Strange Stage Stories: Johnny Vernazza Meets Chuck Berry, Neil Young, Dick Clark, and More!

This month’s Strange Stage Stories looks at Vernazza’s run ins with a long list of music legends including Chuck Berry, Van Morrison, Jerry Garcia, Charlie Daniels, and more with appearances with Gene Gene the Dancin’ Machine, Herbie Hancock, Dick Clark, and the Marshall Tucker Band. Originally based in the Bay Area, guitarist Johnny Vernazza has been a major force in San Diego’s music community ever since he arrived in the area at the turn of the century. It’s safe to say few musicians have had a career as storied as Vernazza. As a member of Elvin Bishop’s group and classic songs such as “Fooled Around and Fell in Love,” he was a regular on TV and on the stadium stages of the 1970s.

Ozark Music Festival (July 19, 1974)
The Elvin Bishop Band performed at the Ozark Music festival, held on the Missouri State Fairgrounds in Sedalia, Missouri from July 19 –21. The bill included Aerosmith, the Eagles, Bob Seger, Lynyrd Skynrd, and America. Up to 350,000 people are reported to have attended.

“It was the biggest show I think we ever played and we played on the first day,” Vernazza said. “The only super market in town sold out of everything! We made it there when we checked into our hotel. The next day it was closed. The town was so small, it became a freaking side show as gas stations, stores, restaurants were overwhelmed and there were only one or two coffee shops and diners. That’s why we went to the super market. There were reports that cattle were being rustled and butchered on the fairgrounds. The town just couldn’t handle that amount of humanity! It was wild! We arrived on the Thursday before as we had a rare couple days off. Of all places to be for our days off!”

By the next day, Friday, all of the roads became clogged with traffic. “It got so bad that they ended up flying the bands into the fairgrounds by helicopter! We flew in for our set in an old WWII helicopter, and Wolfman Jack was in the co-pilot seat up above the passengers. We heard him when he called out “Elvin” in his famous voice. He loved Elvin and they started in on their usual routine of jokes and wisecracks. Anyway, we landed and went on stage. It was by far the biggest crowd I had seen with an estimated 100,000 that day. We played our set, but with the bands flying in and out we didn’t get to visit with the other performers. The Marshall Tucker Band Charlie Daniels, the list went on and on for that three-day fest. America closed it on Sunday and we were long gone onto our next show. There were lawsuits that followed against the promoters by the town and local business owners. The promoters had just kept adding acts and it got out of hand. They thought they were going to be the next Woodstock, but times had changed and folks were not polite hippies any more. Oh well, I never thought much about it a day or two later as tours go on and the next gig is always around the corner.”

Chuck Berry (August 9, 1974)

“The Elvin Bishop Band had a show with Chuck Berry at Stanford University,” Vernazza recalled. “The promoter didn’t know that Chuck didn’t have a band. He asked us to back him. You can tell in the photos from that day that we’re not dressed for the stage as it happened so fast. We had a good time. On the way on stage, he asked the bass player, Michael ‘Fly’ Brooks, “you know how to play that thing?” Fly, sarcastic as always, answers, ‘You’re about to find out!’”

The Marshall Tucker Band (1974)
Vernazza played guitar on the Marshall Tucker Band’s gold-certified 1974 album, Where We Belong. “At the time I was living with Elvin in west Marin County,” Vernazza recalled. “One night we were sitting in the front room playing guitar and the phone rings. Elvin gets off the call and says, ‘Pack a bag. We’re flying to Macon to record with Toy and the Tucker boys.’ Next morning we fly to Atlanta. A limo for [our label] Capricorn Records was sent to pick us up, and we go to Capricorn Studios where we were no strangers. We walk in and Toy says, now you have to understand if you never heard Toy Caldwell talk, I’ll have to explain. He talked in a quick cadence with a heavy southern accent, not like a drawl but fast like a drill instructor! So, Toy says, ‘Elvin, Johnny V. What a surprise good to see ya, what the hell are ya’ll doing here?’ Well, Elvin tells him about the call, then Toy starts to explain that last night they drank a bunch of moonshine, and no one remembers anything and he was right! Not one person remembers anything but drinkin’ some shine! We all had a good laugh, but Toy says we got to find a track for you guys. Charlie Daniels was in the room laughing along with us, and he had just used one of the last tracks, remember 24 was all ya got back then.

