is loaded. Sorry dude, wrong day, wrong guys, now you will find out that long haired kids who are pissed can fight. Down he went. Screw him. John left him crying in the street before putting a cigarette out on the guys forehead, all in front of a small crowd who did absolutely nothing, no lie, they just watched. After a few beers in THE ROCK  I was back on the train home before my folks knew I missed school. My aunt never told her sister.

However, The Rock Gods must have found redemption as a few night later before going to the FILLMORE EAST for a Joe Cocker Show, I hit the Garden Box Office and obtained eight (8) tickets at 5 bucks each for a newly announced afternoon matinee show of… The Rolling Stones, Ike and Tina Turner and Terry Reid@ MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, November 28, 1969, the day after Thanksgiving at 2PM. Hallelujah, I’m in.

Trouble seemed to pop up when I least expected it. Never having a curfew I was free to come and go as I pleased since I was 14 with one caveat, “Remember who you are, you carry our name”. In other words, “Don’t screw up”. One night, I had a slight verbal disagreement with my mom before going out with my friends to a house party. Mom was an obsessive cleaner and re-arranger of furniture. Me returning from the party about 2 AM, fully buzzed, quite intoxicated, and not knowing the kitchen table had been moved, bumped right into it, knocking over a chair with me falling to the floor. Lights on…Oh NOOOO. Mom was livid. She said Dad would deal with me. He came upstairs to my room, asking me if I was drinking, Yes I said, he said go to bed. That was it.

Mom not satisfied the next morning with my light sentence  announced….No shows for a while. WHAT? But THE STONES!!!!! “NO,” she said, “sell the tickets, you are not going”. So maybe The Rock Gods did not find me in good standing.

Eight tickets, four for my cousin as promised with the four remaining for me. Geez, I was distraught. Dad said privately that I should give it a few days for it to blow over. YESSSS, I thought. “But”,he added….”But, what?”,I questioned. “You need to take your sister and brother with you”. But DAD?

So my sister being all of 11 was going to see the Stones, my brother at 16 was ecstatic, my girlfriend was not happy as unbeknownst to me she had promised the other two tickets to “her” friends,WHAT? She didn’t even ask me, me the guy who bought the tickets.Yet life was still good, it’s The STONES man and I’m going . Oh yeah, I also had to cut my hair, short.

Terry Reid (third time for me) was killer as an opening act. Ike and Tina’s Revue was tight but should have been called Tina Turner’s Revue, Then the point I had anticipated, light dimmed and JUMPIN’ JACK FLASH.

Beggars Banquet :

The Best Album of 1969 even though it was released in December of 1968, BEGGAR’S BANQUET was my most played album of 1969. I got that record the moment it was released and it very rarely left my turntable for one full year. Side 1, Side 2, back to Side 1, and on and on. There are very few albums I can said that about, very few albums I listen to in its entirety without getting bored by a clunker or two. I was enamored by this collection of Stones tunes. The slick printed cover (American version which was completely different from the British cover), the photo spread inside, and the music. These songs were individually and collectively a great relief, a wonderful change in direction from the ROLLING STONES ’67 set of THEIR SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST, which I owned but never played all the way through. The only tunes I liked on TSMR were 2000 LIGHT YEARS FROM HOME and SHE’S A RAINBOW. The rest were rubbish.

Before SATANIC MAJESTIES I was stuck on BETWEEN THE BUTTONS(1967) (US version), especially side 1 which we played endlessly at my buddy George’s house.TSMR is/was nothing like BUTTONS. But then, BEGGAR’S BANQUET is released and with that a new STONES approach to the blues.The BB album was the real deal, and foreshadowed what would become of the STONES over the next few years and releases.  To my ears Beggar’s Banquet was a Keith album as Brian Jones due to “personal reasons” is limited here to slide guitar on NO EXPECTATIONS, a harmonica on PARACHUTE WOMAN, DEAR DOCTOR and PRODIGAL SON. It was the last ROLLING STONES album to be released during Brian Jones’ life.

