TICKETS TORN IN HALF:THE DOORS/ LONNIE MACK- JANUARY 18,1970@ FELT FORUM

18 Friday Jan 2019

Posted by MICHAEL C. HODGKISS in #WhiteBoyBlues, Madison Square Garden, Rock music, The Doors, Ticket Stubs, Vinyl Records

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TICKETS TORN IN HALF:THE DOORS/ LONNIE MACK- JANUARY 18,1970@ FELT FORUM

A few days shy of my 18th birthday and I’m feeling like a veteran rock n roller having attended a shit load of concerts.Yet,I was still a bit naive. The entire crew at work, even us part timers got a nice Christmas bonus which I spent on new slacks, cut perfectly for my skinny body, a nice pullover, a new jacket with almost matching boots, and two tickets to see one of my girlfriend’s favorite band THE DOORS, Sunday, January 18,1970 at The FELT FORUM, my second shot at seeing this legendary band.If I could have I would have begged off but didn’t. Again,as last year, the rants and poems by Morrison while the group played a pedestrian beat in the background made me think…ah, he (Morrison) is not that good.Yet the women in the crowd loved him, they actually roared with delight at his antics and his profanity. Lonnie Mack opened the show and was as good as last time I saw him. John Sebastian joined the Doors on harmonica for the opening tune ROADHOUSE BLUES. And my stroll around The Forum almost got me arrested. Good thing I am fast and the security guard fell on the stairs when he grabbed me.

It was a long night, with a late start to the show, and a missed train for a ride home, I was getting nervous knowing that I had classes in the morning, midterm exams.The sun was about to rise as our train pulled into town, arriving home a few minutes before my folks woke up for work. I went upstairs and set my alarm hoping against hope for some shuteye, but alas, no. Pop called up to me, “Time to get up, Mary”, his pet name for me because of my hair. I washed my face, brushed my teeth, got a cup of coffee and lit a smoke. As I exhaled I wondered ,“What the hell am I doing? That show was not worth it.” I took a shower, dressed and heading off to high school.

THE DOORS were a staple in my listening pleasure over the years.After hearing about this band from my older music loving neighbors I bought the “Light My Fire” single and the first album on their recommendation. Good stuff, I thought. To my surprise the second album “Strange Days” was purchased for me by my Dad after he saw an ad for its release in a record store window in Greenwich Village. Why he bought it for me I’ll never know but I liked that he did and I enjoyed the record.
While I was working as an intern in NYC (Summer 1968)I bought “Waiting For The Sun” which I thought was the start of the end, a downward spiral, for the group. Then, “The Soft Parade” which compared to the releases of the same period (a few weeks before Woodstock Festival) shows that THE DOORS were reaching for straws here…horns, etc …pop music, yuck.
So this is my introduction to THE DOORS, four albums worth of tunes before I see them live for the first time, January of 1969. While that show is their first attempt at arena rock it is considered to be one of their “shining moments” by their legions of die hards. I was just okay with it. Now, it’s my second shot and we find a drunken, bearded, and “slightly” overweight Morrison. Well,anyway, the musicians were great. The entire show has been released live, check it out…it will prove my point.

from pitchfork review.
The rest of the band is here to support the star, and it never lets him down: The Doors were a loose, groovy, and ferocious combo, here playing a setlist that sticks to rock and blues and skips all the winsome and folky stuff that cluttered up Waiting for the Sun and The Soft Parade. Organist Ray Manzarek played the hooks that turned songs like “Hello, I Love You” into pop hits, but here he’s focused on driving the rhythm section. Even his legendary solo on “Light My Fire” changes in concert from a melodic improvisation to a jam that climaxes in frustration, as you can hear him stabbing the keys with all ten fingers and wishing he had another ten besides. On the other hand, guitarist Robby Krieger is ferocious right from the riff of “Roadhouse Blues”, and he makes their cover of Bo Diddley’s “Who Do You Love” one of the best recordings the Doors ever made.

Twenty one dates after this night…july 3, 1971 and Mr.Mojo Risen is dead.

