1974 - Workin' With The Pros

Those rock n'roll days playing music were a lot of fun but I actually had more opportunities to play with the well-known professionals as a sound engineer and roadie. aka: Problem Solver.

1974 – Workin’ With The Pros

The concert had been in a small venue but the band was great. We had been hired to do sound for a small lunchtime concert at UCSD on the lawn. It was a good opportunity for a small local sound-company to make a few bucks as well as an opportunity to get more public exposure, as the band playing this small-time concert was The Marshall Tucker Band. We were mentioned on the few posters we found sparsely distributed all over town and Dennis, the owner of the sound company, was hoping this gig would lead to bigger and better jobs. He already had a bid in to do a Big Mother Concert and Lightshow following a Padres game and another concert a few weeks later. We were destined to lose the Mother’s Day concert but the 2nd one we nailed and had a successful event, but that was still some months in the future and none of us had any idea of the size to which the company would grow or it’s fast drop to the bottom and out-of-business. For now we were still trying to build a name to which ends this concert could be a major influence.

We arrived early in the AM while dew was still on the lawn. A handful of sleepy students wandered around the campus. There were frequent questions as we set up as, apparently, the advertising for the event was not well distributed on campus and most students that inquired about the event were surprised a big-name group was appearing. We had spread tarps under our equipment to protect it from the wet grass which made moving the gear that much more difficult. There was more than one trip and fall but eventually we got the speakers set-up and were running our snake from the stage to the sound-board when we discovered 3 broken lines which were 3 of the 4 channels used on the drums. Wayne and I quickly rolled the line up and headed out for our base of operations a few miles away. We would need to build 3 new lines and connectors and we figured, with drive time and set-up when we arrived back at site, we had a window of about 15 minutes to build a new cable.

Dennis had called ahead to Rappy who had soldering equipment out and warmed up. He had pulled cable out and measured and cut the appropriate lengths. He had located 3 connectors for the stage end but we were short a connector at the sound-board end. We quickly disassembled a similar, but somewhat shorter cable and salvaged the connector from the bitter end. After I slid shrink-wrap onto the cable lengths Wayne began to solder the connectors. As he finished the soldering I slid the shrink into place and held a lighter underneath to shrink the tubing into place. I now realize there is heating equipment designed to do this job but we didn’t have any of this available so we carefully shrank the tubing using our traditional direct-flame method. We wrapped this operation up with only a couple of minutes to spare and, throwing a thank-you over our shoulders to Rappy, ran for the truck. Tossing the repaired cord in the back we headed out for the school.

Wayne remarked about how this kind of emergency wasn’t uncommon in live music remembering the concert we had worked a few weeks before for George Benson. We were able to get into the San Diego Civic Center early and everything had gone like clockwork. After setting-up all of our equipment, we had time to kill so we checked & re-checked the system. The concert was to start around 7:30 so we still had plenty of time to perform sound checks when the musicians showed up around 6:00. The roadies had set the band equipment up an hour or so before the musicians arrived so we had plenty of time…or so we thought. The musicians, like most musicians, had not turned their actual instruments over to the roadies but carried them with their personal belongings. As they plugged in and began tuning up one of the roadies ran over to me where I stood with Dennis. Out of breath he related that someone had left Phil Upchurch’s guitar behind at the last gig…in Santa Barbara. A couple of calls confirmed its presence at the last stop but it didn’t solve the immediate problem – the second guitarist…had…no…guitar. He played an expensive hollow-body Gibson for which we started a replacement search.

Every music shop in town was closed at this hour and appeals to Greene Music and APEX Music made no inroads. Guitar Center was closed, as was every private store or local guitar-making business (there are a couple of custom builders in town.) We were in trouble.

Bill was working this gig but was adamant that he wasn’t going to allow anyone but himself to play his brand-new Stratocaster. As the only other musician working the sound gig they appealed to me. I play bass. This is a completely different instrument with fewer strings and much lower octaves up and down the neck. The only guitar I owned was an old Wards-brand classic, which was my “collector’s” guitar. This particular model of guitar was designed and built by the people that, a year later, started Guild guitars and my axe was several steps above the product Wards Department Stores would sell in the future. Knowing this I resisted allowing anyone but me to play my “baby” but, as this was an emergency, I relented.

