It was bitterly cold on a late December night, and snow was starting to blow when I went out to listen to Slim Harpo at Steve Paul’s Scene, a club on West 46th Street and 8th Avenue in New York City that was one of the hippest rock and roll joints the city has ever seen.
I had a great one, too, but it was spent in a bar on Tu-Do Street (formerly Rue Catinat) in Saigon.
Three of us went: The Province G-2, West Pointer '58 or '59 Major (CIB) on my Advisory Team, a smart college dropout Intelligence Sp4 (CIB), and myself, took my jeep up to party in Saigon. Supposedly, there was a temporary truce, not that we really cared. We just wanted to have some fun. I remember getting kissed by about 50 bar girls who called me "Baby Dai-uy" (Baby Captain) because I looked so young for my rank. I sure loved being surrounded and kissed by good-looking girls! God only knows how much money I spent, but I didn't care. We left the bar and drove straight back without incident. Never saw another vehicle. Sometimes the Gods are on your side.
Brother you are truly one of the coolest people I've ever had the pleasure to read.
I've got a family member expecting to pass away in the next number of hours todays, it's been one of the most unhappy Christmas seasons ever, but this little bit of writing completely filled my heart up to bursting.
I'm going to make myself go out and see music tonight.
Ouch. 15 years gives a lot of life and memories. Gracie will never leave you. Loving spirits after funny that way. They stick with us to keep our souls warm.
Another great one. Love you recollections. You paint a picture with words-----perfect. Have a great Holiday and New Year. For me, memories of walking in the snow, music, and much more......See you back here soon.......hanging out, telling stories, and a whole lot more.....
Terrific word portrait. I'm actually getting shivers rereading it because -- the OMG thing -- what I'm certain was that exact bitterly cold, snowy December 1968 night in NYC, as you were listening to the blues, my then-girlfriend and I were walking a few blocks north on Amsterdam Ave. from a dinner with friends to my apartment at the corner of 79th and Amsterdam. No car traffic. No other pedestrians. At perhaps 77th and Amsterdam there was an Esso (gas, to your younger readers who only know from Exxon) station, with a brand-new round enamel sign, all lit up. Standing against a wall was a discarded oval double-faced enamel sign, five feet long, perhaps 2 feet at its widest, not at all faded. We looked at each other, since we were about to move to California. Yep! It wasn't heavy. The mover who unloaded it in California said, "Table?" That was our plan, but we never got to it. Twenty-five years and life changes later, a writer who came over for dinner at another house in another life was talking nostalgically about his dad running a gas station when he was growing up, and how, once he was old and tall enough to reach the windshield, he would clean it for a customer as his dad filled the tank. What brand, I asked. Esso, he said. Come with me, I said. We went to my garage. He gasped when he saw the near-perfect sign, and misted up when I gave it to him. Reconnecting him with his childhood was better than a table would have been. And, Lucian, you have Slim Harpo lyrics rattling around inside you. "Got Love (Slim) If You Want It."
the night manager there was an old friend of mine who liked to do us favors for all sorts of reasons and I ended up developing a huge crush on a young lady who was a freshman in Rubin the following year. for many years, the very thought of Rubin dorm gave me very complicated feelings. after all, I was the Older Man (by...what?..five years?) having his heart broken by the unfeeling freshman (freshperson?). it was a bullshit story I sold myself. material.
the stupidity with which I moved through the world back then continues to astonish me.
Probably more a mix of really good and bad moves though, don't be too hard on yourself David! Youthful romantic idealism crushed at least temporarily at LEAST once - and not only by lovely young lovelies, isn't that a universal human experience in different forms for different men and women - maybe dogs and cats too, who knows?! - since time immemorial?
I went to my credit union and saw the picture of a west pointer on the lady's desk and started talking about her son, who had just graduated from West Point and was on his way to a career. I told her about your books to explain to her what life was at the Point. She said her family had time in service but it felt good to tell her about you and the good books you have written.
A timely memory. And this was no surprise: "Steve sat down next to me and said, 'Slim told me if there’s a paying customer out there, we’re putting on a show.'" I knew it was going there, because musicians are show people.
As for "the ladies," you didn't say much, so I won't, either.
And endless jazz as well - Sarah Vaughan at the Beacon; Ella Fitzgerald with Tommy Flanagan at Avery Fisher Hall, Ella wearing a black silk dress with a string of pearls;, Pharaoh Sanders at Slug's; Johnny Griffin, Dexter Gordon, Ron Carter, et al at the Vanguard; Doc Cheatham at Sweet Basil; Red Garland at Lush Life, one of my favorite clubs; Count Basie at Avery Fisher, with people in evening dress dancing in the aisles. Damn, I miss those days.
