Now I when I wrote that song. I was imagining being in London though I'd been I don't know if there is a street named Lane in London but it sounded good to me at the In those days of my songwriting I was certainly feeling the of the british invasion Which was the music to the mid-60's rise in counter culture that had the and even worked it's way to the mouth of the Mississippi
The repetoire of the upstairs was filled with songs by the Clark Five. The Kicks, The Stones, Hermits, The Animals and of The Beatles, We all wanted to look, sound and act But the we really ever could get to an international group was having a member
Rick Bennett was my in college, the bass in my band and a life-long friend He is now Chair of the film school and has in the film and commercial world, ever since leaving the band and He also directed the: Who's the stranger video Which we filmed in Key We've stayed in touch over the and I visit RB when we play Toronto as we did this summer
When we had finished putting the tracks in storage for this I sent it to Ricky to check as this stuff happened a long time ago and sure enough he up with a few bits of treasure that I had forgotten and that's when I thought it would be cool to have him read start Hell he lived a major of it and since then he's made a pretty living as an actor, director, producer and voice-over relying on that Canadian voice of his So, without further adieu Mr. Rick Bennett reading Sgt. in the gumbo pot Take it Ricky
Hi I'm Bennett, Jimmy's colleague roommate and the bass player in our first band, The Alliance Buffett, The Beatles and Bourbon Street what a combination and in the of 1967, that was the combination, the stars lining up In the of 1967, Jimmy, myself and Benny a little band called The Upstairs Alliance
And on Jimmy's insistence, we for and got the gig at a folk club The Bayou Room on Bourbon Street in New And I'm thinking, does it get any better that? We played our and pop tunes adding a few new ballads as they came along and usually played to pretty crowds, then in June of '67 the music changed
The released the album Sergeant Pepper's Hearts Club Band That blew us away, we had to be part of that It was to go electric JB traded in his D acoustic for the electric version I the stand-up Bass for a Fender Jazz Master And Benny, she kept her old tambourine as fate would have it, the bar next to the Room was the Gunga Den, the hottest Rock 'n Roll bar on Street The kinda liked our electric sound and figured our next progression be with his bar
So he offered us a gig, and for money as well It was a no-brainer, we thought we surprise him by opening with Sergeant Now boys didn't always take surprises well on the College campus we made an after hours to the theatre costume department and 'borrowed' some outrageous Sgt, style costumes
Now let it be noted that it was always our intent to generous gifts We recruited a drummer and a guitar player to add to our electric circus band We stayed up nights the lyrics and chords to Sgt, Pepper Jimmy carried the load, while Bennie and I did the We were getting ready to rock the Den a new audience With the new version of the Upstairs Alliance
On Sunday we played our last folk set at the Bayou and with a change of wardrobe we into the Gunga Den with strobe lights flailing, energy prevailing, and Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts ready to go Top the Beatles, it was wonderful to be there it certainly was a
The was a hit the bar made money and we were some pretty good press The upstairs alliance the first Sergeant Peppers band in New Orleans There was no back Surely we be discovered here and the road to success start down Bourbon Street
But this is the music business, fickle at and there are a lot of out there Like Jimmy, New Orleans was one of the great of my life We make it, but way back then we knew Jimmy was to make it Because he never entertained a plan b and as fate would it Here is the who had something to say