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A Conversation With Willie Perkins

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allmansrvvegas
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A Conversation With Willie Perkins, Part One: Road Managing The Allman Brothers Band 1970-1975

 

A Conversation With Willie Perkins, Part Two: Gregg Allman, Sea Level & The Allman Brothers Band

 

Allman Brothers Road Manager Willie Perkins Revisits Legendary "At Fillmore East" Photo Shoot Site

This topic was modified 3 years ago by allmansrvvegas
 
Posted : June 22, 2021 12:29 am
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robslob
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Great stuff thanks for sharing

 

 
Posted : June 22, 2021 10:37 am
robertdee
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I second that. Watched two of them.  I remember seeing Willie with the band years ago several times. And with Gregg in the mid 1980's. And once about 1987 Willie was trying to keep the dressing room door closed at the Greensboro Coliseum but someone opened it and I could clearly see Gregg seated at a table snorting up some cocaine. Watch the third one about the Fillmore photos shortly. 

 
Posted : June 22, 2021 1:05 pm
pixielf
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Thoroughly enjoying!  Thank you!! 

 
Posted : June 22, 2021 2:22 pm
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dzobo
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Nothing like hearing accounts from some one who was in the middle of the whole phenomena and still has his sanity.  Still amazing stuff to hear about.

 
Posted : June 22, 2021 4:25 pm
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robertdee
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@dzobo Willie makes it clear.  Apparently after Duane died, well Jaimoe and others said it too, that band began to loose its way. Much like a group of followers of a powerful charismatic religious leader who died and the movement was just never the same.  

Yes they had their peaks and valleys, high spots and low times after 1971 but it was never as magical and focused as the original band. 

Maybe that is why with the exception of Brothers and Sisters they never again had an album that really delivered the goods. Shades of Two Worlds, Where It All Begins, Hitting The Note are good albums but fall short when compared to Eat A Peach and Brothers and Sisters and even Idlewild South to me. 

 
Posted : June 22, 2021 6:55 pm
dzobo
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@robertdee 

The remaining members did an outstanding job after Duane died, integrating Chuck into the band, putting together Eat a Peach and Brothers and Sisters, and playing like it still really mattered.  They completely took Duane's inspiration and mission to heart and EXECUTED ON IT.  As Willie mentions it was fame, drugs and creative differences that blew a hole in the whole show.  We as fans witnessed a musical miracle with the bands re-ascendancy, then came a self-destructive let down.  Yeah no Duane but as you mentioned many times listen to the Winterland show included with the Deluxe Brothers and Sisters release.  Some amazing performances!

 
Posted : June 23, 2021 1:33 am
robertdee
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@dzobo Oh I agree with you. The band still had some amazing shows and there are good songs on their post Brothers and Sisters albums. And it could be they couldn't have had the kind of material on the first five albums if Duane had lived. 

I'm sure it was difficult for say Gregg and Dickey to continue to come of with songs like Black Hearted Woman, Ain't My Cross To Bare, Dreams, Whipping Post, Revival, Midnight Rider, Elizabeth Reed, Please Call Home, Ain't Waisting Time No More, Melissa, Stand Back, Blue Sky, Waisted Words, Ramblin'Man, Southbound, Jessica etc etc. Yes some good songs came after the first five albums but the best ones are on the first five. 

Speaking of Southbound and Chuck Leavell and Lamar lifting the band after Duane, this live track SMOKES!!! 

This post was modified 3 years ago 2 times by robertdee
 
Posted : June 23, 2021 9:01 am
robertdee
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Willie needs to manage this band! 

Gregg said the first time he heard the band play they did Trouble No More and Berry Oakley sang it and Reece was on keys and Gregg said they were really blowing and after it was over he thought to himself " I can't cut this gig. These guys are too good for me to add a thing".  Of course Duane chewed Gregg out and he got pissed, wrote down the words and rose to the occasion. 

Well here is Berry Oakley singing this song just last week live!!

 
Posted : June 23, 2021 9:31 am
robslob
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I really liked the perspective that Willie spun on the whole 70's Scooter Herring drama.  He said that yes, Scooter got drugs for Gregg (let's face it, SOMEONE was going to do that) but overall he looked out for Gregg and "he saved Gregg's life, TWICE."  Obviously, that's QUITE big, folks.  Willie: "I don't regret hiring Scooter."  Also, Gregg has taken all kinds of sh*t over the years for testifying against Scooter.  But Willie put another spin on that too:  "When you've got the Feds breathing down on you, there's not a whole lot you can do." 

I've had to defend Gregg against people who wanted to classify him as a snitch.  My response was, "What would YOU have done?  LIE to a Federal Grand Jury?  You will go to jail for a minimum of 5 years if you do that.  They ALREADY had enough to put Scooter away.  All Gregg did was answer their questions, as anyone would have in that situation."  

 
Posted : June 23, 2021 10:19 am
robertdee
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@robslob You are correct. I remember Dickey and especially Butch coming down hard on Gregg and insisting they could never work with Gregg again. That was 1976. In 1978 Dickey and Gregg were working with Gregg again. Dickey said then after he stepped back and understood how that went down and what Gregg was up against, he reached out to Gregg.  

