Friday night during the chaos. No live music and not much else to do other than some work so we may as well post.
Andy - glad you liked the Debby Harry photos. When I do my next scan I will do my favorite one from that shoot.
Gary - It was great to see Chapin in that setting. He also performed a song that at that point he said he had not recorded. It was called either 'The Factory Song' or 'The Day the Factory Closed'. He was pleasant enough as he signed for me though I was stupid and did not get him in my book. I had it with me and did not check it. I got Lenny Kaye from the Patti Smith Group to sign it that day.
First a sports/music connection. Jim Weatherly was a star quarterback at Ole Miss. In 1962 they went undefeated and won the national championship. He became a songwriter. Most of us have heard at least one of his compositions - "Midnight Train to Georgia", Neither one of Us" (on my personal top 500 songs) and "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me" all hits for Gladys Knight and the Pips. He passed away Thursday at 77. His songs were also recorded by Neil Diamond, Kenny Rogers and Garth Brooks.
Now to some visuals.
David Bowie - in 1990 he was doing either an arena or stadium tour. We were at his hotel in Boston to wait for him after the show. He came back, but the car parked under the overhang of the hotel and we did charge after him to stay in the good graces of the doorman who occasionally give us tips. He did not go to his room. Instead he went into the bar and sat at a table next to a window that faced my car parked on the street. Four of us sat in my car for 2 hours or more watching his group drink. When we saw them start to get up we ran inside and got him at the elevators which were just outside the bar. I got to tell him that my father also had the same eye colors. Though with Bowie it was caused by trauma. Heterochromia runs in my family. I also have two different colored eyes.
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James Burton - became well known for his guitar playing on 'Suzy Q' by Dale Hawkins. He was with Rick Nelson for many years and was Elvis Presley's last guitar player. I got him at his office in Shreveport, LA in 2009 when I was in town for his birthday party/guitar festival.
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Paul Butterfield - a true blues legend. Considered one of the greatest blues harp players of all time and leader of the self named Paul Butterfield Blues Band. There was a small basement club in Harvard Square called Jonathan Swifts. It was a bar during the day and I figured out that I could go in there, buy a coke (I'm not an alcohol person) sit and read and wait for the musicians to come in for sound check. I would get autographs and leave before they closed the doors prior the show. The bartender knew I would leave so he never bothered me. I got Butterfield there in August, 1984. He walked in with his young son. He was pleasant. He is one of the 'we're not worthy' signatures in the book. You show fans of a certain band or genre a signature and they go 'Oh, wow!'. This is it for blues fans.
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Byrds - Gene Clarke signed at The Old Vienna Kaffeehaus in Westborough, MA May, 1989. A great venue, but so small they could not afford to keep bringing in name people. It sat less than 100 people. Roger McGuinn signed at Nightstage in Cambridge, MA July,1990. Another great small club to see music and get autographs pre-soundcheck.
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Phil Chen - not someone most people would know. After Jim Morrison died the remaining members of the Doors tried to continue. They got Phil Chen to join and they named themselves The Butts Band. He was touring with I don't remember, probably an 'all-star' band. I got him after a show at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston March, 1990. I was probably the only person who knew who he was. I would guess he was also surprised. The Butts Band has an entry in the book. In the ancient days before internet I went through the book and wrote down every name that is how I found him. He also played bass on Beck's 'Blow by Blow' and on Brian May's Starfleet Project.
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John Cale - the other big name in Velvet Underground. Signed at the aforementioned Nightstage in March, 1989.
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Bobby Whitlock - keyboard player for Derek and the Dominos. Got him at a radio station in Boston sometime in the 1990's. I forgot to note the date.
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Leonard Cohen - reknowned poet and songwriter. Hundreds of musicians have recorded his song "Hallelujah". I had read that he was very private and a bit of a recluse. Quite surprised when he did some concert dates in the U.S. I got him at the Berklee Performance Center, Boston May 4, 1985 after the show. He was quiet, but stood and signed for a very long time for the 20 or so people that were there.
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Judy Collins - got her the same night as Leonard Cohen. Two blocks away at Symphony Hall.
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Commander Cody aka George Frayne - got him at the previously mentioned Old Vienna Kaffeehaus. His guitar player from that band, Bill Kirchen, plays in this area all the time and may live around here, but I still haven't gone to see him. Once the choas is over...
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Lionel Richie - one of the other Boston collectors told me that Richie was quite unfriendly. Despite being a school teacher he could be a bit pushy so I ignored him. Richie signed after a radio station concert at his Boston hotel June 1, 1996.
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Nick Lowe and Brinsley Schwarz - Many people know Lowe as a solo act. He was in Brinsley Schwarz prior to his solo success. I got him when I was in college radio and went to a press conference March, 1982 in Kenmore Square near Fenway Park. Asking for autographs at a presser is considered bad form. I was in college what did I care? I got Brinsley when he was touring with Graham Parker at one of the clubs behind the Fenway Green Monster, June, 1989.
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You can only download 18 items for a post so there will only be a few photos. I will probably add more later today or Sunday.
Elton John - Back in the USSA tour October 16, 1979 Music Hall, now the Wang Center, Boston. Just him and Ray Cooper. Back in the early 2000's my photo lab guy asked to borrow a few of the negatives to make some high end prints. He misplaced them. Lost my best shot of the show.
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Freddie Mercury - Boston Garden November 13, 1978 News of the World Tour. In the water cooler section one of the topics is 'Unpopular Music Opinions'. One of the posters wrote
"Queen is the most overrated band of all time. There were never very popular. Then their singer dies and people start pushing them as a good band." Definitely someone who does not know music. I respect a person's right to an opinion. However, with him my thoughts were he was sniffing ground up bubble gum from 80'-90's junk wax or his other name rhymes with the element Boron.
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Robert Fripp - known for his work with King Crimson. He was doing these small Frippertronics concerts (guitar looping) around the country. He did a record signing at the Harvard Coop and I was invited to the one at the NY Hilton, June 11, 1979. I took the train down. No photography during the show, but after was fine with no flash. He is a pseudo-intellectual who has great disdain for autograph collectors and is known to say it during shows. Strangely I got him at two autograph signings. The first one was probably just before I started getting the book signed. The second one was at Tower Records in Boston for a King Crimson CD. I got the CD signed, but he absolutely refused to sign the book and defaced it a bit. After the performance in New York I was introduced to a new band on his record label called Blackjack. The band went nowhere, but their lead singer has a decent career - Michael Bolton.
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Bob Geldof - Sir Bob is well known for Live Aid. This is him with his band The Boomtown Rats March 19, 1979 at The Paradise in Boston. It was one of the first, if not the first time, they performed "I Don't Like Mondays'. One of his roadies gave me his harmonica after the show. Best concert used item I ever got.
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