Why I like Spirit so much

Why I am a Spirit fan.

This is a long story. I had a band that had the #1 song in the central Florida area and because of this we got to do many great tours and concerts with all the top groups at time. This was 67-68 and as far as the fans were concerned we had Superstar status as in those days the music industry was arraigned in regions and a national breakout was a rarity. So people living in that region assumed that if it was Number 1 where you lived it was #1 everywhere, Anyhow I did concerts and tours with such groups as the Yardbirds, The Byrds, The Hollies, Mitch Ryder and the Detroit wheels and many others that are almost to embarrassing to mention like Gary Lewis and the Playboys (Did you know that here only hit was “This Diamond Ring” and it was written by Leon Russell as a favor to Frank Sinatra as he used to play piano for him) The list goes on and on, but the Spirit concert sticks out in my mind like yesterday for a few reasons. A week before the concert which was held in Cocoa Beach we played in Atlanta at Georgia Tech and had a ten hour drive home. I got home early that morning and checked on my 3 month old son Ian and he seemed restless and his mother was asleep so I gave him a small bottle and put him back in bed. I couldn’t sleep after the long ride and picked up a magazine to read. My wife and I had pulled out the couch in the living room so the baby could sleep in his own room but we had to pass through his room to use the bathroom.
Every time I used the bathroom I would check on him but as I passed into the room at sometime in the morning I looked over at him and immediately knew he was dead. I tried resuscitation but I knew it was hopeless and had to wake my wife and tell her. Hysteria ensued. To make matters worse we had just moved into this place and the phone had not been installed yet. In those days you were lucky to get them to install one in weeks not days. Just when I was at wits end a knock came to the door and it was my Aunt Annette, who I hadn’t seen in years and with her was my sister Maria and her 3 year old daughter Kelly. This is the same Kelly who took off work to take me to Chemo and radiation latter in my life. There is picture of her on the site I manage called ‘Cancer Patients and Survivors” if you want to visit and look at her 37 years later. She is still a knockout and an angel. My aunt was a nurse as luck would have it and immediately went to the baby to see what she could do and sent my sister to find a phone and call an ambulance and also straight out telling my wife that her child was dead. My sister had given 3 year old Kelly orders to stand under a tree in my yard and I can still picture her there immovable from the spot where she was told to stand.That image will stay in my mind forever as I realized that this young girl knew that something was terribly wrong and she stood there like a rock. We went to the hospital and of course the doctors could do nothing but a kind doctor came to me and said it was something called SIDS that had killed him and he had been there himself there is nothing more he could have done. I had never heard of it before but have followed its trail ever since and they are still guessing as to the cause.Then came the police. I had long hair and a goatee and they started to question me. My aunt was standing by and as the questions got worse ( I don’t even remember them but the feeling I was getting was that I had done something wrong in their mind) My Aunt was also my Godmother and a considerable force of a woman. She heard the direction the police were taking and went up one side of the lead cop and down the other informing them in the strongest manner that they didn’t have any idea what the situation was. They were glad to get away from her god bless her soul. The next two days were a blur and the next thing I knew we were burying him with crowds of fans and family. All this time I was busy controlling my hysterical wife and I never cried a tear. Not even at the burial , a fact that was mentioned to me later. We had the concert with Spirit 3 days later and we were a major attraction as there were two groups that played ahead of us that if you put a gun to my head I couldn’t name. We went one before Spirit who was the main attraction. This took place in a weird auditorium that they took the seats out so they could sell more tickets and I would guess there were about 5 to 8 thousand people standing to hear everybody. I remember worrying if we had enough PA but the acoustics were great. I don’t remember a thing before going on stage. I had formed a shell around all my emotions that was like an egg with all the pain inside. We played our set and we were going to finish with some song or other but instead we used to do the song by Buffalo Springfield called “Bluebird” I normally took a lead near the end of the song before the last verse but for some reason once I started I could not stop. I was an ok lead player but I was no Randy California and was looking forward to hear him play that hot Sears Silvertone that he had tricked up to sound so great. As my lead progressed I saw tears falling on the strings and I just kept crying and playing. The lead singer in our group who was a kind of Mick Jagger type knew that something was up and he kept jabbing the mike stand at me telling me to keep going.The band intensified as I got wilder on the lead. I don’t know how long that lead lasted but I did things I never did before. Somehow I finally went back to the coda and the song ended. The cheers from the crowd were deafening. I was escorted to our dressing room by the cops as the crowd was trying to rip my shirt off. It was as if I was in a dream as the eggshell had sprung a leak and I was still crying when I got to the dressing room. I shunned the crowd that had somehow got in and found a corner to sit on the floor and just hang my head. No one went near me. Spirit started playing and I walked out to listen but went back to my hiding place after about three songs and found Randy amazing but couldn’t deal with the groupies. I don’t know how long I sat on that floor but suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Randy California, one of my guitar heroes staring me right in the face. Someone must have told him what had happened to me that week as his eyes spoke volumes to me. He said “That was one great lead and you poured your heart and soul into it” I wish I could say I jumped up and discussed music and guitars and amps with him but all I could manage was to look into his penetrating eyes and say “Thank You” and hung my head again. When I think back on how he must have left his own dressing room, braved the crowd, found out where I was to tell me that. I regret not having it more together. In January 1997, Randy California went missing and presumed dead after being sucked into the surf off the coast of Molokai, Hawaii. Witnesses report that California pushed his 12-year-old son, Quinn, out of the current, saving the boy's life, before being dragged in himself. His body was never found. The fact that he died saving his son was what the man was. He was truly a great musician and a great soul. I was told later that crowd screamed and cheered for an encore from us, but for me for at that moment I was as drained as I have ever been in my life. I remember nothing of that but I couldn’t have played another note at the time. It was a cathartic moment. I told you this was long and I hope I haven’t bored you.
Mike