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Hello ´Finger Fans...... "Oh what a night!!!"
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Your Timely Badfinger News Digest: Some posted on the BWR page....some not!
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Do you like what I'm doing? Please forward this BWR Newsletter to a friend!

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`    ____    ____) ) ___   _   _         Songs and Stories
`   / _ | | __ ( / _ \ | | | |        with Joey Molland
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`   \_||_| |______/ \___/ \__ |        October 22nd 2002
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The Magpies are a local Twin Cities four piece band that plays original music along with a wide variety of cover songs. They opened the show with "Walk Away Renee," originally recorded by The Four Tops and The Left Banke. They followed up with three original songs and closed their part of the show with an audience sing-a-long of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind."
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"Thanks for comin' everybody. Appreciate it. I hope that this is a night to remember." (strumming) "I'm gonna tell ya about a few stories about stuff and uh...." (strumming) "How I did all this, you know. Whatever I did. What did I do? Well I, I don't know. What did I do? I went to school like you. I, I grew up. I had a mam and a dad and all of the rest of it. And we made some records."

And so began our unbelievably fast two hour evening of songs and stories from Joey Molland... But I jump a little too far ahead. I need to back track just a bit before our fascinating evening with this lad from Liverpool begins...
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When I first heard the Joe was going to do a show like this, I just knew that I had to attend - especially once I heard that is was to be an acoustic evening. I had long wished that Joe would do more acoustic songs in his shows and/or on his CD releases. And hearing that this show would feature an entire Joe Molland acoustic set - well, that would be brilliant! I'm going!!!

Very quickly, my son, Brian also decided that he would make the long trip with me from Ohio, north and west to Minneapolis, Minnesota. I also heard that my friend Barb Atkinson was going to attend and we would be meeting up with someone I only knew through emails; Dave Hare... Brian, Barb and I decided to meet up a day early so that we could take in a few of the sights in/around Minneapolis. The Mall of America seemed to be high on the list...

After our 10½ hour road trip, Brian and I arrived at our hotel in St. Paul and proceeded to call Barb on his cell phone. We caught him in - of all places - a barber's chair. He was getting his hair cut! What!!! Ah...For a good cause - "Locks of Love." One of the traumatic side effects of cancer treatment for children is their loss of hair. "Locks of Love" takes in donations of hair, and creates beautiful wigs that children in cancer treatments can wear with pride. That is really excellent Barb. Maybe the wrong time of year, since the Minneapolis area is now hovering around the freezing mark, much to Barb's dismay - but an excellent donation, just the same!

Barb will call us back in just a bit... "By the way, would we like to have dinner with Kathie Molland that evening?" "Wow! Sure! Where?" "The Rainforest Café at the Mall of America, about 7:30 PM... but I'll talk with ya in just a little while... They are about to do the deed!"

So at 7:30 that evening, with Brian and I standing in front of the Rainforest Café, up walk Barb and Kathie. I have never met Kathie before, but I recognized her from recently posted photos on Barb's Badfinger Boogie website. Next to her is the new-short-hair-looking Barb! We all greet each other, shake hands and Brian and I introduce ourselves to Kathie. Joe is at a television station doing a promo for the show tomorrow. Next up is dinner - we are all famished.

Once inside and seated, we all order dinner and spend the next hour and a half talking about everything from what we have all been up to lately; to commenting about the fish in the huge tank next to us; to the latest things happening with Joe and how they relate to Badfinger, or not... We also find out why Kathie was not able to fly to Puerto Rico with Joe and Denny Laine a few weeks ago. The airlines told Kathie that she needed a U.S. passport to leave/enter the country! Hummm... Since Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, I wasn't aware that you would need a passport for that trip to Puerto Rico. The airlines apologized and refunded her money, and she went home... One of the things that I find out is that Barb has recommended me to Kathie in helping her do a quick fix to get joeymolland.com up and going again... "Rick, can you stop by tomorrow and look at a couple of things for me? It shouldn't take too long..." Gulp! "Um... Okay, sure Kathie... I'd be glad to!"

