FEATURE
My Time with Tom
As the fifth anniversary of Tom Petty’s death approaches, a former pro ski racer recalls his adventures with the legendary singer
11 Courtesy Dan Mooney
Back in the day, author Dan Mooney, left, poses with KATT-FM Program Director Mike Bailey, the man himself — Tom Petty — and two unidentified men.
Breakdown: Dedicated to the memory of Tom Petty
T
he roots of this story go back long before I met Tom Petty or even knew who he was. Those roots are the path we choose in life. In the years 1973-1978 I was a professional ski racer on Bob Beattie’s World Pro Ski Tour, along with several good friends who had left the U.S. Ski Team to race pro, including Ken Corrock and Terry and Tyler Palmer. We were good ski racers, young and with few social skills. God Bless Bob Beattie. He took us under his big wings and mentored us on how to act like professional athletes: Don’t be rude or arrogant, be polite, tip big in restaurants and people will be grateful and look at you as a professional. Every Friday before a race we had a racer meeting to go over any problems. Once those issues were resolved, Beattie gave us a pep talk which always emphasized that every Friday night there was a cocktail party for sponsors and guests. It was important that racers appeared at these parties to meet sponsors face to face, so we could promote ourselves and the tour to the sponsors. We met too many interesting people to list, but one year during the off season while living in Squaw Valley, California, I met a group of guys in the business of promoting bands. They included Johnny Barbis and his brother Dino, Gary Davis and Burt Stein. In time, they also became good friends with my ski buddies. They came to some of our ski races and gave us tickets and
sometimes backstage passes to concerts. It was really cool! In the spring of 1976, after the ski season had ended, Kenny Corrock and I were driving from Sun Valley, Idaho, to San Francisco to spend some time with Johnny Barbis. Somewhere between Elko and Winnemucca, Nevada, on Interstate 80, smoking a big, fat joint— because that’s what you do driving through Nevada, I was watching the scenery pass by and daydreaming when I said to Kenny, “You know, this July 4th is our country’s bicentennial birthday. Two-hundred years! That’s a pretty big deal. I bet there is going to be a lot of cool stuff going on to commemorate the bicentennial. We should do something, too.” “Ya,” Corrock said, “that is a big deal. We should do something big. What do you think we should do?” I replied, “I don’t know. It’s summer, July 4th, maybe some kind of party.” “Something outside?” he said. “Yeah, that sounds good. Maybe a big BBQ with a band?” I said, “An outdoor concert! We know all these record people guys. We should use them to get a band.” So, an idea was born. As we drove through Nevada and into California, we put together a plan to put on a July 4th concert in Sun Valley. Neither Corrock nor I had ever put on a concert before. By the time we reached San Francisco we had decided Commander Cody would be the perfect headliner.
We told promoter Johnny Barbis of our plan and asked him if he knew Commander Cody and could he ‘hook us up’ with him. He said, “Yeah, I can call him for you.” That was when we learned his real name was George Frayne and that he lived in Stinson Beach. We went to his house that afternoon and put the deal together. My friendship with Barbis strengthened and we discussed the possibilities of me finding a job doing promotion for a record company when I retired from ski racing. Corrock and I wound up doing four concerts in Idaho. Life as a promoter In February 1978 I retired from ski racing. By that time Barbis and a group of his associates were running ABC Records. I called him and asked if there were any opportunities with ABC. He told me to call Gary Davis IMMEDIATELY. I called Gary, nicknamed “Big Red” because he was 6’4" and had red hair, who asked where I was. I told him I was in Colorado. He asked if I could catch a plane and be in his office by noon the next day, which I did. We knew each other, so there was no idle chit-chat. “How do you feel about retiring from ski racing?” he asked. “It’s tough,” I replied. “Ski racing has been my life, but I always knew this day would come. I’m OK with it and ready to move on.” Red asked, “You want to do promotion or sales? Wait, I’ll answer that for you. You want to do promotion.” (Cont. on page 13)
VOLUME 26 ISSUE 30 / JULY 28, 2022 / THE SOURCE WEEKLY
By Dan Mooney