Side One Track 1, SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL, just listen to the title before you put the needle down, WHAT? Sympathy for whom? Are you kidding me? Conga, screams, maracas, Nicky Hopkins on piano, and THE WORDS…PLEASE TO MEET YOU, seriously this is not Satanic Majesties at all. WOW.Then the voices, Get down,hit it, guitar riffs…six minutes plus of sheer ecstasy . I danced around my room so many times shaking imaginary maracas.

Track 2:NO EXPECTATIONS, Keith on acoustic, Brian in a semi-sober moment plays slide. Bill with a few bass thuds,I still play this tune on my guitar, “never in my sweet short life have I felt like this before”.

Track 3: DEAR DOCTOR, humorous to say the least..”Help me please Doctor I’m damaged”…“preserve it right there in that jar”. Sang this tune with like minded folks,we being very poor off keyed singers after a few cocktails.

Track 4:PARACHUTE WOMAN: acoustic guitar, electric guitar, some echo added to vocals, and Charlie beating it down, “join me for a ride”.

Track 5: JIGSAW PUZZLE: The drum beat is awesome, I played it thousands of time, Charlie was the man. “Me, I waiting so patiently, lying on the floor”.

SIDE TWO Track 1 STREET FIGHTING MAN: The guitar intro and then the drums…this was the tune revolutionaries were using as their theme song, well, pseudo- revolutionaries. Hey, it was a sign of the times.

Track 2: PRODIGAL SON: Not a Stones tune but a remake that they called their own.Charlie’s high hat work is exceptional, Mick’s vocals is a take on a blues man.

Track 3: STRAY CAT BLUES: This was sex, straight out.”I bet your mama don’t know you can scream like that”…

Track 4: FACTORY GIRL: I first thought this was the same riff from 2000 light years, but no. As I was working in a factory at the time this tune made so much sense.”Waiting for a factory girl…”

Track 5: SALT OF THE EARTH: This is the one that did it for me. Aren’t we all salt of the earth? and when the drums kick in….”Let’s drink to the uncounted heads”…these words made so much sense to me…and then the mention….  “A choice of cancer or polio”.

Salt Of The Earth

The Rolling Stones

Let’s drink to the hard working people

Let’s drink to the lowly of birth

Raise your glass to the good and the evil

Let’s drink to the salt of the earth

Say a prayer for the common foot soldier

Spare a thought for his back breaking work

Say a prayer for his wife and his children

Who burn the fires and who still till the earth

And when I search a faceless crowd

A swirling mass of gray and

Black and white

They don’t look real to me

In fact, they look so strange

Raise your glass to the hard working people

Let’s drink to the uncounted heads

Let’s think of the wavering millions

Who need leaders but get gamblers instead

Spare a thought for the stay-at-home voter

His empty eyes gaze at strange beauty shows

And a parade of the gray suited grafters

A choice of cancer or polio

And when I look in the faceless crowd

A swirling mass of grays and

Black and white

They don’t look real to me

Or don’t they look so strange

Let’s drink to the hard working people

Let’s think of the lowly of birth

Spare a thought for the rag taggy people

Let’s drink to the salt of the earth

Let’s drink to the hard working people

Let’s drink to the salt of the earth

Let’s drink to the two thousand million

Let’s think of the humble of birth

So, I’m stuck on the STONES, not really shouting it out but I do like their most recent stuff (1968) more than the Beatles or anyone else at this time. Then, LET IT BLEED is released …

LET IT BLEED December 1969, I have it before Christmas and bought another copy to give my girlfriend as part of her Christmas gift package.

SIDE ONE: Track 1; GIMME SHELTER, Merry Clayton, just a shout away.  Charlie hitting the cymbals, harp playing. fade out, nicely done.

Track 2: LOVE IN VAIN: another stolen tune, but one that everyone, including me plays.I saw FACES do this one night and after they finished Rod Stewart said, “I gave it a try but Mick owns it”.

