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Some I've only met, opened for or played backup for,
but I'm trying to get them all listed and a picture for each.
WATCH THIS PAGE! (6/22/09)
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| Chubby Checker |
Chubby Checker
The
nightclub/venue was Park West in Chicago.
It was recognized as the "Largest Nightclub in the World".
My group, Dr.
Bombay, opened for Chub.
I didn't really get to talk to him, but when we passed
backstage we said "Hi" to each other.
Most people don't realize that he brings his own
"special" piece of plywood (about 4' X 4') that he uses
to perform his signature "Twist" dance.
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| David Allan Coe |
My group, 4 on the Floor, opened for
David Allan Coe
at the S.I.U. arena.
I wasn't familiar with his music, not
being a country/western music fan,
so I was fooled by one of his roadies
into thinking he was the man. The
roadie wore his hair and beard
identicalto the star and kinda stood
around at the back edge of the stage
while we were performing our set.
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| Jim Peterik |
Jim Peterik
sat in with our group St. Stephen's Blues at Touch of Nature Campground's cafeteria/general purpose
building while on tour. He wasn't 'on tour' with his famous band, "Ides of
March",whose great hit was "Eye of the Tiger". He
was on the BAMMI (Bicycle across the Magnificent Miles of Illinois) bike tour. He got up and sang a couple
songs and played guitar too. Jim also wrote "Vehicle" which was made a hit by the band "Chase". My old buddy, Dave Stahlberg,
plays trombone with the Ides of March as well.
This might be a bit of a stretch.. David Carradine, played Kwai Chang Caine, in the Kung Fu TV
series. In the series, the character was a flute player using it for some sort of quasi-meditational device. He
wasn't very good!
Linda and I were on a western vacation when we met David, by happenstance, at the Grand Canyon. He was with
about four friends and was riding in an ate-up old Volkswagon mini bus.
He was wearing raggedy clothes and smelled pretty ripe. (guess we shoulda known he was into auto eroticism). We were
at a water fountain somewhere along the Canyon's south rim. He was making people wait for his dog to drink out of the
fountain, kinda being rude, I thought. Sooo... I abruptly stuck my canteen under the water, figuring it was my right
instead of some dumb animal, who had already drank plenty, in my estimation. I told him Kung Fu was my favorite TV
show. As my canteen was filling, I said, "It takes a long time to fill a gallon." He said, "Zat a gallon?"
I said, "Yep"... and then he and his posse finished up drinking their fill and left. He had a hand made rocking
chair tied onto the van top luggage rack.
| The Fake Marvelettes |
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| Not an original in the whole bunch! |
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The Marvelettes?
When my band 4 on the Floor opened for and backed up the "Marvelettes" at the Paducah, KY River Festival,
we all assumed they were the originals.
However, when the show was over, (the girls and us were sharing the dressing room) I asked for an autographed
photo. Well... "Lona C." the one in the middle front of this photo wrote "to Kevin" and signed her name, the other
two signed their names, "Love Deborah" and "Love ya, Joe" on the shoulders of two faces in the photo who did not even BEGIN
to resemble themselves. I figured something WAS ROTTEN IN THE STATE OF DENMARK.
In recent research, I have found that the names of several MoTown groups were bought by a Larry Marshak,
including "The Drifters", "The Marvelettes", "The Coasters", "The Del Vikings", "The Classics", "The DuPrees", etc. and
that even though NO ORIGINAL MEMBERS were even involved, those names were used and the hit records of those groups were being
performed by ersatz performers.
When my band, St. Stephen's Blues showed up midafternoon to set up our equipment at "On Broadway" in Chicago, Clarence Gatemouth Brown was walking down the
center aisle to leave the building and we were walking in. We met about halfway between the door and the stage and exchanged
some pleasantries. I'd never seen a blues man who wore a cowboy hat before.
* David
Nelson, &
The Broadway Cowboys with Buddy
Cage (steel
player ...New Riders, Dead) & Walter
Egan (“Magnet
in Steel” hit song);
One Saturday afternoon concert at
the Shawnee Saltpeter Cave
in 2001, I actually jammed
during sound check with Buddy and Walter. Bob Pina
and Buddy Cage had a funny
interaction. Pina had set up, per
Robbie’s instructions, stage right.
When Buddy came on stage with his equipment and said something about the
fact that he was supposed to be in that position (apparently Robbie, as the
contracted sound man, had neglected to read the stage set-up charts). Bob told Buddy that he wasn’t going to move and Buddy said, well, he wasn’t
going to jam with us if he
couldn’t set up where he wanted to.
Pina then says something like he didn’t care. After our set, during which Buddy didn’t play, he came walking by and Bob
said to him in Bob’s inimitably pointed way, “Hey Buddy, you played real good but
you could’ve turned up a little louder”.
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| David Nelson and Bill Laymon |
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| Buddy Cage and Walter Egan |
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Bill Laymon Best
known for his many years as bassist for the New Riders of the Purple Sage, as well as the critically-acclaimed David
Nelson Band, his credentials also include numerous tours of duty with the world-renowned Jefferson Starship, Big
Brother & the Holding Company, Al Jardine (Beach Boys), Kingfish, Lacy J. Dalton and hosts of other high-profile
& successful acts. He is from my home town, Springfield, IL. I'd never met him until about
2007 when it was learned that he had cancer, no insurance, and I was invited to play a benefit for his expenses at the old
Postal Club on Lake Spgfld. Lo and behold, as we tuned up to play, Bill showed up on stage and we played together
for about an hour, doing many Grateful Dead songs and other well known "jam band" songs. A really nice guy. We
raised a good deal of money for him and I've heard he is in remission at this time.
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