ON THE TURNTABLE- Best of 1969

11 Friday Jan 2019

Posted by MICHAEL C. HODGKISS in #WhiteBoyBlues, Blind Faith, ColumbiaRecordClub, Creedence, CSNY, DYLAN, Elektra Records, Eric Clapton, Fillmore East, Fleetwood Mac, Grateful Dead, Hot Rats, Jefferson Airplane, Jethro Tull, Jimmy Page, Joe Cocker, Kevin Patrick, Led Zeppelin, Madison Square Garden, MC5, Neil Young, Ray Davies, Rock music, rock music trivia, Stooges, The Beatles, The Doors, The Grease Band, The KinKs, THE MOTHERS of INVENTION, The radio, The Stones, The Who, The Yardbirds, Ticket Stubs, Trap Set, Uncategorized, Vinyl Records, Woodstock, Zappa

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ON THE TURNTABLE -1969:

Putting out my BEST OF for this past year made me nostalgic in a way. So I dug out some listings from yesteryear and over the next few weeks I’ll post a few.My brother and I actual compiled lists of our favorite records but this listing is from most of the records I bought that year, in no particular order or preference.

It’s 1969 and my record collection was growing in leaps and bounds. Seems like the more money I had the more records I bought. However, my stereo was not what one would expect of a serious record collector. I was using an old split speaker (in a case) record player propped up on my desk. But hey, the sucker did the job. That and my portable single speaker cassette player tucked along side my portable PANASONIC AM/FM stereo radio made up my “sound system”. I also had an AM/FM radio bedside. A friend had a huge stereo unit, one with humongous speakers,a turntable with a “stylus” no less, but alas he had virtually no records, always borrowing mine.

Records In My Rotation throughout that year included:

The debut album from LED ZEPPELIN “Led Zeppelin”, I bought this early on in the year after a recommendation from my work buddy, Pete, who saw this “unknown” band open for IRON BUTTERFLY. This album was amazing and it took me a few days to realize that this JIMMY PAGE was the same JIMMY PAGE from THE YARDBIRDS. Later, in the year after its release and after seeing the band live twice I copped LED ZEPPELIN II. Geez, these recordings were unique, and the band was …WOW.

THE BEATLES “Abbey Road” was and still is a hard listen for me, yet when it first was released I played it continuously, usually picking out a song or two before moving on to some other record .It was probably the Harrison tunes that I liked the most.

THE WHO “Tommy” is another difficult record to listen to all the way through, but that year I did see the band perform “Tommy” in its entirety twice, and I must say, live WHO was better than any record.

KING CRIMSON’S “In The Court Of The Crimson King”was/is a great record, one that for its time was truly original. This band blew me away when I saw them in the fall of 69, opening for FLEETWOOD MAC and JOE COCKER. After their 34 minute set, I bought the album the next payday. Speaking of FLEETWOOD MAC “Then Play On”( their 3rd album) drew me to see them live and I became a PETER GREEN fan that night. This collection showed the originals of the name sake take their blues influenced and mostly refurbished recordings a step further. I must have recited the opening of “Oh, Well-Part 1” a million times to friends, to the point where I was annoying. I still am, say some. And JOE COCKER’s “With A Little Help From My Friends” which I grabbed in the early summer after hearing some of his tunes on the radio and before seeing him and THE GREASE BAND open for The AIRPLANE at FILLMORE EAST was a goodie, but again, live he was a trip.

Also, there was NEIL YOUNG’s masterpiece “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere”, along with FRANK ZAPPA’s “Hot Rats” which help change my musical perspective and soon led me to CAPTAIN BEEFHEART “Trout Mask Replica”.

Two debuts, one from CROSBY, STILLS AND NASH, a summer hit and Blind Faith’s one and only official release, which I thought was a mess, as was their show at MADISON SQUARE GARDEN. “Nashville Skyline” by BOB DYLAN was a pleasant surprise, even my POP liked it, well, it had JOHNNY CASH on it.THE FLYING BURRITO BROS “Gilded Palace of Sin” was a good pick up and ISAAC HAYES’ “Hot Buttered Soul” arrived unannounced when I did not respond in time to a record company selection deadline but boy was I glad I got that gem. CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY’s debut double set before they shortened their name to CHICAGO, and coincidentally was the only record I ever bought by them. JETHRO TULL’s “Stand Up” was a mainstay on the turntable along with the profane MC5’s “Kick Out The Jams” which was played on minimal volume as not to upset the parents. And then there was the profanity nestled in JEFFERSON AIRPLANE’s “Volunteers” another record which kept a low profile when played.

