This Business Of Show

I an going to go to the Greater Ozarks Blues Festival in Springfield on Saturday. I don’t get the opportunity to see a lot of shows so this should be fun. Johnny Winter is headlining on the night I’m going.

I was just looking at some reviews of old Johnny Winter albums. It’s kind of funny, a lot of the more rock and roll stuff is almost universally disliked by critics. They like the blues records but not “Still Alive And Well” or “Saints And Sinners”. Go figure, I always liked those albums but I’m not a critic.

Anyway, it got me thinking about a Johnny Winter show I saw in probably ‘82 at Mississippi Nights.

I believe the name of the opening band was The St. Louis Blues All-Stars or something like that. It was a bunch of local guys and the were good in a thrown together band sort of way. They had Ingrid Berry singing. She is the daughter of Chuck Berry. I’ve seen her with Chuck before also and always thought she sang really well.

I think Mike Sommerville was playing guitar. He used to be in the band Head East.

Mike Saffron was playing drums. He was best known for the band Pavlov’s Dog. There was a point in the show where he was playing a strong rock beat but only using his left hand to alternate between the snare drum and high hat. At the same time, his right hand was playing a pretty good keyboard solo. I remember saying “I’ve never seen a drummer do that before”.

Johnny Winter came onstage about an hour late. He had recently been releasing more traditional sounding blues records as well as working with Muddy Waters. On this tour though, he was promoting a new rock record and it was clear from the opening that this show was going to be a rock and roll event. He played several of those extended, trademark solos that always remind me of a roller coaster ride.

Then it was time for the obligatory drum solo. We had already seen Mike Safron do a huge drum solo plus on another song play keyboard as well. Johnny had a guy playing drums that he called Bobby T (aka Bobby Torello). Bobby T started his solo and halfway through he stood on the two floor toms, one foot on each and started tap dancing. Tap Dancing. Then he twisted around and started drumming with his hands on the ride toms. I’d never seen a drummer do that before. Years later I had to ask my brother if he saw the same thing just to confirm it. I don’t know if he did that act every night or he was doing it to one-up the other guy. I’ve seen about every showmanship type gimmick there is but I have never seen the tap dancing on the drum act again. That’s the kind of thing that even if you could do it, you might not want to because than everyone would expect it every
time.

I was playing a hotel bar gig in Louisiana in the late 80s on a small stage. It was pretty cramped. I had two foot pedals that I used for effects. It was so small that I had to place each pedal on opposite sides of the front of the mic-stand base. So, I had to reach around the stand with my foot to access the pedals. It was awkward and I am not real light on my feet. One night I was pretty liquored up as was my habit. We were playing “Knocking On Heavens Door” and it was time for a big dramatic guitar solo. I reached around the stand with my foot and lost my balance. I was past the point of no return. I twisted my shoulder and rolled into the fall. I landed softly, flat on my back sprawled on the dance floor. All the while I kept playing. I looked up and saw the distraught faces of my band mates. Then, I felt myself being elevated. There were several bikers lifting me up over their heads. They spun me and deposited me back onstage playing all the while.

Later that week two disappointed guys came up to me at the end of the night and one said, “We heard you do this really cool trick so we brought our wives out to see you do the guitar solo stage dive.”

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Tags: Bobby Torello, Johnny Winter