Woodstock 1 Anniversary

Looking at the calendar I see another rock n roll anniversary here. Woodstock 1.
How many years now, I don't want to know ! Still have my tickets someplace. Just can't believe I was even there in my ' 57 Chevy, and got to park close to the stage for all those great bands at one time ! Glad I went a day ahead and beat the traffic.
I saw Joe Cocker at PNC this summer and thought about seeing him there.
I've seen him at his best and worse since then. But he was great at both. I was so glad to see he's still got it. Actually it was amazing considering all he's been through. He ranks right up there with Ozzy and Keith in my book when it came to partying.
That night he opened for Steve Miller. He blew Steve off, and most of the crowd knew it. Some left. I stayed, for the price of tickets today !
Don't forget, we used to pay $6.50 to see bands like The Who, Hendrix, Zep,
Stones at the Fillmore East or Garden. Woodstock 1 was how much ? Don't make me look for those tickets ! Someone e-mail this senile old rocker with the answer please.

Music Lovers...Check out Musikfest in Bethlehem PA

Music lovers, a must to check out every Summer season is the Musikfest in Bethlehem, Pa. This year it runs from Aug.1-10th.

If you've never been, it covers a park and several streets in town with music and food, etc. This year lists 13 stages and 300 performers. Oh, and did I mention that most of it is for FREE !? There are nightly shows with national acts that cost $, but most of the stages are free. And it is ALL KINDS of music.

During the weekdays many stages start mid afternoon, and all go well into the night. Go to Musikfest.com for details on parking and schedules. Several Jersey musicians playing there again this year. Maybe I'll see you there.

NEW TRACK IN MILLVILLE

Finally, some Good News for race fans in NJ.

This year got off to a bad start with Wall Stadium not opening. I used to go race chasin' several nights a week back in the day. Fridays at East Windsor, and a choice on Saturdays between whoever had the best show. Flemington, Wall,
New Egypt. And Sundays had Englishtown.

Then the news from Englishtown of the Scott Kalitta crash. I was not there, but was at New Egypt that night for the URC Sprint cars. People in the stands were getting phone calls, and everyone knew within minutes of the tragedy. The racing family is a tight community in NJ. Actually, I'm glad I was not there.

While at New Egypt, one of my race photographer friends told me that the NEW track down in Millville is indeed opening this year. After so many closings, I thought this would never happen. Even the race papers said they
would believe it when they see it. It had been in the works for years. And even when they started construction this past fall, there was a report that they had to stop because they uncovered some WWII bombs near the airport there that they are building it on.

Well, I got in touch with the track after checking out their web site. Go to :
njmotorsportspark.com. You'll see it has road courses, and in phase II
it has an asphalt track listed as being built next. Wall racers, don't sell your cars yet ! There are races scheduled this year, including an ARCA stock car race on the road course this fall. I believe I read someplace that this is the first race for them in NJ since the old Trenton Fairgrounds track.

Now this is not supposed to be a weekly track. It is for clubs and testing and special events. And it would be a bit of a weekly drive, it is down South West
of AC. And with the price of gas going to $5-$6-$7? like in England,etc. !!!?
When and where will this all end ?
But at least this is the first new race track to open in NJ in a long, long time !

Summer Time is Here !!!

Thanks for stopping buy. Been busy taping all around the tri-state area. Tons of good stuff to show you. Keep watching the show and checking out the website. New blog coming very soon!!!

http://www.dickcraigsrocknroll.com/

The KISS Story....

THE KISS Story......

First time I saw Kiss was at a private fundraising party in Englewood Cliffs, NJ
at the Public Library for $1000 a plate. I don't remember for what charity or what year it was. Real KISS fans can figure out the year here in a bit.

I was filling in for a friend's band who's drummer had hepatitis outbreaks a couple times a year, if you know what I mean. A junky can tell you what that's about. The band was an original/blues biker band.

I remember playing the Angels Halloween party at the Electric Circus on St. Marks Place in the Village with these guys. The band was called Jackdaw, I believe. The party was like a Fellini movie, with open sex, drugs and of course Rock n Roll ! And Choppers driving up and down the steps in the club like they were moto cross bikes.