I practiced my drums listening to THE GRATEFUL DEAD’s “Live Dead” but was not enthused with The DOORS “Soft Parade”, and

PINK FLOYD’s Ummagumma was, well, just listen to “Careful With That Axe ,Eugene” and wonder why my Mom would yell, “What is that? Please, no more.” She didn’t particularly enjoy THE STOOGES “The Stooges”, either, no matter how many times I played it. Speaking of Mom’s taste, THE VELVET UNDERGROUND “The Velvet Underground” was more to her liking as was THE KINKS “Arthur”.

JOHN MAYALL’s “Turning Point” was bought the same day as PHAROAH SANDER’s “Karma”, late 1969. Both late night incense burning albums.

and of course, THE ROLLING STONES Beggar’s Banquet which never left my turntable and the follow-up release Let It Bleed (see blog Oct. 20, 2018)

PROCUL HARUM’s “A Salty Dog” which was actually my kid brother’s record found it’s way into my room many a night, along with his SLY and The FAMILY STONE’s “Stand” and JANIS JOPLIN’s “I Got Dem Ole Kosmic Blues Again Mama” but not any of his CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL or his “Odessa” by THE BEE GEES. Just the red felt cover on that one turned my stomach. Continue reading →

TICKETS TORN IN HALF:October 21,1977-ROD STEWART

21 Sunday Oct 2018

Posted by MICHAEL C. HODGKISS in #WhiteBoyBlues, Madison Square Garden, Rock music, Rod Stewart, Ticket Stubs, Uncategorized, Vinyl Records

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TICKETS TORN IN HALF:October 21,1977-ROD STEWART @ MSG(WPLJ button)ROD THE MODS first solo tour circa HOT LEGS days with Carmine Appice on drums, which is a bit overkill if you ask me,especially during the extended version (Vanilla Fudge style) YOU KEEP ME HANGING ON.I miss THE FACES.

Faces

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD: Chapter 33-HONKY TONKYING

20 Saturday Oct 2018

Posted by MICHAEL C. HODGKISS in #WhiteBoyBlues, blue eyed soul, Fillmore East, Fleetwood Mac, Joe Cocker, Madison Square Garden, Rock music, TERRY REID, The British Invasion (1964-1966), The Stones, Ticket Stubs, Uncategorized, Vinyl Records

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ROCK’S IN MY HEAD: Chapter 33-HONKY TONKYING

We tried in vain to get STONES tickets for their (1969) MADISON SQUARE GARDEN performance. Skipping school the day tickets went on sale, I took the next train after my Dad’s train so as to not be caught, to Brooklyn and then by subway to my cousin’s house off of Church Ave. When I arrived I asked my aunt not to say anything about me being there to my mom, her sister, when the next spoke. She just smiled. The box office was to open at 10AM, which it did and the shows were SOLD OUT in a manner of minutes. The remaining ticketless crowd, us included, became restless and angry. Not too happy, my cousin and I walked across Seventh Avenue toward the Blarney Rock to get a beer (phony ID worked since summer of 68 on Wall Street but no one asks for proof) when we were confronted by a drunken “hard hat” who harassed us about long hair. It’s only noon and this dude is loaded. Sorry dude, wrong day, wrong guys, now you will find out that long haired kids who are pissed can fight. Down he went. Screw him. John left him crying in the street before putting a cigarette out on the guys forehead, all in front of a small crowd who did absolutely nothing, no lie, they just watched. After a few beers in THE ROCK I was back on the train home before my folks knew I missed school. My aunt never told her sister.

