04/30/2004,
Bodle's Opera House,
Chester NY - G.E.Smith
Okay, first off I discovered G.E.
Smith when he was in Hall & Oates' band in 1985. I saw him playing
for the first time on a concert aired on HBO when i was 3 years
old! His playing was soulful and wonderful as well as the awesome
classic guitars he plays! this was my first exposure to electric
guitar and seeing a great blues player like that changed my life
forever! Ever since all I wanted to do was be a guitarist like
that and meet the guy himself!
April 30, 2004 I finally get to see
him live and in person at a cafe in Chester NY- Bodle's Opera
House! Had anyone tell me what was gonna happen that night i would
think they were pulling my leg!
I showed up at the cafe about 6:15 PM
(est time) As I was walking thru the parking lot, I heard this
awesome tribal, folk music playing. I was thinkin "is that wo I
think it is"? Sure enough i walk thru the door and G.E. looks up
and smiles at me as he's playing some great acoustic guitar. his
wife Taylor was singing as well and it was amzing! I go to the
checkout area ad tell the lady i'm here for the show. She says
"I'm sorry but GE & Taylor are doin a soundcheck. would u mind
coming back in alittle while?" I said no problem so i went back to
my car and listened to some music. It was after 6:30 so I decided
to go on the other side of the street so I can check out the other
storefronts before i made my way in. As i was walking down the
street, I notices a guy in dark shoulder-length hair taking
pictures of a car or somethin.... As i get closer it was, you
guessed it, GE Smith!!!! First i just brushed on by cause I didn't
want to draw any unwanted attention and make a scene or something
cause i have alot of respect for him. So I loooked around the
corner then turned around and he gave me that grin we've all seen
a million times! I asked him what time I could go in, right? He
asked me for the time and i told him it was like 6:40 at that
point. So he says "yeah you can go in anytime now." I told him i
couldn't wait to see the show and he smiled again and i told him
i'd be in in alittle bit.
I went in and got a table. I was
reading the flyers and menu and i noticed that he was in charge of
all his gear, no roadies! There's a real musician for ya, hehe! I
noticed him walkin around. when he came my way I asked him about
his amps. "He thought i was talkin about his friend's amp and he
told me his were really old" he walked outside for a minute. In
the meantime i was in a daze kind of just thinkin "well geez
what's gonna happen next and stuff" I couldn't believe i was
seeing my idol! Anyway i was snapped out of all this when someone
taps me on the shoulder and starts talkin to me. I was like 'wait
a minute!" i turn around, it's GE, again!!! He apologized cause he
didn't realize i was talkin about his amps. and he told me they
were definitely Fender deluxes. then he says "Oh so you know
somethin about old gear, huh?" with that grin on his face. so i
told him yeah cause i play myself and stuff and he smiled and was
gonna say somethin but a fellow started talkin to him and he got
into that. he apologized for the diversion and told me he'll see
me around! i couldn't believe he actually approaced me! that was
great!
The weird thing was alot of people who
went had no idea who he was! I had to shut out "Hall & Oates" hehe!!!
Then a guy at the cafe told me that Daryl and John might play
there one night but it wasn't too certain. i guess for obvious
reasons cause the place would be jam packed! they'd have to do it
unannounced for sure! But if they do that would be great! he was
saying something about he knows the manager of "Average white
Band" and they were trying to book H&O one night but that'd
probably have to take careful planning on their part.
Okay it's 8:00 and G.E. and his wife
Taylor Barton take the stage. he is playing acoustic with her for
this set. for guitar-heads out there, he was playing an old 1930s
sunburst Gibson acoustic! you don't see these everywhere! Taylor
is a wonderful folk singer who was very friendly and she had alot
of neat stories to tell. Toward the end of her set she did a tune
called "Haley" named after their 2 -yr old daughter that was
really cool and not many people know that GE has entered
fatherhood.
After taylor's set G.E. went up there
with his bassist and longtime friend Paul Ossola (he was in the
Scratch Band with Smith in the 70s and joined him on SNL several
occasions when T-Bone wasn't present) as well as a funny younger
fella named Marko on drums! He has a nice collection of classic
guitars but he only brought one for this show- a Cherry 1962
Gibson ES-335 (as shown in the photos) he's had for a long time.
It looked brand new when he used it back with Hall & Oates (see
and hear it's great sound on the Method Of Modern Love live video
clip!) and still looks in great condition for being one of his
main axes for several years! G.E.'s performance was nothing short
of AMAZING. If you thought he was great in Hall & Oates he's that
much better now! He played alot of obscure blues material by Bo
Diddley and Muddy Waters and other songs he performed with the SNL
band. he even made up a tune off the hook for a girl who was
celebrating her 21st birthday! Yeah actually i don't think he even
had a setlist either! He plays purely on soul and feel and was "mah-velous"
considering he was feeling under the weather he said. About that
he was saying that he's heard that classical performers and
musicians often play better when they're ill cause a part of your
brain shuts off or something and he said "well, sometimes, my
brain isn't workin all the time anyway, hehe." He was very funny
and friendly up there and had some neat stuff to say. He even said
how he cut his long pony tail, shoulder length and donated his
locks to "Locks Of love" (they make wigs out of cut hair for kids
with lieukemia)That all started with a dream his mom had that he
cut his hair cause i guess he hadn't in a long time. Then to make
a long story short he thought it would be a good idea so he did
and then his stylist asked him if he wanted to donate it and he
surely accepted aand that was awesome. He closed off his set by
playing some "Purple Haze" by the one and only Jimi hendrix. It
didn't dawn on me until i was listening that that's what it was
but Jimi couldn't have done it better himself! This was a truly
unforgettable night.
Afterwards I went up there and shook
his hand and said "damn good show tonight" and he smiled and told
me thanks for bein here and stuff. then I asked him about more of
his gear cause i noticed he didn't play with any effects pedals
but he had this box that looked like a standard reverb unit. He
told me his desist friend Caesar Diaz (The amp doctor) built him
with fender reverb and tremolo so you have both. plus the amps he
had had no effects so that's what it's for basically. A little
later on I was talking to a guy who saw him last time and asked me
if I wanted a picture with him. i told him sure but i had no
camera. He said I'll take care of it! can u believe that? so I
asked him for the shot and he gladly accepted so I got a pic with
him as well as those two of him you see on the website! The folks
down in this neat cafe are really nice people and it was nice to
go somewhere, unknown, and have people be cool like that, as well
as someone you've grown up with looked up to as a musician
practically since you were born!
It's been a few months now and I still
feel elated about the whole thing! That was probably the best
night of my life and will remain that way until I see G.E. again
which should be very soon!
© 2004,
Robert J West
Daryl Hall and John Oates
German Website
