Friday, April 16, 2010

M~
I never knew Jack Byers but my brother, Bill, had a girlfriend named Jan Byers. She would be 51 or 52 or 53 right now.
My 21 yr. old son, Christopher is leaving for Cottonwood tomorrow. He's either gonna stay one or two weeks. I gotta stay at his house in Northpost and feed his snake and his fish.
He & his Uncle Buddy are gonna take Buddy's air boat out on St. Andrews Bay. Christopher is gonna pilot it and they're gonna go like 60 miles. They are gonna put in @ West Bay, then cover all the sloughs and bayous over to Lynn Haven, then come down to Hathaway Bridge and then back to West Bay.
Buddy is friends with the people who own Boon Docks. There's some sort of Dothan Connection there.

We had 92,000 fans in town today for the spring A-Day Game & it was broadcast by ESPN. Big deal for us! Totally different crowd than for a game because it's free.
More Crimson Tide fans than usual. Not near enough sexy coeds wearing cocktail dresses that look like negligees out uv Victoria's Secret but everbody was wearin' they brand new 2009 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP attire so they looked SUPER!!!

Neck week is the big downtown crawfish festival.Gonna be lots of good food & music for only ten bucks admission.

great hearing from ya. looking forward to April 29!

best,
r

Muchas to Danny Miller http://www.myspace.com/sunnytweedman of Roswell, GA's MEN IN BLUES BAND http://www.myspace.com/meninbluesband
for sending us

Subject: Common Musician Phrases

From
a bass player friend of mine…

\Common Musician Phrases Translated (We've all heard a lot of these !)

:-)

1.
I have a PA.

(translation) You
will have to meet me at the gig 4 hours early to set it up and follow me to the
band room at 5:00 AM to unload it and not get paid for it.

2. I have a killer practice room and a PA.
(translation)
It’s my band. You are joining me. So, I pick all the songs we are going to play and you have no say in it.
If you don’t like it, go rent your own band room. And PA.

3.
I am working on a top secret project due out in 2013.

(translation)
I am jamming alone in my
trailer waiting on Epic records to knock on my door at anytime.

4. I am a huge Randy Rhoads fan. (translation)
I am 45 years old and still have long hair and a funny shaped
guitar.

5. We are having closed rehearsals in my band
room, period! (translation) I don’t
have a girlfriend, so don’t bring yours.

6. I am jamming with some killer musicians. (translation)
Only one person answered my Bandtastic ad.

7. I have transportation. (translation)
I have a girlfriend.

8. I found us a manager to manage our band. (translation)
I have a girlfriend.

9. I can’t make practice tonight. (translation)
I have a girlfriend.

10. We should get rid of that band member. (translation)
I have a girlfriend.

11. I have professional gear. (translation)
I have a Marshall stack and a Les Paul. And a girlfriend.

12. My band is going on tour. (translation)
No clubs around here will book us. So, we are going to play gigs
in Gastonia,NC that my girlfriend booked with my PA.

13. We draw a good crowd. (translation)
Everybody in the band has a girlfriend..

14. I am working on a concept album. (translation)
I have a lot of little riffs for song ideas I can’t seem to
finish and they really don’t make sense anyway.

15. I am looking for serious musicians who can commit to a
band. (translation)
I am a jerk and hard to work with in a band. So, members usually quit after 2 months.

16. I am throwing an after-show party. (translation)
I have a 12 pack in the fridge. When it’s gone, the party is
over.

17. I am a local guitar legend. (translation)
Finally, all the salesmen at Guitar Center know my name now.

18. Our band got a record deal. (translation)
One of our band member’s parents loaned us $5,000.

19. That guy sucks on guitar. (translation) He's
obviously better than me.

20. We had a killer gig. (translation)
We made a $100 each.

21. I gave up playing hard rock to play more mature
alternative rock. (translation) I’m
going bald.

22. That band member was fired and now he’s trying to
steal our songs. (translation) The
guitar player quit.


Subject: FW: Fwd: You're too old to play gigs when:


1. It becomes more important to find a place on stage for your fan than your amp.
2. Your gig clothes make you look like George Burns out for a round of golf or Dolly Parton with no bosom.
3. All your fans leave by 9:30 p.m.
4. All you want from groupies is a foot massage and back rub.
5. You love taking the elevator because you can sing along with most of your set-list.
6. Instead of a fifth member, your band wants to spring for a roadie.
7. You lost the directions to the gig.
8. You need your glasses to see the amp settings.
9. You've thrown out your back jumping off the stage.
10. You feel like heck before the gig even starts.
11. The waitress is your daughter!
12. You stop the set because your ibuprofen fell behind the speakers.
13. Most of your crowd just sways in their seats.
14. You find your drink tokens from last month's gig in your guitar case.
15. You refuse to play without earplugs.
16. You ask the club owner if you can start at 8:30 instead of 9:30.
17. You check the TV schedule before booking a gig.
18. Your gig stool has a back.
19. You're related to at least one member in the band.
20. You don't let anyone sit in.
21. You need a nap before the gig.
22. After the third set, you bug the club owner to let you quit early.
23. During the breaks, you now go to the van to lie down.
24. You prefer a music stand with a light.
25. You don't recover until Tuesday afternoon.
26. You hope the host's speech lasts forever
27. You buy amps considering their weight and not their tone or "cool" factor.
28. Feeling guilty looking at hot women at the audience, 'cause they're younger than your daughter.
29. You can remember seven different club names for the same location.
30. You have a hazy memory of the days when you could work 10 gigs in 7 days and could physically do it!
31. Your date couldn't make it because she couldn't find a babysitter for the grandkids.
32. The set list has to be in 20 point type..
33. Your drug of choice is now coffee…
34. It seems impossible to find stage shoes with decent arch support.

