Sgt. Pepper In the Gumbo Pot (narration)

Now I remember when I wrote that song. I was imagining being in London
though I'd never been
I don't know if there is a street named Rickety Lane in London
but it sounded good to me at the time
In those early days of my songwriting
I was certainly feeling the effects of the british invasion
Which was the background music to the mid-60's rise in
counter culture that had crossed the
Atlantic and even worked it's way to
the mouth of the Mississippi River

The repetoire of the upstairs alliance was filled with songs by the
Dave Clark Five. The Kicks,
The Stones, Hermits Hermits, The Animals and
of course The Beatles,
We all wanted to look, sound and act British
But the closest we really ever
could get to being an international group
was having a Canadian member

Rick Bennett was my roommate in college,
the bass player in my band and a life-long friend
He is now Chair of the Toronto film school and has
worked in the film and commercial world,
ever since leaving the band and school
He also directed the: Who's the blonde stranger video
Which we filmed in Key West
We've stayed in touch over the years and
I always visit RB when we play Toronto as we did this summer

When we had finished putting together the tracks in storage
for this collection
I sent it to Ricky to fact check as this stuff happened a long time
ago and sure enough he came up with a few
bits of treasure that I had forgotten about
and that's when I thought it would be cool to have him read this start
Hell he lived a major part of it and since then
he's made a pretty good living
as an actor, director, producer and voice-over specialist
relying on that husky Canadian voice of his
So, without further adieu here's Mr. Rick Bennett reading
Sgt. Pepper in the gumbo pot
Take it away Ricky

Hi I'm Rick Bennett, Jimmy's colleague roommate and
the bass player in our first band, The Upstairs Alliance
JImmy Buffett, The Beatles and Bourbon Street
what a combination and in the summer of 1967,
that was the combination, the stars were lining up
In the Spring of 1967, Jimmy, myself and Benny
formed a little band called The Upstairs Alliance

And on Jimmy's insistence, we auditioned for and got the
gig at a folk club called The Bayou Room on Bourbon Street
in New Orleans
And I'm thinking, does it get any better than that?
We played our folk and pop tunes
adding a few new Beatles ballads as they came along
and usually played to pretty good crowds, then in June of '67
the music landscape changed

The Beatles released the album
Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
That album blew us away, we had to be part of that
It was time to go electric
JB traded in his Martin D acoustic for the electric version
I traded the stand-up Bass for a Fender Jazz Master
And Benny, well she kept her old tambourine
as fate would have it, the bar next to the Bayou Room
was the Gunga Den, the hottest Rock 'n Roll bar on Bourbon Street
The owner kinda liked our electric sound
and figured our next progression should be with his bar

So he offered us a gig, and for more money as well
It was a no-brainer, we thought we might surprise him
by opening with Sergeant Pepper
Now these boys didn't always take surprises well
Back on the College campus we made
an after hours visit to the theatre costume department
and 'borrowed' some outrageous Sgt, Pepper style costumes

Now let it be noted that it was always our intent to return
those generous gifts
We recruited a drummer and a lead guitar player to add to our
eclectic electric circus band
We stayed up nights learning the lyrics and chords to Sgt, Pepper
Jimmy carried the load, while Bennie and I did the harmonies
We were getting ready to rock the Gunga Den a new audience
With the new electric version of the Upstairs Alliance

On Sunday we played our last folk set at the Bayou Room
and with a change of wardrobe we walked into the Gunga Den
with strobe lights flailing, electric energy prevailing,
and Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Band ready to go
Top quote the Beatles, it was wonderful to be there
it certainly was a thrill

The show was a hit
the bar made money and we were getting some pretty good press
The upstairs alliance became the first Sergeant Peppers
cover band in New Orleans
There was no going back
Surely we would be discovered here and the road to success
would start down Bourbon Street

But this is the music business, fickle at best
and there are a lot of vultures out there
Like Jimmy, New Orleans was one of the great experiences of my life
We didn't make it, but way back then we knew
Jimmy was going to make it
Why?
Because he never entertained a plan b and as fate would have it
Here is the wino who had something to say