A wild night ...
... which started as a wild day. Before I tell you the story, let me give you a little history. A few years ago, Brenda and I bought a Hammond B3 and Leslie 122 for the house band at church. I'm a guitar player - I don't even know how to play the organ - but I know a Hammond needs to be playing on Sunday morning if you want the angels to show up. Thankfully, we have a great organist - Jeremy Koop. I often wonder how a young, white guy like Jeremy gets such a vintage vibe out of the B3. But Jeremy was born in Africa, so funk is Jeremy's birthright.
Here's today's wild story. This afternoon, I got a frantic phone call: "Van Morrison's band needs a B3 for tonight's concert ... is yours available?" Were they kidding? Van Morrison needs our B3 organ? They weren't kidding. So, I met the moving crew at the church, bolted down the B3 generator, and followed the moving crew down to the MTS Centre.
When I arrived on the sound stage, Pete - Van Morrison's keyboard tech - was already warming up the B3. (Correction to original post: Van Morrison's keyboard player is the legendary John Allair.) It was surreal experience, hearing our organ wail away in a 15,000 seat arena. The organ sounded great ... but not good enough. Pete asked if he could tweak our B3/122. Duh? Of course, I gave him the okay and Pete went to work (notice the soldering iron). Thanks to Pete, our organ and Leslie cabinet are going to rock the MTS Centre in top form tonight!
Dave Osborne, who's heading up tonight's production crew, was kind enough to include a couple of complimentary tickets along with the rental fee for the Hammond and Leslie. So, Brenda and I have a wild night ahead of us! And, on Sunday, it will be great to have the organ back at church with a wonderful story to add to its legacy.
8 comments:
WOW!! That's definitely an awesome story!
I still think you should a got tickets for the rest of the band
Can I have the "horsehoe" when your done with it....I'll even retrieve it myself
Gord: okay, the night is over (amazing concert). Come and get the horseshoe!
Awesome story, I wish I had your luck.
And hey, your another blog from Winnipeg with "Pilgrims" in it's title!
Bryan: thanks for stopping by. Nice blog you're running!
My brother, Gord, already claimed my horseshoe ... but maybe you can have it after he's done with it!
Excellent story. I just posted a link to it on my blog (keyboardplayers.blogspot.com)
I'm a big B3 fan and this is one of the best stories I've come across. I'd wish you luck but it seems you're already full in that department. How about continued luck.
John
John: thanks for the good wishes. Here's a clip from the Winnipeg Sun review of Morrison's concert. The last paragraph says it all!
When he arrived onstage, nattily attired in a black jacket and grey fedora, Morrison was blowing soulfully into a tenor sax, trading licks with his trumpet player and organist before launching into the lyrics of Wavelength, from the 1978 album of the same name.
After Wavelength came All Work and No Play, on which Morrison indulged in some jazzy interplay with his trio of backup singers, jerking his body back with every syllable of the chorus before segueing neatly into Stranded, which benefited last night from some nifty organ noodling, doo-wop harmonies and a slide guitar solo cribbed from the '60s gem Sleepwalk.
A brassy trumpet solo lifted Whinin' Boy Moan skyward, a heavenly scat solo shot Little Village even higher and by the time Morrison dropped his froggy growl down to a whisper on the blue-collar hymn Cleaning Windows and then fired it back up again for a Be-Bop-a-Lula refrain at the end, it was as if the show had been transformed into some sort of classic rock church service, with the Celtic iconoclast serving as preacher and saviour.
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