Stories From The Road

This page will serve as a place to read my stories from the road and other experiences throughout my career in the music business. The story of the Chuck Berry stage plot is the first entry of stories from the road. This first feature is one of my favorites and will be perfect for the lead off tale.

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We had another show to do at the Paramount Theater in downtown Austin. I really liked doing shows there. Load-in and out were fairly easy and the venue really sounds good. Although, I was usually mixing monitors on stage so the room acoustics didn’t matter as much. This was a show I was looking forward to. Chuck Berry with Bo Diddly. This was another chance to work with a couple of Rock-n-Roll legends. They were going to turn the house for two shows that night with Chuck and Bo. At some point we learned that Bo Diddly was not going to make it to the performance. He had some domestic violence case pending in Florida and the judge wasn’t going to let him leave the state. Two separate back-up bands had been hired, one for each musician. Chuck Berry stepped up and said he would play Bo Diddly’s set with all of Bo’s songs and with the back- up band hired to play with Bo. There would be a set change with the other band to play with Chuck during his set. Show schedule as follows: Chuck would open the first show with his set, set change to the other back-up band, Chuck would perform Bo Diddly’s set with all of Bo’s material. No set change was required during intermission so that Chuck could open the second show with Bo’s set. Another set change and then Chuck would close out the second show. During the band setup and sound check I asked Mr. Berry if I could get a stage plot. He said, “Aww, you don’t need a stage plot” which was kind of half right because it was a fairly simple setup. I’m kind of big on stage plots no matter how easy the setup is just so that everyone is on the same page. “Just put the guitar over there and the piano over there. Naw, wait a minute, let’s put the piano over there maybe.” I said, “Ya see, Mr. Berry, that’s why I need a stage plot.” He gave me a look and grabbed my clipboard and paper and started to draw out a stage plot himself. I told him how much I appreciated that and we continued with the setup and sound check. After we were all done and breaking for dinner I took the stage plot back over to Mr. Berry and asked if he would autograph it for me. He gave me another “look” with a bit of a sly grin and said, “sure.” He signed it, “Cheers, Chuck Berry” with a big smiley face. (Second part of the story) It was a great night and you could tell Chuck Berry really enjoys what he does. The audience also didn’t seem to mind that Chuck covered for Bo Diddly. He did it very well. At the end of the fourth set of the night for Chuck’s performances he was just finishing his last encore and heading stage left in my direction at the monitor mix position. Waving one last time to the audience and removing his guitar as he exited, with a big smile he handed his guitar to me as any guitar slinger would hand it off to their tech after a show and headed off to his dressing room. I couldn’t believe what just happened. Chuck Berry just left his guitar with me. I strummed a few chords and played a couple of notes thinking, “Wow, this is so cool!” and then decided it was time to return it. I went downstairs to the dressing rooms, knocked on his door and said “Here is your guitar, Mr. Berry.” He said, “Thank you, very much” and closed the door. (Third part of the story) Years later I came across a story about Chuck Berry’s guitar that made my moment all the more special. According to Keith Richard’s book, Life. As Keith explained getting punched in the face by Chuck Berry: " We saw him play in New York somewhere, and afterward I was backstage in his dressing room, he went off to collect the money, I think. He was a tightwad—bless you, Chuck! His guitar was laid out in his case. I wanted to look, out of professional interest, and [I thought], 'Ah, come on, Keith, just a touch. Just let me give it a little E chord. As I’m just plucking the strings,  "[Chuck] walked in and goes, 'Nobody touches my guitar! BONG!' It was one of Chuck's biggest hits." Nobody touches Chuck’s guitar unless he hands it to you.

