Saturday, December 15, 2012

More Music That Matters



In 1982, Eric Clapton put together a stellar group of musicians that played a select series of dates to raise money for Ronnie Lane's ARMS charity. This was taken at the Cow Palace in Daly City. Pictured are the three  celebrated guitarists who all played at one time or another in the Yardbirds: Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, and Jeff Beck. I had never seen Clapton without a beard before, although he may not have had one when I first saw him play with Cream in the 60's. A college friend of mine who was in radio got us backstage passes for the show, and I stood next to Clapton watching Joe Cocker play ping-pong with Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones. I didn't recognize him until my friend pointed it out to me. Perhaps my all-time favorite singer-songwriter is Van Morrison. For a time in the 70's and 80's, he played small clubs all over the Bay Area and I saw him numerous times. This is from Sophie's in Palo Alto in 1980. John Lee Hooker joined him on stage that night as well. He is, to put it mildly, curmudgeonly, as I saw him chew out some fans who asked for an autograph while he was eating dinner before the show.

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