A letter to Ventures Resurgence Members:
Thanks to the Internet, I was made aware of a concert
on May 24th that featured Nokie Edwards with Bob, Don and Leon. Advertised
as The Ventures in Concert in Honor of Nokie Edwards, fans were informed
through the Underground Fire e-mailing list that it was actually a benefit
to assist with some large medical expenses accumulated during Nokie's illness
several months ago. Fiona advised that she and Gerry McGee wouldn't be able
to attend.
For Resurgence members who may not know, in addition
to the seven or eight Ventures pages which can, at any time be found on
the internet, Underground Fire is a discussion group dedicated to the Ventures,
their music and quests such as their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.
The group even have their own T-shirts, samples of which have been presented
to The Ventures as gifts.
The event was held in Springfield, Oregon (Nokie
country) in the ballroom of a sprawling hotel called The Doubletree, which
generously supported by donating the venue and offering a significant discount
to fans from out of town. Unfortunately, Springfield was thrown into a state
of shock around the same time by the quadruple slaying of parents and schoolmates
by a disturbed teen. This very likely had some effect on the attendance,
although the crowd was large enough that there were people at every table.
According to U.F. subscriber Martin Neff, who kindly picked me up at the
airport and manned the the door of the concert ballroom, the attendance
was well over two hundred. The Ventures arrived with their guitars only,
as drums and amplifiers were loaned by local music dealers. The first thing
I noticed was the "New Nokie", lean, tanned, with gold-frame eyeglasses
and no Stetson hat. Leon and Patti arrived from the Portland airport in
a white "stretch" limousine.
More members of Underground Fire had arrived at
the hotel and we were admitted to the ballroom as the sound equipment was
being set up. I met Doug Smith and John Westmore, also from Canada, and
Dave Gogan from Portland. There really wasn't much time for rehearsal or
sound check, but the band ran through portions of Memphis, Hawaii 5-0,
WDR'64, Pipeline and Runaway. Then the doors were flung open
and the lineup quickly admitted. A local radio personality started things
off by announcing that a portion of the ticket sales would be donated to
the memorial fund established due to the recent shooting tragedy. Then a
moment of silence was observed in memory of the victims. An opening 6 piece
band was introduced, by the name of "Happy Days". It is a versatile
and entertaining rock and roll band featuring a female singer. They were
good but I could hardly wait for the main attraction. As the price of admission
included food, seating was at large round tables that could seat eight.
The front and center table was reserved for members of Don's family that
were present, including two of his daughters, wife Janis and mother Josie.
Our group was seated right in front of Don, who remarked immediately that
this was the first time Nokie had performed with them in about 16 years
and they were about to put him to the test.
Bob opened on lead with the Ventures medley, followed
by Bombora, Peter Gunn, Hurricane and the "Bulldog Medley"
which includes Bumble Bee and Journey to the Stars. Nokie,
looking ten years younger, played Bob's red Fender Jazz bass until it was
his turn on lead. Being up front, we could see that Don was not pleased
with his amplifier, and a lack of reverb was obvious. Nokie started his
lead with The Cruel Sea. The crowd seemed familiar with him and loved
it. He moved into Telstar, Black Sand Beach, Apache and La Bamba
to everyone's delight. We noticed him watching his fretboard a bit more
than usual and the odd lick was missing or not as intricate as in the past,
but this was to be expected. Yumi Bogle could be seen flitting about with
her camera between numbers. I should mention how well Yumi has learned to
speak English since we first met five years ago. Bob must be a good teacher.
The next number was Don singing Runaway, followed by Memphis,
and Walk Don't Run '64. A pause in the music allowed tickets to be
drawn for a pair of donated guitars. The autographed Fender Squire model
was won by none other than Don's son-in-law! In a quieter moment I asked
Josie, with whom I have been corresponding with, how does an 83 years old
lady stand to sit in the front row at a rock concert? With twinkling eyes
she replied "I just turn off my hearing aid!" The group then carried
on with House of the Rising Sun, Surf Rider, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
and Secret Agent Man. Here we saw Nokie make use of his banjo-key
several times.
By now it was obvious that the crowd was having
a wonderful time, but the excitement rose even higher when Leon Taylor burst
into the spotlight in Hawaii Five-O. It could be described as "dynamic."
(Where have I heard that word before?) The Diamond Head / Pipeline
medley followed and Don flogged furiously to get some power and reverb from
his amp. He later told me that the amp was basically what he had asked for
except that it was rated at only half the power of the model he uses regularly.
The end drew near with Leon featured again in Wipeout. If he didn't
steal the show at that point then he surely did with the encore, Caravan.
This was also Nokie's "showcase" tune and Leon put on a solo performance
that was as good as any I've seen. This, right after Wipeout is an
incredible display of conditioning. Anyone buying the '97 Wild Again
video will see much the same thing: ..a long solo, broken up by Leon doing
his father's "tattoo" on the strings of the bass, then continuing
on with his many new techniques.
The autographing and photography session followed
as many fans lined up with their LPs and CDs to be signed. Near the end,
Josie sneaked into the line and thrust a stage-songlist under Don's busy
felt pen to see if he would sign it automatically, but he caught her immediately.
It was after this that I was able to relax with Don and his family and ask
a couple of questions, one regarding the banjo playing on the Live in
Japan '76 CD. It turned out to be a 6 string banjo that is tuned like
a guitar that was played by Nokie. I can remember seeing these instruments
in the '70s and often wished I had bought one for use in my own band at
the time. I was still riding on a cloud the next day at checkout time when
I noticed the hotel desk-clerk was one of the concert-goers. When I asked
how she liked The Ventures, she gleefully replied... "They were great!
especially the drummer!"
This historic event was professionally video-taped
and if Venture-approved it will be available for all to share the fun, and
help Nokie in a time of need.
Nokie & The Ventures Forever, Del Halterman