Have been waiting patiently for this – I working with the Warren Miller team when VHS Home Entertainment took them to a new level… after a few years in LA reaching for the stars, in 87′ I fell back on my degree and got involve in post production – first roll at this post house was to put together a 2000 machine VHS Duplication facility… then put in charge of filling those machines up! Having been mesmerized by Stacy Peralta magazines and films as a teenager in the mid-west, I picked up the phone and called the Peralta company to see if we could Duplicate their VHS – Stacy Peralta himself picked up the phone and we made a deal! Worked with them straight up to the whole “Gator” Rogowski debacle!! Stacey put me in touch with Herbie Fletcher of Astrodeck in San Clemente who had a line of surfing videos – Herbie connected me to Kurt Miller, Warrens son, who was running the biz in Redondo at the time… we made 100,000’s of Warren Miller VHS cassettes and they led the explosion into a power sports on home video…

Chip Viering

Indianapolis

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Great recommendation. I discovered skiing when I transferred to the University Of Colorado in Boulder and the same friends that had me learn by cutting to the backcountry and following them down some unmarked lines also introduced me to Warren Miller films. That voice is ingrained in me just like the impact that skiing had on me from day one. This inside-feeling look at the brightness and darkness of his life and career has moved me. Thanks again for the recommendation. 

Stephen Schloss

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Thanks for sharing! I grew up in Milwaukee, WI and you knew ski season was close when Warren Miller would come to Shorewood High School to show his film.

As a kid, our parents took us to Sun Valley because my Dad wanted to ski where Warren was filming.

Then we started to hit Vail starting in 84. Probably because Warren turn us into it.

Never grow tired of watching the classic Warren Miller films.

Sure hope the ski areas survive.

Maybe someday we’ll bump into each other riding the gondola out of Lionshead.

George Briner

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I’m a big skier. I relate to all these skiing missives you write about. 

I remember going to see a Warren Miller film in my elementary school auditorium!

Therefore I suggest you check out the film “Fire On the Mountain” that just came out. Although it’s not only about skiing (snowboarding and surfing get a little love) it captures some amazing skiing footage set to Grateful Dead music. 

It’s not really a Grateful Dead movie, it’s about the underlying creativity that is common to great athletes and musicians. Indeed the “making of” was on primetime on ESPN a few nights ago. Check it out you’ll love it, even if you’re not a Deadhead. 

Regards, 

David M. Ehrlich 

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Every year, I would drag the kids to Symphony Space on the Upper West Side to see the latest Warren Miller Flick, and over time, the kids got as hooked as me. And for two east-coasters, my merry men know Little Cottonwood and the P-Dog pretty darn well – they’ve hiked/skied Baldy Chutes! Proof I’m a fun dad! Tom Shpetner 

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Nice piece. My brother (who spends winters in Alta) gave me his book awhile back and I really enjoyed it. I’ll check out the film. But the Warren Miller franchise these days — the annual ski film —produces amped up schlock. Last one I went to several autumns ago i swore I’d never go back. Huge deviation from what Warren himself did. 

– Greg Dennis

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Love it, can’t wait to check it out. Remember watching his flicks at the magic lantern in Sun Valley. We already busted out the XC skis a couple times on the golf course. It’ll be interesting to see what they do at Squalpine this year!! 

Joe Weinstein

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You’re right. Watching the latest Warren Miller flick was a seasonal event, like attending those giant ski shows to get the jump on the latest equipment or a bargain on last year’s stuff.

And we would always bring along VHS copies of the older movies. A few times we were snowed in at Mammoth and that’s pretty much all we had to do while the lifts were shut down.

We discovered the movies were even more fun when we muted movie volume and played our own music. It was amazing how an album like Talking Heads “Remain In Light” or

Zep’s “Physical Graffiti” very nearly synced up to what was happening on screen.

Thanks for the memories.

Tom Cartwright

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And Warren Miller! I too remember anxiously awaiting the annual showing of his latest film. Living in LA I was fortunate to be able to see him in person several times. He also frequently had a booth at the LA Ski Show where you could go right up and buy a tape from the man personally. Yes his jokes may have been corny but there was such an enthusiasm for just being in the mountains, forget all the stunts. Of course there was also the dirty pleasure of the falling off the chairlift segment. Still wonder if that was all staged.

