The Drovers Old Time Medicine Show - Prater's Creek Gazette

MY 50 FAVORITE CONCERTS
Irving O Tarbox - Arts and Music Editor

There is nothing better in the world than live music. When I was a teenager, going to a concert was the most exciting thing in my life. The excitement of standing in line to get a good seat, seeing all of my friends from school, watching the roadies make the final preparations for the stage…all of these things were important parts of my concert experiences. Then the house lights would suddenly drop and you’d hear a short gasp, and then cheering, from the audience. It is still the most electrifying thing I have ever felt.

I saw all of my first concerts at the Greenville Auditorium in Greenville, SC, the building that was torn down for the Bilo Center. “The Box”, as it was affectionately called, was the first place hundreds of thousands of people in the upstate saw their first concert, as well as the circus, wrestling (Ric Flair and Black Jack Mulligan!), the Harlem Globetrotters, and tons of other things. My daddy and me went there every year to the RV and Boat Show, and he played and coached on some good teams in the many years of the historic Textile Basketball Tournament. But nothing compared to the concerts I saw there. Dalvin, of The Drovers Old Time Medicine Show, saw many great R&b/Soul shows, or “revues” as they were called back in the 1960’s, when, at these type of concerts, the white people had to sit up in the balcony and the black folk had the good seats on the floor.

Later on, when my I got my driver’s license, I started traveling to see shows besides at The Box. I’ve seen many, many great concerts in the last 33 years.

The list below is by no means a list of my favorite bands. Many of my favorite bands are represented on the list, but I never got to see Flatt & Scruggs, or James Brown in his heyday. Nor did I ever get to see the original Alice Cooper band, The Stanley Brothers, The Allman Brothers with Duane and Berry, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones when they were still good or Buck and the Buckaroos. Nor did I get to see the New York Dolls, Mott The Hoople, Charlie Parker, Iggy and the Stooges and many others that I love. A lot of my favorite bands that I’ve seen were way past their prime and/or in declining health when I finally saw them in concert. And some entertainers, or groups, that I have never got to see, who are still together, or alive, and playing, and still great, could still get to make the list like Earl Scruggs, Kenny Baker, and Iron Maiden.

The list is in chronological order, starting with:

1- GRAND FUNK RAILROAD (AUGUST 9,1973 GREENVILLE AUDITORIUM, GREENVILLE SC) My first concert. Initially, Maxine, my sister’s baby sitter, who had turned me on to Alice, Zeppelin, etc., asked did I want to go to show. I was 13, two weeks away from entering 9^th grade. “Nah, really don’t like them” I told her. The night of the show I had just finished cutting grass on an early Fri. evening and somebody knocked at the door. “Is Tarbox here?!” I heard Maxine’s voice ask. She told me that her sister could not go to the show, and asked if I wanted the ticket. I turned to my dad, and he asked me if I wanted to go. And something inside of me made me say “Yeah!”, even though my mama was crying on her knees pleading “Don’t let him go! They’ll get him hooked on drugs!”

As we sat waiting for the opening act to go on, Maxine, her friend Johnette, and I. There was taped music blaring from the PA system and it was the loudest thing I had ever heard. My little stereo, purchased at the drug store, hadn’t prepared me for this volume. Then the opening band played and they were awful. And awfully loud. This kid, my age, sitting next to me, was going through 10 tubes of Testor’s airplane glue, huffing it out of a paper bag. And an army of Hare Krishna’s was there taking donations for Bangladesh or something. “My mama’s right” I thought, “this is no place for me!”

Then Grand Funk Railroad took the stage. They were on the We’re An American Band tour. The lights went out and a film of a train coming at you was projected on a movie screen, it got closer and louder and louder, and then BOOM! The lights came up and they were playing “Footstompin’ Music”. For the next 90 minutes I was taken to a place I never believed could have existed. All the dreaming about going to a concert and listening to double live albums on my Eckerd’s stereo didn’t come close to the reality. That night I made a life’s decision to be a musician and get on that stage.

Many years later I was telling this story and Homer, of The Drovers Old Time Medicine Show, told me that Grandpa had let him go this show and it also been his first rock concert.