STEVENSON'S BLOG POST ON MARSHAL HAGLER THAT FELL OFF MY BLOG...
http://stevensonblog.blogs.tuscaloosanews.com/10179/marshal-hagler-rip/comment-page-1/


You Ain't Gonna Believe This Marie! 2 Million Hits Come Up on "DRAMA QUEEN" & They All Gonna Be @ THUNDER BEACH May 1, 2010!



http://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&source=hp&q=%22DRAMA+QUEEN%22&btnG=Google+Search


1970 ad for THE CHUKKER from HIGH GAUGE #3

Bruce Hopper
Chunky did a great service having those oysters sent via a Greyhound bus each day from the coast.

CHRIS F. wrote~

"Very cool. Keith Moon could pound those skins, huh? "Baba O'Reilly" is one of my favorite Who songs, because of his drumming.

Ginger Baker can pound too. I like "White Room" because the drumming is so crisp and precise.

I would be hard-pressed to narrow down to "the best" that I've ever seen. Like you, I'm sure, I've seen so many different types of cool concerts--from small intimate shows like Johnny Shines and Kent DuChaine at Egan's a few times in the early 90s to multi-million-dollar productions such as Rush in Portland, OR's Rose Garden in '02. That's the only time I've ever seen Rush and it was fun.

Rage Against The Machine in '97 was cool. No special effects, just Rage jamming at high energy for an hour-and-a-half straight, ripping from one song straight into another. They were so tight and polished, it was like sitting there listening to a studio CD.

I caught Ray Charles in Portland about a year before he died. He was on stage for only an hour or so but for that hour, that old man rocked it.

I saw Van Halen's reunion tour with David Lee Roth in Seattle a couple of years ago. That was pretty awesome, considering that was the only band that mattered to me when I was 16. When DLR left the band in '86, I never dreamed I would see and hear those guys play together again.

I saw Follow For Now a few times in Tuscaloosa. They always had a good show for us. (I was bummed when that band broke up in '95.)

And so many more. Tough call."


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xZOrWK6d4g&NR=1

Robert Register will be @ Little Willies tonight to enjoy the blues with Carroline Shines' band but I wish I could be @ Poplar Head Grill(located in the old location of Creels on W. Main) in Dothan so I could rock out with the Bopcats & David Adkins. Three of those cats (David Adkins, Frank Tanton & Richard Burke) can be seen on this ...YouTube clip backing up Buddy & Wilbur on Georgia Pines. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YpVtW4cKvo&feature=related


FROM FRANK TANTON~
The "BopCats" are playin' with David Adkins this Friday at Poplar Head Grill...
Behind Art's Music on West Main St. in Dothan, 6:30-10:30pm...
Come out and enjoy some "Blues You Could Use"...

Fran from Oklahoma shot me this link. The most superb Civil War images...
http://www.mikelynaugh.com/VirtualCivilWar/New/Originals2/index.html

Great post Roberto!
You know Marshal and I were partners for several years up here in Bham.
We used to have impromptu oil slide shows late in the afternoon after locking the front door of the typesetting shop.

Ooo-WEE!!

I miss the old boy.

Ben

Two weeks from today!
the big 60!
Who is going to give you that many swats
on the backside?
Maybe just some beer at the Beach House
will have to do!

m


Robert Register guesses that because I a CHILD OF THE SIXTIES who's about to turn SIXTY, I had this cat axe me @ lunch today, "What's the best concert you've ever been to?" Frist I thought of the Rolling Stones, then Wet Willie, then Al Green, then ZZ TOP, then Wilson Pickett, then Hank Jr. & then, I HAD IT! THE WHO! With my best college girlfriend, high as a Georgia Pine & the last thing I remember was when Keith Moon turned on the landing lights! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzIwRpFDZ8I

Roberto,

I tried to find something online about Hodgesville, but not much is out there .... hasn't changed population in 110 years, while Dothan boomed from 250 in 1890 to what it is today.

I remember my granddaddy telling me that the railway was built from Panama City northward, so the rail head at Hodgesville was temporary until the connection was extended to meet the Chattahootchee & Gulf in Dothan 1908 or so.

