Grand Funk Railroad’s Captain Mark Farner Raps with Ray Shasho

By Ray Shasho

Hippiefest 2011 cruises into Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater on Saturday August 27th with a Groovy stage lineup of Legendary Classic Rock Musicians.
Grand Funk Railroad’s Coolest singer/guitarist/songwriter Mark Farner will join Dave Mason(“We Just Disagree,” “Hole In My Shoe,” “Feelin' Alright,” “Only You Know and I Know”), 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”) for an outta sight night of kicking out the Jams.

So load up the van let the hot chick ride shotgun and get truckin’ over to Clearwater and “Let’s Party Man!” 

Hippiefest 2011 launches August 3rd from San Diego.

Mark Farner was the inspirational leader for the hard rock band Grand Funk Railroad. The band along with Black Sabbath is considered to be the Grandfathers of Heavy Metal music. The string of hits that the band produced included “We’re An American Band,” “I’m Your Captain,” “Heartbreaker,” “Footstompin’ Music,” “Mean Mistreater,” “Walk Like A Man,” “Some Kind of Wonderful” and “The Loco-Motion” to name only a few.

The band has sold over 50-million records worldwide. Mark Farner accepted an invitation to play with Ringo Starr’s All Starr Band in 1995.

Mark’s voice is as strong as ever on his most recent release “For the People.”

Here’s my recent interview with Grand Funk Railroad legend Mark Farner.

Hi Mark, how are you doing?

“I’m doin’ but not mildewin’.”
(Lot’s of laughter from both of us)

I’m calling from little Michigan. The Sarasota/Bradenton area here in Florida probably has more Michiganites than Florida natives living here. How’s everything?

“Good Brother got a sunny day here in Michigan and it’s almost 70.”

Mark, the first thing I’d like to talk about…I have a 23 year old son and when I first heard the news about Jesse I was heartbroken. How is Jesse’s progress? (Mark Farner’s world turned upside- down when his son Jesse (at 21) fell and sustained a near fatal- fracture to theC-5 vertebra in his neck.  The last update before this interview was that he remained paralyzed but was starting to show improvement by lifting his head off of the pillow).

“Jesse is doing good. He’s got a little movement now in his shoulders. He can actually when he’s sitting in the chair, he can actually lift his shoulders up which is, he wasn’t able to move this when he came home from the hospital. He couldn’t even move his head so he’s gaining on it little by little, but the best gain is the fact that his night nurse and him have fallen in love.”

Wow Mark you’re kidding me that's awesome.

“No dude it is like unbelievable. But it’s happening and it’s real. She was engaged to be married when she first started working here and she is of course no longer engaged to be married and she’s just goo goo ga ga over Jesse and he’s the same way about her. I’m not kidding you, these two wow… and it’s just unbelievable.”

That’s a great love story. You know I’m an author, I just wrote a book maybe I can write the story. How old is she Mark?

“She’s 25 I believe and he just turned 22 so she’s got a few years on him but that’s all to his benefit.”

That’s great news Mark, I’m very happy because I was really worried and my heart and prayers go out to Jesse and your family. And I wasn’t aware that he could sit up in the chair at this point?

“Oh yea, he’s got the puff and sip, we use a sling to get him from the bed into the chair and during that time he has to be disconnected from his life support and so it’s a swift motion and we’ve got the Hoyer lift in the ceiling, we got one used, you know medical equipment is expensive, I don’t care if it’s used or not. We got this to make it as easy as we can on him, get him into the chair and once he’s in the chair he can drive it with his puff and sip that he put’s in his mouth with a straw and he can manipulate that thing and turn it around on a dime. It’s amazing to see what he can do with that chair.”

It sounds like to me that he’s going to come out of this, it may take a little time but the progress he’s made so far is extremely encouraging and again my prayers are with your whole family.

“I appreciate it Brother Ray.”

I think Hippiefest 2011 is one the best lineups ever.

“I appreciate that yea, I can’t wait to throw down with these Brothers. You know Rick Derringer and I are buddies from way back.”

Yea, Rick lives about 10 minutes from me here in Bradenton. You’ll have to come down after the tour and visit with him.

“If I ever get a chance I’ll be there because I am a fishing fool. I love Florida fishing.”

One guy I could see you hanging out with would be Ted Nugent.

“You know our schedules are such we’ve always wanted to be hanging out together, we do on the phone and we even collaborate a little bit but as far as doing the governor’s hunt, when I would do the hunt he would be on the road and when he would do the hunt I would be on the road. It’s just the way it worked out.”

You had a supportive family growing up because you quit school to go into music?

“Actually I was laid off. Yea, I was laid off from high school and this was Flint Michigan you know, the town that invented layoffs. But I was asked to leave; it was because of an altercation with one of the teachers who was the football coach. I use to play ball before I played music. When I was on the team that team was tight we were all buddies that hung together and we never lost a game. We were just undefeated because we were tight. We played together. Anyway we got into a confrontation and he threw me up against the wall and my head busted open on this brass picture frame and I reached back and felt the blood and when I pulled my hand around to in front of my face and I saw the blood on my hand it just immediately went into a fist and started traveling for the teachers eye. And you know I mean seriously that is what it was, it was reaction to aw man I’m hurt BAM -you know and that was it. Then I went to night school after I was asked to leave school because I went to the school board meeting after the algebra teacher who was the football coach said if they let me back in school (because I went with an attorney to this meeting to get back into school after I was thrown out) and he said if they let me back in he was going to quit his job. He didn’t want me back in that school dude.”

I really felt that the rock and roll hall of fame should have been in Michigan. Not only were there so many legendary rock artists that hailed from Michigan, there was also the genius of Motown.

“Yea, I hear ya. The music that came out of this state, it was like a music capital in America. And I think largely due to the fact that people from every state in the union moved into Michigan to get the jobs, auto factory jobs and higher paying jobs. My mother and her family moved from Leachville Arkansas where my granddad had a tailor shop down there he was a tailor, but moved to Michigan to get a job at Buick. And Turnsted was hiring, Fisher body was hiring, my mother was the first female welder to weld on Sherman tanks made by Fisher body in Flint Michigan. And my dad was a tank driver in the 7th Armored Division.”

It’s such a shame what has happened to cities like Flint and Detroit economically.

