RIP Ed King

[GuitarGeek]

^^And Gary Rossington is having health problems. He's reportedly had heart attacks on stage.

Not completely surprising for a guy who used to hold a cigarette in his right hand while he was playing! The only other guitarist I've ever seen do that was Brian Robertson, when he was in Thin Lizzy. I've heard they've had to cancel shows and even a couple tours because of Rossington's health. I gather this year's tour is being billed as the "farewell tour".

Leslie Hawkins is the only surviving member of the three female backup singers, The Honkettes.

I was gonna say I mentioned that already, but I looked at my earlier post, and I guess I really didn't. I said that Jo Billingsley passed in 2010, but I didn't directly say that Leslie Hawkins was the last of the Honkettes still with us. Here's one way to look at it:

1. Look at the front cover of Pronounced..., Gary Rossington is the only guy pictured there left standing.

2. If you watch the unedited Knebworth fest footage, the only people onstage in that, who are still alive, are Rossignton, Artemus Pyle, and Leslie Hawkins.

[Bartellb]

Look at the front cover of Pronounced..., Gary Rossington is the only guy pictured there left standing

It's amazing he's still around. In the 70s he survived a near fatal car crash while drunk and drugged on whiskey and qualuudes (the inspiration for "That Smell" lyrics) and the plane crash. Serious heart attacks going back at least three years. Heart surgery. Not to mention all the smoking, alcohol and drugs in his past. That guys got more lives than a cat.

[GuitarGeek]

It's amazing he's still around. In the 70s he survived a near fatal car crash while drunk and drugged on whiskey and qualuudes (the inspiration for "That Smell" lyrics) and the plane crash. Serious heart attacks going back at least three years. Heart surgery. Not to mention all the smoking, alcohol and drugs in his past. That guys got more lives than a cat.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, he's lucky to have survived so many things. In the new documentary, he talks about the car crash, he kinda sounds embarrassed about the event, then says "But at least we got a good song out of it". As I recall, That Smell was inspired not just by that crash, but a separate event around the same time where Allen Collins also crashed a car.

At the time, I think Ronnie was trying to clean up the band's image, after his daughter was born, but things like that seemed to derail such efforts.

I need to get around to getting Gimme Back My Bullets and Street Survivors on CD. I understand there's a deluxe edition of the former with a DVD of them performing on British TV. For that matter, I need to get One More From The Road, too.

[nosebone]

Watched the documentary the other night and highly recommend it whether your’re a fan or not.
Very thorough and professionally put together.
It is amazing Rossington is still alive and playing!!
The plane crash broke practically every bone in his body.
The arthritis must be killing him in the morning!

I also watched the Showtime documentary on the farewell tour of Rush, also excellent

[arturs]

I need to get around to getting Gimme Back My Bullets and Street Survivors on CD. I understand there's a deluxe edition of the former with a DVD of them performing on British TV. For that matter, I need to get One More From The Road, too.

The Bullets deluxe set is worth it primarily for the DVD. 40+minutes of Southern Boogie bliss in perfect color and sound. This is after King left and before Gaines arrived so the sound is a little sparse and Powell picks up the slack. He's the star of the show IMHO. Boy, those guys were telepathic in their heyday. Everyone is so in tune with what everyone else is doing on that stage. A true "listening" band.

Freebird still isn't my cuppa and it's still way too damn long, but you can't have everything.

[GuitarGeek]

The Bullets deluxe set is worth it primarily for the DVD. 40+minutes of Southern Boogie bliss in perfect color and sound. This is after King left and before Gaines arrived so the sound is a little sparse and Powell picks up the slack. He's the star of the show IMHO. Boy, those guys were telepathic in their heyday. Everyone is so in tune with what everyone else is doing on that stage. A true "listening" band.

Yeah, I think VH-1 actually aired that concert once, back in the late 90's. They had a show where they aired old BBC concerts from the late 70's/early 80's. I call one show, they aired a concert from Thin Lizzy's last tour, they also a Supertramp concert, I think. And a bunch of others I've forgotten. As I recall, they hired Glenn Tillbrook out of Squeeze to serve as host and introduce each concert.

I'm not sure how much footage there is of the band with Ed King on board. I know there's a 26 minute video on Youtube, identified as being from a Rockpalast, but I'm not sure if anything else exists. Back in the late 90's, there was another documentary that I saw at the local arthouse theater called Free Bird: The Movie, which had a lot of concert footage, but it was all from the two guitar lineup or the Steve Gaines era.

[Jerjo]

Is this the BBC show?

[GuitarGeek]

Is this the BBC show?

Well, that's certainly a BBC concert, it's probably the one I remember seeing on VH-1, though the backdrop is different from what I remember. Contrary to popular belief, I don't have eidetic memory, or whatever ya call it. Well, not quite, I don't (flashes mischievous smile).

[Lopez]

Watched the documentary the other night and highly recommend it whether your’re a fan or not.
Very thorough and professionally put together.

I watched it last night and enjoyed it mucho. Particularly like the parts featuring Al Kooper. Quite sobering at the end with the photographic montage of all members that are dead, and that was before Ed King died.

[arturs]

Is this the BBC show?

Yes that is the show that is on the DVD.

[nosebone]

I watched it last night and enjoyed it mucho. Particularly like the parts featuring Al Kooper. Quite sobering at the end with the photographic montage of all members that are dead, and that was before Ed King died.

They also didn't go into the details of Allen Collins sordid end.

He was in a DUI car wreck in 1987 that left him paralyzed from the waist down and his girlfriend dead beside him.

Never played guitar again, and died from pneumonia in 1990.

[GuitarGeek]

They also didn't go into the details of Allen Collins sordid end.

He was in a DUI car wreck in 1987 that left him paralyzed from the waist down and his girlfriend dead beside him.

Never played guitar again, and died from pneumonia in 1990.

Yeah, they didn't really talk much about anything that happened after the plane crash. I think they showed a couple headlines heralding the Rossington Collins Band and the 1987 tour, and they talked a little about Johnny Van Zandt, but that's about it.



BTW, anyone heard anything these guys did after teh plane crash? I know Rossington Collins Band did a couple albums, and I think the Allen Collins Band did one album. And of course, there's been a gaggle of Skynyrd albums since they reconvened.

[Jerjo]

I have the Rossington/Collins Band on vinyl but haven't played them in decades. The woman they had singing lead was pretty good if I recall but ultimately it didn't have that Skynyrd fire.

[SteveSly]

Yeah, they didn't really talk much about anything that happened after the plane crash. I think they showed a couple headlines heralding the Rossington Collins Band and the 1987 tour, and they talked a little about Johnny Van Zandt, but that's about it.



BTW, anyone heard anything these guys did after teh plane crash? I know Rossington Collins Band did a couple albums, and I think the Allen Collins Band did one album. And of course, there's been a gaggle of Skynyrd albums since they reconvened.

Some of the latter day Skynyrd albums are actually quite good. "Twenty" released in 1997 is a great album IMO. "Edge Of Forever" 1999 and "The Last Rebel" 1993 are both solid albums. Even "God And Guns" from 2009 has some really good tracks on it.

[progholio]

^^ King also co-wrote Poison Whiskey from the debut album. Skynyrd sure had a lot of whiskey references in their lyrics

just think, if this didn't happen there might not have been a Whiskey Man by Molly Hatchet (or just no Molly Hatchet at all).


Speaking of Mr Ed, I sure love this song in which he has a writing credit, RIP.