Yes, still in Nigeria.

You take care,
JH

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Hey y'all~
Maybe old Marshall's looking down on us right now!

best,
r



Photo of Marshall Hagler by Martha Jane Patton


Tommy Stevenson published an excellent obit for Marshall on his blog at the T News. Check it out:
http://stevensonblog.tuscaloosanews.com/default.asp?item=650840



Friday, February 16, 2007






photos courtesy of John Earl
THE HAIGHT HUT: 1420 University Boulevard (present location of Hamner Real Estate) Scene of owner Bud G. Silvas' .22 calibur suicide on the afternoon after receiving an indictment from the Tuscaloosa County Grand Jury for the first LSD bust in Tuscaloosa history on October 4, 1968.
IMAGE courtesy of HIGH GAUGE #3

http://robertoreg.blogspot.com
http://cottonkingdom.blogspot.com
http://snakedoctor.blogspot.com
http://myspace.com/paulbearbryant


photo by John Earl


photo by John Earl


photo by John Earl
IMAGE courtesy of HIGH GAUGE #3


IMAGE courtesy of HIGH GAUGE #3


IMAGE courtesy of HIGH GAUGE #3


IMAGE courtesy of HIGH GAUGE #3


IMAGE courtesy of HIGH GAUGE #3

IMAGE courtesy of HIGH GAUGE #3

IMAGE courtesy of HIGH GAUGE #3

Wednesday, April 14, 2010


1970 ad for THE CHUKKER from HIGH GAUGE #3

Hey Robert,
I'm Tommy Stuart, the one who played with Bruce Hopper. I enjoyed reading alot of this stuff about the Omen & Their Luv' etc., you might have caught that I'd resurrected the old name with a cd entitled "No Twin" done at Birdland Studio in Town Creek, which shows up on CD Baby when you just google the band name. Anyway, I sure would like to see any pictures of our old bands. I mainly have the one from the County High Prom & one taken out at Coaling at an abandoned gas pump with me having one glove on stuck down in my pants(imitating The Music Machine, not the 'gloved one' who hadn't happened yet).

Anyway, I thought I'd just touch base with you.
More later,
Tommy

Roberto,

Burke's cotton gin was there for many years when Cotton was King instead of peanuts. It was just a few hundred feet up a hill from where the old rail head for the Atlanta and St. Andrews Bay Railway (later Bay Line Railroad) was located before it was moved to Dothan. There was also a turpentine mill next door and a blacksmith shop. There were 2 stores, one at the dead end of Hodgesville Rd (Carl Dudley's - I loved the man and his family like relatives - he looked just like Harry Truman) where groceries & meats were bought, and one up the hill (Mixon's) where the old-timers sat out front in the summer or in front of the pot-bellied iron stove during the winter and told tall tales. Had to drive to the big city of Cottonwood to get a haircut or attend school.

JH

Jim~
Found THE SOURCE on the BAY LINE http://www.reverendlinux.com/trains/bayline/asabinfo.pdf
best,
r


Jim,
Thanks, dude. I remember Mrs. Theodore Jackson (Teddy, Edward & Smith's mom) was our Cub Scout Den Mother & she took us to Mixon's so we could see a genuine country store.
I'm forwarding this to Teddy & my brother-in-law Buddy Henry in Cottonwood.

Are you still in Africa?

best,
r

Furtrader,

Thanks for the info from James. I will probably contact him for more info. Carl Dudley was robbed, shot and killed at the store James mentioned, I think late sixties or early seventies. His daughter Joyce was the Director and an instructor for me when I was in anesthesia school 1977-79.She is a darling person.

Also, Thanks for your help with the Mule Shit shoveling for the worm bed. I feel like you are as good or possibly the best “Mule Shit Shoveler” I have ever met!!! I believe if I can get you to focus, there is still HOPE for you.

Your Annelidologist Brother Outlaw,

Buddy





Robert,

We are so sorry that we missed you at the A HOF. Jill said at one point that she thought she saw you in the lobby. I would have enjoyed meeting your son and his lovely escort. I did make a movie of parts of the event which I will try and get on Utube today. The dang hall where the dinner and ceremony was held was so dark, I was hesitant to get up and walk around to different tables. We, nevertheless had a great time seeing old friends and enjoyed seeing Buddy accept his award as well as all of the others who received awards. H
Here is a photo for the archives. Photo courtesy of Kittra Moore. Jim L., Jerry Carrigan, Chips and Bob Moore.
best
Lancaster



14098_1426095175187_1317014408_1129462_6417419_n.jpg


Toler/Townsend Band featured on the back cover of the latest issue of HITTIN' THE NOTE magazine http://www.hittinthenote.com/
along with Toler's guitar picks http://catbonemusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=72_100&zenid=ghpe1l9htm0n6lkt02djuun7c7

