The Big City Gig

Another Tale Of Musical Madness... It was in the early seventies... My friend and rhythm guitar man, Mark Trotiner, worked in a well known musician store in NYC... Another one of those so rare "light up the room types"- He played great rhythm guitar, Couldn't play a lick of lead, Sang proudly with an awful voice, Was the arch-typical Hippie of the 70's, Knew all about music and bands, Was friend to Frank Zappa, Blues Project men, had met Jimmy Page and countless others, the first of the Greenwich Village Super Hippies All the bands knew him... He could charm your socks off... Swore till the day he dies, He inspired Mark Knaufler"s "Money For Nothing".. And I'd long learned how to catch a bullshooter in crap... Listen to his story.... Wait a good amount of time, Ask him again about it... See what has changed... Repeat this process about Three times, You're sure to expose the lie, I did this to him repeatedly Over the course of years, And he passed every test... (that story itself worthy of a great work...someday soon...) However, he was the core figure In the Grateful Dead Cover Band I was in...with his guitar player friend, Mark "Bone" Diaz- 6 foot three, 80 pounds, curly red hair tied back... Greatest musician I ever played with... And another anxious singer with no voice... Well Mark was always meeting musicians of various levels... And so charming, so unassuming he appeared to be... He had that aura, like cousin Bill In all my life, those two still.. Stand out with this gift... Oh, give me a spoonful of that gift... And what a boost in my life it would lift Anyway, (and this happened twice...) Hope I don't get mixed up... It's like tossin' them ol' dice... This band, named "Koala" Early 70's recording band... Invited us down, based on Mark's word, To open a set for them.. At their Bond Street Loft... We wound up there twice... Were told to bring naught but our guitars... Their equiptment world class... Now I'll compact these 2 stories To make my point... We didn't know what we had stepped into... Should'a never entered the joint... First gig, just like the "Big Day Gig", All other musicians crapped out on us at the last minute... And I wound up doing this job With Billy, Mark T., a drummer, and me..