Guitarist April Lawton ... R.I.P. or not?

[Meatman]

Mr. Havilcek,
If you're a "pretty piss-poor player", then I'm the President of the Monica Lewinsky Fan Club. Your band's music is fabulous.

Two years ago I went to a concert by the "Classic Rock All-Stars", whose lead guitarist was/is Mike Pinera who played with April Lawton in Ramatam. After the concert, there was a huge line for the the "meet and greet". I asked Mike a few questions about technical stuff, but his eyes really lit up when I mentioned April's name. He could not have been any more gracious and respectful of her as a musician and a person.

John Havilcek,
You and your band are really great! Definitely better and more interesting than 95% of the "music" that is being mass-produced by mainstream record companies. The same can be said for Lenny D Guitarist and Joe 921. You guys seem to have all the talent and none of the ego.

As for the many many positive comments written about April Lawton here, it makes me happy and sad at the same time for reasons you all know. Too bad she couldn't have known during her lifetime that real music "fans" appreciated her genius so much.

[Lenny D.Guitarist]

This thread has been the source of some of the most positive discussions
that I can remember at Jazzcorner. I've learned much about the life of April Lawton as well as discovering some excellent music by Reesho, Joe 921, John Havilcek, and David Nelson.Thanks...and keep those cards and letters coming in!

[Meatman]

This thread has been the source of some of the most positive discussions
that I can remember at Jazzcorner. I've learned much about the life of April Lawton as well as discovering some excellent music by Reesho, Joe 921, John Havilcek, and David Nelson.Thanks...and keep those cards and letters coming in!

I feel the same way.

[Runawayjazz]

The only thing I'm sure of about April Lawton is that she was an excellent guitarist, artist, and human being. I still can't believe that so many loose ends about her career still persist... was she a member of the Brooklyn Bridge? Why have none of her fellow bandmates publicly commented about her passing? Other than a song or two with Reesho, why have no recordings of her collaborations with musicians ever surfaced?

[joe921]

hey guys, hope all is well. been away for a while. was busy auditioning drummers for my band. Funny, I've been a drummer my whole life, and now that I'm upfront doing lead vocals, we just can't seem to find the person.
You're right, Runaway, April was all of those things. I think the question about her being in the Brooklyn Bridge keeps popping up because of her association with Tommy Sullivan. Maybe she was in a later version of the band after their notoriety. DC nelson said she was IN the band. It sounds like he would know better than me. My parents were very close to the Ruvio Family, whose son Joe was a saxophonist for the B. Bridge at their peak. They all came over to my house to see the bands appearance on the Ed Sullivan show. I was about 13 at the time. How cool it was to have one of the bandmembers in our living room and watching him on TV at the same time! Anyway we have lost touch with them many yrs ago. If I ever do track him down again, I will ask him about April. I've also wondered how the hell she hooked up with Mitch Mitchell. As far as I know, Ramatam was his first project since Hendrix. If I'm wrong....somebody correct me.
Keep goin................................Joe

[Lenny D.Guitarist]

The only thing I'm sure of about April Lawton is that she was an excellent guitarist, artist, and human being. I still can't believe that so many loose ends about her career still persist... was she a member of the Brooklyn Bridge? Why have none of her fellow bandmates publicly commented about her passing? Other than a song or two with Reesho, why have no recordings of her collaborations with musicians ever surfaced?

Runawaydude,
I agree with your sentiments about Ms. Lawton. I also am puzzled about these loose ends. Other than the recording with Reesho, no other recordings have surfaced?? I still have old cassette tapes and reel to reel babies from my high school "Battle of the Bands" competitions and other stupidly obscure stuff!!

[elgimpo]

If anyone is interested in knowing how good April was in the early 70's... u should check this live recording. Its the only live recording I have ever seen from them...the quality is not the best... but boy that woman can play... so here you have it 40 minutes of April in her prime


RAMATAM
Academy of Music, New York,
October 1st, 1972

Audience recording

01. Whiskey Place

02. Can't sit still

03. Unknown

04. Unknown


http://rapidshare.com/files/32639036...MUSIC_1972.rar


http://musictravellers.blogspot.com/

[Meatman]

El Gimpo,
I downloaded this. Nothing happened. It wouldn't play.

[Deadlift]

I had to extract the .mp3's from the zip file. They played just fine.

[Lenny D.Guitarist]

El Gimpo,
I downloaded this. Nothing happened. It wouldn't play.

It didn't play for me either.

[lazarus]

If you are registered you can download it from here (there are 8 seeders at the moment);

http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-d....php?id=147578

[Lenny D.Guitarist]

If you are registered you can download it from here (there are 8 seeders at the moment);

http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-d....php?id=147578

Lazarus,
Thanks for your concern, I tried registering and here's what I got..


We are very sorry!

At the moment, there are at least 100,000 registered users at www.dimeadozen.org, the maximum allowed under DIME's current configuration.

However, free slots become available for new users daily as inactive accounts are deleted. When DIME has fewer than 100,000 registrants, new users can sign up. Please note that the statistics on DIME's web site are updated every ten minutes; therefore, you may see this message even if the web site reports fewer registered users than the maximum.

Thank you very much for your understanding.

dimeadozen.org

[Runawayjazz]

It didn't play for me either.

It didn't play for me. Can any of you more savvy computer philes, no pun intended, provide some guidance? Thank you.

[Lenny D.Guitarist]

It didn't play for me. Can any of you more savvy computer philes, no pun intended, provide some guidance? Thank you.

Runaroundsue,
I'm as perplexed as you. I tried again. No success. I wish Wolfgang's Vault had something by Ramatam.

