The Whirlwind

First things first: new Coots video --

"Every now and then
I know it's kinda hard to tell..."

"Still Alive And Well" -- the show opener, with band intros.

"Have you heard
What's the word?"

ZZ Top's "Thunderbird" (from "Fandango" -- 1975).

"Make a dash for freedom
But don't skate on polar ice..."

A bite of the end of "The Red And The Black". This is the first video appearance of the Les Paul Studio. (There you go, George!)

"And now she eases gently
From an Austin to a Bentley
Suddenly she feels so young..."

Deep Purple's "Knocking At Your Back Door".

Man, this is hard. This was the first time we'd gotten the band together in about six weeks, and we just walked up and threw it at the wall, stone-cold, to see if it would stick. I guess it did. You might hear a couple of goofs here & there in these takes, but I'm not going to point them out. "It's only rock & roll," and we like it. This is the way it goes, live. (And believe me: it happens to big-time pros, too. If you could ever listen to their individual channels soloed through a live audio desk, you'd know.)

I can't tell you what a good time I had, yesterday. Just walking around watching who would surface for Bill's party. Honest to god: my face hurt from laughing with these fools all day long and it was just great. My friend Mark grilled three hundred and fifty half-chickens. Think about that. That guy was out there all day long. There was not a place to park a car, and they were lined up on both shoulders of the road in both directions for fifty yards past the place. Nobody could remember ever seeing that before.

The thing is, this has been going on all over town since about Thursday. People getting together here & there all over the place, but a lot of them at Tina and Bill's house. Never in my life have I seen such a party at sending someone off. Everybody involved has been just splendid. Buck Morehouse is a star. Sheila and everybody at the VFW. Tina's father, Jack: of our parents' generation, could not be dragged off the dance floor while we were throwing down Blue Oyster Cult. That guy is a natural-born riot. There are too many people to name in credits like this.

The Dan Eaton Band came down from Rochester and opened the show: Dan went to kindergarten with Bill. They did a great job.

Toby's other band is called Hammerd, and they brought all the production. Blind Bob (their drummer) and Dave (their road guy) pulled hard to get this together, watching weather and finally deciding to break all the gear out of their rolling stage (an amazing thing in itself) to put the show in that room because it rained all day. And then they played after we did, and kept playing until after eight o'clock. Toby was heroic.

You can't see the text on the T-shirt I was wearing, but it goes like this:

"I don't smoke dope, chew rope, dance, prance, romance, fight, fart, fuck, shoot the shit or drive a truck. I've been to Maine, Spain, Spokane, around the world three times, two world fairs, and seen goats fuck in the marketplace. But I ain't never seen no shit like this."

(50th Anniversary -- Daytona Bike Week, 1991)

It's the damned truth about yesterday. It was one of the sweetest things I ever saw, and it was great to be a part of it. Our old mate Bill lived the right life, and that's what everyone testified to. We'll never forget him, and nobody in town who was there is going to forget how we sent him off.

He was worth it.