Earlier this year, I was contacted by the publisher of a new book about the Allman Brothers Band, One Way Out, written by Alan Paul. I did a phone interview with him which was featured on last week's blues show. While reading his book, there were a few mentions about the Allman Brothers Band's visit to the Ludlow Garage. So, I thought it might be fun to bring some of the original Ludlow Garage folks into the studio for a roundtable discussion of the band's visit to Cincinnati in 1970, especially since the air date of this special is April 5th which is the 44th anniversary of one of AB's performances at the Ludlow Garage.
The fellows around the table are Jim Tarbell, owner of the Ludlow Garage, Dan Britt and Rick Lemker who handled the sound and various other duties there, plus Jeff Siereveld who was an "intern" there along with many of his friends. The conversation begins with Jim's memories of the beginnings of the Garage. From there, they talked about some of the bands who played there, including Santana. And then, the conversation is steered towards the Allman Brothers Band.
You'll hear about Duane and Dickey Betts' guitars. How they came down Ludlow Avenue to the Garage in their Winnebago and then stayed with the boys at the house on Dana Avenue. The Allman Brothers Band loved the folks at the Ludlow Garage and loved playing there. Most of the special tonight is about the memories of the Ludlow Garage folks. There are three songs by Santana, NRBQ and the Allman Brothers Band recorded at the Garage.
If you'd like to learn more about the Ludlow Garage, you might want to try to find a copy of the 2-cd/dvd set called, "Ludlow Garage - 40th Anniversary" which is now a collector's item. Polydor also released a cd by the Allman Brothers Band recorded live, "Ludlow Garage Live - 1970."
A journey down memory lane to a special time in Cincinnati's musical landscape...