The Heepvention called HV 99 was surely a fitting way to go out of this century and into the next !
Mr. John Lawton and his lovely wife Iris attended from England, as did Louis Rentrop, and Pete Wharton and his family !
It was a fantastic time...bloddy hot in Myrtle Beach, but cool as a cucumber inside the festival Hall.
Mac and Debbi Steagall, and Lannis and Bobbi Ethrige put on one hell of a show, and we will never forget a minute of it !
I think the easiest way to do this is just to start loading up pictures and video URL's for you and to post some of the 1st e-mails about the weekend...SO I WILL !
Enjoy !
Dave White
Mike (MUZZY) Fedysky Bass guitar at the Heepjam
Hello everyone!
Where can I begin to describe the greatest Heep experience in my
life?......~drifting back~
(TUESDAY) My wife Gail, daughter Kristine and I arrived around noon and
contacted Lannis to say we were there. He told me how to get to his place
and that John Lawton's been out with them every night, playing pool and
singing, etc. I was so excited thinking about how it would be to finally
meet him.
After dinner, we found Lannis and Bobby's place no problem. When
I opened
the door, there was Lannis, Bobby, Dale and Helen, Paul Kubler, Mac,
Debbie, Merrick, his wife Cathy and daughter Gina, John Parisi and Mausa'
with Marie ( the
heepling)...... I think I've got everyone, and we introduced ourselves to
all the new friends we've just met. It was a great feeling to see old
friends and meet some new faces. I remember feeling so good to be able to
have everyone meet Gail and Kristine.
That night we all went to the Crab House for some eats and then
to the place we made our "hang out" ( I guess) called the Players Sports
Club. They had a hip-hop band there and we all thought they we not Heep
material but with our " Bucket-of-beers" we enjoyed the evening just the
same.
Oh I've got to mention what happened when we got back to our
hotel around 1:30am. There was a message blinking on our phone and
thinking it was my Mom returning my call I played it back waiting to hear
her voice. Well, it went like this....."Hello Mike and Gail, this is John
Lawton calling. If I don't see you out and about, I hope you'll get in
touch with Mac because we're planning a dinner cruise tomorrow and I hope
to see you there". I couldn't friggin believe it!!!!!!!!! Mr Lawton
calling us! I had to save it. Gail and I played it over about 3 times
before deleting it.
(Wednesday) Hit the beach for the afternoon..................HOT!!! Then
around 4:00pm as we were getting ready for the dinner cruise, I thought
hell, John called me..........I'll just return his call. So I did and I
was so nervous. We chatted for a few minutes ( Gail also) and told him
we'd see him in around an hour.
At the boat, we all started to gather to get our tickets and here
comes John and Iris Lawton. Iris came right over and gave Gail a big hug
. She and Gail had written to each other a few times prior. John came
over, shook my hand and said my name...........WOW, he knew me! Gail and
I introduce Kristine and we all chatted a bit before boarding.( Here's
begins one of the days I'll never forget).
We boarded the boat for a 2 hours dinner cruise ( thank God it
was air conditioned) and I couldn't believe my luck as John and Iris sat
down across from us to hear the entertainment ( a guitarist with a drum
and backup tape ). Kristine looked at me and said, "well Dad, you're
sitting with him". I said I know, pinch me. :-) Sorry if I sound so
child-like but nothing's ever happened to me like this.
So I bought drinks for them and we laughed, took some pictures
and I was loving every minute of it. A really cool thing that I
remembered about our conversation was when Iris told John that Gail
looked like Mick's wife. He looked at Gail and agreed. Wow, so cool, huh?
I bought a second round and John yelled at me insisting he buy the next
one. As John and I were getting all the drinks, we were told to go to the
lower deck for the dinner. When we arrived at the lower deck, John said,
"Mike sit here" ( next to him). So that was the best hour or two I'll
never forget!!! One of the funniest thing that happened was after dinner
when the guitarist asked where the singer from Uriah Heep had gone, I
said " He stepped outside to have a fag". Everyone laughed so
hard.........a fag is what they call a smoke in England.
After the cruise, we all went to the House of Blues for some
drinks. John didn't get to sing that night but we all had some good
laughs and he told some stories that I hope Merrick will share. I was at
the other end of the table so I'd love to hear them Merrick.
(Thursday) Mac and Deb invited us over for a 10:00am breakfast. Such
wonderful people! Gail and Kris wanted to sleep in that morning because I
guess the late night hours were catching up with them. I was to catch up
with them on the beach that afternoon. They've been so supportive of me
this week so feeling a slight guitly going alone, I went to the
breakfast.
I found their place with ease and who opens up the door but Mr.
BigDog himself, Dave Griffin. So happy to see him and his wife Kim there.
I had known of their situation with Kim's Step Dad and we spoke about it
briefly. You see, Gail's Mom had terminal bone cancer and lived with us
for her last 6 months.
