In Which Doctor Casino Listens to Classic Rock Classics for the First Time

holy shit!

Sandy!!!!!

And loooool, no, I don't rule, I was just lucky in my youth and led somewhat of a charmed life. My first job out of undergrad was as a production assistant to the big concert promoter in Pittsburgh (DiCesare/Engler) and I was the only female on the staff, and I was young and loved music so the bands and crews were very friendly to me. And I made a lot of great friends in the process.
I do have an addendum to the Billy Squier story: the night after the Cleveland Foreigner/Squier show where I was one of the people who did "The Stroke," The Stones were playing the same venue (Richfield Coliseum). All of the Atlantic bigshots were in town for the Stones and they were courting Squier big time as his contract with Capitol was ending. So after the Foreigner show, Ahmet Ertegun rented out the restaurant at Swingos (legendary Cleveland rock hotel - if you saw "Almost Famous," you know it) for a party. It was ostensibly a party for Foreigner (who were on Atlantic) but actually it was held to woo Squier. It was one of those typical 70s/early 80s extravagant rock parties - everybody got their own bottle of Dom Perignon upon entering. Not too big, about 40 people. And my friend Pattie and I were the only girls there. So everybody was feeling very good (lots of coke openly being shared as well) and Ertegun tells Pattie and I that he enjoyed our performance and that he thought we had "something special" and he wanted to talk to us about our "careers," looool. So we played along and sat on his lap and let him tell us that he would like to have us come to New York and make some demos. We were all laughing because we knew he was just playing, and he knew that we were smart enough to know that he was just playing. But hey, I got to sit on Ahmet Ertegun's lap and do loads of blow and drink lots of free Dom Perignon. And he comped us for Stones tickets the next night.
Those were good times.

Sandy you are my hero. Very impressive that you navigated all that craziness and managed to have fun and come out intact.

Ertegun was the guy that signed Led Zeppelin right? And he told Iron Butterfly that instead of "In a Garden of Eden" they change it to something exotic sounding and middle eastern IIRC

omg Sandy, amazing

Ertegun founded Atlantic Records and he discovered and signed so many legends. Led Zeppelin, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, The Young Rascals, Cream. He talked Crosby, Stills, and Nash into adding Neil Young to the band.
That's one of the many reasons we knew he was goofing on us about our "careers," hahaha.

people say the seventies were not a good looking time, i say let's not be so certain about the past

Holy crap, Sandy, that's an amazing story!

Sandy you have made my day life everything with that photo, also being you etc MOAR STORIES holy shit

<3

You are all too kind!
I have loads more pics and stories and stuff, but rather than make this all about MEMEME, you are all welcome to message me and I'll add you to my FB.

seriously, you should write a book

also please feel free to drop photos stories etc into the Classic Rock results thread, I'm sure everyone here would appreciate it

^^^

I can't write a book about hanging out with bands, I never slept with Jimmy Page. Isn't that a prerequisite?
I am ALL ABOUT the Classic Rock poll and will be sure to share when appropriate!

Omg sandy!!! You da best

xxxp

wow at Sandy's story, so glad you found ILX!

a jimmy page sleepathon is totally n

damn phone ... a jimmy page sleepathon is totally not a prereq to writing a rock memoir. call it "steve perry smells like garlic, and other stories of a rock and roll life" and you should be good to go.

alternative title "Exaggerated jerking-off hand motions: A classic-rock life"

as a skynyrd fan (too young; i only saw the '87 reunion tour) and pittsburgh native

welcome sandy

You all are too kind! I don't know why it took me so long to find ILX, but I'm glad I did.
That is, until you all find out that I actually listen to Muse way more than I do to any classic rock and you mock me.

oh. yeah. no one listens to Muse here...

where do you live now?

I'm back in Pittsburgh, I came back two years ago after living in Seattle for 14 years. You?

grew up in cheswick/springdale up the allegheny, moved around a bit, now in brooklyn

i was not expecting to hear the phrase 'DiCesare/Engler' again in my lifetime tbh

Yes! I saw your shout-out to Michele Michaels and Herschel and the Electric Lunch on DVE in the Classic Rock poll thread!
DVE was the classic-rockiest station of all CR stations.
I'm from the South Hills.

it got real yinzery in here all of a sudden

Y'all going to start talking about gum bands in a minute.

Sandy, I love that your story happens in Richfield Coliseum, which was where I saw all my formative concerts in the 80s. A short list: Prince, Duran Duran, Hall & Oates, Genesis, Van Halen, Pat Benatar, Eddie Money, Journey, Billy Joel . . . so many others I can't even remember any more.

Just ftr, i have not forgotten this thread! We had a little grillin' party yesterday kept me busy, and rockin' to all the hits. Works out anyway, as I'd rather Sandy's awesome stories have the spotlight for a bit! Will return shortly.

all good. hopefully there were no spoilers at your grillin' party!

The playlist was all mine B-)

Most fun was seeing how the classic rock classics synched up with the movies we had running projected in the background - Big Trouble in Little China, Living Daylights, Battleship Potemkin. The last was unfortunately cut off by the start of karaoke.

I think Skynyrd is mostly about "Free Bird" and "Sweet Home Alabama" up here? I remember hearing others like "Give Me Back My Bullets", "Simple Man", and "That Smell"; not sure if it was when in the States that I heard those. I don't know this one, though. This is a radio staple in the South? It doesn't sound like a very interesting tune but there is some hot playing on it. The keyboard/horns break is my favourite part.

Skynyrd is pretty big on CR radio (I live in the South tho). "What's Your Name?", "You Got That Right", "Saturday Night Special" are other big ones.

"...when I was in the States..." Only the big two come up on Q107's 'top 500 of all time' list.

Gimme Three Steps

I've heard "Call Me The Breeze" much more than "Simple Man" on classic rock radio (in Atlanta)

And "Tuesday's Gone," in Cleveland.

I do remember a good old boy playing "Simple Man" at school on "play a song that describes you" day

Tbh, I might just know that one because someone wrote a paper on it when I was TAing in Buffalo?

Oh, Edmonton's station played "Simple Man" this morning.

And "Tuesday's Gone," in Cleveland.

and on "dazed and confused" sdtk.

Heard a ton of Skynyrd on my local station growing up. Never Simple Man, for some reason, but every other song mentioned in the last handful of posts were in heavy rotation. I grew up in a more rural area, which maybe leads to more Skynyrd airplay.

A-ha, Buffalo's station lists six (!) Skynyrd songs on their all-time '500 greatest' list, three in the top 20 : http://pro.wgrf-fm.tritonflex.com/common/page.php?pt=Final+Countdown+List&id=19184&is_corp=0

Since we're still talking about Skynyrd and Doctor Casino's taking a little break, I thought I'd share another picture if you don't mind.
Same night, my friends and I with Gary Rossington. There were seriously about 40 of us crammed into one hotel room drinkin' and hollerin'.
I was decidedly not a Skynyrd fan at that time... this was 1976, remember, and I was all about glammy English bands. A couple of my friends knew them, though, and were able to get a bunch of us on the guest list, and I went along just for the hoot of it. And they were such nice people and "Gimme Three Steps" kicks ass and so yeah, Skynyrd.

http://i58.tinypic.com/33lfl09.jpg

Oh hell yeah.

That is totally amazing.

YES

fantastic

<3