Robert,
I should probably just let this lie and walk on from it but I'm at a loss for words as to why, or for what reason Bobby Dupree is venting about old days in California with that band from Montgomery I was a part of back in the 60s. I've talked with Sanford about this and it's apparent that Bobby is holding some kind of envy or grudge over his lack of relevance in music since those days and has picked me out as his favorite target. Perhaps he hates me for stealing Sanford out of that band and us becoming successful without them.
I've always heard if you let a fool talk long enough, he'll eventually say something you can use against him. In this case, he's stretched the bounds of his imagination and written an essay so full of misinformation and bullshit that bears no reasonable facsimile to the truth. In fact, some of the scenarios he talks about never happened anywhere except in his mind.
Quite frankly, I've not even thought about those guys for decades and have continued to be active in music by partnering
up with my old friend "Dangerous" Dan Toler, the former Allman Bros, Dickey Betts & Great Southern and Gregg Allman Band guitarist. We've got a CD out that's being played on over 500 stations internationally, have a summer tour starting and it just occurs
to me that all that rant may have something to do envy, as Sanford suggested, although it's only a guess.
Time always has a way of making you remember things better than they were in most cases. In Bobby's case, I guess that
just got twisted around in his head. Keith's a nice enough guy and I always got along with Rusty. Sanford and I have been partners and friends all these years and I just don't get what Bobby's after with this kind of bullshit.
Oh well! Onward and upward!

Johnny Townsend

Robert Register

CHECK OUT SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqh54rSzheg




Muchas to Danny Miller http://www.myspace.com/sunnytweedman of Roswell, GA's MEN IN BLUES BAND http://www.myspace.com/meninbluesband
for sending us Stephen Campos reminicences of Cream's October '68 performance @ Atlanta's Chastain Park Amphitheatre



The gear looks so primitive.
CHASTAIN PARK AMPHITHEATRE
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
27TH OCTOBER 1968
1st Show
by Stephen Campos

When Cream played Atlanta's Chastain Park Amphitheater in October of '68, the city was still abuzz from the bombastic appearance of the Hendrix Experience in August. But from the first opening chord of "White Room," the band showed themselves to be yet another concert milestone for the Atlanta rock crowd with a style and power that would be the blueprint for many a "heavy" band for the next three decades. Their performance on that afternoon gave no hint whatsoever that the group was in fact a mere month away from their "Farewell" at the Royal Albert Hall.

cream3 (2).jpg (101754 bytes)
© Stephen Campos, 2000

I was incredibly lucky to get to watch from the wings. I went along with a friend who was working as a roadie for a local band who were going to play third on the bill, but they got bumped at the last minute due to time restrictions. I didn't care. I was discreetly planted in the wing with my trusty little Instamatic camera, thanking my lucky stars to be where I was. In 1968, "concert security" in Atlanta was nothing more than just a couple of bored city cops standing in the wings probably wondering when they could go home, so we were free to roam around wherever we pleased. I watched the soulful Terry Reid open the show; a good set which the audience received warmly, but just seeing Cream's big Marshalls and the massive drum kit looming behind the Reid group's smaller gear made me all the more excited and anxious for the headliners.

crmbw (2).jpg (104056 bytes)
© Stephen Campos, 2000
Drum miking: announcement plus one betwen the bass drums (note the lead)
"It was so loud that people said they could only hear me when I soloed" (G.B.)

After a short interval I caught a glimpse of the unmistakable Ginger Baker posing with some local DJs on the opposite wing. The trio then walked on to the oohs and ahhs of the audience. The set list was to the best of my recollection very similar to "Live Cream Volume II" minus "Steppin' Out," with the addition of "I'm So Glad, "Toad," "Spoonful" and "Sitting On Top Of The World." I've always regretted that this show wasn't recorded because the group was in fine form that afternoon, wowing the audience repeatedly with their virtuosity which steadily ascended to "Toad's" thundering climax. "I'm So Glad," "Crossroads," and "Sunshine O.Y.L." stand out particularly in my memory. In introducing many of the blues classics in their repertoire, they took care to give credit to the men who wrote the originals, and it was pretty ironic that these supercharged high decibel rockers from Great Britain would be the ones educating the American audience on their own musical legacy. At one point Clapton broke a string on his Firebird (Ginger Baker announcing dryly, "Eric Clapton will now tap dance"), but by the time he got his sunburst Les Paul strapped on the roadie had the Firebird restrung and he switched back. As to whether both Marshall heads were running, he had a splitter cord as seen in my photos, and witnesses later said they could easily hear the concert from outside the arena throughout the big park.

cream1 (2).jpg (115405 bytes)
© Stephen Campos, 2000
The Lesley Box is from the Terry Reid Group
(click on the photo for closeup 240KB!)