Producer Paul Hornsby suggested that Elvin and I play some slide on ‘Where a Country Boy Belongs’ and we did. It was about a minute of playing, but we had a grand time. We ended up staying a few days as we so often did with Toy. Some months later Elvin and I went by the ranch where he went fishing, and I went on a deer hunt with Toy, brother Tommy, and some of the crew. After we got back to the ranch house Toy says ‘hey I have something for ya’ and gave me the gold LP for Where We All Belong. That meant a lot; Toy and Tommy were real Southern gentleman, so respect and honor was everything. We sure had some good times though, great friends, great music.”

Dick Clark and American Bandstand on ABC (May 3, 1975)
“Yes, I met Dick Clark and he was as nice as he looked like on TV,” Vernazza said. “I have a picture of me, Fly Brooks, and Micky Thomas clowning around the Rate a Record set. It’s kinda funny as I had a Budweiser in my hand! It’s all lip synced and that was fun in itself. Elvin told us that when he filmed it years earlier with Paul Butterfield, him, and Bloomfield, they plugged their guitars into each other!”

The Midnight Special on NBC (August 27, 1976)

“My favorite of all the television shows we did was by far was The Midnight Special.” Vernazza said. “We filmed a ton of those and were there, so much that the crew knew us. It was filmed on the same set as The Gong Show, so Gene Gene the Dancin’ Machine, Red, and all the stage hands were there and funny as hell, just like they were around Chuck Barris on the show. Elvin had his birthday on the set with a cake and all, and that also is where we had to back up Van Morrison at the last minute. The show’s host, Wolfman Jack, was great and loved Elvin, it was just a fun show to do. It was still work—you get there do sound check and time your tunes, go to makeup, and then come out and tape your set. Sometimes we had time to mess around and visit other sets, but most times we were off to other shows because we were on the road. Can’t say we had a bad TV show; they were all great,” he continued. Vernazza also appeared on In Concert, Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert and the Sonny and Cher Summer Show pilot in 1971.

“I can say that our appearances on the TV show The Midnight Special with Elvin Bishop was always a great time. Wolfman Jack loved Elvin; producer Burt Sugarman saw the chemistry between Elvin and Wolfman and invited Elvin back many times, once as a host.”

Van Morrison (October 21, 1977)
“One of the Midnight Special episodes that we were taping had Van Morrison on the bill. Van thought it was lip synced and showed up without a band. The producer freaked as the show is taped for a later time slot and needs to be done on time for editing, etc. Elvin and Van were old friends, so Elvin said ‘how ‘bout we back him up?’ We had a half hour to learn ‘Dominoes,’ Van’s single that was on the charts at the time. We sent the horns to one room, the background vocalist to another, and I learned the guitar part. Someone rounded up a cassette for us to hear, as we had only heard the song a few times on the radio; it was just released! We did sound check, went over it, then on to make up, and first taped Elvin’s tunes before we hit Van’s. Van did ‘Help Me’ and ‘Dominoes.’ It came out great and you can watch it on YouTube today! Van is a very different cat though, very intelligent and a perfectionist about what he does. Although we and Van nailed it when we ended Domino’s, Van just dropped the mic and walk off stage left!”

Other performers on the show were the Electric Light Orchestra, Thin Lizzy, Ronnie McDowell, and host Crystal Gayle.

“Funny thing, being that we had to make extra time backing Van, we now had to rush to the airport to make a flight back East for the next part of the tour. We were so rushed, we didn’t have time or even notice that we still had our TV make up on! In those days it was quite a lot of make up very heavy. One of the flight attendants told us, and man did we laugh that up.”