“It is coming back more like Ann Arbor or a college town and the University of Michigan, The Mott Foundation putting a lot of money into Flint, God Bless them. But we need more than anything is money that works for us, the money that we use works for the families that own the Federal Reserve, the European families that have no patriotic interest in this country what so ever. And you think about the Federal Reserve bank in New York is owned by five merchant banks in London that were chartered by the bank of England and the bank of England started in 1694 under the crown of those families surrounding the crown that were the descendants of those families that control this country by the issuance of our currency. And if you think about it, it’s the same powers that we declared ourselves independent from in 1776, but they’ve been whipping our butts ever since 1913 for telling the king to go shove it up his.  

Our money doesn’t work for us it works for foreigners. And until our money works for us again we’re just going to watch this thing keep going down, down, down, down, down. When we finally wake up and say hey we got to have our money system back and work for this country and we got to patronize our factories and our products and we got to protect our workers and not allow all this crap that’s going on but that’s the reflection of those who are actually governing those families who owned the Federal Reserve that are actually governing this country and even using the war machine against their enemies.”

I watched an interview you did with Mike Huckabee on Fox news. As you know he’s decided not to run for president disappointing many of his followers, do you have anyone in mind that you may support for the next presidential election?

“If Ron Paul ran again at least he’s somebody that wants to audit the Fed which is pointing in the right general direction. Our money has to work for us and if it did we would be exporters of peace and goodwill because this is the collective heartbeat of the majority of us Americans. When we get the collective heartbeat of this country back, that’s what I petition for with my music, I want to provoke people to think about this.”

I should probably turn my Q&A from politics into the music. How did Grand Funk Railroad get their gig at the Atlanta Pop Festival that led to your first record contract in 1969? (An estimated 180,000 rock fans- jammed the Atlanta International Speedway to watch the two-day event).

“Attorney’s that we were using at the time which was the same attorney’s as our manager Terry Knight - there in was the big conflict but they had some legal work, it was there law firm in New York City that was doing the legal work for this concert. And they proposed to those who were putting this concert on that Grand Funk Railroad opened the event at noon and go on for free. They didn’t even have to pay us, just let us go on and open and so they agreed to it and the rest his history Brother. It worked!”

I heard on the way to the Festival your U-Haul carrying all the equipment flipped over?

“Yea, a friend of ours lent us the van and we rented where they use to chain that bumper hitch to your bumper and you would pull the U-Haul places, well that’s what we had. And I woke up, I was sleeping and riding shotgun and I’m up there at the front end of this van and the guy says I’m fine, I’m fine so I try to catch a little snooze and I look up and say “Dude that’s I-75 that way.” So he turns right at the same speed that we we’re going and tried to make the turn and that U-Haul didn’t fare so well. It came off the chains rolled down through the ditch…oh my God.”

You guys must have been panicky.

“Oh man because we knew that stuff was pretty fragile, you know tube amplifiers with big heavy transformers on the chassis. Well the transformers completely ripped right off the chassis of the amps. Our roadies had to solder those amps back together and the transformers were left outside sitting on top of the boxes. And they just made the wires work. So they soldered it all back together and when we went on stage it was amazing but that stuff was working, it was pumping.”

Grand Funk’s original manager-producer Terry Knight, was it a safe assumption to say that he was both good and bad for the band?

“Yea, he was an excellent promoter, his scruples were just bad. He could take advantage of someone without conscious. You know, I’m just not made that way, that ain’t the way I roll so it’s offensive to me to have encountered some people like that but it sure has been a lesson. And now I kind of know what I’m kind of looking for and I have spiritual discernment, thank God to head some of it off at the pass. But you can’t take away from the guy’s creativity; my God, you know the album covers and the presentation of Grand Funk Railroad to the people and his hype. But the idea of keeping us from the press to create a mystique that was really giving him the opportunity to tout himself as being the mentor and creator of Grand Funk Railroad. And it backfired in a lot of ways because critics just hated us. But for him it was successful in that it gave him that platform, he took out a Billboard/ Cashbox ad, a full page you know where you open up with the centerfold of him flipping the bird to everybody. That was his ego, the money that he made I don’t know what it cost him but that was a lot of scratch for that ad. It’s too bad about that but it kind of indicates a personality flaw there.

Did he mess you guys up at all with receiving royalties for your music?

“Well, yea, he published all my songs and told me that I needed to publish my songs through his company which he had affiliations throughout the world and what have you, I didn’t know I was twenty years old my mother had to sign the contract because I wasn’t legal. But if he would have just come right out and said, “Do you want all your money or half of it,” I think I could have made a pretty sane decision based on that. Outside of that and anything short of that I got snookered."

Mark, I need a good rock and roll story from back in the day?

“I’ll tell you one about Janis Joplin getting into the helicopter after we played West Palm Beach, The Stones were supposed to close out the show. So we went back in the helicopter with Janis because she’d stayed and watched the Grand Funk show. She played prior to us. We watched her and she stayed and Janis and I always hung together. So I’m down and I’m going up to the hotel and went where’s Janis? Where’s Janis? And nobody knew where she was, so I go back down to the chopper and it was darker than inside of a boot and I look up in there and she’s rubbing on the seat and I crawl up on the ladder and I said, “What the hell are you doing?” and I looked and she’s got Hershey bars and she’s smearing chocolate all over those seats and I said, “What the hell are you doing?” She said, "Well The Stones are on next and I want to mess up Mick’s britches," because they all used to wear those white satin pants.
And there was this brown spot on the back of his white pants, there was no way to avoid it.”

(Laughing hard) That was a great story.

I think Grand Funk Railroad’s appearance at Shea Stadium in 1971 was a monumental point in the band’s career. You sold-out the show in just 72 hours breaking The Beatles record. And your magnificent performance of I’m Your Captain/ Closer To Home ranks in my Top 10- defining moments in rock and roll history. Talk a little bit about the Shea Stadium experience.