Anyway, Dave was the "you've got to have grits" man! He was
making sure we all tried them. I liked them but still think they need
sugar Dave. :-) Debbie fixed a wonderful breakfast for us all, and we sat
around playing Lucifer's Friend CD's. It was around noon when John and
Iris popped through the door. Breakfast was just about all gone by then
and John loves to cook so he started cooking eggs and everyone including
myself got the cameras flashing.
I got to ask him questions about LF ( I think he told me his
favorite is " Banquet") and how he wrote songs with Box. He explained how
Mick had put a small part into " Free & Easy" so he had to share
royalties but "I'm Alive" was all his. I told him LF's musicians were
extemely talented and he agreed only to add that they were reading music
during all the recording sessions.
I had to leave to join my family so I left about 1:30 as did
some others. I asked where everyone would be late evening in case we
wanted to join up. Players.....they said.
Afternoon was family day at the beach and a very long dinner wait (
that's another story). Met the gang at Players Sport Bar around 10:30pm.
shot pool and had more "bucket-of-beers". Then around 11:30pm everyone
decided to head to the House of Blues to hear John sing ( we hoped). Mac
told the band the night before that UH's singer was in the audience so
they said they'd love to have him do some numbers.
Gail and Kris we're tired so I took them back to the hotel and
met up with everyone and HOB. Just in time to hear John sing 3 songs.
UNFREAKENBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!! His voice was awesome. People were coming
inside to hear him.
Remembering that night that Louis Rentrop was to be there, I
hunted him down to find him outside after John's tunes. He's such a nice
guy but between him and Jay Pearson, I had neck pains from looking up.
LOL I'm a struggling 5'6" and these guys were 6' 5" at least! Great guys
though and by Sunday we were closer friends for sure!
It was almost 2:30am and everyone said goodnight. I got another
handshake from John and so ended another unbelievable evening for me.
.............to be continued.
Muzzy
Alex Gitlin - Keyboards at the Heepvention Jam !
HV99 - very special memories
As I'm still recovering from all the excitement and the jet-lag, my thoughts
may be a bit jumbled, but I was there, as you all know, so here's my
account... I will TRY to make it brief, but as usual, will fail, of course.
:-)
Friday was an insane day by all accounts - getting to the airport, hopping on
the plane in Boston with ease, then another one in Raleigh/Durham (connecting
flight to MB) - all was a breeze (aside from those annoying crying babies on
the flight - that's inevitable); something had to give.
At the airport, I was greeted very generously by people I didn't know and
didn't even pretend to know when I saw them - Amber and Brad Todd - the
nicest and most hospitable couple I've ever met! Amber asked me if I was
Alex (Gitlin); I didn't even notice her T-shirt with the HV design... They
showed me the way to their rather old and beatup Chevy, and I was happy to
get back into the air conditioned area again; being out in the scorching,
sweltering heat felt like being in a Turkish bath... Got to the hotel
without problems and immediately was greeted by practically who's who of the
Heepsters mailing list: Jay, Bob W., Louis, Todd Pence, Paul Kubler, and
many others. WOW! Once again, the list came alive for me, for the third
time, and it just felt so different in person than it does behind the
computer screen! You guys are all alive and actually do exist, and so do I!
Despite all the jokes and jabs, I didn't feel the need to be defiant anymore,
it's only a mailing list, take it easy - that thought just went through my
head like a flash of lightning, and my whole perspective, once again,
changed. I didn't need to shout at these guys to prove to them that I'm
"right" or anything... I tend to take myself and the list a little too
seriously at times, but these Ventions give us all a chance to "vent" a bit
and gain a more rational, more objective perspective on things - cause, like
it or not, we're not the same in person as we are on the list. An
unexplainable paradox.
Missed all those who couldn't make it! Immediately retreated into my (and
Bob's) room to make some quick phone calls, after which I was ready for
lunch! Hey, Brad and Amber promised we'd go, but by then they'd disappeared,
and everyone else there seemed to have eaten already, except Jay. It was
somehow decided to go visit the nearby McDonalds. Off we went to enter
Dave's wife's 2 day old shiny and squeaky clean Honda Accord, and drove
literally a few inches away from the hotel. This particular McD's turned out
to be a real skunk pit - smelled like a bad lavatory at a railway station,
and I was immediately "hit" by the "Southern Hospitality" of the people who
work there behind the counter. That sandwich was almost thrown on the
counter in front of me and tasted like crap too... NEVER AGAIN - chalked it
up to experience and moved on (good job I didn't get food poisoning from it
though).
After rigorous discussions of Heep albums, songs, rarities, as well as the
usual arsenal of other artists we, Heepsters, so like to commemorate, such as
ABBA and the Bay City Rollers (notwithstanding), it was time to head on down
for the Shrine Club (literally a few steps away from the Holiday Inn!) to
check it out. It turned out to be a function hall belonging to some local
Mason congregation (probably fans of Dave Mason)... The hats and trophees
(sp?) behind the glass on display were very impressive, and Bob W. seemed to
recognise Lawrence Welk in every picture hanging on those walls... I thought
I saw a Tom Bosley (actor on Happy Days!) there as well.
