Our Crew

I need to say a few words here about the committment to the band, and the incredible work that was done by the Avalanche crew. They were all true believers...and spent hundreds of hours doing very difficult work...and the part they played was huge. This band was a family, and the crew was part of it. The guys in that crew...to this day, are some of my oldest and closest friends. These guys were all part of the "inner circle"...they not only helped me with my business, but they also learned whatever they needed to as roadies...and any one of them could have switched jobs...if necessary. Bruce, my partner and housemate, was very good with my guitars and amps, but ended up being a tech for Barry.  Another very close friend, Mark Brett, who I had known since high school, had become a roadie for The James Cotton Band, the band Charles had played with in Chicago before joining Avalanche, and when that happened, Mark decided to move back here too, after all, Connecticut was his home. Mark is also a very gifted photographer...and today does some of the finest photography of World-Class bands that I have ever seen. Today, I have often wished that he could have kept a photographic record of this band when it was together...but at that time, it was only a hobby...and he was really the head of the crew...so even if he had been as serious a photographer then as he is now, he probably wouldn't have had the time to do that, anyway. But his ability to capture incredible pictures of magical musical moments of great bands while they perform is remarkable...and has always made me wonder if he had been doing his photography then...what kind of pictures he might have taken of Avalanche...onstage, or behind the scenes. He was a first class roadie, with tour experience, and he did a lot to help "train" the other guys in the crew, who had no prior experience. He was Mark's personal guitar tech...as well as the most organized person in the crew.  David Clark was also a great asset...and he was my personal guitar tech, and a lifelong friend...and had spent years working at the Ovation Guitar factory in Connecticut. Brian LaFlamme, was a gentle giant who loved the music and the lifestyle, and Chris Cripe, better known as "Wheat", was my old girlfriend Carol's brother, and was one of the nicest guys you would ever want to meet...and was a far cry from his half brother, the guy I suspected in my Mom's death. They were both in charge of trucks, inventory, security, and they did whatever  needed to be done if something unexpected arose when the band was actually on stage.. because all the other techs were committed, once a stage show actually began. Charles had a personal manager, Nick, who was also Charles' tech, and actually bought a lot of Charles stage amps. Nick liked to stir the pot...which sometimes created problems for me while I was trying to keep Charles happy...Nick could be a pain in the ass, and sometimes a disruptive influence...but he was essentially an ally, and definetely a part of the family. And Skip Weeks, the younger brother of Don, the man who had driven me to those clinics in Hartford over a year earlier, was our live sound engineer. We were all very good friends before we did this band...we were all just a bunch of hippies who had gone through Woodstock Nation together. We all loved being together...and we knew how to have a good time. Sadly, Brian was killed in a motorcycle accident a couple of years after the band got together. He is missed. He was a great guy, and a good friend. And I say to all the guys, here and now...thanks, for always believing.