Track 3:COUNTRY HONK: Didn’t make sense until you put it in perspective of HONKY TONK WOMAN. I really like this tune. Thanks Graham, I know this was you.

Track 4:LIVE WITH ME: Charlie lays it down, Bill bass lines are straight on, …“Don’t you think there is a place for you between the sheets”. What a great line but don’t try to use it. Bobby Keys nails this solo on sax, and I actually tried at the time of release to find out who this guy was.

SIDE 2: Track 1:LET IT BLEED:”There will always be a space in my parking lot”…No longer is music “I Wanna Hold your hand” we are now in a dirty, filthy basement, yeah man.

Track 2:MIDNIGHT RAMBLER: I had no idea what to make of this song, played it hundreds of times, trying to decipher what it was. THEN, I saw it live. My Lord. Now I knew. And about that moment I saw it live the ROLLING STONES became one of my all time favorite live bands.

Track 3:YOU GOT THE SILVER:It’s KEITH, say no more.The future of THE STONES.Brian is in there somewhere, so they say, but I don’t hear him.

Track 4:MONKEY MAN: A bit of Satantic Majesties kick off but then “all my friends are junkies” we are going down fast…I’m glad you are a monkey woman ,too”. Nicely, done.The guitars are intense.

Track 5: YOU CAN’T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT: No words describe what I heard as a 17 year old male. The chorus, the horn, the acoustic guitar, Mick’s intro, “ but if you try sometimes, you might find you get what you need”….are they talking to me?

It’s the STONES I played all of 1969, saw a few others bands, but 1969 was…THE STONES and I saw them.

TICKETS TORN IN HALF:August 8,1970-TERRY REID @ ACTION HOUSE

TICKETS TORN IN HALF:August 8,1970-TERRY REID @ ACTION HOUSE,Island Park,NY

August 8,1970, it was OLD TIMERS DAY at Yankee Stadium and this was CASEY STENGEL DAY, as the legendary NY YANKEES would retire the legendary manager’s number, most of my friends were going but we (two) passed to attend Terry Reid’s Action House show. And Terry played for almost two hours.

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD- CHAPTER 27: GOD IS BACK IN TOWN

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD- CHAPTER 27: GOD IS BACK IN TOWN

For the Summer of 69 the next concert up was CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL with TERRY REID and AUM, July 19, 1969 at FILLMORE EAST. With my kid brother, a fan of Creedence, at my side, I was there to see the undercard, Terry Reid, having loved both of his albums. San Francisco’s AUM opened the show and closed their set with GOD IS BACK IN TOWN, a song which was getting some air play at the time. Terry Reid hit the stage announcing that his favorite Les Paul guitar was stolen the previous night and he begged for its return. Despite not having his trustworthy axe, Terry had the place on its feet by sets end. Then the hit makers nicknamed CCR rocked the house. Dressed like rich hippies with flannel shirts, jeans and boots, these swamp rockers closed it all out with a 20 minute version of  “KEEP ON CHOOGLIN”. Even with my limited experience I knew this band would not be playing for the East Village hippies much longer. Bigger pay days in shittier sounding, larger halls would be their destiny.

The very next night after CREEDENCE my girlfriend had invited two friends over to her house and we four sat in her mother’s bedroom to watch the APOLLO 11 moon landing on television. Amazing, the SPACE RACE is finally settled. But the events leading up to it were amazing. July 16 APOLLO 11 was launched,on the 19th it passed behind the moon to enter the lunar orbit, the 20th the Lunar Module separated from the command module and lands on the moon’s surface in THE SEA OF TRANQUILITY. On the 21st of July,1969  Astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon’s surface. Buzz Aldrin joined him a few minutes later. While that in itself is amazing my thoughts at that moment were “How do they get back to the module AND if and when they do, how do they get back to Earth? Yes is the answer of course as on July 24 they splashed down in the Pacific.

