Yeah it was tragic, but you would have walked too. He forced you to. Nobody bats 1000.
Johnny Winter had already just made immortal magic in the first degree that night.
Heart in your throat, what the hell just happened.... music.
I guess Jimi was indisposed and just couldn't follow that.
Even worse story. I laid in a van out in the parking lot, with a ticket in my pocket, for Band of Gypsies, the following year. And they were truly lighting the sky on fire!
I was too sick to even stand up. Pneumonia at 103-4.
Some lullaby.
But I'm old. Known a little music.
I saw the Who, general admission 6 dollars. Which included all the rides you wanted to ride at an amusement park, and a hot dog and a coke.
Years later, saw the Who at the absolute pinnacle of their power. And power they had, to spare.
Most memorable of my life? The original Moody Blues just after the release of To Our Children's Children's Children. The band was still all together and playing for keeps and it was just a religious experience.
A guy named Mike Pinder, was at the center of that band. I didn't know that until I saw it.
Everyone in the band was plugged into him (or rather his early synthesizer, the Mellotron).
He sat in a rocking chair, softly moving, a bit jerky, like a marionette on a string.
With one hand he produced the music as it happened. With the other hand he played out the power and majesty of the universe,
and in his third hand? His third hand was wrapped tight around every heart in the building. So powerful people were literally gasping for breath.
I always loved Glenn Miller, and Benny Goodman, since the very first second I ever heard either of them. Duke Ellington was a miracle on feet as well.
Since I am originally from the south, I know Louis Amstrong music pretty well too.
Never underestimate the power of true Dixieland. The mother of us all.
People go on and on about the blues, but nobody really cared much about the blues until it stood up and marched down the street, lighting the world on fire.
yours Scott
