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

she existed until I did a two-year run with a package show called HippieFest. Her son is one of the best guitar players alive. He’s absolutely brilliant to the point that he stole the show from his mother.
    John Mellencamp: John and I will be forever linked with the album
Never Kick a Sleeping Dog
. We are too much alike to ever be friends, but I thank him for his belief in me.
    Buddy Miles: Too bad I can’t play drums like that.
    The Monkees: I was still a “star” when they burst onto the scene. I spent time with Peter Tork as a house guest, and did a show or two with Mickey Dolenz. My wife and her sisters each had their favorite Monkee to pine over.
    The Moody Blues: I’ve only performed with the man whose voice cut through the race barrier in Detroit when he sang “Go Now.”
    Mountain: It’s already been stated earlier: Leslie is very much under-rated for his ability as a singer and guitar player, and Corky will always be an excellent drummer.
    Nazareth: They once kicked me out of their dressing room after I had been invited in. The guy who invited me disappeared and they didn’t know who I was. Or was it they knew who I was and were just being British?
    Willie Nelson: I saw him perform at the Macomb Center for the Performing Arts. Another good book to read.
    Randy Newman: I saw him at the Royal Oak Music Theater. I wasn’t expecting to see just him and a piano. Neither were the other hundred or so customers. He signed an autograph for me, and when I introduced myself as Mitch Ryder, his mind began racing. Had I waited, there might have been a song.
    Ted Nugent: I’ve only played on a few shows with Ted. The one I like to recall is when he hid in the rafters of the arena. Then, when he was introduced he came swinging down to the stage from the ceiling on a rope and began playing immediately. He has professed to be a life-long fan.
    Tony Orlando: I met him at a party at his home in Branson, Missouri where he was booked for something like five hundred years. He was kind enough to talk to me, but like every artist who works Branson regularly, he had the look of a prisoner in a work camp. You are booked there for months, and except for the water ride, the only other thing to do there is sit in traffic. He never introduced me to Dawn.
    Les Paul: Another guitar clinic promotion appearance, but that couldn’t replace the memory of him playing on TV with his wife as guitar strings went popping.
    Wilson Pickett: Wilson and I made history when we did a series of mixed race shows during the height of the Civil Rights movement. He was also my intro to the Apollo Theater, as he was the first black artist to bring me onstage and sponsor me.
    The Platters: I worked with them at the Grand Hotel in Upper Michigan. It was like going back to a time when my parents might have bought one of their recordings, even though I knew all the words and melodies.
    The Police: It was an Easter show in Berlin way before the wall came down and we opened for them. I have that performance on tape and it is hot. Thrashing Brothers and I rarely did a better show.
    Billy Preston: I attended a party at his sister’s house in Palmer Park in Detroit, and finally met Billy on the same show as The Comets played.
    Prince: There’s nothing to say except he is an eccentric.
    Procol Harum: Gary Brooker and I were both signed to Line Records when he tried to establish himself in Germany.
    Gary Puckett: What a wonderful voice. I don’t care all that much for his style, but he has a beautiful voice. We worked together on a couple of shows.
    Suzi Quatro: A Detroit girl. Last time I saw Suzi was at one of my shows in Hamburg, Germany.
    Queen: Just a meeting in Germany at an empty bar. I later heard their music with a few of the original members when Paul Rodgers invited me to a Queen reunion several years ago.
    Question Mark and the Mysterians: I did a couple of shows with Question Mark. I most liked his tailored pants that would split in the back every time he turned his back to the audience and bent over.
    Bonnie Raitt: I first saw Bonnie at the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival in the early seventies. She couldn’t have been more than fourteen. She also was gracious enough to appear on my radio show.
    Rare Earth: I’ve done tours with these guys as my back-up band. At one time they wanted me to be their singer when I was living in Colorado. Great guys, great music.
    Otis Redding: The first song I heard from Otis Redding was the ballad “Try a