One of the big festivals you played was Monterey Pop. What was it like to play a festival that size? It was a total get off! Are you kidding me? I’d never done anything like that before in my life. And to be up there, this big guy in this Beatles type suit I had made with a paisley tie on, and you couldn’t tell me I wasn’t Dapper Dan. (Laughs) Everybody else had on jeans and beads and this and that. I think The Elec- tric Flag, even more so than Jimi, was my greatest attribute. The music was a lot more personal. We cared about the public, I think a little more with that band. Not to put Jimi down in any sort of way.
When you recorded “Them Changes” in 1971, did you have any idea how big that song would be? No I did not. And I got accused of stealing the song. I got accused of stealing my own song, by this band called The New York Rock En- semble. So I got in touch with them. I said, if you feel that way, play it for me. How you gonna copy r&b and soul, my brother?
I used to really love the Carlos Santana and Buddy Miles Live album. Oh, Carlos can play. But he’s not my favorite guitarist. Peter Green is.
I read a book called The Uncensored History of Rolling Stone Magazine, and there’s a great story in there about you paying a visit to the office after they panned one of your records. That was Jann Wenner.
They say he ran and hid. Oh, I caught him. He tried to disappear.
Tell me more about working with Mike Bloomfield. There were many bands that were a part of my life, but to me, The Electric Flag was the epitome. I don’t know why Mike decided to
turn over and forget about his peers, but it crushed me. The Electric Flag was everything to me. But then I went on and played with Jimi, and that was fantastic. But what was strange was I felt more at home playing with Michael. And I don’t have any idea why, but I did.
When I lived in San Francisco, I always
had a great time. Drivin down the Haight. I had me a bad Vette, and I’d park it and all the little chickies would come running up and saying, “Who is this big niggra?” (Laughs) I’d tell ‘em, I’m Mike Bloomfield’s drummer. Michael didn’t like me saying that, but I did. I remember when we played our first
show, we got creamed all over the place, by The Cream. (Laughs) What made them so great wasn’t just that they played contempo- rary blues - listen to “Tales of Brave Ulysses,” listen to “Toad”- and the format in which they introduced them. See, what me and Michael and the band didn’t sit down and do, in my opinion...we could have sat down and went over the music more. But we were young and crazy back then. If you doin’t believe me, read Jerry Garcia’s books. (Laughs) I was hooked up in Frisco. I went over to so many people's houses and they said...well Michael, you saw
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