ORIGINAL: The Kiosk Project

Kenny's encounter with George Harrison doing it for me so far, closely followed by Wookiee meeting Sooty and Sweep, would that be Matthew or Harry era?

Crossover

Mat was a nice guy but harry hated kids.

A friend of mine was stagemanager and operated Sweep

Do you remember Olibeak?

ORIGINAL: Wookiee

ORIGINAL: The Kiosk Project

Kenny's encounter with George Harrison doing it for me so far, closely followed by Wookiee meeting Sooty and Sweep, would that be Matthew or Harry era?

Crossover

Mat was a nice guy but harry hated kids.

A friend of mine was stagemanager and operated Sweep

Do you remember Olibeak?

Woah yeah !!! I remember Ollie Beak the scouse owl and his mate Fred Barker. He used to appear with Wally Whyton on a TV program I watched as a kid called "Time for a laugh" Wally was a singer / guitarist, had a show for years on BBC Radio 2 in the UK. Thanks for the memory jog Wooks, your gonna tell me now you used to go out partying with Ollie Beak aren't you?

BTW Sooty was a good drummer wasn't he? He used to make The Sooty-Braden Showband swing and who can forget his drum battle with Nicko McBrain the Iron Maiden drummer....

I rode on an elevator once in West Palm Beach fla with Jim Neighbors (Gomer Pile)

ORIGINAL: mike_mccue

Kenny, thanks for sharing... those are great memories.

best,
mike

thanks Mike

ORIGINAL: Guitarzan54

GREAT STUFF Kenny!!!!

...looking forward to hearing/reading more!!!!

Mike
.

Mike thanks

yeah ....I might share a few more stories later on ...

when the time is right & my motives have been double checked at the door

ORIGINAL: spacey

Kenny sure enjoyed reading. Thanks for sharing.
I got a rush more than once but can't imagine how it would feel to talk with George Harrison and Joe Pass.
And then get to play and jam with Ed Cherry. If I may ask, what one thing did you pick-up from him that was special, beit conceptual or licks?

What a list! Sure wish I'd been hangin' with ya.

Thanks Kenny,
Michael

Hi Michael,
glad you enjoyed the stories
I met George Harrison that one time
I feel very fortunate to have had the experience & I cherish it for what it is
one of life's unexpected gifts

Joe Pass was a friend & mentor for years ...

I can give you an example .... as an illustration on how he guided me

the first time I played guitar in front of Joe was at a friends house
we had finished diner & Joe was playing my friends acoustic D Angelico non cutaway archtop
Joe plays a couple of songs
he feels like having a cigar & glass of wine so he hands me the guitar,
bats his eyes like Mae West, puts a big smile on his face and says "play like me " as he hands me the guitar

btw ...he was doing a show later that night to promote his Virtuoso 1 album

back then I was no slouch on jazz gtr .... not like I am now

so I play through Autumn Leaves & Confirmation doing the whole chord solo moving bass line thang ...
I even threw in a few Houdini finger twister contortionist chords in there to keep the visuals happening


I doubt I wowed him by any stretch ...at least he was smiling
I must have amused him in a comedic sort of way

Joe asks me for the guitar & strums a second position open D chord
he takes a puff on the cigar , then throws his head back & smiles like he found the Holly Grail of all guitar chords ...
then he says to me "sounds good heh"?
we all broke out laughing
then Joe looks at me and says "keep it simple you don't have to play all those complicated chord fingerings " "watch this"
then shows me one chord fingering & starts playing Green Dolphin Street
using only that chord voicing for the whole song

Ed Cherry was very generous in all the areas of music he exposed me to
in addition to letting me hang out for many of his shows w Dizzy
he brought me around to all the Jam sessions in Harlem & the South Bronx
he enjoyed jamming & playing his guitar on & off the bandstand
I lived one building from him , so I got to practice with him often
(I would do my best to accompany him ....I was way out classed musically but thats how you learn by playing w musicians that are much better )

he was also kind in introducing me to many well respected musicians
for me it was refreshing to be exposed to cats that were way out of my league....
many of the head trips I was getting from the rock scene were not happening w the Jazz players
they were very encouraging & sportive / merit based
once I fell in w some of these players ...they would boot camp me into getting better
the second they called a tune on me .....on the jam session bandstand ..
if I didn't know it .....guess what .....
every time I went there to jam they would have me sit out on all the tunes I did know ......and then call me up to play ...
and hit me with the tune's I didn't know

man I sweat a lot of bullets back then on stage in public ...

then once they started seeing that I was learning the tunes
they would have me sit in, call the tune & change the key on me
like I said .........real supportive

Kenny

Ah Kenny, keep it coming.

That's a great story about Mr Pass.

One thing you have touched on that I think is really important to emphasize: Jazz guys are serious about supporting the farm league... and pop-rock people are just oblivious to the whole process.

