BY MICHAEL “EPPY” EPSTEIN
In November, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen will be playing My Father’s Place.
For those of you that are too young to remember them, they were part of the California-psychedelic-country-hippie-music scene of the 1960s led by bands like the Grateful Dead and The Byrds.
Brewer and Shipley, who just played the club, and Ritchie Furay, who was in Buffalo Springfield and Poco, were also part of that scene.
I’m really excited that Commander Cody is coming back to My Father’s Place, in part because Bill Kirchan, their original lost lead guitarist airman, is rejoining them for the first time in decades, but also because they were the first major band to play my club way back in 1972.
Now when I say major band, that does not mean they were big stars, in fact I barely knew who they were back then. It was just in those days, being a major act would also mean having very powerful friends, and Commander Cody had this friend named Albert.
See my club had been open for less than a year and I was struggling to get any decent acts. The big agents and managers would not give me the time of day.
Other than Ritchie Havens, who was my friend, all I was booking was basically unknowns and that wasn’t paying the bills.
One day Ritchie said to me, “I have this friend named Albert, why don’t you talk to him and whatever he says, you do.”
So I called this guy, he lived in Woodstock, and he was very friendly to me and asked me a lot of questions and made some important suggestions.
He said, “Get some decent microphones,” and I did. “Put a bathroom in the dressing room for the artists,” and I did that too. He said, “Raise the seats in the rear to give everyone a decent sightline,” and that is when I ripped up the bowling lanes and put in the long tables.
I even upgraded my sound system with new monitors, but I still wasn’t landing any good acts, the agents would still not take my phone calls, and I was getting desperate.
Now I had no idea who this Albert guy was. All I knew was that he was Ritchie’s friend and could help me out, but all I seemed to get from him was more ways to spend the little money I had.
But he had a real fatherly attitude and seemed to know the business and I could call him whenever I wanted to, even wake him up in the middle of the night and he didn’t mind. He was the only person I could really talk to.
So I call Albert and I tell him I’m desperate and I don’t know what I am going to do, and that’s when he said to me, “Commander Cody is playing C.W. Post next month and I want you to host an afterparty for them, and make sure you have plenty of beer.”
And I was like, “What??” I am booking some guys I never heard of, right after they do a show down the road, this didn’t make sense. But Albert said, “Just do it.” So I did.
It was pure genius and total chaos. C.W. Post was dry so two thousand thirsty kids came over after that show and partied all night.
We were beyond packed. Commander Cody was rocking the place and I went through every keg, every bottle of beer I had and the cash register would not stop ringing.
It really opened my eyes. Albert dropped by the club a few days later. He had long greyish hair and beard, and he looked and acted a little like Santa Claus, real positive and jovial.
He was very happy with me and said, “Next month I want The Band to play here,” and I was like, “Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, that band??” And Albert said, “Yes, The Band.”
Back then in the music business there were guys who could, with the wave of hand, make-or-break a career, or with a phone call, make-or-break a club.
Albert Grossman had managed Dylan, Janis Joplin, and he was one of those guys.
It was not until years later that I realized that Albert had been testing me and the night Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen played My Father’s Place, that is when I became a Made guy.