Mid 60s I was sneaking into the GoGo to see Zappa and the Mothers and Ed Sanders and the Fugs at the Wha?
Under age with fake IDs, passing out at dawn on subway benches and loving every minute! The whole scene blew my tiny mind. "an FBI file on the rock group The Doors, called The Fugs the “most vulgar thing the human mind could possibly conceive”." YES!!! :)
Saw the Blues Project. Butterfield Blues Band was part of the Blues Bag at the Cafe Au GoGo in November 1968. Found my way into electric blues because of Butterfield - first album was a killer and a revelation. I knew one of the original members of Vanilla Fudge, George Kunicke. Of courses, they were just a sort of fake studio band and not to be taken particularly seriously, but George was a good musician.
Me too...Oscar Peterson at the Plaza 9 and All That Jazz, Thelonius Monk at the Village Vanguard, Zoot Sims and Al Cohn at the Half Note, Stan Getz at the Rainbow Room, Buddy Rich Big Band at The Riverboat - all in 68-69 my favorite years!! NYC - Those were the days. Merry Chirstmas to all of you out there in Substack Land.
Woody Herman at the Metropole on Times Square. Soon after I heard the WH band that featured Bill Chase he formed his own group. If you never heard of them it was because all were wiped out in one of those ghastly whole-band plane crashes.
Born to arrange SWINGING big band charts and inspire them, no doubt, heart of the vibe goes straight over the you tube connection and swings like crazy, or mellow and tender, sad and reflective, covers the waterfront! pleased you will enjoy it diane!
The Garrick Theater in a basement next to the au Go Go had the Mothers, Sun Ra, and an equally illustrious group I can't think of all summer '67 I think it was. Dr John and the costumed Gilded Splinters act at that club on St Marks Place was also unforgettable. I won't bother to namedrop further here because Christmas '68 was the middle of my year moonlighting as a Voice rock critic. The concept, name, and logo of Riffs were mine; my avatar here is a fragment of that logo, a photocopy of a snap of me pouting because I was hungry. I was my own boss. Six nights a week (on the seventh I wrote) I saw about anyone I wanted anyplace I chose—usually the Scene, au Go Go, or Fillmore East. Free, of course. What a year in music! By the next summer i'd burned out, turned the beat over to other writers, and for a long time listened exclusively to Eric Satie LPs. The only new pop musicians I've recognized since then have been Springsteen, Blondie, Bonnie Raitt, and Marianne Faithfull. (… Nah. I'm gonna go ahead and post this, obnoxious as it is, get it on the record.) —a/k/a Annie [Garrick name corrected.]
Stones, Madison Square Garden, ,69, Ike and Tina opened. '70, Blind Faith in the round, same venue. In Riffs I called it a "perf' not a full performance. They were either half asleep or half stoned or both.
An NYC tv cameraman at the Stones Rainbow Room press conference before that concert kept loudly interjecting "Commie!" It seemed weird then and still does. I don't remember "perf" but it's funny.
the Village Theater I'm thinking of is what became the Fillmore. I caught Chuck Berry there in late '66. he played "My Ding-a-Ling" and I was so outraged I was almost in tears.
and on top of that, it became his biggest hit.
it still disgusts me. one of the greatest songwriters of all time and his biggest hit is a dirty song we sang in Jewish Summer camp.
That's funny. I've never been sure of the name of that basement theater next to the au Go Go [LATER: the Garrick], or anyone else that played there. It sure wasn't predecessor to the Fillmore. The Anderson, down Second Avenue I think it was, was. It was one of the first of countless places I saw the Grateful Dead. Who should I find in the pit with me, a fellow Deadhead before we had a name, but quiet Voice copy editor Jim Stoller.
I've told this story here before, but I'll do it again.