I used to do a lot of sound reinforcement for Jazz ensembles and big bands... it was such a huge lesson to have witnessed the generosity the headliners displayed by bringing younger players onto the stage.

Of course I was always aware that the horn guys had a lot more freedom than the string slingers... the guitarists were always under some sort of suspicion :-)... so I can also relate to the stories you tell of them challenging you at all moments :-)

When we had a big name show in our town cats would drive in from New Orleans, Atlanta etc to get a chance to take the stage for a few runs.

These were among the warmest most human moments I've ever witnessed on a stage.

Thanks again for sharing such great memories.

best regards,
mike

Les Paul still plays at the Iridium Room on Columbus Circle on Monday Nights.

ORIGINAL: Geokauf

Hello,

I couldn't think of anyone other than musicians who either opened for my band or we opened for them or went to see a performance of a great musician and got to chat afterwards:

Opened for my band:
Mitch Ryder - reticent, like a deer caught in the headlights
Patty Smythe and Scandal (when they were unsigned) - we had a p*ssing match with her over our drum riser. If success if the best revenge, she certainly got us back. LOL
24th Street Band (Will Lee, Hiram Bulluck, produced by Paul Schaefer) - Will Lee is one of the greatest session bassist on the planet and is credited with popularizing the "slap and pop" style during the 70’s disco era (where he was rumored to have played on about 70% of the recordings). Will Lee has also been the bass player in the David Letterman band going back to the "Late Night" show.

We opened for:
Lou Reed (at the Beacon Theatre), he was one of those "nice guys." I shook his hand and gave him his props but he was pre-occupied with his own gig.

Don Cherry (legendary jazz trumpeter and composer) used to come to our band's early shows when his daughter Nene Cherry (who had a hit or two in the 90's and never mentioned us once in an interview), was a backup singer. Don was quite complimentary about our playing but I never believed it. He was just stroking us to be polite. LOL Very nice guy.

Performances:

Slide Hampton (one of the last living jazz legends to play with Miles and Dizzy. He's in his 70's and out plays the 20 year old hot shots. I had him sign an album that I've had for 30 years.

Les Paul about 10 years ago. He's been playing in a NYC jazz club every Monday night for the past 15 or 20 years. At the late show you can meet and greet. I had to shake his hand (with both my hands - to make sure I got the full blessing - LOL). I'm taking some of my current students back to see him again in a couple of weeks.

But I'm saving the best for last. Truthfully I forgot about this person who was my neighbor in Chelsea, NYC in the 80's and was also part of the Tramps circle, a group of musicians, writers, music management people, near-do-wells, and minor celebrities who spent countless long and late nights in my band's manager's very famous NYC music spot and watering hole (Tramps) just around the corner from the Irving Plaza Theater on 15th street. Yesterday this gentleman contacted me through facebook. To quote my wife when I told her, "he's still around?" I said, “Yeah, I just posted on his site.”

Giorgio Gomelsky a non-musician who influenced our music and tastes more than any single person:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&hs=nLZ&ei=A3qcSbDjGNWDtwfZ8YXoBA&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=1&ct=result&cd=1&q=giorgio+gomelsky&spell=1

GK

I sat next to Clarence Gatemouth Brown on a plane from Boston, MA to Madison, WI. He was the nicest guy you'd ever meet. He was sick as a dog the day I met him though. One damn dedicated musician.

msr

So why would you want his autograph???

Daum! Kenny.......you are so lucky to have had those wonderful experiences.

I feel somewhat lucky just reading how eloquently you describe them.

Everyone, actually. GREAT STUFF!


COOL THREAD!



BTW.....Lord Tim

I think when you can meet people like Ronnie James Dio and he's a lovely humble guy, it really makes you look at your own attitude and put it all into perspective - if he's not an ****, you have no right to be one until you're at least as famous as he is.

I couldn't agree more. Great attitude man!

Most of the musicians I have met were very cool, and lots of fun. They didn't seem to come of with snooty attitudes.
In fact, the only ones I ever met with snooty attitudes always seemed to be in my own band! LOL!!!

.

Keep 'em coming kiddies.

This thread is now in the top three posts in the Coffee House.

Yea, Roben Ford too. He played at a party at my house when I was living in Santa Cruz - he had been going to Cabrillo College - played in the jazz band. He played in a band with my buddy Danny Young at the time - a sax player - the set up and played on our front lawn.

When I was living in Jacksonville, Florida, there were 5 of us that rented a house on 8 acres. That's where we rehearsed every single day. One day this van pulls up and about a dozen guys jump out and come in to party with us. They said they heard the music from the road as they were passing by, turned around and came back. Must have been pretty dam loud because we lived on Timmaquanna Blvd. - which is a main 4-lane drag.

