Play That Funky Music ---- Or Else!!!

Play That Funky Music ---- Or Else!!!
By Barry Bozeman in Stories From The Road Giants ·
The following story involves a situation that occurred on a rare off week for Mountain Sound. We were all in Knoxville this October weekend instead of on the road where we pretty much lived with The Marshall Tucker Band and The Charlie Daniels Band or Oak Ridge Boys from 1975 thru 1982. I will call this story:

Play that Funky Music or Else

I guess it was mid-October in 1980 – there was a bit of a chill in the air after 5pm on a Friday night in Knoxville. Don Fillers, Jackie and Ricky Williams, Bobby Tuccillo, John Williams (the guy who drove the CDB truck), and a couple of other Mountain Sound guys were winding down the week at Mountain Sound with a couple of beers. We hear the slam of a car door and a big guy in a leather jacket steps out of an older Lincoln Continental in the lot and approaches the door.

“This Mountain Sound?” he asks and gets an affirmative reply. “I don’t know if you guys can help me but I’ve got this here thing called a rider and I’m told I need to get some things for a big show we’re doin up in Rogersville.”
The gist of that rider and his requirements include the need for a sound mix platform and a couple of spotlight towers, spotlights, and some trusses with par cans and controls and other production items.

“I got a bunch of floodlights on poles” he said “But the guy says I got to have big theater spotlights on towers or the Wild Cherry won’t do the show and won’t refund the money”
“When is this show?” we ask. “Tomorrow” he replies. “Hmmm, that’s pretty short notice” I say.

The guy goes on to tell us that if he doesn’t get these things he’s afraid that the show will be cancelled and that cannot happen. And we tell him that he’s probably come to the only place on earth where this problem can be solved overnight but it is going to cost a premium at this late hour.

“We will need $5,000 cash right now and another $2,500 when we arrive at the site in the AM prior to unloading the truck.” I said. ”We’ve got the Charlie Daniels sound and light semi outside and I’ve called the TERI office and talked with Rick Ross about picking up the necessary gear at their warehouse across town.” “We can take care of this for you but we will be up all night and we have to change the plans of our crew and get some people to open some doors for us.” I tell the Continental Guy.

We were a little reticent to get involved with this strange deal at this late date. We had received a call from the regular J. Geils Band sound guy, Harold Blumberg, who was doing a Wild Cherry tour a few weeks before telling us that we might be asked to provide some production support for a show in East Tennessee, but we had heard nothing since that call. Later on I would seriously regret taking that 5 grand and the job.

The price didn’t phase our big guy with the Continental. He pulls out a roll of cash that was as thick as his large fist and counted out 50 Ben Franklins right then and there. We fired up the semi and headed over to TERI at around 10pm.

It was near dawn by the time we were ready to head up I-81 to the Rogerville, TN exit about 70 miles from Knoxville. We had 6 or 7 guys, the semi and my VW van. Later we would be joined by some other friends and girlfriends for the show. There was a Stuckey’s and a Texaco at the exit and from there it was between 15 and 20 miles to the show site according to the directions. About 10 miles from the site we turned onto a dirt road headed up an isolated valley with a ridgeline on our left. The further we drove the stranger it seemed to us that anyone would try to have a show at this remote location.
The Continential Guy had told us that he was expecting thousands of attendees for a big outdoor show featuring Wild Cherry, Grinderswitch, and Stillwater with a couple of local bands to warm up and that the show would start around 6pm that Saturday night. We were curious how anyone was going to find this remote location since we had not passed a single sign pointing the way to the site.

The Strangest Concert Stage

We finally arrived at the farm where the concert was going to be held around 9am. There was a small white farmhouse near the road and a rather appropriate cleared field sloped upward toward the top of the ridge. Not a bad place for a show we thought until we saw the stage. Think a smaller version of Yasgur’s famous Woodstock field with the stage at the top of the hill. Yes that’s right – these geniuses had built a fairly substantial stage at the top of the incline. The stage was enclosed with old barn wood and had a roof about 12 feet off the deck making it almost impossible to raise a truss.
It was close to the ground at stage right and there was about a 10 foot drop to the slope at stage left. This will be significant later in the story.

