Welcome back to Long Live the ABB: Conversation from the Crossroads of Southern Music, History, & Culture.
Bill Graham enters the scene in Part 10 of my annotated read of The Allman Brothers Band: A Biography in Words and Pictures. Part 10 includes one of my ABBsolutely favorite stories from Nolan’s book: Graham after the band’s first appearance at Fillmore East: December 26-28, 1969 opening for Blood, Sweat & Tears.1
Long Live the ABB: Conversation from the Crossroads
Before we begin…
🍑Jaimoe 10/25/24
Yours truly, Jaimoe, and Chairman Wonway
Saw Jaimoe in action on October 25th.
Even better, I hauled his drums from New Jersey to the Grand Opera House in Wilmington, Delaware.2
Yes, I roadied for employee #1: Jai Johanny Johanson!
I’ve had several ABBsolutely mindblowing encounters with Jaimoe3 and this was one for the record books. That it included my dear friend, fellow traveler, and paid subscriber4—the Chairman
Candy Oakley “I remember one gig, during a time when a lot of people didn’t even know who the Allman Brothers were. Duane always had a ball up there playing. But this one time, somebody else was ticked off because, either there was a small crowd, or nobody was listening to the band.
And in the dressing room this person made a comment, like, ‘If nobody’s gonna listen, well I’ll just leave.’
And Duane just looked over at him and said, ‘Man, what’s the matter with you! I don’t care if there’s goddamned brick wall out there! You play to that wall.”8
This anecdote says a lot about Duane's character and commitment to playing live music. It was an extension of a carefree, friendly personality that influenced his playing just as his playing reflected that personality.
“You can either have yourself a good time or a shitty time,” he remarked. “Why not have a good time? Don’t surround yourself with things that bring you down, don’t dig nothing that brings you down. Just dig yourself for the beautiful thing you are.”
Twiggs remembers a junior college date in Decatur, Alabama, at a school with an enrollment of 500.9
The student body had overwhelmingly voted the Lettermen as the group it wanted to appear at the school’s one official concert that year, but the two hippies on the entertainment committee stuffed the ballot box to make the ABB the winners.
The group was hired to play before an audience who had never even heard of them.
At first glance, it seems odd college students would choose the Lettermen—a male vocal trio that first charted in 1961—to play homecoming. But the group hit the Hot 100 nine of ten years, from 1961-71.10 Most recently, their version of Little Anthony and the Imperials “Hurt So Bad” hit #12 in 1969.11
And in the perhaps interesting only to me department,duaneallman.info12 tells me the ABB played Calhoun Junior College April 14, 1971. That means Twiggs either conflated this gig with another, or he is telling the story second-hand. In April 1971, Twiggs was still incarcerated for killing Buffalo club owner Angel Aliotta.13
“And the kids were really receptive, although don’t think they understood the music. The band saved ‘Whipping Post’ for an encore, not expecting to get one. But they did, and ‘Whipping Post’ got a standing ovation.
