White Witch Deserve Their Own Thread

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

And I will go to bed. But after I do dis:

White Witch were AMAZING. I always thought they were just some heavy rock band. They are a heavy rock band, partly. But only as one of the things they do in the overall context of being an intense, eccentric POP PROG (and indeed quite TWEE pop prog) band with amazing compositional skills, virtuosic playing, and immaculate execution.

So,

WTF in general?
Why so little love?
What's their story (they were from the south somewhere)?
Etc.

I give you White Witch:

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 28 October 2005 06:34 (7 years ago) Permalink

they don't do much for me.

(who will post next? xhuxk or george?)

― el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Friday, 28 October 2005 07:07 (7 years ago) Permalink

Heh heh...I beat them both!

Actually, I personally found that LP to be a little disappointing - I was hoping for a little more heaviosity. Expected/hoped they'd sound kinda like Captain Beyond or J.D. Blackfoot or some other Southern metallurgists. Instead, I got fairly undistinctive prog-boogie, like Five Man Electrical Band or maybe Kansas without violins. They basically don't ROCK, and if you're gonna decorate your album covers with occult iconography, you'd better be able to compete with the Sabbaths and BÕCs who specialize in this sort of thing. Not nearly as good/bad as Lester Bangs made 'em sound in his review. (CREEM, December '72, reprinted in "Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung".) My favourite track: The cute little pro-pot music-hall ditty.

Oh, and their 2nd album (which I've never seen anywhere) showed up in "Stairway To Hell". Don't know if Chuck ever heard the debut.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Friday, 28 October 2005 08:38 (7 years ago) Permalink

But they're WHITE Witch. You're allowed to be twee pop prog if it's about white magic rather than black.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 28 October 2005 15:59 (7 years ago) Permalink

i like the second album okay. i think it's the second album. the one with their logo on it. for pop-prog i would still go with crack the sky though.

i think they were just xian rockers, tim. not into majick. well, christ was majik and all, but you know...

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 28 October 2005 16:18 (7 years ago) Permalink

There's a pagan expression ("SO MOTE IT BE") on the back of the first album and the one guy is wearing a star of David t-shirt.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 28 October 2005 16:22 (7 years ago) Permalink

"They basically don't ROCK"

Haha, listen to "Home Grown Girl" again!!!

And calling them "undistinctive prog boogie" neglects their bizarro pop/bubblegum elements.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 28 October 2005 16:29 (7 years ago) Permalink

But they're WHITE Witch. You're allowed to be twee pop prog if it's about white magic rather than black.
-- Tim Ellison

Heh heh...not if you hope to convert a few folks from the dark side!

Actually, tho, I am curious about their 2nd album, even with the kinda silly Allmusic review. What can I say - I'm a sucker for that "late '60s/early '70s thud rock" thing and LOVE discovering previously-unheard (by me) gems from the era.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Friday, 28 October 2005 16:32 (7 years ago) Permalink

My opinion, nothing more. There's certainly nothing wrong with them. Let's just say that they don't rock me. (And anyways, failure to rock is not a crime.)

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Friday, 28 October 2005 16:43 (7 years ago) Permalink

See if you like that track, though, if you haven't heard it in a while! The vocal is nuts.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 28 October 2005 17:00 (7 years ago) Permalink

None of the usual suspects are gettin' my back here. Maybe Stormy'll come through ...

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 28 October 2005 17:05 (7 years ago) Permalink

i think they were just xian rockers, tim. not into majick. well, christ was majik and all, but you know...

Yeah, I was gonna say -- Sabbath were basically christian rockers too, no?

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 28 October 2005 17:10 (7 years ago) Permalink

Scratch the nonsensical "yeah I was gonna say" part.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 28 October 2005 17:15 (7 years ago) Permalink

I had "A Spiritual Greeting" but couldn't get into it at all, just sounded a bit undistinguished to me. Kansas without the prog is about right.

Early Queen is my favourite christian rock band.

― Matt #2 (Matt #2), Friday, 28 October 2005 17:39 (7 years ago) Permalink

They basically don't ROCK, and if you're gonna decorate your album covers with occult iconography

That's about right. The second White Witch record is the better of the two and it becomes obvious the band or members were blowing Christian smoke on some of the tunes. Basically, I think it was Ron Goedert who continued his recording career as a solo artist for one or two more albums.

