Saturday, November 23, 2013

A Brief but Very Candid Conversation with Caroline Munro

Caroline Munro and myself, Chiller Theatre—Oct. 2013


Caroline Munro was a memorable presence in 70s and 80s fantasy and horror cinema. She started  her career in Britain, her native land. Hammer Films,  a studio versed in horror and fantasy film, hired  her as an actress. You couldn’t take your eyes off her great beauty. In the Hammer films, she played either a gypsy or a former slave girl beside the hero as he battled villains, evil men, vampires, or monsters. Besides Hammer, other studios found roles for her in British horror or fantasy films.

She first became noticed by American audiences when she played the villainess Bond girl, Naomi, in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).  Her first American film was Maniac (1980), a groundbreaking horror film in which her character, Anna D’Antoni, befriends a serial killer played by Joe Spinell. Also around the time, Caroline had her first starring role as Stella Star in Starcrash (1979). Caroline’s character is a Barabella-like heroine who battles against the bad guys in a Star Wars-like universe.  She would continue to do more American productions such as The Last Horror Film (1982) and Slaughter High (1986) . She also appeared in an Adam Ant video around the time. By the 90s, her appearances had become brief and would slowly come back into the films by 2006.

I met Caroline recently at the Chiller Theatre, and as she is friendly as she is beautiful, and super nice. I was able to conduct a brief interview with her. I agreed to her agent Jane’s request, which was to ask her four questions only, and not interfere with the fans who wanted her autograph. Although I wasn’t able to ask her all the questions I wanted, I did get some good replies from her. One of the things we talked about in this interview is something most fans of Caroline don’t realize— she is a singer, and Adam Ant is not the only famous musician she collaborated with.

Caroline’s answers were so interesting that I would have like to conduct a bigger interview than the one I got. (If Jane or her stepdaughter, Tami, is reading this, please let Caroline know I would like to conduct a more-extensive interview if she ever has the time.) Nevertheless, I am happy to have taken the time to interview Caroline. I want to thank Jane for giving me permission to interview Caroline on a day she was there to greet other fans and sign autographs. And most of all, I want to thank Caroline.

Jeff Cramer:How did you get started in the industry?

Caroline Munro:A very long time ago, for one thing. I started accidentally, really. I was at art school, and there was an art student—a chap—who wanted to take some photographs of me, which I did. And he asked my mother, took the photographs, and then showed my mother. I was only sixteen. He showed my mum and asked if he could send photographs to a very, very famous English photographer at the time in the 60s called David Bailey. And he wanted to send these photographs out. David Bailey had a competition, and they sent the photographs out, and by some fluke it won the competition. The photograph won, and I won what’s called the Face of the Year. So I became the Face of the Year in ’66. And that was my first foray into modeling.

I did modeling for a good few years. I worked for American Vogue and product commercials and print work. And then I started—I think my first films—oh, I was an extra in the original Casino Royale.

JC: Yeah.

CM: So no lines, no dialogue. So I started doing a little bit of extra work, and gradually I got more work and I got a part playing Richard Widmark’s daughter in a western, which was amazing. I got to work with Richard, and Cesar Romero played my grandfather. So that was an incredible time. I did more films, more films. And then I got a contract from Hammer. I had to screen test, and they contracted me for the year. I did two films, Dracula A.D. and Captain Kronos. So I’ve been very lucky. I’ve worked with some amazing people and traveled to some lucky places.

Caroline bitten in Dracula A.D. 1972


JC:Now I don’t have time to go into all of your movies, but have you done many. What was a memorable time during your acting career? 

CM: Yeah, I think Dracula A.D. was one of the turning points. And then from there I did Kronos, and then Brian Clemens wrote and directed Kronos. He had written a screenplay for The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, and he felt I was right for the role of Margiana in Sinbad. And he took Ray Harryhausen and Charles Schneer, ’cause they wanted a big American name, and he said, “No, I think Caroline is more right for what you’re looking for, for the role of Margiana.” And they supposedly liked what I did, and therefore I got the role. I got to work with Tom Baker and John Phillip Law.

Caroline in the Golden Voyage of Sinbad 

JC:You’re obviously an actress and a model, but one thing that’s rarely talked about is that you sing. 

CM: I did a bit of singing. I did.

JC: Yeah, let’s talk about that.

CM: I used to sing in a church choir when I was in school. Not very well, mind you. And my dad’s friend was head of Decca at the time; they had the Rolling Stones. They had the really good people in the 60s, and they were looking for a female singer, a young female singer. And he said, “Would you like to have a go?” so I sang a bit for him, and he decided to put a really good producer with me and he took me to Abbey Road. So I was singing in Abbey Road Studios. I sang a song called, “Tar and Cement,” which was my first. [To hear “Tar and Cement,” click here.] A really good producer. And I had a few hits. And then my backing band, my amazing backing band, we had Eric Clapton, we had Steve Howe of Yes, we had Jack Bruce, and we had Ginger Baker.

JC: Oh, awesome.

CM: I had a pretty cool band.

JC: Yes.

CM: And they were session musicians before Cream, the band.

JC: Yes.

CM: So that’s how I started singing. And then, you know, I’ve done various bits and pieces with singing and Gary Numan. He produced a song I sang called “Pump Me Up,” which was a big hit in Italy. [To hear “Pump Me Up,” click here.]

Caroline’s “Pump Me Up” single
                                                

I also appeared in music videos with Adam Ant and Meatloaf, so I have gotten to work with quite a lot of people in music.

Adam Ant and Caroline


JC:So what have you been up to these days?

CM: I’m keeping fairly busy. I have two daughters; Tami, my stepdaughter, lives in Seattle, and my two daughters live in London, who are both doing art. One is pursuing acting, and the other one is pursuing singing—she has a great voice. But I’m still busy. I’ve starred in three independent films in England: two cameos and one role as the main lady. It’s just been shown in England this week, called The Landlady. It’s a short film—twenty minutes long’s that’s what I’ve been doing. My dream is to work with Rob Zombie . . . love him. Obviously, Quentin Tarantino, too. I admire them very much.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

A Very Candid Conversation with Linda Haynes




Linda Haynes was a memorable presence in 70s cinema. In addition to her great beauty, she often appeared in gritty cinema cast as women who fall in love with the wrong men whether they be Robert DoQui’s pimp in Coffy, Jason Miller’s gangster in The Nickel Ride, Andrew Robinson’s con man in The Drowning Pool,  William Devane’s psychologically damaged Vietnam vet in Rolling Thunder, and Tim McIntire’s prison trustee in Brubaker.  The male characters are incapable of loving Haynes’ character back, but all of them are aware of how much she loves them and how loyal she is to them.  Linda did one leading role in Human Experiments, where she played a country singer falsely convicted of murder who eventually finds herself in prison, only to become  subject of the prison psychiatrist. The psychiatrist performs experiments that reduce Linda’s mental state to that of an infant, and then tries to rebuild her psychologically to function in  normal society.
                                      
After Brubaker, Linda’s career came to an end as she left acting and the industry. Though her career ended, she had not been forgotten by viewers. One of those viewers was Quentin Tarantino. He had tried to cast Linda in an episode of E.R., which Linda turned down. Since Tarantino was unable to get her, it would seem that viewers would not hear from Linda again.

