Guest Book

From: "Bob Lefsetz" Duane's dead. But he's positively alive in this clip. As well as long departed Berry and exiled Dickie. Shot before the breakthrough of the live album what's utterly fascinating here is it's the Fillmore East! You've got memories in your brain, and that's all they are, distant links to images past, and suddenly you're confronted with pictures and you're whole again, it's like reconnecting with your birth mother! Please notice everybody sitting down. This was before the disrespect of "festival seating", i.e. "standing". Under the ruse of getting people closer to the music, allowing them to move and groove and have beer spilt upon them, promoters oversold venues and suddenly you couldn't see, you were constantly being bumped into and concerts became more akin to war than peace. Gregg Allman looks like he gets laid three times a day... Could anybody really be that good-looking? And Jaimoe and Butch play the same, but look like their children. But Duane's never aged. That's the one advantage of dying, you're frozen in time. But this performance is not frozen whatsoever. They're not playing for the camera, they're playing for the collective consciousness, they don't want to reach somebody, they want to reach EVERYBODY! Blow them away, get them to go home and tell everybody they encounter about the incredible act they saw last night. Duane barely looks at the audience. He's not mugging, he's watching his fingers on the neck of his Les Paul, he's in that reverie where you're locked in and get everything right, today they call it the zone. That's what's fascinating about great music, it's not done halfway, you've got to let go and run on instinct. And Berry's locking down the bottom. Swinging from side to side, bouncing up and down, like he's rowing the ship. And you can barely see Dickie's face for the hair. There's no stylist involved. But he's risen to Duane's challenge, he's wringing the notes from his SG. And it's like you're at the station. And suddenly, unexpectedly, this train comes barreling down the track. You can hear it before you see it. You perk up, pay attention, get caught in the groove, start to lament that its passing will be so brief. You see rock and roll bands never stop and stay. They alight in your burg for a short while and then blow out to the next stop. And when they finally pull into sight, they seem not to notice you, they're involved in their own party, based on execution, based on excellence. It's like you're looking through a picture window, and your greatest desire is to reach in and touch. Put Duane Allman in "People" and no one would care (actually, at this point, "People" didn't even exist). He needs a haircut. But he cares more about his music than his look. What's beautiful about him is on the inside. He didn't need a good line of patter, he didn't need to read Neil Strauss's book how to manipulate and pick up women. His playing was enough. A magnetism so strong he was irresistible. What would J. Lo say about this? Her jaw would drop. It's out of her experience. And Randy would not use the word "pitchy", he'd start testifying about his days playing the bass, talk about his inspiration, his influences. And Tyler would metamorphose into the guy he once was, who played in cover bands waiting for his one big break, which happened three years after this video was shot. Someone hungry, someone with something to prove. The light show pulsed. The music filled every nook and cranny. I'd say this is like how it was, but this is LITERALLY HOW IT WAS! http://bit.ly/kOnHVh