Players:    Nokie Edwards, George Tomsco, Del Halterman 
Date:       June 28, 1998
Place:      Flamingo Palace, Calgary, Alberta, Canada 
Report:     D.Halterman  from Canada

Photo by John Westmore, a member of "Underground Fire" Ventures Mailing List


From left to right:


Concert Report by D.Halterman
Good mooooooorning Underground Fire!
As Martin would say..I'm pumped !
As George Tomsco would say, It was "Quite a Party".
When I got my tickets from promotor, BarryKeen, he said I should bring my bass.
When asked why, he said "Who knows? You could be jamming with Nokie & George, and if not, you could at least get it autographed".
As it turned out, both reasons became reality.
I now must get some Varathane or whatever the best covering is to cover Nokies fancy signature on my white pickguard.
As for the music, it was an afternoon to remember forever.
The first recognizable face upon entering was John Westmore, the only other UFer present.
The second was Al Nawata, the lead guitarist for The Dimensions, our Venture type instro band in the '60s. We hadn't seen each other in over 30 years.
At first it looked as if the MC was to be Rich Hagenson, lead guitarist of Vancouvers "Surfdusters" and editor of the instrumental magazine "Livewire".
George Tomsco turned out to be a natural MC and soon took over the duty.
He confessed right away that he was far outclassed as a musician beside Nokie.
When it was all over, George announced he would be returning to Raton, NM and constructing a "Nokie Lamp" with his white Jazzmaster.
George opened with a few of his tunes, including "Fireball" and "Torquay".
Then Nokie appeared, using a cane to walk.
Judy explained that a doctor had goofed with some procedure, and infection had occured.
Nokie looked a little slow as he took a seat for the duration, but it wasn't long until we saw some very FAST fingering on what I would call "Duelling Bulldogs".
The crowd insisted on a few Venture tunes and Nokie gave in a few times, but mostly he showed the crowd where his playing has taken him in the '90s.
Some tunes I had not heard him play were "Snowbird", "Imagine", and "Hey Jude".
Hopefully, the video will be available to refresh my recollection of the other songs, but I remember hearing Misty, Walk Right In, Sing and Vincent.
The big thrill for me was when I got the chance to play a few numbers with Nokie and George on each side of me.
Nokie wanted to play Wipeout but the drummer declined strenuously.
I remember doing Pipeline, Yellow Jacket, and WDR.
This was fun but I wasn't ready for Classical Gas and a couple of John Lennon songs that followed.
George Tomsco caught my glance and spoke the chords until I had the progression.
The most fun was the last one, a Boogie in A that got loud.
I went back to our table on cloud-nine.
After all the jamming, hand-clapping and boogie-jams, Nokie got intimate and sentimental with the above mentioned quiet songs and one that he wrote and had no name yet, but was very beautiful.
There was only about six feet between him and the front row of fans..a magic time for everyone.
Then George and the drummer came back and the joint was rockin to Honky Tonk, Alabama Jubillee, I Got a Woman and Orange Blossom Special.
Nokie did things on that borrowed Telecaster that I hadn't heard before, and guess what folks..he was smiling, the crowd was clapping, and I was wiping away tears.
When the music was over, the party wasn't.
Autograph's, conversation and a really good Chinese smorg followed.
Everyone mixed and I told a lot of people about Underground Fire.
We should be hearing from some of them soon.
I wish every one of you could have been there.
And John..thanks for the tapes..they made the trip home much more enjoyable. Nokie & Ventures Forever

(The above report is from D.Halterman's e-mail at "Underground Fire" Ventures Mailing List)