Daddy-Daughter-Dinosaur Date

Do you know what this is?

 

 

That's right.  It's a Steppenwolf 8-track tape.  I remember we had one of these in my house when I was a teeny child.  So a couple of months ago, when I was listening to my new favorite radio program, Stonehenge on WREK 91.1, I heard John say that John Kay and Steppenwolf would be playing a show at the Harley Davidson of Cartersville on 8/24.  I texted my Dad and we made a date.  Dad just turned 70 years old.  For his 70th birthday, he rode his Harley 700 miles.  Like all bikers, he loves Steppenwolf, but unlike Steppenwolf-lovin'-biker-posers, he's always been a fan, as evidenced by the 8-track shown above.  And he's always been a biker, although he had to go without a bike for many years when we were growing up.  In the past ten or fifteen years though, he's gotten back into it with a vengeance!  This time on a real hog!

 

About a week before the show, Dad called to cancel, telling me he needed to get his eyes checked before he could ride at night again.

 

"You know, Dad, we could take the car..."

 

(long pause)

 

"Yeah, yeah we could.  OK let's do that."

 

I love my Dad.

 

Then I finally got around to checking the innerwebs for details about the concert.  It was so much more than a Steppenwolf show, it was Bikes!  Bikinis!  and Bands!  A benefit for esophogeal cancer, which apparently claimed the life of Earl, formerly of Harley Davidson of Cartersville.  The thing that got me even more stoked for the show was the opening band, one of my personal favorite dinosaur bands:  Mother's Finest.  Hell yes.  I defy anyone to listen to one of their first two albums and not dance even just a little.  Try it.

 

Anyway, Dad and I had a blast at the show.  We got there in the middle of the MF set, but they saved all their best tunes for last anyway, so it didn't matter.  The chick lead singer looked amazing!  And they sounded the same, tight and funky and full of rock.  Here goes Mother's Finest:

 

 

Then out came Steppenwolf.  Earlier I had asked Kevs if he wanted to come with us, but he said no, he wanted to remember them as they were when he saw them in concert.  In 1975.  On their reunion tour.  I am assuming since he didn't have a car then that they got to the show via pteranodon, but I digress.  Steppenwolf put on a good show, but at the same time I think Kevs made a good call.  There are two types of old man voice, the raspy Grandpa Simpson kind and the parkinsonian Jimmy Stewart voice.  Unfortunately, John Kay has developed the second type of old man voice.  The good news is that they were also very tight, they appeared to all be in very good shape despite their advanced age, and the crowd had a great time.  Here goes Steppenwolf:

 

 

Here goes me and Dad raisin' some hell at Steppenwolf.

 

 

Oh, you forgot who Mother's Finest is?  I'm headed over to Once Possessed to get their albums on vinyl again this weekend!  And probably a bunch of other stuff too.  Well, you don't know what we can find. 

 

Oh, you forgot who Steppenwolf is?  It's ok.  Forgetting stuff is part of the fun of life.