Who Knew?
It was 1979 and me and the boys were singing at Gimbels NYC, hired for a promotion campaign. I didn't usually pay attention to who came up to chat with us during breaks or between numbers. I always had my mind on my job and the group's sounding good. I never noticed this huge guy chatting with our baritone, Jay Larkin (now V.P of SHOWTIME Sports & Events).
After the show, Jay said, "How'd you fellas like backstage passes and tickets to the WHO concert tonight at the Garden?" I was perplexed. Then he said, "All we gotta do is sing happy birthday to their new drummer, Kenny Jones, as soon as they come off stage!" "OMG ....Wah!!! Yer shittin' me!!", I said to Jay. He said the big guy was the WHO's security manager and he said it would be "Folkin' Fantastic" if we were to sing happy birthday to Kenny, when they rolled out the cake as soon as they exited the stage.
So we went to my apartment and crammed a doo-wop rendition of happy Birthday and by 7:30 we were backstage at the garden and the WHO was already on stage. So we decided to scarf down some shrimp and other various "snacks" and then go up top to our seats.
We entered the main arena just as they began "We won't get fooled again." Wow!!! There, before my eyes was Pete Townsend swinging his windmill guitar strokes and Roger Daltry jumping into the air. The crowd went nuts.
We knew we had to be backstage again to be ready as they came off stage. So we went back to the backstage area and positioned ourselves by the door where they would exit and suddenly someone said ..."NOW." I was singing the lead and was heavily concentrating through the entire song. It ended and there was thunderous applause and cheers from the rodies, crew and everyone else backstage. I looked up and right in front of me was all four of them...not ten feet in front of me. Roger Daltry was giving me a huge nodding grin with a thumbs up, Pete Townsend looked a bit bewildered and sweating. Kenny Jones held his hands in a Buddhist praying pose as he mouthed a big "thank you" to us. Someone said encore while we cut the almost pool table size cake. So we did a rendition of Runaround Sue. Then Kenny got clobbered with cake on top of his head and Roger Daltry looked at me, pointed and said "ah ha...YOU!) He hit me square in the chest with a huge blob of green, purple, pink and red icing. Then all mayhem let loose and cake flew everywhere. The floors were a very smooth slick painted concrete, so the icing made things very slippery. The last thing I remember is Jay dragging me into the catering tent and we hid under a table of soda and booze. But in came John Entwhistle, the bass player, with a hand full of that gooey cake in each hand and spotted us under the table. Wham!!!! Icing all stuck in my late 70's "big hair." LOL
I'll cherish this memory to my last.
After the show, Jay said, "How'd you fellas like backstage passes and tickets to the WHO concert tonight at the Garden?" I was perplexed. Then he said, "All we gotta do is sing happy birthday to their new drummer, Kenny Jones, as soon as they come off stage!" "OMG ....Wah!!! Yer shittin' me!!", I said to Jay. He said the big guy was the WHO's security manager and he said it would be "Folkin' Fantastic" if we were to sing happy birthday to Kenny, when they rolled out the cake as soon as they exited the stage.
So we went to my apartment and crammed a doo-wop rendition of happy Birthday and by 7:30 we were backstage at the garden and the WHO was already on stage. So we decided to scarf down some shrimp and other various "snacks" and then go up top to our seats.
We entered the main arena just as they began "We won't get fooled again." Wow!!! There, before my eyes was Pete Townsend swinging his windmill guitar strokes and Roger Daltry jumping into the air. The crowd went nuts.
We knew we had to be backstage again to be ready as they came off stage. So we went back to the backstage area and positioned ourselves by the door where they would exit and suddenly someone said ..."NOW." I was singing the lead and was heavily concentrating through the entire song. It ended and there was thunderous applause and cheers from the rodies, crew and everyone else backstage. I looked up and right in front of me was all four of them...not ten feet in front of me. Roger Daltry was giving me a huge nodding grin with a thumbs up, Pete Townsend looked a bit bewildered and sweating. Kenny Jones held his hands in a Buddhist praying pose as he mouthed a big "thank you" to us. Someone said encore while we cut the almost pool table size cake. So we did a rendition of Runaround Sue. Then Kenny got clobbered with cake on top of his head and Roger Daltry looked at me, pointed and said "ah ha...YOU!) He hit me square in the chest with a huge blob of green, purple, pink and red icing. Then all mayhem let loose and cake flew everywhere. The floors were a very smooth slick painted concrete, so the icing made things very slippery. The last thing I remember is Jay dragging me into the catering tent and we hid under a table of soda and booze. But in came John Entwhistle, the bass player, with a hand full of that gooey cake in each hand and spotted us under the table. Wham!!!! Icing all stuck in my late 70's "big hair." LOL
I'll cherish this memory to my last.