Mink DeVille: Loeb Student Center, NYC/Eddie & the Hot Rods: Capitol, New Jersey

DOES ANYBODY out there remember John Hammond? He was born the son of a Very Big Man in the record business but it has never done him much good. He has wandered from gig to gig, from label to label, and – because he has never played anything but the blues – Hammond never became a Star, a Seminal Influence, or even a Prophetic Figure in the history of rock and roll. Yet I saw him perform several times between 1968 and 1971, when he wore a Les Paul, a purple shirt and leather pants, and played tough, sexy music that was as close to great rock and roll as John Hammond's blues ever came. Today he's back in the college coffeehouses where he began, playing solo and acoustic, but for a few short years John Hammond was a rock and roll contender.