But in 2013, viewers reheard from Linda.  Although she was not back in the industry, she agreed to do interviews for the blu-ray edition of Rolling Thunder and now maintains her Facebook page where she freely communicates with her friends and fans.

In this candid conversation, we discuss Linda’s acting career( from the beginning where she acted in a Japanese film Latitude Zero to the end in 1980), her life after her career ended and what she’s up today. I really want to thank Linda for taking the time out to do this interview. 

Jeff Cramer: Well how did you get started in the industry anyway?

Linda Haynes: Quite by accident. It wasn't that I was wanting to pursue that. I eloped when I was 16. We eventually moved to California, to Los Angeles. We had a dog. We were walking on Beverly Drive I think and a guy pulls up, a silent screen actor by the name of Ben Bard. He was running an acting class and asked if my husband and I wanted to attend. My husband didn't want to, but I did because I didn't have anything else to do.

I started there with Ben Bard and then I did a showcase. Ben invited people in to view his talent. I got an agent from that. His name was Maury Calder. I think the first thing I got was a screen test with Richard Zanuck. They didn't like the screen test. So that's really how I got started. And I went on 'cause I didn't have anything else to do. It was the path of least resistance.

I was approached and I figured, "Well okay, I'll give that a try." Maury sent me out on auditions and I got a bit part in the movie In Like Flint. It was a non-speaking role and I was dressed out like a boy kidnapping the president off the golf course. I believe after that my next thing was Latitude Zero in Japan.

JC: Okay, so how did you get that Japanese film?

LH: That's a good question. [laughter] I must've auditioned but I don't remember auditioning for it. I was 20 when I got that job.=

JC: Yes.

LH: I remember how uncomfortable I was because I knew I had to go to Japan – to Tokyo for two months.


Linda(far left in Latitude Zero)


JC: Right.

LH: And I hadn't been away from home. And Tokyo was foreign – very foreign. The movie was foreign and there were translators – God love them, they were really helpful. But the whole thing was kind of uncomfortable for all of us because we got sick. It was cold there. We got the flu and Joseph Cotten and his wife talked about that in interviews too. The only one who was really comfortable was Richard Jaeckel because he had been in Japan so much.

So he knew people there and so on. But it was certainly an experience. Later I went back to Japan and I was a lot more comfortable, but that was of course decades later – not to work.

JC: Now one of the things I had heard about that film was that Joseph Cotten and his wife said that you did not get any money until six months after the film was there because the American producer left you.

LH: Yeah, there was some problems there and Joseph Cotten was the one that took care of it. He was like a spokesperson for the rest of us 'cause I didn't know how to deal with them. We were in a hotel and I don't remember ever having any problem paying for it. We weren't under threat of being evicted or anything. So I don’t know if it was our paychecks or our per diem or what it was that was at issue. But apparently somebody didn't want to pay or didn't pay or whatever it was.

But we survived it, and we did get paid in the end. I don’t know what it was that triggered that problem, but he solved that for us. At least for me he did because I can't remember exactly the particulars. I guess in Joseph’s biography – I know that there's a biography (a short little book about him) where he talks about it there. But it worked out, and then I went to see the movie in Santa Monica and it was really a laugh at that time.

The kids were laughing and they thought it was pretty funny. [laughter]   

JC: Well, it’s hard not to laugh when you see a flying lion.

LH: What was it, a flying lion?

JC: Yes. [laughter]

LH: Well, that is a little bizarre.

JC:; Yeah, I just recently watched the movie as I was getting ready for this interview.

LH: Well, bless your heart, because I haven't seen it but now, going back years ago because I have to force myself to do this stuff. And it's good in one way because when I saw it initially I was very critical of everything I did. Now I'm not so critical because time has passed and you figure, what the heck. I know that I was really uncomfortable 'cause I wasn't used to acting. That was like a foreign thing and it was uncomfortable.

Ishirō Honda didn't speak English although he was able to get his points across even in Japanese. You know, you kind of got a sense of what it was he wanted. He was a very, very nice person.

JC: Yes.

LH: Everybody was really, really, really nice on the set. There was no problem with the actors, crew or anything. Everything was amicable.

JC: Okay, then it would be a couple of years, although I think there was some TV. Coffy is the next movie you did, you know?

LH: Yeah, and that was fun. I think I recently watched it before I went to California to do an interview. I had to watch a string of them. I was surprised. I was surprised at the movie itself – you know, what it was about, and so on. But it was fun working with Pam Grier and Bob DoQui and you know. It's tough to remember this stuff going way back. I mean I'm going really far back. And three years I didn't even think of it nothing because I was too busy living the life that I've been living.


Linda(far right seated) in Coffy

So I just saw I did Room 222 with Karen Valentine.

JC: Yes.

LH: And I can only remember – and I watched maybe a week ago – that there are exactly two things that I remember and that was one on the scene of the outside. The kids were circling me, haunting me. And I remember that Karen Valentine ate the biggest breakfast I've ever seen anybody eat before she started work.

JC: Really, and she's not heavy.

LH: She's not heavy, no. She's like a healthy normal person, and she looked great today. I saw a picture of her. But that is all I remember. So it's like I couldn't remember that anything – I couldn't remember the clothes that I wore, nothing, nothing, nothing. It was so novel to see that. And again I hadn't had a lot of training when I did that. So I was uncomfortable as usual. But again I did the job okay, looking at it now, for as young as I was and as inexperienced as I was.

But that’s all I can remember. It's amazing how one can forget. Usually, you remember clothes that you wore in a movie or something. And I didn't remember that. It was all foreign.

