owned some of the original amplifiers and I think - let’s see. I’m trying to remember where all of this stuff is. There’s a strap, Duane’s famous “mountain” strap - that’s at the Hard Rock Café and Ron Blair who plays for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, he’s got some original equipment so it’s out there too. Again, those guitars, I think some of them are insured for in excess of a million dollars.
Yea,h I was kind of nervous when Richard (Brent) pulled that thing out of the display case and handed it to me. In the pictures I look stupid. (Laughs) I don’t even look like I know how to play guitar. Because I’m holding it so tight you know I’m afraid… I’m not, you know, as laid back as like Derek Trucks or somebody like that who will just take Duane’s guitar and start whipping off licks on it. I’m like, I’m too scared to even be holding the thing. But there is some serious mojo coming off that thing though, there really is. Well the owner is very gracious and he’s very generous in letting people play it. I have a client, Sonny Moorman who is a blues player out of Cincinnati and he played at the Allman Brothers Band fan gathering a couple of years ago and they let him play the Gold Top. He played it and Berry’s son, Berry Duane, played Berry’s bass and they were both on- stage with those two instruments at the same time. It was something.
Oh boy. Well I know when I was cover- ings the 2009 Beacon run, everybody that came out on the stage played that thing just about. Everybody from Susan Tedeschi to Los Lobos to Clap- ton. Everybody. Just knowing that all those people had played it had an addi- tional nervous factor attached to it for me.
The owner, and I’m sure he wouldn’t mind me using his name, is Scott Lamar.
Right yeah. I spoke to him once. He’s from Florida, and he told Sonny, said “Hey man, play it like you own it.” So…
So he did. That’s what happened.
Sonny’s a great guitar player. I like him a lot. I thought it was very cool too, that, we all love Galadrielle Allman- I mean she wrote the nicest thing about my last book and everything, plus her book that she wrote knocked my socks off, I loved it - Oh it’s amazing.
She wrote the introduction for your book and I think anybody reading this knows she is Duane Allman’s daugh- ter, but also, the fact that she’s such a great writer, I find it very cool that she wrote your introduction. Well, it’s very personal and very touching and one of the things she says to, you know, up and coming bands and musicians is “hold on to your stuff.” Don’t throw it all away because some day it may not be worth a million dol- lars, but it will be worth a lot memories for you.
It’s always going to be worth something to somebody. I think of all the stuff that I had and went through... of course, I’ve donated quite a lot to the Big House Museum. You never know, and like I said, you know, something as sim- ple as signing a business check for a payment on an amp, you know collectors just drool over that stuff. To us, it was just hey, we were just paying a bill, you know?
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