29
One Christmas morning, I was watching the news on TV, and they showed all these kids lining up for toys at The Midnight Mission in downtown LA. I said to myself, “Next Christmas, I’m going to rent a truck, buy a ton of toys, and drop them off there.”
The next Christmas I did just that. There was a lady who worked at Mattel who used to come into the store, and she helped me get a lot of toys wholesale, and I rented a truck and went down there.
The first person I met was Orlando Ward, who had once been a star basketball player at Stanford before a long battle with drugs took him to skid row, and finally, to the Mission, where he got his life together. I was going to drop off the toys, and he said to me, “We have this place called Santa’s Village over there. Why don’t you give out the toys to the kids, instead of just dropping them off?”
I’m Jewish. I don’t really celebrate Christmas, but it was a powerful and emotional experience seeing the kids and families there, who have to rely on the Mission for basic necessities, like a hot meal. It was heartbreaking to see, but I was incredibly moved. My small involvement was what us Jews might call a “mitzvah.”
That was twelve years ago. I started getting involved with them because I saw some of the people doing great work there, and I asked how I could help. Well, distributing toys was one thing, but like every organization involved in that world, they needed funds. I got an idea—maybe I could raise some money by getting some of the musicians I know to put on a concert. But I wasn’t sure that these stars I’d done business with would be interested in something like that.
•••
The first person I asked to play was Richie Sambora, and without a second’s hesitation, he said, “I’m in!” I was taken aback. I didn’t think he’d be so receptive, and it built my confidence.
So, next thing I knew, we had lined up Jackson Browne, Los Lobos, the Zen Cruisers, (which was Doug Fieger from the Knack; Elliot Easton from the Cars; Teddy Andreadis, keyboardist for Guns N’ Roses; and Clem Burke from Blondie), Freebo, and Ilsey Juber (the great Laurence Juber’s daughter) for a fundraising concert for The Midnight Mission.
“From Hollywood with Love,” The Midnight Mission Benefit Concert. Backstage with Jimmy Vivino, Joe Bonamassa, Orianthi, Richie Sambora, and Norman Harris. (Photo by Jen Angkahan)
Previously my friend Tony Berg had gotten me to set up a little boutique store at the five-hundred-seat Malibu Performing Arts Center, which was also a state-of-the-art recording concert hall, so that was naturally the place to do the show. Richie hosted, as well as played, and we did very well with it.
So I figured, let’s keep going, and I asked my old friend, the legendary John Mayall, to perform a set, and we put him on the bill with REO Speedwagon, my old bandmate Rick Vito, and Laurence Juber.
The third show was the one I mentioned in a previous chapter, with Tom Petty reuniting Mudcrutch for what was supposed to be one night only. It was hosted by my old friend and NBC weather forecaster Fritz Coleman. I had used that Rickenbacker Rose Morris as bait, so Tom was happy to trade his services and some memorabilia for doing this show. It was the first time they’d played in thirty years, and they ending up cutting another record and going out on tour after that, so it was very cool.
Over the years, I’ve hit up a lot of my friends and acquaintances to perform at fund raisers for The Midnight Mission, including Don Felder from the Eagles, another one of my bandmates Bobby Caldwell, the great Robben Ford, Orianthi, Jimmy Vivino, Jimmy Earl, Joe Bonamassa, Richie Sambora, Tony Galla, Kirk Fletcher, John Jorgenson, Grant Geissman, Del Casher, and Kevin Nealon from Saturday Night Live.
I’ve almost become a professional beggar, asking all of these musicians to play for no pay, but if you don’t ask, it’s never going to happen. Sometimes it can be a little uncomfortable, but I know it’s for a good cause. The Midnight Mission is a special place, because it really tries to help rehabilitate people and get them back on their feet, educated, and into the workforce, among other things. There’s no religious component either, which is unusual.
•••
After forty years hanging around the music business, I’ve seen, heard, and even played with some extraordinary talent—talent that most people have never even heard of.
Lenny Breau was a breathtaking guitarist; a child prodigy who evolved out of country music into one of the most highly respected jazz guitarists of all time. He invented his own seven-string guitar with a high A string, so he could play chords and improvise at the same time. He was utterly unique and one of the guitar players I knew Ted Greene loved and respected. Ted would see him play out over and over again and do anything to help him.
Before Lenny’s untimely murder in 1984, at the age of 43, he did a gig at Donte’s jazz club in the valley. Ted insisted we go together. He was nothing short of astounding. He had it all—taste, technique, and swing. After the show, Ted introduced me to Lenny, who looked to me like a character out of a Toulouse-Lautrec painting. When I told him how knocked out I was by his playing, he said only one thing to me . . .
“Got any acid?”
Another guy who’ll always stick with me is Ronnie Barron—the heaviest New Orleans–style piano player I’ve ever seen, direct from the school of Professor Longhair. He had it all: talent, musicality, and funk. The first time I saw him was on TV playing Hammond B3 with Paul Butterfield in a band called Better Days. I’ll never forget, he was playing this tune called “I Broke My Baby’s Heart.” He started singing down real low in the bass register, and after working his way through the octaves, he was up in the stratosphere singing falsetto. The range and quality of his voice was so extraordinary, I was blown away.
Later, Rick Vito mentioned him in passing, and I told him I had to meet him, and we ended up becoming friends. I hung out with him as much as I could. Ronnie could sit down at the piano or organ and sing anything. He knew all of those New Orleans tunes, because he was the real thing. In fact, he was so multitalented that the arranger Don Costa, when inventing the concept of Dr. John the Night Tripper originally pegged Ronnie to play the character that Mac Rebennack became so famously identified as.
Success was not meant to be with Ronnie. He was one of those guys, like Jaco, who became his own worst enemy. At one point, the Rolling Stones wanted him to join the group, but he blew that opportunity, too. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy—he couldn’t deal with success. He’d rather burn the house down than embrace moving forward in his life. He had a lot of baggage and did a lot of drugs, and just had a real “living problem.”
He didn’t die of an OD or anything, but I knew the booze and the drugs had done their thing with him—that slow, inexorable diminishment. Last time I saw him, he had been taking cortisone so long, his head was entirely inflated. He pretended that things were okay, but we all knew it was only a matter time and he soon would be dead. He was 54.
Both Lenny and Ronnie were two of the finest musicians I’ve ever seen. But in almost every other aspect of their lives, their ability to thrive and survive was a disaster. When I was young, I did a lot of stupid stuff, taking drugs, as you know. I was involved in many of the same activities as Lenny and Ronnie, and countless others. I often wonder, why not me? Why was I not a casualty, like those guys? Why did I survive to have a family and run a business, while these others, more talented than I, got on the path to heartbreak and oblivion? It’s a mystery that I will never solve. I know in my heart of hearts, it’s only a matter of grace that I was able to build a life, instead of self-destructing or ending up on the streets. I have personally seen so much destruction caused by drugs. Sometimes wisdom is acquired by living a long life and going through a lot.
•••
The face of the homeless has changed in the last decade. Many families are now at the Mission, as a result of bad luck during the recession of 2008. But the majority are people who have that “living problem,” which is hastened by drug abuse and alcoholism. The Midnight Mission is an exceptional example of an institution trying to help these folks with all aspects of that problem.
One dream I have always had is to do a series of concerts as Homeless Aid (like Live Aid). I believe homelessness to be one of our biggest domestic problems. If any of my friends and customers are reading this, I would love their help in organizing such an event.