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Concert synopsis of David Pack's concert at Maestro's in San Ramon, CA on Saturday, January 11, 1998/by Rob Karr David's Maestro's show is one of the best I've ever seen. In my letter posted to the Ambrosia website, I dropped Elvis's name, and Yes, to give myself a bit of credibility. I've done sound over the years for the aforementioned, and J. Geils, Cold Blood, David Cassidy, Guess Who, Procol Harum, John Mayall, Boz Scaggs, John Sebastian, Christopher Cross, John Lee Hooker, Rosemary Clooney, Buddy Rich... ok, you get the point. I've also played drums (and sung) in bands that warmed up for Santana, Journey, Tower of Power, and Edgar Winter. I've got pretty fair music credentials. I read the review of the Ojai performance, and the Maestro's set list was -just- similiar. The most notable differences being the jams (none of the Springfield or Beatles- though David's last song was Seger's "Old Time Rock N Roll" that 5 guys from the audience came on stage to sing with him. I thought David's version of "Maria" at Maestro's extraordinary. It's an exceptionally hard song to sing, and he did a fine job. David also did a bit of "Ready for Camarillo", saying he hadn't played it in 15 years. It was in answer to a call to the audience for requests. He tried to get Tony LaRusso (Oakland A's coach) up to sing on the Byrds "Feel a Whole Lot Better", but Tony wouldn't do it. David said "anybody who knows it- come on up and sing it with me" That's when I, 20 ft. from the stage at the bar, walked on stage as he was starting the guitar riff. I put my hand on his back and said "I know this song" and he moved over to one side of the mic, and started singing. I did the high harmony, and there's some counterpoint in the verses that we traded. His eye cues let me know how much he wanted me to sing. You'll have to find an objective opinion, but I've got a good voice, and knew the song, and I thought it an excellent duo, and it would be an understatement to say that I was just enthralled. I hope he was pleasantly surprised that some geek from the audience (OK- with 30 years of music experience) would be able to wing it with him. The percussionist only played bongo's and maracas. It was a good sound system, and good sound engineer. The club is upscale, very nice (when I got home- I was embarrassed to notice dirt on my jeans and hat, from working on my car earlier in the day- I certainly hope it wasn't TOO noticeable from the audience. God- maybe they thought I was a homeless person:^) Like Chuck Negron from 3 dog night! One thing about the audience, who David asked to sing along on "How Much I Feel". With the exception of Queen- I've never heard an audience sing SO on key and in time. The most prominent harmony note was the 6th!!! That just doesn't happen. I don't know Ambrosia personally. I've got all of their -albums- and the "Anthology" CD. And have been looking for their stuff on CD for years. I saw them in San Francisco 20 years ago, and in San Jose (the Cabaret) when they were practicing for a charity concert (I think) they were going to do. Then this show, which I just happened to hear an advert for on the radio. I did speak with David's sister-in-law towards the end of the show, she and some family were there at Maestro's. She was very nice, and said David played a couple of songs at their wedding. She said the family is trying to persuade David, and the band, to perform some more. I wholeheartedly agree.
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