Part 3 of 6:  Change is Good? Absolutely!

1986 was a year of change for our friends and for the band as well.  As a band, the addition of Todd on drums was obviously key. As friends, most of us had some kind of degree program we were intent on completing….as we couldn’t all be musicians.  For then, we continued to hang together at what had become the boys house (King Ave) or the girls house (Buena Vista).  That previous Spring our friend Beth’s dog, Magnolia/Maggie/Mags, had a litter of puppies…and some made great pets for a few of us.  The puppies were born at that King Avenue house, so they got plenty of attention.  We always had houses full of animals in those days…besides Brown Cat and Maggie, I remember Moss, Claire, Kruger, Ashley, Iri, Sharky, Annie, Goliath, Kitka, Skiddlybongbong, Cirrus, Lucy and Dudley.  Chris and I got a couple of Magnolia’s  puppies….Cassidy and Aiko….and although Aiko passed early, Cassidy made it all the way to be 14.    Those dogs were around the time we shared a common garden border with One-Arm Steve.  Steve was much more than just the doorman at the uptown during that time….as he was developing his skills in organic gardening which played out quite well for him.  Steve had a way about him that was priceless to witness….I’ll find and post a clip sometime that finds Steve politely asking everyone to LEAVE the Uptown after a show. For me, it was always funny to see him put on that “act” knowing him as my neighbor.  Given that well-documented JoJo story about how “One-Armed Steve” threw him out the door, it might be tough for some of you to realize Steve was one of the best guys around during that time.

“Driving Song”>Sit Maggie Sit…..Widespread Panic, King Avenue, Athens, GA 1985

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Those girls I refer to were quite the group.  And still are. Aside from Beth, there were Lisa, Kelly, Ellie and Kelly Jo…..who aside from being Chris’ roommate for a while, also added some background vocals to those early WP days….Kelly Jo’s that female vocal you hear on those early tapes.  It’s amazing how they (and we) have all remained friends throughout the years.  And these days that extended group is comprised of moms and dads, husbands and wives, pharmacists, journalists, lawyers, teachers, marine scientists, chefs, CPA’s and, of course, musicians. It’s funny how people my age refer to certain people from their past as their college friends.  I’ve never really categorized this group that way…they’re just friends. Not locked into one period of my life and then gone. But a part of it since those days when we first met…for better and for worse. Deifintely like a marriage. And due to one big reason.  WP.  How many circles of friends are able to truly charge forward into adulthood as connected as we were?  Because of WP being the cement of our relationships, we’ve never had to turn corners that caused us to lose sight of our buddies.  Because we’ve always had something to bring us back together. And together, we have all shared the good and bad times over the years….and always recognizing what a gift WP has bestowed upon us – the ability to take your friends on your life ’s journey with you.  Wait a minute….I guess most of you reading this have had the same thing happen to you and your friends you made (or are making) during that adventurous time in your life.  Duh.

I have a story that shows what us “old” folks used to have to do for each other.  And how sometimes we just fell down on our responsibilities….or at least I did.  A big group of us made the trip out to Red Rocks in 1985 to see the GD.  On our way back, we lost sight of the girls’ car somewhere on I70 between Kansas City and St. Louis.  In those days there were no cell phones or anything like that to stay in touch on the road….you just had to use your eyes and have a predetermined place and time to meet should you lose each other….or when you lost each other as that was normally the routine.  I don’t have to tell all you younger ones how lucky you are to have the ability to stay so connected to your buddies with today’s technology.  Well anyway, on that return trip we had no predetermined place to meet….except at home in Athens.  So, here I am…pulled over on I70 just watching the cars go by looking for those girls.  Not that they weren’t perfectly capable of taking care of themselves….(actually this group of girls is still the most self-reliant bunch I have ever run across)…..but as guys, I guess a couple of us felt we needed to at least try and find them.  Well, no luck.  So we went on back to Athens feeling really bad, but what can you do?  Well, those girls showed up feeling sorta angry.  Ok, real angry.  And I guess since I was driving the car that lost them, I had to take the heat.  And I get to relive that story, admittedly humerous at this point, a few times each year when we inevitably find our paths crossing…..for music or otherwise.

