Gregg Allman on Letterman

[Mike Gange]

  

by Mike Gange

    

I live in the Atlantic Time Zone.

When it is 11 p.m. in New York, it is midnight where I live.

As a result, I rarely get to see David Letterman’s TV show.

Although Letterman was wilder on NBC, his CBS show is non-the-less usually a bright spot on late night television. (How was he wilder? In his early ads for joining CBS, he was shown on a full sized billboard where he appeared in a Speedo-style swim suit, with the caption saying, “They told me I had to wear a suit.” While the wit was still there, he went from blazer and trousers to a more conservative look, which is often reflected in his toned-down antics. New show, but no more TV’s thrown from the rooftops, no more Velcro suits and mini-trampolines featured in stupid human tricks.)

Letterman often has the best of live bands on his show. And I am usually asleep and miss them, finding out the next day how good they were via the network of friends.

By the way, Letterman is taped at five p.m. in the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York City. Tickets are free, but you have to stand in line a long time to get in. Anytime from April to October, when it is still light outside, audience members stumble out of the theatre to find the City of New York bathed in daylight. It is a bit discombobulating for those of us used to catching Letterman late at night.

This week Letterman had on Gregg Allman, as the former Allman Brothers star was promoting his new album. One of my friends who plays in a country band insists that what musicians don’t play is often as powerful as what they do play. In other words, this is the musical equivalent of the old saying, “never miss a good opportunity to just shut up.” 

Allman and the band demonstrate how important it is not to embellish or add too many flourishes in this song “Just Another Rider.”

Here is the song on YOUTUBE.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAfyz3urwT4

Thanks goodness for YOUTUBE.

It is out there, no matter what the time zone.