By the way did you ever see Ski The Outer Limits? That was probably my favorite ski movie from the 60s. Still have my VHS copy. 

Rob Handler

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Thank you.. I was a semi lifer in Vail for 7 years. Late 80’s early 90’s. Still get there annually. Friends who I met there then, most still turning them now!

Warren’s story so beautiful. I never realized the pain and challenges he had with his loss of his wife so early etc. Sad but her spirit certainly lived on through him… I hope we get to ski Vail this year. I am now 56 living in Minneapolis and our time that we both spent being ski bums always keeps us connected……God Bless…

Edward Charpentier

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Warren has a great line about taking twenty years to become an overnight success.

It was VHS sales that made him some money.

Bill Carle

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Funny, I didn’t like the film very much and thought they weren’t fair to Kurt and Peter. 

Jim Lewi

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Met him in Maui. Good guy. We are supposed to open in Sun Valley Thanksgiving. Got dumped on yesterday. 11 inches or so.

John Hummer

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It was a fall ritual.: going to annual Warren Miller film at the Santa Monica Civic.

Then, when the season opened in the local mountains, it was cut school and go skiing in the morning, and the beach in the afternoon.

It was The Life!

Kathy Freeman 

Uni, Class of Summer’62

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The late fall viewing of the latest Warren Miller movie was a rite of passage to the upcoming ski season! Watching a Miller film with 2000 like minded ski fanatics always psyched me up! You had to read Powder Mag to find out where all the local powder stashes could be found. To this day even with injuries that no longer allow me to ski Corbet’s and other similar terrain, I still get up in the morning and the first thing I do is look at world wide snow reports. Finding out that 3 feet of pow fell at Alta still makes me happy! 

-Rob Teitel. Orchard Lake, MI

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Rite of passage those Miller flicks were. 

Good memories with friends of just partying before the show(s), during, after but just getting amp’d for the season. 

Last one I remember was 93′ or 94′ in Portland at the Schnitzer (holds 5-6K)…Just about sold out but fans were PUMPED.

Living in central NY now is a far cry from skiing on Hood/Bachelor but nothing beats hitting the slopes, anticipation in the morning, and now my kids are into it (sort of), its really my only thing I look forward to here with our long ass winter…

Thanks buddy!

Steve Anderko

Syracuse NY

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Thanks for your great post on Warren Miller. 

I got to be a rock star. But I would much rather have been Phil Mahre or Jean-Claude Killy. 

My dad was around for a lot of the early days, knew Warren when he was sleeping in his trailer in the SV parking lot (because my dad was also sleeping in a trailer in the parking lot). Like you, he almost made it to celluloid — was supposed to do a day of helicopter skiing with Warren near Alyeska Resort in AK in the late 60s or early 70s but the day was stormed out. 

Seeing his films every fall as a kid (and Dick Barrymore’s, too) at the Seattle Opera House was magic. We’d walk out of there jumping off ledges and curbs doing daffys and spread eagles and helicopters, so excited for the season to start.

It was just as exciting as seeing Elton at the Coliseum in 1975 or Wings at the Kingdome in 1976 or Bad Co. at the Coliseum a year later. It’s the same thing, the same vibe, the same passion and opportunity for expression. 

best,

dave dederer

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I’m writing to you from the F train, heading back from a friend’s place in forest hills. We are both well off enough, but not rich. She’s a surgeon, I was a lawyer at a big firm, and I’m now in medical school. It’s a long story, but I was dissatisfied and took a risk. But now I’m wondering why. I was inside and now I’m outside. 

I read your Warren Miller piece. I love his work, he gets me excited to ski. I’m not great, just ok. I have ten-year-old east coast skis. But stuff like Miller gets me excited for the seasons, it makes this whole thing keep turning. Turn the page and it’s winter, there’s Warren, there are some athletes doing amazing things. Maybe we can have some nice weekends on a mountain. Maybe a friend has a friend with a parent who has a house in deer valley. That’s a rare treat. 

