Turns out that all of the Little Feat shows in Jamaica last month that I wrote about here were recorded, and they’re now in my hot little hands. So if you’d like a taste of what that was like, just picture a big stage, with a resort on the left and the white sands of Negril on the right. I’m the guy in the “Phil Lesh and Friends” t-shirt. Enjoy.
Update: Here’s a little Rag, Mama, Rag. The harp player is Howie from The Boat Drunks, a Champaign/Urbana area band who were special guests at our little party.
Hey, Craig!
I’m typing this as I listen to the cut and it’s just tranporting me back to 1975 at the Phillie Spectrum. There to see Dave Mason, who the hell is the opening band? Little Feat? Never heard of ‘em. … Holy Freakin Crap these guys rock!! Lowell George with that s**t eating grin on his face as he laid down those sweet, funky slide riffs, those odd polyrhythms that just absolutely compel you to get up and move. What a band!
Only “opening” band I ever saw that got called out for 2 encores. BTW, Dave Mason was also great.
I’m so jealous I could just seize up! Where are the pictures?
Craig, you’re killing me, man.
Funk YOU!
I saw that tour at the Capital Centre. I clearly recall thinking at the time that as much as I love Da Feat, Mason blew them away. He put on a guitar clinic. He showed on “Alone Together” that he was a great electric guitar player, but I had no idea he was that good. Plus, he had Gerald Johnson on bass on that tour. What a motherfucker.
If you want to e-mail me, I’ll send you some pics from Jamaica, and also from when we flew to Delaware to see them at the Bottle and Cork in Dewey Beach.
Gerald Johnson was, hands down, the funkiest bass player in all of recorded history. That guy just has endless moves and he brought an entirely new dimension to Mason’s music. Dave was, indeed, a more than competant guitarist.
I saw Mason a year later when he came to U of Penn’s Irvine auditorium (the ugliest venue evah!) My buddy was working the show so i got to lean my elbows on the stage about 5 ft. from Dave. It was an acoustic tour, just him, his guitarist and piano player. Mr. Keyboards was sick with the flu and look like death incarnate when he walked on the stage, sweating and shaking.
I anticipated that the show would be subpar but they played for two hours. The sick dude was responsible for the high end of those fat, three part harmonies that Mason concocted and he hit every note on the nose. It was the best display of pure professionalism I’ve ever seen and a great show.
E-Mail is a comin’…
If that’s the tour I’m thinking of, I saw it at Catholic University. I’m trying to remember who was on keyboards, but it’s escaping me.
Why Craig, that would be keyboardist Mike Finnigan along with guitarist Jim Krueger, both of whom played on the “Dave Mason” and “Split Coconuts” albums. They are also featured on “Certified Live” which is one of the best live albums ever.
I’m here to serve…
Waiting for Columbus was among the first 3 cd’s I ever owned (along with Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hit’s Volume 1 and U2’s The Unforgettable Fire). I think I was about 11 or 12 when I got them as a birthday gift along with my first cd player. Still one of my favorite cd’s.
Jesus, I’m old. Not only was I third row center at Lisner for the Waiting For Columbus show, but in those days, albums were on these things called records. You got it when you were eleven, and it was a CD. Zzzzzzzzz…..
You’re scum, buddy, you know that?
The Moon!
I got into the Feat in college, started with Down on the Farm and worked back. Seen ‘em a time or two live. Got all their Lowell George stuff on heavy rotation.
…but I ain’t never been to Feat Camp.
Got any visuals to go with those tasty bits?