Post by kevinmcnevins on Nov 29, 2005 13:44:33 GMT -5
I am a new member to this group but thought you would be interested in correcting and adding to info on the November 1971 tour - from Orlando to LA after Thanksgiving. I was a Showco roadie on the tour with Sound Engineer Chuck C. and wife Diane and George w. (I'll respect their privacy for last names until I get a feel for this web posting) - and the tour often comes to my mind at Thanksgiving time.
I noticed some errors and omissions from the tour calendar and for my own fun (and a memory test) I will try to sort out the tour.
We had just finished James Taylor's college tour and the Cat Stevens tour was put together in a similar fashion by Peter Asher and Marlybone Tours - we had the same JT band road crew - Jock M. on sound and Eric B. on lights and I believe we started in Orlando - perhaps at Armory with Arlo Guthrie and Ry Cooder (that may have been a different show while we were there) - I do recall we toured Disney World as it was incomplete and barely opened with "Steve" and the band and had fun. We did some more colleges, Jackson (U. Mississippi) was one I recall when Steve remarked on the large Rebel Flag over the stage, Atlanta (we also toured Atlanta Underground), and worked our way through Houston, San Antonio, Dallas (Showco homebase where Steve threw a coke bottle at Jock on stage to show his temper when unhappy with monitor mix - Jock had to be restrained and I think left the tour then) and to Midwest, Chicago - I recall the Notre Dame show at the ACC (incorrectly listed in calendar as 1972 because of the picture from Notre Dame 1972 yearbook - published spring 1972) because that was my alma mater. It was a day or two before the Kennedy Center, DC gig with Tom Jans and Mimi Farina because I remember the all-night drive from Notre Dame to DC.
Memory fades a bit but I remember being in Rockies at Thanksgiving on the way to Santa Clara which is pegged as Nov 26, maybe did Denver on the way.
Santa Clara was a double bummer as it was Tom and Mimi's "home" and they had many friends and they were very "off". The Fairgrounds gig was in an L-shaped room low ceiling and terrible echo - then somehow Steve got happy and played about twice the usual set repeating Peace Train and some others - bad luck for us as we had all-night drive south (came on a terrible wreck about 5 AM with car overturned, driver in the road, and passenger in the ditch) so I am quite sure Greek Theatre show (s) was the next day or so - I think that was the end of that series because we did "hang out" with the band afterwards - we went to dinner at a Sunset Strip place that specialized in ground meat and Steve was shocked when he got what he thought was steak and yelled out "This is HAMBURGER!". We then went to the Whisky a Go Go and then a show at a joint that featured "Raoul and The Sensuous Woman" doing "The Dance Of Love" - pretty erotic stuff then - I recall picking up the tab on my Diner's Club Card and retired to the Hyatt Sunset Strip - alone - I think Steve went to a Laurel and Hardy film festival - I will get with George and try to pin down some more dates - the main memory is Steve's bad temper and several times he interrupted the show with outbursts - when people took flash pictures he was always annoyed and once stopped playing and stormed around stage.
If you all have stage pictures - expecially Greek Theater gig - I will appreciate seeing them - the bass player, real pleasant guy from Jamaica, often wore my army shirt on stage - I saw it in a picture in a songbook once and would like to get a copy. I'll try to remember more and get back soon -
I noticed some errors and omissions from the tour calendar and for my own fun (and a memory test) I will try to sort out the tour.
We had just finished James Taylor's college tour and the Cat Stevens tour was put together in a similar fashion by Peter Asher and Marlybone Tours - we had the same JT band road crew - Jock M. on sound and Eric B. on lights and I believe we started in Orlando - perhaps at Armory with Arlo Guthrie and Ry Cooder (that may have been a different show while we were there) - I do recall we toured Disney World as it was incomplete and barely opened with "Steve" and the band and had fun. We did some more colleges, Jackson (U. Mississippi) was one I recall when Steve remarked on the large Rebel Flag over the stage, Atlanta (we also toured Atlanta Underground), and worked our way through Houston, San Antonio, Dallas (Showco homebase where Steve threw a coke bottle at Jock on stage to show his temper when unhappy with monitor mix - Jock had to be restrained and I think left the tour then) and to Midwest, Chicago - I recall the Notre Dame show at the ACC (incorrectly listed in calendar as 1972 because of the picture from Notre Dame 1972 yearbook - published spring 1972) because that was my alma mater. It was a day or two before the Kennedy Center, DC gig with Tom Jans and Mimi Farina because I remember the all-night drive from Notre Dame to DC.
Memory fades a bit but I remember being in Rockies at Thanksgiving on the way to Santa Clara which is pegged as Nov 26, maybe did Denver on the way.
Santa Clara was a double bummer as it was Tom and Mimi's "home" and they had many friends and they were very "off". The Fairgrounds gig was in an L-shaped room low ceiling and terrible echo - then somehow Steve got happy and played about twice the usual set repeating Peace Train and some others - bad luck for us as we had all-night drive south (came on a terrible wreck about 5 AM with car overturned, driver in the road, and passenger in the ditch) so I am quite sure Greek Theatre show (s) was the next day or so - I think that was the end of that series because we did "hang out" with the band afterwards - we went to dinner at a Sunset Strip place that specialized in ground meat and Steve was shocked when he got what he thought was steak and yelled out "This is HAMBURGER!". We then went to the Whisky a Go Go and then a show at a joint that featured "Raoul and The Sensuous Woman" doing "The Dance Of Love" - pretty erotic stuff then - I recall picking up the tab on my Diner's Club Card and retired to the Hyatt Sunset Strip - alone - I think Steve went to a Laurel and Hardy film festival - I will get with George and try to pin down some more dates - the main memory is Steve's bad temper and several times he interrupted the show with outbursts - when people took flash pictures he was always annoyed and once stopped playing and stormed around stage.
If you all have stage pictures - expecially Greek Theater gig - I will appreciate seeing them - the bass player, real pleasant guy from Jamaica, often wore my army shirt on stage - I saw it in a picture in a songbook once and would like to get a copy. I'll try to remember more and get back soon -