We pulled the semi into the field along with my VW van loaded with the crew but there was no sign of the Continental and our guy with the cash. We talked with his brother and told him that our deal was to be paid prior to unloading the truck. Don showed the guy where we would put the mix platform and the spotlight towers and told him that those spaces needed to leveled out and he went to work with a Bobcat.
We looked around the site. There was no security fence and anyone who wished had a 1000 ways to get on the site without paying, There were no sanitary facilities. But we had 5 grand and our stuff was in the truck so we napped in the vehicles trying to make up for the lost sleep. Around noon some local cops showed up but still no Continental guy. We talked with the cops and pointed out the lack of security and sanitary facilities and suggested that they should try to stop this thing but they didn’t want to hear about it. We were already aprehensive about the situation and would have been more than happy to head home without the remaining payout.

Around 2pm the Continental pulled into the field and despite the late hour and the obvious lack of people arriving for the show to my considerable dismay he gave us the last $2,500 without hesitation so we began to start setting up the towers, lights and mix position. The sound truck and roadies for Wild Cherry, Grinderswitch, and Stillwater showed up around noon so things were progressing but it was going to be tough to make a 6pm show start. We had yet to see a single concert goer. By 5pm it started to get cold enough to see your breath in the crisp late October air. Don Fillers went to the Continental guy who was obviously in charge and told him that they should probably cancel the opening local acts and go straight to Stillwater, Grinderswitch and the headlining Wild Cherry since it was getting so cold and there was every indication of a late start without a large audience. That turned out to be a big mistake.

Our First Drive-In Concert.

Along about 5:30pm shortly prior to the scheduled show start about a half dozen cars pulled into the field and lined up about 100 feet from the stage. Some bonfires were being built and we were nearing completion of the set up. In the end there were probably less than 200 people there for the show including the bands and their crews, and quite a few of those were obviously family and friends of the guys who had funded this disaster. When the show started the folks in the cars remained in them with the motors running to keep the heat on.

The farm house at the bottom of the hill was being used as the green room for the bands and Wild Cherry had arrived in their bus that was parked near the house. The Continental guy’s parents owned the house where they lived and his mother had an uncanny resemblance to Granny Clampett in my memory. She was small and wiry.

Despite a late start around dark the local band took the stage and played for 45 minutes followed by Stillwater. Off to the side the Continental guy and about 10 of his ‘partners’ we guessed were standing around a bonfire passing around several bottles of Jack Daniels and Mason jars with moonshine. They were occasionally looking in our direction with increasing hostility. The mood was definitely uncomfortable. It was clear these guys had blown a bundle of cash throwing this party with only a couple of hundred paying customers. This was not their dreamed of Woodstock south and the turnout was dismal. This was obviously a financial disaster for the promoters.

Hawkins County is and was rural, remote, and economically depressed. We had crossed the county line from Grainger County on the dirt road a few miles from the site. It was even more remote back in the late 70’s and early 80’s. It’s not the kind of place for outsiders to be on the bad side of a bunch of locals. The road crews for the bands and the sound guys were feeling a bit threatened as well. Here was a group of drunken disgruntled guys who had lost their shirts and the people who had their money were right there on their property at night far from any assistance. I got the Wild Cherry manager and Harold Blumberg together and we went to the two Hawkins County deputies on site and we gave them each $300 in cash to stay until the load out was complete. They agreed and took our money. (more on this later)

Play That Funky Music of Else

Eventually Grinderswitch took the stage and played their set and then I saw the strangest thing I’ve ever seen at a concert out of over 1000 I’ve been a part of over the years. Here came Wild Cherry up the hill toward the stage followed by Granny Clampett with a shotgun and her husband with a revolver. They were being marched up the hill and forced to play at gunpoint!!!!

It seems that during the setup earlier that afternoon the booking agent who had sold the promoters Grinderswitch and Stillwater had told the promoters a story about a gig in West Virginia where Wild Cherry had been paid to play. The band was doing a sound check when the doors opened and several concert goers came into the hall and the band’s manager had refused to let the band go on and had loaded them up and left because the contract rider prohibited anyone from being present in the hall during sound check. I have no idea if this is a true story but the promoters were primed to buy it.

After Grinderswitch took the stage Wild Cherry had left the farmhouse and gotten on their bus with the engine running to dress for the show. Granny and her husband thought they were leaving without playing and Granny climbed on the bus with the shotgun and told them they best march up that hill to play or else!!!!

Wild Cherry played every song they knew that night.

The Midnight Runners

Finally the show was drawing to a close and it was very cold. The “crowd” was down to around 50 and most of those were drunk and likely good friends or relatives of the promoters who had lost their shirts on the show or the opening local band. It turns out the opening act had heard that we tried to get the show shortened by eliminating their set and they were pissed. Seems they were convinced that playing this show was to be their big break in the music biz.

