What places do you most remember from

The Peachtree Strip and the Hip Community?

Here are some. We need more suggestions

and memories and photos associated to these.

Middle Earth Head Shop

located across a parking lot from the FDA!

Great Middle Earth Photo

Atlantis Rising

“The Poster Hut” on Cheshire Bridge

14th Street

Ma Hull’s

Picture courtesy Carter Tomassi

Duane Blalock- An Atlanta story and in relation to Al Kooper’s Book:” Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards”

Let me tell you about my personal account in relation to the AL Kooper book listed above. In the book in 1972 Al Kooper plays at Underground Atlanta. I was there to see the show and used  a fake ID to get in the club and a waitress was flirting around with me and after a while she came over and asked me how old I was?  Being dumb and honest,  I told her told 19. She was pissed and said that I should be thrown out, well she let me stay and I enjoyed the show.

In the book Kooper says during his stay in Atlanta he ended up hanging out with the Atlanta Rhythm Section at their studio. He had known them since they were the Candymen and backed Roy Orbison. Anyway he fell in love with the city and moved down from NY. They would jam and record and then hang out at a club on Peachtree called Funochios. There he watched the local bands play and produced and secured record contracts and started up “Sounds Of The South” label for MCA. He signed Lynyrd Skynyrd and Mose Jones, check out:

www.java-monkey.com/remember-mose.htm

I used to hang out at the club and dated a girl named Lisa from there, well quite a few girls from there, but one in particular, and she also hung out(groupie) with Lynyrd Skynyrd  and we’d go down early while they warmed up and they would come sit and hang out at our table. I just considered them a local band and remember remarking to Lisa that they were pretty good but “Crossroads” was not as good as Cream’s version and they showed off too much. This was before they had an album out. Attached is a picture from upstairs at Funochios and Skynyrd playing. They did not have the piano player then and had a different drummer.

Anyway in the book, Al Kooper talks about  Funochios and how there were fights and stabbings and he witnessed two shooting!

Well, at the time I was attending the Atlanta College of Art and my friend who also attended there, the late Jeff Yero, had a roommate named Mike who was also a student with us and worked as a bouncer at Funochios.  He threw a guy out one night and the guy came back and shot and killed him. After that, I stayed clear of the club! Too bad Mose Jones did not make it along with other bands like Eric Quincy Tate, Kudzu and  Hydra.  They, by the way had a reunion and released a live album last year and you can download it on ITunes.

Vanillasphere