After a few more hours of wandering around (not even sure I remember it very
clearly), we headed for a place called Garcia's - a good Mexican restaurant
and the only place in the area where there was NO wait to get in (MB is so
overcrowded!)... On the way there we met John and Iris literally on the
steps of the famous PLAYERS club, and it was a moving, emotional experience
for me. I saw them for the second time in my life (London, 1998, was the
first) and it was like meeting old friends. Very warm, gracious, friendly
people - enough's been said about them here already, but I can't help but add
my own bit.
We, by then, comprised a rather large (and dangerous looking!) posse,
including Lannis and Bobbie, Mac and Debbie, Mausa and Marie, etc,. so one
table was no longer enough for us! The food and drinks were excellent.
Sadly, Bob ordered Montezuma's Revenge - more on that later...
The Players was our next destination, and by then I'd heard all about John's
"sitting in" with house bands at various institutions around that area,
singing some rock'n'roll standards, so I was secretly hoping that that would
be the case at the Players club as well - alas; instead, the entertainment
programme featured an unknown but obnoxious grunge band called The Universal
who really got on my nerves, and I did my damnedest to block them out
throughout the evening... unfortunately, they were very very loud too.
A quick drinking session was followed by many rounds of pool - John teamed up
with Jon Parisi against myself and Bob W., Dale F., Jay or whoever else was
brave enough to take them on - and WON every time! Jon Parisi's real good -
a pro!!! John is good also, but he has one penchant - for getting the white
ball in the pocket at almost every hit! ;-) In fact, that was probably the
most white balls I've seen pocketed in any one game by any one individual!!
:-)
It was loads of fun, really. Exhausted, we finally headed for our hotel
rooms at 1 in the morning, and a small group of us met Jay's roommate Dave
Crookham who'd just gotten there and was unaware of what was going on... We
had a good chat, but as I started noticing that my head is losing balance, I
bowed out and headed straight for bed... This turned out to be one of the
worst nights of my life. I simply got NO sleep at all... despite being very
very tired.
Unfortunately, my roommate Bob had had an ALL YOU CAN EAT seafood buffet at
Calabash that preceding morning, and then the Montezuma in the afternoon.
The two collided within his stomach and it felt like World War III. Huge
blasts were emanating from his intestinal tract, some as long as 30 seconds
and even more! We're talking Chemical warfare here, Biohazard area. I
DESPERATELY needed a gas mask. I think I spent more time in the hallway
gasping for fresh air than in bed that night. Finally, Bob took mercy on my
poor soul and said, "No more of that, I'm going to the bathroom - this ought
to take care of the problem". He spent the following hour there - the walls
were shaking from the continuing blasts, but at least the door was closed, so
I breathed a tiny sigh of relief... I'm suprised (from the sounds of it)
that the damn toilet is still in one piece. It sounded like a turbo engine
in there... Frankly, I'm surprised I'm alive and in one piece today myself!
Well, THIS didn't really take care of the problem, and the chemical raids
continued throughout the night, leaving me feeling very very exhausted in the
morning. Bob later told this sad tale to Mick Box via e-mail and both had a
laugh... at MY expense yet again! :-)
The following morning was a blur. After a nice meal of grits and poached
eggs at a local breakfast place called Hardees (grayeets, if you wanna talk
Southern), we went to the Shrine Club again, to check out the equipment,
acoustics, and so forth. I was expecting a B-3 type keyboard, led on by
someone's blatant and deliberate misinformation ("Mac drove off to North
Carolina to rent you a B3 with a Leslie, Alex!" - I was in heaven!) and saw
an Alessys. No other keyboard was in sight, this was my worst nightmare (no,
actually a Yamaha DX7 would've been!) but I still felt grateful to Mac for
trucking it along - better than nothing! If you're an organ or a synth
player, you'll understand - it's NOT easy to play organ and synth parts on
weighted keys!!! Still got blisters on my fingers. To add insult to injury,
I didn't know half the songs on the damned set list (poor preparedness, no
one to blame but myself). I mean, I KNEW them, audibly, but not well enough
to be able to play them note for note. So there had bound to be a few
screwups in the jam... Yet we carried on with the soundcheck, while I was
trying to chart some of the songs out (thanks to Muzzy who helped a lot!) on
the fly.
At some point, John came up on stage and did a soundcheck with us. This was
my first time ever witnessing him perform live, and it was a truly
unbelievable, out of body experience! I was gobsmacked, speechless. He
first did Stealin', then a bunch of songs from his own period which we needed
to play during the jam - he was very gentle and patient with us, egging us
on, helping out with some arrangemnts. Unfortunately, in a hurry, I
couldn't find the right synth patches, and the organ sounds definitely
weren't anywhere near anything like a B-3, but we had to carry on... The
sound system was also a problem. I was going through the central monitor
speakers, and could hear myself fine... only if no one else played.
Throughout the jam, I kept signalling Ed - the sound man - to raise my volume
on the monitors, but he'd reached some kind of a limit and couldn't go any
further up... So I didn't even know half of the times what the hell I was
playing...
Most of you will have seen the official part of the 'Vention on video, so I
won't bother with the details - it's all been pretty well described by Big
Dog, Louis and others on the list. Let's just say it was tremendous fun.
