Subj : Re: Page's (& Lightfoot)
To : Bill Riley
From : Martin Ridgley
Date : Sat Jul 15 2000 05:55 am
-=> Bill Riley wrote to Martin Ridgley <=-
**> Martin Ridgley wrote in a message to Bill Riley:
MR> .... to the best of my recollection, I've never seen a Supro.
MR> Are they still around?
BR> Haven't been made since the early '60's or possibly even the '50's.
BR> You might ask Gary, as an amp tech he may have run across a few.
Well, I'm not exactly in the market for one. Just interested.
BR> They were never popular until it got out the Page used them. You
BR> could find one for $25 at garage sales. Now they command premium
BR> prices, which pissed 'ol Led Wallet off.
That figures. (But who's 'ol Led Wallet?)
MR> As I said, I like some of Page's guitar playing. I just think
MR> he's over-rated by a lot of people.
BR> What can I say that I haven't before, Page goes for feel above
BR> technicallity. He will leave a mistake in a recording if he
BR> thinks the feeling was better in that take. He won't edit the
BR> life out of it just to make sure there are no little mistakes
BR> that causes techno crowd to shudder.
Yeah, that's true and I admire him for that. Hey, I never said that
I didn't like Page - I have several Zep albums in my collection - just
that IMO, he's somewhat over-rated.
Same with Mick Jagger, who Rich mentioned in another message, and who
I think is *vastly* over-rated, but I still like some of the Stones
work and have a bunch of their albums.
BR> As for Lightfoot, here we'll just have to agree to disagree.
BR> I've always thought him *vastly* overrated.
Fair enough...
Before we drop the subject completely though, I have to pass on a
brief story that was related to me recently. As you may be aware,
Lightfoot was a pretty serious alcoholic and was something of a recluse
for a number of years. Some time during that period, this friend of
mine was working back-stage at a gig for another folk-pop band. This
band had recently met Gordo, had been partying with him, and they
asked him if he would be interested in coming down to their upcoming
show and doing one song at the end of the night, as a special treat
for their fans. Somewhat to their surprise, Lightfoot agreed.
On the appointed night, the band were halfway through their set, and
Lightfoot had not yet shown up. My friend was watching from back-stage
when Lightfoot suddenly appeared on the arms of two beautiful women.
As they approached, my friend realized that Lightfoot was barely
conscious and that the two women were in fact, carrying him. They
managed to haul him to a spot back-stage, while one of the women went
back out for his guitar, but the man was totally incoherent and
literally reeking of booze.
Someone had already let the band know he was there, and now my friend
was desperately trying to signal them not to announce their special
guest - that there was *no way* this man could even make it out onto
the stage under his own steam, let alone perform!
He went unheeded. As he was frantically waving, the group made the
announcement that they had a special treat tonight. One of the women
leaned over to Lightfoot and said, "Come on, Gord. You're on."
To my friends' utter astonishment, Lightfoot shook his head, stood
up, grabbed his guitar, and walked out onto the stage. He proceeded
to perform his two allotted songs to perfection - his voice strong and
assured, without any hint of a problem. When he was done, he walked
off stage to huge applause, put his guitar down and promptly passed
out!
I just thought I'd pass that on. If nothing else you've really got
to admire that sense of professionalism about the man. <wry grin>
Martin
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