We had backed the semi up to the mix platform and torn it down and loaded the scaffold and decking along with the spotlights and their towers. We used to tear down the Marshall Tucker set and close the doors on the truck in 45 minutes. We had this scaffolding and decking loaded in 15 or 20 minutes. As we backed up to the stage to load the trusses and lights a cargo van came across the field cutting off Don Fillers from the rest of the crew. A group of 5 or 6 guys surrounded Don and started to attack him hidden from the rest of us on stage by the van. Don managed to get through their circle and to head toward the semi where he jumped in the cab and the semi headed down the hill toward the exit. That left the rest of us helping to tear down the lights and stage set on the stage. The opening band members were joined by a number of the promoters and their friends and they advanced across the stage toward us with chains, tire irons, hammers and other tools. These attackers had entered at stage right and they were backing us toward stage left and the 10 foot drop to the slope.

At this point a few of us grabbed some mic stands and prepared to defend ourselves using the round metal bases as clubs. There were 30 or so locals vs 15 or so band crew and production guys and we were seriously out matched.

Then the guns came out and shots were fired.

I haven’t seen a stage clear this quickly since high wind blew the lighting truss down at a Busch Gardens show in Williamsburg crushing Taz DiGregorio’s piano.

We all lept off that 10 foot drop ran for our lives to the three or four vehicles of crew and friends that had made it to the site. The cars dashed for the gate and road followed by the semi with the back doors open and waving in the wind. The semi was follow by two cars with pursuing attackers who periodically fired at the truck. We eventually dug two slugs out of the cab of the truck. The semi kept the pursuing cars from catching the slower VW van and our other vehicles. They gave up the chase 20 miles later as we neared the I 81 exit.

Once we all got together we realized that Ricky Williams, one of our crew, was not with us. His brother Jackie was frantic with worry envisioning Ricky lying in the field riddled with bullets. In the confusion everyone thought Ricky was in one of the other vehicles. I got on the phone and finally got the Tennessee Highway Patrol to meet us at the Stuckey’s. They reluctantly agreed to escort us back to the site to find Ricky.

But that isn’t what happened….. We got to the county line near the dirt road turn off and they stopped beside a Hawkins County sheriffs car with the two deputies we had already paid $300 to stay until load out. These deputies had split with our cash immediately after the show had ended so we were not too excited to see these guys or to trust them to help us find Ricky. But it seemed we had no choice but to go along. The Tennessee Highway Patrol Officers told us they were not authorized to cross the county line. The THP officers greeted the Hawkins County deputies like they were In-laws or family and we were told that we should have expected this kind of trouble in a tone that demonstrated their lack of respect for long haired musicians and roadies.

We pulled back into the site with the truck and one vehicle having sent some of the others home with girlfriends in the other cars. Jackie and some of the guys went to look for Ricky with the deputies while the rest of us resumed loading the last of our gear on the semi. We noticed the guys who had attacked us standing around the bonfire downing more Jack and shine. The deputies greeted them like long lost relatives. We knew we had to move fast.

The road crew for Blumberg Sound were trying to push the last of their Community horns into the back of the sound truck. A crushed effects rack lay on the ground nearby a victim of the truck tires when they had made their escape. The sound guys and band roadies were bruised and bloody. The Wild Cherry ampline and guitars were still on the stage. Their roadies were nowhere in sight. That stuff was probably left there permanently. The band gear truck had evidently crashed into one of the sound stacks and the sound truck had run over the effects rack. It was a mess.

Ricky was found lying in the woods a few 100 yards behind the stage with Harold Blumberg. Harold had lost his briefcase with his part of the money and I don’t think it was ever found. Neither Ricky or Harold were hurt. They said the locals searched for them for about an hour and came close but they were well hidden in the tall weeds. No sooner than Ricky was found the deputies left us to fend for ourselves and we got out of there as the locals regrouped for another attack. No one was killed and the Blumberg Sound guys and the Wild Cherry roadies survived their beatings but we were damned lucky. The slugs in the cab of the CDB semi had whistled by Don Filler’s ear.

A few days later I got a call from Rolling Stone magazine and they published a short blurb about the gig in the next issue. We were asked if we were going to sue the promoters for the damage to the truck and lost gear. “You can’t squeeze blood from a turnip” was my quote they used in the story and I still don’t know where that came from. I had no clue who to sue and I think we were just grateful to have escaped with our lives and the toughest $7,500 payout Mountain Sound ever made. I guess the moral of the story is to never go into the wild for money without knowing what you’re getting yourself into. We didn’t get into music production to collect hazard pay did we?

