i saw zz in cheyanne wy in 99 at the rodeo. i remember tapeing the eliminatore vids on c***ete off tbs nighttracks in 83 though
Talk about feeling old! I saw the **** Cavett show the night he interviewd Jimi Hendrix when asked "Who's your favorite guitar player?" Jimi said "Billy Gibbons!" And we all said "Who?" I think I read that Billy was 18 at the time. Never got to see Hendrix live but have seen ZZ several times. Also one time I was heading out to Fresno CA and on HWY 152 saw one of the Elimintor's comming the other direction on a trailer heading for a car show somewhere needle in a haystack moment.
I second the BlackBerry Smoke! They ROCKED atl. with the BFG. Thats too funny they were beggin for weed. At least they werent doin coke off the drummers platform like Hank Jr. this year!!! Yes I SAW IT...
Ranunculous is right...SRV kicks/kicked ***...we keep one his live DVD's right by the DVD player in the shop and drop it in every week or two...tremendous loss...his brother Jimmie has some killer rides
saw them at the cotton bowl steve miller band , santana opened for them cant remember what year it was but it was deemed the biggest party in texas !!!
And I always wanted to see ZZ and never did.....but I did manage to see a virtually unknown Jimi with the Experience play a show on a one foot high stage in front of 200 hippies sitting cross legged on the floor of an old time ballroom (the Col, I believe), in Davenport, IA along about '68 or so. My other most memorable show happened to be the first sports stadium rock show ever, The Beatles at Kansas City Municipal Stadium, home of The Kansas City Athletics, in the fall of 1964.
"his brother Jimmie has some killer rides" Way true But He has Guitar Licks too! Just as good as Stevie (Don't get me wrong Stevie was awesome!) Im not pissed or anything and you didnt say you thought Jimmie ****s or anything So Im not picking on you personally But this is a good time to make this point! Cause I see this allot "Stevies Guitar playing rocks! & Jimmie has cool cars!" (His guitar slinging left out of the statement). But Jimmie plays "Rhythm Lead" style a totally different approach to guitar A Style thats more about the notes you choose not to play (and not necessarily because you can't). "Apples and Oranges!" comparing those two! And Jimmie's one of the best around at it too! Ive been playing Blues & Rock long enough to have realized that just because a guitar slinger chooses to approach the instrument in a more minimal style doesnt necessarily make them any less of a player at all! The thunderbirds have never been as good since he split Even though Kim Wilson is one of my favorite Harp players and Blues front men alive today enough hot air on my pet peeve Saw Stevie twice once at the Keystone Palo Alto CA, (Texas Flood tour). Did a 45-minute Hendrix set. Then up in the city at the Kabuki Theater a year or so later. Almost made up for missing Hendrix Almost! Last Time I saw ZZ was in a stadium at San Jose State. Eric Johnson opened then I think it was Steve Miller. Then ZZ Hated the crowd loved the show! Since then I play so much myself, that I Don't make out to other folks shows much anymore.
So true and thanks for pointing this out Eye Bone...I was thinking the same thing. If you haven't heard Jimmy start with the solo album, "Jimmy Vaughn" or their album together, "The Vaughn Brothers".
Ok here's my recent ZZ Top story...My buddy and I have been fans for a long long time, we both have every album they ever made (even the not so great ones!) and consider ourselves pretty ******** fans... About 3 years ago, my buddy sent Billy Gibbons some pics of his 34 Ford and one day he came home from work and the phone rang... Caller ID read "Billy F. Gibbons".... he thought it was a joke, answered the phone, and low and behond it WAS indeed Billy, calling from Texas to tell him he loved the pics, and that he was sending some tickets and VIP parking p***es to the upcoming Pittsburgh show for him and a few of his buddies. We took the hotrods to the show, and indeed there were 4 tickets waiting for us at the boxoffice under Billy Gibbons' name. We never got to meet the band that night, but it was cool to say we went there for free with tickets Billy Gibbons gave us. Fast Forward to last month... ZZ Top was playing at the York Fairgrounds in PA (Same place the NSRA Northeast Nats are held) We got tickets, and planned to take the hotrods once again, in hopes of getting some VIP parking and maybe, just maybe meeting the band. Well, it poured rain and we were running late, so instead of taking the hotrods, we jumped in my buddy's Grand Prix GT and broke lots of traffic laws to get to the show on time. My buddy had his car repainted over the winter and took along some snapshots and a letter to Billy and stuck it all in a zip lock baggie. Before the show he asked one of the security guys if they could see to it that Billy got the pics and letter... The guy refused, said he would get fired if he accepted anything from fans. He did suggest he just wait til after the show and toss the bag onto the stage, that "possibly" someone would pick it up and see Billy's name on it and see to it that he got it. SO he did just that... well it layed there for 1/2 hour as the stage crew cleaned up, and finally I noticed a videographer, filming some footage for an upcoming ZZ Top "behind the scenes" DVD. I walked up to the guy, and told him to grab the bag on the stage and check out the car in the pics, that he would really dig seeing my buddy's car, with a ZZ Top "tribute" airbrush paint job. When he picked up the bag and saw the pics, he said... "You guys want Billy to see these don't ya?" and I said absolutely... he told us to wait a second, then walked us around the backside of the stage and we got a chance to actually meet not only Billy, but also Frank and Dusty too... We were prohibited from taking pics, (which ****ed!) but we got to BS with them a few minutes, and my buddy got to show him the pics... Billy remembered the car, and remembered the call from 4 years earlier. A truly cool dude that is probably as much of a car guy as he is a musician.