The jam began roughly at 9 o'clock with Easy Livin', followed by Sweet
Lorraine (don't know HOW we managed to f... this one up!) followed by Return
to Fantasy. That one turned out to be a royal F... up!!!! I'd forgotten
that I was supposed to play the intro thingy in D minor, not C, so we started
the whole thing three times, and I STILL didn't get it right! Sorry! Won't
happen again, I swear! It got a little better afterwards.
John got up on stage during the second segment of our performance and played
Free And Easy, Come Back To Me, The Hanging Tree, Sympathy and other great
Heep tunes, including Stealin'. On those tunes I was supposed to play synths
on, I couldn't hear myself very well, so I was petrified of possible
mistakes: it was bad enough to have disgraced myself with three falstarts
into RTF IN FRONT OF JOHN, let alone while accompanying him... I think I
needn't worry much, those tunes came off very well. Dave's solo intro into
Sympathy was very special, but he played it in front of Paul K. as if he was
serenading him! Had Paul been a female, I would've understood... What's up
Dave? :-)))))
The rest of the Vention jam went by quite smoothly, although not without
glitches. The Byron stuff came off very well, I think (Thanks BD!) but the
Goalby era songs were really unnecessary. At least I thought so cause I
didn't know how to play them - haha! Somehow, thanks to Muzzy, I managed to
pull off "I Hear Voices", but Time of Revelation and later Come Away Melinda
were disasters, keyboard-wise. :-( The acoustic part was terrific - two
dudes from South Carolina did Blind Eye and Tales (bravo!), I did half-decent
versions of Rain and What Should Be Done, followed by The Easy Road,
featuring BD's great vocals. Sorry I didn't modulate on TER, BD, should've
practised more... I know, I know. :-)
In conclusion we did some more Byron classics, including Lady In Black
(featuring John L. on acoustic guitar, BD on vocals and the entire Heepster
choire on backups!) followed by some real surprises - John's rendition of
"Mustang Sally" and "All Shook Up" (I was sort of smart to have switched to
piano on those)... Somewhere in there we pulled off "Gypsy" (complete with
guitar, keyboard and drum solos) and my usual "air guitar" bit, although
shorter than usual. Probably less of a surprise than at the first two
'Ventions, I'll have to think of new routines next time. :-)
Throughout the evening, I kept stuffing myself with chips and salsa, in hope
to avenge myself the following night, but alas, my artillery was about as
strong as Yugoslavia's air defense system put against that of the United
States...
John was having a great time and clearly enjoyed himself. He told us, "We
(Gunhill) get together once a day for a rehearsal, and we have problems. If
you can get together once a year and pull off something like this...
[kudos]"! he also told me something to the effect of "Stuff the mistakes -
it's all about enjoying yourself..." Clearly with more rehearsals, practice
etc. we could've been a lot tighter, but John was STILL amazing on vocals
during his bits - I thought I'd died and went straight to heaven.
The 'Vention ended only too soon, but we stuck around for a bit longer to
chit-chat, afterall, how long does this happen...
I enjoyed talking to Merrick who impressed me with his intellect as well as
his drumming skills that night - yes, folks, there's one shrewd and sharp
mutha underneath the "hahaha" facade! :-) Dave seemed overwhelmed by the
surprise birthday cake and presents; Mac was his usual cheerful self, two
days in the South made me understand his lingo this time a little better; Jay
- I didn't even realise he was so tall! He sounds very intelligent, like a
television presenter, Peter Jennings maybe... Not to pigeonhole you, Jay!
Bruce Cameron was there, but he was promoting his new product, not
participating in all the festivities... Barry Lombardo simply ROCKED!! Wow.
Meeting Big Dog was also a very emotional experience for me. I didn't
realise it (I sometimes don't) but let it be officially known that I have a
soft spot for the guy, he's a good friend, and standing there on stage,
accompanying him on "Rain" was just as moving for me as I'm sure it was for
him, especially under the circumstances - it nearly did bring "tears to my
eyes"... Enjoyed meeting Todd, Ron Mann and many others I may have forgotten
to mention here...
The following night, there were four of us sleeping in one room (hey! Don't
get any ideas here! We were all very tired for that kind of stuff anyway!):
Paul, Ron, myself and Bob. Bob kept quiet that night (well, his schphinxter
did!) but I told some "tales" which had them rolling on the floor (Ron and
Paul literally!) - I better keep them off the list, too raunchy. :-)
The following morning - unbelievably - it was time to say goodbye and fly
back to Boston... We all had some of Dave's cake in the lobby of the
hotel... It was a bit of a disappointment for me not to be able to ride back
to the airport with Paul, but we caught up with one another again at the
terminal... He had a beer or ten, I had chicken wings with tartar sauce. The
flight back to Raleigh was alright, but due to the thunderstorm, the flight
back to Boston was delayed by three hours...