The ticket price was $7.

2- EDGAR WINTER GROUP (SEPT. 1973 GVL. AUD, $7) The band was out touring behind the They Only Come Out At Night album. “Frankenstein” had been on the radio earlier in the summer, and “Free Ride” was playing every hour at the time of this show. I had been wearing that 8-track out all summer along with Edgar’s Winter’s White Trash Roadwork double live 8-track.

After the experience of the terrible opening band at my first concert a month earlier, I was ready to suffer through another lame band to hear the good stuff. Some band named Foghat was the opening act. They had their second album out at the time. Well, the hypothesis of the opening band always having to be awful was out the window. Foghat was awesome!

Edgar Winter and band were phenomenal. Ronnie Montrose was still on lead guitar (he was to quit and form Montrose a few weeks later, with Rick Derringer taking his place). They ripped. They played “Tobacco Road”. Back at school most people were disappointed because they didn’t play “Free Ride”.

3- BLACK OAK ARKANSAS (FEB OR MAR, 1974, GVL AUD tic price $7) With the breakup of the Alice Cooper band, Black Oak was now my favorite band. This was my fourth concert, but the first time I was going to see a band that was my favorite band. It was also the first show in which my friends and I were going together. Maxine had taken me to my first three concerts, and my best friend had came along with us to my third show (Joe Walsh/REO Speedwagon). Out of the 8 of us going to see Black Oak, my best friend and I were the only ones who had ever attended a concert before.

Jim Dandy and company were as great as I could have imagined. Their album High On The Hog had came out at Christmas time and they had gotten lots of new fans through their single, a cover of “Jim Dandy to the Rescue”.

At the end of the show Harvey Jett and Stanley Knight smashed their guitars together. Oh yeah. I’m 14, and they’re smashing geetars! Like all rock fans in Prater’s Creek, I loved this band. The Drovers proudly pay homage to Black Oak with their logo and the very fact that Jim Dandy was Clovis’ washboard playing role model.

4- JOHNNY WINTER (MAR. 1975 GVL AUD ticket $6) I had his 8-tracks Still Alive and Well and Saints and Sinners. Was wearing them out. Nobody at school was going or interested. Maxine, Johnette, and I attended the show on a rainy Wednesday night. Opening the show was some the James Cotton Band.

They came out and they all were black dudes. I’d never seen an all black band before. They played a jumping blues song. It was good. Then some killer harmonica playing started blasting out. I looked and saw nobody playing harmonica. Then this black dude in a purple T-shirt comes from stage left playing it. He was James Cotton. I got my money’s worth on them alone. Cotton had this real old dude on sax and he had slicked back, or conked hair, and he was the coolest. All of those rowdy Winter fans right in front of that old dude were going crazy over him. I learned the show biz trick that everybody from Prince to James Brown to P-Funk uses with the band playing the opening number before the “star” comes out.

With the lights out, Johnny strode to the mike, and even though it was dark you could see his albino skin, blond hair, and the silver sequined overalls he used to wear back then. “Rock and Roll!” he shouted and the lights came up and he and the band tore into “Jumping Jack Flash”. What a great show that was. If you’ve ever heard the Johnny Winter Live album from that year you are familiar with his band.

5- TED NUGENT (JULY 1978 CHARLOTTE MEMORIAL STADIUM, CHARLOTTE, NC ticket $9) This was the second time in my life that I was seeing a band that was my favorite at the time. My best friend Ken, and I, left my family’s summer vacation early at the beach (and the prettiest little blonde I ever kissed at Myrtle Beach. Jana Joyce from VA, if you’re reading this: Howdy!) to see this show. Ted was awesome!!!! Not just him, but the whole band. Especially Derek St. Holmes on rhythm guitar, and as it turns out, most of the lead vocals. That was a big surprise, realizing that he sang all of the good songs like “Snakeskin Cowboy”, “Stranglehold”, and “Stormtroopin’ ”.

Ted had eight stacks of vintage Fender brown tweed amps! I’m drooling just thinking about it.

(Continued on page 6)