JC: The thing with Coffy, though; that was the beginning of a bunch of characters you would begin to continuously play. In Coffy, your very devoted to Robert DoQui's pimp character. You would continue to be very devoted to other criminal characters in the roles you play.

LH: Yeah, right, that kind of was a thread through my career, playing a girlfriend or whatever, or a wife. And I guess that’s how they saw me and cast me. Today, were I to do that many years later I would be cast differently, I would think. You know that's how it was then and I just simply took what was offered. There were a few refusals. There were a few things I didn't want to do and I think – I'm not sure what it was.

It was another movie in Japan and I think Roger Corman. Maybe it was the Big Bird Cage. It was something like that that I didn't want to do. I'm not sure.

JC: 'Cause the next one is – and this is where you are very comfortable in it because it's a major role now: The Nickel Ride.

LH: Yeah, well that was comfortable to make. By then I believe I had had some training. Somewhere along the line I had gone to workshops and I had become a life member of the Actor's Studio. So I began to get some tools, some craft. So it wasn't so difficult then and what I did – I improved. And then the people around me made it easier I guess to do well or to feel more comfortable in what I was doing. But there's definitely a craft and tools to use.

Then I began to feel very comfortable with the camera. I decided, "I've got to be friends with this camera and I have to be really intimate with it and not be intimidated by it." And also make what's going on in the scene, the person or whatever it is – actually just let the life flow that was going on. Then things got easier. But they didn't have those tools in the very beginning, so it was just like, "Well let's see, do the best we can here no matter how uncomfortable I am."

In some ways that worked, like in Latitude Zero. I was so young and played a doctor. Well a doctor – usually they don't act like comedians, with a few exceptions. I've had a few doctors that have been – You know so the fact that I was kind of stiff – reserved. I guess that worked for me but that was what I was. I was very, very uncomfortable. And I know Pat Medina, my co-star in Latitude Zero, and I, were in a car driving somewhere.  I had said, "Well I wonder what something said about the actresses," or something. Her retort was, "Well as far as I'm concerned I'm the only actress in this film." I didn't say a word. No argument there. It takes time. It takes time.

I look at the credits and I see with The Nickel Ride there were people – John Hillerman and Victor French went on to their own TV series and got major roles in TV series. So it's really a matter of staying with it and delivering the goods.

Linda in Nickel Ride


JC: One thing about The Nickel Ride there's a moment there in the thing where Jason Miller's character is describing your dancer past. And you do a little shimmy just in front of Victor French. From there we could see right away what also attracted Miller to you and it gives a good idea from your past. It's just a one little moment there you know?

LH: I didn't remember doing that either until I saw it on the little clip on whatever. [To see the clip, click here.]

JC: YouTube, yeah that is a popular clip from it.

LH: I thought that was okay. That was all right with me 'cause I'm always watching to see when there's BS going on: where I was uncomfortable, what worked. And through that scene work we were all comfortable and it works. I'm satisfied with that. So that was okay, and I didn't really think much about it, about developing a past character, being in the – whatever, more depth or carney or whatever it was we were talking about. I just gave them a little shimmy.

JC: The next one would be The Drowning Pool where you shared it with Paul Newman.


Linda with Paul Newman in Drowning Pool

LH: Right.

JC: Let's talk about that.

LH: Well, he was easy to work with. I mean, he's a super nice guy. That was a cute scene. I don't know. We did a little bit of rehearsing but the scene just kind of worked. It was easy to work with him. Again, that was fun.  Of course I had Monty Westmore on hair and makeup, and you can't ask for better than that. I looked glamorous rather than weather-worn like in Rolling Thunder where we were outside and it was hot.

Tommy Lee and Billy Devane would call me greasy because I would get greasy all the time from the heat. But it was fun. Paul Newman of course; he had his own chauffer which was Mario Andretti's backup driver. So when we went from Lake Charles where that trailer scene was filmed back to where Lafayette is where we were staying, he said, "Do you want to ride with me?" I said, "Yeah, okay.

We were riding in the car back to Lafayette and I looked out the window. We were drinking a bottle of French wine after work and I looked at the cars and I said, "How come all these cars are stopped on the highway." Over the wetlands they put like a freeway. Well it turned out that those cars were going 55 miles per hour. In those days maybe that was the speed limit. And we were going like 120.

JC: [laughter]

LH: It was hilarious because I'm not really fond of driving fast. In fact if you drive too fast or too carelessly in the car with me today I will probably ask to be let out on the spot because I don't like it. But it just looked like all the cars were stopped, relative to how fast we were going. And anyway we made it back to Lafayette in no time whatsoever. But that was fun. And he was a super, super nice guy. I was really sorry to hear when he died. Anyway, that was a good project.

JC: Now we come to Rolling Thunder. Again, the one line of dialogue you say would be true for all your characters, "Why do I keep getting involved with crazy men?"

LH:Yeah right. [laughter] I don't know. I don't know why they saw me that way and cast me accordingly. That worked. The idea is to work. I don't know what it was but apparently that's the way I was seen and what I took. And I was comfortable enough to play that. It's like an old shoe I guess.

Linda with William Devane in Rolling Thunder

JC: But anyways let's talk about that film. Tell me what you remember about it.

LH: Oh let's see. Well we were in San Antonio I think for a couple months. Geez it's tough to think back that far.

JC: I know this is the one that is Tarantino’s favorite film and he even contacted you about it.

LH: Well, I can believe that because when he contacted me about that I was married, and we were living between here and Florida and the Bahamas. I didn't know who he was. I wasn't particularly interested in watching movies. He wasn't as big as he is now. And I figured, "Now why would I fly to California?" Number one he called and I had just awakened from a nap.

I really had finished with all that because my life was into something else. I wasn't working in any law office at the time but we were commuting between Florida and the Bahamas. I was more interested in snorkeling and relaxing than I was in working. At that point I wasn't very interested in it. If you were to call me today I'd have a different reaction altogether. But you do what you do and I'm glad he liked the film. I'm glad he liked my performance in it because again it was comfortable.

We had a good time in that film as well. I remember Billy Devane saying, "Well, she should go with us to the end," where they have that –

JC: The massacre at the end.

LH; He threw his two cents into that but they didn't go for it so I was left at the motel room and he went on to do his thing there. I didn't argue with anybody. I just did what they told me to do. I figured it's their job to make these decisions – John Flynn and the writer and so on. So I just figured, "Whatever."

