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RIP Dickey Betts - Allman Brothers


Gregg

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It's sad to see so many musical heroes of that generation start to die off and/or stop touring.

I had the pleasure of seeing the Allman Brothers live a couple times, but I don't believe Betts was still playing with them by that time.

Anyway...Eat a Peach and Live at the Fillmore East are two of the all-time great albums. Betts had such a distinct playing style and sound. 

RIP to a great and singular musician.

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55 minutes ago, Beast said:


Isn’t it weird when that happens? The older I get it happens more and more. 

What I can't understand are reports of when the world's oldest man dies.  It happens much too often and it's kinda spooky.  

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1 hour ago, teef said:

i love dickey betts, and am also shocked that he was still alive.  once he left the allman brothers, that was it for me. (i'm pretty sure he left)

He was fired

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4 minutes ago, teef said:

That sounds right.  Drug related?   We saw them a number of times with the horde festivals, and it was always a great party. 

 

5 minutes ago, teef said:

That sounds right.  Drug related?   We saw them a number of times with the horde festivals, and it was always a great party. 

He was a drinker and would get in fights with band mates. 

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I was in Buffalo several years ago, and I swear it was for a Bills season opener, but I’m having trouble trying to figure out exactly which game it was. 

I can’t remember if it was the following day or exactly when, but I had to catch a flight back to Atlanta and I saw several flight cases (used for music gear among other things) out on the curb at the airport drop off with the name Allman Brothers stenciled on all of them. 
I didn’t realize that the Allman Brothers had been playing at Darien Lake that weekend, otherwise I would’ve tried to catch them. 

I was standing in the security line, waiting to go through the metal detectors and so forth, and I look back and the guy standing directly behind me was Gregg Allman with some girl. One of my closest friends here in Atlanta is an Allman Brothers disciple and I was half tempted to call my friend Scott (with my Nokia cell) and ask Gregg if he would say hello. Gregg is pretty low-key so I didn’t want to bother him so I never did. I've got some other Gregg/Cher stories from the days when they'd come to Buffalo and hit Stage 1, a regular nightspot for us in Clarence. 
I’ve played with a couple of dudes who played with the Allman Brothers (not that I’m exactly in the same league). One of them, the guitar player who backed Gregg on his laid-back tour on 1974, just passed away a couple of months ago. Playing with him was a pleasure, but it also put things in perspective of how good some of these real pros are. 
I loaned him my slide and he show me how it’s done properly. 
The Allman Brothers, my estimation are probably one of the best or the best American band ever. 
Somewhere I have a bunch of pictures from the Rose Hill cemetery in Macon, where Elizabeth Reid, Little Martha, and now Duane, Gregg, and Berry are all buried.

Long live the Allman Brothers

Side notes, Buffalo connections:

When Duane got hooked on H back in the early 70's, he did his rehab in Buffalo. That may be the same reason that Gregg was coming frequently in the late 70's. IDK.  

Also in the early days when they were just getting started, they played at a club in Buffalo and the a-hole owner wouldn't pay them after the gig. I'm not surprised. I had similar issues living there when I was young. Anyway, bassist Berry Oakley went to collect the $1000 from Angelo Aliotta, owner of Aliotta's, the gin joint where they played.  Aliotta was only willing to part with $500. Road manger Twiggs Lyndon got in the middle of it, stabbed and killed Aliotta.  I believe Twiggs got off using a 'temporary insanity' plea, stating that working for the Allman brothers made him crazy. It actually worked!

Edited by SoMAn
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I saw him play with the Allman brothers twice.  One of the times I saw him he was having some issues with his Gibson Les Paul guitar. He broke it in two over his knee. Cracked the neck from the body BLAM

 

as shocking as that was his roadie had another guitar ready and he slipped it on really  quickly so as to not miss too much of the song. 

 

I have never before or since seen  guy snap a several thousand dollar instrument over his knee CRACK. I think he had a hot temper he was not having that guitar messing up at all

 

RIP Dickie you were a guitar playing badass.

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