THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 2008

(part 89) RASTUS IN OHIO 1970

From bobby jameson

Picture is reversed because it is a webcam shot

This is the back cover of the second Rastus album which contains 2 songs that I helped write, LUCEY BLUEBIRD, B. Jameson, V.Walkus and G. Sopuch. The second is BIG CITY LET DOWN BLUES, J. Rhys and B. Jameson. They were arranged by Rastus and engineered by John Rhys. This band if you are not familiar with them is similar to CHICAGO and BLOOD SWEAT AND TEARS. The members of the band are DAVE MILES keyboard and vocals, MARC SPIROU trumpet/ valve trombone/ conga and vocals, DON NAGY bass, MIKE "the frist" GERACI tenor and baritone sax and background vocals, VIC WAUKUS tenor and alto sax, GEORGE SOPUCH guitar, JOHN TAYLOR trombone, DAVE "SMOKEY" SMELKO drums and background vocals. Road manager ANGELO CRIMI and the main roadie "DUDE" JAMES CANTALE supported by TONY and ROBIN.

I put up the back of the album so you could see, along with the house picture, where I was and with whom. Collectively all these people saved my life in 1970 and I have the deepest feelings for all of them today. I am working on getting some of their music but I can't put up other peoples stuff without their ok, so, if and until I get that I will not post any RASTUS music without permission.

In the beginning I was glad to be out of L A and be anywhere but where I'd been, but being Bobby Jameson still presented me with all the problems I had become used to. I was me and there was no getting around it and that had become my main problem in life, being me! I had strong opinions and was not smart enough to keep my mouth shut at times when it would have made sense to do so. Because I had also been on GRT RECORDS, as was RASTUS, I had opinions about the label which I used to express around the guys in the band. Sometimes being right is not the best way to approach others whose dreams were still in tact. I was not sensitive enough about the feelings of those around me who still believed that they were on their way to fulfilling their dreams, which meant GRT RECORDS would treat them right, I knew this was not to be the case.

At some point, I was mouthing off after a gig, getting off the band bus and MARC SPIROU, who was a very decent guy, got fed up with my never ending trashing of GRT and punched me in the mouth out of frustration. He knocked me to the ground and I was stunned and then angry that he had hit me. Looking back on it now, knowing how important his belief in GRT was at the time, I don't blame him a bit for whacking me, I just pushed it too far. This of course at the time set me in motion like a mad man and I grabbed a kitchen knife and went out to the barn telling anyone who could hear me that I would be waiting for Marc to meet me out there, he was smart enough to just let me chill out.