I’m a good liberal but I’m single and in my 30s, so covid quarantine is wearing me down. But do you know what’s going to break me? When I see the elite skiing this winter when somehow I can’t—either because I’m not allowed or I can’t afford it. 

I’m smart and capable and committed to my community. But I’m scraping by. Keep writing, I hope you’re reaching the people who need to hear it. 

Hoping to see you on the mountain someday,

Tim Pistell

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Ah man, thank you for writing about Ski Bum: The Warren Miller Story.

[The last time I wrote you was in March in regards to COVID and the early shutting down of the ski season. Specifically with Park City when it was top 5 in country for most cases per capita.]

Going to Warren’s movies was like a right of passage to the ski season that lay ahead. Growing up in Park City and being in such close proximity to so many ski resorts meant that Warren would come and do his movies in person. Whether it was at the auditorium in Park City where I went to school or to an auditorium in Salt Lake where my dad would take us down to take in the latest one each year, it was always an event you didn’t want to miss.

I essentially stopped going and/or watching them when Warren was no longer the main voice of the movie. It felt like the soul had left. Watching that documentary brought that childhood value back to introducing this coming season. It’s going to be the strangest season yet – provided it doesn’t get shut down.

Vail and its Epic pass has sent out its mission for this season. The season is set to open in 5 days with a very different set of rules. The general gist is that it will be a reservation system with a limit to the number of skiers on the hill each day. Park City is supposedly going to be something like 3,000 skiers a day with a hope you can get a reservation to actually ski. You can only ride a chair with people you’re skiing with. If you’re a single skier, as I am 95% of the time, you will only be allowed to ride on opposite sides of a quad or 6 person chair with one other rider. I’m assuming any chair less than a quad means you’re riding solo.

Living next to a chair lift and being used to getting up and skiing on any given day is no longer gonna happen thanks to the reservation system. Which is antithetical to Warren’s motto about the freedom of skiing.

As a skier who never skis without a neck gator, I’m used to a “mask” type situation, which Vail is also requiring this year. But will it actually work for them from a financial situation? That’s where my curiosity lays. Will they be able to accommodate enough skiers for it to make financial sense for them to stay open? I hope so. Otherwise, I’m going to be doing a lot of hiking up behind my house this season to get that skiing fix. Especially since it’s snowed a few feet already. Jonesing hard for that feeling of feeling of “ALIVE!” while skiing right now. Will that escape work? We can only hope so.

Despite the early oncoming of snow the explosion of COVID cases in Utah, yet again, has people canceling their holiday reservations to come ski. The double edged sword is: it makes me happy, at the same time, I realize it’s how this town tends to survive.

Jody Whitesides

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Here in Québec skiing is on. There will be no more than two people allowed in a gondola unless they have the same address. Chair lifts for four will allow two people. Masks at all times even on the trails. 

Chalets will be closed except for brief warm ups and bathroom access. No food service. 

Preference will go to seasons pass holders and tickets will have to be bought on line before arriving at the hill. 

Mont Saint Sauveur was open with one trail two weeks ago until a patch of warm weather ruined that. It was mostly for promotion but lots of folks turned up. Only seasons passes. 

One of the problems is that we use a colour code system here that doesn’t allow you to move between, say, a orange and red zone. Montreal is in the red and most of the ski areas are in the orange. 

Fingers crossed. 

Rob Braide

Stay Positive,Test Negative. 

Ski guy from Canada. 

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Didn’t know you were a ski freak, man, very cool.

I grew up ski racing in New England, went to ski academies for high school (GMVS, CVA), knew Bode Miller and half the USST, etc. We would line up every time a new Warren Miller film came out. At least until Greg Stump’s films came along…

Mark Radcliffe

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Some brilliant movies and a legend… but nothing ever came close to Greg Stumps Blizzard Of Aahhh’s. The all time greatest ski movie with probably the greatest soundtrack ever too.

Benjamin Evans

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From: Gregory Stump

To: Bob Lefsetz

I liked your article. However, like all journalism it is incomplete and inaccurate.

I most certainly did not make ski porn.

