Guitar King by David Dann

Author:David Dann [Dann, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Published: 2019-03-18T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

SHUCKS AND SESSIONS

NEW YORK, LOS ANGELES, AND SAN FRANCISCO, 1968

On Tuesday, February 27, the Electric Flag traveled to Philadelphia for three nights of shows at the Second Fret on Sansom Street. The band spent the entire week in the city, also performing at the Trauma on Arch Street the following Friday and Saturday nights. They played to big, enthusiastic crowds all five nights, and everyone wanted to know when the Flag’s album would be out.

The official release of the album, though, was still several weeks away. Back in New York the first week in March for a stint at the Cafe Au Go Go, Bloomfield was a guest on DJ and producer Murray Kaufman’s freewheeling radio show on WOR-FM. Murray the K, as Kaufman was known, listened as Michael talked enthusiastically about Blood, Sweat & Tears, candidly saying that he felt the production on their album, Child Is Father to the Man, was superior to that of the Flag’s forthcoming release. When Murray asked Michael about guitar players, Bloomfield sang the praises of Jimi Hendrix, recounting how amazed he was when he first heard the Seattle guitarist at the Cafe Wha? back in 1966. Kaufman played selections from an advance copy of A Long Time Comin’ throughout the interview, and New York radio fans got a taste of what they could expect from the Electric Flag’s debut record.

The band’s March appearance at the Cafe Au Go Go had originally been timed to coincide with the March 13 release of A Long Time Comin’. But word from Columbia was that the album might not be out until the week following the gig’s closing. By then the group would be on the road, heading back to the West Coast. It would be a missed opportunity, but even without the record in store bins, the Cafe Au Go Go shows would almost certainly generate good publicity.

The run at the Cafe began on Thursday, March 7. Though the club usually offered double billings, featuring an opening act along with a headliner, the Electric Flag had the Cafe’s bandstand all to themselves for the entire two weeks. They were, after all, superstars with a new record about to hit the charts, and Howard Solomon, the club’s owner, was confident the band could fill the basement venue for multiple shows each night. He was not disappointed.

Playing tunes from the album along with their usual repertory of dynamic soul and blues covers, the Electric Flag overwhelmed the club’s audiences. Michael’s incendiary guitar, Buddy’s histrionic vocals and powerhouse drumming, and Herbie Rich’s squalling organ, all punctuated by the three horns and anchored by Harvey Brook’s rumbling bass, flooded the brick-walled room with sound night after night. The band’s performances were inspired, doubtless due in no small part to their excitement over the imminent release of A Long Time Comin’. While the New York Times did not send Robert Shelton to cover the shows, several other critics from lesser publications did print glowing reviews. Albert Grossman got some of the publicity he was looking for.

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