Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have some great 35mm slides of Gentle Giant performing at Riverfront Coliseum in '75; they opened for RIck Wakeman on his King Arthur tour, which is where I saw Roger Newell playing his triple neck Wal! I was right in front of them so I have good close ups.

Have you offered the photos to the GG site, Jeffrey? I think they would be interested.

http://www.blazemonger.com/GG/

I have to figure out which binder they are in, no I haven't even seen that site.

That's funny that Rick Wakeman graduated at the bottom of his class. He probably ****** off all the instructors. He's a great keyboardist, but man is he a jerk.

Really? I always got the impression he was a very amiable guy...he's on British tv quite a bit and always seems like a really funny bloke. One of the few members of Yes through the ages that I haven't met, so am unable to comment on.

I have not met him in person, so I probably shouldn't talk, but I hear lots of horror stories from fans who have met him (blowing them off, insulting their musical taste, etc.), and he seems to have a very low opinion of all the other keyboardists who have been in Yes, though that would be understandable. Maybe it's just how he is after shows and stuff, when all the really fanatical people clamor to have him sign things.

Apparently, Jon Anderson gets irritable after shows as well, but I think that might have been a recent development owing to the poor sales of "Magnification". Which sucks, because he's a great singer and it's a great album.

Amiable guy one second, jerk the next...I'm sure it didn't start with Rick's big financial success. As to his class standings, it's amazing he graduated at all when one contemplates what his dorm room must have been like...not that Kerry Minnear didn't have his own low-key wet-towel-under-the-door scene going...

Didn't Wakeman have a sort of nude, drunken, vomiting Viking scene in the movie Lisztomania? Musicians frequently have to deal with type casting when they want to break into 'The Pictures'...

Or maybe he was urinating rather than vomiting...maybe both, I forget...(like I've forgotten almost everything else about that movie, thankfully)...

Back in '77 or '78 I saw Rick Wakeman on the King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table tour at Municipal auditorium. My buddy and I left and headed down an alley next to the hall as a short cut to where we had parked. As we're heading down the alley, we see black limo just idling there and as we get closer, out the side door comes Mr. Wakeman! We walked right up to him, shook his hand...he said thanks for coming, got into the limo and left. He seemed pretty nice to me but that was a VERY long time ago.

I met Rick in '75 after seeing that show where Gentle Giant opened for him. I caught up with him at his hotel, where we had had a very nice chat about music and Roger Dean, etc. I do have one head and shoulders photo I took of him at the time. He seemed very amiable and was in no hurry to leave.

In '76 I jammed with Jon Anderson at the hotel Yes was staying at in Pittsburgh. He played a wooden flute and I played my dulcimer.

"And oh, how they danced...the little people of Stonehenge..."

LOL!!!!

ROFL!

By the way, it was actually "And oh, how they danced, the little children of Stonehenge." (This is Spinal Tap Script v. 4.1 - Nit-picker's edition)

"when I play my Precision, I've always got Ray and John Wetton in the back of my mind...his violin stuff was equally cool, but then again, everyone in that band played three or four axes. Many people don't know that Kerry Minnear (Giant's keyboardist) graduated (as a percussion major) at the top of his class at the Royal Academy...the same class that Rick Wakeman graduated at the bottom of..."

Wetton was great in Crimson!

I also saw Giant a few times. First time, and this was the very first time I ever even heard them (had no idea who they were) was opening for Mahavisnu during the Birds of Fire tour! Boy, they blew me away! Live they would all switch instruments, and as they did they would run around the stage bumping into each other!

I remember seeing Derek playing bass while Ray played violin... and Kerry (I think) playing xylophone... Ray also played guitar, and they all played recorders. And of course Derek played sax.

Speaking of Wakeman, I remember seeing him with Yes, after he had rejoined (right after Moraz) and when his solo came up in Roundabout, he just played one note and smirked the whole time to a roady!

I have a nice photo of Ray playing violin while wearing his P-Bass.