USA trips

Another story that I remember was the time we arrived late in Chillicothe, Ohio to perform at a VA hospital.  Our flight was delayed for some reason and when we arrived the the truck for our equipment and our van did not meet us.  After several phone calls, we were met by our set up crew and transported to the VA hospital.  Our truck and van just pulled up to the back of the stage area and we unloaded the equipment right on to the stage.   We could hear that the auditorium was already full of people.  We decided to forgo our normal sound check and just set the controls to what we thought might be appropriate for the auditorium.  The curtain on the front of the stage did not divide in the middle (like most curtains), instead it was one the just lifted straight up.  So we just started singing our opening number which was "Going Out of My Head/Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You".  As the curtain slowly lifted, we noticed that there were people just milling around, not sitting in their seats, and some were talking to the walls.  No one had told us it was a mental hospital!  We quickly stopped singing and changed our opening number to a more appropriate song.  We had many performances at  many different hospitals.  The hospital staffs loved us and wanted us to return often; however, I'm not sure how much good we did for the patients.

In May of 1970, two days after the Kent State event (see Kent State Massacre),  we were in Columbus Ohio to perform at a banquet in which the commander of the National Guard Unit which fired on the students was to speak.  Needless to say, the students at Ohio State University prevented us from getting to the gig.  We were also prevented from doing a concert at the University of Hawaii later that year. 

In February 1971, we did a show at the Ohio State Penitentiary for the general population inmates.   When we arrived the inmates helped us set up in the main cafeteria area.  I saw several men pick up our main PA speakers by themselves and carry them to the stage area.  That was impressive!  We did the show and then were given a "grand tour " of the penitentiary.  We went to the maximum security area.  Those inmates had already heard that we did a good show even though they were not able to see or hear it.  (the  prison "pipeline" really worked!)  We got to enter the "Death House" and we got to sit in "Old Sparky" (the electric chair).  On the walls around the electric chair were pictures of the inmates that had been executed.  It was creepy.  Each of us sat in the chair, but when Pat sat in it, they actually clamped his arms and legs so he couldn't get out.  Since the Ohio legislature had abolished the death penalty in 1968, the clamps were a little rusty and one of the leg clamps would not come undone.  Pat had to do some distorted moves to get free.  It was funny.  (see picture)