April 28, 2013
This article has been a long time coming – what with Guitar God, Alvin Lee, passing on March 7th. I wanted to write an article immediately – but so much other stuff has got in the way. But now with Richie Havens passing – I had to get this out.
First off: I DID NOT ATTEND Woodstock – though many of my students have suggested that I did! I got my Woodstock knowledge solely through the movie and the soundtrack – which is how I came to worship Alvin Lee of Ten Years After and his inspired rendition of “Goin’ Home.” And while I’m not a big Richie Havens’ fan (though he did have a hauntingly beautiful voice) – I just recently learned that if not for him – the opening of Woodstock might have been postponed for 3 hours; and, Lord knows what might have happened. I guess Richie deserves some type of Medal of Honor for getting Woodstock off to a meaningful start.
Alvin Lee was dubbed the fastest guitarist alive, and, for those of us who didn’t initially get on board the Jimi Hendrix train (because we were just a bit too young), Alvin Lee became a great, first guitarist to admire. Sure, sure – there was also Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, Jimmy Page, Leslie West and Billy Gibbons around at the time (recall Hendrix thought Gibbons was a better guitarist than he was?) – but in terms of someone blowing you off the stage like Hendrix – these others didn’t quite do it like Alvin Lee.
Alvin was a pretty damned good bluesman – though I’m not sure that he always got the necessary and sufficient props for his blues work: most people remember him from his power ballad, “I’d Love to Change the World,” and of course: “Goin’ Home.” But Ten Years After did a number of blues-based albums: Cricklewood Green being my personal favorite.
Alvin Lee’s death came as a surprise to many; as he was merely recovering from what was described as a relatively “routine” surgery when Death got him. But his death was no surprise to me…you see I knew one of his heroin couriers, and, after I defended Tony Curtis when his cocaine courier told me about Tony’s habit – I had to give this lady a listen to…
She was a young American living in England and somehow got the job of delivering heroin to many of England’s heroin-using musicians and/or celebrities: George Harrison being one of the notables (don’t forget that Alvin hung around with George a bit); and, Klaus Voorman admitted on the George Harrison rockumentary that he had had to get away from it all because the drugs were too intense! It was she who told me about walking into some Brit’s mansion inhabited by hundreds of cats, all sitting on pedestals, and all turning their heads as one when she and her partner walked in to make their drop.
So when George Harrison succumbed to cancer not too long after being stabbed by a would-be burglar – I knew that George had been weakened by the Big H (gosh…I just remembered the rather mysterious passing of Linda McCartney)…You see, elderly heroin users (who have been using for a long time) tend to be very, very fragile – like paper mache dolls. They are at their best in their home environments and don’t do well with anything that is physically strenuous or taxing. And surgery, no matter how “routine,” will traumatize an elder junkie: cancer would definitely kick a weakened junkie’s ass!
So Richie Havens has joined Alvin, whom I’m hoping was already jamming with Jimi – and I’m praying that they put Keith Moon on drums and Felix Pappalardi on bass – or John Entwistle (and then let Pappalardi run the sound board). Wow! Now if they could work Jon Lord in on keyboards – this would be one heavenly act!