We wrap up the evening by making plans on how to meet up with Dave Hare, who is coming into the Twin Cities area midday on Tuesday; and going over to the Molland's home to work on the web page... Barb, Brian and I want to get up somewhat early to do a bit of a tour of the Mall of America, while we wait on Dave's arrival. Then maybe pop on over the Music Box Theatre to see if we can catch some of the rehearsal and/or setup for the show. Ah, at least we had a plan... Didn't quite work out that way, but we had a plan nonetheless.

Oops! It's 10:30 AM and Barb is calling Brian and I from our hotel lobby... "Where are you guys? I thought you wanted to get up early!" Oh well... We meet Barb in the lobby and head out for breakfast; then on over to the Mall of America. We do a very quick tour of one side, of one floor. There are four sides of this huge four story cube-shaped mall that includes the largest indoor themed entertainment park in the center of it all! We also stop in an visit the in-mall Aquarium with the special turtle exhibit on display. Both Barb and I have several turtles that we have both raised for quite a few years. So their display was of some interest to all of us.

At about 1:30 PM, Dave Hare gives Barb a call on the cell phone. We go on over and meet him at his hotel just across the street from the mall - the same place that Barb is staying at. Now, I heard a story from Barb about how Joey mistook Dave for me at the "Taste of Minnesota" this past July - So I was intrigued... Well, how about that! Same height and build, glasses, mustache and beard. Joe could have easily mistaken Dave for me or visa-versa... (See photo at the end of the story posted on the BWR). It was really great to meet another, (dashing - I must say...) Badfinger fan... ;-)

Hummm.... Can't get a hold of Kathie to see about the web page fix. Off to lunch in Minnetonka, near where the Molland's live, just west of Minneapolis. After some great burgers, fries and shakes in a 50's style joint called Snuffy's Malt Shop, and after I half dump my choco-coffee milkshake; we still can't get a hold of Kathie. So we head on over to the Molland home to see what we can find out... Joe and Kathie's youngest son, Shaun answers the door and tells us that Kathie has not been home for several hours. She might be with Joe at the theater helping with the setup...

So, off to the theater we go. The Music Box Theatre is pretty easy to find in downtown Minneapolis. So we park the van that Dave's been carpooling us with and head for the door of the theater. We head into the lobby and then around the corner and into the theater seating section where we see Joe standing near the stage. We say "hello" to Joe and he tells us that he is glad the we could make it for the show. Barb asks about Kathie and Joe isn't sure where she is, but she is not here at the theater. Getting the web page fixed is brought up and Joe states that joeymolland.com was up and running again by that morning! Great! My webmastering skills, or lack thereof are safe for a little while longer... I grab Dave and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him and ask Joe which one of us is Rick! He looks back and forth and states, "You're Rick! I got that right this time didn't I?" Indeed, he did!

It is still a while before the show begins and we decide to do a quick driving tour of downtown Minneapolis. The four of us pile back into Dave's soon to be dubbed, Magical Mystery Tour van - minus the psychedelic paint job and head off into the Minneapolis Minestrone Maelstrom of one way streets! I think that by the time an hour and a half rolled on by and it was just about time for the show, that we had covered just about half of all streets in downtown and outlying areas East of Minneapolis - sometimes twice!!! Whew! Let's go to the show!

Back to the theater; park the Magical, (almost empty of fuel) Mystical van and off to the show. The promoter rips our tickets and prompts us to buy some English imported Morland "Old Speckled Hen" beer with a 1800's dressed cartoon fox on the label spouting, "A most gratifying ale." Sure! Dave, Brian and I purchase a bottle along with many of the guests. Now, I'm not really much of a beer drinker, but I thought the brew was a bit on the bitter side.... Several other people around me were also making that discovery and you could hear it in the small chit-chat going on. But the beer continued to sell well throughout the evening. (More about the beer in a little while...)