“Well we were picked up on a heliport at east river, took off and flew directly over Shea stadium. Humble Pie was on stage which was set up at second base. And as we flew over you could see the bleachers were flexing with the rhythm of the music. I didn’t know what song it was but I could tell they were rockin’. Man I had goose bumps on my goose bumps upon goose bumps. And when we landed in the parking lot where the limousine was supposed to have met us it was empty. And I asked the guy. “Are you sure this is where we’re supposed to be?”  So one of the guys that was with us ran down to the corner phone booth, this was long before cell phones, and he makes the call and within two or three minutes the parking lot was full of cops with lights and sirens going. We all jumped in cop cars and rode into Shea stadium with the lights and sirens going and when we got out the people went nuts. It was crazy.”

The performance by Grand Funk Railroad, especially by you Mark was so electrifying.

“I appreciate it. Yea they energized with that compassion, there’s something about when you have something that has brought people together a song like I’m Your Captain, when they started singing they were loader than the PA I guarantee you and this was the day before monitors.”

Could you hear yourselves playing, I know The Beatles use to have a hard time hearing themselves over the screaming crowds.

“It was a little difficult but with our West amplifiers we could hear. But when we started singing “I’m getting closer to my home,” the audience and sheer volume overcame the PA system. It was louder than we were.”

I’ve been to hundreds and hundreds of concerts Mark, and I’ve never seen a crowd so in sync to the show like that Shea stadium crowd was.

“Well it was a very fulfilling moment and the emotional continuity, the synergy, because there were a lot people thinking in the same direction right there in New York City that night. And that’s what makes this consciousness, the evolution in our consciousness and moments like that. We were all elevated to this place. To be there was like Woodstock II, another consciousness another moment that brought people a little closer to reality.”

Mark thank you very much for everything you do man. And again my thoughts and prayers go out to Jesse and your family. No doubt he’ll get stronger and stronger every day.

“Say a prayer for him. Thank you Brother Ray.”

Watch Mark Farner perform all of his Grand Funk Railroad classic hits at Hippiefest on Saturday August 27th at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater. Tickets for the show can be purchased right here. It’s Gonna be a Gas Man!

I want to thank Jeff Albright from The Albright Entertainment Group for arranging this interview and so much more.

Order my new book called Check the Gs –The True Story of an Eclectic American Family and Their Wacky Family Business.  Its My Big Fat Greek Wedding meets Almost Famous meets Seinfeld. A must read for the Baby Boomer generation! Order your copy NOW at http://rayshasho.com/
You can contact Ray Shasho at rockraymond.shasho@gmail.com

Santana & Journey Original Lead Singer Gregg Rolie Speaks with Ray Shasho

 By Ray Shasho

Gregg Rolie was the epitome of genius when it came to creating and fronting monumental rock groups. But he also perfected the art of cool as lead singer for the Latin Rock/Jazz Fusion band Santana and the Progressive Rock band Journey.
Although Carlos Santana gained most of the bands notoriety for his impressive guitar virtuoso, the band would not have become commercially successful without Rolie’s undeniable trademark articulation and gifted keyboards. A similar realization for the quest for commercial success occurred in Rolie’s second pilgrimage with Journey. Rolie relinquished his frontman duties to Robert Fleischman and eventually to a charismatic Steve Perry to sell more records.
Gregg Rolie’s amazing vocals and extraordinary keyboard playing can be heard on Santana’s chart-topping classics including “Black Magic Woman,” “Evil Ways,” and “Oye Como Va.” Not only was he co-founder of the group, Rolie was a huge factor in the success of Santana’s masterpiece Abraxas. Despite repudiation from the rest of the band, it was Gregg Rolie who suggested Santana’s most recognizable tune “Black Magic Woman,” (reaching #4 on the U.S. charts) a song written by guitarist Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac.
Santana with Rolie on lead vocals and keyboards performed an unprecedented set at Woodstock on day two of the three day event. Woodstock documentation of their electrifying performance of “Soul Sacrifice” made rock and roll legendary status.

Gregg Rolie and Santana were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

Rolie left the band after their fourth album because of Santana’s eclectic musical styles; he formed Journey with ex bandmate Neil Schon in 1973. Journey continues to be one of the most commercially successful rock bands in history.

Today his prodigious group of accomplished musicians forms the Gregg Rolie Band.
His latest endeavor is Gregg Rolie - Five Days a new EP/CD consisting of 6 songs with Gregg playing acoustic piano and singing live. He recorded these tracks in his living room and as Gregg says, "It's from my house to yours.”

Here’s my interview with legendary singer/songwriter/musician/entrepreneur Gregg Rolie.

Gregg thank you for spending time with me today, how are things in Austin Texas?

“It’s been a little too hot in the last three weeks but I don’t mind, it’s okay. Keeps you warm. Again, I don’t get hurricanes but I do get snow it actually does snow here. It snowed here last couple of years. It has full seasons which I kind of like, you know I’m from California and San Diego has one season, actually two it’s either gray or sunny. It doesn’t rain, doesn’t do anything.
California is insane, they just kept voting in the same idiots while I stayed there so I ran away. They just keep doing the same things over and over and one day they’re going to have to pay the price for it. Right now they want every other state to pay for it and I don’t want to. I came here to Texas to escape them and here they’re going to the Federal Government which means I’m paying for them anyway along with everybody else.”

Gregg, do you have Latin roots, you seem to have a genuine affection for Latin music? 

“No I don’t, but I can guarantee you that every Latino has some Viking in him. I’m Norwegian –Swedish and the joke between Ron my drummer and I is if you want that real Latin sound you got to have a couple of Norwegians in your band.”

It’s funny I always assumed that you had a Latino background because you meshed so well in Santana.

“I just always loved it. Those rhythms are infections and are driven by Afro-Cuban rhythms. Started in Africa, moved to Cuba and then into America. Tribal instinct music with a lot of electricity on it. And that’s kind of what we did; we built a kind of music in Santana that never existed before.”

My Mom is Cuban so I can certainly Identify Gregg.

“When I was young, I didn’t have any of the Mexican or African- Cuban rhythms in our house other than Sergio Mendes and things of that nature that my Mom liked. The kind of rhythms that was there were like Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass. But I always liked that stuff even though I was listening to rock and roll and Chuck Berry but once she put that on I always liked it. And I had no dreams whatsoever of ever getting into something like I ended up doing, it was one of those things. At least I didn’t say no.”

How did you meet Carlos Santana?