Neil Young (August 8, 1977)
When Dave Mason had to cancel his headlining set at the Cabrillo College Stadium in Aptos, California, on August 08, 1977, concert attendee Neil Young stepped in. Mason’s tour mates, the Elvin Bishop Band volunteered to be his backing group. Young played four songs with the band, including “Are You Ready for the Country?” “Helpless,” and “Twist and Shout,” closing with a rendition of “Goodnight Irene.”

Vernazza recalls, “Elvin, myself, and the band were on tour the summer of 1977, doing some shows with Dave Mason. I do remember playing Red Rocks in Denver before this show. Dave’s bus broke down, and he and the band didn’t show up for an outdoor concert in Aptos (Santa Cruz County). The promoter, Roy Dubrow of Morning Sun Productions, was freaking out as we were already on stage doing our set when he found out Dave wasn’t going to make it. We finished our set, and Roy comes up to Elvin. I happened to be right there next to Elvin when he explained what happened, and Dave Mason was now a no show.

Roy had seen Neil Young up on the side of the hill watching our set, so he ran up there and asked Neil if he would sit in with us to take Dave Mason’s place in the concert. Neil agreed and next thing I know we’re getting ready to go back on stage. Neil grabbed one of my guitars and he and Elvin start talking about tunes to play… and laughing; we all agreed to just play it by ear. What could possibly go wrong?

“I remember we did ‘Helpless’ with Micky Thomas, Reni Slais, Don Baldwin, Bill Slais, and me on background vocals. “It sounded wonderful, and Elvin played some beautiful slide on it. I remember we did ‘Good Night Irene,’ a nod to Leadbelly and some blues with Neil, with Elvin and I digging into some long solos trading off with Melvin Seals organ and Bill Slais and Jerry McKenny on saxophone. So, it turned into a jam band and all involved had a great time. And Roy ended up a happy man instead of trying to control a bunch of unhappy concert goers.”

Jerry Garcia (June 4, 1978)

On June 4, 1978, at Campus Stadium, UC Santa Barbara, Isla Vista, the Elvin Bishop Band opened for the Grateful Dead on a bill that also included Warren Zevon and the Big Wha Koo. The Dead’s Jerry Garcia joined Elvin and company for a 30-minute jam session. “A lot of folks don’t know it, but Jerry and Elvin were tight,” Vernazza noted. “Jerry was one of the first people Elvin met when he moved to San Francisco from Chicago and even gave Elvin two Princeton Reverbs that had been modified by “The Bear” Owsley. They were basically half a Twin Reverb with a 12” Altec. That was the amp I used when I first joined Elvin. They were loud and fierce. Not sure if Elvin still has them, but I saw that they’re worth a fortune as only three were made. Jerry would come by and sit in a lot; he was a gas to jam with. While Elvin would be soloing, Jerry would just carry on a normal conversation with me, funny as hell. Like, ‘how’ve you been man? Still living in Stinson Beach?’ Stuff like that. He was a great guitar player and guitar players that were not into the Dead would trash him, but he could play anything including blues. Great cat.”

Greg Errico / Charlie Daniels New Orleans Jam Session (1978)
What does Vernazza consider the most interesting jam he was a part of during that era? In 1978 Vernazza had a night off in New Orleans and was hanging out with friends, ending up in a jam session with members of new band, Giants, featuring drummer Greg Errico (Sly & the Family Stone) and keyboardist Herbie Hancock. “I was out partying with Charlie Daniels, Toy Caldwell, and Dickie Betts on Bourbon St. in New Orleans,” Vernazza said. “Well, Toy and Dickie ended up jumping in a cab headed somewhere, and it ended up being just Charlie and I. We were “well preserved” at that point, and we walked into a bar. Low and behold there was Sly’s drummer Greg Errico, who I knew from high school and he goes, ‘hey the house bands gonna let us sit in, wanna join us?’ So, there I was playin’ slide, jammin’ with Charlie on guitar, Greg drumming, Herbie Hancock on keys, and the bass player from the house band. It was an amazing set. Charlie Daniels was another cat that could play just about any style and good! So, we went on for about 30 minutes or so. Big fun with a diverse combination of players. It really shows that music has no boundaries and great players can improvise on any type of music and speak their truth.”