We head on down to our seats and come across Joe again going back and forth talking to people and getting himself set for his part of the show later on. You could see that he was a bit nervous, but still smiling all the time. A few minutes later, Kathie, and friends arrive and she mills about for a short while. Brian, Barb and I are seated right next to each other, front row. Dave Hare is a few seats down and sitting right next to him is Bryan Waller! Excellent! You will remember Bryan's fine work in helping Paul Nyman and myself report on the Pleasure Garden, (Iveys) - "Permissive Paradise" information. It was really a treat for me to meet Bryan and chat about what he has been up to lately.

He was filling me in about the Japanese Yahoo! Auction web site and how an Iveys "Dear Angie" b/w "No Escaping Your Love" with a picture sleeve was currently bidding at $735.00 (US). The auction was to close at about 8:00 AM, PDT on Thursday, and the bidders appeared to be all Japanese. (Bryan later got back to me and told me that the 45 sold for... $1210.00!!! Wow!!!)

About ten minutes before the opening act was to start the show off, Joe's song "When I was a Boy" from "This Way Up" began playing along with a slide show projected onto a screen on the left side of the stage. Joe watches for a minute or two from up on top of the seating area. He then comes down the steps and right towards me. When he gets to me, he smiles his huge grin and states, "They're all here for the show. Great!" I told him that we were ready... He grinned again and headed stage-right and down the stairs, into the dungeon... I mean... the dressing room...

The theater's main floor seating plan consists of 184 fixed seats for people, with another 156 in the balcony. And I would say that with very few people seated in the balcony and the main area fairly well filled, that there were approximately 160+ people that attended the show that evening. So not too bad of a turnout considering it was a Tuesday night and limited advance promotional work done. Although Chris Herriges, the show's producer and member of the Magpies, worked very hard to get the local promotions going full steam. Five show sponsors including 92 KQRS, the local 'Classic rock' radio station came on board and helped on many levels. Five video cameras were set up around the theater. Stage left and right; main floor, top of the stairs, both left and right; and balcony, center. It looked like it would be good coverage for the show from all angles.

At about 7:20 PM, the lights begin to dim and Mei Young, the 92 KQRS DJ takes the stage and welcomes everyone to the show. She throws out some t-shirts, CDs and other promotional radio station material. She then announces that the Magpies will open the show. The Magpies are a local Twin Cities four piece band that plays original music along with a wide variety of cover songs. They opened the show with "Walk Away Renee," originally recorded by The Four Tops and The Left Banke. They followed up with three original songs and closed their part of the show with an audience sing-a-long of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind."
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BWR Note: I would love to give you a complete transcription of the entire show, but that is beyond my means. But I will give you my impressions of the show, some quotes and quips from Joey and as best as possible song playlist. But Joe was hopping in and out of songs quickly sometimes moving on, sometimes moving back to a song played earlier. At times you might hear a bar or two; a verse and, of course, several complete songs. Joe spent most of the two hours just talking and reminiscing, not like at a concert where he would go from song to song. Very engaging, often times interacting with the audience on a one-to-one basis.

Joe starts his story at 11 years of age in Liverpool, England in the kitchen in the back of his house. A radio was on and the song that was playing was "Last Train to San Fernando" sung by Johnny Duncan and the Bluegrass Boys. (Joe plays a bit of the song). But what really caught Joe's ear was the next song, "Blue Suede Shoes" performed by Elvis Presley. "It just fried me! I don't know why. I was 11 years old and it fried me. And I ran into the front room and I grabbed a guitar. I couldn't play the guitar. I took the guitar over to the piano and went dong, dong, dong, dong," (strumming: dong, dong, dong, dong) "dong, dong, dong, dong," (strumming: dong, dong, dong, dong) "Until I eventually got a chord on the guitar! Dontcha know that's all I did for the next three or four years..."

