Classic TV: A Chat with (Chip) Stanley Livingston of 'My Three Sons'

By Ray Shasho

Classic Rock meets Classic TV. This is the first in a series of interviews dedicated to Classic TV icons.

Stanley Livingston is best known as middle son “Chip” Douglas for the momentous TV sitcom “My Three Sons.” The storyline is about a widower (played by veteran actor Fred MacMurray) and the trials and tribulations of everyday life while raising three sons.
The show ran from 1960 through 1972 and then instantly went into syndication. The family sitcom became a mainstay on Nickelodeon and helped to launch the TV Land network in 1995. Last year marked the Golden Anniversary of “My Three Sons” and included a spectacular reunion celebration at the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills, California.

Child prodigy Stanley Livingston also played a part in the TV series “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,” movies “Please Don’t Eat the Daisies” (starring Doris Day and David Niven) and in the star-studded epic “How the West Was Won” In 1962.

Over the years Livingston has appeared in various motion pictures, television episodes and specials, theater, commercials, and also contributed his voiceover talents on animation.  
In 2009 the BizParentz Foundation honored Stanley Livingston at the CARE Awards. Anne Henry, founder of BizParentz Foundation said, “Stanley is a great example of a child star who did wonderful things with his life, and still made time to leave a legacy for our generation of child actors. We want to show kids that it is possible to work as a child actor and be a positive force in the industry -- in front of the camera or behind it." 
Today Stanley Livingston is 60 years old and busier than ever. He’s an Actor, Director, Producer, and Cinematographer. Livingston is head of First Team Productions an LA-based Production Company and also the founder and CEO of The Actor’s Journey Project which includes –“The Actor’s Journey” and “The Actor’s Journey for Kids.” It’s a MUST see DVD program for anyone considering- or actively pursuing a career as an actor or performer. Livingston has endured a remarkable 55 years in show business.

Here’s my interview with Classic TV Icon Stanley Livingston.

Thank you for being with me today Stanley, how’s the weather this morning in Sunny California?

“Cooling off finally a little bit anyway the last few days have been just outrageous well over 100.”

“Stanley you’re the Founder and CEO of an enterprise that is very important to you. Talk about The Actor’s Journey Project.”

“I’ve been thinking about doing it actually for quite awhile. For people that want to become actors and anybody that’s been in the business for a long time and succeeded and we look at all the people trying to get into it you finally recognize yea I’ve been doing it for 20 years but there’s this disconnect for actors.
Basically in this country and I’m sure this happens all over the world you know actors get trained in the art and craft of acting and it doesn’t matter whether you go to a local Mom and Pop School or whether you choose to do it at some university, a Junior college, a regular college, or one of the prestigious acting academies or even at Yale or Harvard. The entire focus of what they teach you is all about the art and craft of acting, technique and performance skills and you spend anywhere from two to four years learning that and spending quite a big chunk of money especially if you’re going to one of the four year colleges you’re spending forty to sixty thousand dollars on this education if you’re going to Yale or Harvard it’s north of a hundred thousand dollars and then what happens it all stops. People get out of college and they’re ready to get into the business assimilate into the industry and they get the pictures they get the resume together and then nothing happens. It’s really-really frustrating and we’ve seen this for decades and decades and there’s a problem.

The problem is the fact that only the art and craft of acting and performance skills are taught there’s nothing taught on the business side of our industry. How you go about doing it, how you launch a career, how you sustain a career, how you survive in the industry and it’s not taught and that’s understandable because the people that teach the performance part are professors who rarely if ever have been involved in the industry to any great extent so they’re incapable of teaching it –but basically you wish the students well and you know you’ve got their money they spend it all and then nothing happens.
 In this industry we have over a 99% failure rate of people to assimilate into the industry and that’s not for lack of talent or training it’s because they don’t know the industry and there’s nowhere where you can go to learn it except the school of hard knocks which like I said shows a 99% failure rate so we decided to do something about this and I talked to a lot of my peers people that I’ve worked with and for and we thought gee if there was a program that really laid out what the business side was all about and a lot of things that are almost mystifying for new talent and put a comprehensive program together that instead of being taught by- because that’s the other side of the problem is the people that are attempting to teach whatever little knowledge they have on the business side and most of them have had short careers or worked sporadically and even though they haven’t done it very well themselves they’re going to teach you and show you how to do it.

So we thought what if we borrow a hundred people -that’s one of the criteria’s we use you had to be in the industry 20-30 years who really have an extensive list of credits that are verifiable that’s one of the other components a lot of people have credits but they tell you they have and you go look them up on the IMDb (the Internet Movie Database) and they don’t exist or you find out that they weren’t really an actor they were an extra or they’ll tell you they were a Director of Photography when they were a Focus Puller and all that stuff sort of goes on.

So we put together a hundred people -everywhere from actors we have people like Henry Winkler, Melissa Gilbert, Michael York, Sherman Hemsley, Danny Trejo and on and on and on. With the actors we involve directors -directors like Richard Donner, Richard Rush, producers, executive producers, talent agents, talent managers we even had the president of the Screen Actors Guild, the president of the Directors Guild, people that were chairpersons at various committees at the various guilds and also people that have sat on the various boards and people who on camera are teaching what the business of acting is all about.”

So you’re teaching the real world side of the acting business, that’s a switch.

“Yea, it’s a ten- hour long program and it’s for adult actors that are at least 18 years or older and its taught by a hundred people who have incredible experience in the industry and its completely focused on business it has nothing to do with your talent as an actor or acting ability which is train with people in this other area that there is no training on and give them what I call the nonperformance skills they need to do this. It’s a pretty novel approach and certainly needed and at this point too we’re trying to get it integrated into the world of higher ed in addition to maintaining a website that we now have where people who hear about it can come and buy the DVD set that came out of it. Basically we did it that way because the actors come from everywhere so it’s got to be portable and you can just buy it online.

Anyway while we shot that we also did a second program which is called The Actor’s Journey for Kids. The program is called The Actors Journey but we did The Actor’s Journey for Kids which actually is not for kids and all the material is directed at their parents – but it’s the same thing a business program for parents who want to involve their kids or teens and save a lot of time and probably for the parents and kids the other little thing that came out of it is there’s so many scam companies around that take people’s money and because these people are just so ignorant of the business they think they’re getting help when all they’re doing is spending three to five to ten thousand dollars and nothing happens. So hopefully it will put these people out of business.”

I’m glad someone is finally going to reveal the truth about the business side of it. I talked with Professor Mark Volman (Flo) of The Turtles recently and he’s educating his students about the real world of the music business. I mean who better to learn from than veteran musicians or actors. So between you and Professor Volman you’re really helping a vast percentage of people trying to work in the world of entertainment.

“Yea we want to give something back to the community and people that are there that are really deficient in this information even the rank and file of the Screen Actors Guild I would say probably 90% of them are totally deficient too and they got a lucky break and they’ve got the Screen Actors card but the heck if they know the business side of it and most of them still don’t know how to get work and it will make life more sweeter for them and for the newbie’s coming in from the colleges who are trying to do this in this day and age you know they’re so vested in the talent and image part of it that they’re not really aware that there is this business side and they promote that side of it and finally they’re just drummed out or you make some of the classic mistakes and that’s what we’re trying to help people from doing.”

