{"id":2434,"date":"2022-02-13T20:34:25","date_gmt":"2022-02-13T20:34:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=2434"},"modified":"2022-03-22T21:21:11","modified_gmt":"2022-03-22T21:21:11","slug":"ftv-live-shows-revisited","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=2434","title":{"rendered":"FTV: Live Shows Revisited"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the Vaults:\u00a0 Live Shows Revisited<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Time to dig into the past and reminisce about some of the live concerts I have been privileged to attend.\u00a0 The list is too long to talk about more than a few at a time.\u00a0 The wheels really started rolling when I did an internet search under the subject line \u2018my favorite concerts\u2019.\u00a0 Before we get too far into my experiences, I am going to open up the discussion with a \u2018Part 2\u2019 in mind and ask for your input.\u00a0 If you have a favorite concert experience or two and would like to share, please drop me the details at <\/span>kraisanen@oasd.k12.mi.us<\/span><\/a> .\u00a0 Having never done this kind of info mining before, I can not begin to guess how many responses I may receive, if I will get any at all, or exactly how they will condense into an article.\u00a0 If the stories are nearly as entertaining as some of the tales people have shared with me in person, I think this could be a fun way to interact with readers who follow us online or in print.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Having never been able to answer the question, \u201cWhat was your favorite concert?\u201d (too many great shows), these memories will not be presented in any organized order.\u00a0 Whenever I start thinking about the past, the dusty files in my attic fly open and one thought leads to another.\u00a0 With that said, I am going to go way back to the beginning and cite one particular show because it was my first experience with a live combo playing the music I was hearing on the radio.\u00a0 Back in the 1960s, the Marquette County Harvest Festival was always held at the National Guard Armory on the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Wright Street.\u00a0 Before Northern Michigan University built the Gant – Spaulding Hall dorm complex across the street from our house, the only thing separating me from the Armory was an old farm field.\u00a0 I had heard music from wedding receptions coming from that direction, but I had never seen live music performed by a small band.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I began drum lessons in fifth grade so my first encounter with a live band can be pegged to the fall of that year, 1963.\u00a0 I remember wandering across the field to the Armory with my mother and father as they liked to check out the displays.\u00a0 When I heard music coming out of the garage area attached to the back end of the Armory gymnasium, I went to investigate.\u00a0 They had a little makeshift stage set up and a four piece combo was running through some hits of the day.\u00a0 What captured my attention was the drummer who was perched behind a gold sparkle drum set.\u00a0 I was now completely drum obsessed and my folks got me a red sparkle snare drum and stand for Christmas.\u00a0 \u201cSurely,\u201d\u00a0 they thought, \u201cthis will satisfy his need to be drumming on something other than an overturned trash bin.\u201d\u00a0 Little did they know my first encounter lit a fire under me to get a complete drum kit.\u00a0 Oh, I played the snare drum, but in my mind, I could see an entire kit to go with it.\u00a0 I appreciate now what they had to go through for the next couple of years as I dreamed and pestered.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In the spring of 1966 (near the end of seventh grade), I did indeed get my own silver sparkle Ludwig drum set.\u00a0 My parents fronted me the money for it, but I piled a lot of wood, washed many a car, and mowed too many lawns to count to cover their investment.\u00a0 To this day, I can not tell you what songs the band at the Armory played, but I can still recall the feeling that came over me that day.\u00a0 I attended many teen dances and a class reunion in that same Armory over the years.\u00a0 Each and every time I drive by the place, I still remember it as a great \u2018concert\u2019 moment at a venue with a good live sound which we enjoyed at a wedding reception Sledgehammer played for in 1975.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The second entry on my list of memorable concerts is Vanilla Fudge at the Hedgecock Field House at NMU.\u00a0 For some reason they could not use the larger arena on the south side of Hedgecock so this show was staged in the double size gym on the northside.\u00a0 My dad was working for NMU\u2019s security department that year.