It’s June 4, 1996, and it’s about 7:30 AM. I’m in line with about 50 people for a possible Echos show at the Old Princeton Landing outside of Half Moon Bay that evening. No one knows for sure if there is a show tonight. There have been gigs happening on and off since March 18, but the last show was May 23. There were a pair of shows at the much larger Catalyst in Santa Cruz as well. Maybe Neil is recording a new record. He’s played two new songs at recent shows — Big Time and Scattered — so that’s probably true. Up to this point I’ve seen both Catalyst shows and the May 22 OPL show with the debut of Big Time (go listen to it if you can — it’s a 17-minute monster!). Another show I was lined up for was cancelled as they were setting up in the morning because Poncho came down with appendicitis or something.
I was living in Santa Cruz and worked in Sunnyvale and had gotten into the habit of driving to Sunnyvale via Half Moon Bay — an extra 60 minutes to my normal 60-minute commute to work — just in case a show happened. Old Princeton Landing was so small — 150 people — and people were being super tight-lipped about the shows. If I saw certain key people hanging around, I’d stay. There was a guy named Barney and another called Dread-Steve, and they seemed to know. If they were there, I stayed. Sometimes there was an unofficial sign-up list at the front to keep the line orderly — if I saw DevonT on it I stayed.
Just after I got in line, a fellow parks his car on the street and walks back and forth looking at the line. We start talking a bit. He’s driven all night from Los Angeles (Riverside?) on a whim, thinking he’d come up and see one of the OPL shows. I tell him, “Get in line behind me — NOW!” I know from experience 50 people back is about it. The OPL is so small. Friends & family, Half Moon Bay and Skyline locals got more than half the tickets, and the rest went to people in line. Not actual tickets, but colored wristbands.
We end up talking, and this fellow turns out to be Richie Hand, a name I was familiar with from the early Rust email community, but I don’t think we’d met or even exchanged emails at that point. Richie was mysterious to me, as he and a couple others had SR appended to their email signatures on Rust. Much later I found out SR stood for Sacred Roots and was used by a group of guys who’d jammed together in the Los Angeles area. The following year I found out in person that Richie was a fabulous musician with an uncanny talent to sing just like Neil.
After about two hours in line, it becomes apparent there really will be a show that evening. Larry Cragg arrives in a Camaro or Firebird and takes some old guitar cases out from the trunk. I call into work and tell them I might be a little late that morning. I see Jim Jarmusch wandering around and we speak briefly about the shows and the spirit of Zuma. There are people organizing around the front of the line. Bob Lacey, the guy who gives out the actual wristbands, is spotted with wristbands in hand. The line is swelling just a bit.
Soon the line starts moving and people start getting their wristbands. Directly in front of me, a wise guy lets his line-cutter friend in at the last minute. Folks in line make a bit of a fuss — it matters; we are all near the cutoff point. So it is Wise Guy, Linecutter, me, and then Richie, with about a dozen more people behind us. Wiseguy and Linecutter get to the front and folks in line all shout that Linecutter has cut in. Lacey was a pretty good guy and called them out on it, telling them, “I am only giving one wristband between the two of you.” Wiseguy and Linecutter get in an argument right in front of all of us about who should get the wristband. Lacey isn’t having any of that and quickly says, “Both of you — OUT!” Before they can protest, I jam my wrist out and Lacey slaps one wristband on me and another on Richie, and that’s it — the wristbands are gone and Richie was the last guy!
We’re on cloud nine, but I then had to go into work (with my wristband on all day — that was a great feeling). I left Richie at the venue, and he was around when Jim Jarmusch, with Daryl Hannah floating around as well, filmed the live scenes for the Big Time video that afternoon.
That night Neil & Crazy Horse came out and debuted the entire unreleased Broken Arrow album. We were all totally thrilled. We all knew the new album was coming and everyone hoped to be there if it was debuted. I’m not great at describing music, but they played Big Time, Loose Change and Slip Away all in a row. 30 minutes of dreamy mid-tempo Crazy Horse goodness. Slip Away’s droning sound always best evokes the spirit of the OPL for me. Other highlights included the galloping Barstool Blues and Sedan Delivery, as well as an electric Pocahontas (who would have known it sounds perfect that way), the still rarely played Danger Bird and Stupid Girl, and finally Like A Hurricane played likely just a few miles from where the song was originally inspired.
It’s all primal Neil. On one of the tapes there’s a quote from someone in the parking lot after one of the OPL shows — “It’s like seeing Al Green in his church”.
Many of the photos on the wonderful Cardboard Analogue website chronicling the OPL shows were taken by Richie Hand. http://www.cardboardanalogue.com/Neil_at_OPL.html
This year marks 30 years since that seminal run. Richie, you had great instincts to drive up that night.
Old Princeton Landing, Princeton-By-The-Sea, California
June 4, 1996
1996 Northern California Club Tour with The Echos
1. Big Time
2. Loose Change#
3. Slip Away#
4. Changing Highways#
5. Scattered (Let’s Think About Livin’)
6. This Town#
7. Music Arcade# (on Old Black)
8. Baby What You Want Me To Do?
–
9. Drive Back
10. Prisoners Of Rock ‘n’ Roll
11. Roll Another Number (For The Road)
12. Pocahontas
13. Danger Bird
14. Bite The Bullet
15. Homegrown
–
16. Barstool Blues
17. Stupid Girl
18. Rockin’ In The Free World
19. Sedan Delivery
20. Don’t Cry No Tears
21. Slip Away
22. The Loner
23. Like A Hurricane
song live debut – #
Neil Young — vocals, electric guitar, harmonica
Frank Sampedro — electric guitar, keyboards, vocals
Billy Talbot — bass, vocals
Ralph Molina — drums, vocals
https://www.sugarmtn.org/sm_show.php?show=199606040
