Nov

30

Rock Tales

November 30, 2007 |

One of the pleasures of subscribing to Bob Lefsetz’s newsletter/blog are letters like these:

In 1977 while I was at Epic/CBS in LA, Steve Paul of Blue Sky Records (distributed by CBS) phoned about an upcoming high profile gig for Rick Derringer at the Whisky to support “Sweet Evil” and record his next, “Derringer Live”. We were also planning a live KLOS broadcast as I seem to recall (…hey, book the Wally Heider remote truck…).

Steve wanted a solid, local, supporting act with a sizable, high energy following to book as the opener and asked for my input. Without much pondering, I made a strong case for the best local rock group of the time - an act Steve had heard of but didn’t know much about. He asked a few questions and hung up to research them further with his cabinet of advisers, generally thinking that my suggestion was on the mark and we should make it happen.

A few days pass, and Steve phones me again and asks, “Who else would you recommend?” I inquired about the status of my original recommendation and he shot back, “McKeon, they’re too damn good; they’ll blow Rick off the stage.”

So we dialed substantially back on the support and Rick recorded a very fine live album and sidestepped an ambush by Van Halen.

Jim McKeon (bob lefsetz)


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