[Slowhand] Winterland...

[Ron Newark]

  Hello all, several people have asked for a description of the Cream Winterland concerts and am kind of feeling my oats tonight so I'm going to have a go-first you have to understand the venue and ambiance.  Winterland is small, or was, not sure if it's still standing.  Maybe 3500 people give or take.  I was playing in a band at the time in the Bay Area, and one of the guys in the band, Alex, had a cousin, Joanie, who was the ticket taker at Winterland...so yeah, we got cuts.  We'd show up a half an hour early and she'd wave us through so we always had what passed for front row.  Only there were no rows, no security to speak of, and no rules except be kind to your neighbor.  We'd lock ourselves in Alex's dad's wine cellar and smoke as much gold as we could take and then head on down.  I remember reading in Guitar Player back in the 80's, a quote from Carlos Santana who was there the same night-"They looked like giants".  And they did..something about the lighting made them
 look huge...Carlos said they looked like they were on stilts...yup, they did, with enormous shadows against the curtains behind them.  Trying to describe how they sounded is like trying to describe a volcano to someone who has never seen a mountain.  The first notes erupted...they were loud but they were clean loud, with nice spaces in between.  I've played guitar in that same style for..well, a long long time and I'd never seen nor heard anything like what was happening on that stage that night.  I'd heard all the Yardbirds Mayall and Cream stuff that was available at the time but nothing prepared me for the dynamic interplay of those three guys and the impression it left on you...overwhelmed.  My ex girlfriend was dating Steve Miller at the time and he was all messed up by Clapton, didn't know where to hide.  All the Bay Area guitarists were down on their knees...even Michael Bloomfield called Clapton "the perfect guitarist".  Anyhow, they played two sets I think...you
 could feel every note in your gut and they set the bar so high that night that on the way home the guys in the band all talked about just hanging it up.  How could you ever get there?  Well, we kept on playing, but nobody did, ever get there that is.  Seen them all, and they were the best. When Crossroads was finished, I turned to Alex and said, that's the best blues guitar solo I've ever heard...when the LP came out, my comment was set in stone.  Best to all, Ron

Ron

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