Tom Waits & Howdy Doody

In May 1973, Tom Waits was opening act for Buffalo Bob's Howdy Doody Revival at Atlanta's Great Southeast Music Hall. Yep.

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The Great Speckled Bird, May 1973

Capricorn Barbeque & Summer Games, August 1976

[This maybe should be a Milledge Circle (Athens) post, but the groundwork was laid during Seal Place days.]

It was the best birthday I ever had. I pretended the party was mine. It was actually the Capricorn Records Annual Barbeque & Summer Games, a company tradition held just outside Macon at Lakeside Park. In 1976 the event happened to fall on my birthday. I was in my last year at UGA in Athens, majoring in graphic design, and had been trying to settle on a senior thesis/project. My attempt to affiliate the project with Capricorn did not pan out, but art director Keith Crossley remained supportive and encouraging, and kindly sent me an invitation to the label's annual party.

Invitation, 5th Annual Capricorn Barbeque & Summer Games,
Lakeside Park, Macon GA, August 19, 1976

I was allowed to bring two guests. Cousin Hal agreed to drive, and our friend Dave came along, too. (They were both active Atlanta musicians and veterans of several local bands.) It was in the pipeline that then-Presidential candidate Jimmy Carter would be in attendance. Capricorn founder Phil Walden was a key Carter supporter, and they had become good friends. Cousin Hal had a 1960-something black Cadillac Fleetwood land-yacht at the time. We secured small, flapping American flags at each front quarter panel in an effort to make as Presidential an entry as possible. Many heads did turn as we pulled into the parking area.

It was a beautiful day, with a comfortable breeze off the lake and cool shade under the trees despite being in the dog days of August. Trails lead through the park past random open bars scattered along the paths. The barbeque feast was laid out buffet-style in the covered pavilion along the water's edge. Picnic tables were in another pavilion a short walk from there. That's where we ran into Andy Warhol and his business manager Fred Hughes. We had linked up with my friend Mike Duke and his Wet Willie bandmate Ricky Hirsch by that time. The photo below predates the term "photobomb," but qualifies nevertheless.

Andy Warhol (center) flanked by Fred Hughes (L) and Rick Hirsch (R).
Rick slid into the photo frame at the last second.
Andy, no surprise, was fiddling with a camera.
Cousin Hal (in hat) and friend Dave are just behind Fred.
[personal photo]

Jimmy Carter arrived, too, along with his Secret Service contingent. He had attended a previous Capricorn barbeque while serving as Georgia Governor, and was casual, friendly, and laidback in the best sense. It was a day to enjoy good food, good music, and good people. It was not about campaigning and pressing the flesh.

1976 Democratic Presidential candidate Jimmy Carter
walking alongside Capricorn Records founder Phil Walden.
[personal photo]

A stage was set up a bit further into the trees, and jams unfolded throughout the afternoon. Many Capricorn musicians were there, and players stepped on and offstage in endless combinations. Again: casual, friendly, and laidback. There was a strong contingent from Atlanta. Around nearly every tree we ran into someone we knew.

Alan Walden (L) and Michael Duke
[personal photo]

It was a birthday party I could never have imagined. Not a care in the world. We said our goodbyes as the sun began to set, and headed back to the city. It was, as the late Lou Reed would sing, "Just a perfect day...such a perfect day."

Alexander Memorial Coliseum

• 965 Fowler Street NW, Atlanta GA (on Georgia Tech campus)
• Capacity: approx. 8600
• Note: In 2010, the arena received $45 million facelift, which included additional seating expanding the capacity to over 9100. Upon completion, the facility was renamed the Hank McCamish Pavilion. It continues to be home court for Georgia Tech's basketball teams.

Alexander Memorial Coliseum

1970

• The Guess Who - April 24
• Allman Brothers Band, Smith - May 9
• Blood, Sweat & Tears - 

1971

• Judy Collins - April 17
• Steppenwolf - May 14
• Chicago - October 28 (benefit for Voter Education Project)

1972

• Bread - January 22
• Richie Havens - January 29
• The Beach Boys - March 30
• Ten Years After, Wild Turkey - April 22
• Stephen Stills & Manassas - May 15
• West, Bruce & Laing; Edgar Winter; Mose Jones - October 26

1973

• Yes, Poco, Les Moore - April 19
• Uriah Heep; Earth, Wind & Fire; Tucky Buzzard - September 21
• Loggins & Messina, Mark-Almond, Shawn Phillips  - October 24
• J. Geils Band, Foghat - October 28
• Sly & The Family Stone - November 1
• Black Oak Arkansas, Spooky Tooth - November 22
• Emerson, Lake & Palmer - November 28
• The Isley Brothers - December 8

1974

• Yes - February 11
• Traffic - April 23
• Blue Oyster Cult, Manfred Mann, Hydra - May 4
• Kool and The Gang, Eddie Kendricks, The Bar-Kays - May 5
• Doobie Brothers, Henry Gross - May 11
• Earth, Wind & Fire; Richard Pryor; Chambers Brothers - May 25
• Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hydra - September 20
• Seals & Crofts - November 16
• Black Oak Arkansas, Trapeze, Kiss - November 23

The Allman Brothers Band, Atlanta, July 1971

My teenage self attended the afternoon show, which, no surprise, remains in my top five lifetime concerts. Duane and Berry were still with us that summer...