As the beginning of 1986 brought Todd into the mix, the end of 1986 brought us Sunny…..from Texas…right?  In giving Sunny his welcome to open the Uptown’s 10/6/86 2^nd set, Dave tells us, “You can’t see him but he’s back there…you can feel him.”  Appropriately, “Let’s Get the Show on the Road” starts it off and has Todd and Sunny going nuts during the jams just pushing and chasing each other around. And Dave Nolan on flute that night added a nice touch.  By then the whole Monday night at the Uptown was going on…..along with my 7:50 am Tuesday morning classes.  Those were the days when I began to realize show times were subject to change…..but class times were not.  At that point, I’m wanting that 10 pm start time….not 12 am.   I understood the whys of it all but these guys had become a real band by that time and I just wanted to see them play….without having to worry about the backdrop of school.  Somehow, by 1989 I had managed to graduate with accounting and management degrees.  Yep, followed my head.  My old friend, Dave, however, had the sense to follow his heart….as did his band mates.  Good thing for all of us that was the case.

Moving from Athens in mid-1989 was probably the best and worst decision I’ve ever made.  On one side it settled me down a little (ok, a lot) and allowed me to gain a focus I’d needed to gain for some time.  But metro Atlanta certainly wasn’t where it was at for me and the car rides I was dealing with were not taking me to the music I was missing.  Seeking music became a chore…a worthwhile one, but a challenge none the less.  It seemed like the Athens and Atlanta WP shows were now usually mid-week and tough for me to get to do the whole show…and remain employed.  And a lot of the weekenders were tough to make as well given the pace of the previous week.  Sign of the times for most of us coming out of the warm blanket of the free-flowing college days to the harsh realities of the real world. And I thought having a deadline on some research paper was stressful.

During that physical transition, I was making a musical one as well as the early 90’s were when my musical focus really began to change.  Since 1989 I had not seen the GD outside of Atlanta and, looking back on it, I think my interest in attending their live music had begun to wane…although my desire to search out their live recordings and to be moved by their music never has…..and never will as far as I can tell.    Chris and I hung out with Garcia at a show (see picture), had a talk and he totally got where we were coming from…WP being a family thing and all.  Hey, he finally gave me my first “Dark Star” with their final one ever as the GD, so he must’ve been good with what I was feeling.   At that point, I could name, in order, every GD show I had been to, who was with me, what they played, what might have been unique about that version, what the weather was, etc.  And part of me was over that – as the continual analytical backdrop made it tough for me to really enjoy what I felt I was really there for….the music.  And that’s when, as a band, WP really hit their stride with me.  Sometime during that period I found that their music allowed me to really lose myself and find myself all at the same time.  I know that sounds real syrupy but let’s just say WP became my anchor as I transitioned into, ahem, adulthood.  To put it another way…even though I was knee deep in WP by this point of my life, Panic had not yet grabbed my leg and pulled me in. And once they did, I had no choice. Not that it mattered though.

A few shows from that period just after Chris and I moved from Athens stand out in my memories for one reason or another.  The 12/1/89 Center Stage show became my number one grass mowing tape as it totally kept me in time.  With a push mower those first three tunes are like interval training….”Stop/Go” to get good and warmed up, “Jack” to set that good steady pace, and then “Worry” to climb that mountain and literally sweat them out. Since that’s over at about the 20 minute mark, it’s all aerobic after that.  One week, that tape ended up going missing in action and after settling on another, I eventually came across that Center Stage tape……face down in the yard from the week before all stressed out with moisture and heat and not a lot of hope.  Must’ve fallen out of the walkman on the way back in. Thankfully, with a small screwdriver, some patience and a little tlc, I was able to get it back into workable condition…and it was good to go again the next week…and still is.

One of the best times of all times was a show that kind of happened because of chance…and some good karma.  Our friends Windy and Kendall won a radio contest and the prize was having WP play in your backyard….how cool is that?  To make it even better, the location was Windy’s family’s lake house and it was invitation only.  So, about 50 of us had the band all to ourselves….right down by the lake…. after an afternoon of everyone relaxing and having some fun in the sun.  As night came on us, we enjoyed a performance that took us from the old and familiar to new territory as well.  At the beginning of this clip you can hear, amid the crickets and frogs, Dave say, “Those days are gone.” I think he is talking about somebody’s request to play all night long, but in a sense those early WP days were kind of over too. Why, in a couple of weeks those guys would be introduced by Bill Graham in Telluride, CO…..which would also be Garrie Vereen’s first show on what was the beginning of his road crew days. They ended their performance that night with “I Know You Rider” for the first time in 2 1/2 years and haven’t played it since….at this point that’s 18. Guess they kinda opened up that old days book one last time. The whole afternnon and evening at that lake was somewhat surreal….especially looking back on it now.  It was just too perfect.  Another full circle kind of spot as Garrie, Jimmy Herring and I took our sons over there just a few weeks back for some more fun in the sun.  We had a great time fishing, reminiscing, and checking out the old spot where the band set up that night almost 20 years ago…..but the best part was just hanging with our boys.  That spot hadn’t changed at all…and in a sense neither had we.

