It was a 1974 Fender Rhodes Mark I “Eighty Eight” stage piano. That much was easy to tell, even from the back of the press room. The low, dull, electric hum from the speaker suitcase the keyboard sat upon hypnotized central PA’s hardened beat writers as they took their seats in front of the stage. Everyone sat transfixed, anxiously anticipating the coming action.
James Franklin strode manfully to the stage from our right. He wore knee high platform boots with a 6-inch lift, underneath the largest bell bottom blue jeans ever made. A deep blue, almost purple, satin shirt with crushed velvet collar - the tips of which extended farther than his shoulders - completed his period costume.