Bobby Whitlock Versus Keith Emerson

[Piktor]

I see that BW came up in the Joe Cocker thread. I wanted to share this video, because I thought that some of you might enjoy the annecdote. ELP comes up at 4:30.

 

[video:youtube]

There are a number of other BW interviews on that channel.

[Doerfler]

"Did you ever run into Keith Emerson or any of those guys from ELO?"

[Docbop]

Bobby was with Delaney and Bonnie almost from the beginning and through a lot of incarnations of the band. I was a HUGE D&B fan and got to hear D&B both in the studio and solo gigs. I remember seeing D&B with Jim Gordon the organ player not the drummer who replaced Bobby in D&B. That was a hell of a band with Kenny Gradney on bass before he join LIttle Feat. I roadied for Bobby on his first solo tour after Dereck and the Dominos broke up. That was a great band too with Keith Ellis on bass, Eddie Tuduri drums, Rick Vito on guitar, and Bobby on B3. Bobby was a wild and crazy guy back in those days, he's calmed down a lot since then.

 

Funny hearing Bobby talk about ELP and how Emerson beat on his gear. From being a roadie I can say Carl Palmer's reputation with roadies is not good he went thru a lot of them. He was a fanatic on how his drums were to look and the setup had to be done to a ridiculous spec'. They drums had to be set almost touching each other, but if any drums ever clicked against each other when Carl played you're fired. Hey it's loud Rock not a casual drums are going to move when played hard.

[Pa Gherkin]

Interesting that Bobby was unaware that Emerson had the reinforced L100 onstage primarily to be beaten upon and that the C-3 didn"t" suffer such abuse. I presume Emo wanted to use Bobby"s B-3 in place of the C-3. Also interesting that Bobby mistook Emerson"s exhibitionistic stage antics for anger. Obviously these two inhabited totally different worlds. I"m a big fan of both.

[Baldwin Funster]

Pete Townshend was famous for smashing guitars onstage. If he came over at a festival and told you he didnt have a working guitar for their set and can he use your les paul, you got to admit you wouldn't hand it over quickly. Even if pete usually broke prop breakaway guitars.

[Pa Gherkin]

Pete Townshend was famous for smashing guitars onstage. If he came over at a festival and told you he didnt have a working guitar for their set and can he use your les paul, you got to admit you wouldn't hand it over quickly. Even if pete usually broke prop breakaway guitars.

 

Totally agree. Hell, nobody plays on my gear unless it"s someone I know and trust,big name or not. I don"t lend my tools. Bobby did the right thing. Just surprised how unaware he was of Emerson. Two very different and immense talents.

[Legatoboy]

I ran into Bobby at gig I was playing in NJ at the ;Stanhope House'..that club was part of the original Chitlin Circuit... about 13 years ago... he toured then with his then wife as a duo they were playing Sat. we were there for Fri. night's show. ... my wife and I were just sitting by the door in the lobby after setup waiting on soundcheck and he and his wife just walked in the door to check out the venue before hitting their hotel room ... we just started talking they thought we were club management or something .... I asked him if he wanted to sit in with the band and use my rig... I knew the band would be into it...but they had just drivin in from Texas on the last leg of there commute had been on the road for 11+ hours he said and they were shot...easy-peasy to talk to sort of person ... easy going guy with a great southern charm about him... tattooed head to toe, his wife also. I had heard those intimate shows they put on were pretty good. Some folks told us after he had played the Bottom Line not long after that they had a pretty good show as a duo then ...

[Pa Gherkin]

I ran into Bobby at gig I was playing in NJ at the ;Stanhope House.

 

Legatoboy,I think you and I trod a lot of the same ground around the same time. The Stanhope House was a regular stop for the band I was with 13 to 17 years ago. Wasn"t it you which whom I spoke about being booked by Creative Talent Associates in the early seventies or was that someone else here?

[Legatoboy]

I ran into Bobby at gig I was playing in NJ at the ;Stanhope House.

 

Legatoboy,I think you and I trod a lot of the same ground around the same time. The Stanhope House was a regular stop for the band I was with 13 to 17 years ago. Wasn"t it you which whom I spoke about being booked by Creative Talent Associates in the early seventies or was that someone else here?

 

Yes PG it was, Kevin Brenner the whole 9 yards with Creative Talent Assoc. in the 70's... the workshops, etc. We played the 4 'Fore and Aft' clubs a lot through them among others up into Vermont and other points in the North East... the Stanhope House gigs in the earlier 2000's were with the Kerry Kearney Band, we had our own management... Kerry was in Marty Balin's band for along time (5+ years) and 'Starship'(1 tour).. SH is a nice room... not always full, but when it was they'd get a good crowd from over in Pennsylvania from the Water Gap...I enjoyed playing there, a bit of a hike from Queens or LI (close to 2 hours)..but very used to it... my family had a vacation home in Mt Pocono and I've spent many summers in the woods of the PA/Poconos since I was a kid, started going there in 1960. Sort of our family retreat that section of PA/NJ ....really good memories all around

 

What was the name of your band PA?

 

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[Pa Gherkin]

Hey LB, The band Kevin Brenner booked was called Shade (as in ghost). Joined in late '69 and it became my intro to music as a full time job. The band that played Stanhope was 35 years later. I ran into Brenner around '95 when he was managing a large club called Tickets in Amelia N.Y.where I was playing. I flagged him down and had a short conversation but he seemed somewhat foggy regarding the past. First time I ever saw the guy he was playing a masonite Wurly and a Fender Rhodes piano bass in a real old school band called Saints and Sinners opening for Mitch Ryder"s big band ('67-'68?). Did you deal with his partner Marty Hoberman at all? A real piece of work God rest his soul. I recall you were in a band called Arthur,right?

 

I think you and I could really monopolize this thread talking about the good old days but I"ll stop now. Maybe someday we"ll be in the same place/time and crack open a few sarsaparillas and relive our misspent youths and beyond. I"d actually enjoy the hell out of that.

 

Getting back on track I"ll just say I wish I had had the opportunity to meet Bobby W. once he was through being a madman. Seems he"s a really good guy these days.

And hey,let"s hear it for that stomping" N.Y. Sound of the late 60"s early 70"s.

[o0Ampy0o]

"B3 abuse" the protocol for that: the Whitlockdown

 

...instead of "Stay safe" the mantra is "That ain't gonna happen around me!"