A Celebration of Keith Allison

This last Sunday (April 3, 2022) marked the occasion of a lovely celebration of the life of Keith Allison. His stunningly lengthy list of credits includes: star of Where the Action Is, bassist and songwriter in Paul Revere and the Raiders, guitarist in the (post-Buddy) Crickets, actor in the Bee Gees’ Sgt. Pepper movie, solo opening act for the Rolling Stones (twice), roommate (at Tittenhurst) of Ringo, vocalist on Beach Boys Party and SMiLE, producer of Cher sessions, session musician on Monkees demos and studio tracks, band leader of Dolenz Jones Boyce & Hart, guest artist at some of the wonderful Wild Honey benefits in L.A., guitarist on a recent Billy Bob Thornton session, and much much much much more.

He was also my good friend. For a few years we had been working together on his memoir/autobiography. He passed away after a short illness last fall, and the celebration was scheduled for earlier this year, but had to be postponed due to the infernal pandemic. I wasn’t able to attend the rescheduled date, but I was asked to provide a video message. Of course I was honored to do so; it’s a reading of an edited excerpt from our unfinished book. It’s a little slice that makes the point that Keith was one of the great storytellers. The best I’ve ever had the pleasure to know, in fact. I miss him.

Me and Keith, May 2018 in Sherman Oaks CA

The whole celebration is well worth viewing; a great deal of love and care went into its making. My six-minute bit starts around the 1:35:57 mark.

(Pro Tip: DO NOT turn on YouTube’s “chat replay” feature. Some people are jerks, complaining as if they were attending a paid entertainment event. They should be ashamed.)

More from/about Keith here and here.