West Virginia Creeper - Reports Back

Bob Grado · Post by **Bob Grado** » 17 Mar 2009 4:40 am

To help clarify .. In the "good ole days" when you bought a "nickle bag" of Pot you would normally be able to get 4 to 5 "joints" out of it.

After that, if you couldn't get another nickle you were forced to roll a joint with what was usually left in the bottom of the bag. "Seed and Stems"

Or so my big brother told me...

Steve Hitsman · Post by **Steve Hitsman** » 17 Mar 2009 4:52 am

Golly fellas, thanks for clearing that up for me... I had no idea, uh, yeah, that's the ticket...

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 17 Mar 2009 4:53 am

Hey wait a minute, fellas -- what you're saying there, Bob, isn't that illegal? Oooh...

Bob Grado · Post by **Bob Grado** » 17 Mar 2009 5:15 am

ok.. ok.. I missed the

lol

Still, I'm sure there's someone out there who will
be enlightned by my explanation.

For their benefit I leave my post un-edited.

Steve Davis · Post by **Steve Davis** » 17 Mar 2009 8:39 am

As a full time Ozoner I assure you all - no one in the LPA ever smoked any illegal substances.... at least as I can remember.

Bob Grado · Post by **Bob Grado** » 17 Mar 2009 10:46 am

Steve,

First off I'd like to say "Welcome". I've been hanging around here a long time and I'm always pleasantly surprised when legendary players drop in from time to time and share their experiences.

I still have a copy of a reply to a post I made many years ago from Buddy Emmons. The thought that I can get feedback from the greatest player on the planet amazes me to this day.

Please don't be offended by our remarks regarding, what I consider one of the greatest "country rock" ballads ever written.

The LPA were definitely one of my favorite bands. I cant tell you how many times I've seen them with the NRPS.

That being said, regardless what the LPA were smoking or not smoking at that time, there's no doubt the song was directed towards a fan base that was. I don't think anyone will deny my interpretation of "Seeds and Stems".

Am I right?

Ron Whitfield · Post by **Ron Whitfield** » 17 Mar 2009 10:47 am

B, I like how you capitalized Pot, as it should be!

And the Ol' Commander always smokes, ...when playing, ...with a band, ...on stage, ...

Last year he and the current LPA, w/Dave Zirbel on steel, hit Oahu in January, and it was indeed a 'smokin" show, the best of the year, and one of the best Cody shows I ever saw.
Time for another, Dave!

Steve Davis · Post by **Steve Davis** » 17 Mar 2009 11:44 am

Oh, I made a mistake - I meant to say there wasn't any time the LPA wasn't smoked. Thanks for the good words. I'm ready to get back into playing. Nice break, huh?

Ron Whitfield · Post by **Ron Whitfield** » 17 Mar 2009 12:47 pm

Steve Davis wrote:I'm ready to get back into playing.

Hope to hear you posting some current interests soon, Steve, and thanx for being a contributing member!

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 18 Mar 2009 2:22 pm

Wow, Steve Davis is here, now this is cool.

Over the years there's been some mistakes in articles written about the Lost Planet Airmen, the Don Bolton as the West Virginia Creeper is one, the other is Bobby Black joining the group in 1970.

I'm certain that Bobby joined in 1971 at the very earliest.

I love the first album, and is the CD version still in print, seems like most of the CD reissues got deleted about a decade ago, aside from the one with Ernie Hagar and a bunch of live ones taken from mostly 1973 shows.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 18 Mar 2009 2:26 pm

Hey Steve, got a current photo of yourself you can post here so we can all seize ya? If you've got one on your hard drive then click 'Upload Picture' and navigate to it and the rest should be obvious how to do it. Or email it to me and I'll post it for ya.
Cheers,
JC

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 18 Mar 2009 2:45 pm

Howard Kalish, speaking of the Cornell Hurd Band, wasn't there going to be an archive release a couple of years back, "79 Cent Six Pack: The El Rancho Cowboys 1971-1973" (pending release 2006)

I don't see it listed, and just wondered if this had slipped out already, or was delayed?

Steve might even be on some of this material?

On a sad note, Howard, I was sorry to hear of the passing of Paul Skelton last month, my condolences to all in the Hurd camp and extended family.

J.

Steve Davis · Post by **Steve Davis** » 18 Mar 2009 3:25 pm

As I said in the first post - I was really just walking thru some of my old haunts in San Francisco with a friend and my wife. That was only a few days ago and since then - I have been reading thru a lot of posts and they bring back a lot of memories. Friends like Rick Nicklas who moved back to Missouri eons ago were communicating within minutes. I have always wondered if there was any more material from our (CCLPA) days around and someone posted that there is a set out there. I checked Amazon and ordered it - (I have always had to pay for my own recordings). I never stopped playing music for long - played in my own Brazilian Choro band for a while - folk choirs etc. One thing that's kinda weird is that I quit the LPA not "fired" as Frayne said and I was in Esquire Magazine as one of their top 100 pop musicians in 1971. I never believed it, Chalker, Emmons, Byrd, West... they were musicians and I was a neophyte. I urged the band to woodshed with our music and develop our style and let success come, but it was not to be. I was ready to go back to the club up scene and develop - and did it for a few years.

I'll get a picture up soon. I've heard from Alaska, Hawaii, China, Australia, UK - wow. I do want to know what kind of steel to look for - anyone want to trade a nice 1970 Chevy C-10 stepside for a Sho-Bud?

Ben Jones · Post by **Ben Jones** » 18 Mar 2009 3:47 pm

I thought it was just a song about botany.

seeds...havent seen one of those since the late 80's.