JC: What do you remember about Tommy Lee Jones?

LH: Super nice guy. He's super smart. My sister came to San Antonio so after working hours were over we were able to talk as friends, etc. These were really super nice normal people. He certainly got to be a colossal star. Well they all did – Billy Devane too. But I had chosen to go another way. I don't know where I'd be if I continued, but anyway it was fun. It was fun doing that. It was fun. The scenes were fun to do.

JC: By the way were you really that good of a shot in that scene?

LH: I think I was 'cause I hit the mark, and I had never fired a shotgun before. So I may just be really talented in that. [laughter] Because I remember – I mean it was shooting blanks but I remember when I shot the gun it hit what I was looking to hit. And of course the kick on the shotgun gave me a good bruise. They must've covered it or something 'cause I had never shot anything like that before. But I guess I was a good aim. So that was fun.

JC: Now you had your first – I guess it was your only starring role – Human Experiments.

LH: Yeah, right.

JC: Okay what was it like there where you had to carry the whole film?

LH: Well it's like you just trust in other people that it's going to be okay. I did my part of the work, and Greg Goodell was a great director. He was just starting out. He had been, I think, doing documentaries before that. I just thought when I saw the script that there was a vast array, all the way from singing to getting nuts and having bugs dumped all over me. I thought, "Well this is a good vehicle to really be able to fill a lot of facets, or a lot of range." So I wanted to do that.

And we had a lot of fun doing it. The bug scene of course was really – When they started dumping stuff from the scaffolding, garbage buckets full of crickets. I wouldn't let them use roaches because that's too icky. I'm from Florida and crickets were one thing. But it still was icky having that many around me – or dumped on me. But I did it, and then I went in my trailer and I composed myself. It was kind of tough. Then I told Greg, "Listen. You've got one chance. You can do anything you want." And he went in with a handheld camera with me and he suffered the same as I did because I'm sure he got full of bugs.

We shot it and it was over with. But that was creepy. I didn't mind it when they put the tarantula because those were well-placed. I knew where they were. They had put Styrofoam in the tarantula's mouth so he couldn't bite, and the same with the scorpion on his stinger. So I knew that I wouldn't get stung or bit. And also the tarantula decided he needed to urinate so he urinated on me.

Linda with bugs in Human Experiments



JC: Eh.

LH: And I didn't know tarantulas urinated. I thought, "Oh that's an interesting thing." But that wasn't so bad. It was just crawling through a thing with those on and I was careful not to squash them. I had to crawl through some kind of tunnel, and they were on me. As long as I knew where they were and what they were doing I was okay with it. But it was a fun shoot with Jackie Coogan and Aldo Ray. And then Ellen Travolta is super nice. Everybody was nice. I never had any complaints about anybody.

JC: Were you actually singing?

LH:No, no, I said that I could sing. And of course we can all sing but whether we sing good or not is a whole other story. But I said, "Yeah, sure I can sing." But as it turned out, they dubbed it. And they dubbed with a lady by the name of Linda Handelman, which was my first married name. That was just coincidental. It was spelled a little bit different but she sang and I lip synced. Or I guess I sang and it looked like I was singing it. 'Cause I've seen the footage and it worked out well.

That was good.

JC: Okay then we come to your last film Brubaker.

LH: Brubaker was my least favorite of what I did.

Linda in Brubaker

JC: Really? The Robert Redford one would be the least favorite of what you did. Why is that?

LH: Well it wasn't Robert Redford. It was my own performance that I don't like because I didn't really probably have a clear idea of what it was that I was to do. There were just some things that worked better than others. I mean the film itself; people liked it – and Robert Redford. I didn't really get to know him very well because I only had the one scene with him. I did the best I could but it was – Actually when I look at it I didn't really like what I did too much, certain scenes anyway.

I know I was the trustee's girlfriend.

JC: Right, and he gets killed.

 LH: Yeah, but I haven't really seen that movie in a long time so I'm not that familiar with it to talk about, it but I do know that when I looked at it, when I did see it last, I remember thinking, "I'm not real thrilled with that performance." And then the very last thing I did was the Guyana Tragedy. That was okay. By that time, my life started changing, and I decided that it was not a healthy life, and I wanted to change it.

I wanted to have a baby. Greg Goodell and his wife had had a baby and I thought, "When am I going to do this?" And living – It was a lot of drinking and drugging. And on that last set on the Guyana Tragedy there was more drinking and drugging and I decided that I didn't want that anymore. I figure, "Hey is this all there is?" And I had been doing that kind of work – either working or being rejected for 15 years more less I'd stayed in California. I decided, "I'm going to stop and I'm going to change all this."

I was married, and I didn't have to work if I didn't want to. But I decided to change everything radically. I did. I divorced, moved across country, got remarried. And that didn't work out at all, but I wanted a baby, and I knew that in order to have a baby you need to be healthy. And you need to provide, give a basis for children, and take care of them. Eventually, I moved back to Miami and I lived there. I didn't have any money.  I didn't even have a car. So when I arrived in Miami I didn't have anything. I was pregnant and decided that, "Well, I think I'd better get my GED," because I'd never finished high school. I eloped when I was in the tenth grade. And then I went on to a business college.

I had to learn how to do something fast. It wasn't like I could start college. So I just figured, "Well, if I can work in the legal field there are always a lot of law suits and stuff like that." So I learned that, then learned on the job. I did that for decades. I'm now a grandmother. I have a two-and-a-half-year-old grandson. My son is happily married. He turned out really normal, and I think it was the right decision. I just recently retired from litigation. There was no shortage of work, because we were doing defense work: slips and falls, accidents, and that medical malpractice.

You get your work from insurance companies when someone gets sued. So there's no shortage of work there. But there came a time when I knew it was enough already. And plus, I had gotten sick. I'd had quite a few surgeries. So it was time for me to retire. And now I'm deciding what I'm going to do again – another metamorphosis. I don't know. I don't know what exactly I'm going to do. I love the craft – the art of acting. Even though I don't want to live in Los Angeles, I still remember it. That never leaves you, once you know something. We'll see.

JC: Since you reached out on Facebook and I notice you've been pretty active on there –

LH: I know. It's because I'm used to sitting in front of a computer. [laughter]

JC: Also, I guess, probably now more than ever, just like you got in touch with me, but you also probably got in touch with people who said, "Hey I remember you from So-and-So now during these years."

