Those were the days

We only came out at night...between 76 and 80 we played a lot of gigs in LA but only one during the daytime and it was inside at a local college...we did do several backyard parties and two big outdoor gigs but always at night....
 
We had our share of night gigs. Usually downtown Wash, DC ; Georgetown; Arlington, Va ; Alexandria, Va; Bethesda/Chevy Chase, Md. Some trendy, yuppie night spots and several pizza parlors which were mere holes in the wall in small strip malls. The most enthusiastic audiences were found in the pizza parlors - moms, dads, kids, teen couples. Live rock bands in pizza parlors were unexpected and quite a treat as most were some of the quietest places around.
 
Live rock bands in pizza parlors were unexpected and quite a treat as most were some of the quietest places around.
LOL I met the first guitarist I ever tried to build a band with at a pizza parlor...Awesome player and we had some fun but never really got anything off the ground other than a few freeby gigs....@ 1973 I was busted for possession of pot :eek: was a truly unpleasant and costly experience...it was dropped to a misdemeanor and I got "diversion" whew! Part of that deal was probation and drug n alcohol school..Well the "teacher" was a LA Sheriff...really cool cat and thought that all of us there for pot was bullshit....we had a "field trip" to a pizza parlor where one of the students friends was going to entertain us with his guitar playing....That's where I met Steve Kuehn the aforementioned guitar player...funny how things work out....

He went on to join a locally successful band called Minx

Sadly his number came up a few years ago...heart attack...damn.....

Couldn't find any old videos but found this 2010 video of him playing a reunion gig... skip forward into the video 2 minutes to avoid the history lesson in local rock bands... Steve is the guitar player on the right...Jimmy Ham ( bad ass player too) playing guitar on the left....


 
Hmmmmm? Reminds of another song that blew me away in 69 Ballad of Dwight Fry I was gone for 14 days...I could have been gone for more

My absolute favorite AC song! For some reason, I could always relate to that one. Maybe because I always felt like..."I GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE!"
 
We only came out at night...between 76 and 80 we played a lot of gigs in LA but only one during the daytime and it was inside at a local college...we did do several backyard parties and two big outdoor gigs but always at night....

And you all had a real good time? Loved that album (and song).
 
.....

Couldn't find any old videos but found this 2010 video of him playing a reunion gig... skip forward into the video 2 minutes to avoid the history lesson in local rock bands... Steve is the guitar player on the right...Jimmy Ham ( bad ass player too) playing guitar on the left....
Enjoyed that one.. but I only got it through the Left channel.
 
My absolute favorite AC song! For some reason, I could always relate to that one. Maybe because I always felt like..."I GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE!"

Gotta tell ya I loved that album to death ;)

I used to listen to the local college radio station KPPC and they played this new song from this band called Alice Cooper...Black Ju Ju... I was still just a drummer at the time and was blown away by the primal feel ...went to the local White Front the next day and convinced my keyboard playing buddy...( who had a lot more $$$ than me) to buy it...what a weird album cover...who are these weirdos....Holy shit we were blown away...mind you this album wasn't getting airplay yet...we were definitely the first kids at my school to hear 18...damn what a kick ass album
 
I've posted this elsewhere before...Kind of a weird battle of the bands ( OK maybe it was rigged )

Check out some of the "local" bands....Wall of Voodoo, Jane and the go go's, X, Fear, The Plugz, Simpletones oh yeah and Rockandi soon to be called Motley Crue...Yep that was a crazy gig...30 minutes between sets at the Santa Monica Civic ...we had about 10 minutes to play...sheesh....ain't saying who won but lets just say their older brother was the promoter and they arrived in a Limo...hmmmm?

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I've never had money. But, I've never been destitute. I've always had a paycheck. But, I don't have a bank account. I just turned 60 Sunday (I thought I'd be dead before 30). My gift is the ability to get a deal. My first guitar was a Fender Telecaster back in the late 70s (I think I paid $150). Which I could never play. I always wanted a Mick Ronson Les Paul. But, bought the tele because I saw Roy Buchanan play one and the strings were like butter in his hands. What a tragic magnificent guitarist he was.

I drove into a gas station where I knew the attendant and asked "John could you teach me how to play guitar?" He responded "George play bass, there's a thousand guitarists for every bass player." I went to his house that night and he taught me half of the New York Dolls songs. We started a band. He knew I was Johnny Thunders fanatic and traded me my tele for his 57 - 59 (I don't remember the exact year) Les Paul special double cutaway. My girlfriend at the time bought me a Fender Precision bass. I've added 15 or so more guitars including two Bond Electroglides, an 86 Les Paul Standard, the very first Roland guitar synth, all for less than the OP paid for his Ampeg amp. My biggie is an 86 Gibson model double neck (exactly like Page's), My mom picked up at a garage sale a Gretsch Electromatic for $5. I bought a year or two ago a 60s Gibson LG-1 at an antique store for $65. I talked them down from $75. Though I'd have paid the $75. I grabbed that guitar as soon as I saw it, I'm walking around the store and some kid (probably late teens) asks if he can see the guitar. He looks in and starts checking shit on his phone. I'm thinking "It's a Gibson with a $75 price tag. If you don't know to grab it, you certainly don't deserve it."

I love a bargain. The only sad part. I don't really play many of them. I use the 86 Les Paul and Precision to record, and when I was down in Nashville I picked up a Craviola acoustic for $100 that I love. But, most just sit in their cases. An unplayed instrument is like the island of misfit toys.
 
