I got to know Dash Crofts and Jimmy Seals when they were at the height of their careers. They were both such genuine, down-to-earth people and willing to help aspiring musicians take their best shot. When I first started playing, I was at a conference in St Louis. Several people started playing an impromptu jam in an open foyer above the interest, it was after all the early 70s. Dash and Jimmy were there (and so were about 30 other, including some of the original Godspell band. It's a long time ago, but some of those guys had done session work with some of the top bands of the late 60s/early 70s. One of the bands that came out of that group of friends was Toto, after England Dan and John Ford Coley collapsed. I don't remember and didn't know everyone. Even if I did, as Crosby said at Woodstock, I was scared sh*tless.
So, eventually, Jimmy asks what I'd like to play. I'd only been playing for a few months and I froze with stage fright. I only found my tongue when Dash caught my eyes and said not to worry because no one would hear me with so many playing anyway. So, I chose their hit, Summer Breeze. As I started, Jimmy said, "Those aren't the right chords,...oh, doesn't matter. Let's all watch and we'll play it your way." And they all played along. I gigged for 5 or 6 years and even got invited to Hollywood as a potential songwriter. I could see people on street corners who almost certainly played guitar better with their toes than I with my hands. When I gave up that dream, I left with the precious gift of not taking myself too seriously. I think I probably became finished business school and became a professor years later because their kindness in that moment cured me of stage fright.
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