Playin on the Big Stage

A few of my friends have asked me to comment on some of the major acts that I've been on stage with. Keep in mind that these things happened quite some time ago and although they are memories that will last forever, good or bad, alot of that era in my life is a blur due to over consumption of "coca-cola" and brownies. Also, I feel that I shouldn't give names of bands for fear of a law suit should they ever read this. Not being paranoid...well maybe a little.

So here goes...The first major show I ever played at was in East Lansing at the MSU campus in the early 80's. We opened for Bands A and B. Band A was huge and on tour with Band B. We having the chance to open for them was a dream come true. At last I would be on the big stage in front of thousands of people playing my rock and roll. We were just a local bar band and had a pretty good following but for us, this was huge. We didn't really care that we weren't allowed near the dressing room of "A". The exposure we were going to get would be amazing.

"A" was in a transition period and their original guitarist had left the band and they had these other 2 guitarist to take his place. Basically they were filling in until the main guy got thru his sabbatical and came back the following year. So I didn't get to meet the guitar legend but that didn't really matter. We were on stage with the big boys.

It was decided before we went on that the bass player from band "B" and the drummer and 2 guitarist from band "A" would come on stage in our last 10 minutes and jam with us. A treat in itself. Everything was fine up to this point. It was time for them to come on and do a couple blues tunes and I handed my bass to "Mar". He thanked me and complimented me on my bass playing which really shocked me 'cuz, to me, he was a bass guru. Anyway "A's" drummer went up to our drummer and as our drummer was leaving from behind his drumkit, "A's" drummer pulled down our drummers shorts. About 15,000 people found out that day that our drummer doesn't wear underwear. I don't think I've ever seen that deep of shade of red on anyone before or after in my entire life. I also can't remember laughing that hard ever before.

Althogh we weren't allowed in "A's" dressing room, we were allowed to stand on the side of the stage during their show. I don't know how else to put it. The singer for "A" was pretty disgusting and I was really quite disappointed. He was pretty wasted before the show even started, which was the norm back thenfor most bands, but he was so wasted he had to have the lyrics for all his songs laid out on the floor in front of him and he was reading them as he sang. I don't understand how you can forget songs you wrote that are number 1 hits. Especially when they are being played on the radio on almost an hourly basis. I guess he was pretty wasted to say the least. Also, he was continually spitting on the guitarists that were filling in. I felt sorry for them. It didn't seem to bother them tho'. I, to this day, still have no idea who these guitarist were, but I don't think anyone should have to put up with that, no matter how bad you want to be a rock star. I know I wouldn't. Anyway, not much else happened that evening that is worth mentioning as this concludes my first experience on the big stage. It was a night full of ups and downs... depending on who I was with, just kidding. I learned not to idolize anyone because, unless you know the person personally, you are only setting yourself up for disappointment. I can appreciate and respect them for their contributions to the music I base my life on, but I no longer get star struck. They and us are all only human and in the end, that's all that really matters. You reap what you sow.

Sorry, wasn't trying to get philosophical. I'll have some more stage stories for you coming soon.