Second White Witch is fair to good. Hippie-ish a lot of the time but with strong fuzz riff on a few of the songs. They were bizarre hicks on Capricorn, even by Capricorn white trash standards, and at the time us kids got a little excited because of the artiness of the second cover. Reissue was first review I spec'd to the Voice. Chuck was going to run it but he misplaced it and e-mailed me for a dupe. I'd also deleted it, never bothered to reconstruct it. Instead went with Savoy Brown or Metal Mike and Kevin Saunders' 68 solo album or something. Both rocked more than White Witch. But, I'll tell ya, I'm not giving WW up. It'll be in my collection until death claims me.

― George the Animal Steele, Friday, 28 October 2005 18:11 (7 years ago) Permalink

The Goedert/Pendergrass songwriting team is so great on this album. Julian Cope refers to Goedert as "that beautiful cosmic brother" in this quote from his recent Highway Robbery Album of the Month feature:

"Born Donald John Francis, this acrobatic and hugely confident singing drummer had taken his stage name from the 17th century religious poet Don Francisco Placido, whose ministry had taken place among the Aztecs. Blond, urbane and supremely confident, the manner in which Francisco sung Stevens’ songs dumped all the blues melodies and replaced them with the kind of spaced-out shrieking vocal acrobatics that John Garner had brought to Sir Lord Baltimore (and which that beautiful cosmic brother the late Ron Goedert would eventually bring to White Witch’s A SPIRITUAL GATHERING)."

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 28 October 2005 18:24 (7 years ago) Permalink

"Jackson Slade" is another good track on the first album for hataz who say they do not rock.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 28 October 2005 19:37 (7 years ago) Permalink

Anyone heard Goedert's '79 or so album Breaking All the Rules? I remember marvelling at this album cover photo as a child:

The web site where I found this picture has a track by track description that includes the following:

"7- BACKBONE- Heavy paced bass driven song that has that dirty CBGB's sound. Ron is definitely in his Rock God mode on this one, delivering this funky vocal that again, reminds me of LENNY KRAVITZ and yes I admit, Axle (Ron's ugly little cousin) Rose. At this point I will apologize for my harsh attack on Mr. Rose. Some of you may like him but I have this thing about him. I used to play White Witch to some of my musician friends and they were harsh, saying things like "Naaaa, man, this dude whines too much, he needs to open his throat" Then these same people come to me with "Hey man, check out Guns & Roses! I get up around 7 get out of bed around 9" AAAARRRGHHHH!!!!. I hate that! Goedert was a genius Axle sounds like a pissed off drunk Ethyl Mermen! Sorry."

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 28 October 2005 20:29 (7 years ago) Permalink

Back cover photo of Ron:

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 28 October 2005 20:31 (7 years ago) Permalink

That is one fucking amazing pic.

― Matt #2 (Matt #2), Friday, 28 October 2005 20:33 (7 years ago) Permalink

The entire website is astonishing. The guy is totally into "Captain" Ron.

― George the Animal Steele, Friday, 28 October 2005 21:23 (7 years ago) Permalink

Whoa, I hadn't even looked at the whole thing.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 28 October 2005 21:37 (7 years ago) Permalink

T-shirts available = SWEET

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 28 October 2005 21:53 (7 years ago) Permalink

Wow.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 30 October 2005 05:44 (7 years ago) Permalink

holy mackerel!

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Sunday, 30 October 2005 16:49 (7 years ago) Permalink

I have this really dim memory from the early 70s. Maybe it was the 4th of July? Anyway, there was this panel discussion on TV where the topic was transvestitism in rock. There was a guy from White Witch, and maybe Sylvester, and maybe Arthur Kane, and maybe one more. Jobriath? Can't remember. I tried googling, but nothing doing. The only panel member I'm positive about is the guy from White Witch.

