Post by the Scribe on May 1, 2012 17:45:39 GMT -5
Just something interesting to add to this thread from the old forum:
ronstadt-linda.com/v-web/bulletin/velco2/viewtopic.php?t=3363&highlight=swampwater
:format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/A-2339339-1460243708-8719.jpeg.jpg)
John Beland
Tele-Holic
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Brenham Texas
Posts: 829 LINDA RONSTADT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A few folks here have asked me what it was like to have worked with Linda Ronstadt (1970 / 72), so here goes in a nutshell form.
Linda was alot of fun to work with . Back then we were all basically kids with a long future ahead of us and music was the dominating thing in all our lives, before drugs and image came along a few years later.
We all got our start at this great little club on Santa Monica and Doheney in L.A called the Troubadour. It was an old folk club owned by a guy named Doug Weston. The Troub had a small bar just outside the showroom where everyone who was anyone in pop & folk music hung out.
Regulars were people like actors Harry Dead Stanton, Johnny Crawford, Ed Begley Jr and players like Doug Dillard, Hoyte Axton, Gene Clark along with appearances every so often by Jim Morrison, Jose Feliciano, Janice Joplin, Tim Buckley and others.
The new crop of kids who were showing up at the time I landed in 67 were Linda Ronstadt , Jackson Brown, Glen Frey, John David Souther, Clarence White, Mary McCaslin, Bernie Leadon, Larry Murray and Steve Martin (yep..same guy).
On Monday nights there would be an open mike Hoot Night ,where everyone got onstage and played for about 15 minutes. Sometimes big shots like Gordon Lightfoot and even John Lennon would stumble onstage from the bar to do a few songs. Alot of acts did their first showcases there, and I saw it all. bands like Poco, The Carpenters, Steve Martin, Jackson Brown, Longbranch & Pennywhistle,The Association, the Byrds and even the Flying Burrito Brothers.
In 68 I audtioned and got the gig with Spanky & Our Gang, then called One Mans Family. They lived in Topanga Canyon and their neighbor was Linda Ronstadt.
She liked my playing and I liked her!!! We went out on a date a few times and she tried to persuade me into joing her for her first solo venture. I turned it down because One Mans Family was about to hit the road and offered more money than Linda offered ($250.00 a week).
However, when One Mans Family broke up in Chicago, I headed back west and joined up with Linda. Together we formed her first solo band Swampwater, where I met my future lifelong partner Gib Guilbeau, whoo in turn introduced me to his buddies Clarence White and Gene Parsons.
Linda was funny, energetic and absolutely the best damned singer in pop and country music at the time. We killed em onstage every night..blew all other acts on the bill off stage including Van Morrison and Johnny Winter.
We did no dugs..our choice. We didnt need them as we had so much fun. It was an electric time and we all knew it.
I played a 68 and then a 1956 Fender Tele and instaled a primitive BBender on it and played thru a Fender Twin. No effects other than my BBender. We toured with no cases for the amps..just plywood nailed to the grill cloth and shipped as luggage. LOL
Together we did the Grand Ol Opry, Johnny Cash Show, Big Sur Pop Festival...It was amazing. Linda never demanded we play anything other than what we felt. Those were wonderful days..historic times..She was a sweetheart..definitely and forever the REAL "Sweetheart Of The Rodeo."
JB
www.johnbeland.com
Geeez guys....Excuse my spelling from on the previous post. I wrote it during my first coffee.....Guess I was excited about answering a post regarding Linda.
Hope you liked it....despitie the horrible grammar.
JB
www.johnbeland.com
Funny...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Funny...as young and as green as we were back then, we knew we were good, real good. We appreciated the moment and the historical significance of it, even at 20 years old. Kinda like being young and playing right field for the 61 Yankees.
JB
www.johnbeland.com
John,
Did you do those shows with her when she was earing the Boy Scout uniform. Must've been round '74 at the Universal Amphitheatre. I was in the Orch pit for that one and it's still one of the most memorable shows I went to. She just killed singing "Crazy".
