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First off, I am very excited to be able to participate here. Second off....
GODDAMN do I miss that man!
That being said, I grew up in Brooklyn (1952-1977) and I attended many of Frank's shows in the New York City area from 1969 to about 1974. The first would have been at the Fillmore East, with Jeff Simmons, Ray Collins, and Aynsley Dunbar/Billy Mundi sharing duty. They played Chunga's Revenge, and a GRIPPING version of The Angels "My Boyfriend's Back". They also did a great Wino Man, more like the Playground Psychotics version than the Zoot Allures one. I believe a band called Head Over Heels opened for The Mothers. We did NOT boo them off the stage.
Next was a great show in Central Park, opened by Buddy Guy. It was sold out so we sat outside on "the rocks" which was as good as being indoors. It was part of the old Sheaffer Music Festival sponsored by Sheaffer beer
The Fillmore East, June 1971 was next. This was the Saturday night late show. John and Yoko showed up the next night. This was the New York areas first REAL exposure to the Flo & Eddie Mothers. The opening song was Peaches, and from those first few drum strokes it was apparent that Doctor Dunbar WAS the standard. For me, he still is. He was magnificent, as was the entire band. Flo and Eddie rocked. It is a shame that the vinyl and cd do not begin to approach the sound obtained that night in that venue. "Happy Together" was special, as was "Tears began to Fall".
I believe the next show I saw was at Stonybrook University on "The Island", fall 1971. This was largely a Long Island greaser crowd, and perhaps the first time I saw Frank really adapt himself to the audience. He just smoked on guitar that night. It is still burned into my mind. The interplay between Dunbar and Underwood during the long jam in Billy the Mountain was great, and Frank capped it with a guitar solo that was part march, part rock anthem.
The next show was the highlight of my concert going career. Same year, 1971, CARNEGIE HALL. First off, Frank was CLEARLY pleased to be playing that venue. "Boys and girls, welcome to the desecration of Carnegie Hall!" were the first words he said. I think he was also very pleased that we had brought back the opening act, The Persuasions, for three or four encores. It was apparent from the look on The Persuasions faces as we standing ovationed them, that THEY couldn't believe it. We were largely a young, stoned out, white crowd, and they appeared to be astonished that we cared for them. I can't say much for that show because words cannot describe the relationship between how well the band played that night, and the acoustics offered by the hall. MAGNIFICO! The encore by The Mothers was The Mudshark. After the last regular number on the card ended, the band left the stage. We standing ovationed until Frank alone came back out. Here's what followed....
"I've just been told by the management of this hall that if I want to use this stage past midnight, I have to pay an extra $600."
At this point people started to get up and put their jackets and coats on.
"Well I'll tell you what.... I'D BE HAPPY TO PAY 600 BUCKS TO PLAY FOR YOU PEOPLE SOME MORE!!!"
The place went crazy, the rest of the band came onstage, and Frank leaned into the mic and said, "This next song is dedicated to the prick in the back counting the overtime money."
Then came The Mudshark.
I'm going to close this initial post, I don't want to wear out my welcome, and I'll discuss attendance at other concerts at a different time. But I really need to ask.....
Was anybody else there at the first night of The Grand Wazoo concerts at Madison Square Garden's Felt Forum? You know, the night we booed The Bob Seger System off the stage after they completed their first song? I'm still proud of that and also recall there WAS no warm-up band on the second night. I also recall I was heart-broken that Doctor Dunbar was NOT the drummer for these shows, Crazy Jim Gordon from Derek & The Dominoes (who would later go on to axe murder his mom) was.
Edited to say, I fly for a living, and get around quite a bit. A couple or three years back, we were flying into Mojave Airport pretty regularly, and staying in Lancaster whenever we did. I tried to find Sun Village, and Antelope Valley High School. The guys I fly with are not big music fans, and certainly not Zappa freaks, so I had limited time to accomplish these things and failed. What I DID find, because you can't miss it, was Billy the Mountain, the biggest one in the area. Located precisely between lovely Rosamond and Gorman.
Last edited by Toasted Almond on Sat Jul 22, 2006 10:47 pm, edited 7 times in total.
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