It may be hard to believe now, but in 1979 AC/DC opened up for the Motor City Madman, Ted Nugent. Mr. Nugent had been co-headlining arena dates with Lynyrd Skynyrd before the horrific plane crash that has been well chronicled abruptly changed the formula and Ted was elevated to arena headliner. Nugent had great albums like “ Free for All”, stellar shows starring one of the greatest rock and roll guitarists of all time, and a rabid fan base. I had seen AC/DC open for Rainbow at the Palladium and the band was continuing its upward trajectory from theatre to arena act. Both bands still tour to this day; Ted Nugent mostly playing club dates like at the Paramount in Huntington (with the talented Greg Smith on bass) and AC/DC playing sold out arena and stadium dates.

It’s a Long Way to the Top if You Want to Rock and Roll

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GQ

The free concerts held at the Sheep Meadow in Central Park were always a happening. These concerts always drew tremendous crowds and a good view of the stage was sometimes hard to find. I arrived after the James Taylor concert had already begun and made my way near the front of the stage facing the left side. I was pumped up and started yelling “ Carolina in my Mind” as it was my favorite Taylor tune at the time only to find out from someone nearby he had actually opened with the song. WNEW-FM was New York’s preeminent rock and roll radio station and they hosted this particular event.

Shower The People

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GQ

Gato Barbieri? Yes, we took the 7 train from Flushing, Queens to Central Park and the Barbieri show was our excuse to make the trip. Wherever there was free live music to be had we were there. The Dr. Pepper Concert series was a gift that kept giving all summer long.

Let the Music Do the Talking

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GQ

Hot on the heels of a Johnny Winter concert the night before, the legendary B.B. King took the stage at Central Park’s Wollman Rink for the Dr. Pepper Concert Series. I am pretty sure that we just hung out on the boulders for this one and the next (Gato Barbieri) and this is yet another example of the great musical hang out in mid town Manhattan during the summer of 1979. It was an extraordinary set up and destination for a bunch of teenagers from Queens.

Riding With the King

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GQ

I do not have any particular recollection of this Johnny Winter Dr. Pepper concert at Central Park. However, I do recall seeing the great blues guitarist at a club called My Father’s Place in Roslyn, Long Island which had a Bottom Line type feel with table seating in front of the stage. While I do not remember the set list, I do recall seeing the somewhat frail looking Mr.Winter walking with the aid of a cain as he stepped on stage before shredding on his guitar for the evening. Once Johnny started playing, all thoughts of frailty went out the window. I saw some interesting concerts at My Father’s Place to include Gregg Allman, Iggy Pop and the Joe Perry Project. The table seating was a nice change of pace from the clubs that we were used to attending like Beggar’s Opera in Jamaica or the Ritz in New York City.

Johnny B. Goode

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GQ

The summer of 1979 was a flurry of rock and roll concert experiences that have become a blur at this point of my life. Southside Johnny has a lot of great tunes and I have seen the band several times through the years to include this show at Central Park’s Wollman Rink during the summer long Dr. Pepper Concert series.

Havin’ a Party

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GQ

The Allman Brothers Band has always been one of my favorites and I have attended the members’ concerts in their various configurations right up until March of 2020, also at Madison Square Garden, for The Brothers 50th anniversary show, which also happens to be the last concert of any kind that I have attended since the pandemic shut down live music as we once knew it. Since then I have discovered YouTube concerts to help keep my live music fix satisfied but I have been unable to get onboard the live-streaming situation thus far. I just read that Coachella, scheduled for April, 2021 in Southern California, has been canceled again due to the pandemic. I have rented a house in Newport, Rhode Island in hopes that the Newport Folk Festival which was canceled last year might still somehow take place in July, 2021. The New Orleans Jazz Fest has been postponed again from April of this year until October, 2021 so I have taken a leap of faith and booked an Airbnb in New Orleans as we were supposed to attend the canceled festival last April, 2020. I am also holding on to my Jones Beach Theatre concert tickets for the postponed concerts from last summer and I have tickets for New York Mets opening day which I seriously doubt that our embattled Governor Cuomo will authorize a full house for. Who knows what the future holds but in the meantime stay well and rock on!

Just Ain’t Easy

GQ

If you are missing Van Hagar, check out the band Chickenfoot with Sammy Hagar, original VH bassist Michael Anthony on backing vocals and Joe Satriami shredding on the lead guitar. The sound is very reminiscent of the Sammy Hagar Van Halen lineup and while Satriani is not Eddie Van Halen, he might be the next best thing.

Future in the Past

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GQ

I have told this story before but on one of these early (for me) Jorma Kaukonen dates at the Palladium in New York City, it was right after Hot Tuna had “broken up” following the release of their live album, which at the time I had believed was going to blow them up in popularity as the double live album in the late 1970’s was generally a ticket to exponential artistic reward (Frampton Comes Alive). Before the internet, rock and roll artist mystique was discovered primarily through album cover art, liner notes, FM radio DJs, or articles found in music magazines and free newspapers found at head shops or record stores. I went to the Jorma concert that had originally been sold as a Hot Tuna show, expecting long haired Jorma but instead Kaukonen surprised the audience when he walked onstage with acoustic guitar in hand sporting a slicked back short haircut and orange hair just maybe channeling his inner Bowie. This was slightly unsettling at first but the solo acoustic Kaukonen put on a great show. Some time afterward I had read in Rolling Stone magazine where Jorma had said that unbeknownst to him that night he took a swig from a champagne bottle that had been laced with LSD and that he had played the same note on one song for a half an hour or so. Honestly, if true, I never noticed but it is an interesting story nonetheless. Obviously bassist Jack Casady and Jorma reunited at some point and Hot Tuna, in various forms and line ups, is still recording and performing live and can be found on YouTube during the pandemic. The last couple of times I saw the band was at New York City’s Town Hall and at a very cool synagogue in Brooklyn believe it or not. Hot Fing Tuna indeed.

Double Dose

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GQ

I have always believed that Todd Rundgren is an eclectic rock and roll genius. Todd Rundgren & Utopia is yet another Dr. Pepper Concert Series show at Central Park that I have no particular recollection. Todd Rundgren’s double album solo masterpiece Something/Anything?, where he played all of the instruments and produced the majority of the songs himself, was a tour de force and had the huge hit single “ I Saw the Light”. That was in constant rotation on FM radio stations everywhere. With the band Utopia, Rundgren rocked harder than on his solo work which translated well to headlining larger venues such as the outdoor Wollman Rink in Central Park. I have made it a point to see Mr. Rundgren whenever he is out on the road, whether it was at B.B. King’s Blues Club in Times Square, a Utopia reunion concert at the Highline Ballroom, or solo performing brand new material with a DJ at the Paramount in Huntington. He also more recently played the Beatles “White Album” with an all star ensemble at the NYCB Theatre at Westbury where he undoubtedly stole the show. The multitalented Todd Rundgren is a musical legend and is not to be missed when he comes to your town.

It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference

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GQ