I took this picture at a crazy Johnny Winter/Aerosmith/Ted Nugent show in about 76 in Spokane, WA. A crazed guy at the show pulled a .44 magnum on a guy next to me. He later wasted his whole family. My previous life as a photographer.
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Great shot!
Never a fan of his music...but he's a real pissa.
J. D. Reynolds
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Saw the Winter Bros at the Oakland Colliseum, they made a live album of the show. I think it was in '76 also. Got a picture of Johnny?
Mike
Trust in God, but row away from the rocks.
I never got a Johnny Winter shot. I have BOC, Heart, Manfred Mann, Styx, and so on. But I had to go to school and this fell by the wayside. I used to sign my photos on the back. Nuge called my house and I was at school. Told my folks he liked my work. Cool guy in the day. I think his politics now brand him a true wingnut. At least he puts his money where his mouth is. Helps kids directly. He is also basically an unindicted rapist. He too beat the rap. And for being so conservative, dodged the draft with peanut butter and hard boiled eggs in his knickers. Hard to take his rantings seriously now.http://www.etherhuffer.typepad.com
Here is the story of my concert trip. Its %100 true. I hope no young kid has my experience.
Where the Cordite Blossoms Grow
He had a gun. He had a gun and it was loaded. I wasn't loaded, but I should have been. You see, the snow was falling outside the Spokane Coliseum. Not the big happy flakes of cliche' ridden happiness, but instead the bitter acrid shards of blowing crystals and knives recently sharpened. It was goddam winter and I was waiting in the cold to see a guy who I thought was a walking god of the six string. The Nuge. It was 76 and time to move on. But not until June. Winter held us there a little longer to see the man and steam up the dry winter air in a barn of a stadium. It was so damn cold and the cops didn't show up to run security on the hordes of late boomer pot heads and drunks waiting to pray at the alter of the Motor City Madman. They opened the doors and we flooded in like smelt up the Columbia. It was the first mistake of the night.
Cliff and I fought our way forward to the barrier. Legs man. You gotta have legs and they have to stay with you. Four hours in front of the barrier with a camera and heavy wool coat, purple haze all about . You needed the legs to keep you Muhammed Ali moving and swaying, making the guy next to you the ropes, the man in front your opponent. You wanted photos, you had to have legs. And being loaded would never make it better. The blur in your head became blur on film. Cliff knew it, so did I. We went in straight.
The guy was sweaty. And all he wore was a set of overalls, no shirt, no shoes. A nasty, sweaty, no service sort of guy with a crew cut when everyone else was wearing it long or wanted to. Not pony tail Dead long, just long and full and ready for rock, ready for eight-bar, ready for slinky string yanking metal. He was a freak, a sick slice of North Idaho come to see a hard slice of Detroit, Michigan. It wasn't right man. And we knew it.
"Got you in a stranglehold baby," yeah sure you do you prick. "The Great White Buffalo" is roamin the plains like #### he is Ted. We don't care. The place is thumpin, rollin, swayin and shakin in the haze. Requisite sound of bottle kicked across concrete floor, another party concluded with a clinking of glass and grinding of sneakers in shards of Jack Daniels. Pure six string roaring and Marshall control. Then he pulls out the gun.
The guy in front of the sweaty evil dude bumps him. The dude takes immediate umbrage and unpockets the .44 Magnum. Here we go. Its Dirty Harry time and we have to count the chambers in that #### gun, how many gone, how many left. Time to leave man. Time to find the door. I'm 18 so I don't know that yet. We stay and our eyes bug out. We stay because we are stupid and young and we are in a stranglehold, baby.
The guy who bumps Mr. Sweaty now has a .44 up his nose. Jesus Lord God save us all. He stays cool. Damn, he stays cool. He knows his gray matter is about to become pink mist if he doesn't choose his words right. He chooses them, and we watch. Run, you little 18 year old ####. Run like no tomorrow. Get out of here. I stay and watch. Cliff stays. He watches. The guy talks Mr. Sweaty down. The gun goes back in the pocket. Mr. Sweaty is swaying and rocking. Its a party man. Haze, alcohol, .44 magnums. Its a #### party. We stay.
Security has a problem, and they know it. They are #### and they know it. They #### up and some kids are gonna die if they don't think fast. Fast is not always good. They come over to us plainclothes. The #### heat is talkin to the kids to help em out. #### kids we were. We were just #### kids.
"So, when the Sweaty Dude gets to the barrier, we are gonna walk by. You are gonna push him over the barrier and we will cuff him." I'm 18 and doing a cop's job. Cliff and I look at each other. Somehow, some way, we know that kids might die if we don't do this. Somehow, the predator will attack that which runs or tries to elude it, the genetics of prey and predator bubbling up to the surface. Instinct will drive life, intinct will bring death. We didn't leave because we were young and stupid. But we stayed because we were old in our hearts and not ready to look at death amongst ourselves. We stayed.
So it went that the cops did walk the pit without a security vest, in front of the horrible creature in overalls. And we did push him, as hard as we could, we pushed. His hands flew up to God and Ted and the cuffs crashed down on the Devil's wrists. He went over to the other side and we watched it . The other side was blue wool and brass buttons and a .38 revolver in those days. Not .44 against .44, just blue wool against whatever life brought it. The guy was gone.
We used to cruise on Riverside. Everyone did. It was where and what you did. There was no alternative place, no club, no bar, no backyard, no street where we could hang and just be late boomers with a buzz and an idea. He cruised it too. Probably with a buzz I can never know. His buzz was killing his wife and kids in their trailer house for reasons unexamined, unknown, uncovered. They asked him about all the guns in the car and he said he was going hunting.I don't think about it much, but it was my first notice from eternity. It was a first last call for simplicity. Belly up kids. Last call for innocence.
Photo above from the 76 concert, copyright Etherhuffer. Thanks Cliff, thanks Bob. http://www.etherhuffer.typepad.com