“The story about Carlos is a friend of mine Tom Fraser who I played in some frat bands with right and you get paid in alcohol, he saw Carlos play on a Tuesday night with Mike Carabello who ended up being the original Congo player and two guys from Carlos high school playing bass and drums. They played at The Fillmore on Tuesday nights which Bill Graham allowed locals to come in and play, local bands, just for free just to be there. And he said I’m going to go find him Gregg .We lived 30 miles south of San Francisco. So he went up and found him working at Tick Tock hamburger stand on Columbus Street. So he said I’ve got a keyboard player that you can play with and so he goes okay, so he came down to Mountain View to a little farmhouse where we were playing which ended up being Shoreline and Shoreline Amphitheatre.

We were playing and making a lot of noise and there was marijuana and the cops came. So I turned and said “We got to get the hell out of here” and as I turned to Carlos all I saw was his elbows and the back of his feet you know, he was twenty yards down the road already out on this field. And so I thought, what a great idea, so we ran and hid in this tomato patch and that was the beginning of the whole thing.”

Wow that’s so funny what a story.

“Yea we just laid there until the cops left and we went to pick up the van and got all our stuff.”

So you guys hooked up and just started jamming after that?

“Yea, I was going to college at the time. I ended up going up to San Francisco all the time, it was 30 miles in my 55 Chevy and jumping over to go rehearse and I had a B3 organ that I left up there in this guy’s garage. We’d go back and forth and while I was playing in the band I wasn’t doing any college work and while I was doing college work I wasn’t rehearsing with the band so I had to make a decision and chose the band. I was going to be an architect otherwise."

Well Gregg I’m glad that you didn’t become an architect.

“Well I designed my last two houses and they came out really good.”

I guess the story went that after your audition, promoter Chet Helms told the band that you guys would never make it in the San Francisco music scene playing Latin Fusion and suggested Carlos keep his day job?

“I don’t know if it was Helms, we went to the Avalon to try and get a gig there, which is what you had to do back then, a couple of times, and one time we did play for Helms I think, but there was this one guy we played for and he just didn’t get it at all. What do have a conga drum and an electric guitar and an organ… what is this? They all wanted The Jefferson Airplane. Well there already is one.”

And there’s Moby Grape and Quicksilver Messenger Service and Blue Cheer… all very similar.

“Yea, all of those bands and they were already there. Playing what they played. And the music that we were going after was blues and jazz based with conga drums on it and actually one of the songs that kind of kicked us into playing a little bit differently was from the Butterfield Blues Band East-West. The way they jammed on that song we were enamored with and we started jamming our way through this stuff and doing a little bit more of it. Santana was a Jam band and built by all six guys, not one guy, not two guys, and without all the other members of the band that music wouldn’t be what it is.”

There were a lot of Jam bands back in those days right Gregg?

“Most bands were, in fact when we did the first Santana album we called in Albert Gianquinto who was a piano player for James Cotton, he was a friend of ours and quite a musician and asked him what should we do with this music to record it and how we could make this better? And we played it for him and he goes, “Shorten the solo… see ya.” That was it, we shortened the solos and that was our first album.”

And you recorded that first album pretty quick too didn’t you?

“Yea, we did that as a recall in about 2 or 3 weeks from front to back. We were working 14 hours a day and sometimes all night. We weren’t really happy with the sound of it compared to the other records at the time but it was definitely a milestone. And it came out right after Woodstock. Timing is everything in this business.”

How did you guys get invited to Woodstock, how did that happen?

"Well that was Bill Graham. Bill Graham was talking to Michael Lang and he said, “You must have Santana.” And it was an unknown band. Mike Lang told me this story; He told Bill “Send me a tape.” And he got the tape and said, “Okay, we’ll have Santana.” And that was it. So Bill Graham was the one who got us in that and Ed Sullivan and Johnny Carson and all kinds of stuff. And at the time I really didn’t know that."

Bill Graham was so important to music.

“Graham was very important to the career of the band Santana. He just loved live music. He brought us “Evil Ways” we didn’t want to do it, I mean when you think about it, singing about pots and pans. We want to rock, you know? But we did it for Bill. “Okay Bill we’ll do that. And that was another time when we didn’t say no."

Santana was so awesome at Woodstock.You guys played Day-Two between The Keef Hartley Band and Canned Heat. Santana pretty much ruined any chances for The Keef Hartley Band to gain any kind of success after Woodstock because of a monumental performance that followed them.

“You know what happened for us was being an unknown band, but the atmosphere was really right for the song “Soul Sacrifice” and at that point the band really kicked into what it could do. Until then Carlos had tuning problems plus he had taken some acid earlier but it finally all peaked for Soul Sacrifice and the energy at that peak is really what the band was all about.”

Gregg, tell me about the atmosphere at Woodstock?

“When we flew in, I really didn’t have any bearing to say that 500,000 people meant something to me, it looked like ants on a hill. I didn’t know what to think about it. I just didn’t find it that striking. We played earlier than we were supposed to and everything was screwed up and we were signing papers just before coming on and Bill Graham signed the okay for the band to play and wasn’t even the manager. And we’d say, “Oh yes that’s fine Bill represented us on this,”   and that’s all we would have said. But it was helter skelter getting that thing going. And then we played and I stayed to see Sly Stone and that band was awesome. So I stayed to see that and we drove out. When we drove out it finally struck me just how huge this thing was.”

Wow you guys drove out?

“Yea, we drove out and it took forever. And driving through all these people and watching what they’ve gone through and where they were living and all that, I was amazed at it. And I’m glad I didn’t drive in because it probably would have scared the hell out of me.”

Who would have ever thought that a three-day music festival would have had such a lasting impact?

“Yea, festivals were everywhere but it just turned out to be the mother of all of them. It was like Field of Dreams –If you build it they will come, and that’s what happened. And the smartest thing that I found was that they documented it from the building of it to the garbage. And it turned out be a success and even financially a disaster for years. It turned out to be one of the biggest music successes ever. And if you played Woodstock you had a career."

There were a lot of bands that were supposed to play at Woodstock like Iron Butterfly?(Some of the performers who snubbed Woodstock – Bob Dylan, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Joni Mitchell, The Doors, Eric Clapton, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones)

“Yea there were bands that turned it down because they weren’t going to get paid. Sometimes getting paid or being a headliner is not the big deal. On a three-day festival and you play last? Everyone’s pretty burnt out by then, Hendrix ended up playing to a handful of people."