I went to high school with a big, brawny guy named Bob See, who was something like a third generation tech guy in theatre. he was great, and every time I worked on a school show, he took care of everything at a very high level. if he'd done something, it stayed done right. cut to about three years after graduation and I found myself backstage at the Fillmore (I think it was the dual Elton John/Leon Russell debut), obviously in a very altered state. I heard a familiar whistle, turned around and THERE WAS BOB SEE. I was high enough that for about a minute or two, it felt like I was in a time warp. then I realized that he was merely in the same business at a professional level. so I said hi and he said hi and we laughed about the time warp thing.
a few years after that, I was on the bus I always used to get to my parents' house and I ran into Lenny Jaffe, an old enemy from elementary school on. I told him I was in graduate school and writing songs and the usual poetry. he told me he was doing "special explosive effects" for a rock band. I asked which band, and he gave me the nasty smile of the guy who wins at one-upmanship and said "The Grateful Dead." never myself a deadhead (although "American Beauty" is a transcendentally gorgeous album), I just thought he was lucky.
a few years after that and I was talking to another friend who'd gone to school with us. I told him about Jaffe's gig. he'd been to a few Dead concerts and laughed for awhile, then said "SPECIAL EXPLOSIVE EFFECTS??? every five minutes he'd light a firecracker! THAT'S IT!!" we roared.
I never found out. we weren't exactly pals, probably because we were always in the "smart class," so we were stuck with each other until 10th grade. as you can probably tell from my story, he was always much better than I was at "getting over."
in fact, after a few good years in college, I never managed to "get over" anywhere, which is probably not such a bad thing.
I just looked it up (always the last option for me) and I was right. after its long history as a Yiddish theater, it became a Loew's movie theater and, later, The Village Theater. Bill Graham turned it into the Fillmore East in '68.
does anybody remember the ticket prices? they can't have been much, since a lot of my friends who regularly attended were not unfamiliar with rolling butts from the ashtray until the bodega would open and living on mayonnaise sandwiches.
Eureka! The small theater on Bleecker (that I dubiously thought might be the Village Theater) was the Garrick. How did we get along all that time without wikipedia? Mentions both the Mothers' long gig in '67 and the au Go Go: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrick_Cinema
Pretty much next door to the west, down a few triangulated steps on the corner across from the Village Gate entrance then on Thompson Street, was the Premise, a theater named for the show Nichols & May brought to the same building for their NYC theatrical debut. The NYC real estate industry found a more profitable use for the entire location in the next decade—no cultural features. I believe it was the Beame era.
when I was about fifteen or sixteen, I discovered with my next door neighbor that you didn't get carded at the Top of the Gate and that was all she wrote...
Ah, what a wonderful NYC story, and account of seeing and hanging with a blues legend.
Speaking of Steve Paul's Scene, a story told to me by a friend who many years later was Steve's assisant. One day Steve had a mafioso visit him at the club and invite him to take a ride with him. On the ride Paul was told that he would now have to wet the beak of the mob out of his club's proceeds.
What did Steve do? Closed his club.
Who was the mobster? Tony Sirico, later to play "Paulie Walnuts" on "The Sopranos."
I never knew the circumstances of the club's closing, just assumed it was beyond its prime and Steve was more into managing Johnny Winter's career after staging his big NY debut at the Scene. That's an important addition to the record, Rob. RIP, Steve.
Great story, one more reason for me to crack open "The Complete Sopranos" on DVD I have been perpetually diverted by "one damn thing after another" for doing, for the last six weeks!
You are a great writer. I could smell the places, feel the snow .
It is important that you write these because those days are gone now and likely most of those guys you write about, they are probably gone too. If you don't write about them and about that period they lived in, they will be lost forever. And that should never happen
Wonderful story, Lucian. I spent 30 years as a concert producer and television writer/producer. As you might imagine I have about a gazillion stories, but not one of them is any better than yours. Remind me sometime to tell you of my encounters with Brubeck, Wynton, Diana Krall, Sonny Rawlins ... not to mention a shit-faced drunk Tennessee Williams or a sheepish, shy Aaron Copland. Great moments, but this tops (bastard has deprived us of the verb “to trump”) them all.
Why not start a Substack of your own and recall freely, Jack? I hope Lucian wouldn't mind if you promoted it here. I'd love to read those stories. I always felt the guys (always guys) behind the bands were more interesting than the (single-minded) musicians. When Jimi Hendrix's manager was conscripted and assigned to desert duty in Africa he found a thirst for news and, simultaneous with his service, set up a successful newspaper distribution business. Just another hustle. Collected, you might get a book out of it.
Thanks. Tryna work around my full time gig as a caregiver. Late stage Parkinson’s with a side of dementia. It takes a lot outta me. But I love her, so ...
I'm really so very sorry about your situation. I've had several friends succumb to that horrible disease and saw the toll it took on their significant others.
when I was twelve or thirteen, I went regularly to standing room at the old Metropolitan Opera. the tickets were $2.85. for lunch, we alternated between the automat across the street (has everyone seen the heartbreaking automat documentary on Max? if not, do it) and the Tad's on 42nd Street. at that time, the steaks hadn't quite reached the $1.19 point yet, but I remember being very conscious of inflation when it did (we're talking about a price hike of maybe fifteen cents. of course, for the same fifteen cents, you could spend the rest of your life on the subway, as long as you never had to go to the bathroom.
but for us at twelve, even Tad's had its own Manhattan glamor.
and don't let me get started on the Automat, which was magic in every way. great food and bottomless nickel coffee.
