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Imagine me and you. I do. I think about you day and night. It's only right. So happy together.
Here we go again. Conjuring up memories that take a little more work to remember than they should.
They say when you get older you can remember things that happened 40 years ago but not what happened an hour ago. As I chit chat about town, one subject that comes up is the infamous series of concerts in Saunders Field House at Mesa College.
For many, it all began with The Turtles. Just coming off the success of their song “Elenore,” The Turtles stopped in Grand Junction Oct. 18, 1969. Sponsored by the Student Body Association, the concert drew a sell out crowd. That same school year, Glenn Yarbrough played at the college but I don't believe it drew the same cosmic crowd. He sang his biggest hit, “Baby the Rain Must Fall” and read from Rod McKuen's book “Stanyan Street & Other Sorrows.” Indeed a good time for the heady folkies.
My friend Gordon Rhoades was a Mesa Junior College student at the time. He ran the lights for The Turtles concert with lights borrowed from the theater department projected from the press box. I was still in high school and it was the first real concert I'd ever attended. The floor was covered in tarps to protect the basketball courts. I don't remember if there were chairs or not. We just danced and danced.
The year 1972 brought us Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids. Everyone seems to remember this concert not only for the raucousness of the band but for a certain young drama student that brought the flash to Flash Cadillac. Wow, she's still famous for that brave display!
There was Blue Oyster Cult and Sugarloaf, the Colorado-based band, formerly called Chocolate Hair (I think they played at my GJHS Senior Prom in 1971). “Green Eyed Lady” was the song I remember best. Mason Profitt also played at the Field House.
Ralph Donnen Dinosaur was president of the SBA when they brought in a fellow that he describes as having the #1 hit of that day, “Spiders and Snakes.” Ralph told me: “We brought in Jim Stafford, we had no stage so were just winging it. We got all the tables we could find and put them together. The Maintenance Department brought over some plywood and we had a stage. Calvin Wilson was on Student Council at the time and wanted to bring in Rare Earth. They had this troll of a stage manager that kept bullying me because I was ‘just a student'. It was a great show and all the brothers came out for it. When the bass player got up to sing the first song, the microphone ‘bit' him. He threw that microphone at the troll. It was a great thing to see.”
Rare Earth must have been big microphone throwers because Brian Mahoney remembers that when they sang “I Just Want to Celebrate,” they tossed the microphone into the crowd and the audience took turns singing the verse. Mahoney really dug that. I bet it was cool. I can't remember if I was there.
Next week we'll talk about Jerry Jeff Walker, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and if we have room, Fleetwood Mac, all Mesa College concerts. Contact me if you have any good stories. We'll share if we can. Priscilla.Mangnall@gmail.com or 970-260-5226.
Here we go again. Conjuring up memories that take a little more work to remember than they should.
They say when you get older you can remember things that happened 40 years ago but not what happened an hour ago. As I chit chat about town, one subject that comes up is the infamous series of concerts in Saunders Field House at Mesa College.
For many, it all began with The Turtles. Just coming off the success of their song “Elenore,” The Turtles stopped in Grand Junction Oct. 18, 1969. Sponsored by the Student Body Association, the concert drew a sell out crowd. That same school year, Glenn Yarbrough played at the college but I don't believe it drew the same cosmic crowd. He sang his biggest hit, “Baby the Rain Must Fall” and read from Rod McKuen's book “Stanyan Street & Other Sorrows.” Indeed a good time for the heady folkies.
My friend Gordon Rhoades was a Mesa Junior College student at the time. He ran the lights for The Turtles concert with lights borrowed from the theater department projected from the press box. I was still in high school and it was the first real concert I'd ever attended. The floor was covered in tarps to protect the basketball courts. I don't remember if there were chairs or not. We just danced and danced.
The year 1972 brought us Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids. Everyone seems to remember this concert not only for the raucousness of the band but for a certain young drama student that brought the flash to Flash Cadillac. Wow, she's still famous for that brave display!
There was Blue Oyster Cult and Sugarloaf, the Colorado-based band, formerly called Chocolate Hair (I think they played at my GJHS Senior Prom in 1971). “Green Eyed Lady” was the song I remember best. Mason Profitt also played at the Field House.
Ralph Donnen Dinosaur was president of the SBA when they brought in a fellow that he describes as having the #1 hit of that day, “Spiders and Snakes.” Ralph told me: “We brought in Jim Stafford, we had no stage so were just winging it. We got all the tables we could find and put them together. The Maintenance Department brought over some plywood and we had a stage. Calvin Wilson was on Student Council at the time and wanted to bring in Rare Earth. They had this troll of a stage manager that kept bullying me because I was ‘just a student'. It was a great show and all the brothers came out for it. When the bass player got up to sing the first song, the microphone ‘bit' him. He threw that microphone at the troll. It was a great thing to see.”
Rare Earth must have been big microphone throwers because Brian Mahoney remembers that when they sang “I Just Want to Celebrate,” they tossed the microphone into the crowd and the audience took turns singing the verse. Mahoney really dug that. I bet it was cool. I can't remember if I was there.
Next week we'll talk about Jerry Jeff Walker, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and if we have room, Fleetwood Mac, all Mesa College concerts. Contact me if you have any good stories. We'll share if we can. Priscilla.Mangnall@gmail.com or 970-260-5226.