\u00a0 Even though my buddy Nick and I had tickets, he pulled us out of line and told us to meet him at the back door of the Field House.\u00a0 We got to go in and wander around while the road crew set up the equipment.\u00a0 I had never been up close and personal with a huge P.A. system before or the banks of amps and speakers the band employed.\u00a0 Drummer Carmine Appice had a maple wood double bass drum Ludwig set that looked just awesome.\u00a0 His arm flailing, cymbal muffling style of playing was both solid and bombastic.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Young and green around the gills about concerts, we decided to stake out seats in the top row of the bleachers as far away from the stage as possible due to the volume.\u00a0 We happened to be standing in front of one P.A. column when a roadie tested the mic levels on the drums.\u00a0 The gym was hot before the crowd was let in.\u00a0 Half way through the show, it got so uncomfortable that keyboard player Mark Stein left the stage.\u00a0 A threat of \u2018no pay\u2019 brought him back and inspite of the sauna-like conditions, they put on a tremendous show.\u00a0 I did not realize it at the time, but these New York boys were one of the most sought after bands around.\u00a0 On December 26, 1968, they played a show at Denver\u2019s Auditorium Arena.\u00a0 Their opening band that night was a new band from England called Led Zeppelin.\u00a0 You may have noticed John Bonham played Ludwig drums manufactured in the United States.\u00a0 Fudge drummer Appice said Bonham liked the sound of his kit so much he arranged a meeting between Bonham and Ludwig so he too could become a Ludwig drummer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If you are seeing a pattern here, you probably are not mistaken.\u00a0 Many of my favorite concert moments involve drummers.\u00a0 I have been a Ludwig guy since April of 1966 so it is part of my DNA by now.\u00a0 With that said, there are concerts on my list that go beyond \u2018just the drummer\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pure Prairie League would be one of them.\u00a0 When The Eagles, Jackson Brown, Poco, and the like made so-called \u2018country rock\u2019 the next big thing, there were some bands that took the genre on a different fork in the road.\u00a0 PPL came to radio via their hit single <\/span>Aimie<\/span><\/i> so when they were booked into NMU\u2019s Hedgecock Fieldhouse, I was there.\u00a0 One could not escape <\/span>Aimie <\/span><\/i>on the radio, but beyond that song, I didn\u2019t know what to expect.\u00a0 When they opened the show with the steel guitar punctuated <\/span>Kansas City Southern<\/span><\/i>, I was hooked.\u00a0 As soon as I found their album <\/span>Live – Taking the Stage<\/span><\/i>, it was in my collection.\u00a0 <\/span>Taking the Stage was <\/span><\/i>recorded close enough to this concert to be pretty much a song by song compilation of the show I saw.\u00a0 I later found out Vince Gill (currently touring with the newly reconstituted version of The Eagles) was a founding member.\u00a0 By the time I saw PPL, he had departed the band and was replaced by Larry Goshorn.\u00a0 The band is still out there playing but the last time I checked, the member-go-round had spun enough times for me to not recognize any of the current members.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Pure Prairie League is not the only band I got to see with a live album closely resembling a show I saw at Hedgecock.\u00a0 When <\/span>Frampton Comes Alive <\/span><\/i>hit the stores (and radio), it became apparent it had been recorded on the same tour that brought Peter Frampton to Marquette.\u00a0 Second guitarist \/ keyboard player Bob Mayo was absent from that show (his absence was never explained) but Framptom stepped up and used the opportunity to display some of his noteworthy guitar chops.\u00a0 In his skinny leg jeans, one could not help but notice Frampton\u2019s legs looked almost as thin as the neck on his Les Paul.\u00a0 Listening to <\/span>Frampton Comes Alive<\/span><\/i> today puts me right back on the balcony at the Fieldhouse.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A list of my concert favorites would not be complete without mentioning our friend Al Jacquez\u2019s bands Savage Grace and Measured Chaos<\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>Until I saw an old poster for one of the events at Hedgecock, I had forgotten I had actually seen Savage Grace twice.\u00a0 The first time, they were one of two support bands opening for one of the midwest\u2019s best kept secrets, Detroit\u2019s SRC.\u00a0 SRC was a good band with solid players but their preening lead singer made much less of an impression than their Hammond B-3 player.\u00a0 Savage Grace appeared second on the bill but I knew nothing about them. They kind of got lost in this multi-band bill as one of Marquette\u2019s favorite bands, Walrus, was the opening act.