Now THIS is a story! A keeper for sure! I felt right at home, sitting there enjoying a personal concert offered by a professional musician on a freezing winter's night. It doesn't get much better than that!
LT, that was a great Christmas Eve, 1968!
I had a great one, too, but it was spent in a bar on Tu-Do Street (formerly Rue Catinat) in Saigon.
Three of us went: The Province G-2, West Pointer '58 or '59 Major (CIB) on my Advisory Team, a smart college dropout Intelligence Sp4 (CIB), and myself, took my jeep up to party in Saigon. Supposedly, there was a temporary truce, not that we really cared. We just wanted to have some fun. I remember getting kissed by about 50 bar girls who called me "Baby Dai-uy" (Baby Captain) because I looked so young for my rank. I sure loved being surrounded and kissed by good-looking girls! God only knows how much money I spent, but I didn't care. We left the bar and drove straight back without incident. Never saw another vehicle. Sometimes the Gods are on your side.
Holy cow Lucian!
Brother you are truly one of the coolest people I've ever had the pleasure to read.
I've got a family member expecting to pass away in the next number of hours todays, it's been one of the most unhappy Christmas seasons ever, but this little bit of writing completely filled my heart up to bursting.
I'm going to make myself go out and see music tonight.
Peace and love everybody, Xorky in Kansas City
Just lost my beloved dog, Gracie of 15 years. I'm single and she was my constant companion. Lucian's post uplifting for me
Sorry about your Gracie, but I am glad to be of help.
Hugs
Ouch. 15 years gives a lot of life and memories. Gracie will never leave you. Loving spirits after funny that way. They stick with us to keep our souls warm.
Beautiful and comforting. Thank you
Savor the sorrow. You'll miss the strength of it when it begins to fade.
Interesting
My heart is with yours in loss. It's good that LKT4's unique magic found and lifted you. It did me too.
Thank you so much
I am sorry you lost your companion. I hope you have lots of good memories to hold in your heart.
I do. Thank you
So sorry to hear of your imminent loss, Corky. I hope the music does its job and the solace lasts through your holidays and beyond.
Peace and Love to you Corky Williams. Lucian has the magic with words. May you find the music you need........
Just the ticket! Music in Kansas City.
Another great one. Love you recollections. You paint a picture with words-----perfect. Have a great Holiday and New Year. For me, memories of walking in the snow, music, and much more......See you back here soon.......hanging out, telling stories, and a whole lot more.....
The best Christmas story ever.
Merry Christmas to the whole group.
Thank you for loving the blues.
Absolutely love your recollections old guy. Keep 'um rollin
Terrific word portrait. I'm actually getting shivers rereading it because -- the OMG thing -- what I'm certain was that exact bitterly cold, snowy December 1968 night in NYC, as you were listening to the blues, my then-girlfriend and I were walking a few blocks north on Amsterdam Ave. from a dinner with friends to my apartment at the corner of 79th and Amsterdam. No car traffic. No other pedestrians. At perhaps 77th and Amsterdam there was an Esso (gas, to your younger readers who only know from Exxon) station, with a brand-new round enamel sign, all lit up. Standing against a wall was a discarded oval double-faced enamel sign, five feet long, perhaps 2 feet at its widest, not at all faded. We looked at each other, since we were about to move to California. Yep! It wasn't heavy. The mover who unloaded it in California said, "Table?" That was our plan, but we never got to it. Twenty-five years and life changes later, a writer who came over for dinner at another house in another life was talking nostalgically about his dad running a gas station when he was growing up, and how, once he was old and tall enough to reach the windshield, he would clean it for a customer as his dad filled the tank. What brand, I asked. Esso, he said. Come with me, I said. We went to my garage. He gasped when he saw the near-perfect sign, and misted up when I gave it to him. Reconnecting him with his childhood was better than a table would have been. And, Lucian, you have Slim Harpo lyrics rattling around inside you. "Got Love (Slim) If You Want It."
