Doc worked my rooms many times (Yes, he is blind) and he is the greatest
accoustic guitar picker (And supurb flat picker) I have ever encountered. Also,
he is a lovely man and his successs could not have happeed to a nicer guy. He was discovered in the folk music boom in the 60s and went from making 20 bucks on Saturday night at the VFW lodge to making thousands playing clubs and concerts.
It got lost in the hype about "Miracle on Ice" but the USA beat the USSR to win the Gold Medal in
the 1960 Winter Olympics.
Oh, yes... the 60s. Early on, Bill was drafted (The army, not the NHL). Back in the day, the army had football teams and entertainment so Bill was never sent to Vietnam. I was one of the Cape Fear Singers, a folk group that toured with the army recruiter. On release from the army, we opened a series of clubs, and It soon became apparent that, to remain in business, we needed groups better than us. It was one hell of a time and, with the explosion of music, politics and social change, a life altering
experience for Bill.
1960-69
The original Other Side in Fayetteville, NC. All of our clubs were in cities adjacent to military bases. Every base had tens of thousands of college students who had been drafted and the Other Side was their "college hangout" away from home.
The guy in the pic is Fred Neal, someone you probably never heard of. Freddie was amazing and inspired everyone of his era from Bob Dylan to the Byrds to the Jefferson Airplane. FUN FACT: Freddie convinced Jim McGinn of the soon to be Byrdsto amp up a 12-string guitar. Freddie created the sound.
"Had a little money on the Maple Leafs "
This is Joni Mitchell with the LA Express. She worked our rooms many, many times. An incredible talent from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. You knew I would find a way to work hockey into this post.
Jesse "Lonecat" Fuller
San Francisco Bay Blues"
Missisippi John Hurt
Cocaine
Tom Rush
No Regrets
Riots in the cities, assassinations
and Woodstock...it felt like a lifetime
and it was only 10 years...
Somewhere around 1968,
we decided to open a new club in Charleston, SC. What Bill (aka stupid white boy from Wisconsin) didn't know is that he was opening the first integrated club in South Carolina.
I had booked Josh White, the blues singer and the white college kids showed up and black folks came from miles around to see their idol.
Iw was a great evening and the Charlesto newspaper gave us a great review—Three days later, the KKK paid us a visit and they
burned down the club! ! Ugh!
Maria Maldauer
Chicago Blues
Jerry Jeff Walker
Up Against the Wall You Redneck Mothers
Everybody Sing Along...
And it's up against the wall, redneck mother
Mother who has raised her son so well
He's thirty four and drinkin' in a honky tonk
Just kickin' hippies' asses and raisin' hell
Fred Neal
The Other Side of This Life
Judy Roderick
Born in the Country
Jimmy Hendrix
Early vid from London days...
JIMMY HENDRIX...EARLY
LONDON DAYS
My wife,age 14, headed to London on her own tosee Jimmy Hendrix. Grounded for months, to this day, she says it was worth it.
Bob Dylan 1964
Mr. Tamborine Man
Janis Joplin
Take another piece of my heart
Early Rolling Stones
Satisfaction
Sister Rosetta Tharp
The woman who invented Rock n' Roll
ABOVE:
DARKEST DAY IN ROCK..
Incredible footage of the Jefferson Airplane opening with Fred Neal song at the Altimont Festival., ending with Hells Angels mayhem.
(Several concertgoers died)
Merle Haggard & Willie Nelson
Jefferson Airplane
The Other Side of This Life
Joni MItchell - Raised on Robbery
Sing along with Bill...
The 60s National Anthym...
Come on people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another
Right now, Yeah, Yeah!
Get Together
The Youngbloods
Bill the folkie...
Odeta
Linin' the Blues
No event signified the end of the 1960s more than Altamont, the free California festival where four people died on December 6th, 1969. The most notorious death was that of 18-year-old Meredith Hunter, who was knifed by the Hells Angels security force as the Rolling Stones played.
Fred Neal
Send me somebody to love
This is where we need to insert a huge shout out to Les Paul, who invented the worlds first solid-body electric guitar in 1941. Before Les Paul, the only "Electric GUitar" was an accoutic guitar with an amplifier and pick-up. The guitar fianally got into production by Gibson in 1952 but it was the rockers of the 60s who saw it's possibilites
Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney all used the guitar. Since its debut the Gibson Les Paul has been one of the most popular and best-selling guitars.