― Sang Freud (jeff_s), Sunday, 30 October 2005 18:34 (7 years ago) Permalink

Ronn's "shrieking vocal acrobatics" (as Julian Cope calls them) do indeed have a bit of an Axl Rose-like character (though way more awesome and intense), particularly notable on the track "Illusion" from the first album. More from the White Witch webmaster on this matter:

"ILLUSIONS- OK... This is Axle's GOD and Master, flooding his super spirit through this space/metal machine, hovering... looking down on his tiny creation with an intensity that reveals little Axle for what he is... A mirror freak, marionette dancing and squawking like the drunk, shirtless redneck he is. And what do the grunge uniformed kids see? Only the dancing monkey, never the mad genius cranking the music box over his shoulder. Only in this case, the coin collecting monkey makes off with all the coins, while the real genius stands unnoticed as the crowds disperse. Does any one get that? I thought about doing the analogy of Ronn Goedert comes down from his mountain to check on his flock only to find them worshiping the golden calf that is Axle Rose, but I thought, 'No need to get all biblical about it'."

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 30 October 2005 19:50 (7 years ago) Permalink

That 79 album shot is something else.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 30 October 2005 20:02 (7 years ago) Permalink

Actually, Savoy Brown's Savage Return album had a singer on it, the bass player for the band, who sounded a lot like Axl Rose. The style's not that uncommon in obscure hard rock bands, Dan McAfferty being the first well known "owner" of it.

― George the Animal Steele, Sunday, 30 October 2005 20:31 (7 years ago) Permalink

There was a guy from White Witch, and maybe Sylvester, and maybe Arthur Kane, and maybe one more. Jobriath? Can't remember. I tried googling, but nothing doing. The only panel member I'm positive about is the guy from White Witch

This is interesting in that perverse weird way only 70's media coverage of presumed oddness in hard rock could be. What, the producer's somehow missed Alice Cooper and Ziggy Stardust?

Picking White Witch is utterly strange since they were on Capricorn, the bastion of red neck he-man southern rock. Yeah, Phil Walden was into all those transvestite bands: the Allman Bros, Elvin Bishop, the Charlie Daniels Band, Captain Beyond, the Dixie Dregs, the Marshall Tucker Band, and Wet Willie.

― George the Animal Steele, Monday, 31 October 2005 03:18 (7 years ago) Permalink

Anyone heard Goedert's '79 or so album Breaking All the Rules?

I saw that album around a lot. The "look" on the album photo looks uncommon now. But it was pretty common back then. Those girly pants, especially. Maybe not the color, orange, but I can tell lots of guys in hard rock bands, including me, flirted with buying them. Foghat often looked mighty mighty twee onstage at the Spectrum. Check live stage photos when Nick Jameson was playing bass. (Went with old reliable but more expensive leather. Onstage, leather pants in a dive bar didn't even work out that great. They just got soaked with sweat and didn't do well. Recall stories of BOC complaining about how the dye from their leathers soaked into their skin giving them a bluish black hue.)

I dunno, I seem to remember, given the choice, spending my dinero on The Heavy Metal Kids first album (from the UK) around that time. That and the debut by Sharks. The HMK's had a similar look. Their album did suck mightily so maybe I made the wrong choice.

― George the Animal Steele, Monday, 31 October 2005 03:32 (7 years ago) Permalink

It's the white Adidas / orange satin bellbottoms combo that really makes it all work.

― xero (xero), Monday, 31 October 2005 03:59 (7 years ago) Permalink

George, man, from my perspective, you have truly been 'The Official Diffuser of '70s Rock Genius' on here of late. Klaatu's Sir Army Suit is merely a pleasant pop record. Zolar X were "fairly standard space glam thud." And nothin' much special about White Witch/Goedert.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Monday, 31 October 2005 04:05 (7 years ago) Permalink

It's the white Adidas / orange satin bellbottoms combo that really makes it all work.
-- xero (continuum0...), October 31st, 2005.

Not to mention the poses.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Monday, 31 October 2005 04:09 (7 years ago) Permalink

And the pout, in that one photo. Lord have mercy.

(Tim: You are the DIFFUSER. George is the DEFUSER.)