Next up was his Chuck Berry influences: "Chuck Berry lived in this guitar!" Joe then went on to tell a story of his first job at a shipping company as a messenger boy making £3 a week. "...moving letters from here," (animated gestures) "to over here." (more gestures). This is when Joe first loses his lapel mic and his voice gruffs and fades ... "Is my mic down? There it is... I'm talking like Dr. Phibes now."

Joe is then walking down a street in Liverpool, when he bumps into Pete Wiggins who asks Joe to join his band. "All we play is Chuck Berry songs!" Joe goes on down, plays a few licks and he's in the band... At a show that evening, all goes really well, "It was a knockout!" And Joe was paid a Pound (£). The next night he is invited back to play the very same songs again, and again is given another Pound... So after a few nights, he's making more than when he was, working all week as a messenger boy. After a couple of weeks, and a run-in with the boss at work; Joe turns in his mailbag and states. "I'm gonna play Chuck Berry for the rest of my life!"

Bryan Waller comments: When Joey described his early breaks in learning the guitar and joining the Masterminds, I think he did a great job of contrasting the bleak outlook of working as a shipping clerk in Liverpool with the excitement of rock and roll. It was clear that he was thrilled to be a part of it.

Now doing the club scene playing songs like, "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" - Goffin, King (singing) "Tonight you're mine completely" Joe states, "I'm playing and growing, and I'm really good. I'm not actually getting any taller or anything, but I'm wearing cool pants and everything now." At the Blue Angel club, he sees the Masterminds playing. And a few months later, their guitar player, Brian Slater leaves the band and Joey is in! They are now playing at the Cavern, where Rolling Stone producer, Andrew Loog Oldham see the band and hears them do a cover of Dylan's "She Belongs to Me."

He asks the group to go up to London and cut a record of that song. Joe plays, "She Belongs to Me" and after the first verse, shouts out, "solo" and does some fancy solo guitar moves.... (interrupts the song) "We couldn't believe what it sounded like on the stereo in the studio" That's us!? That was fantastic! We want more money! Look how cool we are! And we were so young too..." (laughs). (Finishes the song with a bit of a Dylan inflection in his voice). - "She Belongs To Me"/"Taken My Love" (Immediate IM 005) 1965

Next we were on the television show, 'Ready Steady Go!' "...with the Rolling Stones watching us!" But still the record wasn't a hit... "...Maybe top 40, if we were very luckily, but I could be making that up. I'm well known for making things up. I could be making this whole thing up right now actually!" (laughing)

Back to the Cavern and the Blue Angle club where the Merseybeats were playing. Strums and sings the first verse of "Fortune Teller." The Beatles were huge by then and they were all proud of them, being from Liverpool. All the bands at that time were being paid in cash! Huge wads of cash! Nobody could afford a Rolls-Royce, "Forget about it!" But you could buy a Jaguar! Paid in cash! "There were Jags sitting all around Liverpool" Starts singing, "With your long blonde hair and your eyes of blue." Joe asks, "Do you know this?" (continues) "The only thing I ever got from you was sorrow... Sorrow." Joe reflects, "But it was a short lived experience. Year, year and a half. Then we were all playing in the Gliderdrome. A big flat area... Should I spend the next half-hour telling you about all this stuff? Nah...."

Gary Walker and the Rain era: Gary is putting a band together and is looking for a guitar player. "We need a guitar player. Can you play like Eric Clapton?" "Well, I said, "Yeeesss!"" "We also need a singer. Can you sing like Paul McCartney?" "Well, "Yeeesss!" ya know" "Well, can you get over here?" "And I said, "Yeeesss!" "So I walked across London, which was a little bit of a way. I took my guitar with me and I bent my string like this, (twang!). ""You've got the job!" "he says." "Well, he taught me a lot about stuff. A lot about music and introduced me to B.B. King." This is where Joey first started writing songs. He starts to play a bit of two of his songs from that era, "Thoughts Of An Old Man" and "Take A Look."

