Another (Steve) Miller Moment...

My first two years in college (1971-1973) were in Spokane, which is just a few miles west of the Idaho border. Since the drinking age in the Potato State is only 18 (it's 21 in Washington), weekends would find young people traveling east to bars that dotted the state line. My favorite watering hole was the El Patio, a run-down (but cheap) venue that had one endearing feature--a long-term run by the Steve Miller Band.

Steve Miller moved to the burgeoning San Francisco scene in the mid-1960s and formed the Steve Miller Band. Miller and James Cook, bassist Lonnie Turner and drummer Tim Davis backed Chuck Berry at a 1967 gig at the Fillmore West that was released as a live album. Guitarist Boz Scaggs joined the band soon after, and the group performed at the Monterey Pop Festival in June.

Hits during this period and into the early 1970s included "Baby's Calling Me Home", "Key To The Highway", "Livin' In The USA", "Space Cowboy", and the track "My Dark Hour" which featured Paul McCartney (aka Paul Ramon) on bass. Steve was originally from the Ketchum, Idaho area and seems to have returned here to recuperate following an automobile crash.

The band hit the jackpot in 1973 with The Joker--their sound was slick and bouncy, and the title track became a number one single; the album was certified platinum (more than one million sales). Three years later, the Steve Miller Band returned with the album Fly Like An Eagle, which featured the hits: "Take The Money and Run", "Fly Like an Eagle" and "Rock 'N Me". Needless to say, they no longer played the El Patio.

Little did I know that my later life would take me "from Phoenix, Arizona/All the way to Tacoma" (like the song), or that I would look back on my nights in the crowd on the state line with nostalgia...