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Topic: goin to see Poco... |
Dave Van Allen
From:
Doylestown, PA , US , Earth
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Posted 10 Dec 2003 6:36 am |
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Saturday night at a theatre near me in PA. I haven't seen them live since the early '70's, but Rusty Young was the reason I started playing and my primary influence in my early years. I hope to buttonhole him and let him know it's all his fault, this past thirty-some years of addiction... 
Has anyone seen them recently? What might I expect? |
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Pete Finney
From:
Nashville Tn.
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Posted 10 Dec 2003 10:40 am
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Hi Dave,
Unfortunately you can probably expect Rusty to be playing more guitar than steel. I think it's a four piece at the moment with George Grantham, Paul Cotten and Jack Sundred, and they have a new album. Last time I heard Rusty playing pedal-steel he was playing standing up (!) and was into sort of a Speedy West thing. That was several years ago so who knows what he might be into at the moment. He's still about as nice a guy as you'll ever meet, please tell him hey for me...
Pete[This message was edited by Pete Finney on 10 December 2003 at 05:18 PM.] |
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Colm Chomicky
From:
Kansas, (Prairie Village)
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Posted 10 Dec 2003 10:53 am
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| Last time I saw em was about 1992. Give us a review after the concert! |
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Keith Murrow
From:
Wichita, KS
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Posted 10 Dec 2003 12:01 pm
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| .. [This message was edited by Keith Murrow on 26 October 2004 at 03:27 PM.] |
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Posted 15 Dec 2003 5:21 pm
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So Dave, tell us, how was the Poco concert? As you know, I too, started out on steel as a Poconut, and I think it would fairly break my heart to go to a Poco concert now and hear Rusty just play guitar and sing, and hardly touch the steel. I'm still grieving the loss of Messina, not to mention Furay. But enough of this! How was the concert??
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Dave Van Allen
From:
Doylestown, PA , US , Earth
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Posted 15 Dec 2003 9:36 pm
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We have often spoken on this forum about needing steel players to front their own band... well that is exactly what Rusty is doing... but not from behind the steel.
He has almost singlehandedly kept the POCO "brand" going for 25 years, and developed into one heck of a singer, guitarist (with MIDI enhancements and modeling from the sounds he was getting) and still is a fine steel player.
I was a POCO stalker in my teens, I attended many DC area concerts, and even crashed a soundcheck at Georgetown U to meet the band around '70- Messina was still with them... On that occassion Rusty was gracious to a young'n who didn't even own a steel yet but was obviously salivating at the idea...
I wasn't expecting to relive the shows of my youth (although Jim, I too long for the classic lineup of Messina, Furay, Schmidt (sorry Randy),Grantham and Young. I even came to grudgingly admire Paul Cotton- hard not to like Bad Weather )
hey it was thirty damn years ago already. So I sat back and let them be what they are-which is a damn good band....
They played a good long set, marred by equipment troubles; Rusty's lap steel had a bad jack or something and kept cutting out on him; when it did work he played some viscious bluesy slide style on it...Paul Cotton, standing alone in the spotlight to sing Bad Weather as a featured solo had his guitar crap out on him halfway thru the first verse. They rose above the adversity and played songs spanning the band's 35 year career, with Rusty taking the lead vocal on Furay's "Kind Woman" (oh boy did I miss the steel on THAT one) and many more...they have some great songs, many of which were written by Rusty.Their harmonies were sometimes rough but still held the signature POCO sound... Realizing that Rusty and George have been playing in POCO for over thirty years, and together in bands in Colorado before that made me ponder what a powerful thing making music with friends is...
Finally Rusty pulled his Carter out of the corner , set it up front center and played Pedal Steel Guitar on three tunes- including Heart of the Night" . His style was unmistakable, and gave me a frisson.
And even after thirty years and so many different changes, in his life and mine, he is still "the guy"...the guy who's playing turned me from a 14 year old guitarless Clapton wannabe into a Pedal Steel Guitar addict.
at the post show meet and greet, I handed Rusty a baseball style cap to autograph... he glanced at the logo above the bill,did a double take and the look on his face was priceless as he caught my eye and smiled. "ZB Custom, Pedal Steel Guitars -hey that's pretty neat!" We shook hands and I thanked him, and left him to the other fans.
(now to get Tom Brumley to sign the other side of the magic hat,and I'm 16 again...bwah ha ha)
so that's the show... I am getting verklemt.
[This message was edited by Dave Van Allen on 16 December 2003 at 08:10 AM.] |
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