\u00a0 This may have been a Greek Week Festival as it took place in May of 1970.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The second appearance in Marquette by Savage Grace took place in the fall of 1970 and it was the only rock concert I ever attended at Kaye Hall.\u00a0 I had seen both the Detroit Symphony and the Michigan Youth Symphony there, but both times I was seated in the balcony.\u00a0 The Savage Grace concert found The Twig (my high school band) occupying seats no more than ten rows from the front of the stage.\u00a0 This was a much better venue to hear and observe a band that was criminally under-promoted by their record label, Reprise Records.\u00a0 As label mates of Jimi Hendrix and Neil Young, they could have used a better PR push for the two great records they put out.\u00a0 Now a part of Warner Music Group, Reprise was originally founded by those notable rock and rollers, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin (but I digress).\u00a0 Gene, Mike, and I were duly impressed.\u00a0 Mike bought their first album at the concert.\u00a0 We were just beginning to play paying gigs so we were learning songs to the tune of 2 or 3 per rehearsal.\u00a0 The next time we got together, Mike had worked up Savage Grace\u2019s <\/span>1984 <\/span><\/i>and to my knowledge, we were the only band in Marquette performing any Savage Grace tunes.\u00a0 <\/span>1984 <\/span><\/i>always went down like gangbusters, especially on the frat party circuit.\u00a0 We had a great gig at the old Odd Fellows Hall on the corner of Third and Bluff Streets – they wouldn\u2019t let us quit until we played <\/span>1984 <\/span><\/i>a second time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To help me learn the vocals for <\/span>1984, <\/span><\/i>Mike loaned me the album so I could\u00a0 make a cassette tape to sing along with.\u00a0 The tape more or less lost the will to live in the late 1990\u2019s so I began looking for a copy of the actual album on the internet.\u00a0 The first one I ordered arrived but somewhere the wires got crossed –\u00a0 an album by a soul-funk band I had never heard of called Savage Rose arrived instead.\u00a0 The company made good and sent me a copy of a used Savage Grace album labeled \u2018good\u2019, but it was unplayable.\u00a0 About the time I was going to give up the search, I found a website for 33 1\/3 Records where both Savage Grace albums were on sale in a two CD set.\u00a0 I ordered it in the summer of 2003.\u00a0 I can be sure of the timing because I was looking forward to hearing it upon returning from helping daughter Elizabeth move to Boulder, CO for grad school.\u00a0 When I got back, the CD was not in my mail but there was an email from Al Jacquez asking how I was enjoying my new CD.\u00a0 I had to tell him, \u201cAh, I am not.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t arrive.\u201d\u00a0 Al apologized and said he would get a replacement in the mail ASAP.\u00a0 He also asked if he could send a copy of his new band\u2019s live CD as a bonus.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Until I got the double CD Savage Grace packet, I hadn\u2019t put two and two together.\u00a0 The \u2018Al\u2019 I had been emailing was \u2018Al the bass player and vocalist from Savage Grace\u2019.\u00a0 His new band was called Measured Chaos and almost as soon as I heard their live album, my brain went into high gear:\u00a0 \u201cHey, Al . . . how far north do you guys travel for gigs?\u201d\u00a0 This didn\u2019t happen overnight and the conversation about Measured Chaos making a trip to Ontonagon didn\u2019t really get going until well into 2004.\u00a0 Once we figured out this was something we both were interested in pursuing, we started to bounce ideas off each other about putting on a Measured Chaos concert at the Ontonagon Theater of Performing Arts in the summer of 2005.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My previous experience putting together a non-school related concert at that point could be counted on one finger.\u00a0 A dual bill of Ontonagon\u2019s Yvonne Blake and Bruce Rundman from the Copper Country was a challenge, but it did not involve housing them for a couple of days.\u00a0 The four members of Measured Chaos (plus two of their teenager sons who came along for the ride) meant figuring out the finances to pay the band, cover some of their millage, a small stipend for food, and a place to sleep six.\u00a0 As with other times I have bitten off more than I could chew, I leaned on friends and acquaintances to make it happen including John Cane (who helped with the housing), a generous donation from our then art teacher Melissa Hronkin\u2019s art club fund, and some of our operational money from WOAS-FM.