Devils & Blue Dresses: My Wild Ride as a Rock and Roll Legend

songwriter has come close to. He remains my number one inspiration for writing. Maybe after I get a brain transplant I might try to equal his stuff.
    Steve Earle: I met Steve Earle through my old friend George Konig. His talent is rewarding, but his demons won’t leave him alone. He deserves more than he has, which he has proven on many occasions when his demons have left him be.
    Dave Edmunds: Berlin and a sweet introduction to tasty music.
    The Electric Flag: What I remember most is my blown opportunity to be their singer. We were doing a multi-act show in Wisconsin when the band’s founder, Michael Bloomfield, came to my room and said he loved me as a singer. He said Columbia offered them a record deal and he wanted me to join them. I now regret not taking his offer as it would have put me on a major label, rather than the independent label I was on.
    Elephant’s Memory: For me this was all about Wayne Gabriel and how he complimented John Lennon’s later creations. We had worked together twice before and I’m convinced he was happiest in a studio as opposed to live gigs.
    Fabian: He hosted a made for television concert on which I appeared with the Thrashing Brothers, Mary Wells (God rest her soul), and Del Shannon, another talent no longer with us. Fabian was the first national white singer I went to see when I was young. He was at the state fair. Unfortunately, that was also the year I saw James Brown. Making the comparison between the two of them changed my life.
    Marianne Faithful: The book tells the story, except it doesn’t say how she has completely turned her life around for the better. I hope she keeps going. I love her voice.
    The Flamingos: What heavenly harmonies. Amazing.
    Fleetwood Mac: We opened for them in Germany at a huge outdoor concert. I remember buying one of their albums and loving every single song on it.
    Foghat: My group that worked with my man Danny McAleer has to be special.
    The Four Seasons: Because of their involvement with Bob Crewe, I got to see the creative side to their hits. One of the funny things was that when I was still at the Village, my brothers in the Peps loved the song “Sherry.” They thought Frankie Valli’s high falsetto was perfect.
    The Four Tops: My favorite male Motown group. “Bernadette” and “Standing in the Shadows of Love” were two of the best productions ever created by Holland, Dozier and Holland.
    The Gap Band: Perfection through simplicity. That was the lesson I learned from them. I even used a modified version of a keyboard line of theirs that I loved on my
Acquitted Idiot
CD.
    The J. Geils Band: We were fans of each other and it was sad to see them pull themselves apart. It was like watching a replay of the Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels break up.
    The Go-Gos: Working with Gina Schock was great. Gina came into drum on one track on the John Mellancamp produced
Never Kick a Sleeping Dog
album for me. I appreciate the group itself, and her skills as a drummer even more.
    Barry Goldberg: Barry played piano on some of my tracks in New York and was most concerned with perfection. He is way under-rated for his abilities.
    Lesley Gore: We did many shows together and we almost did some summer stock in the early days. She has a good sense of her place in the history of music.
    Grand Funk Railroad: A Michigan group I’ve done a few shows with. Their story will make for interesting reading when it becomes available. Mark Farner is the one member I am most familiar with.
    The Grass Roots: Another of those oldies hit makers who command a higher price than most. And why not? They do a great show and they’ve got the hits.
    Buddy Guy: I was one of the many happy people fortunate to have gotten a ticket for one of those nights he decided to let it all out.
    Nina Hagen: Nina is from East Germany and I am talking to her about doing a duet on one of our next recordings. I don’t know if we will sing in German or English, and it doesn’t matter. Her voice is one for the ages.
    Screamin’ Jay Hawkins: California. He came out of his coffin to practice some kind of voodoo. He put a spell on everybody.
    Isaac Hayes: I met him while working down in Memphis with Booker T and the M.G’s. He was very distant and not as pleasant as was Don Davidson.
    Jimi Hendrix: Music for the ages. I knew him better than most and, of course, I’ve told my story about him. But, after I turned down his offer to be his singer, around two years later a friend introduced me to