I've never had money. But, I've never been destitute. I've always had a paycheck. But, I don't have a bank account. I just turned 60 Sunday (I thought I'd be dead before 30). My gift is the ability to get a deal. My first guitar was a Fender Telecaster back in the late 70s (I think I paid $150). Which I could never play. I always wanted a Mick Ronson Les Paul. But, bought the tele because I saw Roy Buchanan play one and the strings were like butter in his hands. What a tragic magnificent guitarist he was.

I drove into a gas station where I knew the attendant and asked "John could you teach me how to play guitar?" He responded "George play bass, there's a thousand guitarists for every bass player." I went to his house that night and he taught me half of the New York Dolls songs. We started a band. He knew I was Johnny Thunders fanatic and traded me my tele for his 57 - 59 (I don't remember the exact year) Les Paul special double cutaway. My girlfriend at the time bought me a Fender Precision bass. I've added 15 or so more guitars including two Bond Electroglides, an 86 Les Paul Standard, the very first Roland guitar synth, all for less than the OP paid for his Ampeg amp. My biggie is an 86 Gibson model double neck (exactly like Page's), My mom picked up at a garage sale a Gretsch Electromatic for $5. I bought a year or two ago a 60s Gibson LG-1 at an antique store for $65. I talked them down from $75. Though I'd have paid the $75. I grabbed that guitar as soon as I saw it, I'm walking around the store and some kid (probably late teens) asks if he can see the guitar. He looks in and starts checking shit on his phone. I'm thinking "It's a Gibson with a $75 price tag. If you don't know to grab it, you certainly don't deserve it."

I love a bargain. The only sad part. I don't really play many of them. I use the 86 Les Paul and Precision to record, and when I was down in Nashville I picked up a Craviola acoustic for $100 that I love. But, most just sit in their cases. An unplayed instrument is like the island of misfit toys.

I'd love to have that LP Special DC! And the doubleneck! What finish is the 86 LP?
 
I'd love to have that LP Special DC! And the doubleneck! What finish is the 86 LP?

Black. I brought it to 3 different guitar shops and asked if they'd sand down the front to make it natural. They all refused.

The reason I wanted it sanded down is to make it look like Mick Ronson's Black Beauty. That's my DREAM guitar. Some guy up in CT owns the guitar. But, the entire body has been sanded down and it does not look as beautiful as it did when Ronson played it.

Not just a great guitar. Excellent player/arranger... both his solo albums are stellar.

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August 1969..

I had heard Jimi played his Strat upside down, but never knew for sure if he just flipped a righty and played it upside down, strings and all, or what. Watching him at Woodstock cleared that up. His righty Strat was flipped but strung upside down for a lefty.

(I wasn't there. Saw it on Woodstock : 3 Days That Defined A Generation)

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Try playing the rhythm to "Those Were the Days:" by Cream and singing the lead line. Lots of fun.
 
August 1969..

I had heard Jimi played his Strat upside down, but never knew for sure if he just flipped a righty and played it upside down, strings and all, or what. Watching him at Woodstock cleared that up. His righty Strat was flipped but strung upside down for a lefty.

(I wasn't there. Saw it on Woodstock : 3 Days That Defined A Generation)

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Hendrix closed Woodstock. There are camera angles where you can see the crowd, and it's pretty empty. But, I bet close to half a million say they saw him. There's a great DVD of his full performance. A second disc has a spectator's B&W footage. I haven't watched that one yet.
 

"I'm going to restore them someday when I have the time and the money"....sometimes "someday" never comes.

I say this from first hand experience.... My pops drove his brand new 1960 Ford f-100 into our driveway when I was 7 years old. I drove in it a million times going to work with him , vacations, deep sea fishing trips. Then I took possession of it @ 20 put a dodge slant 6 in it with an automatic transmission all by myself ( Gas rationing days ) Beer keg gas tank and drove it for another 10 years. Drove it with a buddy all the way to Mexico City and back to Cali once. Oh the memories that truck represented. But good things come to an end and it really needed a lot work so I parked it thinking someday I'd fix it up and would be driving it when I was 70.....nope. It sat in my driveway for a few years while my wife patiently put up with it, then for a good while at a friends back parking lot of his business till he said man it's gotta go, then back in my drive way, then my mother in laws garage for at least 20 years...and finally I realized "someday" is never coming. Donated it and it was gone...My name is TAE and I am a emotional hoarder. So...new years resolution I am going to purge a ton of stuff that I am hanging onto for it's emotional connection...maybe take a picture to hoard digitally and move on AND record 365 songs in 365 days...There I said it...and one of them is going to be "Those were the days" ( Mary Hopkins version) as I have already promised in this thread... Now I may fail at the 365 but ya gotta have goals and that's mine as of this posting...With a high bar you get a lot further than with a low bar...so off I go into the wild blue yonder...set the controls for the heart of the sun!
 
TAE those cars would have been nice. First car I bought at 18 was a 71' Cuda convertible. Father passed in 8th grade. Mom went away. So I foolishly bought a stupid car..Well, I fixed it up. Rebuilt the 440. The interior. Painted it . Some body work. Clutch. Beak touches here and there. IT GOT CHICKS! but then I turned 40....SOLD. This is what it looked like 25 years later, right at the end.

Sold in Mecum IL auction for around $40-50k..Best thing I ever did was sell it. I felt like a weight had lifted.

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Currently I drive a 20 y/o Accord...But I put a cheap turbo in it 10 years ago. Fast and the furious style. Nitrous/ water inj/ turbo on Hondata.

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A Tech school graduate
 
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