John Herdt : Blog

The 2002 Tommy Bolin Music Festival

December 30th, 2008

In 2002 I played in drummer Bobby Berge’s band at the 2002 Tommy Bolin Music Festival held in Sioux City on August 10, 2002 in Chataqua Park. Bobby (drummer for Tommy Bolin, Buddy Miles and more) pulled together a band of players from around the country to open the show on that Saturday afternoon as the first of six bands including headliner Rick Derringer. The lineup for Bobby’s band included:

• Bobby Berge: drums
• David Hare: vocals
• John Herdt: guitar
• David Napier: baritone sax
• John Birch: tenor sax
• Sam Irish: bass

Johnnie Bolin and Jim Dandy Mangrum from Black Oak Arkansas also sat in for some tunes, and each spoke a bit.

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The Mnemonist Orchestra

December 22nd, 2008

In 1979 I played guitar on my first vinyl record, titled Mnemonist Orchestra with a catalog number of Dys 01 on Dys Records. I actually need to try and find exactly when we did the single live recording session that resulted in the album. It was released in 1979, but was likely recorded in the fall or winter of 1978 which gave Bill and Mark time to edit and arrange the album for a release in Spring 1979. I don’t remember it being cold though because I remember taking a break outside some of the other players, and I remember it being chilly but I don’t remember us wearing coats.

I knew producer Bill Sharp while I lived in Corbett Hall from 1974-1976 at Colorado State University. Bill was not to my knowledge a musician while we lived on the same floor at Corbett, but he was always into music what was near the outside of the norm, and was later responsible for bringing avant-garde acts like Henry Kaiser to Fort Collins. Bill used to hear me practicing my guitar in my room and thought my playing was at least a little bit interesting. He didn’t hold mainstream bands like Mountain or Montrose in high regard, but at the time I was into the great rock bands and guitar gods but also into jazz-rock fusion, particularly stuff built around guitarist Tommy Bolin.

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