[lazarus]

Runaroundsue,
I'm as perplexed as you. I tried again. No success. I wish Wolfgang's Vault had something by Ramatam.

Have you read the pm I wrote to you a couple of days ago?

[Lenny D.Guitarist]

Have you read the pm I wrote to you a couple of days ago?

Nope.

I just did. You're a very nice person, my friend.

[Meatman]

Five months since this thread started. General consensus is that she was a great guitarist, artist, and person. However.. no bootlegs of her music, nothing on Wolfgang's Vault, no collaborations except for the song with Mr. Reesho, no public commentary from her famous bandmates. Any luck elsewhere?

[Lenny D.Guitarist]

Five months since this thread started. General consensus is that she was a great guitarist, artist, and person. However.. no bootlegs of her music, nothing on Wolfgang's Vault, no collaborations except for the song with Mr. Reesho, no public commentary from her famous bandmates. Any luck elsewhere?

Meaty,
You nailed that one right on the base. No mention of her passing on any of her collaborators' websites. I guess that's the nature of the biz.
I have some free time this afternoon. I'm dedicating a portion of my guitar practice time to Ramatam's ballads: "Bounty on My Table", "The Land/Rainy Sunday Evening". I ain't no April Lawton, but my versions are adequate.
Have a good weekend!

[Runawayjazz]

Five months since this thread started. General consensus is that she was a great guitarist, artist, and person. However.. no bootlegs of her music, nothing on Wolfgang's Vault, no collaborations except for the song with Mr. Reesho, no public commentary from her famous bandmates. Any luck elsewhere?

Meatman,
I fared no better than you. Google and all the other stellar search mechanisms do not provide any new sources.

[havlicek]

As for the music...maybe Dave Nelson will be able to release some of the stuff he and April worked on together that he mentioned. Having seen him many times all those years ago...I bet THAT would be something special! It's a shame that none of the other more well-known musicians she worked with ever made so much as a mention (as far as we can tell) of her passing. Considering how many musicians are narcissistic goofballs though...not particularly surprising. I'm waiting to see about that Lawton/Nelson stuff.

-john

[Meatman]

John Havilcek,
Maybe you could give your fellow Long Islandite, Mr. Nelson, a nudge to share such music with people who would welcome it with open arms?

[havlicek]

Well...first-off, I don't know that he's a Long Islander. I assume he was since I saw him playing around Long Island a long time ago...but who knows? Second thing is...he doesn't know me from a hole in the wall, so why would he care what I say? Third thing is...there very well could be legal reasons that prevent him from releasing the material. I have to assume that he understands (even if only from the interest expressed here) that people would definitely want to hear the stuff.

-john

[Meatman]

Well...first-off, I don't know that he's a Long Islander. I assume he was since I saw him playing around Long Island a long time ago...but who knows? Second thing is...he doesn't know me from a hole in the wall, so why would he care what I say? Third thing is...there very well could be legal reasons that prevent him from releasing the material. I have to assume that he understands (even if only from the interest expressed here) that people would definitely want to hear the stuff.

-john

You're absolutely right in all your statements. However... you ARE the man!!
Maybe some of us here in Jazzcorner could give him a private e-mail?

[wesbound]

As for the music...maybe Dave Nelson will be able to release some of the stuff he and April worked on together that he mentioned. Having seen him many times all those years ago...I bet THAT would be something special! It's a shame that none of the other more well-known musicians she worked with ever made so much as a mention (as far as we can tell) of her passing. Considering how many musicians are narcissistic goofballs though...not particularly surprising. I'm waiting to see about that Lawton/Nelson stuff.

-john

John Havilcek,
I hope David Nelson reads this post and is able to do something!

[Runawayjazz]

Are any of the surviving members of Ramatam still practicing musicians?

[Lenny D.Guitarist]

Are any of the surviving members of Ramatam still practicing musicians?

I don't know the full answer to this question. Someone said that keyboardist Tommy Sullivan plays with the Brooklyn Bridge. Mitch Mitchell is rumored to be retired. Mike Pinera is doing just fine with the Classic Rock All Stars.

Here's a link to a tribute to Ramatam from Sweden because "someone has to do it". Hope the link works. Turn on your speakers.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...ndid=177593925

[Runawayjazz]

Lenny, thank you for that link. It's refreshing to hear Ramatam's music being played on my computer since there's so little of it on the internet.

[Lenny D.Guitarist]

Lenny, thank you for that link. It's refreshing to hear Ramatam's music being played on my computer since there's so little of it on the internet.

Isn't it odd that a person can listen to one-hits by one hit wonders like Mungo Jerry, the dudes who let the frekking dogs out, the band that told Billy not to be a hero, Tony Orlando and Dawn, Jim Nabors, Billy Shatner, You Light Up My Life, I'm Hooked On a Feeling, We are Devo, Hey Macarena, Afternoon Delight, Moonlight Feels Right, This Diamond Ring doesn't shine for me anymore, Never My Love, Cherish is the word that more than describes, Feelings, Nothing More than Feelings, Timothy Where on Earth did you go, Incense and Peppermints, The Rain, The Park and Other things, and so on, and so on, and Scoobey Doobie Do, Strangers in the Night, but....
Ramatam is nowhere to be found??

[Meatman]

At the end of the day, I think it's safe to assume that April Lawton was really an outstanding musician. Although two albums is, sadly, not a lot of music, the quality of the two albums is very high.

[Lenny D.Guitarist]

At the end of the day, I think it's safe to assume that April Lawton was really an outstanding musician. Although two albums is, sadly, not a lot of music, the quality of the two albums is very high.

Meats,
You nailed it. I just hope she and her family knew that she was a rare musical and artistic gem.