Little Feat

1978-11-05 Little Feat

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Ben Light Gymnasium, Ithaca College

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I had become a Little Feat fan in High School after learning about them from a friend's sister who was attending College at the time in Maryland, and really got into them after taping a replay of the classic 1974 Ultrasonic Recording Studios performance on WLIR.  So I was very happy when I learned that the Feat were going to play on my own college campus during my first semester at school. 

What really surprised me is what I saw when I walked down from my dorm on the hill to my first class that day - lots of fans camping out in front of the gym early in the morning, to get the best seats inside for the show that night. 

Before the show started, the fire marshals spent lots of time clearing the aisles, insisting that the show wouldn't start until the aisles were completely clear and everyone was in a seat. 

When the band took the stage, Lowell George immediately said something to this effect:  "You don't need to listen to them, feel free to come on up closer to the stage."  For a moment, nobody moved.  Lowell then repeated himself, saying, "hey, I'm serious, just come on up if ya want to."  At that point, tons of fans all at once broke free of their seats, raced up toward the stage, and filled the aisles, and much to the chagrin of the marshals the show started - Little Feat on what would be considered a classic 1978 tour, burning through another hot performance.

During this show, Paul Barrere was wearing  a NY Yankees jersey bearing the number 9 - as worn by Graig Nettles that year.    I got a chance to meet Paul at the Jamaica Little Feat excursion in 2016, and I mentioned this recollection to him.  He proceeded to tell me what a huge Baseball fan he is (he’s a SF Giants fan) and told me how a friend of his brother had gotten the jerseys.   (The 1978 world series had taken place just a few weeks before the show, NY sports fans were still thrilled by the Yankees' performance in the series, including several amazing defensive plays by Nettles that perhaps saved many runs and made the difference in the Yankees' triumph over their rivals, the LA Dodgers.)  

Sadly, Lowell George passed away only a short time later, at only 34 years old.

Below: 1979 Relix magazine article about the 1978 tour.

2007-03-23 Snoedown Festival (w/ Little Feat)

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Lake Placid Olympic Center

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Above: The guide and schedule for Snoedown 2007

The first of two Feat / moe multi-day concert collaborations that I attended, the second being the Jamaica excursion in 2016. This was a weekend festival in Lake Placid, a place where I have been going since before the 1980 Olympics and sporatically after that. As a skiier it made sense to go, do some skiing during the days and see the shows at night.

It was great to see Feat and moe at the Olympic Center (not that its a great music venue, just because of its storied history and my own recollections of the town over the years).

I was later able to get an audience recording of the show. "Feels Like Rain" still stands out as a favorite musical moment at the Little Feat show, beautifully sung by Shaun Murphy.

2009-08-23 Hot Tuna / Little Feat

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Capitol One Bank Theater at Westbury

 

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What was long known to me as "Westbury Music Hall" (maybe because its in Westbury, NY) had become the “Capitol One Theatre at Westbury” until North Fork bought Capitol One. Then it became the "North Fork Theatre" (due to sponsorship by North Fork Bank - since Westbury is not on the "North Fork" of Long Island), and had now taken on this new name. Aaaaanyway, here was two of my all-time favorite bands playing on the same bill in an intimate venue. Its really a unique place - every seat in the house is very close to the stage, but the seats in the lower half are incredible because they place you so close, and the rise from stage level is steep so you have this feeling like you are hovering over the band.

2016-01-10 through 2016-01-14 -- "Feat Throedown" in Jamaica

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Jewel Paradise Cove

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A goal or dream for many years became reality when I was finally able to make it to Jamaica for the 14th anniversary of this great event. As denoted in the materials our Feat Fan package the year 2016 included 3 Little Feat shows and multiple moe. and Medeski Martin & Wood performances. I thought the addition of MMW to the lineup made this an especially interesting and appealing line-up to see. I had already seen moe. and Little Feat together in Lake Placid several years earlier.

David Bowie died during this weekend and MMW covered some Bowie material.

We met all of the members of Little Feat, and I even shared some pool time with Bill Payne, a longtime keyboard uber-hero of mine. On the last day, I had a chance to chat with Bill who mentioned his website and upcoming gig in the Hudson valley. I later noticed on his website a piece he wrote about Richard Manual's piano - a piano that was purchased by some of my other all-time heros of music at the same music store in Poughkeepsie where I had recently brought my own Roland piano to be restored - an interesting coincidence.

I took advantage of the day trip to Nine Miles, the childhood home and final resting place of Bob Marley.

When I spoke to Paul Barrere I mentioned that I remember him wearing a Graig Nettles NY Yankees jersey at the Little Feat show I attended in 1978 during one of its most classic tours, at Ithaca College, and he recalled how his brother got those Yankee jerseys.

The whole experience was wonderful, and featured an especially great lineup of music, played each night for members of the excursion staying at the resort (there was no admittance to anyone not staying at the resort) so it was uncrowded and completely relaxed each night. After the shows there was a bonfire and bar-b-q on the beach where members of the bands could hang out and party with the campers.

On the last day we went to the poster signing by Little Feat; a copy of mine signed by all members of the band is here. I took extensive photos of all the bands at the shows and have posted slideshows. Nice videos of the shows were posted online by the Feat team.

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2019-10-18 Little Feat 50th Anniversary Tour

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Capitol Theatre

Unfortunately, Paul Barrere couldn’t make it for this tour, and we hope for him to be back in shape by next time. This show was a joyful celebration of the Feat. Bill Payne stepped up to take more of the stage leader role, and Larry and Theresa added wonderful musical touches all throughout the night. A special treat to have Steve Bernstein on horns with former members of the Levon Helm Band. The horns came out to the front (as they did with Levon’s Band), and Fred joined the horn section on trumpet for a little while.