The band was huge - in Japan! Mobs of girls at the airports with banners. "Unfortunately, we didn't live there. We lived back in England. And we went back to England and there was nothing going on there..." So Joey began focusing on his B.B. King style of playing. Joe begins playing some B.B. King blues on his guitar... And then he sees a T.V. show with Jimi Hendrix on, but first The Iveys are on playing "Maybe Tomorrow." "With all that hair, and the big tall collars on..." Then Hendrix comes on and does Cream's "Sunshine Of Your Love," "...which was just fantastic!"

"A little while later, I get a phone call from Bill Collins, who is looking for a guitar player." But Joe really wasn't into all those high harmonies that the Iveys were doing... Joe was really into a more driving guitar style. (strumming) But that's okay, because that was exactly what the Iveys were looking for at that time. They were signed to Apple Records and were working with the Beatles. In fact, Paul McCartney had just written there first huge hit. Begins playing "Come And Get It." Then Joe goes into a bit about the history of the Iveys and Apple Records during that first year. How the band's name changed from the Iveys to Badfinger and how he walked in at just the right time in the band's career...

With Joey now in the band, they begin working on the next album. "And one of the songs that we worked on is this one that Peter Ham wrote, which was the first song we recorded." Plays, "No Matter What." "It was a monster song! Oh yeah! (laughs) But Apple turned it down right away - Nah, nah, you don't want to do that!" But the record was finished and then they were off to America for the first tour. "We went to every town in America." Then one night, on a day off, Joey sees a girl in Minneapolis that catches his eye... Kathie Wiggins! They began dating and eventually Joe asks Kathie to marry him. "She says, No! of course..." But they go back to England and later in 1972, they marry. Thirty years ago this year!!!

Joe now introduces his "best friend," Randy Anderson, who joins Joey on stage. This is the "All Things Must Pass," "Imagine" and "Straight Up" period. Joe talks about how the band was invited to join in on the "All Things Must Pass" sessions working with George, Ringo, Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann, Billy Preston and Phil Spector. Joe and Randy launch into "My Sweet Lord" with Randy handling the slide guitar bits. Joe sings the song and at one point when Joe slightly misses a note, Joe sings (laughing) "Forgive us, my sweet lord..." Randy, Joe and the entire audience laugh at that... It was a superb rendition and so good to hear Joe and Randy perform this classic George Harrison song!

Joe states that they must have done a good job as George, through Mal Evans, later gave them a call about helping on a John Lennon record. "So we're freaking out now! Me and Tommy grabbed our guitars and go stand near the gate at the house. John is probably me favorite writer. He just is! I just can't say anything about that!" Joe then walks us through the Ascot house including the one room full of nothing but case after case of Dr. Pepper! They finally make their way into the recording studio where John, George, Jim Keltner, Klaus, and Nicky Hopkins are queuing up. "...and we were the band!"

John puts on his headphones and says this next song will be "Jealous Guy." "...and it goes like this..." And John begins to play and sing the song. And Joe explains that he's sitting there with headphones on and, "...there's John Lennon in your head! Right in your head!!!" Joe and Randy play, "Jealous Guy." Barb comments: "I will say the highlight, (of this show) for me was Joe's rendition of "Jealous Guy". When the Lennon Tribute albums were coming out several years ago I often thought that the perfect Lennon cover for Joe was that song. After finally hearing him do it, I know I was dead on!" Fantastic!!!

They next played on John's "I Don't Want To Be A Soldier." John tells Tommy and Joey that they can "Fuck off, if you want." Joe states, "That's exactly what he said. He wasn't throwing us out. He was just giving us the option of leaving if we wanted. And I can't imagine walking out on a Johnny Lennon session! I couldn't do it if I was dyin'!" So we stayed around until they did ask us to leave... "Get out! Get out!" (laughs).

