Who's Big John?

My name is John Marti. A.K.A. big John. (Italian American), I was born and raised in Las Vegas. I'm 41 and still love Rock-N-Roll. my concert days started at the age of 12 (that was in 1970). the first concert that I ever went to was Blood, Sweat & Tears. it was also the first time I ever took LSD-25.

My second concert was Jimi Hendrix. that was in 1970, in San Bernardino, CA. my friend and
I drove with his brother to California to see the master jam. it was a lot fun driving there with a
bunch of older hippies. I remember taking a bunch of reds and walking around (well,
they walked, I stumbled) looking for friends and drugs. 

I've seen about 65 or so concerts in my wild days. that was from 1970 to 1980 (one in '84).
I remember some of these concerts quite well. and others I don't remember at all. some dates are wrong, and some are right. if you've been to any of these concerts send me a line and lets rap. there has to be one of you out still kicking. 

                                                                    

 

 

                                                             

 

 

  Hendrix Strumming along in style

       My Concert List

 

1970

My first concert - Blood, Sweat & Tears - 1970 - Vegas, convention center. it was also the first 
time I took LSD-25. it was a sugar cube (the second drug I ever took). I remember it cost $2.
when I started to come on I was freaking out. I was losing it. so a couple of older dudes mellowed
me out and took me around with them until I was ok. after that I enjoyed seeing colors and stuff.
acid is weird. it's hard to explain. it's like you see the whole meaning of life. the whole picture.

Jimi Hendrix: 1970 -  San Bernardino, CA. Auditorium. of all the concerts I saw I wish I 
could remember more about this one. I took to many downers that night. 

1971

The Doors: 1971 - Los Angeles: at the Roxy? or whiskey a go-go.
an older dude pleaded with the people at the door to let us in. we weren't 18. 
and I remember after about an hour we were tossed out on our ass for causing 
trouble. I forgot what we did wrong. 
Sly & The Family Stone: 1971 - Las Vegas: venue Dixie?.

1972

Jethro Tull: June 17, 1972 - Las Vegas, convention center. 
Grand Funk Railroad: new years eve Dec 31, 1972. Las Vegas, convention center.
James Gang : with Joe Walsh / Sweat Hog -  Freddie King - 1972, Las Vegas, convention 
center. this was my favorite concert. I don't know if was because we were in the front row
(four feet from the stage) seats or what. but these guys played their hearts out. he first time I did
strawberry mescaline. there was more of a variety of drugs at this concert then I've ever seen before,
or since.

Procol Harum: 1972?  - Las Vegas, convention center. 
WAR : 1972 - Las Vegas, convention center.
Joe Cocker:1972 - Las Vegas: convention center.
The Guess Who : 1972? - Las Vegas: convention center.

Rare Earth - Sha na na? / Flash Cadillac & the continental kids : 1972? - Las Vegas: convention 
center. Rare Earth put on a great show. they were popular back then.

Nils Lofgren Badorf & Rodney: 1972 Las Vegas convention center

Humble Pie: 1972 - Las Vegas: convention center.
YES - Wild Turkey- Black Sabbath: "The Fragile tour"1972 - Las Vegas: convention center.

1973

YES - Poco: April 6, 1973 -"Close to the edge tour" -  Las Vegas: at the Ice Palace.

Deep Purple- Fleetwood Mac: April 1973 - Las Vegas: convention center. Deep purple didn't show
up and it turned into the biggest riot in Las Vegas history. Fleetwood Mac was great!. it was the night I
didn't see Deep Purple. and I never did get to see them in concert. it was a bummer.

The Edgar Winter group: 1973? - Las Vegas: at the Ice Palace. best song (Frankenstein) 
Focus: I think they were with Edgar Winters. remember the song "Hocus Pocus?"  what a 
great tune. listen to it at Amazon. 

Lobo: 1973 - Las Vegas. convention center. 

Loggins & Messina: 1973 - Las Vegas: convention center. "Your mama don't dance"
Seals & Croft: - It's A Beautiful Day: date? Las Vegas. convention center. Seals & Crofts
best songs are "Hummingbird" and "Summer breeze". 

Foghat: 1973 - Las Vegas. venue? 
Badfinger:  date? - Las Vegas: convention center.

Poco - Spooky Tooth  : were with Johnny winter. I think! 
Stephen Stills: 1973? Las Vegas: convention center.
J. Geils band: date? Las Vegas: venue?. I think this concert was in Los Angeles.

