All right, we're going to do a podcast now about a photograph that I took in, I think, 1968. How are we going to do that without you being able to see the photograph? I'm going to have to work on that, but let's just get started, shall we? Welcome to the Daily Grateful.
I'm Michael Kroos, and golly gee willikers, I found the photo, and I just love the photo, and I'm going to tell you about it, and I'm going to show it to you. I figured it out. I'm going to show it to you. I figured it out.
I'm going to show it to you. It's a picture of a guy by the name of Rick Davis. I took it backstage at a place called Curtis-Hickson Hall in Tampa, Florida in 1968. Rick was about to go on stage with his band, Iron Butterfly, using, by the way, not his real name, which was Rick Davis, but his stage name, which was Eric Braun, or depending upon what poster you saw, it could be Eric Keith Braun.
The kid was 18 years old when I met him. He joined Iron Butterfly after they recorded their first album. Their first album was called Heavy, and it was cool. I remember when it came out.
I was at a radio station called WFSO in Pinellas Park, Florida, and they had it, and it was pretty cool. I was listening to it there. In front of my work there, and the sales guy came in with the album, and I stuck it on a turntable one. I sat there and I listened to it.
I said, oh, I kind of like this. Well, then they came out with a second album called In the God of Navida. Yeah, In the God of Navida. I don't edit it, by the way.
I just keep going. All right. The magic guitar that you heard on that song, and by the way, that was like a 17-minute song that in those days was never going to make it to Top 40 radio. They needed three minutes or less.
You know, three minutes and 30 seconds. I'm going to tell you, when this thing came out, when this album came out, oh my God, it was like magic. And I wish I could play it for you, but it's against the law. But damn, I want to.
Go to whatever you go to and look up In the God of Navida as far as music is concerned. It will blow your mind. And there was just a fabulous guitar section of that, and it was this kid, Eric Braun. So he joined the group for the second album.
It was so magic. You know, by the way, at that time, Iron Butterfly consisted of a guy by the name of Doug Engel. He played the organ, and he had this haunting voice that you hear on In the God of Navida. In a lot of the songs, you just hear this voice, which is just incredible.
I mean, you know, I don't have pipes like that. I got to talk to this guy once. He talked like he sang. Oh, man, he was inspiring to me.
I actually got to talk to him a couple of times. All right. And then you had Lee Dorman on bass, and he also did vocals. Very good bassist.
There was a guy named Ron Bushy, who at that time was with the band, and he was the drummer. The drum solo on In the God of Navida is so damn good, it set the tone. In 1968, you have to remember. Well, you don't, probably, unless you're old like me.
You don't remember, but I remember seeing them in Miami at the Miami Pop Festival in 1968, and Bushy went into this drum solo in the middle of In the God of Navida, and he made music with the drum, and every other rock and roll drummer in the world listened to that. And they said, well, I got to do that, too, or something's close. And he set the standard. He absolutely set the standard.
Listen to it. It'll just blow your mind. And then there was Eric on guitar, or Rick, whatever you want to call him. If you want to see the picture, go to the Daily Grateful with Michael Kroos Facebook group.
I think it's a group. Yes, I said a group. And look, there's the pictures right there along with the story, along with a little bit of what you're hearing now, but I'm adding more now because, you know, I just don't. By the way, I took another picture of him there.
I took a picture of Ron Bushy. I took a picture of me taking a picture of Ron Bushy because I'm in the dressing room, and there was a mirror, and you could see me in the mirror, but I was taking a picture of Ron Bushy. And by the way, I found out Ron Bushy liked the picture. How's that?
And his wife liked the picture. This version of the band played just for a very short time. They played Miami. They played Tampa.
I saw them at Curtis 6th and Hall in Tampa where I took this picture, and I took another picture of Eric that day after the show. And I've never published it, and I'm never going to. He was laying on a table in the dressing room. He couldn't catch his breath.
I thought he was having, I didn't know what he was having. And all the other members of the band were just walking by, and I'm looking, and Ron Bushy said, he's fine. This happens every time he comes off stage. He will be fine.
And in about 20 minutes, he got up, and he was, you know, he was fine. He was drinking some water, and he was fine. What I didn't know then, but I know now, is the reason he was laying on the table looking like he got hit by a truck is because he was born with a heart defect, and he had no damn business being on a stage in front of, you know, several thousand people playing his heart out and putting out that much energy. I mean, I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did.
He died, I think, at 53 or 57, one of those. I'm not sure which. But Eric left the band shortly after that and was replaced by a guy that I know, a guy by the name of Mike Panera, and another guy by the name of Larry Reinhardt. They took two guitarists.
By the way, Mike Panera, if you ever heard the song, Ride, Captain, Ride, Upon That Mystery Ship, that was a blues image. That was Mike Panera. That was him singing and him playing. Larry Reinhardt, went by El Rhino in those days, was a local Florida guitarist who played with a lot of people.
Took two guitars to replace Eric Braun. With the new group, I saw them in Tampa. I was with a very popular reporter for the Clearwater Sun at that show. We saw them when we went backstage and met them, and they invited us.
Not because of me, but because of the reporter for the Clearwater Sun who had an excellent reputation, and all the promoters just loved her. Anyway, they invited us to go to Miami. So we went down to Miami to the High Life Fronton and watched them play with the new two guitarists. And it was good.
It was okay. One of the members, who I'm not going to name, said, you know, they weren't happy. They didn't have a lot of nice things to say about Eric. But all I can tell you is that I am so grateful that I heard this version of Iron Butterfly that only lasted for a year, maybe a year and a half.
I'm not sure. But all I can tell you is that if you were lucky enough, back in those days, to see the Dorman, Engel, bushy, brawn version of Iron Butterfly live anywhere, you were part of rock and roll magic. And for that, everybody I know who saw them say the same thing. And this is the way we wrap things up.
It's a podcast. It's a podcast about a picture. It's a podcast about a rock and roll band in the 60s. It's a podcast about me becoming the person that I am.
It's a podcast about learning. I'm fun with this one. My daughter's yelling at me. She says, you've got to do more of this.
You've got to talk about the 60s. You've got to talk about the rock band. You're all you have to hang out with. Okay.
Give me time. Give me time. We'll see you tomorrow, everybody. Bye.
Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.
Bye. Bye. Bye.