Duane jamming up a storm in St. Paul on July 24, 1971.
Wail on, Skydog!
The picture I took it from.
Courtesy of Billastro, a newspaper review on one of their performances in Minnesota earlier that year. You can tell from it just how unknown they still were in some parts, and how impressively they played.
Posted by floridacracker at September 27, 2006 12:08 AM
Allman Brothers Perform in St. Paul
Minneapolis Tribune; 3/26/71
by Scott Bartell"The Allman Brothers, playing in O'Shaugnnessy Auditorium at the College of St. Catherine Thursday night, turned out to be just what this reviewer needed -- a spoonful of lovin' music, blues, and a little more.
"The Litter, a local group that has cut some albums and toured the country, came on as a warm-up band but hardly even got warmed up themselves. As I remember, they used to be more interesting -- now they just seem affected, especially on their farther out numbers. But they got a bad deal on the sound system and a lot of time was wasted.
"Their last song, an original piece of pseudo-Fifties rock'n'roll called "Ozone," was pretty good, though, and they got through it all right. I began to feel comfortable with the Auditorium -- when things were working properly, it felt like a clean Fillmore East.
"The Allman Brothers inherited their share of electronic flak, too, but soon got past it and really played.
"They began with some short, tight blues like 'Statesboro Blues' and 'Someday Baby' ['Trouble No More'], which showed just how together they really are. The two drummers provided a fine rhythmic drive, subtle but confident, and one man alternated on piano and organ while doing the vocals in a strong, husky 'black' blues voice; meanwhile the two lead guitarists traded fluent riffs with the support of a very able bassist.
"As they went on, each song got longer and further out, until their sixth one became almost a concerto in length and variety of musical ideas: begining in a slow Latin-style tempo, the guitarists and organist traded breaks that really wed technique and spirit, while the others changed and evolved around them. It must have lasted 20 minutes, as did their final number, 'You Don't Love Me, Baby.' But time seemed to stop as the Allman Brotehrs Blues Band played and then trasncended the blues.
"Some people protested at the lack on an encore, but it seemed plenty to me. Lack-luster emcee Marilyn of KQRS was unable to explain why the musicians had to quit because her microphone also went dead."
Thanks Donnah and Bill. You know, there's probably lots of gold to mine out there in the [microfiche?] archives of newspapers; loved that contemporaneous 1st impression point of view in the review; reminds me of how I 'discovered' Stevie Ray Vaughn: bored one Sunday afternoon back in the late 80's-early 90's, I was clicking through various channels trying to find SOMETHING decent to watch on the tube. As I flashed thru the local PBS station, I paused about 5 seconds as they showed some guy playing outdoors to a small crowd at a blues festival in New Orleans; that 5 seconds (on my crappy tv set)was all it took and I have been a SRV fan ever since.
Genius is usually self evident.
Anyway, I'm glad those Norwegians got to see the ABB live...
Posted by: carl in atlanta at September 27, 2006 06:38 AMThanks for the smile..Donnah, AND Carl from Adlanna
I wonder if an elf killed the mike.. Actually, that is hilarious. The emcee couldn't respond because her mic went dead also.
What, were the 'Lovin' Spoonful' popular in der Minnersoda ?? Sure sounds like it from the opening statement.
I agree with Carl all over the place on this review of the review..it sure sounded like somebody got to see Duane and the boys.
We need to start cheering Donnah on, I know her
technique won't allow her to use a 'Wednesday Pic' twice (it's bad literary prose) so anything beyond this is worthy of a good beer chugging chant..
post Donnah, post... heh..
Thanks Donnah !
come to think of it, maybe Skydog's story is the ultimate favorite dog story of Florida Cracker's..or something like that. oops, I'm late.
Posted by: csason at September 27, 2006 07:07 AM"a very able bassist" indeed!
Posted by: richard at September 27, 2006 07:49 AMJust got the notice that Skydog:The Duane Allman Story, will ship early around Oct 5 - 7. I can't wait.
Posted by: Willard at September 27, 2006 09:25 AMHi guys (and Donnah),
Greetings from The Netherlands. Just to let you know there's a fan out there. As I write, I'm listening to the Blue sky live version on an ABB remix CD that just came in the mail. Awesome, both the music and the feeling of him playing more from the grave, so to speak, after believing for decades that I had all his music there was to be had.
Coming back to an earlier discussionhere: yes, Duane could half miss notes, push too far or pull too little. Even so, and in spite of the speed and what not, no musician I know of was ever closer to playing straight from the astral world.
He'll wail on indeed, long after we left here.
Peter
Glad y'all enjoyed it. Yes, Skydog's is definitely my favorite dog story.
I'm looking forward to getting the book too, Willard.
I love the whole florida cracker website and especially the Duane Allman pic of the week ...that is "Layla Les Paul" it looks like ...and it is so sad as today is my 48th birthday and Duane was only 24 when he died ???Amazing to live so much in so short of a life ...I wander would the Bros had all of them lived would they still be together ...and would the music have been as diverse or lasting I guess we will never know....
Posted by: Greg Henderson at September 28, 2006 10:12 AMThat looks like a junior, unless the film is just
too grainy to see clearly. Maybe it's the film over my eyeballs..
Thanks to wing. He knows why.
Great pic.