1974

ZZ Top- Blue Oyster Cult: 1974 - Las Vegas. 
Brownsville station - Montrose - Black oak Arkansas: I think all of these bands played together. 
I remember that Montrose came on second. the date? 1973 or 1974. Las Vegas: at the Ice Palace.
Montrose was one of the best groups I ever heard a the time. when their set was over the crowd went
nuts. they left the stage and his (Montrose) guitar was still playing with a spotlight on it. it was wicked.
I've never seen a crowd go nuts like that before. not until the Led Zeppelin concert.  

CAL JAM 1: April 6, 1974: Ontario, CA, Ontario speedway. it's the biggest concert that I've ever been 
to. 200,000 strong. if you ever go to a concert of this size make sure you don't lose your friends. 
because you'll never find them again. when the concert was over I didn't have a ride back to Las Vegas 
(I lost my friends the first hour of the concert). so I hitched a ride. it took me about two minutes before 
I got a ride from some people who were going back to Las Vegas. groovy, man!
I still didn't get to see Deep Purple. when they came on I was stoned cold out of it. I was snoozing off 
my drug induced coma. I was a human meltdown!

Santana: Sep 18,1974 - Las Vegas - Ice Palace. I had the year right, but I thought it was at the 
convention center. thanks to the Santana database.  

Johnny Winter - Mahavishnu Orchestra: 1974? - Las Vegas: at the Ice Palace. I think the opening
 act was Mahavishnu orchestra. 

I saw these concerts on the same day. the free? concert at  the speed way. the band were
BTO, REO Speedwagon, and?. that night we saw Ten Years After, at the Ice Palace. 
Ten Years After: Las Vegas - at the Ice Palace - 1974?. when we got there is was sold out , and 
we snuck in the side door that someone broke down. so as stupid kids as we were, we
followed the leader and got to see the concert for free. kids!

Chicago: June 24, 1974  - Las Vegas, convention center. a lot of horns, man!

The Doobie Brothers: 1974 or 75 - Las Vegas: convention center. this was a great concert.
we got there 4 hours before the doors were open. and we got front row seats. it was worth the
wait. back then it was first come first in front row. at the convention center the stage was only
about five feet high. and the seats were about 6 feet away. it was great.
Earth, Wind & Fire: 1974? - Las Vegas: convention center.

1975

Elton John:  1975 - Las Vegas convention center. what a hell of a night. see why below. 
Bad Company:1975 - Los Angeles. my friend still has the ticket stub. I'll scan it soon. 

Led Zeppelin: March 27 1975 - Inglewood, California  -  The Forum. One if not the best 
concerts that I've ever seen. besides the James Gang concert. I think this one was the best.
The Eagles: 1975? - Las Vegas. venue?

1976

Ted Nugent: Phoenix, AZ, 1976, My friend had to remind of this one. I was 10 feet from the speakers
and drunk as a skunk. Nugent ran around the stage like he was being chased by a herd of buffalos. 
Steve Miller band: 1976? Las Vegas: convention center.
Rod Stewart / Faces -Tower of power : 1976? Las Vegas: silver bowl. we sat in the second 
row. Rod was jumping around right in front of us. that was a cool concert. not the best. but good.

1977
The Rolling Stones: 1977? - Los Angeles, Inglewood: forum 
Hall & Oates: 1977 - Las Vegas: at the Aladdin theater.
Queen: Dec 15, 1977 - Las Vegas Aladdin theater - one of the best concerts that I've ever seen.

1978
Boston: Sept 19, 1978 - Las Vegas - Aladdin theater?. The Aladdin Theater is the worst place
for a concert. I hated that place. I hate reserve seating. I guess there is no more feastival seating
after those kids were killed at the Who concert in Cincinnati. that was tragic.
Canned Heat: 1978? - Las Vegas: Club. they kicked ass.  when they sang "On the road again" 
people went nuts. the club only held about 200 people. .

1979

Journey - Foreigner - Sammy Hagar: August 17, 1979 -  Las Vegas: convention center. the 
first time I ever heard of Sammy Hagar. he rocked the house down. he got a standing ovation for 
a long long time. he came back to play for a couple of more songs. electrifying guitar player!.  

1980

 

1984 The only cool thing about the Jackson concert was the ticket. check it out

The Jackson victory tour: 1984 Irving, Texas. we were in town and hadn't plan on going to 
the concert. my girl got tickets and we went. I slept through most of it. imagine, the last concert
I go to and it's the Jackson's. what a waste of $28. and I still have the ticket stub.  argh!

