It's the fall of 1967; my friend&workmate is a senior at Union Catholic High School in Scotch Plains, N.J.. He and his pals(one the drummer in local band "The Decoys")decide to take their fall dance entertainment out of the hands of the nerds and do things themselves. They know The Who will be touring the Eastern U.S. at that time, so they contact the booking agent in New York and ask if the band has any free nights. The agent says yes they do, the Saturday before they open at the Filmore. How much to book them, they ask, and are told it's three grand when they arrive. The guys say no problem, send 'em down. They sell 2200 tickets and gross 6,800 dollars and pay The Who when they walk in. The evening is an incredible success; the booking agent is real happy because of the up-front money, so the guys ask him if he's got anyone else, the first one went so well. The agent says, yeah, I got these other guys no one has heard of yet. By the time Cream got to the U.S. "Sunshine of Your Love" had hit the top ten, and they still played Scotch Plains, N.J. Other acts booked later were The Lovin' Spoonful; Blood, Sweat&Tears and Chicago. Better times and a smaller world then...

below pages 114&15 from the 1968 Union Catholic High School Yearbook-

Bands may be big, but cash money talks.

One that was popular at the time (The Byrds as I remember it) played a Friday night sock hop in the small college I attended to get cash "traveling money".

That is a great story; wonder if you could do it now?

JIm

The only time I saw Eric Clapton was in 1988 at the Middlesex County Cricket ground.
Cost me £5 ($8).