Number 4:
Let’s go back in time to the Redding Roadhouse…the summer of 2006. As the band was getting ready to go on, in walks this 60-or-so year old guy dressed up as a 6 foot tall elf with the pointy hat and curly-toed boots.
After a few chuckles, Dean the bartender tells me that Ritchie Blackmore is in the house. I'm looking around going: "Ritchie Blackmore's here? No sh*t!!! He didn't come in with that elf did he?" Dean says: "He IS that elf". Hahahahahahahaha!!!!!
For those of you who may not know....... Ritchie Blackmore was one of my guitar heroes back in the early seventies. He was the leader of the legendary rock band Deep Purple and also Rainbow. Amongst his writing credits are the iconic "Smoke on the Water", "Highway Star", “Hush” and “Woman From Tokyo”. We're talking megastar! Up there with the Beatles, Clapton.....hey, he practically invented heavy metal!!!!
Well, he and his similarly dressed entourage retired to the back room of the place as the Reefers glided thru their first and second sets of the night. Now I am completely aware of where myself and the rest of the band stand in the musical "big picture". We're a cover band of limited talent, we do some of my goofy originals and people seem to like hearing us for the most part. While I didn't expect Ritchie to be doing cartwheels thru the bar, we were hardly prepared for what came next.
He and his cronies walked out to their car and returned with an acoustic guitar, mic and amp. They went out back in the next room and held their own little sing-a-long on the patio. Not for nuttin' but isn't it kinda un-cool to be upstaging 4 hard working nobodies? Y'know, it's a bit rough on the ego....like being kicked in the b*lls by a sixty one year old elf!!!!! If you ain't into us then just close the door and chill...... Happily for us, our audience didn't abandon us.......
So after dedicating the "Were You Born An A$$hole Or Did You Work At It Your Whole Life" song to Ritchie, we finished our last set and loaded up the cars. Karen and I returned to the bar to get one last drink for the road. The place was empty as Dean cleaned up when suddenly the patio minstrels brought their musical interlude inside the bar. Lemme tell you something. If you thought Blackmore played some great guitar back in the day…..well, you ain't seen nothing yet. He got ahold of an acoustic and played some absolutely mind-blowing stuff!!!! Wow. We left the Roadhouse two and a half hours later at 4 am and they were still playing.
Richie and his Stevie Nicks look-a-like wife even stopped by our table to chat for 10 or 15 minutes. To make this long story shorter, he's into playing Renaissance music in the fairs these days, lives in Port Jefferson, ain’t making any money on the road but is having the time of his life. It was definitely a night for the ages......
After I complimented him on writing some of the greatest rock songs of our time, I had to pass along one suggestion for a song title on his upcoming CD..... How about "How I Parlayed A Career As A Mega-Rockstar Into Impersonating An Elf In A Traveling Circus"??????????
Hahahahahahahahahaha. Only kiddin' widja Rich........... like grandpa used to say……. You plant corn, You get corn……. As he laughs all the way to the bank to cash that royalty check for "Smoke"….
Top Five
Memorable Moments in
Penfield Reefer History