Next up, Joe plays a bit of his song, "Get Away." "We did a whole album, maybe 14 or 15 tunes. This is going to be our next record!" Apple says No! George was then called in to help with the "Straight Up" recordings. - Joe just then loses his lapel mic again. "Hello, hello! It's not hanging between my legs is it?" (laughs) Joe gets the mic rigged up for him again.... Joe then talks about his song, "Suitcase." A song about being on the road. Joe plays, "Suitcase," up to the second verse. Singing, "Pusher, Pusher..." "Hold on, hold on. You can't put that on your record!" says George. "Joe, Joe, Joe. You gotta change it!" So Joe sings, "Butcher, butcher on the run..." "And it didn't go down very well. We didn't get very many phone calls after that..."

Joe and Pete were then working on the guitar bits for "Day After Day." Joe plays the opening guitar riff. Then George walks in and asks if he could play slide guitar on that song. "...and for the next 6 to 8 hours, George and Pete are doing this..." Randy plays the slide opening guitar riff of "Day After Day." (strumming) Joe turns to Randy and says, "Okay Elvis; 1, 2, 3, 4" Randy and Joe now play, "Day After Day." - Randy Anderson leaves the stage.

"Are you guys still having a good time here?" Joe looks up at the slide show screen where a photo of Pete and Dixie is being shown. "Incidentally, that's Peter Ham there. Standing there smiling and having himself a good time. And that girl along side of him is Dixie! Uh... from the song "Baby Blue." You know "Baby Blue!"" Begins the intro to "Baby Blue."

Joe then proceeds through the tale of the Badfinger managerial problems. It is the 'general' story of how they were ripped off and all the money was gone. On how Joe left the band in 1974, moving back to L.A., California. How Pete went home one night and hung himself in his garage. On how Natural Gas was formed and ended up playing as the opening act for the Frampton "Comes Alive!" tour. They were writing songs like, "Christmas Song." Joey plays the first verse. But that band eventually broke up due to several internal problems...

Bryan Waller comments: The biggest impression he made on me was when he talked about the breakup of Badfinger and Pete Ham's death. I believe he was sincere when he said that a band has to have the same cohesiveness as a family to withstand the challenges of the business and crooked management. Joey didn't seem to have any greater understanding of Pete's suicide than that of his many fans...

Later in 1977, Joe Tansin and Kenny Harck help reform Badfinger with Joey and eventually Tommy. Tansin plays a song called, "The Winner" that Joe really likes. Joe plays/sings the first verse and then comments about the Joe Tansin's style of guitar playing that Joey had never tried before. "It really knocked me out!" Tommy brings in a couple of great songs. Joe plays on guitar, "Lost Inside Your Love." Joe also mentions the songs "Sail Away" by Tommy and "Love Is Gonna Come at Last" by himself. The band goes on tour but was plagued by, "...we were doing a bit of drinking. And a little bit of this. And a little bit of that. And we just weren't looking at the world with clean eyes; clear eyes." "...and of course, we went right downhill..." (laughs) (strumming) "Not very cheerful is it!?" "...My God!"

Joe plays and sings the first verse of, "Love Is Gonna Come at Last." And talks about getting muscles for the first time in his life when he was laying carpet for awhile in L.A. He continued to write songs and eventually they were contacted by Radio Records in Florida with a two record deal. The first song recorded was Joe's "I Got You." Joe plays the first verse and chorus. They were then invited to be on the Merv Griffin Show. There they got into a bit of trouble.

First they moved themselves into a better dressing room, with beer. Where they had a couple - "...not too much. Nothing serious!" They get set up on a stage behind a curtain waiting for their queue. Sitting next to Merv, on the couch, is Lou Ferrigno, The Incredible Hulk! The band behind the curtain, begins to call out things like, "ugly" and just trying to make a pest of themselves. Finally Merv walks over, holds up the album cover and introduces Badfinger! The band begins to lip-sync to the song, "I Got You." Joe at this time begins to silently lip-sync and move about the stage as if he were actually singing the song... "Well dontcha know, I step right off the stage, this is on T.V. and fall flat on my ass..." "Merv runs over, and grabs hold of me and smells the beer on my breath... And that is the end of my T.V. career..."

