Winter at Hixon

- Winter at Hixon: A Mother's Day Rock Treat

A preview of this concert at Hixon

Give your mother a really different present this Mother's Day , take her to the Johnny Winter concert. Winter will be at Curtis Hixon Sunday night along with English rock group "Foghat." Johnny's brother Edgar has been to the Tampa Bay area several times in the past couple of years. but this is the first time in quite a while for Johnny. When Johnny and Edgar were still in high school, they formed two bands together. First, was "It and Them" and then "Johnny Winter and the Black Plague." Since high school the two have come long ways, together and separately. Johnny doesn't need anything but his own name to attract crowds to his gutty rock and roll style now.

During his one semester at Lamar Technical College, as a business major, Johnny spent most of his time in Louisiana to play small clubs on the weekends. Eventually he went to Chicago where he ran into the likes of Mike Bloomfield, played a while, and then went back to Texas. Rolling Stone, in 1968, published an in-depth study of Texas music and Johnny was brought to national attention. In the article Larry Sepulvada described Winter as "a hundred-and-thirty point cross-eyed albino with long fleecy hair, playing some of the gutsiest, fluid blues guitar you ever heard." He still does, with a little good old rock and roll thrown in.

Leading off Sunday's show will be "Foghat:" Roger Earl (drums), Tony Stevens (bass) and Dave Peverett (guitar and vocals) who formed the group when they left Savoy Brown. The other member is Rod Price who plays lead and slide guitars. The group's single release you probably are most familiar with was "I Just Want to Make Love to You." Showtime is 7:90: Tickets are $5.50 in advance or $6 at the door and are on sale at Rasputin's and Liberation Music in Tampa, Stereo Tape, Bellas Hess in Clearwater, Modern Music in St. Petersburg. Frank is in Seminole and at the Box Office.

By BOB ROSS

Johnny Winter, the genuine freak of rock 'n mil, returned In triumph this weekend to Florida, and his audiences, Including a near-capacity crowd at Curtis Hixon Hall, welcomed him back with roars of enthusiasm. Winter's meteoric rush to fame was apparently too much of a good thing for him to handle — or so the story goes. He shot out of Texas with a mean blues guitar, was hyped into almost immediate stardom, and then the realities of it all reportedly prescured him into a mini retirement. Anyway, after at least a year's sabbatical, Johnny Winter is back — and he's definitely In good shape. The crowd at Curtis Hixon Sunday night was in a splendid mood to welcome Johnny.

The first band to play, Foghat, was perfect for the warm-up spot, and warm 'em up they did. It was hard to believe this was the same Foghat that had played such a lukewarm set at the Zappa show a couple of months ago. Not only was the band tighter and livelier, but the audience was much more its type. It was obvious this was a night to Rock and Roll. YOU HAVE to hear Johnny Winter say the words "Rock and Roll" to appreciate his approach. Imagine a tall, gangly guy with white-white long straight hair, white and silver clothes, and a face that compares favorably with an imaginary cross-eyed goofy albino chipmunk. Most definitely one-of-a-kind.

And that voice ... gravelly growls and guttural howls .. and a lot of the blues. Musically, the formula Is the same but the personnel are better than ever. Always basically Into a power trio combination, Winter has it down solidly this time around. His bass player is perfect for the counterparts to Johnny's screaming guitar breaks. JOHNNY'S SET was short but very powerful. He played mostly tunes that were familiar, and the atmosphere was "party" all the way. He even said to the fans at one point: "We don't play no concerts, man . . . we play parties?' So the party included such Winter favorites as "Rock and Roll Hoochie Coo," "Jumpin' Jack Flash," "Johnny B. Goode," "Honky-Tonk Women," and two dynamite encores — "Roll Over Beethoven" and "Long Tall Sally." Winter just gets up on stage and lays It out — high-power rock and roll guitar-playing at Its most soul-stirring level. His vocals are impressive, but it's that guitar that makes him more than just another crazy-looking pretty face on the circuit.