Friday, January 15, 2016

Giorgio Gomelsky, who booked...

...the Rolling Stones for their first paid appearance, died at age 81. From his obit in the Times: 

The Rolling Stones opened [at Mr. Gomelsky's club, Crawdaddy] in February 1963, before a crowd of three, an appearance for which they received the equivalent of one dollar each. Word of mouth led to bigger crowds, and they became the club’s resident act.

In addition,

Mr. Gomelsky also gave Eric Clapton, the [Yardbird's] original lead guitarist, his nickname. Mr. Clapton told The Daily Mail in 2013: “I used light-gauge strings, with a very thin first string, which made it easier to bend the notes, and it was not uncommon, during frenetic bits of playing, for me to break at least one string, While I was changing my strings, the audience would often break into a slow hand clap, inspiring Giorgio to dream up the nickname of Slowhand Clapton.”

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