A funny footnote to the story: unlike myself back then, my roadie friend wasn't afraid of approaching celebrities. He brought along a friend's Gibson SG guitar and a black ink marker, in hopes that he could get Clapton to sign it. During the long drum solo of "Toad," EC sat behind the amps in a folding chair. I walked along with my friend up to one of the band's guitar cases which was lying on a table in the wing. He opened it for a peek, and I noticed Clapton looking at us. I wanted to disappear, fearing that their roadies would pounce on us and throw us out, but fortunately nothing happened, and I went off and found another nice spot to shoot a final picture. Then, after Cream left the stage and got into their limo I saw in the distance my pushy pal heading towards Clapton as he was about to close the door. I cringed as I heard him demanding "sign it! just sign it!" and sure enough he came back to me proudly showing me the SG with the hurried scrawl of the guitar god. I still wonder what happened to that axe, and how anybody 32 years later could ever prove that it was indeed the genuine article. If by some miracle Clapton could remember that ugly moment, I wouldn't blame him if he denied it completely.

cream6 (2).jpg  (163504 bytes)
© Stephen Campos, 2000
AND note the tiny PA Cab!
"200 Watts for guitar, 200 for bass, 100 for voice." (J.B. describing an all too common occurrence)

© Stephen Campos, 2000

atlantaticket.jpg (113700 bytes)
Courtesy of Barry Gruber


http://catbonemusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=72_100&zenid=ghpe1l9htm0n6lkt02djuun7c7



May 7, 1970

May 7, 1969


Phil Norris



from http://skypilotclub.com

Questions from Jasper Rycker April 11,2010
I am a high school student in Denver and
I just finished reading The
Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Now I am writing an historical essay
about the Merry Pranksters and their impact on the Psychedelic
movement. I was hoping that, if you had the time, you could answer a
few questions:
What role would you say that the Merry Pranksters played in shaping
the counter-cultural movement of the 1960's?



The jelly roll, been around a long time. Roll in the jelly, that is,
make love not war. Our role in shape shifting revolves around taking
our art out into the streets, in the form of a painted bus and movie
cameras and tape recorders and costumes and musical instruments and,
while high, cavorting with the peoples we met doing their ordinary
peoples things, you ever notice how anyplace you go there are people
involved in some kind of drama, well, you can join in and keep the
drama
flowing but in a positive way, helping to keep the cool,
provoke laffter, vanish leaving a good feeling behind, who was that
masked man, Martha? I don't know but he said we can see it on Youtube.

Which aspect of the counter-cultural movement would you say that the
Pranksters were most influential in, besides drug use?


ha ha, we didn't promote drug use. We promoted and still promote
freedom, the freedom of the individual to experiment with his or her
own body and mind, but hey, be careful, some of that shit can harm or
kill you. We considered ourselves astronauts of inner space, gotta be
strong of mind and body and grounded solid on mother earth. Our main
influence aside from the artistic endeavors, was that of family and
friendship and helping others and as Kesey said, to be kind.

to be continued

Tuesday, April 13, 2010





This item sold on November 23 for $190.50 on eBay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280286859237&ssPageName=ADME:B:EF:US:1123


This is an original (not a repro, reprint or copy) vintage Jimi Hendrix concert program. It is from the May 7, 1969 concert at Memorial Coliseum in Tuscaloosa Alabama. This is a very rare program as it was evidently made by the local promoter of the concert and is not a stock program. I have only ever seen one other example of this program and it was on a website concerning Tuscaloosa in the '60s and '70s. Program is black and white and measures 8 1/2" X 5 1/2". It has 6 pages counting the front and back covers. There is a picture of Jimi on the front and a picture of each band member on the inside. There is a three paragraph bio of the "Jimi Hendrix Experience" and the rest of the program is primarily advertisements for local businesses (as was the norm for concert programs of the era). Program is in very good condition with some normal very light creases at one corner (see photo, very minor), some yellowing from age and a few very light minor smudges but overall very nice and attractive. It is all intact with no tears or damage. I acquired this program from the original owner who attended the concert. The original owner neatly typed (with a typewriter) his name on the back cover (see photo) but it's light and minor. There are no other added marks or writting. Nice original vintage 1969 Jimi Hendrix concert program! Guaranteed authentic and original!! Rare Hendrix program!! Excellent addition to any collection!! No Reserve!!! 5 DAY AUCTION. Free shipping to lower 48. International bidders please contact me before bidding. No zero or excessive negative feedback bidders please. Thank you.


Back Cover of High Gauge #3 by Marshall Hagler

image courtesy of Wonderful Whit

This image is so powerful we'll have to dig a JIMI STORY up from the
ZERO, NORTHWEST FLORIDA Archives...



Jimi Hendrix performing at the Memorial Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, May 7, 1969
courtesy of WTBC
http://www.wtbc1230.com/history.html
Robert,
Ok here is the story.

On May 7th I went to the Hendrix concert at Memorial Coliseum (now
Coleman Coliseum) with my room mate Hoagy (Guy Huthnance) and his
girlfriend who's name time has swallowed.

She was the key to this story.