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Who is Tom Farrell and where is he? I first met Tom in 1984 when I was hired on to work with Mickey Gilley. Tom had been hired by Gilley probably no more than a year earlier while Gilley was doing a gig at Harrah’s in Lake Tahoe. Tom worked in the health spa at Harrah’s. He was a towel boy. As with everyone who has ever met Tom, Gilley was really taken by his personality and charm. Gilley offered him a job and soon Tom was selling Gilley merchandise on the road with the group. I am sure one of the things that Gilley really liked about Tom was his love and knowledge of sports. We watched a lot of games while traveling on the road. Football, baseball, basketball, golf. Any game you could place a bet on. Tom was always calling every play before the TV announcers could. Most of the time when the announcer’s call was different than Tom’s it was soon corrected by the instant replay in his favor. There are a lot of stories involving Tom. He was always getting himself in some predicament, but he always managed to come out smelling like a rose, most of the time. Gilley had a good friend near Sacramento who came out to a lot of our shows in Reno and Las Vegas. Mr. Brooks was a businessman, owned a golf course and was a high roller. Winning 60k in the casino playing craps was like winning pocket change. There was a benefit golf tournament every year at his golf course and one-year Gilley was the headlining entertainment. It was a weekend of golf and wining and dining. There was lots of partying after the tournament and show. We had another show in Long Beach the next day and it was going to be a long drive for the buses to get there on time. Gilley announced to everyone, “party as much as you want tonight but if you are not on the buses at 6:00am you will be left behind. No exceptions. We are out of here at 6.” Most of us decided not to sleep in our luxurious condos that night so that we didn’t have to get up early just to move to another place to go back to sleep. I always slept good in my bunk on the bus. 6:00am rolls around early and everyone is present and accounted for. Except Tom. Someone went to check his room. Tom was no where to be found. Gilley said, “Let’s go.” I was thinking, great. Tom was my main crew guy to help move the massive amount of equipment we carried with us and it was going to be tough without him. Everyone went back to sleep for the ride to Long Beach. About 6 to 7 hours. Most everyone was awake when we got to the fair grounds. As the buses were pulling into the backside of the racetrack, we could see someone sitting on the stage waving. It was Tom. Gilley wondered out loud, “How in the hell did he get here?” Of course, Tom would tell us and it could only happen to him. Everyone had enough partying the night before and decided to turn in to get up early. Tom had been hanging out with Mr. Brooks and his friends and was talked into staying later. Did I mention how everyone loved Tom and having him around? Gilley was not near as angry with Tom as he was when we left that morning, but he wanted to know what happened. “I was all ready to go back to my room, but Mr. Brooks wanted me to stay longer because they were all celebrating his daughter’s birthday. Well, I never made it back to my room. I passed out on the couch and I missed the buses. I told Mr. Brooks, “I’m going to be fired, for sure.” Mr. Brooks felt so bad about it he said he would take care of everything. We had a really nice breakfast and then he called up his pilot, put me on his Lear Jet and here I am.”