Let’s dive into My Three Sons and your acting career. What was it like working in the business as a child actor?

“It all became this process that you sort of learn about. I actually started in “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,” I got a job as an extra on that and for whatever reason Ozzie gave me a line and I was able to get into the Screen Actors Guild which back then is what you’d want to do but nowadays you wouldn’t want to join immediately. That’s when I found out yea if you’re on the set you’re going to school for three hours a day that’s mandatory and no matter what I did -I did some movies between Ozzie and Harriet and going on to My Three Sons quite a bit of episodic work on just different TV shows and I always had to go to school. It was a little bit different with My Three Sons as oppose to working on Ozzie and Harriet I’d probably work for three or four days or a week and then I’d go back to public school. When we did My Three Sons it was a continuous job and I was in all 39 episodes.

When the season would start I was working and I was going to school on the set. You did three hours a day and then have an hour off for lunch and for nine months I was on the set. The other three months unlike a lot of the kids who were involved in other TV shows they either had a tutor during the offseason or there was a school on Hollywood Boulevard called Hollywood Professional School and I think almost everybody who was a kid on TV or Kid Star went to that school – for whatever reason my parents said you’re going back to public school you’re not going to private school you’re not getting a tutor we want you to integrate with real kids and so that’s what we did.”

How were you treated at the public schools?

“I was starting to get known because of doing movies and Ozzie and Harriet and a bunch of different TV shows but when My Three Sons broke -because in those days there were (3) networks and right now if you’re on the network you probably have whatever 15, 20 Million people watching you and back then it was somewhere between 60 to 80 Million people a week watching your show especially with a hit show which we were.

But when I went back to school for the first time I was pretty scared because everybody in the school knew who I was and you didn’t know if they wanted to be your friend or beat you up. You very quickly had to learn some skills on how to deal with people. But I think my parents even though it was a scary proposition they really made the right decision. I think those are some of the skills that we learn how to deal with all types of people anything from fans who probably just want to know you because you’re on TV to people that just wanted to beat you up because you are on TV and everything in between. But you find out who your real friends were and the ones who were just sort of enamored with you because they perceived you as a child TV Star.

 I guess I was probably about in the fifth grade when My Three Sons hit and- I’m going back every year from February to about maybe the beginning of May it wasn’t that long I was only there for about three months but it gave me a real grounding to deal with people and to deal with situations and all that and I look back and I’m grateful for it now but at the time I was why can’t I just go to private school so I wouldn’t have to go through any of this or have a tutor which certainly we could have afford it but my parents thought it would be a better experience in the long run and by God they were right”

Did you have any famous buddies or even girlfriends while you grew in the business?

“Most of my friends were from outside the industry and I’m still friends with the same guys. I grew up on the streets of Hollywood on Wilcox and Lexington I went to the elementary school there, junior high school and then my parents moved to the Valley, the guys that I met when I was in first grade about five or six of those guys the ones that are still alive we’re still friends and they’re my core friends. My parents sort of encouraged me to keep those friends as opposed to the ones in the movie industry because I really just wanted to go off and play baseball and do normal things.”

What was it like working with legendary actor Fred MacMurray?

“Working with Fred was great, and when I first started working with him because I was nine years old and I was told he was a big movie star and all that and obviously I saw him in The Shaggy Dog and The Absent-Minded Professor but I certainly wasn’t aware of the depth or rep of his big films in the industry ranging all the way back from films in the 30’s when he was doing Double Indemnity, The Egg and I, The Caine Mutiny and The Apartment all these kinds of films so you know as I grew older obviously it was like oh wow this guys been in a lot of stuff. As a kid you don’t really think of that its some older guy on the set that everybody’s giving deferential treatment to.

But later when I thought about it even after the show I went oh my God when this guy came to the show it was almost like an historical event because movie stars didn’t do TV shows they would do guest spots like on a Bob Hope Special or maybe appear on a sort of Lucy but they didn’t come and do a 9-5 five day a week grind to do a TV series but they found out a way to accommodate him. He would work for several months be in every scene and he worked very hard from eight in the morning till six o’clock at night and he would go away for two or three months in the summer and then come back a couple more months and finish everything up and that’s how they revolved the series around him.

He was pretty much like you saw him as the character of Steve Douglas he was just this low key unassuming guy that was a huge-huge movie star. When I talk about that to kids today they don’t know who Fred MacMurray is and they may have heard the name because they saw an episode of My Three Sons but not realizing the ramifications of having a star of that caliber so to put it in perspective I said it would be like Tom Cruise in a television series right now. It would be unheard of.”

There were only (3) Networks ABC, CBS and NBC back in the 60’s and the quality of programming was exceptional. Now we have the option to choose more than 250 channels and the quality of programming is considerably below the standards of those in the glory years of Television. And it seems that there is less entertainment and a lot more advertising? 

“To be honest, TV was never really created for the show people think it is that it was created to have “I Love Lucy,” “My Three Sons” and “Andy Griffith” but it was created to sell product in these shows in between the commercials it’s there for the commercials it’s not there for the programming. The programming is the hook and the bait to get you hooked to that show so they can pop all those commercials into it that’s why they call it programming.”

I always ask classic rock artists to share an amusing story with me. Do you have a funny story that may have happened on the set of My Three Sons?

“Do you remember the episode when a lion gets into the Douglas household? It revolved around a circus coming to town and somehow the lion escaped and incidentally makes its way over to the Douglas residence and for some reason our back door was open that night and the lion gets into the house. The Douglas’s just keep missing running into it and going in and out of doors up and down of stairs -he thinks he hears something but of course when he goes down of course the lion goes up.

Anyway when we were shooting that day the trainer thought he left the lion in his cage and he didn’t lock the door so the lion got out and was actually walking around on the set like in the episode. Bill Demarest (Uncle Charley) was headed for makeup walking down this aisle and he turned the corner and here comes this lion about twenty or thirty feet from around the corner walking right at him and he does the worst thing you can possibly do he started running and the lion started running after him so he turned the corner and that’s right where is dressing room was so he ran in there and shut the door. And then he called the production office upstairs thank God he had a phone and he said, “There’s a lion outside my door.” I don’t think those were quite the words that he used though.”

(Laughing)That’s a great story.
I heard that you really enjoyed working with William Frawley. (“Bub” O’Casey character -he also played Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy)

“When I found out that he was coming on to the show as the Grandfather I was elated, weirdly on I Love Lucy he was always my favorite character. I liked him better than Lucy. So to get to work with him was going to be like a real treat and what was really bizarre was he didn’t like kids. He didn’t like working with kids it was like the W.C. Fields thing no kids no dogs. I just thought of him like my real Grandfather
And forever reason we kind of bonded and he just adored me. I could do no wrong, I’d imitate him and we became best friends.

I’d go eat lunch with him and there was a restaurant around the corner known as this Hollywood watering hole it was right next to Paramount. Everybody from Paramount would be there for lunch and everyday Bill had lunch there same place- same booth- same seat- they’d always hold it for him and I’d eat with him every day. And he would drink at lunch it kind of became a little bit of an issue. You’d only have an hour for lunch and he’d be telling stories and didn’t want to leave and somebody from the production company would go over there and try to get him up and he wouldn’t leave so they took me to the side and said, “Look  he’ll only listen to you, you’ve got to get him up and back.” So when I told him Bill we’ve got to go back to the set he said, “Oh okay” he wouldn’t listen to them. So that became sort of my unofficial job which is to get Bill to work back to the set.

