Show Day in Atlanta

Today and tomorrow we're playing at the Fox Theatre. This place is absolutely beautiful. It holds 4600 people.

The Lynyrd Skynyrd live album was recorded here, and everybody and their brother has played there sometime during their career.

When I lived in Charlotte back in the 70's and early 80's, we'd come to Atlanta to see shows that didn't pass through NC, and usually that would mean a trip to the Fox.

I saw the Kinks here on the Low Budget tour, with Herman Brood and His Wild Romance ("Saturday Night") opening.

Saw Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers during their Damn The Torpedoes tour. Got to meet the band and drink a bunch of beer with them at the aftershow party - most of my friends and I worked for The Record Bar (a chain of record stores) back then. I remember Tom Petty walking around with a bottle of champagne, in a celebratory mood for having sold out such a big (for him) room. His mom was there, too, at the party.

Our dearly departed friend Donnie Morse was the biggest Tom Petty fan and supporter on the planet. He was in seventh heaven getting to meet and speak to his idol. It was Donnie who originally turned us all on to TP when his first record came out.

I also got to see the Rolling Stones here in 1981. I paid $250 for a fifth-row seat right in front of Keith Richards. That was a helluva lot of money in 1981 for a guy like me, but hey, it was the Stones. I came with Sherry Willey (my girlfriend during the entire 80's), Steve Thompson, Bob Patterson, Pete Davis, Cheryl "Gidget" Dennehy, and (I think) Hal Clanton. I eventually snuck the entire gang down to the 5th row, Either Steve or Bob P. had the seat next to me, so I kept walking out with both ticket stubs and passing off the second one to one of the gang, who'd then walk in with me.

What a great road trip that was. It seems like we all drank a million beers and had the time of our lives on that trip. We were all 21-23 years old then and just hanging out together was a celebration. I really miss those people and those good times.