Barry Bozeman – former part owner and President of Mountain Sound and member of the Marshall Tucker Band road crew.

Mike Borne, Sandy Espinoza, George Corneliussen and 6 others like this.

Carol Ireland What a story!
February 6, 2011 at 1:35pm · · 1

Edward C Adkins WOW, The truth is stranger than fiction. Great story and a great job of writing it. Thanks so much for sharing it.
February 6, 2011 at 2:24pm · · 3

Robin LaRue Majors There was a couple of those East Tennessee, one off gigs, with Mountain Sound. Another good one was a Bill Monroe Gig that Rollo, Donnie, GarDog and I did. Same kind of set up in a cove of the Appalachians. They had ran poles with electricity beside an old logging road. A crew guy climbed the pole and hooked our power to it.
February 6, 2011 at 2:32pm · 2

Edward C Adkins Robin, can you write up the story?
February 6, 2011 at 2:34pm · 1

Robin LaRue Majors About 20 people showed up. The eight crew guys and the promoter left. Bebo's (Donnie's girlfriend) and one other cars headlights was all we had for load out, but they did give us the case of Heineken we asked for. We were loaded and it was ...See More
February 6, 2011 at 2:40pm · 1

Edward C Adkins Thanks Robin, What was the date and place?
February 6, 2011 at 2:45pm ·

Robin LaRue Majors I don't remember the place. Somewhere in the East Tennessee mountains or maybe the Blue Ridge??? It was around 1978 or 79 though.
February 6, 2011 at 2:52pm · 1

Edward C Adkins Robin, I wouldn't climb that pole either. Good job.
February 6, 2011 at 2:55pm · 1

Michael Swaggerty Dang!!! What a story and very nicely written...."live to tell". Thanks for sharing Barry.
February 6, 2011 at 2:57pm · 1

Robin LaRue Majors Fillers (did he ever have a nickname besides Cluck Garble) and I did some good ones for Mountain Sound at the old Gray, Tennessee fair grounds. I wish I had a photo of me and the Bass singer from the Statler Brothers squared off. At one poi...See More
February 6, 2011 at 2:59pm · 1

Edward C Adkins If we only had digital cameras back in the day.
February 6, 2011 at 3:26pm · 2

Barry Bozeman I believe BIG DON was the only nickname ever used for Donny. The others are either unpublishable or you wouldn't want to say to his face.
February 6, 2011 at 3:40pm

Sarah Bounds-Anderson Great story, Barry!! I knew almost every player on the Mountain team...and then some:)
February 6, 2011 at 7:35pm · 1

James Krejci Man, we all have our gigs from Hell,but that's the worst one I've ever heard about! I'm glad you all survived. That should be in a movie. It gives me
chills just thinking about it. What a nightmare!
February 7, 2011 at 8:52am· 2

Michael Mc Laughlin Ya gotta have the banjo riff from Deliverance playing low in the background for full effect !
February 7, 2011 at 1:46pm · 1

Randy Read Moon tell the good folks about that gig in NC, where Corlew was hanging off the truck and was prepared to shoot your way out. AWhere they beat up wheels on the side of the road.
February 7, 2011 at 10:16pm · 1

Michael Edgar Great story, Barry. Wow, never heard about that incident.
February 7, 2011 at 10:59pm· 1

William Sandy Garrett You started to tell me this story once when I was over but said it was a bit long. Glad you waited so I could get all the colorful details. Damn, you guys earned your dough and then some ! Surprised Rolling S didn't print a bigger story on it.
February 9, 2011 at 12:54am· 1

George Corneliussen I was the monitor mixer at that gig. Harold and I were off the road from our regular J.Geils gig. I also wrote an account of what I remember from that day ( I'll have to dig it out). I can tell you that I loaded Wild Cherry's guitars up with the sound gear and returned them later that night. I did get punched in the face during the melt down.
February 9, 2011 at 7:08am· 2

Edward C Adkins I look forward to reading your story.
February 9, 2011 at 7:09am 1
Barry Bozeman George - glad Harold got in touch with you so you can add your perspective to this story. Can't wait to see what you remember. Harold wrote me a long email with some additions and corrections as well. He thinks I got about 95% of his part right but it was over 30 year ago. Good to hear from you.
February 9, 2011 at 12:58pm