On my thirteenth birthday I walked in my dressing room and there was a nine foot long Dewey Weber surfboard in my dressing room from Bill.  Yea, I was blown away by that.”

Stanley, I could talk with you all day man.

You know, I think the media has always had a tendency to stereotype child actors as growing up into a life of degradation and they usually blame the business as the cause of it. But when you have a supportive family behind you it’s not so. Child actors like you, Brother Barry and of course the Howard’s are perfect examples that you can still work in the entertainment industry as a kid and grow up normal.   

Thank you so much Stanley for being with me today.

“My pleasure Ray, it’s been a lot of fun.”

You can learn more about Stanley Livingston’s “The Actors Journey Project” by clicking on this link… http://stanleylivingston.com/id15.html
Stanley Livingston’s website http://stanleylivingston.com/index.html
The Art Glass Works of Stanley Livingston (Beautiful glass art work for sale)  http://www.stanleylivingstonart.com/index.html
My Three Sons –TV Museum   http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=mythreesons

Special thanks goes out to Trevor Joe Lennon for arranging this interview.

Order author Ray Shasho’s new book Check the Gs –The True Story of an Eclectic American Family and Their Wacky Family Business. A Baby-Boomer MUST!

“I found Check the Gs to be pure entertainment, fantastic fun and a catalyst to igniting so many memories of my own life, as I too am within a few years of Ray.  So to all, I say if you have a bit of grey hair (or no hair), buy this book!  It’s a great gift for your “over-the-hill” friends, or for their kids, if they are the history buffs of younger generations trying to figure out why we are the way we are.” ~~Pacific Book Review

Contact Ray Shasho at rockraymond.shasho@gmail.com

Tony Levin interview: Levin Torn White new release and review

By Ray Shasho

Great new Prog-Rock collaboration

September 13th will be the official release date for an exciting Progressive Rock collaboration by Tony LEVIN (Bass and Chapman Stick), David TORN (Guitar and Textural Events) and Alan WHITE (from Yes) on drums and percussions.

Three brilliant avant-garde musicians band together on this astounding CD. If you’re a fan of Progressive Rock, Jazz Rock Fusion,Psychedelia or Space Rock you will certainly savor this creation. The CD was produced by Scott Schorr and Tony Levin for Lazy Bones Recordings. LEVIN TORN WHITE will be available to purchase at papabear.com where the first 1000 will be personally signed by the artists. You’ll also be able to order the CD at Amazon.com and iTunes- digitally on the 13th.

In an age of American Idol and Glee lunacy it’s refreshing to satisfy the psyche with imaginative and elaborate euphony. Spacey tracks like “Ultra Mullett,” “Convergence” and “Sleeping Horse” (shades of Pink Floyd) will certainly rekindle the senses. Imagine relinquishing your consciousness to a mind-blowing experience of eclectic sounds reminiscent of King Crimson/Pink Floyd/Frank Zappa/Jeff Beck/Tangerine Dream/Gentle Giant and The Mahavishnu Orchestra.

Prog Rock is back with surrealistic vengeance thanks to Tony LEVIN David TORN and Alan WHITE. And the production work by Scott Schorr is extraordinary. So detach your mind from a needed reality break and buy this mind-altering CD.

Tony Levin has been a member of King Crimson and Peter Gabriel. Since the early 70’s Levin played on over 500 albums including working with John Lennon, Pink Floyd, Alice Cooper, Lou Reed and even legendary drummer Buddy Rich. Levin fostered the Chapman Stick a wide version of a fretboard on an electric guitar but with 8, 10 or 12 strings and usually played by tapping or fretting the strings. He also plays an NS electric upright bass and invented Funk Fingers, transmuted drumsticks attached to fingers used to hit the bass guitar strings for funkier sonority.

Here’s my recent interview with musician, songwriter, vocalist and trailblazer Tony Levin.

Tony, thank you for joining me today to talk about an exciting new alliance of progressive rock veterans. What inspired Dave, Alan and you into recording the album together? 

“Well, I've known Alan and admired him for some time, but never got to do a project with him. (Not counting the "YES" album where we both played with different incarnations of the group, but not together!)
David is an old friend and co-conspirator … since he had me and Bill Bruford lend a Progressive Rock flavor to his "Cloud About Mercury" album. And we did a few recordings and tours together with "Bruford Levin Upper Extremities.
When I realized from Alan's ideas, and my reactions, how radical the direction was for this music, David seemed not only the best choice, but pretty much the ONLY choice for guitar!”

I watched the You Tube Video of Levin Torn White. You guys were adjusting and maneuvering synthesizers, echoplexes and just a massive amount of electronics in the studio and it reminded me of the making of the Dark Side of the Moon album. Can we expect that same kind of improvisational genius on the new CD?

“It's a category I don't know quite how to describe. Improvisational, to be sure, but with each player improvising separately to what the others had done, and then re-assembling and then re-improvising. I think there needs to be a name for this method of writing, but for now I'll just call it … ‘wild’!”

Who produced the album? Are the days of inviting an Alan Parsons or Todd Rundgren to the studio over?

“Scott Schorr was the very capable producer, and not just in name - he oversaw it all (albeit with the biased eyes of a fan) and his efforts are very apparent on the tracks.”

I see that the magical Chapman stick will be featured on the new CD, talk a little bit about playing that incredible instrument.

“It's a very versatile instrument to be sure, and also I find the Stick very helpful in taking the music to a different place than the trusty old bass would take it to.  Maybe because there are various ways to play the Stick (like bowing it, or cello-type volume swells, or very percussive hammer-on attacks that make the low notes speak very clearly … also overtone hammering, double hand note bending… and more)
I've played the Stick a lot in the bass function, but lately (since touring with Stick Men) I'm also comfortable using the guitar side of the instrument.
To describe it quickly… 12 strings, 6 bass and 6 guitar, with stereo output, so the guitar strings output go to a guitar amp, and the others to separate pedals and a bass amp --virtually two instruments.”

Speaking of Pink Floyd, what was it like working on the A Momentary Lapse of Reason album? That was a great album! Was there ever a thought for you to join Floyd as their permanent bassist after Roger Waters? You would have been perfect!

“It was an honor to be asked to play on it, of course. (And I did get some Stick on the record!)  There was talk of me touring with the band, and of course I was keen to… but that tour conflicted a bit with the end of the Peter Gabriel tour I was committed to, and I'm not one to disappear from the end of a tour, even to be with Pink Floyd!”

Any plans for a Levin -Torn- White- tour?

“We're indeed talking about that… too early to know if it can come together. Alan busy touring with Yes -- I have Fall and Winter commitments with Stick Men sharing a bill with Adrian Belew. So … we'll see.”

I see you resume touring with the amazing Adrian Belew and King Crimson drummer Pat Mastelotto.  No Florida dates yet?