LH: Well I can't believe that would even happen. I know that you can look me up and cross-reference me with Linda Sylvander and Linda Haynes.

JC: Yes.

LH: I checked out that in certain search engines or wherever they look up people. So I figured – I don't know. Somebody contacted me. Well then Tom Graves wrote his book and then it became – He probably mentioned my last name so then people had friended me under my maiden name. And then I decided, "Well, what the hell. I'll just put Haynes in there because I'll always be known by that." I still take residual checks under the name of Haynes. I just put it in there. And then people – I was surprised that anybody would remember. I figured that's long forgotten.

But I'm really pleased. I couldn't believe that people would be – have any interest and then things coming out on Blu-Ray. And now there are reviews of performances given, of the movies and so on. That's really cool that that would happen. It's another lifetime. I mean I quit acting in '80 – 1981. So I find that amazing and very – I'm honored and flattered that they would remember.

Linda Today




Monday, August 5, 2013

A Very Candid Conversation with Bobby Caldwell




Bobby Caldwell is a drummer who played with some of the hottest acts of the ’70s. He got his start by joining Johnny Winter And. The Johnny Winter And Live album starts off with Bobby’s drum groove of “Good Morning, School Girl.” The drum groove is very infectious and energetic and sets up a genuinely exciting tone that the whole live album will carry. Bobby’s playing is one of several reasons (not least of which is the excellent guitar playing by Johnny Winter and Rick Derringer) Johnny Winter And Live is considered one of the finest live albums out there. Caldwell would also jam with the Allman Brothers on the live Fillmore shows that appeared on At Fillmore East and Eat A Peach. Caldwell's actual album appearance is on "Drunken Hearted Boy" of The Fillmore Concerts.

After Winter, Bobby would become part of a group whose members consisted of Rod Evans (of Deep Purple), Lee Dorman and Larry “Rhino” Reinhardt (of Iron Butterfly). The combination of all four talents made one of the best cult rock bands out there, Captain Beyond. The debut album is one of this author’s favorite and most-listened to record. The music was unlike what any of the four members did. While it does contain the heaviness of Iron Butterfly and Deep Purple, the music contains a lot of jazz and progressive rock elements, with the lyrics of a sci-fi bent. As with Johnny Winter, Bobby starts off the album with another exciting drum groove of “Dancing Madly Backwards” that will set the tone for the rest of the album. Although Bobby did not appear on the next album, Sufficiently Breathless, he did appear on Rick Derringer’s classic All-American Boy album (containing Rick’s biggest hit “Rock ’n Roll, Hootchie Koo”) and rejoin Captain Beyond on tour, which came to an end when Rod Evans left the band.

Bobby went on to join another band, Armageddon, which was led by the late Keith Relf (of the Yardbirds). Although Armageddon would last only one album, that album remains a cult favorite of ’70s rock. Armageddon is similar to Captain Beyond in that it is progressive and heavy. When Armageddon disbanded, Bobby went on to reform Captain Beyond, with Willy Daffern taking over for vocals. The band would break up shortly only to reform again from 1998 to 2003, with Bobby and Larry “Rhino” Reinhardt the only original members left.

 In this candid conversation, we look back at Bobby’s work, including Johnny Winter, The Allman Brothers, Captain Beyond and Armageddon. Bobby is also a metaphysics minster, which we discuss in this interview. I want to thank Kim Reilly of Seaside Music Management for setting up the interview, but most of all I want to thank Bobby.

Jeff Cramer: What made you pick up your sticks?

Bobby Caldwell: Gosh, how did I start playing drums? When I was a child probably around, I wanna say probably 10 or 11 years old is when I had pretty much decided I was gonna play drums. There was other instruments around at the time that were popular. You’re always influenced by, if everybody was playing the kazoo those days, at 14, you go, “Wow, you know, I might play kazoo,” so that’s pretty much how it started and I just had an interest in it. I used to go see all these bands, you know, that were much older than me.

I mean I could scarcely get in. I’d have to get my mother to drive me to these dances and walk me in because they were 9th graders, you know, high school kids, and the bands that were playing these dances and I’m this little guy in the 6th grade, you know, [laughter] so that’s pretty much how it started.


JC: Okay, going from there, how did you first get the attention of Duane Allman and Johnny Winter? 


BC: Well, that’s an interesting question. It’s a very long answer that I’ll try to make brief. I had been trying to get a break after paying my dues in Florida with a band called Noah’s Ark. I was going to New York and doing all these things, you know, and I was in high school and after several years of paying my dues what happened was, on a very hot summer afternoon, this guy that worked for Noah’s Ark called me on the phone. He said, “Hey, how would you like to come over and jam with Johnny Winter?” and I said, “I wouldn’t,” and he said, “Oh come on, man,” he said, “Just come over and jam a little while with ’em,” you know, and I’m not really big into jamming and that was really a reason.  

JC: Okay, that’s interesting you say that because the two live albums you do with Johnny and the Allmans have a lot of jamming.

BC: Yeah, well, there’s no choice in that case. But just going in to jam with people, like if someone called me and they go, “You wanna come down with me to this place tonight and jam,” I’m not interested, so I wasn’t interested then, and if you wanna play songs and arrangements and this and that and that’s great. So anyway, he just persuaded me to come over. I went over to this house and all these people were in their car standing around and it was at this guy’s parents’ house, and my friend Dave who had called me, I said, “Well how long do you think it will be or --?” “Oh I don’t know, you know, not too long,” you know, and it’s blazing outside and people are coming in and out and in and out and I’m thinking, “What in the world?! Okay fine,” you know, so I’m still standing there, you know, and after an hour and a half goes by I said, “Are you – Dave, do you know when is this gonna happen? Because I’m gonna just go home and take my girlfriend out and whatever,” and we went around it. “Oh no, Bobby, stay, just stay, come on, it’s fine, you know, it won’t be long,” you know, and so more time went by and I still didn’t go in and people are, like, coming in and out -- and I’m like, “What in heaven’s name?!” So finally he comes up to me and says, “Okay, ready for you” and whatever. Well at this point I was hot, somewhat frustrated with the whole thing of it and so I went in and as I stepped through the doorway there was [Johnny’s managers] Steve Paul, Teddy Slatus,  [musicians] Edgar Winter, Johnny Winter, Rick Derringer, Randy Hobbs and maybe a roadie or two and I said hi to ’em all, you know, and I went over and I sat down on this set of drums that wasn’t very good and I just started playing this, like, blistering sort of drum pattern and they all just all of a sudden started playing with me and so I’m thinking, “Oh okay, yeah, this is fine, you know? Whatever, I’m here, let’s do it,” you know and about 30 minutes later it comes to this screeching halt and Johnny says, “I’d like for you to join my band,” and Edgar who’s standing behind him goes, “I’d like you to join my band.”