Did you know Jimi Hendrix?  

“I never met him. However when we were living in Woodstock New York, he didn’t live far from there and I use to drive our truck to go swimming in this reservoir and I got behind this guy, this blue corvette and I asked Eddie Kramer(Woodstock sound engineer) about this just last year and he said, “Oh yea that was Hendrix” he was driving five miles an hour, I was honking the horn trying to get around him and I was ready to flip this guy off as I go by and I looked over and said, “All crap, it’s Jimi Hendrix” and I stepped on it and just kept moving. He sure could play the guitar but he can’t drive.”

Who were some of you musical influences growing up Gregg?

“Beatles, Stones all that kind of stuff, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley. Other than the Beatles I was kind of Helter Skelter, I liked this song that song, Blues Project, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and then turned on to Peter Green, I thought Peter Green was phenomenal. I guess Clapton first and then Peter Green. Where do you find these guys man, they’re both such great guitar players. And which also led me to Black Magic Woman through Mike Shreve.
Mike Shreve (Santana’s drummer) turned me on to Fleetwood Mac where Peter Green was the guitar player. And Black Magic Woman was on there and I said, “I can sing this song, I think this is a great, great song.” And it took me a year to talk the band into playing it. (Carlos Santana finally caught- on after Gregg suggested it over and over again during countless jam sessions.)
We use to rehearse and who was ever in their first would be noodling on something and we’d come in and start playing on whatever whoever was doing. I made a habit of being there first a lot and I’d play that, without the vocals or anything just playing the music. Finally Carlos started playing on it and said, “Wow that’s really cool, what is that?”  I said, “It’s Black Magic Woman a song that I’ve been telling you guys for a year now.” And they really grabbed a hold of it which is really how we did things; everybody had to have something in a song that moved them. It didn’t have to be the whole tune but there had to be something there. And so it was a package deal for everyone and a feel good about the music and so when that happened we arranged it and went after it and it became what it did.”

I guess Abraxas was Santana’s Sgt. Pepper’s or Dark Side of the Moon?

"It really was, it’s still one of my favorite works that I ever did because it was so new and different. That album get’s rave reviews all the time, it’s in the top 100 of all time albums. And I agree. Black Magic Woman by the way is the only song I ever sang where I just did it once. Didn’t overdub anything just sang it."

One of my favorite tracks on that album which I think is somewhat overlooked is “Hope You’re Feeling Better” written by you (Gregg Rolie).

"Yea I wrote that kind of based off a guitar- you know that whole opening line with what a guitar player would play. I played way down low and made it as gritty and nasty as I could make it. And it still has that feel to it. Yea it’s a cool tune, it just is."

I kind of forgot that “Oye Como Va” was a Tito Puente composition?

"I forgot who brought that one in; it was either Carlos or Carabello. And I remember thinking to myself, “What am I going to do on this?” You know really I was like, Holy Cow, I’ve got an organ and an electric piano what do I do? I simulated the instrumentation basically and played it on the organ. And it ended up being one of my favorite solos that I ever did. It just really came out right."

Not many keyboard players can play Latino music.

“You know in my mind I‘m playing guitar somewhat, now I don’t know how to explain that but I don’t necessarily play strictly keyboard parts. It’s definitely by ear, left is more and like that. I love guitar and I’ve played with great guitar players all my life including the one I have now Alan Haynes who is a blues guitarist out of Austin and is killer and different from the other guys. I’ve always picked real good guitar players and love playing with guitar players and getting those solos up in the stratosphere if I could do it. I really enjoy that.”

Do you still keep in touch with Carlos Santana?

“No, I really haven’t. The last time I saw him was a few years back.”

I think he’s been playing casino’s lately out in Vegas.

“Yea, I think he lives out in Vegas.”

You left Santana when the musical direction changed but then started a little band called Journey?

“I was up in Seattle with a restaurant with my Dad and I really quit the music business and we were running this restaurant and thank God somebody called. Herbie (Herbert) and Neal (Schon) called me up and said, “What are you doing, we’re starting a band up.” And I said, “I’m not doing anything.” And so I thought I’d give it a shot. What I was told is that we were going to be The Golden Gate Rhythm Section and it was going to be a band for people that came through town or whatever. And within a week we were writing our own material. Which would have been normal for all of us and doing our own songs. And it was a band and then it took off.
Santana was a phenomena and everything kind of fell in place for us, it was amazing. And Journey was a work of art; it was a lot of work. We had to build it. We ended up signing to Columbia because they wouldn’t let me off my contract through Santana.”

I loved those early progressive Journey albums.

“It was built on solos very much like Santana was. The hard part of it was the musicality.”

The Journey debut album (1975) and the band’s follow up album Look into the Future (1976) were great albums and ahead of its time.

“There was a lot of playing on there and a lot of interesting ideas. And then it kind of closed up and the industry kind of closed in… and you got to have a singer and you got to have this and you got to have that and it all changed.”

I guess they wanted Journey to be more commercial at that time?

“Yea, and after three albums we could sell more tickets than records. So we made that conscious effort and it was really Herbie who found Steve Perry. This is your lead singer get use to it.”

Man, that was a totally different direction for the band.

“Yea it was a big change and Herbie was right. We ended up going that way which I didn’t mind because I was strapped pretty thin with playing three or four keyboards, singing and playing harmonica. So I welcomed the fact of having someone come in and doing a lot of leads. I wanted to sing a few more leads than I ended up doing. I don’t think Perry liked me singing leads when I think back.”

And Journey became remarkably successful after Perry became the lead singer. And the band remains a draw despite all the personnel changes through the years and look at them today.

“Yea I met Arnel (Pineda- is the lead singer) nice guy, what a great guy he is and what a smart move, a resurgent of their whole career. It’s a great story about finding him on You Tube from the Philippines and what are the odds, it’s just a great story.”

You know it’s funny your story is very similar to Jim McCarty the drummer for The Yardbirds. He left The Yardbirds with Keith Relf and (because of the timing- FM radio, album rock etc.) the band turned into Led Zeppelin. Then McCarty and Relf started a brand new project called Renaissance, made several albums and left again. The band continued and got rather big.  