Time to do the second record and we had several pretty good songs ready. Starts to play, "Clouds Of Love." Two verses. But the money wasn't there and the deal fell through; and the Badfinger contract was suspended. "Say No More" would be the last Badfinger record to be recorded...

Next, Joe and Tommy both put together two different Badfinger touring groups together at the same time! "We both went on the road. I got arrested in Louisiana, and Tommy didn't!" By the end of 1983, Tommy got to the end of his tour and, "...Actually in November of that year, right before Thanksgiving. Tommy went into his yard and hung himself... And that's what happened to Tommy Evans. Still don't really understand it. I could stand here and make excuses or tell things that I think about it, but that's just what happened. He went out in his yard and hung himself like Peter..."

"...and I really pray that Peter and Tommy would have just been a little more patient and perhaps they could have been enjoying those fruits now. Like I am, and my family are, and my wife is. And their families are. And that's really the end of my story tonight. There's other things, but I'm gonna leave you with that. Okay? Goodnight to you! Thanks for coming and I hope that you enjoyed yourselves... Thank you, thank you. God bless you..."

Joe and Randy return and Joe says, "This isn't really planned. We're gonna play a song of Peter's called "Name of the Game." And it is a blistering acoustic version of the song... "Just how we recorded it in the studio!" Wow!
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Joe was on top of form this night. A bit nervous, somewhat rough around the edges, but always focused and witty. Both he and the entire audience had fun with this - and the two hours absolutely flew by all too quickly. The show could have easily been three hours. Joe commented to Barb that he didn't think he could do a 90 minute show by himself. But Joe had plenty of things to talk about. In fact, because of time constraints, he had to leave out stories from "ASS," "Badfinger" and the "Wish You Were Here" periods.

What Joe presented on this cold Tuesday evening in Minneapolis, was not a Badfinger textbook history lesson. It was someone reminiscing who lived through many exciting, and sometimes disappointing times... Joe occasionally quoted a date wrong and sometimes during the show, he would actually backtrack somewhat to make a point. And that is what makes a show like this so exciting! It is planned and rehearsed, but at the same time totally spontaneous too!

This show was to be shown live over the Internet. Because of some technical problems at the theater, the video portion was not able to be shown. I am told that the show will be broadcast at some later date and I will keep my ears peeled to bring you that information on when it is presented. Check livevenu.com often for updates:

A DVD of this show is also supposed to be produced and distributed with the forthcoming book about Badfinger from author Billy James. THIS DVD MUST BE PRODUCED!!! This show was just too good and just too important not to be shown again and again! Keep talking about it. -Respectfully- drop hints to Live Venu and the Molland's... Do not let this show slip away!

Until the show broadcasts again and/or we have a DVD available, you will have to settle for the few photos that Brian and I took along with the story on the BWR... I hope that I was able to capture just a bit of the events as they happened that evening...

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About the style of guitar that Joe used:
From a historic point of view, the Gibson J-160E model acoustic electric guitar holds a great importance as a key instrument used by John Lennon on many of the Beatles recordings, as well as an instrument he chose for many of the Beatles films, television appearances, and live performances. Though Lennon played many different types of guitars throughout his years with the Beatles, it should be pointed out that the only instrument that Lennon faithfully used was his Gibson J-160E. To this day, many musicians and guitar collectors alike equate this guitar with John Lennon, the Beatles, and the British Invasion. Perhaps the most interesting fact about his Gibson J-160E is that as Lennon's life changed and evolved, so did his guitar.

