I’ve posted a few blogs on my history with the band “Stockade.” I was a member of that band throughout my teen years and it was an amazing period of my life. Here’s the links to those stories if you want to review or check them out for the first time:
The last time we left off with Stockade’s timeline, we had completed our first gig in our new permanent lineup: me and Gary on guitars, the Francese brothers on bass and keyboards and Steve Heller on drums.
Our gigging schedule virtually exploded in 1969 with Vicky Francese (The Mom) booking us somewhere every weekend. At 13 years old, I was making more money per gig then I am now at age 65!
We did school dances all over the Hudson Valley, from upstate New York as far as Chatham to further down state as far as Beacon or beyond. Any school district within a 2-hour drive radius was fair game. Here’s one of our cover tunes played at Trevor Road Elementary School, wherever that was! I think you’ll recognize the song…
We had mountains of equipment to haul including: my Vox Super Beatle, a Coral Bass amp with two huge speaker cabinets, a Leslie speaker, and a full sound system just to scratch the surface. For this, we needed a driver who had a decent sized van. Our first van driver was Harold Van Buren. He was also one of my earlier music influences when I was just getting into the local music scene. Harold was our first paid roadie. A bunch of other guys also came along to help move this equipment. They were out for adventure not to mention the prospect of meeting girls, girls and more girls!
We were fast becoming a weekend rock ‘n’ roll caravan: Mr. Francese’s car with the band, Harold’s van with our stuff and three or four (or more) roadie helper-outers. Stockade had become a well-oiled machine of weekend warriors (we had to show up for school on weekdays, after all). We even had a separate light show that followed us to most of our gigs. I think they were paid 25 bucks per show.
From school gymnasiums to military bases
With Mrs. Francese (“Vicky”) manning the phones, there was no shortage of gigs for Stockade. We landed a fairly regular stint at the West Point Officers Club. The West Point Military Academy was somewhat over an hour’s drive for us. There was of course liquor being served and how we got around that with average ages of 13 to 15 years old, I don’t recall.
Occasionally, West Point asked us to play at the base on a weeknight. I remember one time getting home at four in the morning, dragging my rear end into school and getting absolutely no educational value out of that day whatsoever! I guess I did it to show my parents that the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle would not interfere with my education.
It seemed that the word had spread through the Northeast military sector about this band of young whippersnappers that could play like the big boys. We found ourselves at Fort Dix, New Jersey ca. 1971, playing for the recruits at the largest bar I’ve ever seen to this very day! Once again the alcohol was flowing like Niagara Falls, but somehow we were allowed to play in this massive club on campus. How these 1500 recruits woke up after a night at this mega party palace and function the next day, I’ll never know. Fort Dix is kind of a story unto itself that I will have to expand on in the future.
The Hendrix salute
One story that does come to mind took place back at West Point. We once did a concert for the cadets in a massive gymnasium. Some of these cadets would approach the stage and request Jimi Hendrix songs in particular. I think at the time the only Hendrix song we did was “Freedom.” After we used that one up, the Hendrix requests kept coming. Nick, our bass player, was also an excellent guitarist. Looking back, I regret we didn’t feature his guitar playing more often because his abilities were nothing short of stellar!
Anyway, after we were taking a break and were getting ready for our second set, we continued discussing how to resolve our lack of Hendrix repertoire. I don’t remember if we asked Nick or if he offered, but at any rate, he walked out onto the stage by himself, picked up my guitar and began playing Jimi’s arrangement of the Star-Spangled Banner!
What happened next, is something of epic proportion that none of us will ever forget! As Nick launched into Hendrix’s National Anthem, 800 cadets fell silent, and stood at attention with their hands on their hats in a salute. For the entire song, they stood totally still in silence, and didn’t move a muscle! Meanwhile the rest of us were still backstage, wondering if this was the right thing to do or not. I was so taken in by this sheer profoundness of that moment, I don’t remember if the cadets applauded at the end, or just dropped their salutes in silence.
Maybe some other bandmate or roadie who was there that night could fill me in on what happened when the song was over. I remember thinking we could be asked to leave for this potential abomination, but the show did go on with the rest of us coming back on stage to finish the set. I think after that little incident the requests for Hendrix were over and done for good! Anyway, it seems like an appropriate time to tell “The Star Spangled Banner” Saga.
Happy 4th of July everybody!
Thanks for sharing all of these musings Jeff!! A great walk down memory lane!!
My pleasure Dan! It can be hard to remember the details, but the moments are still in the memory banks. I have to write them down before they’re gone as well. What a time it WAS!