Too bad Chuck and Lamar couldn't see their way clear to join the band again. According to Willie, Chuck and Lamar were asked to choose between Sea Level and the Brothers. So they chose Sea Level. They did play with the Allman Brothers one more time at that 1978 Capricorn Records picnic. But I remember Chuck telling some magazine in 1978 he and Lamar passed on the Brothers because after that 1978 show, if felt like it did 1975 and 76 and not 1973. Apparently what the Brothers ended up doing, bringing in Danny Toler and David Goldflies, didn't really work. Butch said the chemistry was wrong and those years were waisted and the albums are unlistenable. Gregg on the other hand liked Danny Toler but not David Goldflies. Gregg said he played too many notes and he wasn't getting paid by the note but sure played like it. 

Willie Perkins did seem to have it wrong about Jaimoe. Jaimoe did not stay with Sea Level and infact was replaced by a drummer named George Weaver. Jaimoe was asked to play percussion at that point but soon quit Sea Level. So Jaimoe jumped at getting back in the Allman Brothers in 1978. Jaimoe was even at The Great Southern show in Central Park in 1978 where Gregg, Jaimoe and Butch came out mid show and joined Dickey for an Allman Brothers set. 

 
Posted : June 23, 2021 11:47 am
robslob
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@robertdee:

"Willie Perkins did seem to have it wrong about Jaimoe. Jaimoe did not stay with Sea Level and infact was replaced by a drummer named George Weaver. Jaimoe was asked to play percussion at that point but soon quit Sea Level. So Jaimoe jumped at getting back in the Allman Brothers in 1978. Jaimoe was even at The Great Southern show in Central Park in 1978 where Gregg, Jaimoe and Butch came out mid show and joined Dickey for an Allman Brothers set."

I did not realize that Jaimoe was ever involved with that 1978-82 version of the band.  I DO know that he was not in EVERY version during that time because I have a boot DVD copy one of the shows towards the end of that run:  Capitol Theatre, New Jersey, 12-16-81.  It features Butch and Frankie Toler on drums and it's pretty bad.  Of course there is some good playing in spots, hell it features Dickey and Gregg.   But IMO Frankie Toler sounds like a 7th grade kid banging on pots and pans.  Jaimoe's always tasty percussive influence is SORELY missed at that point. 

So I have proof that Jaimoe was NOT always in that version of the band.  Periods when he was?  I will leave that to the ABB historians who are more knowledgeable than myself.  To be honest, I NEVER as much as paid ANY attention to the band during that four year period. 

I will say this:  I never knew before this Willie Perkins interview that Chuck, Lamar and Jaimoe had all been asked to rejoin ABB in 1978.  Just think of what a HUGE difference that would have made if all three had decided to jump back in.

This post was modified 3 years ago 2 times by robslob
 
Posted : June 23, 2021 12:25 pm
porkchopbob
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@robslob 

No proof needed, I always thought this was common knowledge among fans - Jaimoe was voted out of the band by Gregg, Butch, and Dickey in between Reach for the Sky and Brothers of the Road. At the time it was combination of Jaimoe's back problems and his inquiries into the band's contract, or something to that effect. They quickly replaced him with Frankie Toler and was something the 3 of them always regretted.

Jaimoe on stage for the Enlightened Rogues tour, 1979:

2 years later, with Frankie:

PorkchopBob Studio

 
Posted : June 23, 2021 1:10 pm
robertdee
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@porkchopbob Yeah I think Jaimoe's wife pressed him to demand an audit to make sure Jaimoe had gotten his rightful share in 1978, 79 and part of 80 and temporarily it angered the other three founders so they voted him out.  They also complained about Jaimoe's back causing him to miss shows, leave the stage before the show was finished and only showing up for three tracks for Reach For The Sky. 

Yeah I saw 5 of the 1979 Enlightened Rouges tour shows and Jaimoe was there. At a few he and Butch even wore matching Allman Brothers jackets when they took the stage. 

Wasn't it Berry Oakley's sister Jaimoe was married to then and she was the one pushing for a financial audit? 

I've always wondered why Chuck Leavell replaced Jaimoe on drums in Sea Level!  Back problems? Jaimoe is fantastic on their first album where it's the four of them.  Also Chuck told me himself at a little club they were playing in in 1976 or early 77 that Butch wanted to be in the band and they did a club tour with Butch and Jaimoe on drums but Chuck said after the last show he had to tell Butch Trucks he liked it better with just the four of them. 

The Allman Brothers had just broken up after a show in Roanoke, Virginia and a few weeks later Sea Level was playing at a small club in North Carolina so I ask Chuck why the band broke up ( We are all mad at Gregg and our finances) and what are Butch and Dickey going to do and that is when he told me about rejecting Butch and not knowing what Butch would do now but Dickey had a band together but they aren't getting along. And later in 1977 there was a big fight in Chicago and Dickey was on stage with a black eye and the bass player, keyboard player and one of the drummers I think it was from the first Great Southern album had been replaced. David Toler was one of the new players. 

This post was modified 3 years ago by robertdee
 
Posted : June 23, 2021 1:47 pm
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