Archive for February 16th, 2010
Being a teenager in Queens which is one of the five boroughs of New York you didn’t need a drivers license to get around as there was the New York City Transit Authority. The TA had buses and trains, elevated and underground that could take you anywhere you wanted to go.
I remember in the 1960’s New York City went through some rough times. The problems went from financial to the fact that families were leaving to live elsewhere. It was during this time that they came up with having “free concerts in Central Park”, that’s right I said free.
You might think, what kind of concert can you get for free? The concerts were not by second rate musicians, Central Park has hosted the likes of Bob Marley & The Walers, Elton John, and Bon Jovi just to name a few. One of the first concerts I attended there was by Blood Sweat & Tears. The lead vocals at that time were by David Cayton Thomas, but what really drew me to them was their bass guitar player Jim Fielder, at the time I thought he was about the best bass guitarists around, and I guess he had a big influence on me.