However, The Rock Gods must have found redemption as a few night later before going to the FILLMORE EAST for a Joe Cocker Show, I hit the Garden Box Office and obtained eight (8) tickets at 5 bucks each for a newly announced afternoon matinee show of… The Rolling Stones, Ike and Tina Turner and Terry Reid@ MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, November 28, 1969, the day after Thanksgiving at 2PM. Hallelujah, I’m in.

Trouble seemed to pop up when I least expected it. Never having a curfew I was free to come and go as I pleased since I was 14 with one caveat, “Remember who you are, you carry our name”. In other words, “Don’t screw up”. One night, I had a slight verbal disagreement with my mom before going out with my friends to a house party. Mom was an obsessive cleaner and re-arranger of furniture. Me returning from the party about 2 AM, fully buzzed, quite intoxicated, and not knowing the kitchen table had been moved, bumped right into it, knocking over a chair with me falling to the floor. Lights on…Oh NOOOO. Mom was livid. She said Dad would deal with me. He came upstairs to my room, asking me if I was drinking, Yes I said, he said go to bed. That was it.

Mom not satisfied the next morning with my light sentence announced….No shows for a while. WHAT? But THE STONES!!!!! “NO,” she said, “sell the tickets, you are not going”. So maybe The Rock Gods did not find me in good standing.

Eight tickets, four for my cousin as promised with the four remaining for me. Geez, I was distraught. Dad said privately that I should give it a few days for it to blow over. YESSSS, I thought. “But”,he added….”But, what?”,I questioned. “You need to take your sister and brother with you”. But DAD?

So my sister being all of 11 was going to see the Stones, my brother at 16 was ecstatic, my girlfriend was not happy as unbeknownst to me she had promised the other two tickets to “her” friends,WHAT? She didn’t even ask me, me the guy who bought the tickets.Yet life was still good, it’s The STONES man and I’m going . Oh yeah, I also had to cut my hair, short.

Beggars Banquet :

The Best Album of 1969 even though it was released in December of 1968, BEGGAR’S BANQUET was my most played album of 1969. I got that record the moment it was released and it very rarely left my turntable for one full year. Side 1, Side 2, back to Side 1, and on and on. There are very few albums I can said that about, very few albums I listen to in its entirety without getting bored by a clunker or two. I was enamored by this collection of Stones tunes. The slick printed cover (American version which was completely different from the British cover), the photo spread inside, and the music. These songs were individually and collectively a great relief, a wonderful change in direction from the ROLLING STONES ’67 set of THEIR SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST, which I owned but never played all the way through. The only tunes I liked on TSMR were 2000 LIGHT YEARS FROM HOME and SHE’S A RAINBOW. The rest were rubbish.

Before SATANIC MAJESTIES I was stuck on BETWEEN THE BUTTONS(1967) (US version), especially side 1 which we played endlessly at my buddy George’s house.TSMR is/was nothing like BUTTONS. But then, BEGGAR’S BANQUET is released and with that a new STONES approach to the blues.The BB album was the real deal, and foreshadowed what would become of the STONES over the next few years and releases. To my ears Beggar’s Banquet was a Keith album as Brian Jones due to “personal reasons” is limited here to slide guitar on NO EXPECTATIONS, a harmonica on PARACHUTE WOMAN, DEAR DOCTOR and PRODIGAL SON. It was the last ROLLING STONES album to be released during Brian Jones’ life.

Side One Track 1, SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL, just listen to the title before you put the needle down, WHAT? Sympathy for whom? Are you kidding me? Conga, screams, maracas, Nicky Hopkins on piano, and THE WORDS…PLEASE TO MEET YOU, seriously this is not Satanic Majesties at all. WOW.Then the voices, Get down,hit it, guitar riffs…six minutes plus of sheer ecstasy . I danced around my room so many times shaking imaginary maracas.

Track 2:NO EXPECTATIONS, Keith on acoustic, Brian in a semi-sober moment plays slide. Bill with a few bass thuds,I still play this tune on my guitar, “never in my sweet short life have I felt like this before”.

Track 3: DEAR DOCTOR, humorous to say the least..”Help me please Doctor I’m damaged”…“preserve it right there in that jar”. Sang this tune with like minded folks,we being very poor off keyed singers after a few cocktails.