1999  

I'm going to Junefeast 7 on June 5th, to see Creedence Clearwater Revisted, Joe Walsh, 
Cheap Trick, Joan Jett, The Knack, Blue Oyster Cult, and The Romantics. it'll be my first 
concert since 1983. I've never seen CCR, so it'll be a blast to see them for the first time.
Other bands that I've seen but don't remember where, or with who. 
Sweet, Pablo Cruise, Blackfoot, Donovan, Robin Trower.

The only cool thing about  
the Jackson concert was 
the tickets. check it out. 

                                                         

I hope to have a whole page of old ticket stubs. this ticket stub was the only one I had left.
This concert stunk. of all the concerts I've seen this is the only stub I had left. 

        

         

                                                             What A Score!                                                

The Elton John concert was a big thing in Las Vegas in 1975.  I remember the tickets sold-out 
quick. there was about five of us who went to hang around at the front doors of the concert. people
were selling tickets for ten times the face value. we were looking to buy some tickets but not at the
prices they were asking. about five minutes before the concert was to start some dude walked up 
and handed us five tickets. WOW! what a trip.  before we could say something the dude was long
gone. why did he give us those tickets? (they were good tickets too. main floor). I guess he couldn't
sell them. and he wanted to see the concert too. it was great. we even had extra money to buy lots 
of dope. 

                                                   That Smell!

The first concert I went to you could smell the pleasant aroma of POT (oh, yeah, the munchies are 
coming). I was amazed that no cops were doing anything about it. the James Taylor concert at the 
Aladdin Theater, was the only concert without the smell of pot in the air.  I remember lighting a 
cigarette and an usher ran up to me with an ashtray. "NO SMOKING" he said. just think if we were 
to light up a joint. they'd have the army after us. that concert was a bummer. so we split . 

SPECIAL NOTE

On some of these pages I talk about the drugs that I use to take. I took drugs when I was young 
and stupid. I DO NOT condone the use of DRUGS. drugs is what ruined my life. don't let it ruin 
yours. stay clean and stay cool.

                                                            What Big John does

I deal blackjack in one Las Vegas's finest resorts. and I'm in the works of opening up a 
"Head Shop" (a place to buy cool pipes, smokes, T-shirts, and supply's for ones party)

            

                                                      My Hendrix Collection   

In 1978 I sold my album collection of well over a 1000 albums to a used record store in Long Beach
California. If I remember I got about $400. I was happy then, but years later I was sick to death. it was 
one of the biggest mistakes of my life. it's like losing your girlfriend or a member of your family. I wish
I had them back.

Anyway, life goes on and Now I'm starting over. I buy mostly music from the 1970's. I like to use a 
reel to reel to record with.  reel to reel is great for long hours of recording. technology! hah!. 

"I can't get out of the '70s" 

 Jimi Hendrix

 1. Axis: bold as love: Reprise.
 2. Band of gypsy's: Capital records.
 3. Cry of love: Reprise.
 4. Electric Ladyland: Reprise
 5. Essentials Vol 2: Reprise 1979.
 6. Smash hits: Reprise - 1969.
 7. War heroes: Reprise - 1972.
 8. Are you experienced: - Reprise 1967
 9. Radio one: Castles communications - England  -1989.
10. Woodstock : MCA - 1994. 
11. Live at Winterland : Rykodisc - 1987
12. Ultimate experience: 1995.
13 First Rays of the new rising sun : 1998.
14. Live at the Filmore East : 1999. 
15. BBC sessions : 1999.
16. Midnight Lightening : Polydor - 1975.  

I hope to collect as many Jimi Hendrix albums that I can get my hands on. I'll scour the west coast
looking for any album, tape, CD, that I don't have. when I go to San Francisco next week I'm going
to hit every used record store in the bay area looking for JImi Hendrix music.

                                              

                                                    New To My Collection

These are the new tunes I bought this week. as you can tell I love bands from the '60s and '70s.
this era stomps on the '80s. I can't stand that techno crap. argh! 

                                                       Tapes I bought on June 22, 1999

Fleetwood Mac: Tusk. cassette

James Gang: Miami. CD

Robin Trower: Bridges Of Sighs. this is a great tape. I haven't heard it in long time.  cassette

Grand Funk Railroad: E. Pluribus Funk. this is also a great CD.  CD 

 

 

 

 

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