The Allman Brothers Band,
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Honorary Locals

In the early 1970s, some out-of-town musicians became so ubiquitous in Atlanta that they may as well have been locals. Those who had settled in Macon (e.g., Allman Brothers Band, Wet Willie, Cowboy) were already part of the family, but others hailed from further afield. They played Atlanta clubs and concert venues frequently, and built devoted followings in the city. South Carolina's Marshall Tucker Band and Florida's Lynyrd Skynyrd are maybe most obvious, but these others gained an early toehold in Atlanta as well. Club venues ranging from the tiny 12th Gate to the larger Richards drew the best. Part of the draw and interaction within those clubs was the physical layout: an approachable open stage adjacent to tabled seating, devoid of extreme risers or other off-putting barriers. In contrast, a venue like Alex Cooley's Electric Ballroom, though technically a club, created a distinct division between audience and performer with a high elevated stage, seating at a distance, and a deafening* barricade of PA equipment flanking the performers. It was simply not very friendly to spontaneous, organic interaction.

Little Feat at the 150-seat 12th Gate in 1971,
for only ONE DOLLAR.

California's Little Feat spent a lot of time in Atlanta early on, as their longtime fans know. In January 1971 they were playing the cozy 12th Gate on 10th Street; by October 1974 they were opening for Traffic at The Omni coliseum. In between were numerous bookings at Richards and return visits to the 12th Gate.
Country rock jamband Goose Creek Symphony hailed from Arizona and Kentucky. After appearing with Bobbie Gentry on The Ed Sullivan Show, they joined Jimi Hendrix and the Allman Brothers at the 1970 Atlanta International Pop Festival. They played for free in Piedmont Park, and also became familiar from bookings at the 12th Gate, The Great Southeast Music Hall, and Richards. (Update 3/23/15: In late 1971, the band actually pulled up roots and moved to Atlanta.)

May 1973, Cactus was booked at Richards.
Johnny Winter and Gregg Allman dropped in.

Texas bluesman Johnny Winter would pop up everywhere in Atlanta. He frequently was booked in the city for concerts, but he was also one who loved to jam and would just show up in clubs unannounced. It is undeniable that altered states were part of the musical chemistry of the time. I recall Winter laid out flat on his back on the stage floor of Richards late one night playing brilliantly unbounded blues solos while sitting (or lying) in. (Might have been that week in May 1973 when Cactus–the Mike Pinera/Duane Hitchings incarnation–headlined. Gregg Allman also sat in that week.)

Charlie Daniels (right) onstage with Leonard Cohen c. 1971

Another familiar drop-in was Charlie Daniels, a Nashville fixture originally from North Carolina. By 1970 Daniels was already renown and respected for his songwriting and musicianship across multiple genres, especially country and bluegrass, working with the likes of Bob Dylan, Marty Robbins, The Youngbloods, Leonard Cohen, and many others. He stepped quite naturally into the arena of Southern Rock as it evolved. Anyone who's ever been around him knows the formidable presence of the man: a tall mountain brimming with big-heartedness. Like Johnny Winter, he would show up unexpectedly in a club to spontaneously jam, no matter the genre. The most interesting impromptu collaboration I ever witnessed was the time Daniels stepped onstage at Richards to jam with British rocker Terry Reid, who appeared as surprised as everyone else. Charlie Daniels towered over elfin Reid, and brought out his fiddle to accompany Reid's reflective folk/blues/rock from his then-new River LP that verged at times on jazz abstraction. I wish there was a photo in existence of the unlikely duo. Their strange musical mesh worked, though, and lifted the room to someplace entirely new.

Bonnie &  Delaney Bramlett with Duane Allman

Icing on the cake was the camaraderie of the musicians themselves. It was still a time when love of music prevailed and contract restrictions were much looser than today. Also key was that the time period was pre-handheld devices, pre-social media, and pre-paparazzi. There was more freedom of movement and more respect for privacy. The players showed up for each other, and late-set jams became the stuff of legend. Credit must be given to Duane Allman, too. During his time as a session player in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, he drew many musicians to Georgia, including California-based Boz Scaggs and Delaney & Bonnie Bramlett. (Even after the spouses split in 1973, Bonnie Bramlett, on her own, was booked frequently in Atlanta.) There was no shortage of talent, no matter which direction you turned.

*I permanently lost hearing in my right ear there during a Bill Bruford performance in August 1979 while taking photographs from stage right.