Fat
Mattress, Noel Redding's group, opened the show. At the break we all went
to the bathroom. Hoagy's date was a very attractive person and the head
of the University Program Council had the hots for her. During the
break she ran into him and he said " Why don't you come with me after the
show. We are taking Hendrix to the Citizen's Club for a party." She
said, no thanks and then came and told us what was going on.

I had run into
Pete Kinnear and told him of our plans to go to the Citizens Club to
party with Hendrix. The four of us crammed into my Triumph Spitfire and
went to the club.

This was the old Citizens Club that burned 20+ years
ago and was later moved to a new location. I had been there several times
before with other mixed race bands that I had played with and felt
comfortable being there.

When we got there, we were the only white folks
there, but that was OK. We waited and enjoyed the soul band that was
playing there. About 30 minutes later, when we were beginning to doubt that
they would show, here came the entourage.

I stood up and shook
Hendrix's hand and told him how much I enjoyed the show. They all sat down at
the table next to us. The British guys from Fat Mattress were seated
next to me and we partied with them that night since Hendrix was
immediately surrounded by groupies. They were a little nervous about being in a
all black club in the south, but loosened up enough to get up and play.
They played a few songs and then left the stage.

After their set, I
went to pee and Noel Redding came in. We had a nice chit-chat about music
while we both emptied our bladders. The rest of the night was spent
drinking beers and talking music with new friends. End of story.

HOPPER


The Jimi Hendrix EXPERIENCE!

