So...was Don's memory ON here?
Originally posted by Signed RW
[br]I may have posted on this topic before, but while attending college at Cal
Poly, San Luis Obispo, in 1972, both my girlfriend and myself were on the
air at the campus station, KCPR. She worked under the air-name Margaret
Meatball, and regularly received fan mail from Don Conka, who was indeed
at the California Mens Colony in SLO. He dug her show because he could
tell by her voice that she was hot (she was) and because she always played
plenty of Love. As Program Director and boyfriend, I'll take a bit of the
credit for that. In his letters, he explained in detail the meaning and
origin of numerous early Love songs. What stands out, still to me, was his
explanation of the fact-based lines, "Owe it to Johnny, owe it to Conka, one
of them told me that he was holding." And also "He had a shoebox behind his icebox." All true, according to Don, back in '72. Here's the coolest
part of the story; when I spoke to him at the Hollywood House of Blues show,
where he'd drummed on the "Smokestack Lightning" encore, he absolutely,
definitely remembered writing those letters. He said, "Yeah, sure. She had a funny radio name, right? Man, that was a long time ago!" Over thirty years, actually. A cool guy, and a good, solid drummer...