Dave Zirbel · Post by **Dave Zirbel** » 18 Mar 2009 4:16 pm

Steve, if you in the Bay Area there are two Sho Buds for sale. One in SF and one in Santa Rosa.
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/msg? ... maxAsk=maxOne of them is my old Super Pro I sold a few years ago!

I'm keeping my Bud...uh...ShoBud!
Dave

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 18 Mar 2009 4:23 pm

So good to see you on here, Steve. When Ozone came out in 1971, I was working on an "underground" newspaper in Jackson, MS called The Kudzu. We got lots of free promo LPs from the record companies, hoping for reviews. Most got one listen, and were maybe tossed after hearing a couple of tracks. It was a rare album that made it onto the staff play list for repeated listening. Ozone was one of the all-time favorites. It was one of the small number of those promo albums I took with me when the paper folded in '72. I still have it. One of the corners of the cover was chewed off by a dog. Your great playing on that album was one of my inspirations to take up pedal steel shortly after that. I loved your playing on Seeds and Stems and Family Bible. I played country and country-rock around Nashville and Knoxville for a few years. In the late '70s I quit music and went back to school and got a career, a wife and kids - the whole catastrophe, as Zorba the Greek said. A few years ago, after a divorce, I started playing again and discovered the Forum. Now that you have also found the Forum, it seems like the circle is complete.

You'd be interested to know that there have been polls on the Forum about players' age and when they started playing. The biggest chunk of Forum members started playing in the late '60s and '70s - the country-rock years. There is a huge country-rock steeler base here on the Forum. Welcome home.

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 18 Mar 2009 4:33 pm

Hey, Howard K., what were you doing at a White Panther Rally?! Around that time I traveled up from Mississippi to Ann Arbor for an underground press conference that involved the White Panthers and was in some big house out in the country. The MC5 hung out with us for the weekend. Their female entourage bounced around topless playing frizbee. Half-way through the weekend, the Michigan Highway Patrol paid a visit, but there were more people there than they expected and it was a sort of stand-off with nobody getting arrested. Ah, those were the days - smoke in the air, topless women, and cops.

Olaf van Roggen · Post by **Olaf van Roggen** » 19 Mar 2009 8:14 am

Do you all have this 2-cd set guys?,it's full of early and unreleased(rehearsal) material.
Guess,this is the one you bought Steve...

Steve Davis · Post by **Steve Davis** » 19 Mar 2009 9:49 am

I'm waiting for it from Amazon - haven't got it yet. Always wondered if there was any other material from those years out there. The only real studio time we had was on Lost in the Ozone. The rest was live. If the title is true - I'm the only steel player on it. We'll see. Thanks Olaf. I found out about it here on the Forum!

Olaf van Roggen · Post by **Olaf van Roggen** » 19 Mar 2009 12:38 pm

hey there Steve,yes you are the only one playing steel on the set.
Billy C. wrote the liner notes and it said they are partly exerpted from his forthcoming autobiography"too much fun".
I believe there's already a book on the band called "Star-Making Machinery by Geoffrey Stokes "
i have never seen it and don't know about which period it is.
Please share your joy with us if you listened to the cd-box,i can imagine this might be strange to you,but i assume this will bring back good memories.
Glad you found us!!

Dave Zirbel · Post by **Dave Zirbel** » 20 Mar 2009 7:45 am

Hey Steve, is it true that back in the day LPA would play the tune Family Bible just to clear the room so the band could leave early if they were tired?

Howard Kalish · Post by **Howard Kalish** » 20 Mar 2009 8:20 pm

Jason – I’ll have to ask Cornell about that when I see him tomorrow, if I can remember and he’s not to frazzled. We’re doing our South By South Austin thing starting around noon. Bill Kirchen will be there.

And thanks for the kind words about Paul. We all miss him very much. And Danny Roy Young too. We lost two band members in 6 months.

Dave – I went to the White Panther Rally when I first moved to Detroit from Rhode Island. I was 15 and looking for fun and a free outdoor concert sounded like the ticket. It was indeed. The MC5 was on that bill along with Savage Grace, the Up, the Bump and CCLPA. Funny how I can remember stuff like that. CCLPA kicked everyone’s butt, of course. In large part because they did such great songs. Such a contrast to those other bands. Guess I was an old fogy at 15.

Hello Olaf - Sure I remember you. Glad you enjoyed your stay in our town. Just saw Neal the other.

Steve Davis · Post by **Steve Davis** » 21 Mar 2009 11:56 am

I think we used the song to "cool off" a few times and we frequently used the song to end a night. What was good about Cody in those days is we would switch styles. Family Bible featured John Tichy and me and while it seemed out of context with other stuff somehow it fit in. Typical set list: Cell Block Number Nine; Truck Driving Man; Family Bible... you figure it.

Olaf van Roggen · Post by **Olaf van Roggen** » 21 Mar 2009 1:25 pm

.....before your cd box will arrive here's a preview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHPsye_A ... re=related

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 25 Mar 2009 5:31 am

Thanks Howard, all this talk about the early 70s NorCal country-rock scene got me thinking of that Cd and whether or not it was available.

I've been meaning to pick up that disc of the early CC&TLPA that was previously mentioned, the one which Olaf posted the cover.

Great to see you here Steve.

The Steel Guitar Forum

West Virginia Creeper - Reports Back

seeds and stems

seeds and stems

Creeper says

seeds

Zoner

Now here's some really good news...

Hello Again from Steve

That's the One

Family Bible

..don't fear the creeper.............