Here's one for you... I'll be working at place that used to be called Brownsfeat back in the 70's on Lankershim in North Hollywood. I do a bunch of stuff there actually. Bill who owns The Alley in NoHo owns the building. It used to be Jackson Brownes and Little Feats private rehearsal studio. All wood and denim, pretty funky! Still has Jacson's ramblings about the songs and liner notes for Running on Empty, now permanently frammed into the wall. Lotta mojo in there!
Do you remember this place at all?
Hey Andy
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No man, I worked with her long before the girl scout uniform..Her outfit was strictly mini-skirt and bare feet (see pic of her and I on my website).
Man, "The ALLEY"...Dude I practically lived there. Rehearsed there with Linda, the Bellamy Brothers (74), Kenny Loggins, Johnny Tillotson and Kim Carnes. What a GREAT place!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
JB
www.johnbeland.com
Mike Rice
Friend of Leo's
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Hudson Valley
Age: 51
Posts: 2,245
3 Photos Thanks much John!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have been a consumate Linda Ronstadt fan since the early 70s, enjoying every phase of music that she has evolved through. She's just one of those performers who seems to be able to do no wrong by me. I've seen her perform about a half dozen times which is really quite a bit here in the northeast, this is not an area that she visited an awful lot.
I have a picture of Linda from about 1975 performing at Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, NY. It adorned my desk at work for over a decade, and it's amazing how many people would ask "is that your wife?". "No, is this your planet?". Sadly this didn't make it out of the fire.
Since I can't share my unique Linda picture, let me share what I think is a funny story:
"She appeared at Eisenhower Hall at the West Point Military Academy back in the early 80s. Between songs one of the cadets yelled "Linda, I want to marry you". She just laughed, said "no, you don't want to marry ME", turned and walked toward the band. Then she turned around with this devilish smile and added "but you'd sure love to date me!". The place went crazy!"
Thanks for sharing John!
the complete banter is here:
www.tdpri.com/forum/telecaster-discussion-forum/15666-linda-ronstadt.html
ronstadt-linda.com/v-web/bulletin/velco2/viewtopic.php?t=3363&highlight=swampwater
John Beland
Tele-Holic
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Brenham Texas
Posts: 829 LINDA RONSTADT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A few folks here have asked me what it was like to have worked with Linda Ronstadt (1970 / 72), so here goes in a nutshell form.
Linda was alot of fun to work with . Back then we were all basically kids with a long future ahead of us and music was the dominating thing in all our lives, before drugs and image came along a few years later.
We all got our start at this great little club on Santa Monica and Doheney in L.A called the Troubadour. It was an old folk club owned by a guy named Doug Weston. The Troub had a small bar just outside the showroom where everyone who was anyone in pop & folk music hung out.
Regulars were people like actors Harry Dead Stanton, Johnny Crawford, Ed Begley Jr and players like Doug Dillard, Hoyte Axton, Gene Clark along with appearances every so often by Jim Morrison, Jose Feliciano, Janice Joplin, Tim Buckley and others.
The new crop of kids who were showing up at the time I landed in 67 were Linda Ronstadt , Jackson Brown, Glen Frey, John David Souther, Clarence White, Mary McCaslin, Bernie Leadon, Larry Murray and Steve Martin (yep..same guy).
On Monday nights there would be an open mike Hoot Night ,where everyone got onstage and played for about 15 minutes. Sometimes big shots like Gordon Lightfoot and even John Lennon would stumble onstage from the bar to do a few songs. Alot of acts did their first showcases there, and I saw it all. bands like Poco, The Carpenters, Steve Martin, Jackson Brown, Longbranch & Pennywhistle,The Association, the Byrds and even the Flying Burrito Brothers.
In 68 I audtioned and got the gig with Spanky & Our Gang, then called One Mans Family. They lived in Topanga Canyon and their neighbor was Linda Ronstadt.