I'm jellous! That must have been "Very Interesting!" Both of those shows! Also your art in this weeks show rocks!
Lets see,must have been 75 or so cause I don't think I had my license yet and was supposed to be staying at somebody else's house but instead saw the Live Texas tour with the critters on stage in Pittsburgh. Next was 80 or 81? just moved to Tulsa and had'nt even been there a week. Heard it advertised on the radio that day. My roomate and I took off in search of downtown Tulsa and pretty much drove right to it. Had'nt got 20 feet from the car and somebody sold us two tickets(face value) 5th row center stage. Have'nt missed a tour since, and saw Cadzilla debut at the Hot Rod Super Nats in Canfield ,OH when they let a couple magazine guys DRIVE IT cross country for the show.
I kinda thought you felt that way But I wanted to make that point cause I see/hear that allot! It's all cool though! Very often find you posts interesting!
Jesus!, I saw them back in 80's on the AfterBurner tour,Stunning show in my opinion. Makes me feel quite old thought!
ZZ Top rocks.....I never saw them live until a few years ago, and they put on a great show.....This thread makes me feel old....I saw Lead Zep in 69....The Doobie bros and Stevie Wonder was the warm-up act playing solo.....the Doors (boring)...Jefferson Airplane, and Frank Zappa in a very small venue.....and went to a Beatles concert with no ticket, and had to wait outside....Vanilla Fudge were very cool....I went to most of these concerts out of peer pressure cuz I was into R&B....Wicked Wilson Picket....Sam&Dave...The Reverend Al Green....Temptations....Four Tops....Sam Cook....and the really hot chicks went for that music too....they dressed up,and cared about cool cars, and didn't hang with the Hippie crowd.....Ooooooh YAaaaaa!....The mid 60's to mid 70's was just a great time for music, and ZZ Top was part of all that.....they're still carrying the rockin' blues torch and representing for the car guys..........
Time to add some things to this great thread; I worked for Boyd in the early days when he worked out of his house. After I left i would occasionally drop in to say hi. I drop in one day and they were thrashing on Cadzilla, Boyd says can you help a little? I say sure and was helping install the actuators that changed the ride height. In walks Billy and he says Hi to everyone and I say "I want to thank you". He says "for What?". I say for making Eliminator because not only does it kick *** but I made a lot of money selling it in my music store" He laughs and says No, Thank you! Saw SRV a week before he died at a Blues Festival in Costa Mesa - Thunderbirds were also on the bill as was BB King. Haven't been the same since! Going to see Experience Hendrix in about a month. This is a tribute like no other, hows this for a line up? blues giant Buddy Guy, contemporary guitar greats Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Eric Johnson, Cesar Rojas and David Hidalgo of Los Lobos as well as Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford. Hubert Sumlin, the Mississippi-born guitarist who worked with both Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters as well as the Memphis-based Eric Gales, Mato Nanji of Native American roots band Indigenous are also part of the tour as is Chris Layton, the legendary Double Trouble drummer who rose to fame backing Stevie Ray Vaughan. Most remarkably, Mitch Mitchell (drums) and Billy Cox (b***), the same Jimi Hendrix Experience rhythm section that played behind Hendrix at such landmark rock festivals as Woodstock and the Isle of Wight will return again to celebrate the guitarist’s enduring legacy. Experience Hendrix has promised that special guests will also appear throughout the tour. The first artist to be announced is Doors guitarist Robby Krieger who will appear on five of the dates along with other surprise guitarists expected to join during the course of the tour.
I remember reading an interview with Stevie and when asked who his favorite guitarist is, he said "My older brother!" Saw Jimmie a few years back warming up for Bonnie Raitt. Lucked out because the show was sold out & stumbled upon freebie tickets the day of the show. Best free concert i've been to!
Met them at the airport when they came to Australia for the Afterburner tour. Billy was stocked to see a line of Hotrods at the termial when they walked out, security wasnt, he invited all of us back to thier hotel and hooked everyone with cars up with free tickets to thier show and signed everthing awesome guy and a great show. The stage backdrop was a 34 dash with ****ogue guages and as the show went into the Afterburner tracks the guages went digital, also the fuel guage went down as the show went on. Funny the **** that sticks with you.
I don't doubt it one bit! I lost track of how many times I saw the Thunderbirds when Jimmie was with them And I've seen them since with other great players like Duke Robalard (sp) etc. But Jimmie & Kim had a chemistry that is just missing nowdays They are still a good band though. I must admit that I havn't seen Jimmie solo yet. But have a couple of CD's. Anyway now back to ZZ Top The first time I saw them was the Eliminater tour in the Cow Pallace South SF CA Came away Stoaked!!!
Did anyone see the SRV tribute show on PBS a coupla years ago? A stage full of greats including BB and Clapton with Jimmy leading the band.
I saw that cool show! And after that I bumped into Jimmie at P***o & said to him You must have been in 7th heaven playin' with all those guy's huh? He thought for a second, And replyed "Yes I was!"
The Jalopy Journal
