After I completed writing my book, "The Cherry Boy Chronicles," I kept thinking of people and events that somehow, I'd missed or forgotten. I've decided to write these addendums in the form of a blog. I hope you enjoy them.
Today I'd like to recount, "Going to see The Who in Miami" (11/25/1971).
Tommy Patti was one of the guitarists in the band (The RGF) I'd joined from Gainesville, Florida. When he said he could get us tickets to see The Who, I jumped at the opportunity. The first wrinkle was that neither of us had a car, so hitchhiking would be our mode of transportation. That didn't bother me too much since I'd had quite a bit of experience traveling on my thumb. I did, however, have a niggling worry that two of us would make it a bit more difficult to be picked up, and this didn't even take into consideration that Tommy was swarthy with wild, unkempt, curly black hair and a Pancho Villa mustache that made him appear ridiculous or menacing, take your pick. I, on the other hand, was blond, and my experience had shown that blonds were more likely to be picked up. My suspicions were proven to be correct and after a couple hours on the road without success, I decided we should split up and meet in Miami.
I've added a picture of me dressed to travel and a shot I took on the lonely road to Miami.
The anti-climactic end to the story came when Tommy finally arrived at the Miami Beach Convention Center. I'd been waiting for several hours and the concert was about ready to kick off. Sadly, Tommy had no tickets. He informed me that he figured he could get a couple scalped tickets outside the venue. He then had the effrontery to suggest that I'd had plenty of time to find us some tickets. It did no good to mention that I'd been invited to Miami by him on the promise and premise that there were tickets waiting for us.
We could hear muffled sounds of the concert through the walls of the Convention Center but not well enough to recognize any particular song. I imagined I could hear "Don't Be Fooled Again." I made a mental note not to be fooled by Tommy again.