“I did a lot of leaving, but I left Journey to start a family. I built two bands and been on the road for 14 years. Like all things its great when it’s great and when it’s not anymore it’s just… you know and it was showing on me and I just didn’t care quite as much and that’s not fair to everybody else.”

You recommended Jonathan Cain (The Baby’s) to replace you in the band?

“We toured with The Baby’s and I watched what he was doing, plus he could play guitar and when I was leaving I said, “This guy can play anything I’m playing plus he played guitar and I knew Neil wanted to have a rhythm guitar on some songs which made sense to me. And I can’t play guitar for the life of me, I’ve sat down with those things, these things hurt your fingers. Anyway, I recommended him for it and they ended up getting him. And he ended up being the guy who helped pen a lot of those big big hits. I didn’t know he could do that.”

So what happened next after you left Journey?

“I hadn’t played for a couple of years just noodled around in the house and stuff, I had no plans and then I did the solo album. And then I realized how hard that was. It was an interesting turn of events.”

Your first solo effort Gregg Rolie (1985) had some great artists performing on it- Carlos Santana, Peter Wolf (The J.Geils Band), ex bandmate Neil Schon and Craig Chaquico(The Jefferson Starship).

“In fact they did a trade of solos on a song called “Fire at Night” that’s still stunning. That song was about 7 or 8 minutes long and was getting airplay in the Midwest, St Louis I believe… and heavy airplay. But Columbia pulled the plug on it. The reason why and I understand this from the business aspect, why would they want to make me compete with Santana and Journey when they already had them. Why would they spend the money to further my career when they’ve got two bands that are doing that? And even though Neal and Carlos were on there… to my way of thinking it would have furthered their career as well and kept that whole thing going. But that’s not the way they see that and I understand that. They showed them and I was lucky to get the jackets printed. But that’s the record company you know?”

What was it like to work with Peter Wolf?

“Yea he’s a character I liked him a lot, very opinionated about music but a multitalented guy and funny. Yea Peter was very cool."

I’m guessing most of your music is now being recorded from your home now?

“The Roots CD was the first one that I really recorded myself and got an engineer to mix it and Roots came out sounding phenomenal. And we did that between my house and my drummer Ron Wikso’s house.”

Your latest project is called Five Days?

“The band that I have right now has been together for around 9 or 10 years. The CD we put together is called Rain Dance. And it was mixed here at my house which sounds phenomenal and was recorded live at Sturgis. And it’s the Santana stuff that I did way back when along with new material with the same genre. And the band is incredibly good. It’s the longest stint that I’ve ever done anything. And it’s because in the end product it ends up being the hang, if you can hang with guys and their decent players and these guys are great players then it’s going to be really good and fun and easy to do. And that’s what I’ve had for the last 10 years and I’m real happy with these guys.

Then on a side project I started to do Five Days. I recorded a CD here at my house with piano and vocals done all at the same time like they did in the 40’s and which was unnerving to me because I’d never done that. It was always music first; vocals, and then you got everything perfect. But this was… you didn’t do it right you do it again. But my son recorded it, he’s an engineer. He also mixed the live album. He’s got tremendous ears, which is what it takes. Anyway he recorded it and it was really his idea. We recorded 6 songs and went back and did-Black Magic Woman a different way –Anytime (Journey) a different way and it was inspired by the personal touch that Lyle Lovett did with vocals. It’s just like he’s speaking in your ear, an amazing delivery of vocals. And Eric Clapton has gone back and doing a song that he did before one way and is completely going another route. And it inspired me to do kind of the same idea why not? If anybody has the right to do it, it would be me. And now I play Look into the Future when I go play live. And it’s just piano and guitar.

Alan Haynes was the first guy I met here in Austin when I moved here. And the way I met him was we went and saw him play and I kind of got to know him a little bit, I was at Antones one night during this blues fest and he was playing and he walked up to me at the bar and says, “You know there’s a B3 up there.” And I said, “Yea?” And he said, “I’ve got this song” And I said, “Yea?” He said, “It’s got two notes.” And I said, “Really, and what keys would those be in?” He goes, “D minor to B-flat.” And I said, “That sounds great, let’s go do this.” And so I went up and played with him and got to know him a bit.

So when I decided to do this (Five Days) I thought, “I’m going to go grab this blues guitarist.” And he’s really good, been around a long time. He’s played with all the blues greats- Muddy Waters, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Johnny Winter and was almost in the Steve Ray Vaughan band. But anyway, I thought I’d go and see if he was interested and he is, so we’ve done four shows and they’ve gone over great and they’ve sold out and it’s about music and conversation. The show is very loose and personable. We’ve opened it up to the fans, because without them I’d probably be driving a cab. And it’s gone over very well and I don’t think there are many guys in a Rock field that would or could do it that I can think of.

As a matter of fact I just saw Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt doing that same sort of thing. And it was very interesting. Lyle Lovett is a very funny guy by the way he uses his acting skills quite well. I like them because they banter back and forth and it’s pretty funny and they just play song after song and it’s just acoustic guitar. So here I am doing the same thing and inspired by this guy. Which is also interesting, I found out that Abraxas was the first album that he (Lyle Lovett) had.”

Your vocals and keyboards were what established Santana as a cool and great rock band. Carlos had that trademark electric guitar sound and you had the trademark voice and dynamic touch on the B3 -which synthesized together as the true genuine sound of Santana. I want to thank you Gregg for spending time with me today.

“It was my pleasure Ray.”

GREGG ROLIE is also a proponent of music education for children. In 2005, he signed on as an official supporter of “Little Kids Rock” a nonprofit organization that provides free musical instruments and instruction to children in underserved public schools throughout the U.S.A.

Special thanks go out to Billy James of Glass Onyon PR who made this interview possible.

Don’t for get to order my new book called Check the Gs –The True Story of an Eclectic American Family and Their Wacky Family Business. Get your copy now at http://rayshasho.com/
You can contact Ray Shasho at rockraymond.shasho@gmail.com

Coming up next an interview with Mark Farner  legendary guitarist and vocalist of Grand Funk Railroad.

