The Allman Brothers Band has always been one of my favorites and I have attended the members’ concerts in their various configurations right up until March of 2020, also at Madison Square Garden, for The Brothers 50th anniversary show, which also happens to be the last concert of any kind that I have attended since the pandemic shut down live music as we once knew it. Since then I have discovered YouTube concerts to help keep my live music fix satisfied but I have been unable to get onboard the live-streaming situation thus far. I just read that Coachella, scheduled for April, 2021 in Southern California, has been canceled again due to the pandemic. I have rented a house in Newport, Rhode Island in hopes that the Newport Folk Festival which was canceled last year might still somehow take place in July, 2021. The New Orleans Jazz Fest has been postponed again from April of this year until October, 2021 so I have taken a leap of faith and booked an Airbnb in New Orleans as we were supposed to attend the canceled festival last April, 2020. I am also holding on to my Jones Beach Theatre concert tickets for the postponed concerts from last summer and I have tickets for New York Mets opening day which I seriously doubt that our embattled Governor Cuomo will authorize a full house for. Who knows what the future holds but in the meantime stay well and rock on!

Just Ain’t Easy

GQ

If you are missing Van Hagar, check out the band Chickenfoot with Sammy Hagar, original VH bassist Michael Anthony on backing vocals and Joe Satriami shredding on the lead guitar. The sound is very reminiscent of the Sammy Hagar Van Halen lineup and while Satriani is not Eddie Van Halen, he might be the next best thing.

Future in the Past

Rock on!

GQ

I have told this story before but on one of these early (for me) Jorma Kaukonen dates at the Palladium in New York City, it was right after Hot Tuna had “broken up” following the release of their live album, which at the time I had believed was going to blow them up in popularity as the double live album in the late 1970’s was generally a ticket to exponential artistic reward (Frampton Comes Alive). Before the internet, rock and roll artist mystique was discovered primarily through album cover art, liner notes, FM radio DJs, or articles found in music magazines and free newspapers found at head shops or record stores. I went to the Jorma concert that had originally been sold as a Hot Tuna show, expecting long haired Jorma but instead Kaukonen surprised the audience when he walked onstage with acoustic guitar in hand sporting a slicked back short haircut and orange hair just maybe channeling his inner Bowie. This was slightly unsettling at first but the solo acoustic Kaukonen put on a great show. Some time afterward I had read in Rolling Stone magazine where Jorma had said that unbeknownst to him that night he took a swig from a champagne bottle that had been laced with LSD and that he had played the same note on one song for a half an hour or so. Honestly, if true, I never noticed but it is an interesting story nonetheless. Obviously bassist Jack Casady and Jorma reunited at some point and Hot Tuna, in various forms and line ups, is still recording and performing live and can be found on YouTube during the pandemic. The last couple of times I saw the band was at New York City’s Town Hall and at a very cool synagogue in Brooklyn believe it or not. Hot Fing Tuna indeed.

Double Dose

Rock on!

GQ

I have always believed that Todd Rundgren is an eclectic rock and roll genius. Todd Rundgren & Utopia is yet another Dr. Pepper Concert Series show at Central Park that I have no particular recollection. Todd Rundgren’s double album solo masterpiece Something/Anything?, where he played all of the instruments and produced the majority of the songs himself, was a tour de force and had the huge hit single “ I Saw the Light”. That was in constant rotation on FM radio stations everywhere. With the band Utopia, Rundgren rocked harder than on his solo work which translated well to headlining larger venues such as the outdoor Wollman Rink in Central Park. I have made it a point to see Mr. Rundgren whenever he is out on the road, whether it was at B.B. King’s Blues Club in Times Square, a Utopia reunion concert at the Highline Ballroom, or solo performing brand new material with a DJ at the Paramount in Huntington. He also more recently played the Beatles “White Album” with an all star ensemble at the NYCB Theatre at Westbury where he undoubtedly stole the show. The multitalented Todd Rundgren is a musical legend and is not to be missed when he comes to your town.

It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference

Rock on!

GQ

In July, 1979, I had just completed my first year at Queens College while continuing my part time jobs as a stock boy Monday thru Friday at Gertz Department Store on Roosevelt Avenue in Flushing, Queens and making deliveries every Saturday morning for the Golden Rule Meat Market on Bowne Avenue, also in Flushing. I was geared more toward the arena rock of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith and Queen who put on the big shows that became tribal social gatherings for the teenagers of the time, however, New Wave and punk rock did not completely escape us as Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Dave Edmunds, The Clash Talking Heads, the Ramones and of course Blondie had begun to get radio airplay and recognition as bands to be reckoned with. Those of us with an inquisitive ear and a sense of tock and roll adventure investigated the new music with varying degrees of acceptance depending on who you were. The Stiff Records recording acts and others had made serious inroads on Long Island rFM adio stations WLIR, WBAB and eventually New York City’s WNEW-FM. Blondie had some huge hits coming off of the commercial and artistic breakthrough “Parallel Lines”. Nick Lowe opened and is a great singer songwriter who came out of the same school of rock as Dave Edmunds who he played with in the band Rockpile. Once again, no particular recollection of this Central Park concert but at this point we were attending shows at a furious pace and absorbing the music and common experiences with our peers as much as we could while having a lot of fun in the process.

