Was wondering the same thing myself the other day.  He was kinda dominating Anything Goes for awhile but not always in a good way.  Nice to have an old-timer here who saw the original band many times.  On the other hand, having it rammed down your throat that no subsequent version of the band measured up became tiresome to say the least.  The last 15 years that ABB existed was an extremely strong version of the band.  Foolish to compare them with the original lineup:  Completely different era, completely different band.  

@robslob Blackey was banished to the playpen. I'm in regular contact with him and been reporting his occasional thoughts but avoiding any dogmatic or controversial statements lest I too be confined to the playpen. 

He and I saw Allman Betts Band last weekend outdoors and socially distanced except had to keep moving our chairs as people on foot began pushing toward the stage eliminating the 6 feet or more rule. 

It was emotional for us to be in our 70s and see Oakley.Jr playing his father's Fender electric bass guitar. Devon Allman played two acoustics, a Stratocaster and a Les Paul that belonged to Gregg, Devon's guitar strap was Duane Allman's ring strap we had not seen in 59 years!!! and Duane Betts played a Les Paul goldtop, a Gibson acoustic, a red ES-335 dot neck and a 1956 Stratocaster tobaccoburst hardtail that Dickey Betts played.  We actually saw Dickey play the electric guitars with the ABB years ago. The vendor had pictures of this equipment, replicas of Duane's ring guitar strap ($240-ouch) and both of Allman Betts Band's albums on vinyl and autographed for 40 dollars each and a donation pot for their road crew. The band was suppose to be on the road all year playing hundreds of shows but they just recently got out doing a few outdoor/socially distance shows so the roadies didn't come close to making the money they were expecting.

It was emotional to see all that and hear a fine version of Blue Sky as old men and it be such a big part of our 20s and thinking about most of the men using that equipment back then passed on now. 

Johnny Stachela played real nice slide and lead guitar with a SG and he clearly incorporates lots of Duane Allman licks.

The keyboard player and drummer and percussionist were good too. 

Blackey and I were not expecting this show to be so emotional.  It make us miss and regret our youth is gone and so are Duane, Gregg, Berry and Butch too and Dickey is out to pasture so to speak. Retired. And Blackey and I are retired too.  Dickey will be 77 next month and Jaimoe is 76. Blackey will be 74 in December. 

Gregg's Ain't Waisting Time No More comes to mind. It goes by like fast trains, hurricanes and faster things. 

Ever notice robertdee and blackey are never on the same thread at the same time?....

Blackey is in the playpen and I'm trying to stay out of it. Hopefully if one behaves and is polite I won't join him there. The playpen is kinda like being locked in a room with several drunks and you sober up. 

Thanks for the update, Robertdee, on Blackey. Like many others from what I observed, his style rubbed me too the wrong way often times but overall I appreciated what he brought to this forum and considered him yet another spice in the rack that gives our community its flavor.

I know he digs Allman Betts, and it sounds like you do as well. I can only imagine what it must've been like to see those guys having your experiences with the originals so boldly imprinted on you. Thank you for that update and perspective.

Did they happen to play Savannah's Dream or Doctor's Daughter at your show? Those are my 2 favorites from the new album

@islalala I haven't bought either Allman Betts albums and neither has Blackey. But I recall those two songs plus Airports and Cocaine, Shakedown Street with Berry Duane Oakley singing and it was very good. Some of their original material is just average for us. Hot Lanta, Dreams and Trouble No More were highlights probably because being such familiar songs. 

Devon Allman played a real nice solo using the whammy bar very effectively on Dreams with one of Gregg's Stratocasters. It has a Ventures type Strat tone which was so typical of Strats in the 1950's and early 60's. I don't remember ever seeing Gregg himself play it. But he left 42 guitars to Devon so Gregg had dozens of axes I never saw him play.

