It is a sad moment for me as one of my all-time favourite musicians, Richie Hayward, drummer for Little Feat, died from complications with his liver cancer.
The first live band gig I attended was Little Feat at the Melbourne Stadium in 1976. I was so blown away that I bought a ticket for the 3rd concert too (2nd was sold out), and even when my hearing came back a few days later, I was still in awe.
So I bought their records & CDs, and joined a Little Feat mailing list, where fans could swap their stories. Fast forward to 1997, when a fan was whingeing about “only” seeing the band 12 times… so I decided there and then that I just had to see them again myself.
I emailed the list moderator and asked if he could find out the schedule of the band for about 3 months out, so I could plan a trip to USA. Imagine my amazement when I received an email from Bill Payne, leader of the band, saying that since I was going to so much trouble to see them, the least they could do was have me as their guest! Talk about going weak at the knees!
I booked a trip encompassing ANZAC day and a weekend, meaning I had a 5 day trip only missing 2 working days (important as I was managing a big project at the time).
I flew out to LA and then on to Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas. Once in my hotel I walked to the nightclub venue and saw two of the band members unloading stuff from their huge red “rock bus” which was everything the cliché expects, but I was too overwhelmed to introduce myself.
Later on I sat in on the sound check, and say the drummer, Richie Hayward, walking past me, but no, he pulled up a stool to chat with me (I was blushing like a silly school-girl) He waxed lyrical about his last trip down under, and said he had been a passenger in an HQ Holden from Adelaide to Darwin! He had even been on the school of the air. He put me totally at ease…
The show was stunning, and I was almost in the front row, and right then the whole trip was worth it.
Afterwards, the road manager came and got me and led me backstage, announcing “Found him” before we entered the room. There were my seven musical heroes all bearing huge grins! We soon got into small talk mode, and Richie mentioned how he had found this large crescent-shaped beach with awesome sand & surf, and said that anywhere else in the world it would be covered with people, but here there were just the five people in his group. Once I suggested this would be Byron Bay, Bill Payne added there is a recording studio on the northern tip of that beach, where he spent a fortnight working with Art Garfunkel (I can’t top that name-dropping, LOL).
I handed over my “Aussie pack”, which included Violet Crumbles, Vegemite, etc and went back to the hotel hyped up.
Next day I drove the hire car to Austin, and met up with another fan and his wife, who kindly offered me accommodation in their spare bedroom, so I got to experience suburban Texas (trucks in every driveway, etc). We went for lunch at Fothergills, the holder of liquor licence #1 in Texas and the place where Janice Joplin worked as a waitress while at the nearby university.
That night I went to the venue and took my video camera. The band was happy for me to make a video of the show so I took full advantage, and moved around in front and behind the stage. At one point, the bass player, Ken Gradney, dragged me on stage from behind a curtain and attempted to get us in a two-shot with my camera in the middle of a song! Cool! I had a big chat with Paul Barrere the lead guitarist, about getting the band to come back to Australia.
My gift this time was a bottle of OP Bundy rum.
Next day it was off to Houston, driving past endless rows of oil wells and fifth-wheeler horse floats. I got lost in Houston due to road-works, and when I arrived at the Band’s hotel, the road manager expressed relief and said there were worried faces in the band about my non-arrival.
The gig this time was an outdoor one, and as it was drizzling, I was invited to wait with the band in the bus. – yup the clichéd classic sign of the world of rock and roll. Inside, there was a huge kitchen/lounge area, and then about a dozen railway-style bunks, finishing with a private room at the rear which was definitely not explained. Soon, the band’s female lead signer, Shaun Murphy, offered me cookies she have made in the kitchen (not the tough R&R image ). My gift this time was the coffee table book “Australia the greatest island” a pictorial record of a journey by three light planes around the coastline.
The gig was once again simply awesome, and I was very reluctant to say goodbye and head on home.
Once I got home, Bill suggested that I channel my enthusiasm into helping to get a world-wide “Feat fans” grassroots movement going, to help the band grow, and help support local gigs. So I found myself in charge of Feat Fans for everywhere except in USA! Ambitious eh?
I tried to get them to Australia, and even found an entrepreneur prepared to put up some money, but his idea was a low-key clubs & pubs tour, which was definitely beneath the band’s status as one of the US’s all-time classic rock & roll bands.
A few years later, the band announced they were performing in the 2001 Blues & Roots festival in Byron Bay. Awesome! I rented a fancy town-house and got a few other fans to join us there to share the costs.
I met them at their hotel in Ballina, and it was like a family reunion, with warm hugs all round.
I organised a small afternoon party for the band in Byron, and laid on the Aussie cliché for them, with beer in the washing machine, fairy bread, Balmain bugs, etc and those members of the band who made it enjoyed it. Happiest moment for me was seeing two of the band sitting outside under a grass-roof gazebo, discussing their home renovations – just the easy-going atmosphere I had hoped to create…
The gigs on the two nights were incredible, with about 13,000 fans overfilling the giant circus tent and rocking away in a surging mass to the music. We watched from back stage, and Peter Garrett joined us, and clearly loved the show too.
Next day we drove back to Sydney, where we enjoyed another great gig at the Metro Theatre.
Next day, I joined the band on a flight to Melbourne and one of the 15-20 US fans who came to Australia with the band kindly paid for a room for me and another fan who came down with me from Byron. This time the gig was at the Melbourne Casino, and yet again, I was in heaven…
At this point I was supposed to go back home to Sydney, but my enthusiasm got the better of me, so I booked a flight and joined the band in Auckland, New Zealand! As this was unplanned, I had no accommodation, but the road-manager let me sleep on a sofa in his room. So, I got another fix!
Sadly, Richie died in 2010, but he secretly coached his drum technician Abe, to take his place when he got too sick to continue. Typical wonderful consideration all the band showed for each other.
I also got to see them again in 2011, when they performed at the State Theatre in Sydney, along with Leon Russell. It was great to catch up, and swap notes with bass guitarist Ken Gradney about hip replacements, as his wife has had several. We are all getting older!
So, I do qualify as one of the oldest groupies around? LOL