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(Wikipedia) Sad RIP to Scot Halpin, who in November 1973 enjoyed 15 minutes of fame after playing drums with The Who after Keith Moon passed out during a concert at the Cow Palace   (en.wikipedia.org) divider line 34
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Brettster808 [TotalFark] 2008-02-13 05:50:33 PM  
Footage of concert (new window)

/not a rick roll

 
bargled 2008-02-13 06:22:03 PM  
Did he ever get paid?

 
MorningBreath [TotalFark] 2008-02-13 06:29:51 PM  
thats a great story. I never heard it before.

 
Recoil Therapy [TotalFark] 2008-02-13 06:50:50 PM  
Ya know, if you've only got 15 minutes of fame, that is a pretty cool 15 minutes to have.

 
das [TotalFark] 2008-02-13 08:13:09 PM  
Recoil Therapy: Ya know, if you've only got 15 minutes of fame, that is a pretty cool 15 minutes to have.

Damned straight.

 
mikemoto [TotalFark] 2008-02-13 08:22:59 PM  
Way cool. I never knew about this story before. This is why I love Tfark!

 
madmann [TotalFark] 2008-02-13 09:04:06 PM  
Good on him. Way to step up to the plate.

 
El Freak [TotalFark] 2008-02-13 09:35:59 PM  
Bet he got some serious ass for weeks after that.

 
thesharkman 2008-02-13 09:44:43 PM  
He lived a pretty quiet life after that from what I've read on him. How awesome that had to have been though. So many people would love to do and he go to play.

Waited 13 hours just to get good seats. Wow, no one does that now a days.

What is it with Rock and Roll drummers?

 
barneyfifesbullet 2008-02-13 10:28:27 PM  
Yet another example of how cool The Who were.

Truly another era, too. Who the hell else would do something like letting Some Guy sit in with the band these days? And one of the biggest bands on the planet, too.

 
Saddamsars 2008-02-13 10:39:55 PM  
FTA:

Townshend thanked the crowd for putting up with a three-quarter-strength band

I love Tho Who, and no disrespect to Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey or John Entwistle, but without Kieth Moon, The Who must've been at half-strength. Two-thirds-strenght, at best.

A great rock rock band is when the the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts, and this is true of The Who and any of their members.

 
darling 2008-02-13 10:46:36 PM  
barneyfifesbullet: Who the hell else would do something like letting Some Guy sit in with the band these days?

Neil Finn (used to?) get a drummer and bassist out of the audience to play a song most every concert.

 
Bhags 2008-02-13 10:49:48 PM  
if i remembern correctly, he didn't get any real recompense, just a tour jacket, and the drum sticks. which were stolen before he even left the venue

 
mahavishnunj 2008-02-13 10:50:56 PM  
id heard of this but never saw it, that was way cool.

 
sonofabob 2008-02-13 10:50:59 PM  
barneyfifesbullet:

Babyshambles did it within the last few months also at some British awards show. I'm too lazy to find the article though.

 
theurge14 2008-02-13 11:17:41 PM  
Bhags: if i remembern correctly, he didn't get any real recompense, just a tour jacket, and the drum sticks. which were stolen before he even left the venue

I think he got his gift before the jacket and drum sticks.

 
theurge14 2008-02-13 11:18:31 PM  
sonofabob: barneyfifesbullet:

Babyshambles did it within the last few months also at some British awards show. I'm too lazy to find the article though.


Um, with Babyshambles it could called an open audition. With The Who it's a dream come true.

 
jj325 [TotalFark] 2008-02-13 11:26:08 PM  
I remember hearing this story back in the 70s due to the Iowa connection. Forgot about until today. Thanks for posting.

RIP buddy

 
ComicBookGuy 2008-02-13 11:37:40 PM  
Hmmm...I would have tried to prolong the 15 minutes. Try to become a professional drummer.

 
LarrytheBlueOkie 2008-02-13 11:45:57 PM  
Of all the shows I have been to where the band asks if someone in the crowd could play onstage...

Goodnight amateur drummerman

 
hogans 2008-02-13 11:51:56 PM  
Saddamsars: I love Tho Who, and no disrespect to Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey or John Entwistle, but without Kieth Moon, The Who must've been at half-strength. Two-thirds-strenght, at best.

Try listening to more of their music with a critical ear. Each of them played their part cranked to eleven. Even if you think John Entwistle was the quiet one of the bunch, there are Youtube videos of him on stage with the bass line isolated. He made many lead guitarists look like amateurs.