“Yes indeed. Talk of Florida dates, but looking like they may not come through. (I'm always reluctant to predict future plans in a print interview… by the time it comes out you're proven wrong and sound like an idiot. Well, we kind of are idiots in regard to our future plans… but this time I won't predict whether that tour will come to Florida.)”

You’ve worked with so many great artists over the years. It’s really hard to keep up with you Tony because you’re always so busy and working on so many different projects. It makes my job as a writer tough exploring research about you. What was the defining moment in your music career and who gave you your first big break?

“Like many musicians, I don't look back much… only concentrate on what music I'm doing, and occasionally look ahead. So, little perspective on my career … but I'd say it was a big 'break' when producer Bob Ezrin had me play on a Peter Gabriel album. That same day I met Robert Fripp on the session, and would spent the next … well, many many years, playing with both. Before that I'd done albums with Bob (Alice Cooper, Lou Reed's "Berlin") but not that led to me joining the band to go on the road. I was to find that live shows are what make me most fulfilled as a musician.”

Buddy Rich was mentioned as someone that you worked with in the past. I was always a Buddy Rich fan growing up. What was he like?

“I only played a week with Buddy (a stand in NYC for his big band, and a few shows with quintet in a club) didn’t really get to know him, but what a player -- his energy and techniques were extraordinary.”

And did you get a chance to spend some quality time with John Lennon?

“Only the two weeks in studio. But long enough to have fun jamming, to respect both his musical talent and his ability as a producer. And it was easy to be comfortable with John's very New York in your face honesty - his first words to me were "They tell me you're good, just don't play too many notes." … I said that I wouldn't, and indeed, I knew from the start that musically we'd be fine together since I never do play too many notes.”

Where is the line drawn between Progressive Rock and Jazz Fusion?

“Hah... definitions are never easy. From my time in King Crimson, I'd describe a Progressive band as one that keeps trying to break musical barriers, and keeps trying to do new music. That was (and is) our ambition in King Crimson, whether we succeeded or failed with each album still the ambition is the driving force - we try to always challenge ourselves as individual players and as a band, to not settle for what we've done before.
Jazz fusion, while sharing some of the technical aspects, seems quite different in that the sound of the genre remains the same.”

Did you really play at the White House for President Kennedy? What was that like?

“Yes I did, with a youth orchestra. What was it like … well, a big trip for a high school kid. Playing on the White House lawn, with a stand up lunch in the White House afterward… not something you get to do every day. I dug it, but probably not more than the Carnegie Hall concert on the trip down to Washington from Boston!”

Session work has got to be great because I imagine you’re usually working all the time. Do you prefer working in a studio atmosphere as opposed to being on the road touring?

“I prefer live playing. But I am lucky to get to play music when I'm not touring, and even more so nowadays with file sharing and home studios. For me, if the music is good, whether the artist is famous or unknown, I love being part of the music and contributing what I can to the bass end.”

What do you think of the more simplistic approach of recording on the internet nowadays?

“Not as much fun as being with the guys, of course. But budget-wise, it allows people to do albums who could never have afforded that before -- so it's a good thing.”

So is it true, are you the pioneer of blogging?

“I started my site in '94 --- and after a bit of trying to sell my cd's, I realized people were more interested in my road diaries. So I kept up with that, and came to really appreciate the way the web allowed us to lower the barrier between musicians and fans -- let them inside the road life… I especially latched on to taking photos of audiences every night, and sharing that with web visitors, so they can see how much they inspire US.”

So many artists that I’ve spoken with who had the opportunity to work with Frank Zappa say that he was a pure genius. I know you’ve worked with Mothers of Invention ex keyboardist Don Preston in Aha. Not to be confused with A-ha. What are your thoughts on Frank Zappa?

“He was great, of course, but I never met him. The band I first joined in New York was all Mothers alumni -- Don Preston, Ray Collins and Billy Mundi.  Wild, indeed!”

Any final thoughts on Levin Torn White?

“Only that I appreciate how the listening audience sticks with us thru our musical adventures. The Levin/Torn/White CD is an ambitious and challenging one, and it's great to know that people are giving it a chance and opening up their ears to maybe some brand new things.”

Thank you Tony and good luck with all of your many endeavors.

“Thanks Ray.”

I want to thank Scott Schorr from Lazy Bones Recordings for arranging this interview.

The Tony LEVIN David TORN Alan WHITE CD will be available to purchase on September 13th at papabear.com where the first 1000 will be signed by Tony, David and Alan. You’ll also be able to order the CD at Amazon.com and iTunes- digitally on the 13th.

Levin Torn White Website- http://levintornwhite.com/
Tony Levin Website- http://www.papabear.com/
David Torn Website- http://www.davidtorn.net/
Alan White Website- http://alanwhite.net/
Lazy Bones Recordings Website- http://www.lazybones.com/

Order author Ray Shasho’s new book Check the Gs -The True Story of an Eclectic American Family and Their Wacky Family Business at Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com or borders.com. You’ll live it!
Ray’s website- http://rayshasho.com/   
Ray Shasho on Goodreads- http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4822527.Ray_Shasho

“Normalcy is a myth and anyone who tells you differently isn't very normal."Check the Gs" is a memoir from Ray Shasho who tells of his own offbeat upbringing working in the family business art gallery, from a young age. Of Cuban and Syrian descent, he tells a very American story of coming from everything, seeing everything, walking the line of the law and much more. A fun and fast paced memoir, "Check the Gs" is a worthwhile addition to many a memoir collection.”  ~~ MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW

Contact Ray Shasho at rockraymond.shasho@gmail.com

Ronnie MONTROSE Interview: “We’re Going Out and Tearing It Up!”

Hagar and Montrose

Ronnie Montrose

By Ray Shasho

MONTROSE invades the Largo Cultural Center on Thursday October 20th with ticket prices set at a mere $25.00 in advance and only $30.00 on the day of the show. Michael Lee Firkins will open this must see show presented by Guitar Player Magazine.

Guitar virtuoso Ronnie Montrose launched his brilliant career with Irish rocker Van Morrison. Montrose played on the albums Tupelo Honey and Saint Dominic’s Preview. And Ronnie’s guitar riff on Morrison’s huge hit “Wild Night” will forever be cemented as one of the most memorable in classic rock history.

Montrose left Van Morrison to join The Edgar Winter Group and enjoyed commercial success with the release of They Only Come Out at Night. The album climbed up to Number 3 on the Billboard charts and spawned the enormous Top 40 hits “Frankenstein” (# 1 hit) and “Free Ride.” (# 14 hit)

In 1973 Ronnie felt the desire to orchestrate his own band and so he formed the hard rock group that bears his own signature MONTROSE. The combination of Ronnie Montrose on Les Paul and Sammy Hagar on vocals created a hard driving rock and roll machine that churned out monster releases Montrose and Paper Money and Hard Rock Classics like “Rock Candy,” “Bad Motor Scooter,” “Space Station No 5,” “I Got the Fire” and “Rock the Nation.”

After Sammy Hagar left the band, Montrose released several albums before forming Gamma in 1979 with Robin Trower’s current lead vocalist Davey Pattison. The group released four cutting-edge rock albums.
After Gamma, Ronnie Montrose released a string of great albums and a return to the road as Montrose including a triumphant reunion appearance with ex frontman Sammy Hagar in 2005.

