oldtelefart
Just discovered this forum and joined. I left CT in 1987, been in Australia since then. I'd love to catch up with or hear about some of the great players and characters I remember. People like the great Louis Greeff, Reggie Edwards, Alan Faull, Brian Lloyd, Peter Hunt.............the list goes on. I know Brian Davidson and Andre Fourie are no longer with us.
Australia has been good to me. I ran a successful blues band for years, first in Perth then in Darwin. We opened for and got to meet many great acts, Canned Heat, John Mayall, Albert King (his last tour before he passed), George Thorogood, Joe Cocker. Nowadays I live in a small tourist/sailing town called Airlie Beach, still playing small pub gigs and a few big shows a year.
Good to see Bothners is still powering on. They were very good to us back in the days when it was a small shop in Claremont with Keith Twine in charge.
All the best, now I'm feeling homesick!
StephenG
howzit and welcome.
look forward to your participation and hearing some of your old stories.....
?
Jack-Flash-Jr
Welcome to the forum! Where to start?!? What was Albert King like in person/live?
oldtelefart
Mr. King was miserable, didn't want to there, the man looked exhausted and bitter. His band started the show, he eventually walked on, picked up his Flying V, played a few licks, the guitar was horribly out of tune. One of the crew told me later that Albert very strongly laid down the rule that no-one, NO_ONE! was allowed to touch his V. Sadly, he didn't bother to tune it himself. He seemed at war with the band. Second guitarist was Manuel Gales (Eric Gales' little brother) with a left-handed white Strat and a shitload of gold jewellery. He basically played Albert off the stage for the first half of the show. About 20 minutes into the gig, Albert put his guitar down and walked off. We were watching from the wings backstage as he had a heated argument with promoter Peter Noble. He went back onstage, tuned up and played about 4-5 tunes that made my hair stand up. Then he walked off again and went straight back to the hotel. About 6 months later back in the US he died. I didn't get anywhere near him, but had a chat with Manuel Gales after the show. His view was something like: "That man should have been able to afford to stay home the last ten years."
oldtelefart
BTW Jack Flash, re. your signature line: Owsley lived a few hours up the Aus East Coast from here the last 20-some years, died last year driving back from Sydney. I had a few email chats with him. A brilliant mind. Much more to him than the acid chemist of folklore. His theories on sound and performance psychology have had a great influence on me.
shaundtsl
Wow...
Welcome, I look forward to reading your posts... ***looks for popcorn eating smiley***....
:rolleyes:
Jack-Flash-Jr
Wow... that Albert anecdote is ☹ I'm sure a lot of older artists are in the same boat - thanks for a thought provoking insight into his life. Real blues isn't fun.
Re: Owsley, great addition to your looong list of interesting meets. Did he have anything to say about the lousy production on Dead albums vs their bootlegs? ? What were his performance insights?
Btw the quote is a Hendrix adlib from his BBC Radio One cover of Day Tripper...
aubs1
Hey OldteleFart, welcome to GFSA ........ ?
oldtelefart
Thanks for the welcome, guys. Yeah, I've had a long and interesting innings as a muso. Been in the right place at the right time a lot, just luck. (The harder I work, the luckier I get.) If interesting stories were dollars, I'd be rich! I do miss African sounds, when I play that kind of feel here people think it's reggae!
Re Bear (Owsley): His website sells a lot of his own mixes of live Dead gigs. I never liked the Dead. Crap vocals, crap guitar playing, massive cultural significance at the time. My opinion: they were the Nirvana of the 60's, 70's in America.