I am in Ski Bum: The Warren Miller Story. I just watched it again the other day for the first time since the unveiling in Park City a few years ago. In my humble but qualified opinion, I find the film annoyingly maudlin and slow. The film dwells far too long on WM’s failures rather than his triumph’s. I am friends with the producers and directors and I have told them the same thing.

And Bob I reject that Barrymore “burnt out” or that Last of the Ski Bums was his crown jewel. Vagabond skiers was excellent and hi K2: The Performers changed the World.

Take a gander at my work and if you have thoughts I would be honored to entertain them.

Respectfully.

Greg Stump

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From: Bob Lefsetz

To: Gregory Stump

No, you did not make ski porn, no way.

It was when the internet hit and then cheap cameras that we hit the era of ski porn.

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From: Gregory Stump

To: Bob Lefsetz

Thank you. I get cranky when people leave me out of their version of ski history.

I am in the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame after all. 

I like your writing except for that one.

Keep up the great work.

Greg

P.S. I suggest looking at: Siberia, Groove Requiem: In the Key of Ski, P-tex, Lies and Duct Tape and Fistful of Moguls. I look forward to your thoughts. 

Constant reader, but have never written to you before. I’ve been on New York rock radio for 47 years now- and sure remember when that Boston album came in. I was doing evenings on WPLJ,/New York’s Best Rock where we were a Monolith in ratings- Boston was a no-brainer- right up our alley- and of course, we played the hell out of it. Tom Scholz- wow- we heard he did the whole thing in his basement!

And yes, for Boston, and so many of the well-produced bands that came after—the derogatory term ‘corporate rock’ and accompanying disdain were coined and fostered by detractors of Boston. At WPLJ, our primary competitor at the time was WNEW-FM, where Boston and ‘corporate rock’ were not favored, and didn’t receive anywhere near the airplay we gave them.

So it was with a certain subversive glee that I remember purposefully playing Boston on my first show when I moved over to WNEW in late ’83. Since WPLJ had gone CHR–well—now I humorously had the monopoly on playing Boston during the evenings on ‘NEW, where I remained until that format change in 1999.

Fast forward to now- in 2020- where I’ve been happy to, yes, be able to play the hell out of Boston on Q104.3 “New York’s Classic Rock” -doing evenings for the last 16 years–and am also happy to play Boston on SiriusXM Classic Rewind.

That’s a lot of Boston—because they sound that good , and the listeners love them!

Now, if anyone can remember the details of the New York radio promotion for Boston, involving a limo ride for us DJ’s, maybe to somewhere in Jersey—-can you please fill me in?

Thanks!—-Carol Miller

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hey Bob…two things I want to say about Boston. They were the first concert I ever went to…December of 1978. seats were behind the stage but that didn’t make the experience any less awesome. the opener was this dude who ran around the stage so much it made me dizzy…..Sammy Hagar

Secondly…..I also remember trying to play those Boston songs as an aspiring lead singer/guitarist. I could pick up pieces here and there but pretty much all I could really master were the chords in the choruses of More than a Feeling and Peace of Mind. trying to play those lead parts was futile. also Brad Delp had a sick range that I could come nowhere near. Have you ever noticed that there are no Boston cover bands? or cover bands that even attempt those songs? I know the production is insane but the rest of it is so original it can’t really be duplicated

Mike Farley
Michael J. Media Group LLC

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During Boston’s ’78 tour, they played the Pontiac Silverdome with Sammy Hagar opening. In conjunction with it, they played a basketball game against the crew of WABX radio in Detroit. While sitting in the bleachers with my dad watching Tom Scholz, Sib Hasheen, and Sammy’s bass player Bill Church(noted he has a bum leg. Polio?) on the court along with crew members vs. the DJ’s. A nice-looking older lady with a younger boy and girl sat behind us and struck up a conversation with my dad. “That’s my boy Tommy out there playing. I’m his mother, and this is his niece and nephew. We came up from Toledo, and he doesn’t even know I’m here. Would you be nice enough to let him know, young man?” I of course ran down to one end of the court and flagged him down, and pointed them out to him, to which he was very appreciative.
Meanwhile, I scanned the bleachers, and out comes Brad Delp with his girlfriend. He got mobbed, mostly by girls, but seemed to be very gracious about it. I turned and looked over my shoulder, and there was Barry Goudreau with his gal. Alone. I quietly walked over and had a nice, short chat with him. Told him I loved his electrifying solo on Long Time. Nice guy.
No idea who won the game.
Tom Moore
Oxford, Michigan