― xero (xero), Monday, 31 October 2005 04:13 (7 years ago) Permalink

I must be fucking up. All right, let's try and reframe it. White Witch got played on Sludge in the 70's, my college radio show that was the most popular on the station despite the fact everyone professed to like much otherwise more popular hipster stuff at
the time. It was in there with Black Pearl and Bull Angus and Head Over Heels, all bands I loved dearly even though they made really imperfect records. In terms of thud White Witch were not on the cutting edge. In terms of freaked out image, they were.

Zolar X sounded right where they should have been for the time. The image was over the top, but the tone was in step with the hardest moments of Ziggy Stardust and not quite as heavy as Ariel Bender-edition Mott, but heavier than Mick Ralphs Mott. They didn't write better songs than Ian Hunter. Better than the second Queen album, not better in any way than Queen I or Sheer Heart Attack. Not better than primo Slade, equiv to Play Loud Slade or Nobody's Fool. Of course, Zolar X were coming in when LA punk was getting started, or around then, which made them odd men out but in line with declining Mott and Slade.

They met the same fate almost as Thor's Keep the Dogs Away, another fair to good but sub-Slade-glam rock-type album. "Got to keep the dogs away, got to keep the dogs at bay! Keep the dogs, keep the dogs!"

As for Klaatu, I liked the first album best. Now maybe we should start talking about A Foot In Cold Water. For some reason, I listened to them a lot at the same time. "Make Me Do Anything You Want" or something like that.

― George the Animal Steele, Monday, 31 October 2005 07:04 (7 years ago) Permalink

I don't think anyone from WW was on a tranny talk show... But I really hope someone can prove me wrong about that. . . I would love to add that to my current monster collection of WW goods!

Also, Jackson Slade, from the first LP, rocks. The keyboard player, Buddy Pendergrass, went Christian. Ronn was a far out space man until the day he died. When I tried to regroup them, Pendergrass wouldn’t do certain songs. One of them being Jackson Slade. Years later he finally realized Ronn was singing about incest & bestiality. Ronn’s answer to that was, “We weren’t advocating it... I threw in “Have you ever thought of changing?” : - )

The highlights of the second LP for me was “Crystalize & Realize” & “Auntie Christy” (aka The anti-Christ :-) Ronn used to burn the Bible on stage when he did Auntie Christie. Dressing up like a space tranny & burning bibles down south... in the 70's... Is almost punk!

Ronn’s solo LP isn’t on cd. But there are some mp3's floating around, that were taken from clean copies of the LP.

Also, Julian Cope & I did a record exchange. I sent him the 1st White Witch LP. He didn’t dig it that much when he first heard it. He compared them to BANG. But, I think the LP grew on him. It seems he explored their 2nd LP & now has kind things to say about them.

Cheers to you lot!
Damien

― Damien Youth, Monday, 31 October 2005 15:11 (7 years ago) Permalink

George, I don't know all the records to which you compare it, but I am surprised by the characterization of Zolar X as, again MERELY, "fair to good sub Slade glam rock."

I wonder if this is not the equivalent of comparing VON LMO to some workman-like, successful new wave/punk bands that had entire careers and saying that LMO doesn't really rate as high, i.e., neglecting the the intensity and grandiosity of vision and the utterly focused and realized manner in which artists like Zolar X and LMO, though they were only around for a little bit, came to deliver their messages?

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Monday, 31 October 2005 17:22 (7 years ago) Permalink

(And don't want to come off like I'm being an apologist for ANYONE. I think the songwriting in White Witch, VON LMO, and Zolar X is REALLY GREAT.)

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Monday, 31 October 2005 17:31 (7 years ago) Permalink

But you see, fair to good sub-Slade glam rock is praise as far as I'm concerned. It's not a question of being merely something or other. My collection has always been a mountain of stuff that, for one reason or another, wound up as sub-versions, hah-hah, of someone else with great ideas and execution. Slade was terrific. There's no shame in being somewhat shy of that. Zolar X didn't have a Noddy Holder. No one did. Doesn't make it a poor record, that's just my handle for describing it.

They did have an over-the-top image and some kind of vision. Who knows why they never got out of Hollywood?

If I were going to write a book collecting all my 70's hard rock stuff and detritus in it, there would be a lot of descriptions that might make individual lovers of specific semi-precious stones howl, but the impression would be that there was always a lot of quality to be heard.