About the Magpies:
The Magpies are the perfect enhancement to any outdoor show, private party or corporate event and are available for regional club and concert dates. Combining guitars, accordion, keyboards, bass and percussion with three part vocals gives this arty trio access to some of the best music of the world. The Magpies musical flight will bring you echoes from the cafe accordions of Paris, the lush jungle rhythms of Brazil, the foot stomping cantina songs of Mexico as well as tie-dyed harmonies of Woodstock and the 1960's. And since it's your party, we invite you and your guests to lend your voices or a bit of percussion to the performances of musical gems from The Beatles, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Byrds and other timeless vocal groups.

The Masterminds:
One of the more promising late-era Merseybeat bands, the Masterminds never managed to translate their potential into serious record sales, although one of their members, Joey Molland, was destined for some international success less than a decade hence. Formed in Liverpool even as the big wave of Merseybeat sounds was cresting, the Masterminds consisted of Joey Molland on guitar and vocals, Chris Findley on keyboards, George Cassidy on bass and vocals, and Jay Rathbone on drums. For a time, Dougie Meakin played rhythm guitar and sang in the line-p as well. Molland, at 16, had already played with two earlier bands, the Assassins and the Profiles, when he joined the Masterminds. They had established a successful residency at a Liverpool club called the Blue Angel and lucked out one night when the Rolling Stones, with manager-producer Andrew Loog Oldham along, came to the club after playing a gig at the Empire Theatre and saw the Masterminds doing Bob Dylan songs.

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- From Mike Gibbins: Correction PASSIN' TIME [ V4.21.176 ] 10-19-02
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"One of the album's two medleys appears next. Made up of two unfinished songs, "In The Meantime" / "Some Other Time" builds up from an orchestral crescendo into a powerful, guitar driven, rocker. Tom Evans delivers the "In The Meantime" section of the vocals in his usual hoarse, driving style. Guitars and drums fight it out with an orchestra for control of this song. In the end, the guitar wins the battle, but not before a slow, gasping orchestral bridge. "Some Other Time" finds Joey Molland taking over the vocal duties. Musically, the track remains essentially the same, making this medley flow better than the others Badfinger attempted in their career."
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Wow Mike!

I'm really sorry I missed that important correction.... I fixed quite a few others and I simply missed that one. I know that you wrote/sang the song - not Tommy.... Again, sorry. I will post your correction note in the next BWR newsletter.

You know that I always strive to keep as many of the facts as truthful as possible in my reporting. But I always seem to get into trouble whenever I post opinions from others. It is always the dilemma of do I leave the opinion alone as the author originally posted it, or go in and carefully edit and note my comments to correct minor/major mistakes.

Ron Griffiths took me to task over inconsistencies in a report that I did just before the release of the "Very Best of Badfinger" that was a direct copy of what Capitol Records had sent to me to use on the BWR. And since then, I have been carefully going over what I put in each newsletter. But I certainly missed that one!

I will continue to try and do better and better - you have my word on that!

Thanks again Mike for keeping me on my toes...
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"This band has truly been an inspiration and opened the doors of rock and roll in the 1970s.. They have paved the way and inspired so much of today's pop and rock music. It is time they be noticed by the Hall of Fame for their legacy!"
- Michael Grosvenor

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Some closing thoughts... "Just how we recorded it in the studio!"

There have been many significant 'milestones' in the career of Joe Molland - and this will have to be rated as one of them! After the show, I was talking with Joe as he was drinking his "Old Specked Hen" beer. "What do ya think of this? Pretty good beer! Closest thing to a real English beer that I've had..." We both said at the same time, "Could be a little warmer though..." He smiled at that... I commented to Joe that I thought the choice of "Name of the Game" as the encore song was really great. He beamed and said, "Great song isn't it! I wanted it to be a tribute to all the guys. I wanted to play it!"

A note for all PASSIN' TIME readers...I am always looking for newsworthy Badfinger and related information for either publication on the BWR page and/or in this medium; the BWR-NL. Either send me a link and/or write a short paragraph about what you have found. You get the credit, and the word gets out! Any questions...please contact me.

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