I remember that snowy December. I was a freshman at NYU and living in Sam Rubin residence hall on 5th Ave and 10th Street.
the night manager there was an old friend of mine who liked to do us favors for all sorts of reasons and I ended up developing a huge crush on a young lady who was a freshman in Rubin the following year. for many years, the very thought of Rubin dorm gave me very complicated feelings. after all, I was the Older Man (by...what?..five years?) having his heart broken by the unfeeling freshman (freshperson?). it was a bullshit story I sold myself. material.
the stupidity with which I moved through the world back then continues to astonish me.
Probably more a mix of really good and bad moves though, don't be too hard on yourself David! Youthful romantic idealism crushed at least temporarily at LEAST once - and not only by lovely young lovelies, isn't that a universal human experience in different forms for different men and women - maybe dogs and cats too, who knows?! - since time immemorial?
I went to my credit union and saw the picture of a west pointer on the lady's desk and started talking about her son, who had just graduated from West Point and was on his way to a career. I told her about your books to explain to her what life was at the Point. She said her family had time in service but it felt good to tell her about you and the good books you have written.
A timely memory. And this was no surprise: "Steve sat down next to me and said, 'Slim told me if there’s a paying customer out there, we’re putting on a show.'" I knew it was going there, because musicians are show people.
As for "the ladies," you didn't say much, so I won't, either.
Happy hols to all the LTIV stack gang.
You too Margo
And to you as well Margo!
And endless jazz as well - Sarah Vaughan at the Beacon; Ella Fitzgerald with Tommy Flanagan at Avery Fisher Hall, Ella wearing a black silk dress with a string of pearls;, Pharaoh Sanders at Slug's; Johnny Griffin, Dexter Gordon, Ron Carter, et al at the Vanguard; Doc Cheatham at Sweet Basil; Red Garland at Lush Life, one of my favorite clubs; Count Basie at Avery Fisher, with people in evening dress dancing in the aisles. Damn, I miss those days.
Who wouldn't? Sign of a life lived.
Mid 60s I was sneaking into the GoGo to see Zappa and the Mothers and Ed Sanders and the Fugs at the Wha?
Under age with fake IDs, passing out at dawn on subway benches and loving every minute! The whole scene blew my tiny mind. "an FBI file on the rock group The Doors, called The Fugs the “most vulgar thing the human mind could possibly conceive”." YES!!! :)
Ed is an old friend and so was Tuli. We named one of our kittens after him.
Too much. I was a kid sneaking in and totally gobsmacked by the entire scene.
Saw the Fugs at the Village Theatre, I think. Vulgar indeed, and wonderful. There seemed to be music everywhere then, didn't there?
Blues Project, Paul Butterfield, Vanilla Fudge,...........
Saw the Blues Project. Butterfield Blues Band was part of the Blues Bag at the Cafe Au GoGo in November 1968. Found my way into electric blues because of Butterfield - first album was a killer and a revelation. I knew one of the original members of Vanilla Fudge, George Kunicke. Of courses, they were just a sort of fake studio band and not to be taken particularly seriously, but George was a good musician.
I heard "Born in Chicago" on the car radio this morning. Knocked me out of my chair in '68.
Me too. Still does.
The Blues Magoos!
Me too...Oscar Peterson at the Plaza 9 and All That Jazz, Thelonius Monk at the Village Vanguard, Zoot Sims and Al Cohn at the Half Note, Stan Getz at the Rainbow Room, Buddy Rich Big Band at The Riverboat - all in 68-69 my favorite years!! NYC - Those were the days. Merry Chirstmas to all of you out there in Substack Land.