― George the Animal Steele, Monday, 31 October 2005 18:04 (7 years ago) Permalink

Seriously, though, George, if you listen to that track "Illusion" on the first WW album, you can see where Damien (WW webmaster) was coming from with that quote. It's not just a matter of X number of 70s hard rock singers sounding like Axl Rose before Axl Rose, but that Goedert was doing something far out with the style.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 21:00 (7 years ago) Permalink

I'm not arguing. This entire go round made me dig out Spiritual Greeting and slate it for play tonight. Gonna be on with Slade's Nobody's Fools which ain't their best but still is OK by me.

I was totally impressed by the reverence put into the White Witch fansite.

― George the Animal Steele, Wednesday, 2 November 2005 21:08 (7 years ago) Permalink

I just got A Spiritual Greeting, too. So far, it seems to me that the first album is a little more impressive in terms of the range of musics that they do, but the second is maybe a little more impressive by being a bit more realized and massive.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 2 November 2005 23:37 (7 years ago) Permalink

I remember seeing WW at the long since defunct Papa's Dream in downtown St Petersburg waaay back in December 1973 after the second album came out. I was a mere 13 years old at the time and that concert was in fact my first time at a rock show. I remember being mightily impressed with the music as well as their theatrics, particularly the previously mentioned bible burning during Auntie Christie. As much as I liked WW, Ronn looked to me to be out-of-place post-WW on the cover photo on "Breaking". Even back then the clothes and the poses were outdated and not a little ridiculous, even in a cultural backwater like Tampa in the late '70's. It appeared (at least to me) to be a record company exec's idea of what he should look like. I will admit, though, that I have never heard anything from the album itself. As a footnote, that album cover is on a website (page 3) entitled "The Worst Album Covers of All Time". http://www.cenedella.com/stone/archives/2003/10/worst_album_cov.html

― Jim Brown, Friday, 11 November 2005 17:53 (7 years ago) Permalink

i dunno i hear kinda the two sides here. part of the excitement myself or ellison, or anybody not around in the 60s/70s gets from the muzak is like "FUCK! this totally awesome band never made it! but its so good!" and that kind of a discovery especially now when almost no one at large gives a shit about rock music sends some tingles up the spine. thinking about that band's little corner of the universe at the time is groovy and especially if they really had something going on in the songwriting/chops department other than just lookin' kind of freaky... i mean yeah it's like when i talk to my dad about seeing local hippie bands in the early 70s, and yeah usually he takes a george kind of position and says something like, "well yeah it was cool, but really the allman brothers and dead shows i saw were like way cooler"... and thus why george may prefer slade (sure a great band, but kinda normal), to an slightly more of an anomaly like white witch or zolar x (whether or not he really thinks they were that weird at the time, i wouldn't just call em sub-whatever). yeah this whole thought got a bit jumbled but i think you catch my drift...

― Jack Dee, Friday, 11 November 2005 19:19 (7 years ago) Permalink

like everything is normal if you can trace all the influences and stuff and know what the whole scene was like, but yeah where the soul pops through, i mean zolar x is so over the top great! (jury's still out on white witch)

― jack dee, Saturday, 12 November 2005 14:29 (7 years ago) Permalink

Somebody oughta scan & post the fantastic painted-face, granny-glassed, mod shoppe pants-wearing photo from the back of the first album. "A Spiritual Greeting" certainly has its heavy moments. I always thought their logo had something to do with the Klan.

― brianiac (briania), Saturday, 12 November 2005 18:44 (7 years ago) Permalink

Done.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 12 November 2005 19:24 (7 years ago) Permalink

The calmer stuff on the first album (almost half the album) reminds me a lot of Spirit circa their self-titled album w/ "Fresh Garbage" and "Topanga Windows" on it. That good and with more personality even.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 12 November 2005 19:50 (7 years ago) Permalink

and that kind of a discovery especially now when almost no one at large gives a shit about rock music sends some tingles up the spine.