Estimates put the number who watched or listened to the Moon landing between 1/2 and 1 billion people around the world

Having dug Terry Reid so much at The Fillmore the weekend before we traveled to the Action House in Island Park, not far from my home, to see him again. While in a less than capacity house Terry was off to the side of the stage prior to his set when I engaged him in a conversation and found him to be just a delightful person, one appreciative of the crowd coming out to see him and he made me feel comfortable when I introduced myself to him. I must say I was a bit apprehensive but I needed to know and  NO he did not get his Les Paul returned.  His set that night was much longer than Fillmore’s and just as tasty.

It was about this time that the verdict came down convicting MUHAMMAD ALI, aka Cassius Clay, aka World’s Heavyweight Boxing Champ (stripped of his title), a Conscientious Objector, of draft evasion. AND Senator Ted Kennedy pleads guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, CHAPPAQUIDDICK, where his aide MARY JO KOPECHNE drowned. Teddy received a “two month SUSPENDED sentence”. Ali is convicted yet the politician Ted pleas….HMMMMM

TICKETS TORN IN HALF JULY 26,1969: TERRY REID @ THE ACTION HOUSE,

TICKETS TORN IN HALF JULY 26,1969:  TERRY REID @ THE ACTION HOUSE, Island Park, NY Having dug Terry Reid so much at Fillmore East only the weekend before, this night we traveled to the Action House in Island Park, not far from my home, to see him again. While in a less than capacity house Terry was off to the side of the stage prior to his set when I engaged him in a conversation and found him to be just a delightful person, one appreciative of the crowd coming out to see him He made me feel comfortable when I introduced myself to him. I must say I was a bit apprehensive but I needed to know  if his guitar which was stolen last weekend was returned. NO he did not get his beloved Les Paul back. His set this particular evening was much longer than at  the Fillmore’s but it was just as tasty.

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD -CHAPTER 24: DAZED AND CONFUSED:

CHAPTER 24:  DAZED AND CONFUSED:

Just before I cleaned out my high school hall locker for one last time, with me anticipating the long needed summer break from a pretty smooth junior year at school I saw a Fillmore East ad in the Village Voice announcing a Led Zeppelin performance for Memorial Day weekend 1969. That ad, combined with having had “Led Zeppelin” on my turntable for what seemed like an eternity (since February), I contacted my concert going friends and we all agreed “this is the one”. Running down to the local drug store I purchased a $20.00 money order, and with a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope (SASE) enclosed I mailed the package out to 105 Second Ave, NY requesting four (4) seats for Woody Herman’s Thundering Herd, Delaney Bonnie and Friends, and the headliner, LED ZEPPELIN, scheduled for May 30, 1969.To my surprise the tickets arrived a few days later, as did my friend’s who also requested four, we had eight tickets in total.

For those who only know of the power and popularity of Led Zeppelin of latter days, let me take you back to a time before their very first album hit the stands.

Jimmy Page was one of the “three”, the triumvirate of rock guitarist gods who moseyed through a British band of some renown named THE YARDBIRDS. This band ,who legend states took their name from Charlie YARDBIRD Parker was somewhat known in the USA, but more popular in their homeland of Great Britain. Without giving the long history of the Yardbirds let’s just say they got a CRAWDADDY (a club) gig when the spot was vacated by THE ROLLING STONES, a band on the move. Eric Clapton was the YARDBIRDS guitarist at that time who became uncomfortable with the band veering away from it’s blues roots, heading into a pop direction. Clapton leaves and suggest Jimmy Page take his spot. Page was the “go to studio guitarist” at the time and didn’t want to vacate that profitable role, so PAGE suggested JEFF BECK who took the gig.

With BECK’s influence the YARDBIRDS moved toward a psychedelic route with fuzz tones, feedback, and overall guitar virtuosity. By 1966 JEFF BECK was voted Melody Maker’s GUITARIST OF THE YEAR.When the bass player drops out of The Yardbirds JIMMY PAGE steps in for a spell. When a new bassist is recruited PAGE stays on for a BECK/PAGE new dual guitar attack approach. Beck gets sick, misses a few gigs and ultimately leaves the band to Page.With the lead singer Keith Relf’s alcoholism and the band not having any more hits, as well as with the rise of CREAM and JIMI HENDRIX, soon most of The Yardbirds disappeared, leaving Jimmy Page with the name. To fulfill  some contractual commitments,with a new manager PETER GRANT on board, the band hits the road as THE NEW YARDBIRDS.

