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Gregg Allman

soupcan May 22 2012 09:01 AM

Listening to Howard Stern this morning and Allman was in the studio. Has to be the most difficult interview subject ever. I only head the last 10 minutes (will listen to the whole thing on the replay later) but the guy seems like he is king of the one-word answer. Not to mention that he of course sounds like he is drunk and/or high. I bring this up because I remember that Edgy had a good Gregg Allman story having to do with a friend of his (Edgy's) and Elijah Blue from when Elijah was in school and wanted to see his dad in concert or something. I don't remember the deets of the story and was hoping that Edgy could rehash it for me. Gracias.

metirish May 22 2012 09:31 AM Re: Gregg Allman

On my drive in Slash was in with Howard and he was a great interview......Allman was on after?....(Slash was on 7amish)

Edgy MD May 22 2012 09:41 AM Re: Gregg Allman

Couldn't find it either. It basically comes down to my friend Peter being a teacher and house parent at an elite New England preparatory school, and one of the scions in his house is a freshman Elijah Blue Allman. He tries not to make a big deal out of it because there are heirs and princelets and celebrity progeny all around and your job is to treat them like the mere kids they are or else you lose your equilibrium, and do them no favors certainly. But he had a classic-rock buddy/colleague in another dorm who, of all the kids in the school, just couldn't get over that this kid was the son of the man who wrote "Melissa." The version of the Allmans that was touring then was playing Toad's or someplace, and he calls Pete up waxing on about what a great idea it would be to bring Elijah up to see the show, and he could get them backstage to chill with the rock 'n' roll royalty. Dumb idea that, two beers later, seems pretty rock solid. They get a call through to the Allmans' hotel, drop the name of the snooty prep school, and Duane is all "Sure, man! I'd love to see Elijah Blue!" They get the kid out of lacrosse practice, gas up the GEO, and are are all but pulling out of the circular drive when the headmaster comes huffing and puffing down the stairs, waiving a piece of paper. "You can't do this!" he cries. They're obedient little worker bees, but they try and assure him that they have parental permission, they'll keep Elijah's soul clean, and have him home at a reasonable time. "You don't UNDERSTAND!" he says pushing the document into their faces. They grab and read what amounts to a contractual agreement between the school and Cher (signed with just the one name) that if the school facilitates any contact between Elijah and his father, the child would be immediately removed from the school, his tuition forfeited, and the school would be forced to pay an pre-agreed-upon penalty beyond the tuition. They cut the engine, apologize to the kid and to the headmaster. Pete's friend walks Elijah back to the dorm or the lacrosse field or the commissary or whatever, while Pete walks back to the administration building with the headmaster, continuing to apologize profusely. But somewhere in his instinct to protect his job, a speck of justice boils under the surface, and he has to ask the headmaster, "Why didn't you tell me? I mean, I am his house parent." The world-weary man turns back to him, looking suddenly older. Pete grew up in private schools. His father was a headmaster himself and a president of a girl's college. The ivory tower is all he knows, but now he gets the notion that this man has a cross that Pete never wants to bear. "Pete," he says, "you have no idea how many of those fucking things I have in my office."

metirish May 22 2012 09:47 AM Re: Gregg Allman

Great story.......

soupcan May 22 2012 10:03 AM Re: Gregg Allman

Awesome. Thanks for the re-tell.

soupcan May 22 2012 10:03 AM Re: Gregg Allman

metirish wrote: On my drive in Slash was in with Howard and he was a great interview......Allman was on after?....(Slash was on 7amish) Yeah - Allman was on after.

Frayed Knot May 22 2012 10:11 AM Re: Gregg Allman

Allman is of course on Stern as part of a tour in promotion of his just-released autobiography/memoir/whatever. The one review I read of it describes it as being not very forthcoming about the life it's supposedly writing about - so maybe the fact that he isn't very forthcoming during an interview about a book that isn't really very forthcoming isn't very surprising.

soupcan May 22 2012 12:29 PM Re: Gregg Allman

So I just listened to the interview. I learned more about Gregg Allman from Edgy's story than I did from his interview. Dude just sounds like his brain is completely fried. Howard Stern: "(every question he asked)" Gregg Allman: "Uhhh...well...heh-heh...maybe...and...you know...like that"

soupcan May 22 2012 03:04 PM Re: Gregg Allman

So, I don't how they got all this from what I heard (or didn't hear), but here is the summary. No mention of Edgy's friend. JUST WAIT ‘TIL GREGG ALLMAN GETS HERE Gregg Allman stopped by to promote his memoir, ‘My Cross to Bear,’ noting that the keyboard wasn’t his original instrument of choice: “It was guitar. Then I taught my brother, you know, the basic map and he quit school and passed me like I was standing still.” But as good as Duane was with a fretboard--many consider him the greatest slide guitarist of all time--Gregg had an advantage: “He was not a singer.” Gregg said Duane would always challenge him, ratting Gregg out to their mother--and pushing him into rock ‘n roll: ”He started the whole band and then he called me. And he said, ‘I need you to come round this whole thing up and send it somewhere.’ Meaning writing and singing. I later found out from some of the other guys that he’d said, ‘Wait til my baby brother gets here.’” THE STORY BEHIND ‘MELISSA’ Asked about ‘Melissa,’ one of The Allman Brothers’ biggest hits, Gregg leaned in: “That was the first song I ever wrote. I wrote that when I was 17. I was out on the road for the first time and I guess I was a little homesick, so I just invented this girl and I wrote the whole damn song.” Written as ‘Sweet Barbara,’ the name never feel right until another 3-syllable name came to him--in the form of a fleet-footed toddler named Melissa.