One of these days I intend to write up some of the better shows I've been to... Dead Or Alive, Sique Sique Sputnik, Be Bop Deluxe, The Weirdos, Shaun Cassidy, Yanni.... My wife dragged me to Yanni, BTW. It wasn't my fault!
UFO & VAN HALEN: THE GOLDEN WEST BALLROOM, DOWNEY
05/09/1976
Michael Schenker of UFO is the reason I play a Flying V. When I was the school D.J. in my Freshman year, I came across the Phenomenon LP and decided by tone only that whatever he was playing, I was going to buy. Luckily it was something as cool as a V and not a Fender Jaquar or anything :-) Schenker's tone was beautiful, and I wanted to be him when I grew up.
My 15 year old best friend Suzie went with me and we were jazzed that Van Halen would be opening (I think High Wire was the 3rd band, but don't quote me.) We went inside early and watched VH sound check and they were ON. Phil Mogg (UFO's singer) noticed too, and coyly sent VH two wine jugs as a gift... I'd try to get them drunk too if they were opening!
VH were at their best, and it must have took something out of UFO as they looked self conscious and not at all like they were enjoying themselves. They barely squeezed an encore out of the crowd, so when they came back out, almost as if it was a big f*** you to the crowd, they encored with a pre-Schenker number called 'Boogie With George' that is all of one chord (A!) It was awful. When it ended, with his three inch platforms, Phil Mogg walked over and kicked bassist Pete Way's Marshall stacks to the ground. I fully expected Pete to kill him after that, but instead he took off his gorgeous black Thunderbird bass and heaved it into the pile. That pretty much summed up their evening.
I took Suzie backstage to hopefully meet Michael, and within a minute of being there, Suzie was on his lap flirting with him. He spent the next fifteen minutes in his broken English trying to convince her to go back to his motel with him. I spent those same fifteen minutes wondering how I was going to explain to her Dad in the morning that I left her off with a drunken German guitar player. Thankfully she begged off and we drove back to Whittier, all the while discussing how they possibly could have sucked so badly.
Side notes:
I called UFO's Los Angeles management in 1974, and the girl there pronounced his name Mee-Shell, like a girl would. I still think she was right - On live recordings from the BBC the announcer does the same.
Suzie and me saw UFO with Rush at the Santa Monica Civic a couple of years later, and Schenker was so drunk he was playing the wrong chords in some of their classic hits. Headliners Rush were so boring we bailed after three songs. A magical night...
Suzie and me (again) were upstairs at The Whiskey in 1977, and Pete Way sat with us for an hour chatting. He was the most charming drunk on the planet. When he left, he took a pile of drink umbrellas and little plastic swords to hand out to the kids at his motel's pool the next day. Rock stars can too be sweet.
My ex sweetie Michelle said that out of her rock star conquests, Michael Schenker was the number one worst (rude, quick, straight to nap land!)
THE BEATLES: DODGER STADIUM, LOS ANGELES
08/28/1966
I remember the ride to Dodger Stadium like it was yesterday.
My Mom, Dad and groovy sister (the reason I got to go) were in my Dad’s 1961 Impala, and he was flip-flopping between KRLA and KHJ AM to hear live updates on their arrival. When we were moving through traffic on the 5 Freeway, we passed car after car full of teenage girls waving pennants and homemade signs. There were helicopters overhead, and it seemed like we were off to see some kind of deity rather than anything real.
On the bill were Bobby Hebb, The Syndicate of Sound, The Ronette’s (who, years later I read that I didn’t actually see the great Ronnie Spector, instead her cousin - Seems Phil Spector told her either she could choose marriage or the tour, so they brought in her look alike cousin, knowing people couldn’t tell the difference in a stadium), and The Cyrcle, who I was equally happy to see since I loved ”Red Rubber Ball” & ”Turned Down Day.”
When The Beatles came out, it got harder to see anything, given my short six year old stature. Signs and sweaters were waving everywhere, and you could almost hear the band over all the screaming. I saw two girls pass out cold in the next aisle. This was very cool. I pretty much decided here and now that I didn’t want to be an architect for a living.
They played no more than 25 minutes, ran off to a station wagon, headed towards left field to an opening in the fence and they were gone. They played Candlestick Park the next night, which was technically their last gig (if you don’t count the rooftop practice.) I am proud to note that I am the only person alive that can say he saw The Beatles, Menudo and Naughty Women, all in a single lifetime. You may kiss my ring :-)
JEFF DAHL, KERRY DOOLIN: PARTY, MAYBE CYPRESS
Date Unknown, probably 78'
Robert Logan had a collection of people he worshipped in his Logan way and Kerry Doolin was one of them. Kerry was a local guitarist with a single, "So glad I finally got to see ya'" with a pic of him looking like an overweight Marc Bolan, posed at his High School's quad in a jumpsuit and a Flying V. Robert thought he was god. He'd work Kerry (or 'Doolin' as he called him) into conversation, even when there was no need to, the same way some nerds always talk about the same celebrity. For a few months there he didn't miss a day bringing Doolin into a conversation. It was hysterical.
Robert said Doolin was playing a party (I'm thinking Cypress, but I may be wrong) on a Saturday, so off we went. In the back yard of a house with about 20 people at it were amps set up, but no drum kit. The soon-to-be great Jeff Dahl and Doolin emerged from the house, strapped on guitars, and they were off. They played in front of a sliding glass door staring intently at their guitar necks and running back and forth like they were playing the Forum. It was fucking awesome. They simply did not care there was no drummer. They were into it. For Logan it was like he saw T-Rex. He couldn't even get up the nerve to speak to Doolin, although that's all he talked about on the way home. "We just saw Doolin. Catch me!!"
is the reason I play a Flying V. When I was the school D.J. in my Freshman year, I came across the Phenomenon LP and decided by tone only that whatever he was playing, I was going to buy. Luckily it was something as cool as a V and not a Fender Jaquar or anything :-) Schenker's tone was beautiful, and I wanted to be him when I grew up.
My Mom, Dad and groovy sister (the reason I got to go) were in my Dad’s 1961 Impala, and he was flip-flopping between KRLA and KHJ AM to hear live updates on their arrival. When we were moving through traffic on the 5 Freeway, we passed car after car full of teenage girls waving pennants and homemade signs. There were helicopters overhead, and it seemed like we were off to see some kind of deity rather than anything real.
