Where's the show Tonight ?

by Pete Holly

Before "The Look's" ever existed-i performed as a solo singer-songwriter and
that really was what i aspired to be.More early Dylan,than the Beatles.Someone
gave me a big oversized book of Dylan's lyrics and i read it over and over.What
struck me about it was the simplicity of his lyrics and of his music.Also the number
of songs that were written in four line bars-as hymn's are-and followed the straight
12-bar blues structure.I tended to prefer his songs where he didn't follow that template
and instead ventured out into unknown territory."I Want You",the biggest hit Dylan
ever had as an artist was a favorite of mine.I had it down to a Science-the lyrics-the
harmonica part-i even took on Dylan's nasel singing style.But i soon realized that
while my study of Dylan was a good lesson in song and especially lyric writing-i had
to let it go and find my own style.
So i tossed all the dylanesqe mannerisms in vocal and lyric style away and started
my songwriting career anew.There were but a few places to play in Boise for Folkies
but i played them all.I played a four set show as a solo artist at "Desmond and Mollies"
where later i recorded one of the Look's shows that's The Live recording i released of the look's.But it gives you a good idea of just how many songs i knew even at 18 and 19 years
of age.I Allway's seemed to run into strange circumstances that gave me a chance to play solo.
One time when i lived very near Boise State i could hear a rock band playing in the distance,By
the time i got there they were having some sort of major technical problems and since it was going to take at least a half hour to fix-the guitarist who i knew-and he had heard me play asked
if i could get my acoustic guitar and fill in for awhile to stem the tide of people leaving.I got my
guitar and stepped right up on the stage and the guitarists i knew gave me a very flattering introduction. I lauched right into the heart of my original songs and the reaction was fantastic.
So just keep playing,with nobody leaving,in fact more people were arriving and suddenly i had
a huge audience-the biggest crowd i'd ever played for-about 500 people.They were giving me
great ovations of applause and for a while the audience was there to see and hear me-not the
Rock Band i was filling in for.The guitarist keept spurring me on-cause i was keeping the crowd
and actuallty made it bigger-plus i could tell he really was a true fan of my original songs.He loved them and kept telling me how great i was.as if in awe.Finally they started to get some of
the equipment back on line-but before i left i asked my guitar player friend if i could take a pass
on his les paul thru a huge amp-of coarse-he said-go for it-there's still a little time before we'll
have everything up and running-go for it ! I picked up the "The Paul" cranked it up and blasted
through David Bowie's "Moonage Daydream"-Mott the Hoople's-"Jerkin' Crokus" and T-rex's-
"Bang a Gong" and things got real exciting as my guitarist friend thanked me for filling in on such shoet notice-and the crowd which was really big now-gave a huge round of applause.
That may have been the biggest crowd i ever played too,nearly 1000 people, and it all happened completely by accident.See i told you the Music Business is strange ! but it's also
pretty cool sometimes-one good guy in the music business-can make all the differance in the
world-and that day the good guy was just a nice guy who i didn't know very well-but he gave
me "Free Riegn" during my time on stage because he had alot of confidence in me and even
admiration.Believe me things like this happen rarely-but it happened to me and my friend
and i'm sure i'll,nor he ever forgot it-or the crowd.It was really something to see and hear !


Written by Pete Holly-copyright-2010-all rights reserved