Woody Herman at the Metropole on Times Square. Soon after I heard the WH band that featured Bill Chase he formed his own group. If you never heard of them it was because all were wiped out in one of those ghastly whole-band plane crashes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNvlTlyY1ZQ&t=0s&authuser=0
Woody Herman Memorial - 40th anniversary Carnegie Hall Concert (1976) Full CD
johnnystaccata
11.2K subscribers
<__slot-el>
<__slot-el>
12,087 views May 8, 2017
0:00 Introduction, Blue Flame and Acknowledgement
4:04 Apple Honey - featuring Don Lamond (d), Nat Pierce (p), Flip Phillips (ts), Jim Pugh (tb), Pete Candoli (tpt)
9:40 Sweet and Lovely Solos: Nat Pierce (p), Flip Phillips (ts)
13:36 Four Brothers - Solos: Al Cohn, Stan Getz, Zoot Sims (ts)
18:17 Brotherhood of Man - Solos: Conte Candoli, Pete Candoli (tpt)
25:24 Early Autumn - Solos: Stan Getz (ts), arranged by Ralph Burns
29:23 Wrap Your Trouble in Dreams - Solos: Nat Pierce (p), Flip Phillips (ts), Mary Ann McCall (vo)
32:39 Everywhere - Solo: Jim Pugh (tb)
36:32 Bijou - Solo: Phil Wilson (tb)
39:56 Cousins - Solos: Jimmy Rowles (p), Al Cohn, Jimmy Guifre, Stan Getz (ts)
47:49 Blue Serge - Solo: Stan Getz (ts)
52:18 Blue Getz Blues - Solo: Stan Getz (ts)
58:02 Finale - Caldonia
Woody Herman - alto sax, clarinet, soprano sax, vocals, and leader;
Trumpet – Danny Stiles (tracks: A1 To A6, D4)
Trumpet [Piccolo] – Nelson Hatt
Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Alan Vizutti*, Bill Byrne, Dennis Dotson, John Hoffman
Trombone – Dale Kirkland, Jim Pugh
Bass Trombone – Jim Daniels
Tenor Saxophone, Flute – Joe Lovano
Tenor Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet – Frank Tiberi
Tenor Saxophone, Flute, Flute [Alto], Clarinet – Gary Anderson
Baritone Saxophone, Flute [Alto], Bass Clarinet – John Oslawski
Bass – Rusty Holloway
Drums – Dan D'Imperio
Percussion – Chubby Jackson (tracks: A1 To A5), Don Lamond (tracks: A1 To A5), Jake Hanna (tracks: A1 To A5)
Now, *that's* a Christmas present, Richard. A great reminder of how consistently wonderful Woody Herman's bands were. Thanks! —diane
Born to arrange SWINGING big band charts and inspire them, no doubt, heart of the vibe goes straight over the you tube connection and swings like crazy, or mellow and tender, sad and reflective, covers the waterfront! pleased you will enjoy it diane!
So sad...but love that they lived...
And a very Merry Christmas to you. Many memories still alive.
"Al Cohn, I'd know him anywhere!" ----
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNvlTlyY1ZQ
0:00 / 1:08:34
Woody Herman Memorial - 40th anniversary Carnegie Hall Concert (1976) Full CD
johnnystaccata
11.2K subscribers
12,087 views May 8, 2017
0:00 Introduction, Blue Flame and Acknowledgement
4:04 Apple Honey - featuring Don Lamond (d), Nat Pierce (p), Flip Phillips (ts), Jim Pugh (tb), Pete Candoli (tpt)
9:40 Sweet and Lovely Solos: Nat Pierce (p), Flip Phillips (ts)
13:36 Four Brothers - Solos: Al Cohn, Stan Getz, Zoot Sims (ts)
18:17 Brotherhood of Man - Solos: Conte Candoli, Pete Candoli (tpt)
25:24 Early Autumn - Solos: Stan Getz (ts), arranged by Ralph Burns
29:23 Wrap Your Trouble in Dreams - Solos: Nat Pierce (p), Flip Phillips (ts), Mary Ann McCall (vo)
32:39 Everywhere - Solo: Jim Pugh (tb)
36:32 Bijou - Solo: Phil Wilson (tb)
39:56 Cousins - Solos: Jimmy Rowles (p), Al Cohn, Jimmy Guifre, Stan Getz (ts)
47:49 Blue Serge - Solo: Stan Getz (ts)
52:18 Blue Getz Blues - Solo: Stan Getz (ts)
58:02 Finale - Caldonia
Woody Herman - alto sax, clarinet, soprano sax, vocals, and leader;
Trumpet – Danny Stiles (tracks: A1 To A6, D4)
Trumpet [Piccolo] – Nelson Hatt
Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Alan Vizutti*, Bill Byrne, Dennis Dotson, John Hoffman
Trombone – Dale Kirkland, Jim Pugh
Bass Trombone – Jim Daniels
Tenor Saxophone, Flute – Joe Lovano
Tenor Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet – Frank Tiberi
Tenor Saxophone, Flute, Flute [Alto], Clarinet – Gary Anderson
Baritone Saxophone, Flute [Alto], Bass Clarinet – John Oslawski
Bass – Rusty Holloway
Drums – Dan D'Imperio
Percussion – Chubby Jackson (tracks: A1 To A5), Don Lamond (tracks: A1 To A5), Jake Hanna (tracks: A1 To A5)
The Garrick Theater in a basement next to the au Go Go had the Mothers, Sun Ra, and an equally illustrious group I can't think of all summer '67 I think it was. Dr John and the costumed Gilded Splinters act at that club on St Marks Place was also unforgettable. I won't bother to namedrop further here because Christmas '68 was the middle of my year moonlighting as a Voice rock critic. The concept, name, and logo of Riffs were mine; my avatar here is a fragment of that logo, a photocopy of a snap of me pouting because I was hungry. I was my own boss. Six nights a week (on the seventh I wrote) I saw about anyone I wanted anyplace I chose—usually the Scene, au Go Go, or Fillmore East. Free, of course. What a year in music! By the next summer i'd burned out, turned the beat over to other writers, and for a long time listened exclusively to Eric Satie LPs. The only new pop musicians I've recognized since then have been Springsteen, Blondie, Bonnie Raitt, and Marianne Faithfull. (… Nah. I'm gonna go ahead and post this, obnoxious as it is, get it on the record.) —a/k/a Annie [Garrick name corrected.]
