Back Stage

These photos were taken in 1975. Believe it or not I was only 17. We were packing for a hitch hiking trip to Indianapolis to see Jethro Tull. I’m pictured with my girlfriend Sue and Mark Gray. Mark was really a baby back then. I remember the 3 of us sleeping in a ditch off the highway somewhere in Indiana.

Sue got us backstage for everything and I met all my rock and roll heroes. I don’t know how she did it and I didn’t ask questions.

We had just seen Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa at Kiel auditorium. It was their Bongo Fury tour. After the show everyone surrounded Frank which left me alone with the Captain. I think he was flattered that I was such a fan. I went into great detail about his album Trout Mask Replica.

We went back to their hotel. Frank had dinner and the Captain invited us to join him at a bar near St. Louis University called The 5^th House. I had to leave to pick my mother up at work. I was borrowing her car. Heading back to meet up with everyone the clutch cable snapped in my mom’s VW. I could have cried.

My girlfriends always had balls. The year before we saw Captain Beefheart’s “Unconditionally Guaranteed” tour at Washington University’s quadrangle. It was an outdoor show. My girlfriend Pam grabbed my shirt and pulled me onto the stage. She told security we were photographers for the school newspaper and we were even allowed to take pictures.

A couple of years later, when I was living with Marge, Sue took off with Marge’s boyfriend. They went to Ireland and I didn’t hear from her for years.

I got a phone call a couple of years ago from a woman with a heavy Welsh accent. She invited me to a party at Tower Grove Park for a reunion with Sue. It was Sue’s daughter. Apparently they had moved to Wales.

I just remembered, in those days they didn’t care which acts they booked together. Styx opened for Zappa and they were booed off the stage.