I remember the early 90’s being a lot about being away from good friends, making new ones, and finding my way in my career.  I kept in touch with Dave while he was on the road in the pre-texting/email/cell phone kind of way…postcards….and voicemails left at home.  A lot of those messages had to do with those early 90’s Atlanta Braves runs.  I was able to go to lots of those games and he caught lots of them on radio stations all across the country. I also gave a ton of focus to the music and making sure it got spread around. More on all of that later….of course.  Let’s just say at this point I had come in contact with a few WP tapers and their tapes had begun to find their way into my collection.  I was particularly hooked on the segues the band was creating that seemed to fit so well on the fly.  This “Low Rider” > “She Caught the Katy” from the Georgia Theatre in 1989 is one of my favorites…. and even though the end is cut, I love the “Holden Oversoul” > “Fishwater” from Ziggy’s in 1991.

Back in 1985 the GD played the Fox Theatre in Atlanta for 2 shows….and even though we knew our ticket mail order was successful prior to the general on sale date, we all decided to make the trip from Athens when tickets went on sale to the general public…..just for the spectacle of it all. And it was well worth it. There had to be 1,000 people that waited on Peachtree Street the better part of a couple of days to get tickets to those shows. The deadheads partied, in the words of one of the urban campers, all night long. I tell that story to set up the next one. Fast forward to one of the first times WP played the Fox….around the 92-93 timeframe. My friend John (across dorm hall from Dave) and I find our old buddy on the steps to the side entrance…..surrounded by a crowd of admirers and autograph seekers. Well, we backed our way into the crowd and only showed our faces once we were right by Dave….with sharpie and paper in hand. We caught him playing rock star…and he knew he was busted. And we all had a hearty laugh. Or at least John and I did. But seeing WP on that Fox stage where Dave and I had seen the GD was surreal. A defining time in my mind I’ll never forget. Maybe a small theatre by anyone’s standards, but for what it meant to me both then and now….it was just incredible.

That Masquerade pass is sort of interesting in it own right.  First of it repreesents one of those midweek Atlanta shows where I just couldn’t for the life of me make it to the end due to what was facing me the next morning, but it was also the last official show before JoJo joined the band on 3/13/92.  Right off the bat he just fit in and the rest is history.  And speaking of history, JoJo got in at the right time to take part in some great historical festivals…Super Jam and HORDE.

Most of my shows during the early 90’s were in states that touched GA….SC, NC, TN, AL, FL.  Although I was able to see my fair share, what I missed was the spontaneity of being young and fearless and doing whole tours….or most of them anyway.  But hey it wasn’t like I didn’t take advantage of those opportunities earlier in my life.  By this time, I was cognizant enough to accept my spot in time and realize that a very large, diverse group of people were beginning to find the adventure of their lives through WP, just as Dave and our old friends began to a few years back with the GD.

A show from that time period where I was able to get out of town just a touch…and get in touch with my on the road friends… was 9/24/93 at Furman University in Greenville, SC.  A perfect example of change for the better kicking in for all of us.  I’d recently passed the whole CPA exam gauntlet and the band had recently graduated from traveling in vans to a tour bus.  A change of perception from all sides, but all it really meant was that the real work had really just begun.  Bus travel meant the band was able to play significantly more shows….with more time on the road maybe being a spirit lifter of sorts as their hard work really began to find its way into the hearts of people all over the country.  Panic becoming Widespread.  Unfortunately for me, my increased (traffic) time on the roads around Atlanta wasn’t set to end anytime soon….a spirit sapper for sure. None the less, it was certainly a time for us all to go and leave our mark…..without letting it get too dark.

More to come…..
……Horace