Over the years Ronnie Montrose has shared his electrified guitar wizardry with legendary artist like Herbie Hancock, Boz Scaggs, Gary Wright, Nicolette Larson, Paul Kantner and The Neville Brothers.

And now MONTROSE is back with what Ronnie calls “My dream band.”
I caught up with Ronnie Montrose while on the road to his next gig in California.

Here’s my chat with guitar prodigy/songwriter/producer/ Ronnie Montrose.
Ronnie, thank you for spending some time with me today.

“Yea we’re driving in the car and it’s a perfect time to call.”

What’s the current lineup for the MONTROSE tour?

“The lineup is Dan McNay on Bass, Steve Brown on drums, Kevin Casey on vocals and Ronnie Montrose on guitar. But this is my dream band that I’ve finally got to put together and I’m taking this band out for at least a year and we’re going out and it’s working out so well we’re going out and just tearing it up.”

NOTE: After this interview was conducted it was announced that veteran Montrose lead singer Keith St John had rejoined the band for the tour.

I watched a reunion show that Montrose did in 2005 on a You Tube video and you played “Rock the Nation” with your old bandmate Sammy Hagar.  

“You know anything anybody does now is on You Tube. If you stop at McDonalds it’s on You Tube.”

I think it’s great though.

“I do too. It’s just a different world nowadays and everybody has to get use to it."

Are you a fan of the cyberspace world?

“I like it because especially all these You Tube things I mean everybody has their iPhone cameras their BlackBerry cameras and I see those cameras pointed up at me all the time now which is actually really good because of what it does for me and my band that we talked about it is that there is no time for us not to be on our toes because they’re on all the time whenever you’re playing and I think it’s very healthy. And you know there’s no monetary gain from it but it’s certainly is something that shows that when you come and play live that you’re going to be delivering one hundred percent and let’s face it there’s no amount of a You Tube video that can ever match coming to see any strong and powerful show live.”

Unfortunately the quality of many of those live You Tube videos are pretty shabby.

“Well you know that’s the nature of cell phones but at least it’s getting out there and when we come to a town and then into a venue and we deliver a super powerful show I like it being out there on these not  good quality cell phones but at least it’s getting it around.”

What musicians did you admire while growing up?

“Wait a minute; let’s get this straight I have not grown up yet. I’m 63 and I’m still a big kid. My first experience with music was my father, he was like a stereo buff and he built his own little Hi-Fi center with recorders and everything and I listened to a lot of jazz, I mean he listened to big band and jazz and singers Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Sara Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Dave Brubeck with Paul Desmond a phenomenal instrumental player, Gerry Mulligan, Thelonius Monk he listened to everything on that side of it which gave me a sensibility for melody but when I started reaching teenage years in the 60’s I listened to everything that was on the radio like everyone else did which was Chuck Berry, Beach Boys and then of course Beatles, Stones all of the cool stuff Paul Revere & the Raiders all of the cool stuff that was there and of course in the 60’s I was completely blown away like everyone else by Hendrix and Cream and Deep Purple and Jeff Beck and all of that so those were my influences.”

What made you pick up a guitar and start playing one day?

“What made me pick up a guitar? It weighed a lot less than a piano.”

Laughing

“A friend of mine had the instrument when I think I was seventeen and I picked it up and I just resonated with the electric guitar immediately so it was just something where I knew I was going.”

Did you learn to read music when you first started to play the guitar?

“I’ve never known how to read music in my life.”

I find that amazing because there are so many legendary artist who in fact did not read music and somehow composed musical masterpieces. (The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix for example)

“Many ethnic musicians who play just from their heart and soul who read and write music they don’t do it. Reading and writing is a wonderful way of getting ideas in your head down to someone else who reads and writes but if you don’t read and write and the other musician you’re playing with are trying to express something to doesn’t read and write than it’s a question of “I wrote” so that you must learn from listening and from understanding where that’s coming from.”

I was always fascinated how brilliant musicians like yourself can play so well and figure out all the numerous hand positions on the guitar fret and play all the various chords by ear. I play guitar by ear and it’s not easy man. I recently sold my 1974 Fender Telecaster to cover the editing costs on my new book.

“Good for you because you can always get another Tele.”

I still find it amazing how you can play by ear the way you do. It’s like you have a musical sixth sense or just really remarkable ears. 

“I feel very fortunate to have my ears. I’d share them with everybody but I only have two to go around.”

Do you have a nice collection of guitars? These days it’s a better investment than the stock market.

“My philosophy is honestly never collected anything that I don’t play. I know a lot of people that collect guitars but for me I want instruments that I play. And if I don’t play them I don’t’ want to have them sitting in a closet collecting dust.”

When you played in The Edgar Winter Group you guys released the monster hit album They Only Come Out at Night. And you had joined Edgar Winter after playing with Van Morrison. How did you hook up with Edgar Winter?

“I got a call to go to New York, they had heard about me in California after Van Morrison and got a call to go to New York and try out for his band and the rest is history.”

So you left The Edgar Winter Group at the peak of their success?

“We were all just experiencing growing pains and it was time for me to go back to California and start my rock band. And that’s when I came back and started Montrose.”

What was it like working with Edgar Winter?

“Just incredible, I mean Edgar Winter is one of my heroes one of my favorite musicians and I consider him to be a big brother and a mentor because he’s always helped me throughout the years and it was always such a privilege to play with him. And really I’m just a kid playing with this really talented musician and given tutelage.”

Yea Edgar Winter is still rockin’.

“Big time, I’m going to Jam with him next Sunday.”

I met Rick Derringer and Mark Farner after the Hippiefest show in Clearwater last week.

“ I just toured a few shows with Mark Farner we all used Pat Travers Band and I love Mark he’s a great guy. I just jammed with Pat last week he was on the bill with me and we jammed Bad Motor Scooter together.”

I know this was probably just a rumor but were you ever asked to join Mott the Hoople?

“That’s a myth that’s been around forever and the fact is Ian Hunters management flew out to California and knew about me and was looking for a guitar player they did investigate if I was available and it never went any further than that because I was actually putting Montrose together. In fact I didn’t turn down a job or an audition the fact was I just wasn’t available.

How did you start the band Montrose?

“Put the word out in the Bay area where I lived in the San Francisco Bay area. And Sammy Hagar had seen me play at Winterland with Edgar Winter and Sam got my number from a guy and said I was looking for a singer called me up told me I’m your man and I went to see him at a club he was playing at in San Francisco and realized he’d be the perfect guy for my lead singer in my new ensemble and that’s how that happened.
But I’m having so much fun now simply going around and playing Montrose and Gamma music.”

Any chance of you and Sammy hooking up again in the future?

“Every once in awhile I wouldn’t be surprised if Sammy and I hit the stage again just for fun and play some of our tunes but it all depends on what each one of us is doing.”

You guys are definitely going to blow the roof off the Largo Cultural Center.

“From my mouth to God’s ear.”

Ronnie thank you so much and I’ll see you at the Largo Cultural Center on October 20th.

“It’s absolutely my pleasure.”

I want to thank Leighsa Montrose for arranging this interview with guitar hero Ronnie Montrose.

