Simple Man cover by Bobby BeauSoleil
Way back in 1978 I performed a concert with The Freedom Orchestra in the gymnasium at the state prison in Tracy, California. By several layers of miracle a video of this performance exists, and can now be shared. The quality of video equipment that was used in basic education in the 1970s was not the greatest, so some allowance must be made for the image quality. But hey, that any such artifact even exists is, as I said, something approaching the miraculous. Our stage was the boxing ring, much of our equipment was built in the prison handicraft shop, the gymnasium acoustics were far from great, and all the guys in the audience were criminals. Prison rock at its finest!
One of the opening songs for the concert - a cover of "Simple Man", written by Ronnie Van Zant and Gary Rossington (I've never been a great singer ) is one that has resonance for men who have made serious mistakes in life. I thought it might set a good tone for the beginning of the concert. Awhile later The Freedom Orchestra performed significant portions of my compositions for Lucifer Rising. Stay tuned!