Duane Betts apparently broke a string on one of Dickey's Les Paul goldtops on the first song, quickly switched to Dickey's 1961 ES-335 dot neck hollow body and I didn't really determine what was the problem there as Duane Betts then got on Dickey's old 1956 hardtail Stratocaster Dickey bought years ago for certain rhythm tracks in the studio and used as his lead guitar on stage in the mid to late 1990's when Dickey apparently was irritated at Gibson for ignoring him. Duane Betts did a nice solo with the old Strat on Shakedown Street and it doesn't sound exactly like a Fender guitar to me but it is. It's a hardtail and has lots of worn places on the body and neck. By the time they got to Blue Sky the Goldtop was fixed and back. It was a spirited version of Blue Sky and Betts got a real fine typical Les Paul tone and really stretched it out.

We enjoyed the show and it was emotional seeing those sons using a lot of their father's guitars and Duane Allman's guitar strap was a surprise. Apparently Gregg had it all these years but I never saw him use it. 

Anybody see Gregg use it? It has a big brass (looked brass to me) ring between the shoulder and the guitar. I remember Duane with it several times. 

Posted by: @robertdee

Blackey is in the playpen and I'm trying to stay out of it. Hopefully if one behaves and is polite I won't join him there.

Ha, ok, if that's the story you're sticking to 😉

Posted by: @porkchopbob

Ever notice robertdee and blackey are never on the same thread at the same time?....

 

LMAO - it just keeps getting stranger too.

Now coming across as split personalities. Good friend - always knows and includes exactly what Blackey is feeling and they always feel the exact same. 🤣 

I was talking just now to Canadianmule and he agrees with me. 

@canadianmule Blackey can only post in the playpen. The site took that action. I tried my old account from the 1990s and got in. Butch Trucks apparently had me kicked off the site according to an Email I received in late 2000 and was accused of being employed by Dickey Betts. But I tried my old account and it worked. Maybe Butch didn't follow through. Being a close friend of Blackey, naturally I keep up with him and he continues to be a huge Allman Brothers fan since his first show seeing the band in 1970. 

He loves the band and all of you fans and will be 74 next month and who knows how long left to live. He wants to acknowledge his respect toward all of you and how impressed with all the lineups of the ABB he was. I told Blackey and he agrees, it's not appropriate to compare later members of the Allman Brothers to Duane and Berry and the other originals anymore than it is to compare late night TV comedians to Johnny Carson.  

They’re coming to take me away haha, they’re coming to take me away hoho heehe haha to the funny farm, boom....

that’s where blackey has been banished to, not the playpen - blackey tell robertdee we’re thinking of you, I mean him, no wait...

😋anything goes indeed, good to see (the both of😮) you back, shouldnt’ve been banned in the 1st place I thought, your/his posts were always musical

Hey Robertdee - tell Blackee we miss his historical knowledge of the band and hope he returns soon. I hope he will accept that the Brothers who came after Duane & Berry were still some of the best musicians on the planet and miraculously continued playing songs we all loved. Some of us have even seen shows when the later brothers were just simply having wonderful nights creating jams that even the early band members might have enjoyed. 

As long as you can separate all the personalities, it is all good. Good to talk it through with friends and family though.

You and Blackey have the exact same opinions, style of writing and mannerisms. Hell you even go out of your way to let us all know how Blackey is feeling. Most people only write their own opinions and thoughts but you post for two. Always great to find friends like that. Do you get to Vote for him too? 🤣 

Canadianmule and I say to have fun.

Posted by: @canadianmule

Hell you even go out of your way to let us all know how Blackey is feeling. Most people only write their own opinions and thoughts but you post for two. Always great to find friends like that.

Such closely shared feelings are not unheard of.

This forum may be quieter than it once was but you all make it a great place still. Thanks for the laughs.

All I know is Derek could run circles around Duane.  

Posted by: @lee

All I know is Derek could run circles around Duane.  

Bait is in the water, all we can do is wait.

@porkchopbob

BoatIng accident? This was no boating accident.

"We're gonna need a bigger boat".

"Keep chummin' Hooper..."

@griff Looks like Robert Shaw to me. He was great in The Sting. Lee Van Cleef is on Laramie right now (series episode rerun from 1960 on the westerns channel). I'm use to him playing the bad guy (The Bad in Good, Bad and Ugly) but his partner and brother is played by Russell Johnson who play the professor on Giligan's Island. Robert Fuller will gun them down at the end. 