The next morning I woke up from a beautiful dream... and found John and
Iris's message in my mailbox, titled, "Jetlagged in London". Good, thought
I, they're back home. So is everyone else (Louis, etc.) Everyone clearly
enjoyed him/herself, it was one of the better 'Ventions I've experienced -
well, despite a few glitches. Next time I'm bringing a gas mask, a cork and
a large pepto.
Alex
HV Host Mac Steagall's Memories
Taking the wrong route to MB route and getting stuck in traffic for
3 hours. Things improved quickly however.
Meeting John & Iris at the HOB restaurant. A group of about a dozen
of us stood outside until Pete realized they might be in the bar. :-P
John and Iris were so friendly to us it was amazing! They went around
and talked to every last one of us while getting all our names straight.
Taking Pete, Dale, John & Iris to the Bowery along with the resident Heepsters
Brad & Amber... I warned John, Iris & Pete to expect a serious culture shock!
:-P The Bounty Hunters had switched guitarists since Deb and I saw them last
and had become a more country band. Well, I think the Allman Bros songs
salvaged the evening for Dale and we all had some good laughs. Pete and John's
southern accent is almost as bad as Paul's.
John getting up on stage at Froggy Bottoms with the Carey Michaels Band.
He was smoking! Debbie had left for a few minutes and missed it but John
sang another tune when she got back.
Sampling unusual beers and ales with Pete and Dale at Liberty Steak & Ale.
Crap,I was crocked before dinner was served! Unfiltered wheat? Not bad...
The entertainer on the dinner cruise mentioning Uriah Heep. What a response
he got!
The guy was a singer but a pretty good comedian as well. I bet he didn't
expect a bunch of Heepsters singing to Mustang Sally. John turned to Iris and said "Hon,
what do you want to eat?" and John P. answered. For the rest of the week, John L called
John P. "hon"! :-)
Hitting the waves with Pete and his son Matt. Pete's a great guy....and
he's got such a wonderful family! Hi Matt, Janine & Elissa!
Muzzy's daughter getting up and singing on "That's the Way That It Is" with
John Parisi.
People walking up to us everywhere we went and asking us about Uriah Heep!
Unreal! "Uriah
Heep...Geez! Are they still around? I used to love them."
Button (Mausa') fixing us spagetti dinner at Lannis & Bobbie's condo. I'm
still trying to
get my foot out of my mouth about the David Bowie meets Uriah Heep comment.
Big Dog's entrance to the Shrine Club just before the jam and his very
moving speech. I
know Kim and he have really been through alot.
Louis Rentrop's worried face when his arrived at the MB Airport after
midnight and didn't
see any Heepsters. Debbie wasn't wearing a Heepshirt and he visably
releaved when he found
out she and Helen were there! :-P Louis arrived at the House of Blues just
in time to see
John singing on stage!
More to come.....
Kris (Muzzy's daughter) (Vocals on That's the Way it is )
I wanted to thank you so
much for everything you did in MB to make a wonderful Heepvention for all
of us to enjoy. I thought I'd write a review of my own to share with you
and the others on the list. I hope you post it. Thanx! Here goes:
"A Teenager's Perspective"
Contrary to popular belief, a teenager can have fun at a
Heepvention! Hi everyone! My name is Kristine Fedysky and I'm Muzzy and
Gail's daughter and I attended the Heepvention with my parents. I was
very doubtful of having a good time during the course of the week, but my
initial thoughts were proven wrong. It was probably one of the funnest
weeks of my life.
I was originally introduced to Uriah Heep as an infant. I tell
everyone that I was born into the band! My father always had one of
their records playing whether it be in the car or the house. I guess the
band just kind of grew on me so I never had a chance not to like it!
Although many teenagers would probably not be willing to admit this, (and
my dad's going to say "I told you so" when he reads this) Uriah Heep,
although not my first selection musically for myself, is a very good band
with wonderful melodies and lyrics. My father teased me that I may know
more lyrics to more songs than some of the people at the Vention because
I know all the words to about ninety-eight percent of their material, new
and old.
In case you don't know, my father is one of the bassists for the
group at the Heepventions. I loved listening to him practice because he
would go through every album or CD and learn every part, almost note for
note, and play it exactly like Thain, Newton, Daisley, or Boulder. I
must say he's a wonderful bassist. I had no doubts he'd do a great job
in Myrtle Beach (and he did), but I was worried for myself because I had
never attended a Heepvention before unlike my parents, so I was scared.
Coming from Pennsylvania, we faced an uncomfortable twelve hour
ride before we reached South Carolina. Quietly sitting in the back seat,
as we passed through state after state, I sat thinking of how much
further I was from my boyfriend at home and honestly, I wasn't too
enthused about this vacation. I had assumed that we'd get there and I'd
meet many people that I didn't know and that didn't know me. I figured
that we wouldn't get along due to the age differences and because they
were all friends of my parents. Sure, I had heard that they were the
nicest people my parents had ever met, but I had my doubts.