The Happy Together Tour at Ruth Eckerd Hall was Far Out, Man

 By Ray Shasho

Ruth Eckerd Hall hosted the Happy Together Tour last night in Clearwater to a near capacity crowd. The evening produced nonstop Top 40 hits from an era when the music mattered. Five legendary bands from the psychedelic 60’s embraced an enthusiastic Clearwater crowd with five fantastic performances.

The crowd, many wearing Tie- dye shirts, sandals and jeans appeared like they never left the 60’s. And as Paul Revere & the Raiders frontman Mark Lindsay put it, “I’m reliving the 60’s again in my 60’s.” 

There’s no doubt that the Baby Boomer Generation is where it’s at these days and anyone in the entertainment industry that ignores that fact is making a huge financial mistake. The longevity of these groups is remarkable. I seriously doubt that anyone from the American Idol Generation will maintain a following when they’re 65.

The first band to take the stage last night was Chicago’s own, The Buckinghams with original guitarist/vocalist Carl Giammarese and Bassist Nick Fortuna. Giammarese slipped on a jacket that he wore with the band some 40 years ago and talked about a case for mistaken identity when many thought the band was actually a British group because of their name- The Buckinghams.

The Buckinghams were a genuine crowd pleaser illuminating the audience with their opening hit tune “Don’t You Care,” just the first of a long string of hits from 1967. They followed their set with “Mercy Mercy Me,” “Hey Baby (They’re Playing Our Song),”  “Expressway to Your Heart,” (A cover tune by The Soul Survivors sung soulfully by Fortuna) “Susan,” and then their finale #1 hit single “Kind of a Drag.”

Without missing a beat, The Grassroots walked on stage dedicating the night to original frontman Rob Grill who died in Orlando this month. Grill had been the voice of the band for almost 45 years. The band opened with their 1969 chart- topper, “I’d Wait A Million Years.” Although Vocalist/Bassist Mark Dawson and Guitarist Dusty Hanvey are not original members of the group they played all the classic Grass Roots tunes impeccably.
The bands next selections were “Heaven Knows” and “Sooner or Later” a Top 10 hit in 1971.
The band played “Let’s Live for Today” next; a sorrowful and haunting reminder of Rob Grill’s absence. The Roots continued with “Where Were You When I Needed You,” “Temptation Eyes” and their 1968 finale “Midnight Confessions.”  Dusty Hanvey’s guitar licks were impressive on all the bands classic hits.

The Association graced the Hall stage next with three of their original members. Vocals: Russ Giguere, Vocals/ Guitars: Jim Yester and Vocals/ Guitar: Larry Ramos. The band opened the historic Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. The group wasted no time playing; they began their set with their #1 hit from 1967 “Windy,” which the band said played on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.
“Windy” was followed by “Everything That Touches You” and “Never My Love,” one of the most requested songs of all-time. Russ Giguere reminded the crowd of all the legendary groups that The Association had toured with in the 60’s- including The Mamas and the Papas. And as a tribute they played “California Dreaming.” Next another #1 in 1966 “Cherish” followed by the electrifying single “Along Comes Mary” which brought the happy peace lovin’ Clearwater crowd to its feet.

Without an intermission or breath to be taken, Paul Revere & the Raiders immortal songster Mark Lindsay energetically danced his way across the stage as if he were still performing with the original Raiders on Dick Clark’s TV program “Where the Action is.” The only thing missing was his American Revolutionary uniform and his (que) or ponytail. Lindsay looked remarkably fit for a 69 year old rock star. After an interview that I did with Mark, I suspected that he would be in exceptional physical condition. Mark revealed to me that he walked six miles a day and he sounded like he was more than half his age on the phone.

Lindsay opened his set with “Steppin’ Out” followed by “Just Like Me” a second chart- topping tune from the same great album Just Like Us!.At this point it was apparent that Mark Lindsay’s voice had improved with age like a fine bottle of wine. Lindsay sang a little bit from the theme song of the TV show that made the Raiders so popular -Where the Action is. The song became a huge hit for Freddy “Boom Boom” Cannon in 1965.  Mark followed with a perfect rendition of Raiders classic “Hungry.”

Lindsay continued his set with the Raiders early recording of Richard Berry’s penned rock and roll standard “Louie, Louie” and then electrified the audience with a medley of 60’s classic rock treasures “ Gimme Some Lovin’,” “ Sunshine Of Your Love,” and The Who’s “My Generation.” Lindsay showed the crowd that if his musical direction had taken a Hard Rock course, his extraordinary lead vocals and showmanship would have placed him amongst the elite. Lindsay’s Hard Rockin’ vocals were extremely impressive.
Mark Lindsay followed with his solo hit from 1969 “Arizona” and then another Paul Revere & the Raiders classic “Good Thing” from 1967. Mark commented to the audience that he’s lived all over the U.S.A. but enjoys his new home in Florida the best.
Before playing his next selection “Indian Reservation,” Lindsay told the Clearwater audience that the song was the biggest selling record in CBS’s catalog before Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.” Mark Lindsay concluded his set with the all-time favorite Paul Revere & the Raiders tune “Kicks,” bringing the crowd to its feet once again.

Then the headliners for the evening appeared, Mark Volman(Flo) and Howard Kaylan(Eddie) of The Turtles, both comically dressed in Lady Gaga’s meat dress and entered the stage to her big hit “Bad Romance.” Then they quickly jumped into an awesome performance of their #3 hit of 1967 “She’d Rather Be With Me.”
The Turtles followed with “You Baby” and their breakthrough Bob Dylan Cover tune “It Aint Me Babe.” The band sounded as they did back in the 60’s with a solid stage performance. I took a hard stare around the Hall to watch the reactions of the Clearwater audience during The Turtles performance. 
The packed house seemed to be in a state of euphoria, perhaps reliving all those wonderful memories from a simpler time when it was all about the music and having fun.
During their set Flo and Eddie would also comically entertain the crowd. Something they did so well over the years. And I was impressed by Mark Volman’s vocals on his segment of Jim Morrison tunes. Their next song was “You Showed Me” and Howard Kaylan Showed me that his magnificent vocal range was still unblemished.
The band announced that it will be playing with Dweezil Zappa soon and jumped into Frank Zappa’s instrumental jazz fusion composition “Peaches en Regalia.”