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I love cover songs and have a playlist for Boston. Some good, some obvious and some obscure. Enjoy!
CoverSNGS:Boston, a playlist by sdbruns on Spotify

Steve Bruns

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I got my driver’s license about the same time that the Boston debut album came out. I inherited a 1964 Pontiac Tempest that my father bought when I was two feet tall. It was rusty and I had to put a 2×4 under the hinge of the driver’s seat to keep the seat upright. But I didn’t care. That summer, my family was vacationing in Wildwood, NJ, as we did every year while I was growing up.

I had a part-time job and spent a huge amount of money installing the best Pioneer under-dash stereo system (with separate dedicated amp!) my money could buy at the time. Jensen 6×9 speakers mounted into the rear deck that I cut the holes for myself with a jigsaw.

I got to drive there myself for the first time that year. As I was driving over the causeway, through a small fishing town called Anglesea, Foreplay/Long Time was blasting on my stereo, having listened to the whole album at ear-splitting volume on the ride down.

I can still vividly remember the goosebumps, excitement, ocean scent of the summer air and sheer life-force that was in me that day as I bridged the gap between childhood and adulthood on my way down the shore.

Memories that I still conjure up today as a happy place. One of the most important albums of my life, and they just don’t make ’em like they used to.

Thanks for bringing it back for me.

Stay healthy.

KEVIN DREXLER

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BG (Bob Greenberg) was a sound system engineer/inventor at Werlein’s Music in Boston. He visited me and my girl for dinner one evening around 1977. At the dinner table, my girl mentioned once seeing the Beatles at Boston Garden. I questioned whether the Beatles had ever played the Garden. BG said he could settle the argument, picked up the phone and called the biggest Beatle fan he knew-Brad Delp. Brad confirmed that the Beatles indeed did play Boston Garden, and the he had sneaked into the show by finding an unlocked fire door. He also mentioned that one of his biggest thrills was to eventually meet George Harrison in person.

Stephen Gavigan

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Bob, that ultimate game-changing rock album touched my life as well as my heart and my ears. As it was told to me, Paul Ahern’s vacated Capitol promo post was filled by Dom Silvi , whose Capitol sales post was filled by Paul Crisostamo, whose Capitol merchandiser slot was filled by a local bar band guitarist (me). I spent 30 years at Capitol. My friend and ex-bandmate, keyboardist Neil Miller, designed the Rockman circuit board. His signature is on it. Paul Lanning

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“We saw them a few weeks later at Aerosmith’s rehearsal facility — I think it was in Waltham, a Boston suburb.”

It was indeed Waltham. I worked at Moe Black’s department store, right next to Aerosmith’s “Wherehouse”.

Joey Kramer was a regular visitor for car detailing supplies.

Tom Quinn

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I credit Boston with jumpstarting my career as a television producer. In 1978, I just graduated from NYU and started working at Gotham Advertising, the in-house agency for CBS Records. I started as an assistant producer, but within two months was given the assignment of producing a spot for Blue Oyster Cult. That went well, and the execs at Epic were pleased. Around the same time, the VP of creative services prepared a :30 spot for Boston 2. This was high priority so the label spent more than usual for :30 of beautiful animation of the spaceship coming down from the mountains and landing and transforming into the album cover. Everyone seemed pleased so they sent the spot to the band for approval. And the guys from Boston HATED IT. They vehemently hated it and stated that the spot said nothing about who they were as a band, and that as far as they were concerned, it was :30 of wasted time. So there was a crisis. The label had already bought the ad time on television. One of the Epic execs suggested that they give me (the kid) a chance to salvage it. The band had no music videos to use. So we talked on the phone with the guys, and evidently the band members loved to take photos from the stage of the audience. They sent what they had, which was about a hundred murky black & white slides of the audience. Though the photos lacked in quality, they showed coliseum sized crowds going crazy. So I went into the edit studio and blasted these images rapid fire, around six per second. “Don’t Look Back” starts building and you see crowds going wild. People screaming and going crazy. At :24 we cut to the slick spaceship animation and the voice over delivers the message – “Boston 2 arrives August 26.” And the band LOVED IT! They said that’s exactly how they saw Boston – a group of guys playing music for the people. Giving fans a great time. I felt very relieved, as was the label, that everything worked out and that we were able to convey their vision of who they were as artists. They honed their sound in the studio, but felt their purpose was to engage with a live audience.

