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Was Butch ever really committed to the Brotherhood???
That is a question for the ages.....
If you define what "the Brotherhood" was-or is-within the Allman Brothers Band, its inner circle, or its fan base there would be similar lines of thought.
In the core id, the Brotherhood is a oneness of experiencing and savoring the emotional and sensual messages within the music. Its that engagement and exchange of collective soul, coming together and with unison, reaching out into the spiritual world...being drawn back in...and collectively reaching out higher and with more passion and energy, back and forth in musical love almost in intercoursal fashion until the collective has put it all out there. Baring their musical reach until naked. Reaching out and savoring more until the body cannot give, and the mind cannot understand what actually took place. But the heart remembers.
And the Brother (Sister-one in the same here) remembers. His heart is full, and at the same time, he accepts what he experienced and wants to repeat that experience. Not in the way a addict craves a high, but in the way a broken heart found safety and refuge. In the case of the addict, you have to give nothing and selfishly take. In the Brotherhood experience you realize you have to expose your heart, experience, and in return give of yourself in order to remain in the sweet spot.
So, a Brother learns the path. He understands and focuses on what he craves, and what he must give in order to fully experience the ultimate...what Duane referred to as Hitting the Note...a place ALL people have the capability to experience, but truly in this culture few have actually experienced. That place where music is the vehicle...and the payload is the emotional footprint of that collective musical convergence. An emotional tuning fork perfectly balanced with Duane/Gregg/Berry/JJ/Butch, combined with the collective soul of music lovers, and lovers in general, who boarded that ship.
The Brotherhood therefore is a place you never wanted to leave. You would want, as a musician, to pleade and do your part to recreate that payload every time you performed. Who was going to begin that night? When would the first emotional tuning fork be raised, begging for others to see it, feel it, and join?.
And in the crowd...could you spot the tuning forks on stage? Could you also contribute your own? Your friends around you never got it, did they? You would be in a stupor, not from drugs, but from the music, and your friend was clueless......that is because Brothers and Sisters...the Brotherhood, read the spiritual aspect of the musicians on stage, and carried that experience...remaining in that sweet spot....to their core. Others see it as good quality music. They never then, nor now, understand.
Given the above, a person moves in and out of that sweet spot place. In particular a musician who becomes sad and frustrated he can no longer expect those tuning forks to be raised. You cannot find it with your bandmates. You cannot drivea guitar player to speak directly from his most inner sanctum to his fingers. You cannot hold that moment and leverage it. So, you simply play. You simply perform. And at that moment, your perspective changes. Music becomes work.
When the music becomes work, all you have then is a series of frustrating memories for what was. The id does not exist onstage. Those fans, and those replacing musicians, who never got it are still happy...the music itself sounds the same. But the Brotherhood knows its not the same.
Because the Brotherhood is comprised of music player, bandmates, and lovers all alike, the collective then can keep the hope and desire alive. That has been the case here with the wanderers for years. Year after year, night after night, the collective has kept the dream alive. The Beacon potential reunion was an excellent example; it was not to hear Dickey play Ramblin Man. It was the collective trying to open the door to see if those musicians would go back to the sweet spot, hold up their emotional tuning forks, and experience it again.
With that, the question becomes who wants to remain in that zone called the Brotherhood? Many have left from sheer frustration...but they wander nevertheless. Some hold true to the core and contend its still possible. And some want nothing more than to live by what they were taught and experienced first hand. They never want to wander away from that core.
When road tired brothers and sisters meet up, from the first hug, kiss or handshake, you know its for real in them. They are dedicated and wear their emotional trip counters with love. And most importantly, they encourage and nuture that experience with their Brothers and Sisters. Because they understand what a Brother or Sister had to lay on the table in order to become the collective. In this world and society, the hardest thing a human can do is to mentally and emotionally let go. In a crowd of Allman Brother fans, you can literally visualize those that can and have from those who are too frightned to go there, or too angry to allow it.
Great post Rick. Excellent points.
We have a line here called"WeiswurstÄquator".I´m living north.Prices are all the same
Can anyone south of the Mason Dixon line send me some tobacco?
The great state of NY is charging up to $10 a pack...and we still can't smoke in bars anymore...
Help! I need some inexpensive nicotine...no patches...
I hope to be at the show on the 23rd! making amends to all who I offened after being released from jail and freezing my ass off in Montana...