Practical jokes are a staple of touring on the road. They can happen anytime of the day, they can happen often, they can happen from payback. And they certainly happen when you would least expect It. Musicians are very creative people and that creativity doesn’t diminish when it comes to a good practical joke. One of the best happened during my time with the band Del Castillo. We were touring up in the Northeast, we had a day off. Might have been in Annapolis. Those days are always good for decompressing from the seemingly non-stop travel from city to city. Some of us went for a harbor cruise and some of the other guys went for a movie. I would have chosen something a little more lighthearted or comical but the guys decided to go see the current horror release, ‘The Exorcism of Emily Rose’. We all got together later for dinner and all they could talk about was how scary that movie was. Alex, the lead singer of the group, was especially unnerved by the film. He might have swore that he would never see anything like that again. We usually stayed at some fairly decent hotels. This one had alarm clocks that had a built-in CD player. How nice that you could wake up to your own favorite CD. Mark, one of two lead guitar players in the band, was Alex’s roommate and he had an idea. One that Alex wouldn’t soon forget. Before going to sleep that night, Mark recorded a CD that consisted of some very demonic and hellish voices screaming “David, wake up!” and other blood curdling demands and sound effects. David was actually Alex’s given name. Alejandro was his middle name and everyone called him Alex. The devil, of course, would call you by your given name. The CD got popped into the player and set for a 3:00am wakeup call. Not sure if Alex woke up to the first call of his name but he was soon frozen in his bed unable to move. We all wished we had been there to witness the call from hell for ‘David’s’ soul. Alex didn’t sleep for the rest of the night. Tom Farrell was always the practical joker. But now it was his turn for payback. We had been on Gilley’s busses for quite a while and we were finally arriving at our destination. We were somewhere in Oregon. It might have been Salem. There was a county fair performance the next day and we were getting in early. That meant a night off. We would probably order in some pizza and just relax for the evening. Doug, the bass player, had an old friend who was going to drop by for a visit. It was always really cool when you could connect with people you didn’t have a chance to see very often. As we were coming into town there was an alert on the radio that a convict had escaped from the local State Penitentiary. “Be on the lookout and keep your doors locked. This person could possibly be dangerous.” We got to the motel and everyone checked into their rooms. Doug’s friend showed up and he just happened to be dressed in a denim work shirt and denim pants. Wow, kinda looked like a prisoner from a work detail. We all got an idea. We told this guy to go over to Tom’s room and knock on the door and try to get Tom to let him in. Tom had no idea who this guy would be or that he had arrived yet to see Doug. We were all able to watch everything that was about to happen without being seen. Doug’s friend went and knocked on the door. Tom answered and looking a little puzzled said, “Can I help you?” “Hey man, I need a favor, I need a place to hang out for just a little while. Do you think it would be all right if I came in for just a bit?” Tom was really looking puzzled and a little apprehensive said, “Nooo, I don’t think I could do that.” “Ah, come on man, I really need to come in there. I just need a place to stay for a little while.” He starts pushing forward a little bit. Tom starts to look really worried now as Doug’s friend starts to try and go into the room and Tom is saying, “You can’t come in here, man, you can’t come in here.” We all decided that we should probably not let the joke go very much further as Doug’s friend was completely inside the room at this point. We all piled in through the door laughing. I had never seen Tom as scared as he was at that moment. He said he had thought for sure the escaped convict had found him and it was all about to go down. Not all the practical jokes were scary or were getting back at someone. Sometimes they were just damn funny. Rocky Stone was Gilley’s lead guitar player. He was friends with Chet Atkins and James Burton. He had the respect of other musicians wherever we went. He seemed to know someone in every town we were in. Rocky had the best dry wit and one-liners of anyone you ever knew. He always kept Gilley in stiches. We were always fed well at Gilley shows. One evening we were served Prime Rib with all the fixings. Rocky was enjoying his big ol’ cut and sliced the huge strip of fat off the side. It was about 8 inches long and an inch thick. He wrapped it up in his napkin and stuck it in his jacket pocket. “Rocky, what the hell are you doing?” This was not something you would save for a midnight snack. He just gave a little shake of his head as to say, “Aaah, don’t worry about it.” He was up to something. After the show that night a lot of us were out on Gilley’s bus, hanging out, telling jokes, having some beers with some visitors. Rocky was sitting in the corner in one of the chairs entertaining Gilley and everyone else with more of his dry humor when all of a sudden he had to sneeze. It seemed like it was going to be a big one. “Ahh, ahhhh, ahhhhhhh choooo!!!” Rocky had reached into his pocket and pulled out that big ol’ piece of fat and held it under his nose. It looked like a huge blob of snot hanging down 8 inches from his face. I thought Gilley was going to fall out of his chair.

Mickey Gilley was performing at Harrah’s in Reno, NV once again and we always rolled in a day early on a Thursday. We all really liked this gig because it was just like going to a regular job every day. For two weeks there was no load-in or load-out or traveling to the next town overnight on the buses. We would do this twice a year. The best part was that the hotel would always comp us into the show of the performer that was in the showroom before us if there were seats available. Not all of the band and crew would take advantage of this offer but there were a few of us that always looked forward to the opportunity as well as Gilley did. We had a choice of the early dinner show or the late cocktail show. We choose the dinner show whenever possible. There’s nothing like free Surf and Turf. Another opportunity and privilege that we had, which was kind of a tradition between the artists that performed at Harrah’s would be to go back to the Green Room and meet the artist we just saw performing. It was the space we would occupy during our engagement in the showroom, so we were quite familiar with it and the procedure. We also had our own flow of visitors during the two weeks we were there. Some of the stars we met after their show were Debbie Reynolds, Dionne Warwick, Ronnie Milsap, Captain and Tinnell and others. Because there were three and a half hours between shows there was a lot of time spent in the Green Room, which also included the headliner’s dressing room. It was very well stocked with food and drink, which allowed the artist to be very hospitable if they chose to. Sometimes, these visits were very brief. Reynolds and Warwick met us very cordially in the hallway and then we were dismissed. Gilley had a party every night.   On this particular engagement, Sammy Davis, Jr. was in before us. I was excited to be able to see him live on stage because I had always been a big fan, especially after reading his autobiography, Yes I Can, in high school. After the show, the Matre’d came to our table to escort us back to the Green Room. I was on my way to meet a legend. Sammy acted very happy to see us all and invited us in. There was already a number of people there hanging out having a good time and I realized Sammy liked having a party with people around. The bar was fully stocked as usual, food was spresd out, the TV was on and in the middle of the coffee table was a giant bowl filled with about 5 or 6 cartons of three different brands of filterless cigarettes. Sammy was smoking the whole time we were there. Everyone was having a great time drinking, talking and taking pictures with Sammy when suddenly, he threw up his hands and said “whoa, whoa, quiet everybody”, and he pulled up a chair in front of the television set and sat down. I believe the program was the Motown 25^th Anniversary Show and Michael Jackson was about to perform. The whole room got really quiet, and Sammy was on the edge of the chair with his hands on his knees, staring intently at the TV watching every move Michael was making. Michael was singing and doing his regular dance moves when he suddenly broke into the Moonwalk. I don’t know if it had ever been seen before then and Sammy jumped back in the chair yelling “Oh, Oh Michael, Michael, lighten’ up on me, man” and then I thought Sammy was going to fall out of the chair with all of the excitement. He could not believe what he had just seen. That was the highlight of my visit with Sammy Davis, Jr., watching him watch Michael Jackson on TV.