\u00a0 Added to the ticket sales at the gate, we were able to bring a\u00a0 great blues band all the way from Detroit and not bust the bank.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Again, I can put a tack in the calendar for that time frame because Elizabeth had graduated from UC Boulder that spring and was home making preparations to move to Los Angeles.\u00a0 Measured Chaos guitar player Mark Tomorsky, like the rest of the band, had roots in the Lower Peninsula, but was now commuting in for their gigs from, you guessed it, L.A.\u00a0 When I mentioned I would be out his way in the late summer (and why), he asked where she would be living while attending U.C.L.A. \u00a0 I replied, \u201cShe will be in a new grad student dorm in Westwood,\u201d and to my surprise, he said, \u201cOh, that is a nice place.\u00a0 I have been driving by there on the way to my kid\u2019s dentist for the last two years.\u201d\u00a0 With my experience working with musicians from big cities (none), there was a sudden realization that these weren\u2019t prima donna big shot musicians.\u00a0 All of them (including bass player Mark Gougeon and drummer Bill Gordon) were down to earth guys who just happened to be great musicians.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Measured Chaos concert number one was a modest success.\u00a0 The band played great but the lack of name recognition kept the audience down to a half full house.\u00a0 Before I introduced the band, I was worried about the empty seats until Al peeked out from behind the curtains and said,\u201dOh yeah, we can play for this crowd!\u201d\u00a0 And play they did.\u00a0 This concert is not on my favorite list just because I had something to do with getting the band here (well, maybe a little), but because it was a great show.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The band spent a good deal of the day before the show recording during their sound check.\u00a0 I played \u2018gopher\u2019 – as in, whatever they needed, I would \u2018go for\u2019 it.\u00a0 Their bag of microphone stand bases got left in Detroit, so I raided the radio studio to find enough.\u00a0 Mark T needed an extension so he could move his effects switch farther toward the front of the stage.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t believe I would find one at Pamida until I produced it.\u00a0 Headphones for monitoring the mixing board?\u00a0 Another trip to the radio station.\u00a0 Need some local P.R. about the concert?\u00a0 A quick call to Kenny Lee got Al on the air the morning of the concert.\u00a0 Al got a call in the afternoon asking if they could do another early morning radio show before their next gig in Traverse City scheduled for the next night.\u00a0 This meant departing Ontonagon after they loaded up and driving overnight to Traverse City.\u00a0 We packed them cooler full of sandwiches, drinks, and goodies we packed for the midnight drive.\u00a0 We bid them \u2018happy trails\u2019 and planted a seed about a return gig in the Western U.P. in the future.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Okay, now it is your turn.\u00a0 If I can collect enough of your favorite concert stories, they would make a great \u2018part two\u2019 of this series.\u00a0 You may note I already left a teaser for \u2018part three\u2019 two paragraphs above by calling the 2005 Measured Chaos show \u201cconcert number one.\u201d\u00a0 As this goes to print, Al Jacquez confirmed he will be playing a solo gig at the Ontonagon Theater for Performing Arts in August of 2022.\u00a0 Look for more information on this gig to be posted on our web site (<\/span>www.woas-fm.org<\/span><\/a>) soon.\u00a0 Stay tuned.<\/span><\/p>\n

Top Piece Video:\u00a0 Vanilla Fudge performed with this line up at NMU right about the time this clip from Ed Sullivan was recorded in 1968 – only difference I can see is Carmine Appice’s drums – at NMU he was playing a Ludwig double bass drum kit with a maple shell finish – not a bad start for my first live show by a major rock band!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the Vaults:\u00a0 Live Shows Revisited   \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Time to dig into the past and reminisce about some of the live concerts I have been privileged to attend.\u00a0 The list is too long to talk about more than a few at a time.\u00a0 The wheels really started rolling when I did an internet search under the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,11,8,7,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bands-musicians","category-education","category-from-the-vaults","category-local-music-news","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2434"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2481,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2434\/revisions\/2481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}