I can definitely say one thing, I was the wrongest I'd ever been
in my life. We arrived Tuesday afternoon in Myrtle Beach and my father
called Lannis from our room. Minutes later we drove over to his condo
and I dreaded every minute of it. I love meeting new people and I love
socializing, but these were my parents' friends and in no way did I want
to embarrass them. When we went upstairs, I was flooded with "Hello's"
and "Hi, how are you's" and very hospitible people consisting of Mac,
Lannis, Bobbi, Mousa, Marie, Gina, Dale, Helen and later arrived Paul,
John Parisi, Merrick, and Cathy. I had never been around a nicer group
of people with so many accents and differences. They made me feel right
at home and didn't make me feel like I was sixteen and they were older,
they treated me like I was one of their best friends. We heard stories
of the previous nights when John Lawton had sung in different clubs and
brought the house down. I never realized how one thing like a musical
group could unite so many different cultures and personalities.
The Heepvention was more than I ever expected it to be.
Unfortunately, Big Dog had to leave early due to an unfortunate incident
just days before the vention and the band was short a singer. Mousa had
heard me sing once before and told me that sooner or later, I would get
on stage and sing. Ten minutes before the band was going to play, Dave
(BD) made a grand entrance and was greeted with many hugs and kisses.
Previously, Jay Pierson (sorry if I spelled it wrong) had also heard me
sing and brought it to Big Dog's attention that he thought I was pretty
good. Dave came up to me and asked me to sing the first two lines of
"That's the Way That It Is" and so I did. He immediately told me that I
would be on stage after the band's break accompanying John Parisi on lead
vocals. I was beyond excited. I was very honored because I'd be the
first female to sing a Heep song publically, I guess you could say.
I apologize for the lengthiness of this summary, but there just
aren't enough words to describe how much fun we had, or how wonderful
everyone was to me. Before I knew it, the week was over and I had to say
goodbye to all of my wonderful new friends and I really didn't want to go
home. So Jay, and everyone else with teenagers, you can tell your
daughters what they missed and all of the amazing people they didn't get
to meet. I was lucky enough to spend a week with them. I'm glad my
original thoughts and doubts about the event turned out wrong because it
was an awesome experience. I hope to attend future Heepventions and help
Heep live on. Thanx!
Jay Pearson - Winner of the "Tallest" there award !
Hi y'all!
I'm back at work and there are surprisingly few emails waiting (only 237!!
;-)
Here's my summary:
Best part - the people - I've been telling everyone that this was the dream
family reunion, the one were everybody loves everybody, there's no family
bickering or backbiting (and just a wee bit o' squabbling). I'm more
enthused than ever about the people on this list, as well as Heep fans in
general, as there were many others at HV who are not on the list, and they
were all just as wonderful as us.
Worst part - the flight coming in - Most of you know that I was delayed for
quite some time in Memphis due to somebody else's medical emergency, but all
my anguish disappeared as I finally stepped into MB's airport and there were
Helen & Debbie waiting for Louis!! (of course, he came later on the flight
they were expecting me on, and I came in earlier on the flight they were
expecting him on, but what the heck!! :)
Some of my fave memories:
*Meeting everyone.
*Having dinner & playing pool with John Lawton.
*Singing Lady In Black w/ half the crowd!
*Watching JL do his thing at the House of Blues (especially seeing the
drummer's gigantic grin as he had the honor of playing with JL)
*Shopping & visiting the aquarium on Sunday w/ those of us late-leavers!
*The Heepjam, especially Circle of Hands (for those of you who missed it,
this performance captured all the magic that you hear on the Live 73 version
of the song - bloody incredible!)
BTW, I've spent the last three days with Words In The Distance in my head,
and not the SOL version, but the Heepster version w/ Dale singing!!!!
Another awesome performance (I Hear Voices deserves special mention as
well).
*Singing Stealin' at Players while that crap alternative band was trying to
warm up!
*Dale signing my KBFH CD!!! Not many fans can brag about that!! :)
*Hearing the Gunhill CD (and getting it signed by JL) for the first time.
THIS IS A KILLER ALBUM AND ALL OF YOU NEED TO HAVE THIS!!!!!
*Staying up until 4 or 5 am talking Heep w/ Todd, Barry, Dave C, Bob W,
Muzzy & Louis (did I miss anyone?)
*Meeting Heepsters that I'd never known before at all, like Ken C & his
wife, Brad & Amber Todd, John & Susan Bryant, and Ed.
*Finally meeting in face BobW, BigDog, Alex, Pete & all the rest of you!!!
:)))
*Finding out that most Heep fans are also closet Raging Silence fans!!!
Yes, most of you out there admitted to me that you secretly do think that RS
is either very good, outstanding, or a Heep classic!!!
*NO ITINERARY!!! The best part of missing me wif was her not being there to
create an itinerary!!!
Well, if I missed anything, too bad!!!
Jay
Dave Crookham
I've barely had time to get settled back in (I ended up driving 12 hours yesterday and working late today), but just wanted to check back in.
HV99 went smoothly thanks to the great advance work of the North Carolina Heepster contingent. Just when you wonder if these things can
even match up to their predecessors, they get even better.
It was great to meet some Heepsters for the first time (Ron Mann, Jay, the Pence's, Louis, Brad, Pete & family, Mausa & Marie, Madman's better
half & Gina and everyone else I'm too tired to remember right now ). They just go to further prove that pretty much all Heepsters are great people.