After that experience I went on to produce the TV ad campaigns for Springsteen (Born in the USA, The River, Nebraska, Live Box Set), Michael Jackson (Off the Wall, Thriller, Bad), Ozzy, Journey, Cheap Trick, etc. I don’t know if any of that would have happened without that opportunity that Epic and the guys from Boston have me. Huge thanks to them.

Ken Schreiber

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Tom Werman, BELMONT HILL SCHOOL ’63… A friend and soccer teammate…Ron Druker,BHS ’62… Small World…

Also,played on same “law firm”( neither of us were members of the firm!) basketball team in a Boston( not the band!) LAWYERS LEAGUE in the early mid eighties with Tom Scholz as my cousin, Steve Simon, was/is his friend and lawyer…more small world!

Ron Druker

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I remember going to my first concert ever in December, 1976 (Foghat, Rush, and Mother’s Finest at the Palladium in NYC) and sitting in the back of my friend’s Camaro when “More Than A Feeling” came on the radio. It is still a memory that gives me chills me to this day.

A couple of months later in February we saw Boston headline at the Nassau Coliseum along with Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes who were booed out of the building, and Starcastle. Boston played almost the entire first album and two songs from their second album which had not come out yet. Surprisingly they were able to sound good in a 20,000 seat arena.

I last saw them at Whitman Auditorium at Brooklyn College in 1979. They were on a college tour and while they were still an arena act but for some reason played smaller venues doing a college routing. They killed in a smaller venue. Later that summer, they came back to headline Giants Stadium in front of over 50,000 people.

Adam Gerstein

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I was 11 when the first Boston album came out. This was in the spring of ’76 in Australia. What an album! When I first heard ‘More Than A Feeling’ on the radio, it was like the heaven’s opened up. I instantly became a fan and when I picked up the guitar a few years later, I sat down and learned a lot of those solos from that album by ear. ‘Hitch A Ride’ solo is king! I learned that note for note. Over the years I’ve bought multiple copies of that album, first it was the vinyl, then the cassette, then the CD and every re-issue after that. More than 40 years later, that album still gives me the same feeling (no pun intended) as the first time I heard it. It takes me back to that time, every time.
Both Boston’s Barry Goudreau and Brad Delp went off and formed RTZ in early ’90s (another fine and under rated band in my opinion) and I was lucky enough to interview Barry Goudreau in the early 2000s. To hear some of the stories behind some of those guitar parts that he and Tom put down on that first Boston album, to me, it was a guitarist’s wet dream. He and Brad Delp had just released their ‘Delp And Goudreau’ album. Brad was one of the finest singers of our time. Was very sad to hear what had happened to him. He was one of a kind.
Joe Matera, Australia

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The best goddamn tip from the mailbag of all time. Thank you Mike Flanagin. Hindley Street Country Club is the real deal. I’d go see them anytime. They killed it and I got excited and that’s from someone who was there in the beginning.

John Brodey

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Hi Bob, loved your passionate piece about Boston and it took me back to my own first encounter with the band.

In September 1976, I was a young agent visiting Los Angeles trying to build a good roster for my fledgeling agency ITB and woo some USA rock acts over to Europe.

I was amazed by the eclectic range of radio in the States compared to my native UK, and I was especially drawn to KMET (the mighty Met) of Southern California. I listened to that station all the time, in my hotel room and in the car driving around. I even made many hours of cassette tapes from the radio to take back and play in England.

When Boston’s ‘More than a Feeling’ blasted out for the first time on KMET I was just knocked out by the amazing experience; totally arrested by Brad Delp’s soaring vocals and the sound of that visceral guitar.