Leaving the rest of the crew to perform sound checks Bill and I hopped into my van and headed out for home and my old guitar. After a quick retrieval we reversed course and headed back to the Civic Center. As sound checks were done and the crowd was taking seats I offered my guitar to Phil. He cocked an eyebrow as I handed it to him, looking very skeptical. Running through a few chords and a couple of quick lines he frowned to himself and nodded his head in satisfaction saying, “Looks like garbage but it sure feels good. Nice neck! Let’s see how she sounds.” He plugged the guitar into a small amp kept backstage for tuning after re-stringing. He again ran through some chords and notes announcing, “Not the best I’ve ever used but it’ll do. Surprisingly good action.” He turned to George, “It’ll do.” They headed for the stage.

We wrapped our conversation about the George Benson concert as we arrived at the school with the new snake. We ran through the parking lot and to the stage. We were met with a great deal of relief. Wayne attached the various connectors on stage while I ran the snake to the soundboard. We had learned some time ago to number the connectors on each end and we both had a “map” of which mic would cover which instrument. Dennis began hooking up the soundboard as I covered the heavy snake for safety and assisted Bill in checking to assure the mics were live. There would be no sound check but, as this was an outside venue, assuming there were no problems with other equipment, the environment would be fairly forgiving while we got a handle on the mix and volume.

A small crowd had already gathered doing homework and eating early lunches. They looked on with curiosity but stayed, pretty much, out of the way. The band arrived a few minutes later from a dressing room somewhere. As soon as they struck their first note of Fire On The Mountain the music was recognized and began to draw a small crowd of 100 or so people. I was surprised how small the crowd was but it seemed everyone that that arrived was as surprised as me to find the event occurring. I believe I mentioned advertising was less than desired. The Marshall Tucker Band played Can’t You See next and then continued to play the songs for which they were famous and got a smattering of applause or what sounded like a smattering from a small crowd in the open air. The attendees were actually quite supportive in their applause but, as mentioned, outside with a crowd of under a hundred people appreciative applause still sounds like a mere smattering. The band was a bit disappointed with the venue and the entire job as they had looked forward to playing a vacation spot like San Diego but the letdown, and their disappointment, was palatable. Dennis, the owner of the sound company conversed with the band as we all packed equipment and loaded the trucks. We motioned to Dennis and he came over, jumping into the passenger seat of the truck. He announced, “Band’s coming over to the house. Drive slow so they can keep up.” We headed out.

We arrived at our home base, which was also the house in which many of lived. My bedroom was in the basement, which was also part of the recording studio we had built. As it was in the basement we had no trouble soundproofing the studio preventing the sound from escaping to disturb the neighbors. This soundproofing did not extend to my bedroom. (See 1974 – It’s A Wonderful Life) We sat for a while talking and partying but eventually the bass-player asked about “this studio Dennis told us about.” We soon retired to the studio, which was also laid out with amplifiers, keyboards and a drum kit. It took no time at all for the band to start playing their familiar tunes but after just a couple of numbers their playing changed substantially as the lead-guitarist, Toy Caldwell, began playing some very tasty, and very jazzy, guitar leads. His speed and accuracy was only matched by his ability to find the right notes, with the right attitude at the right time. The rest of the band kept up admirably. They obviously played together like this often. As most of the musicians that worked with the sound company, and consequently in attendance, were self-confessed jazz musicians we were immediately impressed and began to lobby for an opportunity to jam with the members of Marshall Tucker. Toy admitted, “…as much as we love to play this music we know who our audience is.“

With Jeff on the drums, Rappy on bass and Toy on guitar they launched into a basic blues riff which evolved into a rocky, and somewhat faster jam that continued for the next 15 minutes eventually with both Bill and Toy exchanging riffs and leads. It was a delight! Soon thereafter I took my turn on bass jammin' the night away. Great fun! And, in fact, a great time was had by all.

Eventually there was a late plane to catch and rides to the airport which brought an end to the evening. The memory of jammin’ with these professionals resides in my mental collection of some of my greatest days.