The jam was as good as expected with John Lawton helping out and Bigdog and the band knocking out a version of "Circle Of Hands" that had everyone watching and listening in amazement.
It's also always great to have a few days where you can actually hold intelligent conversations with other people about groups and music that 99.9% of everyone else has never even heard of. The rock music knowledge of this group is staggering. When I talk to the people I normally hang out with, I'm amazed when they are familiar with anything I listen to. With this group, it's hard to find something they don't know.
Dave
Uriah-heep.com Wenmaster Louis Renrtop
Hi Y'all,
Just returned from a flight in three parts back to Holland. In two cases I
shared my place in the plane with somebody who asked me what I was doing in
the states. One guy started to sing Éasy livin'after I had told him about
the vention. The other one asked me where I had left my guitar..... I told
him he was wrong..that I'm not Dave White:-) Both guys new Heep well from
the early days and both will check out our site and drop a email.
This were the last wonderfull experiences of the Heeptrip of my life. You
all impressed me much as nice and helpfull people, like the Heepladies Helen
and Bobby ( is that right written?) who catched me at the airport. It felt
like coming home! Just great. It's dangerous to mention names, as I don't
want to forget anyone of you.
The friendship, the warmth...unbelieveble. When I have to mention names, and
I think I have to it should be Mac and Lannis in the first place. The energy
and so many hours they had spend with their wives and friends to make this
vention to the wonderfull time we have had was tremendous. When everybody
was partying they where at the club to fix the p.a. A big thank you for
setting this all up!
Well there's more, much more:
* John and Iris Lawton, really great personalities, very friendly and
understanding to anybody. He was early in the club for the soundcheck and
nobody had to call him on stage...he just went there...made Dave,
Barry,Merrick,Muzzy and Alex feel comfortable and sung his heart out. The
Hanging three....amazing!!
* My first meeting with Dave Carol and Steven. Dave is the man I thought he
would be: fast, funny, warm and responseble. I think I'm the only one who
saw him diving in the Atlantic with his jeans still on. He could not stand
the heath and humidity anymore:-)
We had a happy birthday with him to. A huge cake came into the club, and was
only finished the next day in the Hotel.
*I'm very impressed by the knowledge of Heep and (non)related facts by Todd,
Jay and Alex. And even more impressed by their endless motivation to debate
about any of those fact's. They are all Musiclovers to the bone! I had to
step out to stay concious sometimes:-)
* The way Bigdog made his re-entrance saturdaynight was a special moment. I
think that everybody felt the same. It was great you could make it Dave, we
all knew how difficult it was, but as you said, this meeting with friends
meant a lot to you. So did it to us.
My eyes are already closed, so this is it for now. Please Robert Warren take
over:-)) Bob I've read your mails, i will respond. The same for all the
others! I hope y'all had a safe trip home, I wish Mousie and Helen a quick
recovery, Muzzy ( I had the remasters Salisbury with me STUPID from me not
to give you that one!)
Well thanks and thanks again everybody....i'm going to have a nice Myrtell
beach dream.
Louis
From Dave Griffin (Vocalist)
I'm preparing to leave my mother-in law's house in NC this morning for
Knoxville....I was supposed be back at work today, but I was able to
squeeze another day off so we could spend more time with Barbara, Kim's
mom....I thought while I'm still here it would be a good time to kinda
chronicle for you what we've been thru recently and the part my many
friends here have played in it...I'll try to make this semi-brief,but I
hope you'll understand if it's not....
A bit of background is probably needed first....Lloyd, Barbara's
husband, was diagnosed last year with cancer...In fact, the news was
confirmed just after we arrived in Cleveland for HV98, so we were
dealing with it even then...He was given 6 months to live, but thru
chemo treatments, etc., his life was extended to this past week...
Our concern was for Lloyd of course, but it was also for
Barbara....Kim's natural father died when she was a teen, and here was
Barbara faced with the proposition of being twice-widowed, which she now
is...And she's not in the best of health, so we've been concerned about
the toll all this would bear on her...
So, in the recent weeks as it became sadly apparent that Lloyd would
soon pass, Kim and I became prepared...I told my work what was up, and
that I might have to leave on a moment's notice...We even began to take
dress clothes with us when we went to visit my family a few weeks ago,
and as we did going to HV99...We had to be ready for a funeral...
Mac wrote the musicians a few weeks ago, tying some loose ends up...I
replied to all the musicians, letting them know of the situation, and
the possibility I'd be called away from HV if something happened during
that week...And sure enough, it did....
Our plans were to leave Knoxville last Tues. afternoon, and drive here,
stay the night, and go on to MB...The Charlotte area is just about
halfway between Knoxville and MB...
When I arrived here last Tues., I was so shocked to see Lloyd's
condition...Kim had been here just 3 weeks before, so she knew what to
expect...Even tho she tried to brace me for it, I wasn't ready for what
I saw...