The song was on regular rotation and I just knew that somehow I HAD to sign this phenomenal band. I tracked down their manager Paul Ahern in LA, and hounded him to give me Boston for representation in Europe. By then I’d heard the whole debut album and every track was a winner, especially ‘Foreplay/Long time’ and ‘Rock & Roll Band’ etc.

PA (as he was known) and I became great friends and still are to this day. He invited me to New York on my way back to London in order to see Boston perform. In New York he took me up to CBS records where he (jovially) harassed Walter Yetnikoff and Lenny Petze (who had signed the band to Epic) about their new, huge selling artist. PA had broken his ankle so was hobbling around on crutches from office to office in the CBS building.

At the Boston show in New York I met the late, great Frank Barsalona who had signed the band for touring to Premier Talent Agency. I learnt a lot from Frank over the years so, to a young agent like me, the NY Boston experience also gave me a stepping stone to meet some industry greats.

Eventually PA gave me Boston for agency representation in Europe (Frank and Barbara Skydel at Premier Talent kindly agreed to release the band from a worldwide deal). Well, I was as proud as punch.

Boston came to Europe in October 1979 for their only appearances and played five spectacular nights to great acclaim at London’s legendary Rainbow Theatre. All the shows sold out well in advance. They were lovely guys and despite their massive success they were humbled to be so enthusiastically received overseas.

That’s my Boston story.

Rod MacSween
International Talent Booking, London

Yes, through the miracle of technology, starting tomorrow, Tuesday, November 17th, Lefsetz Live will be once again, with the ability to call in and discuss tomorrow’s topic which is:

Best Comeback Record (Album or Single)

Tune in tomorrow to Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.

Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863

Twitter: @lefsetz or @siriusxmvolume/#lefsetzlive

Hear the episode live on SiriusXM VOLUME: siriusxm.us/HearLefsetzLive

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app: siriusxm.us/LefsetzLive

“Ski Bum: The Warren Miller Story”: https://bit.ly/3nluv2q

There may not be any skiing this year, they’ve already closed down the ski areas in Austria, France and Italy, as for social distancing, I link you to these pics: https://bit.ly/3kzwUVw Sure, you can stay apart on the slopes, but in line…never mind the village, restaurants, hotels and..? That’s blind optimism for you.

In case you don’t know, ski areas were hotbeds of Covid, one of the biggest hotspots in the nation last March was in Ketchum, Idaho, home of Sun Valley. Yup, you get people from all over the world, never mind the country, and  you’ve got a Covidfest. Hell, I was in Vail the first week of March, I arrived there just after the U.S. Open snowboard competition, and in about two weeks…not only did they shut down the mountain, there were infections all over the world, just not the United States, especially amongst the elite in Mexico, Vail is their favorite skiing spot. We were ignorant, we escaped. But, everybody thinks they’re immune and two weeks later…BOOM! So, I’ve got my passes, but I ain’t going until it’s safe, which may be never this year, assuming the ski areas open and stay open. But although I have skied in October on a number of occasions, and certainly November many times, the fall ritual was always the new Warren Miller movie, when that was the only way to get your desire satisfied, you see most skiers are fickle, they stop going to the mountains in the spring, when conditions are excellent, Mammoth is often open to July, but in the fall they’re jonesing and will endure the white ribbon of death just to scratch their itch.

So, every fall you’d go to an auditorium, not a usual movie theatre, and sit amongst thousands as Warren Miller narrated his annual production, which continues to this day, albeit without Warren himself, however ski porn is available at one’s fingertips, just a click away online, and just like with music the barrier to entry is so low that the morass of product is overwhelming and it’s hard to discern what is good and what is bad, and although all skiing is good, some productions are much better than others, assuming you can find them.

But they’re all standing on the shoulders of Warren Miller. Who stood on the shoulders of John Jay, who created this paradigm, I was even briefly in a John Jay film, skiing at Squaw Valley at summer race camp, and I’ve even been shot for Warren Miller, but never made it into the final cut. And in the sixties Warren had a competitor, Dick Barrymore, who focused more on the narrative, his peak being “The Last of the Ski Bums,” but Barrymore burned out and left the scene, yet Warren soldiered on, but it was a grind.