JC:[Laughter] Okay.

BC:And so it really went like that. But here’s the part that is the real part of it is that none of this was a jam at all. All of it was an audition, only I wasn’t told that [laughter] so that’s how it happened, and I joined Johnny and Rick and them and we were off to the races.

JC: You started off an album, Johnny Winter And Live, that is very energetic by your drum groove opening for “Good Morning, Little School Girl.” [To listen to “Good Morning, Little School Girl,” click here.]

BC: Uh-huh.

JC:The band is playing with so much energy and there are these great covers of famous songs. For instance, when you get to “Great Balls of Fire,” you’re not even missing the piano that’s usually there, you know?

BC: That’s right. That’s right. Well that’s a lot to do with Rick’s guitar playing and that’s also a lot to do with Randy Hobbs’ bass playing and me because Randy Hobbs was a great player. I mean he’s a guy that you wouldn’t even think probably twice about in the pantheon of great bass players but this guy could really play in the groove and so a lot of that is why that – you’re very observant about that and a lot of this is why this came off like that because there was a lot of fire and we could play anything.

Bobby (second to left) in Johnny Winter And

JC: Around that time how did you get to be jamming with the Allmans on the Fillmore Concerts?

BC: I had been playing with the Allmans way before I met Johnny.

JC: Okay, let’s talk about that, then.

BC: I had been playing with the Allman Brothers off-and-on when they were virtually unknown and I had become quite good friends with the band and so when I joined Johnny I ran into Duane and the band in New York and when I told him what had happened – that I had gotten on with Johnny –, he was just elated. He was so – Duane was the kinda guy that was … he was happy for you, and so my relationship had gone sometime before that.


Bobby and Duane Allman

BC:Well, here’s the strange part about that. When that Fillmore East album – are you talking about The Allmans Live at The Fillmore East?

JC: Yes, yes.

BC: When that was recorded, Johnny Winter And was headlining. A lot of people don’t know that.

JC: No, that’s interesting, because I even know it was still edited down to make a double album but it indicates that the Allmans, who were not headliners, were on stage for quite some time.

BC:Yeah, they were. It was Johnny Winter And, the Allman Brothers Band and the Elvin Bishop Group.

JC: Okay, yeah, what a line-up.

BC: And it was sold out. You couldn’t have squeezed anybody into that place, backstage, on the roof, the basement, in the front, I mean – and I played with the Allman Brothers and then I went back, changed my clothes, waited about an hour and came back out and played with Johnny.

JC: Right, so basically you’re with the Allmans throughout the whole entire gig and then you went to [laughter] Johnny.

BC: That’s correct. I played. I played.

JC: Wow, because I’ve heard live albums and, wow, both would take a lot out of a performer.

And that all happened. That was all. It was a fantastic night and that Fillmore East with the Allmans was unbelievable. I mean even now when I listen to it. A lot of people are big, big live album fans and, “What do you rank about this and that? Who do you rank…” and they rank the Johnny Winter And Live album the first one. But that Allman Brothers, they were on fire that night. Well, I mean, it was the whole weekend.

JC: Yes.

BC:So I mean it, just, oh man. I just can’t tell you. It was just phenomenal. And I was just playing percussion as I always did with them and then on a few songs I would play drums on “Midnight Rider,” a few different things.

JC: Ok. Now I guess the question is what happened with the Johnny Winter And Band? Like how could it …?

BC: How could it be going such great guns and all of a sudden …

JC: It stopped.

BC: Right. Part of it was – part of it was drug use. I mean everybody in those times, Jeff, and this is not to justify it or to say it’s right or wrong. I don’t personally give a shit. All things in life are just experiences. Some of them are pleasant and some are unpleasant but you don’t know until you try it and that’s fine. No judgment. I think by that time Johnny was tired. He had had several years of just unbelievable amounts of scrutiny and people pouring all over him and giving him no space and this and that so he just needed to take some time off. That was basically what it was. It was several factors.

JC: From there I guess you focused on Captain Beyond?

BC: That’s right.


Captain Beyond (Bobby on Left)

JC: Ok. And how did that form?

BC: Well Rhino and Lee Dorman I had known. I had known Rhino several years because we were both from Florida and I had met Lee when he was with Iron Butterfly and Iron Butterfly were one of the biggest dollar concert attractions in the world. They had approached me about would I be interested in getting a band together and when Johnny Winter And stopped I thought, “May as well.” And so that’s what happened. I went out there and we started putting the band together.

JC: How did you get Rod Evans?

BC: Rod was there before I got there. They had met him through someone and that’s how that happened. I think that happened through the Butterfly’s management that he was, his number was passed to Lee or something. I think that’s what happened.

JC: Ok, now you wrote the lyrics to that album.

BC: Many of them. Some I didn’t.

JC: The thing is that Captain Beyond was unlike what all four of you had done before. How did you come up with it?

BC: Well the vision of Captain Beyond – odd time signatures, the arranges – most of that stuff was me, because long before, long before, years before I was – and I’ve always been a jazz guy and I remember saying to Butch Trucks one night in Boston or going down to see Elvin Jones or somebody and I said – I was kind of whining about how, “I just want to do some really creative music like you cats are doing. I love playing what we’re doing but …” and he said, “Oh just make all the money you can and then you don’t need to worry about it and you can do whatever you want.” So I had brought all of these ideas I had been sitting on a long time into the band if I could get it together so that’s what happened and then we started experimenting with different things and that’s how it happened. Rod being a superb lyricist. I mean this guy is phenomenal. The only person I know that can write like him is the late Keith Relf from the Yardbirds. It’s just spectacular. Even now when I listen and Rod wrote “Mesmerization Eclipse.” He wrote “Armworth.” He wrote something else I forget so it just started coming together.

JC: I really love that drum opening beginning for “Dancing Madly Backwards.”

BC: You know Jeff that’s a fluky thing and I could tell you that was a pattern that I could play at any given day even now or I could play different patterns similar or different than that right now not even thinking about it because I’d just be fooling around and I remember sitting down many times going [humming the drum opening of “Dancing Madly Backward”]. It’s not a big deal but then when we decided to put it on the front of the song and Rhino came up with the [hums the guitar riff of “Dancing Madly Backward”]. So it all started coming together. It was a real magical collaboration really. [To hear “Dancing Madly Backwards” live, click here.]