Lloyd was clearly in his last days...He was in a hospital bed in the
front room of the house, hooked up to a couple of different
machines...He didn't know anyone around him or even who he was...He was
in great pain despite the massive amounts of morphine pumped into him,
and he would just jerk and twitch while lying in the bed...
It didn't take Kim and me too long to talk about going onto MB...She
didn't want to leave her mom, and I didn't either...So on Wed. morning,
we talked to Barbara about it, and she told us to go on, knowing we were
only 4 hours away...We decided to take with us Barbara's 6 year-old
granddaughter who practically lives with her, so she wouldn't have to
worry about her....Best decision we made all week...
Early Thurs. morning, we got a call saying that Lloyd had just
died..Barbara told us to stay in MB that day, and come back Fri...Having
Barbara's granddaughter with us then spared her granddaughter having to
see Lloyd's final hour, and the funeral home coming to get him, etc..
As it happens Debbie Steagall had invited everyone over to the condo we
were sharing with her and Mac for a big breakfast...Everyone was so
supportive as they learned our sad news...As we had a great time
together there, I began to be really torn at the prospect of leaving my
friends and heading back, but of course I knew I had to...
The funeral was to be at 2PM on Sat...I thought there would be no way
for me to make it back for the Jam, which, if you know me at all, is
very special to me..So, I finally asked Kim about the possibility of
returning for the Jam...If she said no, that was fine with me...But she
knows what that means to me, so she said that it would be OK...
So first I asked Mac and Lannis about pushing the festivities back a bit
on Sat.nite, giving me time to get back....They had already thought of
that...Then I worked on a ride back....Ron Mann, who lives not far from
here, was coming back to HV on Sat., and was more than willing to wait
on me and give me a ride....But I didn't want to hang him up so I asked
a friend here if he wanted to go back with me and he said yes...
But before I went back, there was the receiving of family & friends on
Fri. nite and the funeral Sat...
Upon walking into the funeral home Fri. nite, I noticed all the
flowers...As I began to look at them and read the cards, I found some
that instanty got to me...These flowers were from my friends, The
Heepsters...I remember Debbie asking Kim about the funeral home name,
etc., but I didn't think that much about it...Turns out Helen arranged
for the flowers to be sent....She told me later, she had to spell
Heepsters 3 times for the person at the flower shop, but it still didn't
get written right...It actually said Hepsters on the card...I grabbed
the card and marked out Hepsters and wrote in Heepsters...I also had to
explain to part of Kim's family what the Heepsters were...The person at
the flower shop asked if the Heepsters were a motorcycle gang...
When I realized the effort made to send us the flowers, I lost it...I
sat down and just cried...I guess all the pent up emotions finally came
out...I was so blown away that my friends there at HV99 would do this
for us....As I thought about everyone, the song "Rain" came to my
mind...It just perfectly summed up my feelings at that moment...So I sat
there singing "Rain" quietly to myself, and it helped get me thru that
time...
I also noticed the Heepster flowers were placed just next to an
organ...It wasn't a B-3, but it did have a Leslie cabinet...I thought
how appropriate...
I sang a hymn, "My Jesus I Love Thee", at the funeral on Sat...It was
my way of showing my respects for Lloyd...It was hard to do, but I'm
glad I was able to do it...
After leaving the cemetery, I hustled back to Barbara's house and
changed clothes, and prepared to head back to MB...It felt kinda weird
leaving like that, but Barbara and Kim and other family members totally
understood and wanted me to go...
The reception I received when I walked into the Shrine Club just after
the pre-Jam ceremonies began was overwhelming...It made the 4 hour trip
back to MB very worthwhile...
As the Jam started, we began with "Easy Livin"...It was so-so for me as
I hadn't got to do a soundcheck, and I was just getting comfortable on
stage there....The next song I was to sing, about 3 songs later, was
"Circle of Hands"...Several people told me that was one of the best
songs of
the nite....I haven't heard the recording of it yet, but I think back to
it, and I can barely remember doing it...I remember other songs much
better...I think on COH, I must've have finally got into the swing of
things, and just lost myself in the song...From that point on, the Jam
was a total release for me, something I really needed after all that had
happened...
Well, that's about it...Thanx for indulging me with this bit of
catharsis...It's helped me put some closure on the whole experience...
It's been said that I was strong thru all this...I don't know about that
cause you just do what you gotta do..I do know that I couldn't have
made it thru as well without the extreme love and support from my fellow
Heepsters...I think it's no accident that things happened as they did,
and it was meant to be that the Heepsters were there for us...
We're taking those flowers with us back to Knoxville cause they're so
special...I know they won't last too much longer, but the heartfelt
memory of the Heepsters being there for us at that time will last a
lifetime...
Thanx
BigDog
From Tim McGuinness (Tim didn't attend this year)
So nice to hear that everybody had such a wonderful time getting together.
This is a crowd that ages like a fine wine. What a group of people!!
Even tho I wasn't there physically, I was there in spirit and I have been
reading your impressions most eagerly.
I can almost picture some of the going-ons and that makes me feel as tho I
was there.
BD, I am keeping you and Kim in my prayers, be assured.
Stem
