It truly was...

'97
A special Report

Greetings fellow Heepsters and Heepsterettes,

Winward is in the other room watching the Penn State football game. He is so obsessed with that sport. So I took this opportunity to commandier the computer and shoot some of my thoughts on the St. Louis jam into cyberspace. I was there with him, along for the ride. I know he wasn't too crazy about the jam initially, but like the true gentleman he is, he sat there and politely listened. About halfway through the jam, the rock in roll animal in him, yours truly Robert Warren, urged him to go up and do some background vocals.

Honestly, he has been driving for over 25 years doing ooh's and aah's. I think he finally realized he could handle that part,

it made him feel like he belonged. So thanks for putting up with him. I was also happy to finally meet those who attended after he let me loose briefly in the end. You can see a picture of me with Richard Wagner, up on Dave White's site somewhere.

Now for the review! The band did at least a dozen heep tunes, all from the Byron era. It wasn't no Mickey Mouse production either, these guys played on the border of spectacular, very tight, as if they were together for years. First off, Moshe (Mosh-ee?) sang some of the songs, and believe me, he put feeling into them. That boy could wiggle as well, I wish I had half of his energy!! Dave Big Dog was outstanding as well, and handled most of the planned vocal duties. He has a pure voice and sang flawlessly. Dale Fredericks sang a soulful rendition of Rainbow Demon. There were some other vocals, but these 3 were the most memorable.

I would say the whole evening came together under the power drumming of Joe Doran. F***kin Eh!!!! (He taught me some new words). This guys was Simon Phillips, Cozy Powell, the guy from Golden Earring and Lee kerslake all rolled into one. You talk about a dominating performer, whew!!!! There were various bassists, Mac, Mike F. (Muzzy) and Richard Wagner, that I could remember. Muzzy was solid, claiming he hasn't played in awhile, sure fooled me. Mac looked alittle like John Entwhistle up there, and I found Richard to be a bit of a ham. He performed under pressure on one song, when he had Mosh ee in his face trying to make him laugh. Laugh he did, but he kept right on pounding out that rhythm. I guess you could say he and Mosh looked like Double Trouble up there! Hee, Hee! Seriously, you can see this guy was a pro!

Now to the geetar-ists. Robert Dreher was consistent throughout the whole evening. He is a true professional and played the material spectacularly as well as contributing a ton of vocals. Dave White was a surprise to many, but not to me as I have a couple tapes of him. He claims to have never played in a band, well he sure looked at home up on stage to me! :) The only way I could describe his style is Mick Box meets David Gilmour (Pink Floyd). Dave seemed to be comfortable with all the material and even did a solo. What a showoff! I could have sworn I saw Ritchie Blackmore in the back of the room for a few minutes, spying on Dave, hoping to learn something.

Keyboards were handled almost entirely by Alex. You could hear about 5,000 records of influence. Alex was quite hard on himself afterward, claiming he botched it up quite a bit. Sure Alex may have been alittle rusty and not had chance to practice the Heep tunes, but man could he make those synthetic ivories sing. He tickled those keys like there was no tommorrow (especially on Circle of Hands, hee hee). I seem to remember Jesse doing something briefly back there, and it sounded amazing, but he seemed happy to allow Alex the spotlight.

Overall I can't begin to say how enjoyable it was. Everyone truly gave it their heart and soul. I hope in this review I didn't leave anyone out. If I did I apologize, it is not an intentional slight. I mean you try traveling around with Bob Winward and see what kind of freedom you can get! Besides he couldn't hit a note if it was painted on the broadside of a barn, so just consider the source. By the way he is already practicing the song "Confession" for the next HeepJam. I guess his thinking is, that it is so short a song, it will be over and done with before anyone knows what hit them.

My Hats off to all who attended and may we all meet again 'Somewhere along that winding road..."

Robert "Still Alive and Well" Warren