Buy tickets for the MONTROSE concert on October 20th at the Largo Cultural Center right here.
Or call the box office at 727-587-6793.

Ronnie Montrose website-   http://www.ronniemontrose.com/
Largo Cultural Center website-  http://www.largo.com/department/division.php?fDD=15-105


Order author Ray Shasho’s great new book called Check the Gs -The True Story of an Eclectic American Family and Their Wacky Family Business. Get your copy today at http://rayshasho.com/
“Normalcy is a myth and anyone who tells you differently isn't very normal. "Check the Gs" is a memoir from Ray Shasho who tells of his own offbeat upbringing working in the family business art gallery, from a young age. Of Cuban and Syrian descent, he tells a very American story of coming from everything, seeing everything, walking the line of the law and much more. A fun and fast paced memoir, "Check the Gs" is a worthwhile addition to many a memoir collection.” ~~ MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW

Contact Ray Shasho at rockraymond.shasho@gmail.com

 

HIPPIEFEST: A resurgence of the flower children and the music that mattered

  By Ray Shasho


Ruth Eckerd Hall on Saturday night was a majestic flashback to the heyday of rock and roll. The Flower Power disciples of Peace & Love manifested throughout a sold out Hall. These weren’t Bankers and Attorneys dressed up to resemble what they once adored in the days of their youth. Remarkably the crowd was the genuine persona. You felt the love flowing from every direction. There was even an optimist with a painted smile on her face carrying a sign that read “Free Hugs” as she walked up and down every row carrying out her humanitarian task of harmony.
The show itself formatted perhaps to resemble the prodigious entertainment distinction of Burt Sugarman’s The Midnight Special or Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert in the 70’s -nevertheless a clever and inspiring compilation for producing high quality entertainment.
In other words …I was Blown Away; the concert was Outta Sight Man!

The first of (5) legendary performers to grace the Ruth Eckerd stage Saturday evening was Felix Cavaliere lead vocalist and keyboardist of the blue-eyed soul group The Young Rascals. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.
Sitting behind his keyboards Cavaliere appeared and sounded hip as he should while reminiscent of his first television appearance on Hullabaloo in 1965. Felix inaugurated the evening with The Young Rascals 1967 hit “I’ve Been Lonely Too Long” followed by a couple of Wilson Pickett classics “In the Midnight Hour” and “Land of 1000 Dances.” Then his number one hit song from 1967 “Groovin’” with a cavalcade of soulful cover tunes mixed-in followed by “People Got to Be Free” and the finale crowd pleaser “Good Lovin.” It was a persuasive performance that hastened the crowd out of their seats and into dancing in the aisles. The Young Rascals may have been responsible for launching so many legendary groups. Bands like Bruce Springsteen and The J Geils Band to name a few.

After Cavaliere’s set it was time for Bradenton resident/Ohio native Rick Derringer to set a tone of electric solos and hard-driving rock and roll. Derringer’s been on the road a lot lately finishing up a European tour with Ringo Starr & His All- Starr Band.   
Derringer opened with “Still Alive and Well” a song he wrote and album he produced for Johnny Winter. He was also the Producer of Edgar Winter’s They Only Come Out At Night which spawned the classic hits “Frankenstein” and “Free Ride.” Then Rick saluted our troops with his electrified rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” and “Real American.” Derringer finished his set strong with as he pointed out, “the full- unedited version” of The McCoys Number One hit tune from 1965 “Hang On Sloopy” (The official rock song of the state of Ohio) and then a thunderous performance of “Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo” that lifted the entire crowd up on its feet. Rick has always been a crowd pleaser and he always leaves with you wanting more.

Next on the bill was Gary Wright. Gary had already joined Rick on stage for his finale. Wright looked great. He opened with a couple of Spooky Tooth tunes “Waiting For The Wind” and “Better By You, Better Than Me.” Then Wright sang his huge Top 2 signature solo hit “Dreamweaver” to its perfection. His voice never sounded better, it was incredible. But the crowd ignited to their feet with the finale, a funky space jam called “Love Is Alive.” The song also reached into the Top 2 on the charts. Wright is also an alumnus of Ringo Starr and His All-Star Band.

After one of only a few short intermissions it was Grand Funk Railroad’s guitar hero and inspirational leader Mark Farner’s chance to rock the house down. All the performers on the Hippiefest bill were fantastic but Mark Farner took it up a notch or two. Farner’s energy was reminiscent to his days of playing high school football. He was in terrific shape and his voice superb. Farner opened his set with the Grand Funk Railroad tune “Footstompin’ Music” by singin’, playin’ his guitar and jammin’ on keyboards. The opening lyrics from that classic tune “Come on everybody, we’re gonna’ have a good time, yea” set the jovial tone for his overwhelming performance.
Mark Farner followed with the Little Eva cover “The Loco-motion” which was a Number One hit for Grand Funk in 1974 and “Sins a Good Man Brother” from the album Closer To Home.”
Mark stopped and thanked everyone at one point during his performance for all the thoughts and prayers from everyone for his son Jesse. Mark’s son Jesse (at 21) fell and sustained a near fatal- fracture to the C-5 vertebra in his neck.

Farner’s impeccable performance resumed with “Bad Time” and “Some Kind of Wonderful” both huge hits from Grand Funk’s 1974 release All the Girls in the World Beware.
Mark Farner’s finale which he dedicated to our troops “I’m Your Captain” (Closer To Home) was the highlight of the evening. If you had closed your eyes you’d swear that you were at Shea stadium at that monumental concert in 1971, a show that sold out in only 72 hours breaking The Beatles record.
Everyone at Ruth Eckerd Hall stood and mimicked Mark’s inspirational lyrics. As I gazed around the Hall I witnessed the faces and you just knew that during the span of the song everyone reflected on what their lives were like at the time when the song was first heard and what their lives were like today, and man, how life flies by.

After another short intermission Dave Mason walked on stage with his own band. Mason is a true legend in the music biz. He opened his set with “Let It Go, Let It Flow” from the Let It Flow album. Mason’s voice seemed a bit strained during the tune. After the song he made the announcement that he had begun to catch a cold from the air-conditioning. Because his voice was compromised he changed up his setlist for the evening. He immediately jumped into playing some great blues demonstrating why he’s considered among the elite guitar players of the world and the reason why all those legendary guitarist wanted to jam with Mason.
Mason’s voice seemed to improve with his classic tune “Only You Know and I Know.” Nevertheless the band was tenacious and the crowd rocked.

Mason surprised the crowd with Bob Dylan cover “All Along The Watchtower.” Mason actually played his 12-string acoustic guitar on the classic Jimi Hendrix version and also sang on “Crosstown Traffic”- both from the Electric Ladyland album. Mason and Hendrix were great friends.
The monumental moment was when everyone joined Dave Mason on stage for the finale of his signature tune “Feelin Alright.” It was reminiscent to that great performance on stage at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after being inducted with Traffic in 2004. Mason’s musical abilities overshadowed any problems he may have had with his voice. It was still a phenomenal performance.

Hippiefest was an exciting and fulfilling rock and roll and cultural experience. Let’s hope there are more Hippiefest-type shows in the future because it was A Real Gas Man!

I want to thank Jeff Albright from The Albright Entertainment Group for making it all possible.