I mean most of that music was all – the Captain Beyond was really Rhino and me and Rod. I mean Lee, I love Lee. I miss him a lot. He’s a fantastic man. I used to live with him. But if you’re talking about the contributions – he would tell you if he was sitting here – that was really who were behind that stuff, but we included people’s names because it was the proper thing to do or so we thought. Are we the Monkees? Hell, everybody gets their name on it. Well, there’s only two people over here doing all the writing. It all worked out.

JC: Now you went on tour and everything but you wouldn’t be back for the next album. What happened?

BC: We went on a huge tour.

JC: Right.

BC: Major tour, six months. There was some kind of standoff about something silly I’m sure. I can’t really remember what it was. That’s how ridiculous it was. But Larry was attempting to power play me and I said, “I don’t think so.”

JC: Larry – we’re talking about Rhino?

BC: I always call Rhino Larry. It was something – it was very petty. Honestly it really didn’t mean a whole lot so I just thought “Ok. Well look. I don’t want to sit here and fight or argue about it. I don’t know what we’re arguing about so I’m just going to take a break from the band and you find somebody else to play and if we can resolve this then maybe I’ll come back.” That was what it was. That’s what happened.

JC: Now I understand you did come back for the tour when they toured behind the second album.

BC:Yes. That’s right. I did come back. Because Captain Beyond was the four of us. That’s it. That was the band. I did come back. And I wanted to come back. I put a lot of time and energy and creative juice into that stuff. I wanted to reap the rewards of it because this was an experiment of mine remember. I was thinking to myself – remember when I was telling you about back with Butch and all that? – and I’d been thinking, “If I can just get the right thing together.” So a lot of it – there was a personal interest in it. It really wasn’t money. It was really just the creative part of it like “A-ha! I knew this would be right.” I knew this would be great if I was given the chance to do it so it was really that kind of thing.

JC: And, like Johnny Winter And, it broke up while the momentum was going …


BC:What happened was Rod walked in. We were getting ready to prepare for another album and Rod walked in at the rehearsal hall after Christmas break and said, “I’m leaving the group.” Everybody was in disbelief literally. There had never been any hard feelings with Rod. There was never any shouting matches. There was no – we couldn’t really figure out why. So that’s what happened.

JC: Ok. You then reteam with both Rick Derringer and Johnny Winter. Let’s start up with the All American Boy album. Now I know that Rick played a lot of the instruments with you only on drums for that album.

BC: Correct.

JC: Ok. How did that come about?

BC: Well, Rick just asked me, said, “I’ve got an offer to do a solo record deal and how would you like to play on it?” That was it. We did it out in Colorado. The two of us really were there most of the time. It was a very interesting experience actually because we had a lot of fun. Caribou Ranch is a special – was a special place. All the food was catered. You had these luxurious log cabins for rooms. I mean it’s in the mountains. It was just stunning actually.

JC: There’s also one track that I liked that was recorded during the All-American Boy sessions, which later appeared on his next one Spring Fever: “Rock.”

BC: Yeah.

JC: I like the fills. Were you actually there when Chick Corea played keyboards on that track?

BC: I wasn’t there if that happened. The Spring Fever album, that’s the one that has that …

JC: That pretty boy image. Yes.

BC: Like Raquel. Yeah. I’m with you. [To listen to “Rock”, click here.]

JC: You also played on Johnny Winter’s Saints and Sinners. Where are you exactly on that album?

BC:Well it’s been a while since I listened to it. It’s only a few tracks. I think I played on “Stone County.” I played on – there was a couple others. Did that up in New York.

JC:Ok. Then I guess Armageddon happened, or was there something in between that?

BC: Well, all of this kind of was going – all of this was going on simultaneously. Ok? It was all going on simultaneously. And in other words it wasn’t like one thing ended and the next one started. Things were overlapping and people are calling you and it’s like if your friends called you and there’s several, there’s three or four things that people are asking if you’d like to do on Friday night. There’s just multiple things that are going on. So I ran into Keith Relf in Los Angeles and I asked him what he was doing. He said he had come to LA to put a new band together and he had two of his band mates with him, Martin Pugh and Louis Cennamo, and it’s interesting. I said, “Who’s going to be playing drums on this?” “Don’t know yet.” I was thinking kind of like, “Here’s a guy that I’ve always really admired.” I had seen the Yardbirds many times.  I thought, “Holy crap. I know how great this band’s going to be.” What happened was we left – goodbye or “here’s my number” or something – and a few weeks later the phone rang and it was Keith and so we got together and played and boom. There you go.

JC: It’s interesting that Armageddon is closer to Captain Beyond than the Yardbirds

BC: I think so. I mean it was – it was a great band. Spectacular band. Yeah. It was a great band and just a bunch of great people and I loved all of those guys and Martin I still talk to. But yeah that’s what happened and we were off to the races, and we went to England and recorded the first album.


Bobby (far left) in Armageddon

JC: But that would only be one album that line-up did.

BC: That’s right.

JC: What happened then? How did that fall apart?

BC: It was a lot of problem for Keith’s children. Keith had two young sons and we were living in LA but we were back in London and I think he was very torn about what to do. He didn’t want to leave without his boys so it was a real conundrum. I mean it was but we had full backing from the record company. They would have done anything for us but the management is what sunk that ship. It wasn’t Keith’s problem, which could be part of it, but the manager: we had was a chap out of New York and he disappeared and we couldn’t do anything. The record company couldn’t do anything legally. We couldn’t go make any decisions on our own for fear of being sued. We couldn’t do this because we had signed this management deal. You’re screwed. That’s it. So it was really the management that finally sunk that ship and Martin and I went back to LA and in time it just sort of ground to a halt because we couldn’t go anywhere. We couldn’t get anything going. It was really a drag. There’s a lot of work that goes into those bands – I mean enormous amounts of work – and so for someone or some type of something that disables it, it’s a big blow.

JC: Actually one thing I wanted to get to is that Keith’s voice reminds me of Jon Anderson on Yes in that one. He doesn’t sound the same like he did with the Yardbirds?

BC: You think so? Probably that was the way it was mixed. His voice should have been EQed a little bit better.