Stones, Madison Square Garden, ,69, Ike and Tina opened. '70, Blind Faith in the round, same venue. In Riffs I called it a "perf' not a full performance. They were either half asleep or half stoned or both.
An NYC tv cameraman at the Stones Rainbow Room press conference before that concert kept loudly interjecting "Commie!" It seemed weird then and still does. I don't remember "perf" but it's funny.
the Village Theater I'm thinking of is what became the Fillmore. I caught Chuck Berry there in late '66. he played "My Ding-a-Ling" and I was so outraged I was almost in tears.
and on top of that, it became his biggest hit.
it still disgusts me. one of the greatest songwriters of all time and his biggest hit is a dirty song we sang in Jewish Summer camp.
That's funny. I've never been sure of the name of that basement theater next to the au Go Go [LATER: the Garrick], or anyone else that played there. It sure wasn't predecessor to the Fillmore. The Anderson, down Second Avenue I think it was, was. It was one of the first of countless places I saw the Grateful Dead. Who should I find in the pit with me, a fellow Deadhead before we had a name, but quiet Voice copy editor Jim Stoller.
I've told this story here before, but I'll do it again.
I went to high school with a big, brawny guy named Bob See, who was something like a third generation tech guy in theatre. he was great, and every time I worked on a school show, he took care of everything at a very high level. if he'd done something, it stayed done right. cut to about three years after graduation and I found myself backstage at the Fillmore (I think it was the dual Elton John/Leon Russell debut), obviously in a very altered state. I heard a familiar whistle, turned around and THERE WAS BOB SEE. I was high enough that for about a minute or two, it felt like I was in a time warp. then I realized that he was merely in the same business at a professional level. so I said hi and he said hi and we laughed about the time warp thing.
a few years after that, I was on the bus I always used to get to my parents' house and I ran into Lenny Jaffe, an old enemy from elementary school on. I told him I was in graduate school and writing songs and the usual poetry. he told me he was doing "special explosive effects" for a rock band. I asked which band, and he gave me the nasty smile of the guy who wins at one-upmanship and said "The Grateful Dead." never myself a deadhead (although "American Beauty" is a transcendentally gorgeous album), I just thought he was lucky.
a few years after that and I was talking to another friend who'd gone to school with us. I told him about Jaffe's gig. he'd been to a few Dead concerts and laughed for awhile, then said "SPECIAL EXPLOSIVE EFFECTS??? every five minutes he'd light a firecracker! THAT'S IT!!" we roared.
Hilarious. What kind of job do you move up to after one like that?
I never found out. we weren't exactly pals, probably because we were always in the "smart class," so we were stuck with each other until 10th grade. as you can probably tell from my story, he was always much better than I was at "getting over."
in fact, after a few good years in college, I never managed to "get over" anywhere, which is probably not such a bad thing.
I just looked it up (always the last option for me) and I was right. after its long history as a Yiddish theater, it became a Loew's movie theater and, later, The Village Theater. Bill Graham turned it into the Fillmore East in '68.
does anybody remember the ticket prices? they can't have been much, since a lot of my friends who regularly attended were not unfamiliar with rolling butts from the ashtray until the bodega would open and living on mayonnaise sandwiches.
Eureka! The small theater on Bleecker (that I dubiously thought might be the Village Theater) was the Garrick. How did we get along all that time without wikipedia? Mentions both the Mothers' long gig in '67 and the au Go Go: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrick_Cinema
Pretty much next door to the west, down a few triangulated steps on the corner across from the Village Gate entrance then on Thompson Street, was the Premise, a theater named for the show Nichols & May brought to the same building for their NYC theatrical debut. The NYC real estate industry found a more profitable use for the entire location in the next decade—no cultural features. I believe it was the Beame era.
So many places, so many memories. New York City will always have both.
