MY WONDERFUL BADFINGER DREAM!!

I write down my dreams when I wake up during the night.

PETE HAM

JOEY MOLLAND

MIKE GIBBINS

TOM EVANS

When I was young and just WANTED to be a musician I met my favorite band, BADFINGER. They KNEW the Beatles! They played on ALL THINGS MUST PASS for GEORGE HARRISON and played on stage for the CONCERT FOR BANGLADESH. They played on IMAGINE for JOHN LENNON.

Over a few years, I met them on 3 occasions and they could not have been nicer. I played the first song I ever wrote for them and they encouraged me to NEVER STOP playing or writing. You may or may not know that Pete Ham and Tom Evans died by suicide and Mike Gibbins passed away from natural causes. (see my earlier blog entry on Badfinger)

And so….one of the coolest dreams I’ve ever had……

I was playing in a room with Badfinger. To my left were Tom Evans and Mike Gibbins, bass and drums, respectively. To my right was Joey Molland on guitar. Directly across from me was Pete Ham on guitar. We were playing Joey’s song SUITCASE, a song I’ve always loved and one that I sang in our Badfinger Tribute show.

As we played on, near the “end” of the tune, Tommy looked at me, smiled and winked and dissolved into ashes, blowing around in the air, like the characters did at the end of AVENGERS: INFINITY WARS. Then Mike Gibbins reached over, drumstick still in hand, smiled, squeezed my hand and dissolved and blew away. (I can still feel his drum stick pressing against my fingers) Then Pete, with a BIG smile, waved his arm at me, over his head….and dissolved. Joey and I were still left sitting there. We finished the song.

Now, on the record the song, SUITCASE, ends VERY abruptly……..and that’s just how the dream ended. I woke up thinking THAT WAS WONDERFUL…and it really was!

I, really, often credit them for inspiring me, as a youth, into a life of MUSIC that has never let me down. I never got rich or famous but I have gotten amazing things from my musical life…playing with J. J. Cale on stage….playing with Merle Haggard on stage…playing with Willie Nelson in Freddy Powers’ living room….playing at The Grand Old Opry….hanging out with Bob Marley, Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Neville Brothers, Asleep at the Wheel, Robert Palmer…..playing in Hungary, Norway, France, Holland, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Switzerland and Austria. It’s just been a GAS!!!