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

Noel Redding, Jimi’s bass player, in Detroit. Noel, I was told, was thinking about jamming together to see if we could make something happen. I had also gone out to Coney Island with Sarah, and Mitch Mitchell, Jimi’s drummer, was a guest in our limo.
    John Hiatt : John was doing an acoustic set at the Bus Stop in Minneapolis. I happened to be in town and went to see him, and there weren’t more than twenty people there. After the show we spent some time together talking about sobriety and alcohol. A little A.A. meeting if you will. I last saw him when I introduced him to Megan as he came through and played at Chene Park on the river.
    John Lee Hooker: There is a
Rolling Stone
article that says John Lee Hooker and four other male voices, one being mine, were the most influential to ever come out of Detroit. I saw John Lee Hooker last at the Navy Pier in Chicago. He came out of his trailer, sat down on a chair and began patting his foot on the cement. Then he began to play guitar and sing. It doesn’t get much better than that. It reminded me a bit of the time I saw Jimmy Reed, who was playing at the Village in Detroit long after I had left. He was pretty messed up that night but it was still okay. I’ve certainly done my share of shows not entirely sober.
    Brian Hyland: A very nice man and a nice family. Like some of us, he continues to create and improve his art form in spite of the odds.
    Iron Butterfly: I’ve worked shows with them here in America and in Germany. Very few people know that the catch line is a drunken slur of “In the Garden of Eden.”
    The Isley Brothers: One of the first gigs I did with the Wheels in Virginia was with the Isley Brothers. Pure funk.
    Etta James: I was transfixed as she performed during a show in Mississippi. What a voice. It was one of those lasting heaven-sent voices like Aretha Franklin’s. I thought hearing her voice move me like that would only be an experience I could enjoy from a live performance, so I was stunned some months later when the same goose bumps appeared on my skin when she sang on television. People don’t know how difficult her career and her relationships with men were.
    Tommy James: Another Michigan guy who had the great misfortune of working with Morris Levy. I’ve done several shows with him but could never appreciate it. More my problem than his.
    Jan and Dean: California. That whole California surf thing confuses me, but as I watched them I kept thinking about Brian Wilson and how he was able to make that a small and temporary part of what he was doing.
    Jay and the Americans: I was on a show with them in New York City when Jay popped a vein in his throat and had to leave the stage in panic because of the blood in his throat.
    Jefferson Airplane: San Francisco. Marty Balin. Jefferson Starship. White Rabbit. Oh man, that was what was driving me crazy as the West Coast sound blew the Midwest sound off the map and went toe to toe with the Brits.
    Billy Joel: I met him once in a restaurant and again near an aircraft carrier in the Hudson River. He took my drummer, Liberty Devito, and made him famous, but I can’t hold that against him. Billy genuinely seemed to like me and what I had to contribute to music, but once we both broke from Paramount our communication ended.
    Elton John: I allude to Elton in this book, but I can’t bring myself to call him Sir Elton John. I just have weird visions of Sir Elton, Defender of the Realm, wildly swirling a lethal sword around and causing much havoc and injury. He has one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard and thank you for “Yellow Brick Road.” It pissed off Bud Prager when I sent him a copy.
    Janis Joplin: Last time I saw Janis we spoke for a few minutes in the Memphis airport between planes. She looked done in by the guilt of innocence as we talked about how tired we both were, where we were going, and how much we loved each other. The one thing people walking by the two of us would have seen was that we looked like two penniless vagrants, and here we were both stars. It was a surreal scene. We both loved R&B so much. My passion and goal as a singer was to be the best white male R&B singer, and she confessed to me that her goal was to be the best white female.
    Journey: The white singer who sounds like Sam Cooke. Splendid. My daughter begged me to take her to see Journey when she was a young lady, and the group allowed us to stand backstage for the show. Thanks, guys, for making my daughter