1969-11-01 VCU Gym, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA

Lynwood Franklin

I played in a band called The Morning Disaster and I'm pretty sure we opened for Child on the 19th and 20th. At the time I was playing a Danelectro Longhorn Bass and at the sound check Bruce and I had a conversation about it. He said that Danelctros were made in Neptune City, just down the road from where they lived. We agreed that, though they were inexpensive, they played and sounded good. This was the first time I saw him play and it was clear that he had a stage presence that was exceptional. I saw him a few weeks later backstage when he played at the VCU gym. He told me a funny story . He said he had been surfing at the Jersey shore and his surfboard came up and hit him in the mouth and broke his front tooth. He didn't want to go on stage looking like that so he went to a dentist to get it fixed. He had to fill out some paperwork and when he put 'musician' as his occupation they said the fee would be $200, in advance. So he had to deplete his savings but he got his tooth fixed. We were supposed to open for them again that November but our keyboard player got sick and we had to cancel. He was, and still is I'm sure, a nice fellow, very approachable, a mensch.