Derek Trucks is certainly a great slide player and probably my favorite pick less player. Derek's favorites are Duane, Elmore James, Charlie Christian, B. B. King, Clapton and his wife was mentioned too in a lockdown interview I saw over the summer. Cant remember if he mentioned Warren or Dickey. Derek did say Blue Sky on Eat A Peach is one of the most beautiful and inspiring songs he has ever heard.

Yes I would say Derek is more advanced than Duane Allman. Last time Blackey and I saw TTB, he played licks I had never heard Duane play.

But can Derek play Statesboro Blues on Fillmore East better than Duane Allman? No. The Fillmore East version is PERFECT. It would be like an artist improving the Mona Lisa. You can't improve perfect.

But Derek certainly has the chops and technique to play Statesboro Blues just as good. I've heard him do it as a matter of fact.

Duane Allman's slide playing, according to Derek himself, is the foundation of Derek's style. Derek said these days he listens to horn players for inspiration not guitar players for his guitar playing. 

Does everyone agree Duane Allman left an enormous legacy for a player only in the ABB 1969-1971 and died at age 24. 

Nobody has ever been in the ABB that brought so much cocky confidence and determination, energy and rock star mojo.

Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Eddie Van Halen had that. Keith Richards and Mick Jagger too. 

The ABB would have never made it without Duane but certainly Gregg and Dickey would have had some kind of career without the ABB. 

 Derek said these days he listens to horn players for inspiration not guitar players for his guitar playing. 

interesting.

I remember reading somewhere that after Duane died, the thought of getting a horn player was kicked around because his slide playing sometimes sounded like a horn (so does Derek's imo)

"@griff Looks like Robert Shaw to me. He was great in The Sting. Lee Van Cleef is on Laramie right now (series episode rerun from 1960 on the westerns channel). I'm use to him playing the bad guy (The Bad in Good, Bad and Ugly) but his partner and brother is played by Russell Johnson who play the professor on Giligan's Island. Robert Fuller will gun them down at the end. 

Derek Trucks is certainly a great slide player and probably my favorite pick less player. Derek's favorites are Duane, Elmore James, Charlie Christian, B. B. King, Clapton and his wife was mentioned too in a lockdown interview I saw over the summer. Cant remember if he mentioned Warren or Dickey. Derek did say Blue Sky on Eat A Peach is one of the most beautiful and inspiring songs he has ever heard.

Yes I would say Derek is more advanced than Duane Allman. Last time Blackey and I saw TTB, he played licks I had never heard Duane play.

But can Derek play Statesboro Blues on Fillmore East better than Duane Allman? No. The Fillmore East version is PERFECT. It would be like an artist improving the Mona Lisa. You can't improve perfect.

But Derek certainly has the chops and technique to play Statesboro Blues just as good. I've heard him do it as a matter of fact.

Duane Allman's slide playing, according to Derek himself, is the foundation of Derek's style. Derek said these days he listens to horn players for inspiration not guitar players for his guitar playing. 

Does everyone agree Duane Allman left an enormous legacy for a player only in the ABB 1969-1971 and died at age 24. 

Nobody has ever been in the ABB that brought so much cocky confidence and determination, energy and rock star mojo.

Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Eddie Van Halen had that. Keith Richards and Mick Jagger too. 

The ABB would have never made it without Duane but certainly Gregg and Dickey would have had some kind of career without the ABB."

@robertdee:  The above post is SUCH an obvious blackey post.  Thanks for verifying what others here have already guessed.

When Canadianmule and I read that, we thought about that time we were listening to music and reading the Forum together. We both liked all the same tunes, stories and agreed on almost everything we would read. When we disagree, it can get ugly but we always make up after.

Canadianmule and I have shared a lot. School, sports, concerts, bands, beer, women even my wife - the list goes on. He has been there for every major event of my life. Sure he can be a real ass at times but I love him.

Now I bet Steve Morse can take Steve Vai in an arm wrestling match. Even though Vai plays an Ibanez that has 7 strings, he still lacks the strength to put Morse down. Canadianmule agrees.

Just listened again to "Hot 'Lanta" off Final Note. Like it or not, Blackey's right. Original six and then the rest. Not even close.

Few have ever disagreed - still doesn’t mean later lineups can’t be discussed on their own merits

RIP Berry - never forgotten