Repeat...between sips
I like Butch
sip
I like Butch
sip sip
I like Butch
sip sip gulp
Ey likee Butchie
gulp gulp damn
Barkeepe make me another martini apple
yep, inhale is the key....personally an apple martini would serve me better. Who is the barkeep around here??
Rainy, thank you.
All equally great posts.. Luke, southsider and RickT...and TennKev... and all who post here
all make me think...
as greggswoman said on ABB...GB
sad, all so very sad...:(
What concerned me about Claude's post...
He obviously is very sensitive about his relationship with Duane. Over the last year or so, Butch has referenced his relationship with Duane in a defensive manner, as if to say his relationship with Duane was "different" or perhaps tighter. If you research it, you will see what I am talking about.
Im very concerned that Butch would make this all about him. Here is a man that has a life-threating illness, needs uplifting, and the purpose and focus of Butch's post was to defend his relationships and business ventures.
Butch, let me give you a piece of advice. The only defense to a lie is the truth. Like you, most of us older cats have tried business ventures before that have failed for one reason or another. You did not look back, and you survived it and moved on. FSU in your case probably stood for "FU*** Signed Letters of Understanding", and they didnt even Name the Studio after you or have an Allman Brothers picture or signed drumhead anywhere...who knows. Those bastard academians....budget cuts my ass.
Anyways, the way it comes across is "Daddy loved ME more than he loved YOU" and he knew his children all had flaws....including you.
All you band members want to write and rewrite history. Everyone has an asshole and they all stink in this little deal. So, Duane could have easily have said one thing to you and another to RD. Would not surprise me in the least...shit, y'all did the same thing to each other so why not? SO, every iota of what you posted may be factual, and every iota of what RD says may be equally factual....that blended truth sounds more like it. After all, we are only human when it comes to relationships.
Heck, I wish you will leave it up Luke. I know it would fall on deaf ears, but I wish you would post it on the blue site as well.
Dickey, and now RedDog catch waaay to much undeserved crap over there. NONE of them are/were saints or saviours. As I said before, it's good to get another side of the story every once in a while.
Love your post, Southsider.:cool:
One thing i heard in Macon at Buffalo's gig down by the river ,has always stuck in my mind.I overheard Trucks saying(very loudly) that he was glad that m-fu-king redneck Betts didn't come up.Said he'd of had to kick his ass & it would have been in the Telegraph the next morning.
Dude that was totally uncalled for man.And from spending numerous times around Betts,i don't think you'd have the balls to get in his face.Cause i truly believe Dickey would be all over your ass like a buzz saw on jet fuel.
Most likely i'll take this post down after a while.Cause it doesn't need to be a permanent fixture.Just airing a little gas ya might say.
SOUTHSIDER,ya hit the note on that one man!
Back in 2000 after the firing of Dickey someone posted on the old ABB site the 4 remaining members should all go out in the woods to a cabin. They should leave all their alcohol, drugs knives and guns outside and then go in and discuss their differences. Someone then posted that would only last about 30 minutes as Dickey would kick the crap out of the other 3 within that time frame. I think he could do it!! Peach.
:beer:Great stuff southsider.
So I guess now is a bad time to ask if there'll ever be a reunion of the original surviving members???
Just kidding, settle down!!....
Seriously tho'....It is pretty sad to see how thoroughly fractured the various ABB relationships have become....I, like many of you here always had this idealistic vision I carried around about what the so-called brotherhood was like back in the day and how great it must have been....When you are young, you are full of idealism, but when you get older and get your ass kicked by the world a bit, realism takes over....And it looks like ABB is about realism these days, not some idealistic "brotherhood", no matter how hard it is to swallow....I have this reoccuring dream about Gregg, Dickey, Butch, Jaimoe and Reddog getting locked in at Rose Hill after dark and all seperately meeting at the graves of Duane and Berry, much to the other's surprise....At which point, lightening flashes and thunder rumbles and the ghosts of Duane and Berry appear before them as they all tremble in their shoes....Then, the ghosts of D and B do a simultaneous, Three Stooges slap across all their foreheads and tell 'em to get their S@#% together before it's too late....
Butch may not care what I think... But.. lips sure does....
I think she might be stalking me.... 😮
hows that for reality....
at least I am on the side of the* truth*..
😀 I better split before the whole shit-house goes up in flames... I'll check back later....
LMAO. Time out for TennKev and Mr. King. Naughty, naughty.