Page 33 - Been There… Done That!

Been There... Done That!
Ed and his family are friends to this day and we talk on a regular basis. As a matter of fact, I relied on Ed Craig and Bob Nigg to make sure we had our stories straight for this book as most of them happened a long time ago. I had even forgotten a few stories, but when they reminded me, it started coming back. So, my thanks to Ed and Bob!
It all happened pretty quickly in the summer of 1963 and we worked through the fall getting our act together while the college clubs we were playing were trying to screw us on the money. I was getting sick of that. I had $1,500 and we could drive to California for less than $100, so I told the guys one day that I had a connection in Los Angeles and that it was apparent that there was no real money in playing the local clubs at the scale we were at. I told them we needed to go to California and if push came to shove, we could pay for our own recording sessions. I admit they were looking at me like I had lost my mind, but I told them, “You may think it sounds far-fetched, but if you listen to me, we can make this thing happen. I have enough money to go - let’s do it.”
This happened in November of 1963 because I remember one of our last nightclubs shows in Missouri. We were traveling to Columbia in November and on the way, it was announced that President John F. Kennedy had been shot. Of course, the world stopped that night and there was no way we could play. The club owner said to go ahead, but we never even set up our equipment, which was good because not a single customer showed up in the place that evening. It was clear to me that it was time to do something different.
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