The Turtles set concluded with a wonderful rendition of “Elanore” another hit from their concept album called The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands.
And then the huge finale for the evening “Happy Together,” bringing the entire Ruth Eckerd Hall crowd to their feet.
All the groups were then brought back on stage one by one to sing their finale hit songs one more time. And then assembled together to take a final bow.
It was a havn’ a good time rockin’ evening at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater last night.

AFTER THE SHOW I was sent on a mission by my sister- in- law Mary from Maryland to deliver her cherished original Paul Revere & the Raiders record albums and Teen magazines featuring Mark Lindsay and deliver them personally to the man himself. During our interview I had mentioned to Mark that Mary was a huge fan. But more importantly she found tranquility in listening to Mark’s voice during troubling times. She and Mark even somewhat resemble each other.
I handed Mary’s Paul Revere & the Raiders collection to Mark Lindsay after the show. Mark was ecstatic; believe it or not, many rock stars do not have most of their original recordings on vinyl. But here’s what a classy guy Mark Lindsay was, he wanted to thank Mary personally over the phone. So from my cell phone, I dialed Mary and then handed it over to Mark. The two of them engaged in high quality and entertaining chat and then Mark Lindsay sang to her on the phone. It was a very special moment indeed for sis-in-law Mary. Thank you Mark!

I’d like to personally thank Jeff from RockStarPR and the entire staff at Ruth Eckerd Hall for their wonderful and gracious hospitality. You’ll always get my vote as the #1 venue in the U.S.A.

Interviews are forthcoming from various artists who are performing at Hippiefest and appearing at Ruth Eckerd Hall on Saturday August 27th.

Order my new book Called Check the Gs –The True Story of an Eclectic American Family and their Wacky Family Business. Order today at http://rayshasho.com/ Baby Boomers will love it!
Contact Ray Shasho at rockraymond.shasho@gmail.com

 

 

 

George Thorogood And The Destroyers & Queensryche Invade Clearwater This Fall

 By Ray Shasho

It just keeps getting better at Tampa Bay’s hottest venue. Ruth Eckerd Hall has recently announced more great Rock favorites to arrive at the Hall this Fall Season.

First, it’s Rick Springfield with Mickey Thomas and Starship on Saturday September 3rd. Tickets go on sale this Friday July 15th at Noon. The Aussie-born Springfield is best known for Top10 classics “Jessie’s Girl” (Peaked at #1 on Billboard’s Top 100) and “I’ve Done Everything For You.” Rick Springfield followed with a string of hits that included “Don’t Talk To Strangers” and “Affair of the Heart.”

Mickey Thomas was the lead singer of the Jefferson Starship through the 80’s and 90’s. His distinct sound can be heard on classic rock hits like “Jane,” and Starship classics, “No Way Out,” “We Built This City,” “Sara.” and “Nothing Gonna Stop Us Now." Thomas was also lead vocalist on the mega-hit “Fooled Around And Fell In Love” with The Elvin Bishop Band.

Then Queensryche will be arriving in Clearwater on Sunday November 20th for their Thirtieth Anniversary tour. The band has sold more than 20 million albums worldwide. Queensryche’s Progressive /Heavy Metal influence began to astonish fans with their 1988 critically acclaimed concept album- Operation: Mindcrime.

Their following album Empire was the band’s most commercially successful release. The album sold over two million copies primarily due to the haunting ballad “Silent Lucidity” composed by guitarist Chris DeGarmo. The song is believed to be based upon the act of lucid dreaming. The tune became the band’s first top 10 single.

In 1994, Queensryche released Promise Land which eventually became certified platinum. A follow- up to Operation: Mindcrime was announced in July of 2004. The band then hit the road with “An Evening with Queensryche tour.”  The band embarked on the second leg of the tour in 2005 and followed with the third leg of the tour supporting Judas Priest.  
Operation: Mindcrime II was released in March of 2006. Ronnie James Dio appeared on the album providing the vocals as Dr. X, the villain. The album was their first to be released on their new label Rhino Entertainment.

In 2007 Queensryche released Sign of the Times, a greatest hits album.
Also that year, the band released a cover album dedicated to Queen, U2, The Police, Black Sabbath and Pink Floyd.
The band’s 11th studio effort was another concept album called American Soldier in 2009. Ironically the band was present during an attack on a U.S. military position in Iraq in 2010. Initial reports said that members of the band were injured from the attack but the reports turned out to be false. Queensryche was in Iraq to entertain the troops.

Dedicated to Chaos is the band’s latest release. Queensryche is currently on tour with Judas Priest for their Epitaph Tour before beginning the Thirtieth Anniversary tour.
George Thorogood And The Destroyers will take the stage at Ruth Eckerd Hall on Tuesday November 29th.

The Wilmington Delaware native Thorogood is a Blues- rock guitarist best known for his 1982 trademark song “Bad to the Bone.”  The band’s self titled debut album was released in 1977. Their second album was called Move It On Over and was released in 1978. The album included the Hank Williams remake title track and Bo Diddley cover tune “Who Do You Love?” 

George Thorogood And The Destroyers (Sometimes called the Delaware Destroyers) supported The Rolling Stones on their U.S. tour in 1981.

Thorogood’s version of “Bad to the Bone” and “Who Do You Love” (Appearing on Samuel Adams beer commercial) has enjoyed enormous financial success for use on advertisements, TV shows and movies.
2120 South Michigan Avenue is George Thorogood’s 15th studio album and set to be released on July 12th. The album includes cover songs from Blues legends Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Howlin' Wolf, Buddy Guy, Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter and other Chess Records greats, as well as new original songs written by Thorogood.

George Thorogood And The Destroyers will also be one of the bands performing on the Rock Legends Cruise on December 1st-headlined by ZZ Top.

Tickets are currently not available online for both George Thorogood and Queensryche. Please call the ticket office to check on current availability – (727) 791-7400. Or check back for updates right here.

Elvis Costello and The Imposters   "The Revolver Tour" -The Return of the Fabulous Spinning Songbook was just announced during the publication of this article. The concert is scheduled for Sunday September 17th at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater. Call the ticket office for availability or check back here for updates.

Order my new book called Check the Gs – The True Story of an Eclectic American Family and Their Wacky Family Business. Available NOW 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