“The roadies asked me if there was anywhere we knew they could get battery acid,” said Denise. She knew of a KmartTM and called the store. “Well they were wondering what we need this much battery acid for. So we had to get some authorization. We went and picked up it up and went to Kiel Auditorium. When we got to Kiel, all the people were outside the backstage entrance. We went through and when we got in there, Peter Rudge – who was also Jethro Tull’s tour manager the year before – said, ‘Here comes the acid queens!’ So we got to stay on the stage for Jethro Tullle concert.”
The next morning a photo of Denise and a friend was on the front page of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. She was asked to join the band for their next stop at Indianapolis. “I needed to get to Indianapolis, so I sold my guitar and Fender amp for two-hundred dollars to Art Risavy at Swing City Music in Collinsville. I cashed it in on a plane ticket and went to Indianapolis. That was awesome. We stayed at a small hotel and the rule was that all the doors stayed open so people could roam in and out at their leisure. At Indianapolis, I got to watch them write a song, and I think it was named ‘Tropical Daisy.’ But I don’t think it was ever released. It was Keith and Mick about 4 o’clock in the morning with an old-time tape recorder.”
The Stones at Kiel, Page 74
Ron Stevens, a DJ at KSHE from 1971-77, experienced Tull’s surprise stage entrance from a unique perspective: the stage micro- phone. “In the early 1970s, there was a black concert promoter in St. Louis,” said Ron. “He had a lock on Jethro Tull. He called me up and said, ‘Ronnie, there’s a band I’m thinking about booking.’ He wanted to know if the show would sell. I assured him it would and he called me, ‘I’d like you to emcee the show.’ I agreed. On thenight of the show I was backstage and the audience was filling and there are five guys out on the edge of the stage wearing trench coats. I had never been to a show this guy promoted and I thought they were just keeping people off the stage. "
Through the Years, Page 77
