An Evening With the Hearts
By: William, Dollar Bill
Tags: Inspiration, Music Business, Music, Travel, Culture

It wasn’t just the Rolling Stones who attended a pedestrian gig I played back in my youth to pay the rent. Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart came to one of my rent-paying jobs as well — proving that you never know who you’re going to run into and where.

As a young road warrior back in my 20’s, I almost always managed to find some work to escape the city and its heat. I didn’t really care whether the band, music, or even pay was to my liking. I just wanted out and would take anything that came my way.

As such, I spent the summer of ‘77 touring with the Shirelles (which was actually about the best summer employment I found during that period), playing 29 nights just in August alone! Six of those dates were at the Atlanta Hyatt, a brand new downtown hotel (complete with a breathtaking atrium). This was by far our fanciest gig on the run — what with playing in the Showcase of the South — and in the city’s flashiest venue. Accordingly, we performed low-volume and clad in tuxes for the Southern gentry those six nights.

At the time, there were a couple of sisters tearing it up in the rock world — a band called Heart — playing at the Omni (the city’s sports arena) while we were in Atlanta.

As aficionados of Herbie Hancock and everything funky, jazzy, and syncopated, the guys (including me) knew almost nothing about the band staying in the suite on the top floor of the hotel. Except they were bigger than we were because they had the suite — and we didn’t!

Well…as fate would have it…the Omni was blacked out one night and Heart couldn’t perform their concert. So where did they end up for the evening? Watching the Shirelles in the hotel lounge.

While the previous audiences had been demure and civilized, Heart (or should I say the girls) were rock and roll raucous. Clearly, the Wilsons were rebels with a cause. And that cause was to party hearty in a faux sophisticated environment. Oddly, while the girls carried on as if they were male rock stars, the guys sat still almost like any politically incorrect move might get them fired.

Anyway, the Shirelles always held a q & a session after “Soldier Boy.” And when Ann shouted out “y’all get a lot of groupies?”…Doris (one of the Shirelles) acknowledged their rock stature by telling the audience

“Tonight, we have the pleasure of performing for ‘THE HEARTS.’”

Ouch! So much for the girls’ rock stardom. To their credit, Heart barely grimaced as I guess they weren’t really expecting some oldies group from 10 years before to understand how popular they were.

Curious about the act who’d come to see us play, I came to discover after our tour was over that they were (and are) huge talents. In fact, I became a big fan and am to this day. Their songs contain timeless melodies delivered in a genre (rock) that isn’t always that melodic! And Ann has a voice for the ages.

Looking back on the two times I “gigged’ anonymously to pay the rent, only to find myself performing for superstars, I wonder why I didn’t approach those million-selling artists on either occasion.

With the Stones, I almost get why I ran away. The band and I sounded horrible. It wasn’t exactly the showcase with which to impress rock and roll icons. But with Heart…my friends and I had been backing the Shirelles every night for a month and knew the show cold. We were rehearsed and tight. And we had nothing to be ashamed of.

But for whatever reason, none of the guys in the band I was in approached the girls or their backup musicians during that week. And that’s really too bad because as I said, I became a big fan of the Wilson sisters.

Oh well! Another opportunity wasted. The story of my life, apparently. But to be truthful…not entirely. Like that very night, I did have really good sex with the blond waitress at the club in the Hyatt!