Anyway, turns out they were the roadies for Lynyrd Skynyrd. We were doing FREEBIRD at the time and they said it actually sounded better then Skynyrd! LOL
(which, in my opinion, isn't difficult. Anybody can make a "carbon copy"....but coming up with the ORIGINAL is where you separate the men from the boys. We were just "boys" mimicing a great song.)

Then, that weekend, I was at a bar down there called the "Castaways" (which, at the time was very popular) and in walks the surviving guitarist from Lynyrd Skynyrd....Gary Rossington and Steve Collins. They were drunk off their azz BIG TIME. But they got up on stage and played. It sounded aweful...but, hey - it WAS Rossington-Collins!!!

Afterward, I walk out of the bar - after all the bar stools were put up (of course - lol), and I hear this engine trying to turn over. I turn and look, and it's this old piece of junk beater...and out comes Gary Rossington, walks up to me and asks if I could jump-start his car! I'm like "Are you freakin' KIDDING me!!!! - That should be a Farrari!!!"

So, I jump started his car, and he invited me and my buddy Kenny (our bass player) to breakfast at a local Diner...where Steve Collings and Billy Powel were waiting to eat.

We had breakfast with the surviving members of LYNYRD SKYNYRD!.....and a lot of great laughs! They were really very cool, very down to earth guys.

All that money, and he's driving a beater that needed to be jump-started....LOL!!!!!!

Unbelievable.

Ronnie Van Zant, Steve and Cassie Gains, were buried right around the corner from were we lived. So we would go to the grave site almost every Sunday afternoon, and sit around with our acoustics, and just jam all day...drinking JACK DANIELS and paying homage.
People would come and sit and listen, bring gifts for Ronnie....usually a pack of Marlboro or something like that. Sometimes the family would show up and we'd just politely walk away.

It actually was a very peaceful and beautiful spot. And Ronnie was the only one, in the entire cemetery, that was actually entombed. All other plots were just burials.
Outside Ronnie's tomb there was a marble bench, that Charlie Daniels had placed there, with a white dove carved into it and the inscription "Fly On Proud Bird - You're Free At Last".

Man!.....what an HONOR it was just to be there.


BTW....the CASTAWAYS was where I also met MOLLY HATCHET....before they were actually "MOLLY HATCHET".
The lead guitarist (Dave Hlubek) was just awesome! He would be doing the lead for Freebird, and spinning his guitar around and catching the notes as the neck came around!!! Just KILLER!!!

But he had this obnoxious habit of always stopping in the middle of a great "lead" just to look up and make sure people were actually watching him. It drove me nuts! Kinda like the guy that changes the channel on your radio when you're listening to great song....at the best part!
So, I'm taking a leak in the restroom (duh), and in walks Dave Hlubek - stands right freakin' next to me and says..."...so whatdoya think? How's it sound?"
I say it sounds AWESOME! - But.....there is just one thing." So looks at me and says "What's that?"
And I tell him that if he wasn't so dam conceited and concerned with making sure that everyone in the club was "watching" him, that his leads would be so much more captivating.

He kinda gives me this confused/concerned look on his face and just walks out.

I seen MOLLY HATCHET many times after that (the rhythm guitarist in my band was Danny Joe Browns cousin)......even jammed with them a few times, and I never seen him ever stop to look up at who's watching him again.

...next thing I knew, a year later, I was heading up I-95 from Jacksonville to New York on "leave", and I'm heading through Atlanta, and I hear the DJ say "Here's a new band from Jacksonville, Florida - MOLLY HATCHET! The song was ""Dreams I'll Never See" (Gregg Allman) - and I went freakin' NUTS in my car! I was so excited, and proud of those guys....and proud of the fact that I had gotten to even know them before they "made it".

What a great time it was to have lived in Jacksonville, Florida with the likes of LYNYRD SKYNYRD, MOLLY HATCHET, BLACKFOOT, OUTLAWS, ZZ TOP, WET WILLY, CHARLIE DANIELS, MARSHALL TUCKER, GRINDERSWITCH......man - those guys just OWNED the Planet!!!



....well, at least The SOUTH! LOL

Incidentally, I seen them in a small bar in my current Home Town, Wonder Lake - IL., and unfortunately there wasn't a single "original" member left in the band. But, I have heard that he has recently rejoined (2005) with MOLLY HATCHET. They're STILL touring, and although they aren't so big here in the States anymore - they're still pretty big in Europe.



The classic line-up: Dave Hlubek, Duane Roland,
Banner Thomas and Steve Holland


Just AWESOME! These guys took the meaning of JAMMIN' to a new level.




....forgive me if this got a little "windy". LOL



.

Bump!

I met Kevin Bacon, when "The Bacon Brothers" played in my town and some of my friends opened for his band. Shook his hand, so I am "one degree from" him.

Yes, they played "Footloose," although they played it in a different key than Loggins does.

My cousin KWS. The masked marauder back in the 70s.