Dave Mason

[Rick]

“Jimi and I sat down facing each other, with Jimi on six-string acoustic and me on 12-string”: The life and times of Dave Mason

“If you're going to learn something, you may as well try and put yourself around the best”

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Saw him as teenager in 1980/81(?), and it was an epiphany and was one of the influences that cemented my desire to play the guitar. Before the concert my friend had some XXXXX which we toked up. Mason ripped into his set at this outdoor festival, middle of a spring day in May, clear blue sky, cool air, including a bunch of Hendrix songs, and pulled out these great tunes, and it was like the world had a new coat of paint. It was a religious experience. Hard to explain, but it's like that, where all the nonsense is stripped away and you see and hear things for real. Gave me confidence and took away fear. I know, strange, but that's how it was.

 

[mrpinter]

Speaking of life changing experiences... Apparently I'm about ten years older than you. When I was still a teenager during around 1968/69 I made the two hour drive with my best friend a few times from Grass Valley, CA to Bill Graham's Fillmore West in San Francisco. This was the time of the Summer of Love, and the golden period of the Fillmore. Those concerts were sort of life changing for me. I have vivid memories of the dealers hustling their stuff at the entrance, and the black lights as you entered, then the light shows during the shows. I was there for Gordon Lightfoot's first US performance, and saw bands like Lamb, the original Steve Miller Blues Band, Vanilla Fudge and Cold Blood. Different genres were thrown together, and it was kind of magical. Here are a couple of acts I saw there. I could have been sitting on the floor right in front of the stage for either or both of these shows.