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The late summer of 1973 found us back on the road. One of our first stops was Detroit's Cobo Hall. It was crewman Freeman Batchelor's first road date with the band. It would be a memorable one. Someone had given Danny some downers/barbiturates called "AZ," short for Azmidor, just before the show so he would have them for "after the gig partying." It was understood that going on stage "under the influence" of anything was a no no. The unwritten rule was broken a number of times by different members, including myself, but it was a rule just the same. This was to be Danny's night. Danny had it figured that if he waited till Floyd's drum solo in the middle of the show, he could take those pills and have them "come on" (take effect) just after the show ended. At the end of the show, we came back on and did "JAM" for an encore. After about 15 minutes of raising the roof off the building, and the audience stomping and grooving with us, we ended the show. We were waving and saying good bye, etc. Danny had miscalculated and had taken the drugs too early in the show. He stepped up to the microphone and started giving this heartfelt, albeit a stumbling drug slurred, speech to the audience saying "You guys are the best audience in the whole world! I mean, you're the fucking best, Detroit!. We love you, and next time we come back we'll ... " and OUT HE WENT. By "out," I mean he passed out cold right in the middle of a sentence and took a forward roll dive off the front of the stage. An ambulance was called and he was rushed off to the hospital, but recovered just fine and returned to our hotel. I think a good portion of the audience were particularly "focked up" that night, as well. It was not uncommon, back in the late 60's and early 70's for half the audience to be "loaded" on something. Detroit stood out as one of the more "drug enhanced" audience towns, so this little unplanned "drug dive off the stage" fit right in with the mood of the audience. I heard people saying "Wow, man! Is that cool or what? He's really loaded, man!," etc. And such were the times. Here's a shot backstage, that same night, at Cobo Hall of Cory with our long time "DEE-TROIT" friend, Susan Detorre. |
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Thanks to Susan Detorre for this picture |
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Soon, we were off to Japan again in December of 1973. Top right: Jerry Sloan, 3DN stage manager. Jerry was a student of the martial arts, so it was great having Freeman Batchelor as part of the road crew. I started studying with Freeman, too. Bottom left: The late Michael "Tiny" Gossen. A wonderful human being and a mountain of a man. A gentle giant, really. Tiny use to tell me "ALLSUP! IF YOU WEREN'T MY FRIEND ... YOU'D HAVE BEEN DEAD BY NOW." Tiny traveled with us to Japan as SHOWCO sound and lights man from Dallas, TX. Right: Freeman Batchelor, my best friend in the whole wide world. Please note on the final picture of Tiny Gossen lifting weights, that he had 3 plates on each end that weighed 45 lbs. each, plus the bar itself weighed 45 lbs. That equals 315 pounds of total weight. See if you can get that much off the ground, much less bench press it. Early in 1974 Tiny would join Freeman as a member of our road crew, along with Dick Kell (I'm still digging around for a picture of Dick). Right: Freeman tweaking my Les Paul guitar. |
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Photos by Freeman Batchelor |