Warren
oldtelefart wrote:
Mr. King was miserable, didn't want to there, the man looked exhausted and bitter. His band started the show, he eventually walked on, picked up his Flying V, played a few licks, the guitar was horribly out of tune. One of the crew told me later that Albert very strongly laid down the rule that no-one, NO_ONE! was allowed to touch his V. Sadly, he didn't bother to tune it himself. He seemed at war with the band. Second guitarist was Manuel Gales (Eric Gales' little brother) with a left-handed white Strat and a shitload of gold jewellery. He basically played Albert off the stage for the first half of the show. About 20 minutes into the gig, Albert put his guitar down and walked off. We were watching from the wings backstage as he had a heated argument with promoter Peter Noble. He went back onstage, tuned up and played about 4-5 tunes that made my hair stand up. Then he walked off again and went straight back to the hotel. About 6 months later back in the US he died. I didn't get anywhere near him, but had a chat with Manuel Gales after the show. His view was something like: "That man should have been able to afford to stay home the last ten years."
Wow, Gales aka Little Jimmy King! I'm a big fan. ?
oldtelefart
The legends/famous guys were a mixed bag. John Mayall: great performer, miserable prick. We shared a backstage area. His band were just typical experienced pros. Coco Montoya was the guitarist, nice bloke and a great player. Mr. Mayall couldn't be bothered to say hello, even though we had whipped up a 1,000-plus audience till they were primed for him.
George Thorogood was the worst, his crew were all arrogant and his bodyguard(!!) a fat little shithead told us not to look at him or approach him backstage. His band didn't look happy.
Canned Heat were great. I opened for them a lot of times back in the 90's when they toured Australia every year. Fito Delaparra was the drummer, only original member left. The rest of the band used to get off after their show and head straight back to the Sheraton. Fito used to hang with me till near dawn, smoking and chatting.
Joe Cocker and his entire crew/band were absolute sweethearts. I sorted Chris Stainton (Joe and Clapton's piano player of choice) with a radio to listen to the Aus vs. England cricket test at afternoon soundcheck. Mr. Cocker came over and shook hands after the show, thanking us for opening for him. A totally class act and person. Still the biggest audience I've played to, 12,000-plus.
singemonkey
Welcome man. Enjoy the forum.
Very sad to hear the Albert King story. I really wish I could have seen him play live.
oldtelefart
Hey Monkey, love your Hellfire blog! Yeah Mr. King was a bit sad, but the last few tunes he played before he split were absolutely what an Albert King fan would love to hear. The impression I got from talking to the band/crew afterwards was that he was there purely from financial necessity. Apparently he'd been picking on the bass player mercilessly all tour, just because he was the softest personality. Manuel Gales had had a few full-on fights with him starting from the European leg of the tour.
DaFiz
Hi & welcome oldtelefart. Great to hear you're helping to keep the blues alive in OZ. I was recently listening to some stuff from that side of the pond.
Bondi Cigars I think they were called. Keep on boogying... ?
oldtelefart
The Cigars are a great band. Rhythm section from hell, Shane Pacey is a great singer/writer/player, and Eben plays like a mother!
I first met them with the original lineup: Shane, Allan the bass, Les Karski on lead guitar, and Sir Ace Follington on drums. Shared a house in Sydney with Ace for a while. Remember sitting watching the news on TV: Kurt Cobain shot himself. Ace's comment: "Thank God that's over."
DaFiz
oldtelefart wrote:
Kurt Cobain shot himself. Ace's comment: "Thank God that's over."
Waahaa :roflmao:. While the rest of the world mourned :'(
Riaan-Combrink
Hi Oldtelefart. Great having you here! ?
oldtelefart
Thanks Riaan. I grew up just down the road from you in Milnerton. I used to hitchhike to Killarney for races/practise days. Looking at GoogleEarth it's amazing how much development happened there, back in my day it was mostly bush.
chris77
Hey man, welcome.
Karel-Mars
Hi Oldtelefart
Welcome to the forum. I read your posts with fascination. Ever since I read Tom Wolfe's Kool Aid Acid Test, I've been very interested in what happened in California round that time. You mentioned Stanley Owsley recordings. I was unaware of these. You uncovered a whole treasure chest of music for me there. I like the sound of the old Grateful Dead as in Europe '72 live lp's, and I am sure those Owsley recordings will sound fantastic.