Track 4:PARACHUTE WOMAN: acoustic guitar, electric guitar, some echo added to vocals, and Charlie beating it down, “join me for a ride”.

Track 5: JIGSAW PUZZLE: The drum beat is awesome, I played it thousands of time, Charlie was the man. “Me, I waiting so patiently, lying on the floor”.

SIDE TWO Track 1 STREET FIGHTING MAN: The guitar intro and then the drums…this was the tune revolutionaries were using as their theme song, well, pseudo- revolutionaries. Hey, it was a sign of the times.

Track 2: PRODIGAL SON: Not a Stones tune but a remake that they called their own.Charlie’s high hat work is exceptional, Mick’s vocals is a take on a blues man.

Track 3: STRAY CAT BLUES: This was sex, straight out.”I bet your mama don’t know you can scream like that”…

Track 4: FACTORY GIRL: I first thought this was the same riff from 2000 light years, but no. As I was working in a factory at the time this tune made so much sense.”Waiting for a factory girl…”

Track 5: SALT OF THE EARTH: This is the one that did it for me. Aren’t we all salt of the earth? and when the drums kick in….”Let’s drink to the uncounted heads”…these words made so much sense to me…and then the mention…. “A choice of cancer or polio”.

Salt Of The Earth

The Rolling Stones

Let’s drink to the hard working people

Let’s drink to the lowly of birth

Raise your glass to the good and the evil

Let’s drink to the salt of the earth

Say a prayer for the common foot soldier

Spare a thought for his back breaking work

Say a prayer for his wife and his children

Who burn the fires and who still till the earth

And when I search a faceless crowd

A swirling mass of gray and

Black and white

They don’t look real to me

In fact, they look so strange

Raise your glass to the hard working people

Let’s drink to the uncounted heads

Let’s think of the wavering millions

Who need leaders but get gamblers instead

Spare a thought for the stay-at-home voter

His empty eyes gaze at strange beauty shows

And a parade of the gray suited grafters

A choice of cancer or polio

And when I look in the faceless crowd

A swirling mass of grays and

Black and white

They don’t look real to me

Or don’t they look so strange

Let’s drink to the hard working people

Let’s think of the lowly of birth

Spare a thought for the rag taggy people

Let’s drink to the salt of the earth

Let’s drink to the hard working people

Let’s drink to the salt of the earth

Let’s drink to the two thousand million

Let’s think of the humble of birth

So, I’m stuck on the STONES, not really shouting it out but I do like their most recent stuff (1968) more than the Beatles or anyone else at this time. Then, LET IT BLEED is released …

LET IT BLEED December 1969, I have it before Christmas and bought another copy to give my girlfriend as part of her Christmas gift package.

SIDE ONE: Track 1; GIMME SHELTER, Merry Clayton, just a shout away. Charlie hitting the cymbals, harp playing. fade out, nicely done.

Track 2: LOVE IN VAIN: another stolen tune, but one that everyone, including me plays.I saw FACES do this one night and after they finished Rod Stewart said, “I gave it a try but Mick owns it”.

Track 3:COUNTRY HONK: Didn’t make sense until you put it in perspective of HONKY TONK WOMAN. I really like this tune. Thanks Graham, I know this was you.

Track 4:LIVE WITH ME: Charlie lays it down, Bill bass lines are straight on, …“Don’t you think there is a place for you between the sheets”. What a great line but don’t try to use it. Bobby Keys nails this solo on sax, and I actually tried at the time of release to find out who this guy was.

SIDE 2: Track 1:LET IT BLEED:”There will always be a space in my parking lot”…No longer is music “I Wanna Hold your hand” we are now in a dirty, filthy basement, yeah man.

Track 2:MIDNIGHT RAMBLER: I had no idea what to make of this song, played it hundreds of times, trying to decipher what it was. THEN, I saw it live. My Lord. Now I knew. And about that moment I saw it live the ROLLING STONES became one of my all time favorite live bands.

Track 3:YOU GOT THE SILVER:It’s KEITH, say no more.The future of THE STONES.Brian is in there somewhere, so they say, but I don’t hear him.

