A Night Of Rock N Roll Magic On The Sunset Boulevard

    There was a kid I knew in high school who became a professional magician. He was a member of the Magic Castle in Hollywood and performed there regularly. I think he probably drank there too because he lost his license and asked me to drive him to a gig he had over the weekend. It was a very interesting weekend.
    He knew these guys who were in a band called Hook. One day the singer called up Spencer Davis. Spencer Davis had been in a British Invasion band in the 60s called, ironically, The Spencer Davis Group. Steve Winwood was their singer on such hits as Keep On Running, I’m A Man and Gimme Some Lovin’ but had gone on to bigger things and Spencer now lived in the San Fernando Valley and was bandless. The singer from Hook offered him his band as a new version of the Spencer Davis Group and they had a show lined up at the Whiskey A Go Go on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. My friend the magician was offered the chance to open the show with some magic.
    The night started with us cruising down Sunset on our way to the Whiskey when we spotted TV talk show host, Tom Snyder, shooting a remote segment on Sunset for his show, Tomorrow. My friend, ever the self promoter, made me stop and he ran up to Tom who was smoking a cigarette. He quickly introduced himself as a magician with a show that night at the Whiskey and asked Tom for his lighted cigarette. He placed the burning cigarette into his clenched fist and when he opened his hand the cigarette was gone. Tom loved that and called his crew over to watch him do it again.
    At the Whiskey I was introduced to Spencer Davis and the new band and sat next to their other guest Delaney Bramlett who I knew from his work with Eric Clapton. I have a photo of the two of us sitting there to prove it.
    The next day I drove my friend the magician back to Hollywood to watch the band tape a segment of the TV show Midnight Special. This is where I learned something interesting. Before the taping the band was ushered into the make up room and given some make up, all except the guitar player who apparently found it too unmanly. I understood why he didn’t want any as it did look somewhat unnatural on the other guys and after all, it is all about the music. The make up lady explained it was just to take the shine off their faces for the camera but he didn’t care and refused to be touched up. They then took to the surprisingly small stage that looked much larger on TV and I went to stand on the dance floor with the audience. I have been to television tapings several times in my life and I’m always amazed at how when given a chance to see TV personalities live and in the flesh I am still drawn to stare at them on the TV monitors. And it was then that I learned my lesson.
    What looks strange in person, such as men wearing base make up, looks completely natural when on camera and what is really natural looks terrible on camera. All the other guys in the band looked great but the guitar player had flashes coming off his forehead, nose and chin that looked like solar flares. His entire face looked so greasy as to have been smeared with Vaseline and although the bright lights required for decent video taping back then had them all sweating like pigs after the first take, only the guitar player looked wet. The lesson; listen to the professionals and take the make up, and anything else they may tell you to do.



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