Also special thanks to everyone at Ruth Eckerd Hall for their generous hospitality.
Bobby Rossi you’re the man!

Order author Ray Shasho’s new book called Check the Gs –The True Story of an Eclectic American Family and Their Wacky Family Business at http://rayshasho.com/

“I found Check the Gs to be pure entertainment, fantastic fun and a catalyst to igniting so many memories of my own life, as I too am within a few years of Ray.  So to all, I say if you have a bit of grey hair (or no hair), buy this book!  It’s a great gift for your “over-the-hill” friends, or for their kids, if they are the history buffs of younger generations trying to figure out why we are the way we are.”
~~Pacific Book Review
Contact Ray Shasho at rockraymond.shasho@gmail.com

Dave Mason is Feelin’ Alright in an Interview with Examiner Ray Shasho

  By Ray Shasho

Dave Mason headlines Hippiefest 2011 at  Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater on Saturday August 27th.
Dave will be sharing the stage with an impressive lineup of classic rock hitmakers.

Joining Dave Mason will be Mark Farner the inspirational leader for Grand Funk Railroad (“We’re An American Band,” “I’m Your Captain,” “Some Kind of Wonderful” and “The Loco-Motion”), Rick Derringer(“Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo,” “Hang On Sloopy”), Felix Cavaliere(“Good Lovin',” “Groovin'” and “People Got To Be Free”) and Gary Wright (“Dream Weaver,” “Love Is Alive” and “Really Wanna Know You”).

Order your tickets right here for an outta sight night of kicking out the Jams.

Songwriter/Guitarist/Vocalist Dave Mason cofounded the band Traffic after Steve Winwood left the Spencer Davis Group.
In 1967 Mason left the band after the release of the Mr. Fantasy album. Mason rejoined the band for awhile in 1968 and recorded “Feelin’ Alright,”a song that became Mason’s trademark.“Feelin’ Alright” was covered by Joe Cocker in 1969.
Mason went on to join Delaney & Bonnie & Friends in 1969 and released his debut solo album Alone Together  producing the hit single-  “Only you know and I know” The album reached gold in the U.S. hitting # 22 on the record charts.

Mason shared his extraordinary musical talents with a list of legends- including George Harrison, (Mason appeared on Harrison’s critically- acclaimed album All Things Must Pass) Eric Clapton’s Derek & the Dominos,The Rolling Stones, Leon Russell, Cass Elliot, Fleetwood Mac and his good friend Jimi Hendrix. Mason played his 12- string acoustic guitar on "All Along the Watchtower" and sang on “Crosstown Traffic.”

Dave Mason hit superstardom throughout the 70’s with a handful of highly successful albums reaching platinum and gold status - It’s Like You Never Left, Split Coconut, Certified Live,Let it Flow and Mariposo de Oro. Top 40 hits “We Just Disagree” and “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” were spawned from that triumphant period.

In 1978 Mason performed in front of more than 300,000 people at California Jam II.

Mason and Traffic bandmate Jim Capaldi reunited for a tour that produced the 1999 album Live: The 40,000 Headmen Tour.  Traffic was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2004.

Here’s my recent interview with renowned songwriter/musician/humanitarian Dave Mason.

Dave, I want to thank you for spending some time with me today, where do you call home nowadays?

“No problem thank you, I live near Santa Barbara in California.”

I understand that this is your first Hippiefest tour. I talked with Mark Farner the other day and he let me know that he and Rick Derringer were actually really good friends. Are you buddies with anyone that you share the bill with?

“Not really, I’ve played shows with all these guys but back in the Traffic days it would be Gary. When Gary(Gary Wright) had a band called Spooky Tooth.”

When I do a Dave Mason search on the web, I see a lot of involvement in charity work. What sort of charity events are you involved with?

“I have a charity that I helped start and I’m very involved with it that we do for veterans. And that is we help people transition out of the service to start their own business. It’s called Work Vessels for Veterans at http://wvfv.net/.”

You also participate in various benefit concerts and celebrity golf classics including partnering with Michael Bolton. Do you play golf Dave?

“No I don’t play golf. Michael Bolton’s charity is for abused women and I’ve done that with his charity for about the last five or six years. And for 14 years he was doing it in Stanford Connecticut and then last year I kind of talked him into trying it somewhere else so we moved it to the Ojai Valley Inn Golf Course and this year we’re combining his charity with the Work Vessels charity and the event out there and on the 23rd of September then I have The Feelin’ Alright Second Annual Golf Tournament in Virginia at Fort Belvoir and that is with a group called (CAMMO) which does a lot of work with vets and music and there’s a number of them that have been signed to recording contracts and it’s pretty interesting you know, last year we had a band that the drummer had titanium legs and those guys were really good. And they’re getting a lot of results with post traumatic stress through the music. So it’s interesting work and a great group of people.” http://cammomusic.org/main/

Music has gotten a lot of our servicemen through tough times over the years especially during wartime.

“I did a Toys for Tots show in Atlanta back in 1977 and I was getting ready to walk up on stage and this Marine came up to me and said “You know man, me and my buddy were stuck in a foxhole for three days and we would have gone absolutely nuts if it weren’t for a Jimi Hendrix tape and a Dave Mason tape.”

You’re doing great work for our vets Dave. Sometimes our veterans are not treated with the respect that they deserve are they?

“The way that our vets are treated when they come back is shameful, they’re kind of swept aside a little bit, I mean you know you’ve got the Veterans Administration and all that stuff but there’s a lot that still could be done, anyways that’s why we pick up the void. There’s a number of us, a number of organizations out there that try to fill those holes, fill that gap.”

Bless you man for all you do.
I want to talk some about your music; your first band was actually called The Jaguars back in the early 60’s and was reminiscent musically to The Shadows and Ventures?

“Yes, that was my first band The Jaguars. I worked a little instrumental version called Opus To Spring when I was about 16 and a local record store put a record out on it. We only did the one recording with that band and then that’s all we did with that. There was another band called The Hellions with Jim Capaldi we had a record out on Pye records that was produced by Kim Fowley, the guy that did ‘They’re Coming to Take Me Away Ha Ha Ho Ho He He.’” And we did a Jackie Deshannon song called “Daydreaming of You.”

And I heard you guys played the famous Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany where The Beatles played?

“No we never got to Hamburg we played some little town outside of Hamburg and played  Saturday nights, we use to play for about eight hours on Saturday nights, fifteen minute songs, fifteen off, fifteen on, fifteen off.”

So you knew Jim Capaldi (Drummer and a founding member of Traffic) because of The Hellions?

“Jim and I knew each other for a long time. Jim (Capaldi) grew up 12 miles from me. Yea, Robert Plant also grew up around 12 miles away and John Bonham.”

You met Steve Winwood when he was in The Spencer Davis Group?

“Yea he was in The Spencer Group and The Hellions use to play up in Birmingham which is 25 miles from Worcester and through that we met Steve and Chris Wood and basically we just hung out for a year or so just run into each other and then at one point Steve had decided he was going to leave The Spencer Davis Group. And during that time during that break I’d sung on a couple of their recordings, ‘Somebody Help Me’ and most of Traffic was on ‘Gimme Some Lovin’ and it’s pretty much all of us singing in the background of ‘I’m A Man.’
I kind of played Roadie for a couple of months with them and then we formed Traffic.”

