SLY!

Gene Hardage

Gene Hardage

Junior
Jan 14, 2011
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16
St. Pete-A-Bug FLA
www.sarasotaslim.com
It was a monumental occasion - SLY blessed us with a moment or 2 of his funkiness!!!

Tampa Theater - Sunday November 8 for Shawn Brown's birthday bash and foundation kickoff party.

I was side stage with iPad running the ridiculously loud mix and convoluted monitor mess as per rider request and just happened to be ready with my iPhone when he entered...

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Re: SLY!

Justice C. Bigler said:
Did he actually sing anything? Or did he just walk on and wave like he did on the awards show a few years ago?

And, isn't he pretty much brain dead by now?
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He tried to get a little sound to come out and when that wasn't working he grabbed a guitar and plucked a few notes then he waved his blessings to the fans who were just happy to see him. These kind of things are a double edged sword. On the one side I was thrilled just to be breathing the same air as the GodFatherOfFunk but on the other side it's sad to see a hero in their later years unable to perform up to speed. I stopped going to see Johnny Winter because it was just too painful to watch. There are countless rants and ramblings on the interwebz regarding BB King's last "performances" too.
 
Re: SLY!

Gene Hardage said:
On the one side I was thrilled just to be breathing the same air as the GodFatherOfFunk but on the other side it's sad to see a hero in their later years unable to perform up to speed. I stopped going to see Johnny Winter because it was just too painful to watch. .
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A friend of mine worked with Johnny Winter a number of years ago, and said the same thing, It was like an old man and was just bad.

I know everybody gets old, but there should be some "resemblance" of the "wonder years" and not "golden years"
 
Re: SLY!

Ivan Beaver said:
A friend of mine worked with Johnny Winter a number of years ago, and said the same thing, It was like an old man and was just bad.

I know everybody gets old, but there should be some "resemblance" of the "wonder years" and not "golden years"
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HUGE Johnny Winter fan here. I was at the Pirates World show when they did the Johnny Winter And Live album with Rick Derringer - wow - just wow! Later I got to open for him a couple of times here in St Pete and later still I got to open for him in Zurich and the bass player got me on the buss long enough to meet him and mug for a pic! This is the era when he was on fire >>>

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Re: SLY!

Gene Hardage said:
HUGE Johnny Winter fan here. I was at the Pirates World show when they did the Johnny Winter And Live album with Rick Derringer - wow - just wow! Later I got to open for him a couple of times here in St Pete and later still I got to open for him in Zurich and the bass player got me on the buss long enough to meet him and mug for a pic! This is the era when he was on fire >>>

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Yeah, he could "cook" back in the day.

But times change.

But I gotta-say-if you can still sell it, and people will still pay you, then why not keep on gigging?

It is all about bringing back memories to many people anyway. They just "ignore" the current version on stage.
 
Re: SLY!

Ivan Beaver said:
A friend of mine worked with Johnny Winter a number of years ago, and said the same thing, It was like an old man and was just bad.

I know everybody gets old, but there should be some "resemblance" of the "wonder years" and not "golden years"
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I've worked a number of Johnny Winter shows over the years, and there was always at least some "resemblance of the wonder years" until the last one, which I had to mix. He played sitting down, his voice was a whisper, and his guitar playing had a sort of unique sense of timing. He didn't always end up on "1" at the same time as his band, and they weren't waiting for him. It was pretty bad.
 
Re: SLY!

Ben Lawrence said:
So do you think these folks need the cash as Im sure many of them got burned on records contracts etc or do they just love performing that much?
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It depends... I've been told that Brian Wilson would be wealthy no matter what he did with the rest of his life, but his only alternative to recording and performing is to sit around the house doing nothing.
 
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