Track 4:MONKEY MAN: A bit of Satantic Majesties kick off but then “all my friends are junkies” we are going down fast…I’m glad you are a monkey woman ,too”. Nicely, done.The guitars are intense.

Track 5: YOU CAN’T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT: No words describe what I heard as a 17 year old male. The chorus, the horn, the acoustic guitar, Mick’s intro, “ but if you try sometimes, you might find you get what you need”….are they talking to me?

It’s the STONES I played all of 1969, saw a few others bands, but 1969 was…THE STONES and I saw them.

TICKETS TORN IN HALF:October 16,1999-(Solo)ELTON JOHN

16 Tuesday Oct 2018

Posted by MICHAEL C. HODGKISS in Elton John, Madison Square Garden, Rock music, Ticket Stubs, Uncategorized

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TICKETS TORN IN HALF:October 16,1999-(Solo)ELTON JOHN@ Madison Square Garden This tour was also known as “The Greatest Hits Live” and basically it was.

TICKETS TORN IN HALF:OCTOBER 14,1984-ELTON JOHN (my 8th time) and Four years later: October 18,1988-ELTON JOHN (9TH time) @MSG

14 Sunday Oct 2018

Posted by MICHAEL C. HODGKISS in #WhiteBoyBlues, Elton John, Madison Square Garden, Rock music, Ticket Stubs, Uncategorized, Vinyl Records

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TICKETS TORN IN HALF:OCTOBER 14,1984-ELTON JOHN (my 8th time)@MSG (4 shows in 4 nights and one a month later)

He was so good last time out that we had to see him again.THE BREAKING HEARTS tour was the basic quartet with an additional keyboardist. TINY DANCER and LEVON opened the evening, the hits mixed with new stuff and of course YOUR SONG:Set list:

Tiny Dancer, Levon, Lil ‘Frigerator, Rocket Man, Daniel, Restless, Candle in the Wind, The Bitch Is Back, Who Wears These Shoes, Sad Songs (Say So Much), Bennie And The Jets, Philadelphia Freedom, Blue Eyes, I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues, Kiss the Bride, One More Arrow, I’m Still Standing,Your Song, Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting with two Encores: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Crocodile Rock”

Four years later:

TICKETS TORN IN HALF:October 18,1988-ELTON JOHN (9TH time) @MSG

Sixty Years On

I Need You to Turn To

The King Must Die

Burn Down The Mission

Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word

Have Mercy on the Criminal

Funeral For a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding

Tiny Dancer

The Ballad of Danny Bailey

I Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues

Philadelphia Freedom

The Bitch Is Back

Sad Songs (Say So Much)

A Word in Spanish

Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters 1&2

Daniel

Rocket Man

I Don’t Wanna Go On With You Like That

Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)

Your Song

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

I’m Still Standing

TICKETS TORN IN HALF:October 10,1994-ERIC CLAPTON @ Madison Square Garden /with Jimmie Vaughan & The Tilt-A-Whirl Band

10 Wednesday Oct 2018

Posted by MICHAEL C. HODGKISS in #WhiteBoyBlues, Eric Clapton, Madison Square Garden, Rock music, Ticket Stubs, Uncategorized

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TICKETS TORN IN HALF:October 10,1994-ERIC CLAPTON @ Madison Square Garden /with Jimmie Vaughan & The Tilt-A-Whirl Band

NYT:(partial)Eric Clapton knows he’s taking two kinds of risk with his current tour, which started a two-night stand at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night. Instead of his own hits, he played two hours of vintage blues, including most of the material on his new album, “From the Cradle” (Reprise). One hazard is that he’ll displease fans who want to hear “Layla” or “Tears in Heaven”; he simply declared that if there were requests, “we will ignore them.”

The other problem is more difficult: can Mr. Clapton, who has been an English rock star for nearly three decades, convincingly sing and play music by black Americans from the Mississippi Delta and Chicago? Can the student, with all the diligence and good will in the world, hope to live up to his models? Here, too, he was prepared. Between songs, the video screens that flanked the stage showed old photographs of blues performers, but the opening one was of a theater marquee announcing a “Minstrel Monarch.” The tradition of white musicians’ imitating and profiting from black styles is as old and troubled as American music itself; Mr. Clapton seemed to be admitting that it’s not over, but that he wants to show respect.