Page had recruited TERRY REID as vocalist but he, with a new MICKIE MOST contract, could not leave. Reid suggested a friend, ROBERT PLANT who brought along his drummer friend JOHN BONHAM. Page called his studio buddy JOHN PAUL JONES for bass and keyboards and after a short tour of Scandinavia, the NEW YARDBIRDS hit the studio to record what would become LED ZEPPELIN’s debut.

The album is released January 12,1969. Some of the tunes hit the New York FM airwaves after the band’s now legendary performance as the opening act for IRON BUTTERFLY at FILLMORE EAST January 31 and February 1, 1969, this being Led Zeppelin’s first US tour. Pete my buddy at Dubbings Electronics attended one of those shows that weekend. He raved about this new band who blew Iron Butterfly off the stage, leaving Iron Butterfly to play just one song, their hit IN A GADDA DA VIDA, and according to Pete, Led Zeppelin came back out due to the booing of Butterfly and the calls for Zeppelin. I have never been able to verify that but Pete said it,so…it must be true.

A few days later while at work Pete asked me to join him to see LED ZEPPELIN at THE SCENE a club in Manhattan. With little provocation I agreed to go to the Wednesday night show. But alas, the shows were cancelled due to John Bonham’s son falling at home in England and Bonham was needed there. So, I made due by purchasing LED ZEPPELIN and listening to the debut album, over and over again.

Meanwhile, the news was reporting that thousands of Americans were preparing to join across the nation during Easter weekend for massive demonstrations in protest to the war in Vietnam. On April 4th,1969 our United States combat casualties had now surpassed the totals for the entire KOREAN WAR and an end to The Vietnam Conflict was not in sight. During a four day visit to South Korea, South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu told reporters he would “never” agree to a coalition government with the National Liberation Front (NLF). Then, President Nixon announced a plan to replace the hated draft system with a lottery that would induct 19-year-old boys first. The stakes for me and my friends have changed.This is getting real and fast.

Students rebelled at Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, and New York’s Queen’s College with dozens being injured during these sit-ins and strikes. The 1969 spring semester had 292 American campuses hosting anti-war rallies; one-quarter of them included violence. The nation stood polarized between pro-war hawks and anti-war doves. I was all of 17 years of age stuck between a pro war dad and  my neighbors dying in the jungles of SouthEast Asia.

In May, 300 hundred policemen in Berkeley, California cleared students out of a small patch of land called People’s Park. The incident sparked a week of violent protest. On May 16th, 2,000 Berkeley demonstrators battled with police. Rioting spread to other campuses while in Vietnam the gory battle for “Hamburger Hill” was reaching a peak.

The only good read for me that month was the May 26, 1969 edition of NEWSWEEK which featured Janis Joplin on the cover with the headline JANIS JOPLIN:REBIRTH OF THE BLUES. The story mentioned HENDRIX, BB KING, ALBERT KING, BIG MAMA THORNTON and a host of others.

It is now Memorial Day weekend of 1969, only a few weeks away from the burial of my girlfriend’s brother who was killed in Vietnam. Yet, it was also a new beginning for a group of us as we copped the 8 tickets to see Led Zeppelin at Fillmore East early 8 PM show on a Friday Night of a Holiday Weekend. A freshly cashed paycheck loaded my wallet, a pack of Marlboro Red, bottle of wine (purchased by an age appropriate friend) and a gift from Pete to help “lighten” up my mood and I was set. Four on the train, meeting four more there, we were a Rock and Roll army outfitted with new jeans, new Chuck Taylor high tops, and hair getting longer by the moment. “See you tomorrow, Mom”.

