I saw Leslie West with Mountain at HippieFest 2006 .. Leslie West and the band were fabulous. Corky Laing tossed me the first of the dozens of drumsticks that he threw to the crowd. It was a great time.
Leslie West, Mountain Guitarist Who Belted 'Mississippi Queen,' Dead at 75
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/leslie-west-dead-1106777/ (https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/leslie-west-dead-1106777/)
R.I.P. :(
Very sad.
:(
I remember being knocked out when I first heard this Look to the Wind track on Thomas Aquinas' progressive rock show on CFPL in London, Ontario back in July or August 1969:
Look to the Wind - Leslie West (https://youtu.be/zWQhZA5Q3jA)
I immediately went out and bought his newly released Mountain LP for $3.33 at a discount record outlet that had just opened on the edge of the downtown area.
I've seen Mountain with Leslie West and Corky Laing three times in the last twenty years. We still have the drumstick that Corky Laing deftly flipped into The WOMAN's lap at Hippiefest on the Lake Ontario shore where we had front row seats. Laing could fling a drumstick on target at an audience member and pick up another without missing a beat.
8)
I saw him live in 1975. He was great. RIP
Love those early Mountain records. Totally underrated player and underrated band. RIP Leslie West.
Leslie West lost his 85 pounds of excess weight in the late 1980's when he started watching his diet after being diagnosed with type-2 diabetes. In recent years he's looked like this:
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/g434/Balticprince/Leslie_west_2.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds)
A big strapping older fellow!
8)
He was no longer the Great Fatsby, that's for sure.