Rocky Rhodes picks up the Road Tales saga in August of 1968.
Rocky Rhodes picks up the Road Tales saga in August of 1968. Following a hugely successful national tour, Armond and the band return to the Land Beyond Reality minus one member. The rocky road ahead brings the highs of opening for Three Dog Night, Mitch Ryder, playing with Del Shannon and Dave Dudley, and canyon floor lows of insanity and death amid attending life-altering events: concerts by The Doors, a day of jamming with a legendary blues guitarist, and meeting a lifelong friend change Armond.
Excerpt
Jack Ghostly was the undisputed pun master of our band. The subtitles of Road Tales are a tribute to Jack. This subtitle plays on the name of the piano I used back then: the Fender Rhodes Stage 73.
This volume of Road Tales continues the story of music and debauchery that are my life. Picking up from where Rode Tails ended in late 1968, Rocky Rhodes describes the many highs and a few lows that occurred during the years of 1968 through 1970, an era that lasted an eon and forged me through an intense ordeal by fire, a flaming gauntlet that I easily could have killed me. Yet, through each death came a new life, new promise, and new hope.
With the shit that rained down on me during these years, with all the strife and conflict going on in the world, I could have easily become a serial killer… or a politician. (You tell me the difference between those two.)
Or, I could have easily committed suicide, which was and remains the leading cause of death for Indian teens, or, been murdered by wasicu, the next leading cause for premature exit to the other side for our people.
At my lowest point a series of folks came into my life to provide comfort and guidance. The greatest new influence was the Boudreaux family introduced to me through their eldest son Ben.
I’m never sure when new folks are sent into my path whether I’m supposed to help them or the other way around. I’m starting to realize that both things happen. You cannot affect someone without being affected by them.
These stories are about the people who changed me and my life –and me theirs – in fulfillment of the Grand Design.
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