When I lived in Ann Arbor, Destroy All Monsters used to rehearse at a house we rented. Mike Davis and Ron Ashton were both as nice as can be when came to telling road stories to us youngsters from the '5' and the Stooges.
Mike was at the band house one day when I was raking' away on my old Gibson Hummingbird. He said; "...Aaron. Let me show you on guitar how Fred 'Sonic' Smith first introduced Shakin' Street to the band."
Didn't have to ask me twice. Fred Sonic Smith has always been one of my guitar idols.
We always talked guitar stuff. I asked him why "...Ramblin' Rose (from Kick Out The Jams) sounded out of tune?"
Being the ever astute bass player, Mike said; "It was guitarist Wayne (Kramer).
It started a series over the next few years of parties and such where we got our guitars together and did drunken sing alongs and got into turntable wars:
Me; "I'm playin' Gene Vincent dammit!"
MD: "Little Red Book!"
Me: Hey Bo Diddley!
MD: Howlin' Wolf!
Mike was going out with a close friend of my girlfriend. So we all did dinners, hangin' about & consuming adult beverages. MD talked about the MC5's road gigs, police hassles, consoled this rookie about stagecraft and, he always let our bassist use his rig when we opened for the 'Monsters.
He was a legend around here and doors opened for him everywhere. He was always a gentleman about this. He never displayed any expectation of the gifts us locals gave him.
A great mentor to all us kids, he tried to book all the bands he could to open for Destroy All Monsters...no matter how well they could play, opening for DAM always drew a crowd, and thanks to Mike, we got to play onstages that were otherwise closed to us. He gave us names and phone numbers so we could make our way. "Mike Davis gave us your number." We got booked outside of the cocoon that was Ann Arbor.
After I moved from Ann Arbor to north of Detroit, no one knew of the Stooges or the '5'. Few related to the music I grew up with there and we're all instead into the daily FM fare.
Now, all these memories come back. We all pass away whenever it happens. It's just sad when we hear of someone special passing.
Mike was at the band house one day when I was raking' away on my old Gibson Hummingbird. He said; "...Aaron. Let me show you on guitar how Fred 'Sonic' Smith first introduced Shakin' Street to the band."
Didn't have to ask me twice. Fred Sonic Smith has always been one of my guitar idols.
We always talked guitar stuff. I asked him why "...Ramblin' Rose (from Kick Out The Jams) sounded out of tune?"
Being the ever astute bass player, Mike said; "It was guitarist Wayne (Kramer).
It started a series over the next few years of parties and such where we got our guitars together and did drunken sing alongs and got into turntable wars:
Me; "I'm playin' Gene Vincent dammit!"
MD: "Little Red Book!"
Me: Hey Bo Diddley!
MD: Howlin' Wolf!
Mike was going out with a close friend of my girlfriend. So we all did dinners, hangin' about & consuming adult beverages. MD talked about the MC5's road gigs, police hassles, consoled this rookie about stagecraft and, he always let our bassist use his rig when we opened for the 'Monsters.
He was a legend around here and doors opened for him everywhere. He was always a gentleman about this. He never displayed any expectation of the gifts us locals gave him.
A great mentor to all us kids, he tried to book all the bands he could to open for Destroy All Monsters...no matter how well they could play, opening for DAM always drew a crowd, and thanks to Mike, we got to play onstages that were otherwise closed to us. He gave us names and phone numbers so we could make our way. "Mike Davis gave us your number." We got booked outside of the cocoon that was Ann Arbor.
After I moved from Ann Arbor to north of Detroit, no one knew of the Stooges or the '5'. Few related to the music I grew up with there and we're all instead into the daily FM fare.
Now, all these memories come back. We all pass away whenever it happens. It's just sad when we hear of someone special passing.