JC: Yeah. I just noticed it sounded a little different. Like I wouldn’t have recognized it was Keith from the Yardbirds if the credits weren’t there, you know?

BC: Yeah. It was probably lacking some of those mid to low end on it. I hear you. [To hear Armageddon’s “Buzzard”, please click here.]

JC:So I guess the next thing was the reformed Captain Beyond.

BC: Yeah. We decided to try to put the band back together without Rod and we tried out a host of people and finally settled on one. It was never the same.

Warner Brothers wanted the band back and we went out, we were busy and people were still responding and happy and so on, but it wasn’t the same band, so by the late ’70s it had pretty much stopped.

Captain Beyond with Willy Daffern, 1977

JC: Yeah, ’cause no offense to the other singer Willy Daffern, but I agree with you, it was not the same. Rod I hear actually disappeared. Did you ever talk to him again?

BC: I still to talk Rod. Yeah.

JC: You still do?

BC: Oh sure.

JC: Oh, ’cause I hear he’s been a hard-to-find guy from what I understand.

BC: You won’t be able to find him either. That’s the way he wanted it, but he’s doing very well and he’s very happy and he was just a tremendous talent. I can’t say enough about him.

JC: Ok. What did you do after Captain Beyond?

BC: Well, what I did was put together something with Martin Pugh and we almost had a million dollar deal from Capitol and this would be about ’83, ’84 and then after, without going in the reason it didn’t happen, then I started my own band after that and spent several years doing that and then my parents got sick and when my parents got sick in the early ‘90s I was recording with people out there and doing stuff but I had to come back to Florida. Came back to Florida and did my duties with my family and I was honored to do it and that’s pretty much how that happened. And about 1999 Rhino called me and asked me if I’d like to put the band back together and I said, “I don’t think so, Rhino.” I didn’t feel like, as much as I love Larry, I didn’t feel like it was much of a good business idea. We were magical as writing partners. As musical writing partners, whew, we could create things. But I wasn’t so sure that Larry was in the right place in order to go into doing this and I reluctantly agreed and we did it and it failed and then that’s what happened and that’s when we did – Rhino and I wrote “Night Train Calling.” Have you heard that tune?

JC: No. I’ve not heard it.

BC: Oh well you should hear those songs. It’s called “Night Train Calling” on Youtube [readers can hear it by clicking here] and “Be as You Were” [readers can hear it by clicking here] and another one’s called “Gotta Move” [reader can hear it by clicking here].  It was kind of a four song little … it really wasn’t … it really wasn’t finished to really sell and somebody put it out there but it was some of the last stuff that Larry and I had a chance to work on. But I think they’re pretty good songs. So that brings us back to present day.

JC: Speaking of present day, I see on your website that you’re a minister.

BC: I have a Masters in Metaphysics. Yeah. I am a metaphysical minister.

JC: What is metaphysics?

BC: Well let’s just say, Jeff, metaphysics is to deal with things that are beyond the typical or what you would normally do. It may require prayer, meditation, and things of that nature to try to create a positive situation or create the situation you want. It’s a vast topic of universal law but most people don’t know it but what you think is what you get. It’s a fact. I mean, you’ve got friends of yours and they’re always miserable and they’re always unhappy because that’s how they think. That’s what you attract because everybody … if I could tell you this real quick so you can hear how this works. Every human being has a soul. It’s like an antennae. It’s a frequency and the more love that the frequency carries, the higher the frequency is. The lower the frequency usually denotes less love within the soul. So when you’re dealing with high frequencies like when you see pictures of angels when you’re a kid at the church and this and that and they’re always lit up around, that’s because that’s that level of frequency they’re emanating. It’s the love they carry and so that’s how it works. You want to stay in that high frequency of love and being positive and cutting out all of those things with different folks that even in areas of cities it’s very negative energy because it’s very low and people cannot pull themselves away from that and go into the higher meaning of life. Because you can bring to yourself what you want. You can bring it. You just have to have such a passion with your emotions and your thought that you will actually make it materialize. Let me tell you this real quick.

JC: Ok.

BC: This is years before I had that break with Johnny when I went to that audition. I knew I was going to get a break. I knew it. I didn’t know how it was going to happen, Jeff. I didn’t know who it was going to be with, where it was going to be, when it was going to be. I didn’t know anything. I knew it was coming to me and I would sit on the edge of my bed at night. I would go out with my girlfriend and come home or I’d come back from a gig and be exhausted and go, “God I’m tired and one of these days it’s coming to me. Opportunity is going to come to me.” That’s all I thought about. It’s called the like attracts like. That’s what metaphysics is. It’s about how to use your own cosmic inward power everyone has but don’t know it to try to create your life the way you want essentially. I hope that helps.

JC: It does.

BC:I could tell you things. I mean I’ve been into esoterics and all of that field of stuff that would – you wouldn’t believe actually. You would because I’m not lying to you but it’s another – it’s sort of a parallel track with my life in music here. And of course I don’t know if Kim told you but I’m – we’ve reformed Captain Beyond now.

JC: I’ve heard something about it. I know that there was a recent Texas concert with the original line-up that was re-released.

BC: That was a bootleg that was sort of re-mastered if you will and legitimately put out. It’s gotten a lot of interest but the interest in Captain Beyond is huge. It just does not stop. It turns over every 10 years. I mean it’s phenomenal because the music is legitimate and you don’t hear that music and say, “Oh this sounds like so and so.” It’s not going to happen and I say that with pride, but not to sound egocentric, but yeah, there’s so much call to hear the music presented and so I thought, “Ok. This is the last chance to do it. If I can find the right people to do it I can play it in the spirit it needs to be played.” They’re not trying to be somebody they aren’t but to bring the music to people who love the songs, what’s the harm, and so I’m building a really great band.

Funny enough, Jeff, the guitar player has been playing with Rhino like the last three years of his life. Yeah. I mean it’s not ironic and he’s a real Rhino sort of – I hear it like you hear it Larry kind of guy.

So we’re booked to do some things in Europe and we’re getting some other things together and we’re going to do a new album and that may happen before year’s end so there’s a lot going on. And listen, I have a lot of music left in me before I stop so I figure we’ll put some years into it. Let’s make it a success. Let’s do something everybody can be proud of and have fun doing and then everybody can do whatever they want to do. I mean so it’s kind of where it is at the moment.

Readers who want to know more about upcoming Captain Beyond shows can contact Bobby at his website or Facebook page.





Bobby Caldwell today