His solution was to be part scholar, part rocker. He recreated the arrangements and (as best he could) vocal approaches of songs from Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Ray Charles, Bessie Smith, Albert King, Freddie King, Otis Rush and lesser-known figures like Eddie Boyd, Big Maceo, Jimmy Rogers and Leroy Carr. And he tried to play them so that after a slow start, the music moved beyond homage and rekindled the spirit of the songs.

Set List:

01. Motherless Child

02. Malted Milk

03. How Long Blues

04. Kidman Blues

05. County Jail

06. Forty Four

07. Blues All Day Long (Blues Leave Me Alone)

08. Goin’ Away Baby

09. Standing Around Crying

10. Hoochie Coochie Man

11. It Hurts Me Too

12. Blues Before Sunrise

13. Third Degree

14. Reconsider Baby

15. Sinner’s Prayer

16. Can’t Judge Nobody

17. Someday After A While

18. Tore Down

19. Have You Ever Loved A Woman

20. Crosscut Saw

21. Five Long Years

22. Born Under A Bad Sign

23. Groaning The Blues

24. Crossroads

25. Ain’t Nobody’s Business

26. Sweet Home Chicago *

TICKETS TORN IN HALF:Elton John- 20 Years Apart

09 Tuesday Oct 2018

Posted by MICHAEL C. HODGKISS in #WhiteBoyBlues, Elton John, Fillmore East, Madison Square Garden, Nassau Coliseum, Rock music, Ticket Stubs, Uncategorized, Vinyl Records

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TICKETS TORN IN HALF: October 9,1972-ELTON JOHN “Larry Legs Smith Tour” w/ Sutherland Bros and Quiver@ Nassau Coliseum.This is NOT the ELTON JOHN I saw last few times in smaller venues(Fillmore East twice and Carnegie Hall). He is ready for the big time with big time shows, this being one of those.

Then 20 years to the day, and oh, how things ELTON have changed…

TICKETS TORN IN HALF:October 9,1992-ELTON JOHN “The One Tour”@Madison Square Garden for 7 shows

Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me

I’m Still Standing

I Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues

Philadelphia Freedom

Burn Down The Mission

Tiny Dancer

Simple Life

The One

I Don’t Wanna Go On With You Like That

Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters [Parts one and Two]

Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word

Daniel

The Last Song

Funeral For a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding

Rocket Man

All The Girls Love Alice

Sad Songs (Say So Much)

The Show Must Go On

Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)

The Bitch Is Back

Candle In The Wind

Your Song

TICKETS TORN IN HALF: Led Zeppelin-September 19,1970:

19 Wednesday Sep 2018

Posted by MICHAEL C. HODGKISS in Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin, Madison Square Garden, Uncategorized

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(Show #3)September 19,1970: Led Zeppelin @Madison Square Garden.One year later from when I last saw them and the boys have hit the big time doing an unusual afternooon/ evening performance with one show at 2pm and then another at 8pm. We had four tickets for the 8pm show, where they opened with IMMIGRANT SONG. Geez, the band was so good and getting bigger by the moment. With two albums under their belt, and the third LED ZEPPELIN III to be released a few weeks after this gig.

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD:CHAPTER 34-HONKY TONKING with THE STONES(1969)

18 Tuesday Sep 2018

Posted by MICHAEL C. HODGKISS in #WhiteBoyBlues, blue eyed soul, Kevin Patrick, Madison Square Garden, Rock music, The Stones, Ticket Stubs, Uncategorized

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ROCK’S IN MY HEAD:CHAPTER 34-HONKY TONKING with THE STONES(1969)