Blondie was still touring on occasion pre-pandemic, and the professorial looking talented Mr. Lowe could be found playing his gems on occasion at City Winery.

Heart of Glass

Rock on!

GQ

The concert series at Central Park sponsored by Dr. Pepper (the soda brand for those who might not know) was like being a kid and shopping at FAO Schwartz for toys. For a nineteen year old in 1979, the incredible summer line up at the outdoor venue in Central Park was like a rock and roll dream come to life. Summertime in New York City became an even more magical place with manny of the established and up and coming bands and musicians of the time making a stop in Manhattan. With concert tickets priced at $4.50 for the orchestra and $2.50 in the mezzanine, or free on the boulders just outside the exterior fencing, we often found ourselves taking the 7 train from Flushing, Queens to Manhattan 2, 3, sometimes 4 times a week to get out live music fix. I am guessing we were outside for the Stephen Stills gig and I wish I had any recollection at all since I am a huge Stills fan but, alas, the fog of the late 1970’s has swallowed this one up. Orleans had some catchy hits on the radio at the time and I later caught the band on a secondary stage at Gregg Altman’s Laid Back Festival at the Jones Beach Theatre in Wantagh. Orleans played a set that put a smile on our faces and sometimes that is enough.

Long May You Run

Rock on!

GQ

We would go see and/or hear anyone and everyone possible who played the outdoor venue situated at Central Park’s converted Wollman Skating Rink in midtown Manhattan and the band America was no exception. I have really no idea if this was a night we actually went in to the concert or if we stayed outside on the boulders facing the stage beyond the fence; all I can say with certainty is that I was there somewhere. Amazingly America still tours and when they opened for The Beach Boys at the Westbury Music Fair in the round, a few years back my father and I both agreed that, on at least on that night, America played better than the also still touring Beach Boys, who sort of remind me of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons when Valli would inexplicably hit those high notes from his teens and twenties until you then realized there was a switch on the microphone for when he would address the audience in his adult voice. That version of The Four Seasons sort of reminded me of a 198’s era boy band dancing and singing(?) with their grandfather. I believe Mike Love might have had similar vocal assistance as Valli, which at his age is understandable if not very comforting.

A Horse With No Name

Rock On!

GQ

Eight Yes shows in ten days; Joe Fisk, Steve Schaffer and I clearly had a Yes obsession in 1979. The beauty of the Yes “ in the round” tours was that while the set lists pretty much remained the same, the revolving stage and different vantage points allowed one to concentrate on the individual band members from a variety of views and angles.. The members of Yes were all great musicians in their own right so there was not a bad seat in the house. The arguably greatest touring line up of Jon Anderson, Chris Squier, Alan White, Rick Waksman, and Steve Howe were on top of their game in the late 1970’s and quite amazingly versions of Yes playing the extraordinary Yes catalog of amazing progressive rock music were still on the road right up until the pandemic hit. Unfortunately Chris Squier passed before he could enjoy the band being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but the music lives on.

Fish Out of Water

Rock on!

GQ

The Patti Smith Group’s first four albums starting with “Horses”, “Radio Ethiopia”, “Easter” and my personal favorite “Wave” were extraordinarily unique rock and roll albums with great lyrics written by the poet Smith and performed by a great group of musicians led by guitarist Lenny Kaye. The Patti Smith Group are true artists in the vein of Lou Reed and Bruce Springsteen, who happened to pen her biggest “hit”, the surprisingly radio friendly, “Because the Night”. Patti Smith and the band s also carried with them the old school rock and toll cool vibe, mystique and swagger of a Keith Richards. I was heavily into the Patti Smith Group for quite awhile and tried to see the band live every time they came around. I have got to admit that these three shows are not bringing back any particular memories and until I went to write this I would have thought my first Capital Theatre concert was with Asia some years later. The last times I saw the Patti Smith Group was when they opened for Neil Young and Crazy Horse on the Psychedelic Pill tour. I then saw Patti Smith and I think her daughter perform at City Winery where Michael Stipe of R.E.M. was seated at her table. I do not remember if Stipe, who was sporting a long beard at the time, performed that evening, but he did play at the David Bowie City Winery tributes sometime after Bowie passed where he stole the show with an interesting take on “Ashes to Ashes” (as I recall).

The interconnections in rock and roll are quite extraordinary if you think about them, and one could probably put together a “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” type game with a whole list of rock and roll artists if you were so inclined.

The Patti Smith Group rocks!

Year of the Monkey

Rock on!

GQ

The Rolling Stones had not gone out on tour in awhile so anticipation was high when Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood formed a super group and played Madison Square Garden with the New Barbarians.

The Madison Square Garden crowd was rabid as we made our way down to the front part of the orchestra facing left of stage. Everyone in the orchestra were standing on the folding chairs and I managed to scoot up and balance myself on the metal seats a few rows from the stage. The much rumored Stones ”reunion” never materialized and Mick Jagger never showed up but the concert was a rock and roll tour de force. When the show ended and the lights came up it looked like a bomb had exploded in the orchestra; the audience filed out in a smoky haze and mangled folding chairs littered the Garden floor. Slightly disappointed that no “special guests” joined the Barbarians on stage this night, it was still a memorable and somewhat historic nigh of rock and roll provided by legendary performers and witnessed by true believers.

Talk is Cheap

Rock on!

GQ