Al Effing Kooper

I’ve just read Al Kooper’s jaw-dropping memoir BACKSTAGE PASSES AND BACKSTABBING BASTARDS. The man who crashed a Bob Dylan recording session and ended up with the organ lead in “Like a Rolling Stone;” the man who not only played for, but named, Blood, Sweat & Tears; the man who produced Lynyrd Skynyrd–all that just turns out to be the tip of the iceberg. Read this amazing book and you’ll learn why Norman Rockwell hugged Al, then painted a portrait of him and Mike Bloomfield of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.

The words:

A & R spread like an oak

And bad finger defunct a loco

A gig a friend a deal a zoo

Lo! Super Session–quite a coup

Lynyrd Skynyrd paid the fare

Let a legend climb the stair