{"id":109,"date":"2013-03-20T03:09:23","date_gmt":"2013-03-20T03:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/?p=109"},"modified":"2013-03-20T03:09:23","modified_gmt":"2013-03-20T03:09:23","slug":"he-got-a-line-on-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/?p=109","title":{"rendered":"He Got a Line on Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

While watching the \u201cIn Memoriam\u201d part of this year\u2019s Grammy Awards, among the many faces and names of musical talents lost last year, I saw Ed Cassidy flash past\u2014he was the remarkable drummer of the band Spirit<\/a>, which had a hit with \u201cI Got a Line on You\u201d in 1968. They toured with Led Zeppelin and Jimmy Page\u2019s guitar riff in \u201cStairway to Heaven\u201d claims to be lifted from Spirit’s track \u201cTaurus.\u201d<\/p>\n

My memory of Cassidy comes from a hot night in 1969 at the Hideout, a Detroit suburban club owned by Bob Seger\u2019s manager Punch Andrews. While hanging backstage after the band\u2019s show, I noticed the handsome bald drummer make an entrance into the green room. (Picture Peter Garrett, the imposing lead singer of Midnight Oil.) He glanced around and approached me with a warm smile. I was just 17 and felt a bit timid. I booked local bands’\u00a0shows around Michigan for a management agency, so dreaded being considered a groupie.<\/p>\n

\u201cBridget?\u201d he asked, stepping back to look me over.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m Robbie,\u201d I said, tentatively extending my hand. \u201cNice to meet you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u201cWhoa! I thought you were this stewardess I met on Aer Lingus<\/em>,\u201d he emphasized the airline name. His really large, strong hands squeezed mine.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally?\u201d I wondered aloud, not believing his\u00a0line. Still, I was impressed. Though close to my dad’s age, he looked cool in\u00a0a tight t-shirt and leather jeans and\u00a0had serious command of the drums.<\/p>\n

Cassidy leaned into my eyes, perhaps seeking a glint. \u201cSo you\u2019re not Bridget?\u201d When I shook my head with a grin, he threw his head back with a laugh.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved your show,\u201d I said sincerely before my date swept me out and onto the floor to see Rod Stewart play with the Small Faces. Over the years, I wondered what might have happened if I didn\u2019t have a date.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s amazing is Cassidy\u2019s story in his New York Times<\/em> <\/a>obit:\u00a0\u00a0An accomplished jazz drummer who\u2019d played with some greats before joining Spirit, his stepson\u2019s band. Hard to believe, he died at 89. His spirit lingers as I hear a refrain from the band\u2019s song \u201cFresh Garbage:\u201d See those things you didn\u2019t quite consume.<\/em><\/p>\n

Check out Spirit’s early music video.<\/a> Does the flight attendant\u00a0look like me?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While watching the \u201cIn Memoriam\u201d part of this year\u2019s Grammy Awards, among the many faces and names of musical talents lost last year, I saw Ed Cassidy flash past\u2014he was the remarkable drummer of the band Spirit, which had a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","category-pop-anthrop"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paF1nb-1L","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=109"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119,"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109\/revisions\/119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}