She liked my playing and I liked her!!! We went out on a date a few times and she tried to persuade me into joing her for her first solo venture. I turned it down because One Mans Family was about to hit the road and offered more money than Linda offered ($250.00 a week).
However, when One Mans Family broke up in Chicago, I headed back west and joined up with Linda. Together we formed her first solo band Swampwater, where I met my future lifelong partner Gib Guilbeau, whoo in turn introduced me to his buddies Clarence White and Gene Parsons.
Linda was funny, energetic and absolutely the best damned singer in pop and country music at the time. We killed em onstage every night..blew all other acts on the bill off stage including Van Morrison and Johnny Winter.
We did no dugs..our choice. We didnt need them as we had so much fun. It was an electric time and we all knew it.
I played a 68 and then a 1956 Fender Tele and instaled a primitive BBender on it and played thru a Fender Twin. No effects other than my BBender. We toured with no cases for the amps..just plywood nailed to the grill cloth and shipped as luggage. LOL
Together we did the Grand Ol Opry, Johnny Cash Show, Big Sur Pop Festival...It was amazing. Linda never demanded we play anything other than what we felt. Those were wonderful days..historic times..She was a sweetheart..definitely and forever the REAL "Sweetheart Of The Rodeo."
JB
www.johnbeland.com
Geeez guys....Excuse my spelling from on the previous post. I wrote it during my first coffee.....Guess I was excited about answering a post regarding Linda.
Hope you liked it....despitie the horrible grammar.
JB
www.johnbeland.com
Funny...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Funny...as young and as green as we were back then, we knew we were good, real good. We appreciated the moment and the historical significance of it, even at 20 years old. Kinda like being young and playing right field for the 61 Yankees.
JB
www.johnbeland.com
John,
Did you do those shows with her when she was earing the Boy Scout uniform. Must've been round '74 at the Universal Amphitheatre. I was in the Orch pit for that one and it's still one of the most memorable shows I went to. She just killed singing "Crazy".
Here's one for you... I'll be working at place that used to be called Brownsfeat back in the 70's on Lankershim in North Hollywood. I do a bunch of stuff there actually. Bill who owns The Alley in NoHo owns the building. It used to be Jackson Brownes and Little Feats private rehearsal studio. All wood and denim, pretty funky! Still has Jacson's ramblings about the songs and liner notes for Running on Empty, now permanently frammed into the wall. Lotta mojo in there!
Do you remember this place at all?
Hey Andy
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No man, I worked with her long before the girl scout uniform..Her outfit was strictly mini-skirt and bare feet (see pic of her and I on my website).
Man, "The ALLEY"...Dude I practically lived there. Rehearsed there with Linda, the Bellamy Brothers (74), Kenny Loggins, Johnny Tillotson and Kim Carnes. What a GREAT place!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
JB
www.johnbeland.com
Mike Rice
Friend of Leo's
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Hudson Valley
Age: 51
Posts: 2,245
3 Photos Thanks much John!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have been a consumate Linda Ronstadt fan since the early 70s, enjoying every phase of music that she has evolved through. She's just one of those performers who seems to be able to do no wrong by me. I've seen her perform about a half dozen times which is really quite a bit here in the northeast, this is not an area that she visited an awful lot.
I have a picture of Linda from about 1975 performing at Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, NY. It adorned my desk at work for over a decade, and it's amazing how many people would ask "is that your wife?". "No, is this your planet?". Sadly this didn't make it out of the fire.
Since I can't share my unique Linda picture, let me share what I think is a funny story:
"She appeared at Eisenhower Hall at the West Point Military Academy back in the early 80s. Between songs one of the cadets yelled "Linda, I want to marry you". She just laughed, said "no, you don't want to marry ME", turned and walked toward the band. Then she turned around with this devilish smile and added "but you'd sure love to date me!". The place went crazy!"
Thanks for sharing John!
the complete banter is here:
www.tdpri.com/forum/telecaster-discussion-forum/15666-linda-ronstadt.html