You can read the story of the metamorphosis of The Rockin’ Gibraltars into Heart, the band, in the Greg Haynes book “The Hey Baby Days of Beach Music”. We, the Rockin’ Gibraltars (Sonny Grier, Rusty Crumpton, Ed Sanford, Keith Brewer, and Bobby Dupree) had landed a recording contract with Warner/Reprise Record Company. Sonny was married and his wife was expecting a baby, so he decided not to go to LA, which is what prompted us to get Johnny Townsend in the band. After writing a few songs, recording them at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, adding Johnny Townsend, and changing our name to Heart we moved to 12221 Ventura Boulevard, Studio City California. After arriving in LA, our manager Bob Hinkle took us to Warner Brothers to meet Mo Osten, Executive Vice President of Warner/Reprise Records, and the staff members who would be involved with our recordings and promotions. Warner’s and Mo Osten had assigned Russ Shaw as our promotion agent and we met Russ that first day. Russ was obviously a talented promotion man, because Warner’s had also assigned to him Jimi Hendrix. Of course by that time in June of 1968 Jimi was a huge star, and had already released his first two albums Are You Experienced? and Axis: Bold As Love. That summer of 1968, Russ called us and told us to get dressed, that we were going up to meet Jimi Hendrix. Russ was gearing us up to be the opening act for Jimi’s new tour. We drove up to a palatial home in Benedict Canyon above Hollywood, and after getting cleared at the gate, went inside. We stood there in the living room looking around and on the wall was a group promo picture signed by the Beatles. It was the very recognizable picture with them in the gray collarless jackets, Paul with a cigarette in his hand. We found out that the house belonged to the guy that owned Cadillac Steel, and that he leased the house to many of the stars when they were in town. Pretty soon Jimi came out, dressed in a red bathrobe and looking pretty sleepy. Jimi was a very calm, laid back guy, very normal considering his stardom. I felt really calm around him, although the earlier anticipation of meeting him had initially made me a little nervous. After all of the introductions and shaking hands, he asked “Where you guys from?” Then, very quickly, he said “No, let me guess. Just talk a little.” So we chatted a bit and he said “You’re from Alabama.” Well, we couldn’t believe he knew, and all anxiously answered, “Yeah, how’d you know?” He said, “Just keep on talking.” So we chatted some more and he said, “You’re from Montgomery, right?” Well that was almost spooky, and someone said “How did you know that?” He started telling us that he’d been stationed at Ft. Benning, Georgia when he was in the Army and used to come up to Montgomery and jam with B.B. King at the Lakos and Elks Clubs, two very popular black clubs in Montgomery. He went on to say that South Alabamians had a completely different accent than North Alabamians. We didn’t even know that! So we sat there talking and he reached over and grabbed an acoustic guitar. He said “I bet you’ve never seen this.” He turned the guitar over and showed us where he’d broken the guitar body right behind the neck, so that when he put the guitar in his lap, like playing a dobro, he could push down on the top of the body and the whole neck would de-tune. He asked if anyone had a lighter, and I had this old Zippo, so I gave it to him. He started playing some slide blues that had the most incredible sound, nothing like I’d ever heard. There was the slide sound, but then he would push down the body and the whole thing would de-tune, producing a very dark, bluesy sound that is beyond description.
Rusty remembers, “Also, I think a few days before, I heard a few songs on the radio from his new album, Electric Ladyland. I think he was there for his west coast tour to promote the new album. The only conversation I took part in & remember was about All Along the Watchtower (a B. Dylan song). I told him it was a masterpiece, so many different guitar styles in one song...he said, “Thanks man, it wasn't easy.” It is still one of my most favorite guitar songs of all time.”
We just hung around for a while, and met some of his roadies. They were all English cats, and they were consuming mass quantities of tallboys, cans of beer. We had a beer and then left.
On the 18th and 19th of October, 1968, Cream played at the Forum in LA in what was billed as the Wheels of Fire Tour, but also was known as their Farewell Tour. Keith and I were sitting at the house in Studio City and Russ Shaw showed up at the door. He asked where the other guys were, and we told him that Rusty and Ed had dates, and Townsend was shacked up in his room with his girlfriend Lisa. He said to get dressed quick; we were going to a party. We hurried up and jumped in his car and took off toward the canyons. We arrived at Jimi’s house, and after being cleared at the gate we went in. Jimi was throwing a party for Cream’s Farewell Concert, and we were lucky to have been invited. We went in and there were lots of folks, some eating the finger food, some with drinks. As I stood there I saw Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce. Jack was playing this M or L model Hammond organ, and Ginger was nervously knocking things off the tables. Keith remembers, “Ginger still had a couple of teeth in his head and he looked a little unstable, but I think that was his normal appearance.” Keith and I just mingled as much as we could, but didn’t really fit in that crowd. There was a room off the living room downstairs that had a pool table, so we wandered down there. Keith started playing pool with this skinny guy and I sat down on the fireplace hearth, my elbows on my knees. I was looking down and saw two legs walk up, wearing high top black Converse All-stars and tuxedo pants. I looked up and it was George Harrison. I just about went into shock! As he walked by, I got up and watched him go outside and climb up on a large rock waterfall that connected to the swimming pool. He sat up there and just gazed at the stars.
After a couple of hours Russ brought us back to the house. Keith remembers, “Right before we left the party, some guy came downstairs where me and this guy were playing pool and said, ‘Hey Jeff, let’s go. We’re all going somewhere to jam.’ It was only then that I realized I’d been shooting pool with Jeff Beck.”
A day or so after this night, we were rehearsing a new song, and Townsend, in his condescending manner, started harassing Rusty about the part he was playing. Rusty said,”I’m gonna go up stairs and work on this for a while.” Townsend said, “You’re such a mama’s boy, why don’t you just go back home and work on it.” Now, Rusty Crumpton is probably the most easy going, emotionally steady, laid back guys I’ve ever known. In all the years I’d known Rusty, traveling on the roads in the South and playing all those gigs, and even enduring some pretty harrowing situations rumbling with the local rednecks, I had never known Rusty to loose it. But that night he did! Rusty wasn’t a very big guy when the band started, and after being out in LA where we were practically starving to death, Rusty was even smaller. When Townsend made that “Mama’s boy” crack, Rusty totally lost it. He went in the kitchen, which was close to our practice room and got a steak knife, and came back into where we were practicing, and lunged at Townsend. Lucky for Townsend that Kim Payne, our road manager, was close by and grabbed Rusty before he inserted that knife in a vital part of Johnny’s body. Kim said, “Rooster you can’t kill him,” and Rusty, struggling, said, “I’m not gonna kill him, I’m just gonna cut him a little.” Man what a scene! The ironic thing is that Townsend had said that sort of passive/aggressive thing to everyone in the band, condescending snipes and insults that were sort of jabs below the belt, and we all had probably thought of doing the same thing to him that Rusty had just been stopped from doing. Shortly after this night Rusty went back home to Alabama. Rusty had been accepted to attend college at the University of Alabama and he figured that since we were starving, not playing much-at least not enough to validate staying out there, weren’t recording as much as signed artists of Warner Brothers should be, and playing music that was so far from what our roots in music had led us to be playing, he’d just go on back to Alabama. As Keith tells it, “We had a great band, when Sonny played in it, and we played nothing but R&B and Soul music. Now, Townsend was writing all that crap he thought was gospel music, like ‘The Train’ and ‘Someone Somewhere’ (two of Johnny’s originals that were what I call milk toast music). We’d lost our basic sound and the heart of our music was gone.”
Johnny had been planning to replace Rusty for some time as evidenced by a phone conversation overheard by Keith and Rusty where Johnny was talking Tippy Armstrong into coming out and playing with us, and after Rusty left, Tippy did come out to be our guitar player. Russ Shaw booked us to open up for Jimi at the Bakersfield Civic Center. We played our set and got off stage so Jimi could come on and do his show. I went up to the dressing room to change, and then went back down and stood at the side of the stage. Jimi played a couple of songs, and then started his rendition of “The Stars Spangled Banner”. Not many people know this, but Jimi was very patriotic, he even supported the war in Viet Nam. He was also Airborne certified.
But back to the story.
The manager of the Bakersfield Civic Center was an old WWII veteran, and of course he was very patriotic too. When he heard Jimi playing “The Stars Spangled Banner” the way only Jimi could play it, the guy got so pissed off, that he went back behind the stage and cut off the power. All that was heard was Mitch Mitchell’s drums ringing through the auditorium. Well, Jimi went back behind the curtains and said, “Who turned off the power?” The WWII vet said “I did.” Jimi went over to him and slugged this guy in the face, knocking him off the stage. Of course, all HELL broke loose, and cops and Warner Brothers executives were everywhere. The cops were going to arrest Jimi but after some negotiations, and a $5000.00 check Russ Shaw made out to the guy, the concert was stopped, and Jimi got in his stretch limo with his two white girlfriends and went back to LA.
This is the true EXPERIENCE we had with Jimi Hendrix. We never saw him or played with him again.
Bobby Dupree with Rusty Crumpton and Keith Brewer