Things That Make You Feel Like A Rock Star

Most of the things that have happened in my career were because I was in the right place at the right time with a bit of luck. My best job ever was with Mickey Gilley, which once again came from being in the right place at the right time. I came to Austin and one of my first jobs was working for Lone Star Sound and Lights. The owner, Jerry Potter, a few years later ended up going to work for Mickey Gilley. I had not seen him in some time. I was taking a friend to the airport to drop him off to head out on a band tour. Walking out of the airport was my friend Jerry and we began talking, having not seen each other in a couple of years. He asked me if I was looking for a job. Well in fact I was, and he said there was a position with the Mickey Gilley band. Well, that sounded good to me. There was a position as a lighting director that they needed to fill. I had done concert lighting for Lone Star S&L in the past. Jerry was the FOH audio engineer for Gilley. I said I would have to think about that because even though I had done concert lighting for him in the past I preferred mixing audio since that was my background. I had an offer to go back out on tour with The S.O.S. Band as their FOH audio engineer and I told Jerry I really would rather stick to mixing sound. He said well, I will make you a deal. If I would come work with them, he said that he would do lighting and I could manage the audio. Well, I thought that was good deal and besides it was closer to home. I started as Mickey Gilley’s front of house audio engineer. After several years of working with Gilley, I was offered the position of tour manager. We traveled on two buses, the band and crew rode on one bus and Gilley had his bus which included the driver, the band leader, who was also the relief driver and the two backup singers. When I became the tour manager, I was able to move to Gilley’s bus from the crew bus. That was good because his bus was a little nicer and there were not as many people on board. Then, even better, Gilley did not always ride the bus. Sometimes we would travel clear across the whole country without a gig in between. It might also include a day or two off during the trip which made it even longer. He would take a few days off at home and then fly out to where we were headed. We would meet him and pick him up at an airport. Because he did not like to fly alone, he would take the two backup singers along with him. So, on the bus, that left the driver, the relief driver and me. Well, the relief driver would sleep during the trip so he could take over driving duties when the main driver had to get some sleep. That left me alone on my own tour bus. There is nothing like traveling down the road all on your own in your own tour bus to make you feel like a Rockstar.    Gilley was scheduled to play at Harrah’s in Atlantic City. It just so happened that I was getting married the day before we were to leave on the buses to make the trip. It was going to take almost two days to drive there. It was decided I could fly to Philadelphia International Airport on the day of the gig to give me some time at home after the wedding. I would get there in time for the show, so everything was good. The rest of the crew would get the stage setup and I would just walk in and mix the show. It’s a level I always wanted to achieve but it hardly ever happens. The airport is about an hour from Atlantic City. Harrah’s was going to send a limousine to pick me up. As I was leaving the airport, the driver was standing out front holding a sign with my name on it. I said hello, I’m Mr. Luedecke, he took my bags and opened the door for me. I got in and almost fell asleep on the ride to the hotel because I was so tired, and the limo was so comfy. I thought this is the way to travel. We arrived at the hotel and I noticed all the foot traffic around the front of the hotel was slowing down and coming to a stop. All eyes were on the limo. Who is about to get out? Who could it be? Will we get a picture or an autograph? I just sat back and waited for the driver to come around and open the door for me with the title of one of Gilley’s songs going through my head with a chuckle, “You Don’t Know Me”. How disappointed were all those people going to be when I got out of the limo and they wouldn’t have any idea who I was or if they should know who I was. It didn’t take long for people to start moving again, but I kept my sunglasses on to keep them guessing.