But this is not really a ski movie. Sure, there’s a lot of skiing, but it’s a deep dive into Warren’s life. And a lot of it is covered in Warren’s book, “Freedom Found,” which is surprisingly readable, writing is a skill and most people don’t have it, irrelevant of how interesting a life they led, but “Ski Bum: The Warren Miller Story” has the advantage of an outsider’s viewpoint, an outsider who misses a number of highlights, however it’s hard to fit a lifetime into ninety minutes, but the director does an excellent job of analyzing Miller the man, his life and…

The Boy Scouts kept him sane, because his parents were oblivious. And then his family betrayed him and…I don’t want to give too much away. But, Warren essentially raised himself, and didn’t really know how to raise a family, because he had no role model, his father was an alcoholic.

And sure, to some degree this flick is hagiography, but Warren was far from perfect, not a saint, but he had a vision and he pursued it, and it was DIFFICULT!

It always looks easier from the outside, outsiders only see the peaks, they’re unaware of the struggle to get there. To get there you’ve got to work 24/7, oftentimes alone and without compensation, it’s a grind, and most people give up. And if you do the work and make it, something has to suffer, in this case Warren’s family, there’s just not enough time in a day, a year.

Now it was a different era. Skiing was new, there was a boom in the sixties, and now it’s a mature sport, and despite season passes being rock bottom cheap, cheaper than ever, the overall cost of skiing is not, the equipment, the hotels, and therefore the business is stagnant, even though the equipment is now so advanced that it’s easier than ever to learn. Unlike in the sixties, the middle class has shrunk, few can afford to take their family skiing, and therefore they’re missing out on its essence, FREEDOM!

Yes, it’s a thrill to slide down the hill. But you can go wherever you want, and if you think about anything else you fall, skiing requires total attention, not that you have to tense up and focus, but there is no room for everyday problems. I don’t want to denigrate video games, but there is nothing like a breath of fresh air in the mountains, whether it be blue skies or dumping prodigiously, you feel so ALIVE!

So Warren didn’t want a straight job. He pursued the “other” his entire life, he lived by his own rules, and therefore had to make his own money, and it wasn’t always easy, he got his big break with network TV and desiring to get it so right lost a ton of bread and there was no aftermath, it was one and done, you get your big break and then it…isn’t.

And unlike Bruce Brown, with his “Endless Summer,” Miller could never make it theatrically. Turns out he could only do what he did, which he did better than everybody else.

And then the generations changed. His humor was out of style, it became about marketing…

Yes, there is an arc to this film, like with all lives, but most people don’t focus on one pursuit so long that they become an icon and can profit off their status alone.

Amazon has a unique philosophy. ANYONE can get their project streamed on Amazon, therefore you see endless unknown films that require payment to view and are therefore dead in the water from the get-go, but “Ski Bum: The Warren Miller Story” is free with Prime, and if you’re a skier, you must see it, and if you’re not a skier, you’ll still get it, because of the human story, but you’ll also be infected by the scenery, the daredevil antics, the pure joy of those doing it, and…those who chose to take the path less taken, who devoted their lives to skiing. It’s a sickness, you catch the bug and the only way to cure the pain is to keep trekking to the mountains and skiing, to the point where you have to live in the mountains so you can ski every day, that’s why I went to Middlebury  College, it had its own ski area, and was located near Mad River Glen, and Stowe and Sugarbush, even Killington, were not far away. And ultimately I spent two years in Little Cottonwood Canyon, in Utah, but then I realized if I didn’t leave soon, I never would, so I did, and it was so painful I rarely skied thereafter, there’s a fine edge you get skiing every day and when you don’t it hurts, mentally. But the infection is just dormant, and now I’m as into it as I ever was, I cannot read enough about it, I cannot go enough, usually fifty days a year, with a laptop and smartphone you can be anywhere, even overseas.

You just can’t get it unless you do it. But Warren did it, he dedicated his entire life to skiing, one time was enough to turn him into a lifer. And I know people who’ve “thrown away” their entire lives to skiing, they’ve woken up, especially today, and realized they’ve got no 401k, little cash, but they couldn’t help themselves, it’s akin to an opioid addiction. Watch this movie, you’ll understand.