Well, actually a lot of people still do care about this kind of music or Wounded Bird would be out of business. And a lot are still making it. The love of it just doesn't appear in the right places to seem like it is being written about. Some of it has to do with a lot of the potential writing pool not knowing enough about it to actually compose well on it. Some has to do with publications general feeling of paranoia about being perceived as unhip. Some of it has to do with the general level of who-cares associated with any type of at best semi-popular rock music, particularly with loud guitars falling squarely into the classic rock, not indie, medium.

That would all change any given Sunday if a place where it shouldn't be written about would commission someone to write about it, ala the LA Times of New York Times on Sunday. People believe whatever nonsense they see in the big newspapers over the weekend, and then someone on NPR stupidly repeats like the wisdom of the ages through the week. So it could be hip in a flash, it's just a matter of positioning.

Case in point: recent article on heavy metal for snobs and other types of so-called smart people. Until then, you have to read about how The Darkness are bringing back the 70's or something because that's all anyone can think of to say.

That being said, Martin Popoff's book on 70's hard rock would really entertain you. Better, it comes with a CD that's superior to actually just reading about it. I wrote about it a year or so ago but don't have the URL available, maybe xhuxk will fill it in.

Anyway, I get CDs from bands recreating these types of idiosyncratic sounds, doing it for the love it, and getting pretty close if not right on top of it.

thinking about that band's little corner of the universe at the time is groovy and especially if they really had something going on in the songwriting/chops department other than just lookin' kind of freaky...

Well, yeah!

i mean yeah it's like when i talk to my dad about seeing local hippie bands in the early 70s, and yeah usually he takes a george kind of position and says something like, "well yeah it was cool, but really the allman brothers and dead shows i saw were like way cooler"

Hah. I never liked the Dead and the Allman Brothers weren't high on the menu, either. Now you know what I feel like when no one gets involved in my Where is the Love threads.

― George the Animal Steele, Sunday, 13 November 2005 23:06 (7 years ago) Permalink

Hi,
I am from Tampa fla and just found this site today...Ron was a good friend of mine and we would go out to local small clubs and jam together...White Witch live were so very cool to watch. The origonal band was very tight and rockus and the stage show put on by Ron was incredable. I still remember him riding the rocking horse on We All ride High On the Saddle Again, and the flaming book in Auntie Christie. He did a really cool solo song before passing away called Valentine which he gave me on cassette. Beautiful and powerful. Check back later,
Bill

― Bill Terlop, Monday, 14 November 2005 14:36 (7 years ago) Permalink

Many, many years ago I saw White Witch in Tampa when they opened for Grand Funk. They absolutely stole the show and I've been a fan ever since. Prior to that my band played a gig at Curtis Hixon Hall where Ron and the Rock N Roll Circus also played. Once again Ron's band stole the show. I'm talking about two great nights of live music, but ya had to be there!

― Chet Yoakum, Thursday, 24 November 2005 20:11 (7 years ago) Permalink

There was a time and place for White Witch...Like Chet said , Ya had to be there....They were awesome...

― Bill Terlop, Friday, 2 December 2005 02:54 (7 years ago) Permalink

What about Witch, featuring Dave Sweetapple (Wabana honcho) and some other guy named J Mascis?

― Tony Bleach (blackshoeswhitesocks), Friday, 2 December 2005 19:10 (7 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

George,

I had a dream last night that I was at a White Witch concert! And you were there! We were both watching from the side of the stage. We got to see Captain Ronn sing!

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 02:34 (7 years ago) Permalink

Wow, you are a true fan! Next on the Arms of Morpheus World Tour 2006, Klaatu!

― George the Animal Steele, Wednesday, 1 February 2006 03:56 (7 years ago) Permalink

2 weeks pass...