Then you guys rented a cottage in Berkshire?

“A famous jockey had a racing stable down there so we kind of commandeered this cottage sitting in the middle of nowhere. It’s where they trained and canter the horses. There was no gas, no electricity and no running water in the place. We lived there like that for about six months.”

Man that was primitive living. If you didn’t have electricity how did you plug into the amplifiers and rehearse your music?

“We had a generator.”

Those were the good old days huh? (All laughing)

“Yea whatever we were kids, I was 18 years old and you think there’s not anything you can’t do.”

So how did Traffic get their big break?

“Well Steve already had three, four, top ten records so he had kind of an entree in that way and then I started writing and Jim and Steve started writing and my writing I pretty much did on my own and then the problems started to happen when the stuff that I was writing was the stuff picked for singles. And their biggest hit at the time was the first song I’d ever written and was kind of a fantasy tune called ‘Hole in My Shoe’ and that got to number two in England and was really their biggest single hit. After the first album I left and the reason I left was because I couldn’t really deal with the fame so quickly it was just a little overwhelming for me. So I actually left and did a couple of things worked with starting to produce an album for a group called Family, ‘Music in a Dollhouse’ and then I got to know Hendrix and spent a little time recording with him and some of it was on Electric Ladyland.

Then I did a little stint with what was known as a satirical group called The Scaffold, it was Paul McCartney’s brother (Professionally known as Mike McGear) and I did a number of shows with them and so just roamed around playing with different people and then at one point I just took a little bag and a guitar and worked this little island called Hydra (Greece) and I really didn’t have any money at the time but it was a great time and that’s where I wrote ‘Feelin Alright.’”

Then I met up again with them in New York and they were working on the second album, and then he had five songs and I had five songs so it was like okay let’ s get back together again. And I thought it was a really good second album it was a good transition from Fantasy (Mr. Fantasy debut album) it had a lot of kind of Fantasy stuff on it but giving a lot more cohesive I thought musically. And after that album pretty much again my songs were being picked for the singles and that’s just what caused the riff with Winwood. And I pretty much just spent days where he’d never talk to me.”

Wow that’s a real shame. Unfortunately I hear a lot of stories like that in bands.

“Yea, even marriages break up.”

Bands are like a family with lots of emotion and drama.

“The kind of difference is that sometimes it makes things really good though you know. When you’ve got kind of an edge going in there you can create some really good stuff rather than following one thing all the time but at any rate whatever that’s the way it was so at that point I just decided there wasn’t much point to staying in England or Traffic so I just upped and moved to America."

It’s amazing even though you hailed from England your accent is all but gone man.

“The way they talk where I grew up, I mean I can’t even understand some of the people.”

I always found it fascinating when the early Beatles talked in their Cockney accents, but then when they sang on a record it was gone.

“It’s because they were copying all those American singers that’s why. America is the home of all contemporary music. Jazz, Blues and Rock & Roll it comes from here.”

You know it’s amazing how many musicians that I talked with from the 60’s that had never met Jimi Hendrix. I always figured that at one point or another there would have been a moment spent with him. What was Jimi Hendrix Like?

“He was just a pretty quiet guy as a matter of fact. Most of the time that I spent with him I never saw him basically without a guitar in his hands.”

And you worked on the ‘All Things Must Pass’ Album with George Harrison?

“Well I knew George for quite awhile he gave me my first Sitar. And McCartney I use to go down to the Sgt. Peppers sessions and hang out or stay in the studio while they were recording and spend a good time with George. Nice Man. But playing on All Things Must Pass, I couldn’t recall what tracks that I played on to be perfectly honest with you.”

So what’s on your plate these days Dave?

“Well I tour a lot and obviously the charity for the Vets. Trying to grow the charity is very important for me. And basically just keep on rolling down the road and singing.”

Do you have a CD being released soon or involvement in new collaborations?

“At this point, there’s no point in me putting anymore CD’s out because there’s just no outlet for it, there’s no promotion for it, there’s no radio anymore ever, there’s no way for anyone to know that you’ve got something new out.”

Well you’ve got me Dave. (Laughter)

“I mean national radio, it’s somebody goes in and puts a cart in and pulls it out after thirty days and then puts another one in and there’s nobody home.”

I know exactly what you mean Dave. I was a radio deejay in the late 70’s early 80’s. My dream was to become like one of those deejays from back in the 60’s. Radio is not about the music anymore it’s basically all about advertisers. And who wants to listen to radio to hear back to back to back commercials.

“Yea, there’s just nothing there and no way to get anything promoted. There’s no way for anyone to really hear something or know if they’re even going to like it. So basically anything new that I have is just going to go on my website and you can go there and download it. And until something comes along where you can promote properly it’s economically not feasible to do another CD.”

My column is only about Classic Rock Music and Classic Rock Artists. And my articles are viewed globally on the internet with the sole intention of keeping that dream alive and the fire burning.  

“I appreciate that.”

My favorite Dave Mason tune unfortunately was a song that you didn’t write. And it was your biggest hit “We Just Disagree” written by Jim Krueger. I own that awesome performance of the song that you did on Burt Sugarman’s The Midnight Special.
Dave I just want to tell you man that you’re a legendary artist, great songwriter and studio musician and just a classy guy and thank you so much for spending time with me today I really appreciate it. 

“You’re quite welcome.”

Keep on doing what you’re doing and I'll see you at Hippiefest in Clearwater.

“I will Ray thank you.”

Dave Mason will be headlining Hippiefest 2011 on Saturday August 27th at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater.  So let your freak flag fly!

Dave Mason’s website is http://davemasonmusic.com/
Dave Mason Charities Work Vessels for Veterans     http://wvfv.net/
CAMMO -Giving our veteran artists a place to thrive http://cammomusic.org/main/
2nd Annual Dave Mason’s “Feelin Alright” Golf Classic  
  http://www.tournevents.com/_tournament/?event=davemason2nd

Special thanks goes out to Jeff Albright of The Albright Entertainment Group.

Order author Ray Shasho’s new book Check the Gs –The True Story of an Eclectic American Family and Their Wacky Family Business at http://rayshasho.com/  Its My Big Fat Greek Wedding meets Almost Famous meets Seinfeld.

Contact Ray Shasho at rockraymond.shasho@gmail.com

Mason shared his extraordinary musical talents with a list of legends- including George Harrison, Eric Clapton’s Derek & the Dominos, The Rolling Stones, Leon Russell, Cass Elliot, Fleetwood Mac and his good friend Jimi Hendrix.

Mason and Traffic bandmate Jim Capaldi reunited for a tour that produced the 1999 album Live: The 40,000 Headmen Tour. Traffic was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2004.

Mason says, "My first band was The Jaguars. I worked a little instrumental version called Opus To Spring when I was about 16 and a local record store put a record out on it."

Dave Mason revealed,"Winwood had five songs and I had five songs so it was like okay let’ s get back together again. And I thought it was a really good second album it was a good transition from Fantasy."

Dave Mason played his 12- string acoustic guitar on "All Along the Watchtower" and sang on “Crosstown Traffic" with his good friend Jimi Hendrix on the Electric Ladyland album.