 
Juniper Jupiter [recently expired TotalFark] 2008-02-14 12:14:47 AM  
das: Recoil Therapy: Ya know, if you've only got 15 minutes of fame, that is a pretty cool 15 minutes to have.

Damned straight.


Thirded....15 minutes well earned...

ComicBookGuy: Hmmm...I would have tried to prolong the 15 minutes. Try to become a professional drummer.

Yeah, but I think he took the high road, and didn't whore himself like so many that came and went ad nauseum, or no matter how hard he would stay away from that if he did become professional, he would always be remembered for the guy who saved the Who that night, not that there's anything wrong with that mind you(pardon the ramble, hope that made sense! :P).

Mr. Halpin, you will be missed. I tip my proverbial hi-hat to you.

 
RockIsDead 2008-02-14 12:41:04 AM  
Sounds like quite literally MORE than 15 minutes.

 
Third_Uncle_Eno 2008-02-14 12:43:03 AM  
It seemed that at the begining of the song, he was rather tentative and reserved... content with just doing a straight beat... but then he [thankfully] got more flash and rolls and fills into his drumming/rhythm/beats. But hell, I woulda been tentative and reserved too! [Not to mention a SH*T FULL of NERVOUSNESS.]

One, in his unique position, would NOT want to be immediately and constantly full of flashyness and trying to do complicated fills and rolls, with the chance of tripping over the [basic] beat for sake of complicated technique/flashiness. That would make one look like an ass. In front of upwards of 10,000 people, and the F***ING WHO [for christ's sake!!] !!!1! eleventy!

 
Third_Uncle_Eno 2008-02-14 12:44:15 AM  
If I were in his place up there, I woulda keeled over like Keith Moon. Not due to drugs, mind you, but due to sheer NERVOUSNESS/SCARED-S***TLESS-ness.

 
MizzouGuy 2008-02-14 09:48:05 AM  
I saw this a month ago on a documentary on HDNet about The Who, but all they showed was Moon being dragged off and Pete apologizing and asking for a drummer, never showing the kid. Amazing there is video. He should have beat the shiat out of the drum set after the gig.

 
nirwana [TotalFark] 2008-02-14 10:50:36 AM  
Jeff Beck played at my college. I was in the front row, drunk of my ass and screaming for him to let me play. He handed me his white Strat and I played for about 20 seconds.

/true story
//where's my Wiki ?

 
Keith Moon 2008-02-14 12:41:15 PM  
I did what?

 
Jerry Garcia 2008-02-14 02:21:47 PM  
El Freak
Bet he got some serious ass for weeks after that.

I'd venture to say months even.

 
MikeLXIII 2008-02-14 02:42:12 PM  
The best part is the reason Moon passed out... he took horse tranquilizers, about 4 times the amount they use to knock out a farking horse! What a guy.

 
jbernie 2008-02-14 07:31:39 PM  
U2 did this in Denver on the Vertigo tour. Some guy was up the front and had a sign about being a guitar player needing work. They pulled him up, gave him one of Edge's acoustic guitars to play and they did "All along the watch tower".

 
FlyingJ 2008-02-15 12:18:28 AM  
jbernie with The Who it was an unexpected crisis...it's self-consciously aped as a recurring U2 gimmick, they probably beat the horse to death on the "Joshua Tree" tour during their cover of "People Get Ready". They were rather amused during their last night in L.A. the guy they hauled up palmed off his demo tape on Bono

 
Glenechocreek 2008-02-15 01:25:13 AM  
Gregg Allman sat in with my band in 1996. He was pretty hammered, but still sang great, and was a real gent. I cut my teeth playing Allman Brothers songs, so I was thrilled to death.

If that wasn't surreal enough, a wedding party came in, and Gregg rode the bride around the block on his motorcycle. We all teased the groom, saying, "Damn, dude, Gregg Allman just stole your bride." A great time was had by all.

 
mahavishnunj 2008-02-16 02:39:45 PM  
Glenechocreek: Gregg Allman sat in with my band in 1996. He was pretty hammered, but still sang great, and was a real gent. I cut my teeth playing Allman Brothers songs, so I was thrilled to death.

If that wasn't surreal enough, a wedding party came in, and Gregg rode the bride around the block on his motorcycle. We all teased the groom, saying, "Damn, dude, Gregg Allman just stole your bride." A great time was had by all.


this thread should be full of this kind of thing.

 
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