I meet the genius Ron Goedert in 1990.He was living in an apartment nextdoor to my sister Sheri.I'm a musician myself and hit it off from the frist meeting.He brought out his "White Witch" albums and BLEW me away!We started a jam band(Im a drumer) and played several local bars.He had already been through a cover band I think the name was...dream force?Anyhow for probally 2 years we were close and played lots of music together.I met a women in St petersburg and moved away from Tampa.I ran into Ron at a cheap trick concaert at Jannus Landing....he looked great and said that he was working on a Valentine type character.I should hear the demos hes produced...That Tascam 4 track got alot of use I hope that Ronny Jr has it and the tapes!...Several years later I was conntacted by the guitar player that jammed with me and Ronny...He said have you heard that Ronny Died?.....NO I had not!...wow...I didnt even get to say good bye!....he was a great guy and a brillant song writter....Ronny you are missed!..I'll charish the times we had together!...thanks for the memories and the lesson that I still use today!You were way ahead of your time!....its so nice to be stonded!....Cosmic peace to you all....Sven Couture

― Sven Couture, Tuesday, 21 February 2006 03:43 (7 years ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

I didn't know Ronnie died, either. I was in L.A. for a long time, so I didn't keep in touch. What was the cause of his death ?

― James Lenahan, Wednesday, 3 May 2006 02:40 (7 years ago) Permalink

I bought their first album last year, when I was in the US - I didn't know anything about it, but I fell in love with their name and the beautiful cover photo. Me too, I was expecting something heavier, but 30 seconds into the first song they already got me.
Talking about J.D.Blackfoot: is their album any good? I have a song called "Epitaph for a head" on some compilation, just wondering if the LP is on the same league.

― Marco Damiani (Marco D.), Wednesday, 3 May 2006 12:12 (7 years ago) Permalink

3 weeks pass...

i was just listening to their first album when i ran across this site that makes me think it was late 80's when i rar across ron in tampa i want to say he was playing at skippers but not sure i too did not know he passed i do remember seeing them in winter haven fl in the 70's for the regular price of concerts back then $3.50.....great band

― charles brunson, Saturday, 27 May 2006 22:19 (6 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

OK, you guys gotta hear "Dark in the Old Church" on the Goedert solo album. If I could, I'd buy cheap three dollar used vinyl copies of the album and share them all 'round.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 18 July 2006 21:19 (6 years ago) Permalink

This, of course, is the album I'm referring to.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 18 July 2006 23:50 (6 years ago) Permalink

6 months pass...

THE GOEDERT SOLO ALBUM

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 28 January 2007 02:21 (6 years ago) Permalink

2 years pass...

Just found this site. A lot of information on Ron.

I knew Ron from 1983 till his death in 2000. I'm just a guy who writes
and records his own version of rock and roll.

Ron sang on many of my songs and is on a couple of the albums I have released.

Ron and I were sitting in my studio in 1999 and he asked me if I had ever heard of
a band called Wite Witch. I moved to Florida in 1978 and had never heard of White Witch.

Ron proceeded to bring all his albums into the studio (vinyl) and luckily I had an old
pioneer record player at my house so we were able to run them thru the studio monitors.

The music wasn't really my cup of tea but I only had one listen.

Wish I had a copy of all his work from White Witch but I don't. I do have studio masters of
the material he was recording at Pendergrass's studio in Tampa. Ron brought it to me to remaster
because he felt it just didn't have the kick he wanted.

Ron told me his plan was to put togeather a rock/opera type show with the material. The material was
definitely more MOR with one outstanding tune called Valentine. A nice love song based on valentines day.

After the mastering session I did for Ron he took the new 2 track versions and left. I did not realize
this would be the last time I would ever see him. We actually made plans for Ron to come in and sing on some
new tunes of mine in 2000 for the new album I had been writing for.

Ron never mentioned his solo efforts to me at all and I have never heard any of that material.

My personal impression of Ron was a person who loved music and devoted his life to it. On occassion he
would bring his daughter to the recording sessions. Could tell she really loved her dad and Ron
really love her.

I was shocked when I received a call from my keyboard player informing me of Ron's passing away. It
was such a shock to learn of this - a good guy gone with all his hopes for the future forever lost.

But I do have several demos of material with Ron singing and I am going to include of these on my
new album. It is called "Full Orange Moon" and has Ron at his craziest and best singing and doing
all his own backup harmonies. Everyone who has heard the rough mixes love Ron's singing on this tune.

Great to have found this site and share my short story of Ron.

― StillCrazy, Thursday, 6 August 2009 12:33 (3 years ago) Permalink

2 years pass...

Great Ron track from 1995! I think it was from a small press CD EP:

― timellison, Friday, 3 August 2012 19:47 (9 months ago) Permalink

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.