Anyway, back to the KISS gig. We went on first. Them second. And top of the bill was John Sebastian of the Lovin' Spoonful. Whoever put this show together was on acid ! And the crowd was in suit and tie/formal wear.

The bands all shared one big room for a dressing/party room. We all came out and watched each other's sets. I overplayed, as usual when we were on. Picture Keith Moon playing drums for The Band ! When we finished and passed the stage over to KISS they said I was great and what the F. was I doing playing in that band. I told them quickly as we moved around the amps and drums with each other. They were their own roadies, and we all were set up on the floor in the corners of the library.

They had makeup on. Barely. Looked like shoe polish. Also they wore matching sneaks, black dungarees and black cut off tee-shirts with KISS stenciled on. They had Fender amps stacked like Marshals, also Marshal stenciled on with KISS name too.
All I remember was that they were LOUD. No big deal. No blood or big tongue action yet that I saw. Big hair though.

Skip ahead only a few weeks latter. I'm walking across the parking lot at the then called Spectrum in Philly, going to see The Who. I see these guys walking
too, and they are all decked out in new English clothes. For you youngsters, English clothes were like David Bowie stuff - Silks, satins, platform shoes, etc.
We get close to each other and they say "aren't you that drummer from a few weeks ago ?" At first I didn't recognize them, no makeup. Then they say they're KISS. I asked them where they got the new duds ? They said they just got signed and got an advance and went shopping, did I like their clothes ? Well, since I was wearing the same style stuff, I said of course I did ! We had a laugh, went in to the show with everybody staring, wondering who we were, and the rest as they say is History !

CLAPTON / WINWOOD (BLIND FAITH)

Clapton and Winwood at Madison Square Garden - The first time I saw them there together was in what was considered to be the first Super Group - Blind Faith. On drums was Ginger Baker from Cream, where Eric came from. At the time he was one of the best rock drummers in the world. Winwood was from Traffic and The Spencer Davis Group. On bass was Rick Grech. He was from the British group The Family. They were one of my favorites, that not many people knew about. They were not commercial, and if anything, downright freaky and scary in concert. The lead singer was spastic and violent, but they were good musicians. And if you can find their records, listen to the great stereo mixes. This was a time of peace and love and all that mellow hippie crap, and these guys were on speed or something, and scared the shit out of audiences.
But my point here is the show at the Garden. The band was on a rotating stage in the center of the Garden floor that turned slowly as they played. This was before huge stationary PA systems, so when the band was facing away from you, you couldn't hear squat ! Their PA was on the stage with them, playing to whatever direction they were facing. It was cool as a musician to see the back of Ginger's drum set and watch him play, but you couldn't hear anything when they faced away from you. Today's i-pods are louder than what we heard.
Years latter we saw Yes in the Garden on a rotating stage, but by now bands figured out how to arrange their PA systems so the sound was covering the whole arena. It's come a long way from the Beatles playing Shea to Pink Floyd in surround sound.

Will Ferrell's wrestling a Bear? Been There! Done That!

I'm seeing this commercial on TV for Will Ferrell's new basketball movie.One scene he's wrestling/fighting? a bear. I'm thinking, That looks familiar?!Ohhh yeahh, pic of me on my web site with bear on top of me from 1985!!!Been there/ done that. That was done at Art Stock's Birchill Club on Rt. 9 in Old Bridge in 1985 for the pilot show of Not Just Rock 'n Roll. And the rest, as they say, is history! So is the Club now, for that matter. I think it's senior condos.

Tom Petty and The Super Bowl

What ya think of T.Petty at Super B.? He should kiss his manager's ass for getting him that gig, with a new LP and tour starting out- couldn't be better
timing. And he was good, don't get me wrong - but it's the Super Bowl, you need Super Groups. Bet Led Zep would have played if asked, hot off their show but can't tour until fall because of that country chick Plant has to tour with first.
Even if she was booked for a gig on that Sun., One show can always be moved to let Zep do their thing.