Every guitar player loves a good cover, especially if he’s on it.
Pat Travers and Craig Chaquico both have been on the cover of “Guitar Player,” the coveted periodical for decades by six-string players.
On a night at Lake Tahoe when both Travers and Chaquico are playing at different shows in downtown Stateline, there is a book release for “Guitar Player: The Inside Story of the First Two Decades of the Most Successful Guitar Magazine Ever.” The book details the years 1967 through 1989, from the magazine’s inception up to the sale by publisher and editor Jim Crocket. Edited by Crockett and his daughter Dara Crockett, the book is filled with stories from the writers and featured musicians.
The book release celebration will be at the Lake Tahoe Hard Rock Hotel & Casino where Chaquico will perform at 9 p.m. Saturday, March 7 in Vinyl. The Pat Travers Band performs at 7:30 p.m. across the street in Harrah’s Lake Tahoe’s South Shore Room.
Writer Jas Obrecht recalls in the book when he was assigned to interview Travers at a Day on the Green at the Oakland Coliseum. However, Travers was unavailable, leaving Obrecht without a story. To take out his frustration, the reporter stayed backstage and played one-on-one at a basketball hoop set up by promoter Bill Graham.
After the game, Obrecht lamented his misfortune about Travers with his basketball partner.
“Why don’t you interview me?” the man asked.
Obrecht’s new friend with a “decent hook shot” also was skilled with a guitar. It was Eddie Van Halen.
Obrecht later did get to interview Travers, who realized his dream of being on the cover of Guitar Player magazine in January 1980.
“I still have people coming to shows with copies of that issue that they would like me to autograph,” Travers says in the book. “I still get a little puffed up when I see one.”
Chaquico played lead on the hits by Jefferson Starship, most famously on “Jane,” which had an unusually long solo for a song featured on radio. He also dreamed of someday being on the magazine’s cover.
“I would go into music stores, not being able to afford a guitar, but I could almost always afford an issue of ‘Guitar Player’ if my dad was in a good mood, which he usually was,” Chaquico said.
The book is published by Backbeat Books. It will be available at the Lake Tahoe Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and is sold online at www.backbeatbooks.com
