Fact #118303
When:
Short story:
The Jimi Hendrix Experience play two shows at Municipal Auditorium, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, supported by Vanilla Fudge and The Amboy Dukes, including rising young guitar hero Ted Nugent.
Full article:
Robert Wyatt : Apparently Mike (manager Mike Jeffery) got a call: “The Fudge haven’t made it on the West Coast, they would like to join your little tour.”
“Oh no, sorry, we’ve got our package tour.”
“You don’t understand what I’m saying. The Fudge would like to join your tour. You don’t want any trouble. The Fudge join your tour.”
And then the Vanilla Fudge arrive accompanied by, and I kid you not, two geezers straight out of The Godfather with scars down their cheeks. Everybody, including Mike Jeffery, was frightened. That’s the word for it.
Robert Wyatt : Vanilla Fudge was a Mafia-sponsored band. They didn't hide it. They were desperate to get work breaking on the West Coast because they were only getting work on the East Coast, But I Don't think it was a successful manoeuvre for them.
For the mafia, it was probably just a business decision. On the tour there were scary people hanging about. It was the only time I ever saw our managers really scared. Mike Jeffreys, I'd never seen him scared of anybody, but he was scared of these people. It was all shadows and whispers and scary stuff. We were told to cut sets down to half an hour, twenty minutes. They tried to upstage Hendrix – which was ludicrous, because although they were excellent musicians, they were too pretentious and theatrical in an over-produced, over-rehearsed way.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black, January 2009)
Mick Cox : The first time they arrived on the tour, they walked up to Dave Robinson (roadie for Eire Apparent) and said “We’re using your gear. Ours hasn’t arrived yet.”
Dave Robinson says “Oh no, you’re not.” And so this guy just walked up to him, ripped his shirt off, pulled out a gun and pushed him up against the wall.
“Right, we’re using your gear.”
“Yeah, right, sure you are.”
They weren’t allowed to do anything at all, you know? Like talk to under-age girls, smoke, drink, take anything. They had to be white as white.
Jimi Hendrix : I didn’t feel really up to it (the afternoon show), you know, because we were pretty tired. Very, very tired as a matter of fact. We just got straight off the plane and came over here. Had free time for about an hour and a half. It’s just like having recess in school. The first show was a drag - it was a bore.
Steve Ball (local musician) : As soon as the band walked out and nonchalantly cranked into the opening chords of Fire, kids stormed the stage, knocking over rows of chairs in their frenzy to get closer to this mythological shaman. I took it all in from what had once been the fifteenth row, standing on a chair to see over the heads of the crazed beings in front of me.
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“Oh no, sorry, we’ve got our package tour.”
“You don’t understand what I’m saying. The Fudge would like to join your tour. You don’t want any trouble. The Fudge join your tour.”
And then the Vanilla Fudge arrive accompanied by, and I kid you not, two geezers straight out of The Godfather with scars down their cheeks. Everybody, including Mike Jeffery, was frightened. That’s the word for it.
Robert Wyatt : Vanilla Fudge was a Mafia-sponsored band. They didn't hide it. They were desperate to get work breaking on the West Coast because they were only getting work on the East Coast, But I Don't think it was a successful manoeuvre for them.
For the mafia, it was probably just a business decision. On the tour there were scary people hanging about. It was the only time I ever saw our managers really scared. Mike Jeffreys, I'd never seen him scared of anybody, but he was scared of these people. It was all shadows and whispers and scary stuff. We were told to cut sets down to half an hour, twenty minutes. They tried to upstage Hendrix – which was ludicrous, because although they were excellent musicians, they were too pretentious and theatrical in an over-produced, over-rehearsed way.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black, January 2009)
Mick Cox : The first time they arrived on the tour, they walked up to Dave Robinson (roadie for Eire Apparent) and said “We’re using your gear. Ours hasn’t arrived yet.”
Dave Robinson says “Oh no, you’re not.” And so this guy just walked up to him, ripped his shirt off, pulled out a gun and pushed him up against the wall.
“Right, we’re using your gear.”
“Yeah, right, sure you are.”
They weren’t allowed to do anything at all, you know? Like talk to under-age girls, smoke, drink, take anything. They had to be white as white.
Jimi Hendrix : I didn’t feel really up to it (the afternoon show), you know, because we were pretty tired. Very, very tired as a matter of fact. We just got straight off the plane and came over here. Had free time for about an hour and a half. It’s just like having recess in school. The first show was a drag - it was a bore.
Steve Ball (local musician) : As soon as the band walked out and nonchalantly cranked into the opening chords of Fire, kids stormed the stage, knocking over rows of chairs in their frenzy to get closer to this mythological shaman. I took it all in from what had once been the fifteenth row, standing on a chair to see over the heads of the crazed beings in front of me.