So “The Eight”  had planned a beautiful start to a long holiday (Memorial Day) weekend. Orange Julius on West 8th for a bite to eat, a few head shop visits along our walk to Second Avenue, a record store here, and a shoe shoppe there (more on the shoes in September), and we strolled peacefully toward our East Village destination. Still not knowing exactly where we headed I followed the lead of the others and we landed up far away from our appointed destination but still with plenty of time on hand. Show time 8PM would find 4 of us in one section, with another four in another section a few rows back, but all eight in the house. The crowd outside on line awaiting admittance to the sacred hall was a buzzed. Finally, in and seated, house lights go down and BOOM, I fall in love. Rita Coolidge of Delaney/ Bonnie was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen,well that night anyway. The JOSHUA LIGHT SHOW afforded a great back drop, something that I had never witnessed. Woody Herman’s Big Band was way too cool. Pop would have been proud as I recognized a few of Woody’s tunes from our family’s record collection.

Then, “OHHHHH, I CAN’T QUIT YOU BABE” with a power chord shook me to the core. This tune followed by Dazed and Confused, White Summer, How Many More Times, a drum solo, and the crowd cheering “MORE,MORE”… The encore was short, yet loud, COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN. The performance bar was now set for this 17 year old youngster on his musical journey. Sweating profusely we leave into the warm May air at a bit before midnight. Walking through the East Village, then Greenwich Village, we get a bite to eat,maybe a gift or two,then taking the E train to Penn Station in time for the midnight train. Arriving home I felt like a new person, never to return to the old one.

TICKETS TORN IN HALF: CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL with TERRY REID and AUM, July 19, 1969 at FILLMORE EAST.

With my kid brother, a fan of Creedence at my side, I was there to see the undercard,Terry Reid, having loved both of his two albums. San Francisco’s AUM opened the show and closed their set with GOD IS BACK IN TOWN, a song which was getting some air play at the time. Terry Reid hit the stage announcing that his favorite Les Paul guitar was stolen the previous night and he begged for its return. Despite not having his trustworthy axe, Terry had the place on its feet by sets end. Then the hit makers CCR rocked the house. Dressed like rich hippies with flannel shirts, jeans and boots, these swamp rockers closed it all out with a 20 minute version of  “KEEP ON CHOOGLIN”. Even with my limited experience I knew this band would not be playing for the East Village hippies much longer. Bigger pay days in shittier, larger halls would be their destiny..

 

Set List (CCR)

BORN ON THE BAYOU

GREEN RIVER

NINETY-NINE AND A HALF(WON’T DO)

BOOTLEG
COMMOTION

BAD MOON RISIN
PROUD MARY

I PUT A SPELL ON YOU

NIGHT TIME IS THE RIGHT TIME

KEEP ON CHOOGLIN’

(ENCORE) SUZIE Q

The very next night after CCR my girlfriend had invited two friends over to her house and with me, we four sat in her mother’s bedroom to watch the APOLLO 11 moon landing on television. Amazing, the SPACE RACE is finally settled.

Having dug Terry Reid so much at The Fillmore the weekend before we traveled to the Action House in Island Park, not far from my home, to see him again. While in a less than capacity house Terry was off to the side of the stage prior to his set when I engaged him in a conversation and found him to be just a delightful person, one appreciative of the crowd coming out to see him and he made me feel comfortable when I introduced myself to him. I must say I was a bit apprehensive but I needed to know and  NO he did not get his Les Paul returned.  His set that night was much longer than Fillmore’s and just as tasty.

It was about this time that the verdict came down convicting MUHAMMAD ALI, aka Cassius Clay, aka World’s Heavyweight Boxing Champ (stripped of his title), a Conscientious Objector, of draft evasion. AND Senator Ted Kennedy pleads guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, CHAPPAQUIDDICK, where his aide MARY JO KOPECHNE drowned. Teddy received a “two month SUSPENDED sentence”. Ali is convicted but Ted pleas….HMMMMM