Subject :
reasons to leave
Robert,
Here are some FACTS about our departures from California. Bob Hinkle, our manager who initially got us a record deal with Warner Brothers in the spring of 1968, got $50,000.00 up front money to sign us to the record deal. Did we see any of that money? NO!!!! Hinkle would, however, occasionally drop by the house and bring us a bucket of Kentucky Chide Fricken, as he called it, just out of the "goodness of his heart". I didn't find out about the 50K until a few years ago when Ed Sanford told me he found this out from our second manager Lee Weisel. Now before moving to LA, we had been playing back down South almost every weekend, and making pretty good money for that time. But in LA we were just another band who were lucky if we made $50.00 a piece a week. Sometimes less. Our band would have starved to death if it hadn't been for Toni, my girlfriend at the time and later my wife, who worked a day gig at Fredricks of Hollywood in the shipping dept. When Rusty and Ed were offered that free steak dinner the night of the Cream party, they jumped on it quick. Why? Because we existed on Spanish rice practically the whole time we were in LA. When Rusty got back to Alabama, he was wearing a size 28" waist pants. I weighed 98 pounds when I got home! Rusty's departure was made for a very good reason. Besides starving, no money even to buy a coke, and having to put up with Townsends' put downs, Rusty was accepted to school at Alabama. I believe you know that is true. I had taken my draft physical in downtown LA in early 1969 and had passed. Kim Payne drove me there on his motorcycle. I had gotton a letter to report back to Montgomery for induction, so in June of '69 Toni and I packed up what we had and left. And not only did Rusty, Keith and I come back, but Ed Sanford came back too! He, of course, eventually went back out to LA. Toni and I got married July 18, 1969, I got drafted into the Army Sept. 4, 1969, and landed in the Republic of Viet Nam February 4, 1970. Although Heart recorded a few songs between the 1st Muscle Shoals sessions in June 1968 (The Train and Heartbeat) and the time we all left, we didn't have another song put out on Warner/Reprise. We lived in LA for less than a year.
Townsend's remark in this last "unpublished" e-mail about us being mama's boys and not being able to hack the big city just shows his level of denigration toward the very people who gave him the chance to be in the big time. But I forget that his memory is clouded by that brown acid..................Bobby

But.....for some reason when we went to New York to play at Steve Paul's THE SCENE (unquestionably THE place to play) the other musicians wanted to play with us, and we, for lack of a better word aquiesced.
Though I can't claim that anything remarkable happened while these other musicians "sat in" with us,I guess in hindsight I guess it was in fact,memorable.
Jimi Hendrix as I recall played Stormy Monday with us but the one that would really enjoy being with us was Noel Redding Jimi's bass player who liked that we would let him play guitar since he regarded himself as a guitar player
who was playing bass ( which he really didn't like). I thought that was really complimentary when in an article in HIT PARADER magazine he told the interviewer that we were his favorite American band.

Rodney Justo



Sunday, April 11, 2010

Robert Register is starting to agree with our old mysterious buddy, George Harrison, ALL THINGS MUST PASS... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GytPv_v29lc


Robert Register always predicted that eventually THE CARTEL would wear bikinis to class. I'm so glad I got to see it.(I'm posting an old picture. This is from a year ago) Gotta slim chance of living to my 60th birfday, April 29, 2010 but I wanna tell ya, IT'S GREAT TO BE ALIVE!!!!
SEE YA @ THE BEACH HOUSE THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 2010!!!!

Sat at 5:34am · · · Share


Robert Register UNFORTUNATELY googled "hazmat" "april 22, 2010" & got 31,400 hits. That's the day the lead paint standards from EPA, HUD & OSHA go into effect.
The legacy of the frist Earth Day live on in the ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE FOR THE MINORITIES LAW
Here's the frist un:

http://www.hazmatmag.com/press-releases/story.aspx?id=4112915


Robert Register RILLY need to crash right now so I can make it to the opening of the time capsule & flash Lee's Smith Hall postcards around that bunch of academic "pinheads"... wink, wink!
http://uanews.ua.edu/uapreview/.

From M. in Gawja!
Subject:
Keys Newspaper

L. and I made the front page of the Keynoter today, check out the article if you like:

http://www.keysnet.com/2010/04/10/207997/invasive-lionfish-moving-in-closer.html