You have to remember that these were the days when record companies, even small ones like Celestial, literally had money to burn. Z had set me up with a car and driver in order to shuttle Lucious Cole around with the all-important caveat that he make all three of the Winterland gigs. He didn’t care what else we got ourselves up to, which, in hindsight, he probably should have.
There were a couple of tense moments going through customs with Cole’s bags in which I witnessed his charisma in full effect—let me explain here, I never thought I’d see a man with the personal power to dissuade Federal agents from rifling through his bags without once mentioning a thing about it. He could have told the agents to take their clothes off and do a jig, and they would have done it. It was the craziest thing I ever saw… up to then.
After we left customs, we were as free as anyone has ever been; completely let loose on the City and with an expense account to boot.
“Righto, Karoline, love! Our first stop is go see the president.” I can still see Lucious standing up through the open sunroof chanting, “LBJ! JBJ!”
Little did I know that Lyndon Baines Johnson’s initials also stood for an ill-advised combination of heroin and LSD.
Follow the story:
Kingdoms of the Radio: Serafina’s Gift
Kingdoms of the Radio: Charlie Perigo 1
Kingdoms of the Radio: Zongo Kumalo 1
Kingdoms of the Radio: Karoline Rosenda 1
Kingdoms of the Radio: Zongo Meets The Stick
Kingdoms of the Radio: Ride a Painted Pony
Kingdoms of the Radio: Fadeout (Rock Hound Magazine, 1970)
Kingdoms of the Radio: Tibetan Bells & a Bird from Hell
Kingdoms of the Radio: Enrique Bravocado 1
Kingdoms of the Radio: Zongo Khumalo 2
Román Leão 
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