Last Sunday, there was a rock ‘n’ roll show at Craig Moore’s Younger Than Yesterday record store starring five of the best local musicians in Peoria and Jim McCarty, the drummer for the legendary rock ‘n’ roll band, The Yardbirds. Oh, you missed it? What, were you too busy sitting at home posting what you had for lunch on facecrack and complaining that there’s nothing to do in Peoria? Well, here’s your chance to see what you missed, almost live on MBIP. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome, Craig Moore, The Temporary Tribute Band plus Josh Bradshow and starring Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame Yardbirds drummer...Jim McCarty!
Here we are at Younger Than Yesterday, which has to be the coolest store front in Peoria.
There's two shows today and we're hitting the 4PM performance, let's go in and see what's happening.
I've already documented Younger Than Yesterday on MBIP and you can read that post here, but I have to take a photo of the little yellow records dangling from the ceiling in here.
Check out the Yardbirds Poster on the front wall. They were playing at the Springbrook Gardens Teen Club. This makes me think about the post that MBIP Contributor Mike Foster wrote about seeing The Yardbirds play here in Peoria at Expo Gardens back in 1966.
And here's the man who's set this whole extravaganza up today, Craig Moore! I have to day that it's people like Craig that make Peoria a fun place to live. Who else would be able to set up a show like this?
Here's the set list for the show. I can't wait to hear these tunes!
You've heard of Janitor in a Drum, I now present for your viewing pleasure, Gumby in a Drum!
As the band gets ready and starts tuning up, I retreated off the stage and into the audience area.
I had to get a photo of the Yardbirds section of the store.
Check out this picture disc of the Yardbirds. There's Jim at the bottom next to the logo. As you can see, he was quite short back in those days. He grew a lot in the '70's.
The store is filling up with people and there's someone filming back there.
Check it out, here's three MBIP Contributors in the crowd! From left: Jeff Putnam, Bob Gordon and Bob "The Whale" Miller.
The stage is set and it's just about showtime!
Here's Craig doing the introduction to a show where a splendid time is guaranteed for all.
And here he is, the star of tonight's show, Jim McCarty!
And the show gets off to a rollicking start with Jim's tune, "Sitting On Top Of Time."
The band was fantastic, here's guitarist Don Mabus playing one of his incredible solos of the day.
In addition to Jim, Craig and Don, the band featured Tim Brickner on bass and guitar and Mike Nellas on keyboards and vocals.
Here's Jim introducing the band, which also included Matt Warren on drums, percussion, guitar and harmonica.
And then the band played on.
For the second half of the show, Jim got behind the drum kit, Tim switched to guitar and Craig played bass.
And here's previously mentioned Matt Warren adding percussion to the Yardbirds song, "Shapes of Things."
And here's Matt taking the center stage for lead vocals and guitar on a tune.
Rock on, fellows!
Out from the wings comes local musician and photographer, Josh Bradshaw, plugging in. and joining the show.
All plugged in and rocking and rolling. Josh fronts a band called Johnny Quest who you should check out when they play around town.
Craig took center stage for the final song, "I'm A Man," which they tore to shreds.
Craig's pointy feet beat!
Here's the band taking a final bow, my apologies to Matt Warren for cutting him out of the photo, but my lens was limited. This was a great show and a wonderful time!
After the show we hung out with Jim and the band. Here's Bob Gordon with Jim. Bob had met Jim years ago on a trip to England with Craig and Jim remembered Bob and said, "You're the comic book guy, right?"
It was great to see Jim again and introduce him to Gumby!
But seriously, enough about Jim McCarty, let's put the spotlight where it really belongs, on me! But to be really serious, thanks to Craig, Jim, Josh and The Temporary Tribute Band for putting on such a great show. It was truly one of the best rock 'n' roll shows I have ever seen. And it was played right here in Peoria! We'll see you all tomorrow.
Younger Than Yesterday
2615 N University Street
Peoria
309-682-1116
Further Reading: Huffington Post, Jim on facecrack and Craig on facecrack.
Bonus Story: Stuck Inside Of Memphis With Jim McCarty, Craig Moore, B.B. King, Eddie Murphy and Don McMinn, Who Always Goes For The Jugular!
The Craig Moore Sun Sessions featuring Jim McCarty, Craig may or may not have a few of these left for sale. You'll have to stop by Younger Than Yesterday to find out for sure!
Craig Moore and I have visited Memphis twice together in our lifetimes and they’ve both been very memorable experiences. One of these trips involved taking local Elvis impersonator, Dave Stovall to Graceland. This isn’t about that trip. This one is about traveling to Memphis where Craig recorded an EP with fellow musicians, Greg Williams on guitar, Rockin’ Billy Gress on harmonica and Jim McCarty on drums in the summer of 1992 at Sun Studios. I played the beer and pen on the EP, but I’m uncredited.
I remember back in the summer of 1992, Craig telling me that Jim McCarty was coming to town and that they were going to record at Sun Studios in Memphis. Well, I glommed on to this experience and told Craig I’d love to go and write about it for my magazine POP, and he graciously invited me along for the ride. I brought along POP photographer Jeffrey Jones who took photos for the article.
The POP magazine article which chronicled our Memphis journey.
It was great to meet Jim and it turned out we both have kind of wacky senses of humor and we immediately started taking the piss out of anything that moved. It was wild being in Sun Studios and there was a poster of a local musician in the booth and his name was Don McMinn. One of the reviews quoted on the poster said, “Don McMinn Goes For The Jugular.” For some reason we all got fixated on Don McMinn and kept making jokes about him. You had to be there folks, and you weren’t, so too bad for you!
It was a lot of fun hanging out in Sun Studio and seeing Craig’s music come alive. They recorded one cover and it was a real treat watching the musicians recording the Yardbird’s classic song, “Evil Hearted You” and watching Jim tear that one up on the drums.
The back cover of the EP.
As much fun as it was being in Sun Studios, the highlight of the trip happened after the recording. We drove to legendary Beale Street and while walking around we happened upon B.B. King’s club. We were going to go in and then learned through a sign that it was closed because they were having a birthday party for B.B. King himself.
At first I was bummed out, but Jim told us to stay put while he talked to the doorman. After a few minutes he waved us over and we walked in to the party! Jim showed the doorman his Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame card and told him we were his band. Baboom—instant access.
The musicians and engineer are featured in a photo insert that comes with the EP. The photos are by Jeffrey Jones.
As I wrote earlier, one of my contributions to the recording process was beer and I had had plenty by then, so my memory of this is a little fuzzy after all these years, but two things stand out from that crazy-ass night.
There were a lot of celebrities there and one of them was Eddie Murphy. He walked by us and I shouted out, “Hey,” and he looked over at me with a puzzled look on his face that that kind of read: “Who the fuck are you?”
I paused a beat and then said, “Aren’t you Don McMinn?”
He screwed up his face and sneeringly shot back, “Get the fuck out of here,” and then stomped away. We about pissed our pants laughing.
So we had some drinks, mingled and on our walk back to the car, we all stopped at the same time in front of a small nightclub and stared straight up at the sign hanging out front as our collective jaws hit the sidewalk.
It read: “Appearing Nightly: Don McMinn!”
This time, I think we all did piss our collective pants. That was one of the most fun nights in my life. Last Sunday came close and it was so great to see Jim again. One of the first things he said to me after shaking my hand was, “Don McMinn goes for the jugular!” Ha ha ha!