I was at a wedding Doc Cheatham played the week before he turned ninety and he was still BRINGING IT.
btw, the bride and groom were in their eighties.
when I was about fifteen or sixteen, I discovered with my next door neighbor that you didn't get carded at the Top of the Gate and that was all she wrote...
who doesn't?
Ah, what a wonderful NYC story, and account of seeing and hanging with a blues legend.
Speaking of Steve Paul's Scene, a story told to me by a friend who many years later was Steve's assisant. One day Steve had a mafioso visit him at the club and invite him to take a ride with him. On the ride Paul was told that he would now have to wet the beak of the mob out of his club's proceeds.
What did Steve do? Closed his club.
Who was the mobster? Tony Sirico, later to play "Paulie Walnuts" on "The Sopranos."
I never knew the circumstances of the club's closing, just assumed it was beyond its prime and Steve was more into managing Johnny Winter's career after staging his big NY debut at the Scene. That's an important addition to the record, Rob. RIP, Steve.
Thanks from a smart vet like you are so nice. Filling gaps is part of my Echoes From the Margin mission. And that is a “can’t make this shit up” tale.
Great story, one more reason for me to crack open "The Complete Sopranos" on DVD I have been perpetually diverted by "one damn thing after another" for doing, for the last six weeks!
Will have to keep an eye out for that guy's character, talk about 'method acting".... https://mafiahistory.us/index.html
You are a great writer. I could smell the places, feel the snow .
It is important that you write these because those days are gone now and likely most of those guys you write about, they are probably gone too. If you don't write about them and about that period they lived in, they will be lost forever. And that should never happen
Wonderful story, Lucian. I spent 30 years as a concert producer and television writer/producer. As you might imagine I have about a gazillion stories, but not one of them is any better than yours. Remind me sometime to tell you of my encounters with Brubeck, Wynton, Diana Krall, Sonny Rawlins ... not to mention a shit-faced drunk Tennessee Williams or a sheepish, shy Aaron Copland. Great moments, but this tops (bastard has deprived us of the verb “to trump”) them all.
Thanks!
Why not start a Substack of your own and recall freely, Jack? I hope Lucian wouldn't mind if you promoted it here. I'd love to read those stories. I always felt the guys (always guys) behind the bands were more interesting than the (single-minded) musicians. When Jimi Hendrix's manager was conscripted and assigned to desert duty in Africa he found a thirst for news and, simultaneous with his service, set up a successful newspaper distribution business. Just another hustle. Collected, you might get a book out of it.
I have. Sort of. It’s called The Full Catastrophe. I got sidetracked but soon back to it if there’s an appetite for it. I’m chock full of stories.
great title. I've been a huge Kazantzakis fan since I was about fourteen. a junior high English teacher introduced me to Zorba and the rest followed.
Thanks. Tryna work around my full time gig as a caregiver. Late stage Parkinson’s with a side of dementia. It takes a lot outta me. But I love her, so ...
I'm really so very sorry about your situation. I've had several friends succumb to that horrible disease and saw the toll it took on their significant others.
DO IT!!!
you've already done the hard part (living, writing).
Excellent. Please let us know when you pick it up again.
Ah yes - The President…. And Momma Leone’s … and that scruffy, dollar ninety five steakhouse
Tads Steaks. It was a dollar and a quarter.
We ate there. More than once.
We used to make special excursions up from the Village.
And we went to the Village.. years later my son and his girlfriend lived there while working in Tribeca.
We circle back again and again through generations. Each discovering the same thing. Elliot was right.
when I was twelve or thirteen, I went regularly to standing room at the old Metropolitan Opera. the tickets were $2.85. for lunch, we alternated between the automat across the street (has everyone seen the heartbreaking automat documentary on Max? if not, do it) and the Tad's on 42nd Street. at that time, the steaks hadn't quite reached the $1.19 point yet, but I remember being very conscious of inflation when it did (we're talking about a price hike of maybe fifteen cents. of course, for the same fifteen cents, you could spend the rest of your life on the subway, as long as you never had to go to the bathroom.
but for us at twelve, even Tad's had its own Manhattan glamor.
and don't let me get started on the Automat, which was magic in every way. great food and bottomless nickel coffee.
Now THIS is a story! A keeper for sure! I felt right at home, sitting there enjoying a personal concert offered by a professional musician on a freezing winter's night. It doesn't get much better than that!
You just sent shivers up my back, LT. You're a poet. Merry Christmas, bud.
Blues in NYC. Extraordinary memories for me. Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon, and the Blues Bag at the Au Go Go.