Tried in vain to get STONES tickets for their MADISON SQUARE GARDEN performance. Skipping school the day tickets went on sale, I took the train after my Dad’s train so as to not be caught, to Brooklyn and then by subway to my cousin’s house off of Church Ave. When I arrived I asked my aunt not to say anything to my mom, her sister, when the spoke next. She just smiled.The box office was to open at 10AM, which it did and the shows were SOLD OUT in a manner of minutes. The remaining ticketless crowd, us included, became restless and angry. Not too happy, my cousin and I walked across Seventh Avenue toward the Blarney Rock to get a beer (phony ID worked since summer of 68 on Wall Street but no one asks for it) when we were confronted by a drunken “hard hat” who harassed us about long hair. It’s only noon and this dude is loaded. Sorry dude, wrong day, wrong guys, now you will find out that long haired kids who are pissed can fight. Down he went. Screw him. John left him crying in the street before putting a cigarette out on the guys forehead, all in front of a small crowd who did absolutely nothing, no lie, they just watched. After a few beers in THE ROCK I was back on the train home before my folks knew I missed school.My aunt never told her sister.

However, The Rock Gods must have found redemption as a few night later while going to the aforementioned Cocker Show, I hit the Garden Box Office and found eight (8) tickets at 5 bucks each for a newly announced afternoon matinee show of… The Rolling Stones, Ike and Tina Turner and Terry Reid@ MADISON SQUARE GARDEN for November 28, 1969, the day after Thanksgiving at 2PM. Hallelujah, I’m in.

Trouble seemed to pop up when I least expected it. Never having a curfew I was free to come and go as I pleased since I was 14 with one caveat, “Remember who you are, you carry our name”. In other words, “Don’t screw up”. One night, I had a slight verbal disagreement with my mom before going out with my friends to a house party. Mom was an obsessive cleaner and re-arranger of furniture. Me, upon returning from the party about 2 AM, fully buzzed, quite intoxicated, and not knowing the kitchen table had been moved, bumped right into it, knocking over a chair with me falling to the floor. Lights on…Oh NOOOO. Mom was livid. She said Dad would deal with me. He came upstairs to my room, asking me if I was drinking, Yes I said, he said go to bed. That was it.

Mom, not satisfied the next morning with my light sentence announced….No shows for a while. WHAT? But THE STONES!!!!! “NO,” she said, “sell the tickets, you are not going”. So maybe The Rock Gods did not find me in good standing.

So my sister being all of 11 was going to see the Stones, my brother at 16 was ecstatic, my girlfriend was not happy as unbeknownst to me she had promised the other two tickets to “her” friends, the other couple from The KinKs show. WHAT? She didn’t even ask me, me the guy who bought the tickets.Yet life was still good, it’s The STONES man and I’m going .Oh yeah, I also had to cut my hair, short.

Terry Reid (third time for me) was killer as an opening act. Ike and Tina’s Revue was tight but should have been called Tina Turner’s Revue, Then the point I had anticipated, light dimmed and I whispered to my girlfriend, “Watch my sister, I’ll be right back”. My cousin and I strolled the Garden and in short order returned with a nice buzz and , yes ,The Stones. And I won a buck by predicting the opening song, JUMPIN’ JACK FLASH. Easy to win a bet from some stoned freak who did not know the Stones were playing basically the same set every night. My girlfriend knew something was up with me and my cousin.

Beggars Banquet :The Best Album of 1969

Even though it was released in December of 1968, BEGGAR’S BANQUET was my most played album of 1969. I got that record the moment it was released and it very rarely left my turntable for one full year. Side 1, Side 2, back to Side 1, and on and on. There are very few albums I can said that about, very few albums I listen to in its entirety without getting bored by a clunker or two. I was enamored by this collection of Stones tunes. The slick printed cover (American version which was completely different from the British cover), the photo spread inside, and the music. These songs were individually and collectively a great relief, a wonderful change in direction from the ROLLING STONES ’67 set of THEIR SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST, which I owned but never played all the way through. The only tunes I liked on TSMR were 2000 LIGHT YEARS FROM HOME and SHE’S A RAINBOW. The rest were rubbish.

Track 3: DEAR DOCTOR, humorous to say the least..”Help me please Doctor I’m damaged”…“preserve it right there in that jar”. Sang this tune with like minded folks, very poor off keyed singers after a few cocktails.