Goldrush 1970

In April 1970, following a month-long tour of Europe with Rick Nelson & the Stone Canyon Band, Randy Meisner gave notice that he was quitting the band and returning to Scottsbluff, Nebraska. He had grown weary of the music business and of being just a backup musician. He wasn’t making much money and his wife was eight months pregnant. So, he made a decision to ditch the L.A. music scene, return to Nebraska and get a “real” job. But he wouldn’t give up music completely and his return was not without drama.

Randy Gets Arrested

At 11:00pm on April 8th, 1970, police knocked on the door of the home of Randy’s in-laws, Robert and Marjorie Barton. Randy and his wife, Jennifer, had been living in the basement of their home since their marriage in 1963. The Scottsbluff sheriff’s department had a warrant from Dallas, Texas for the arrest of Randall Herman Meisner for the theft of personal property.

Jennifer recalled the arrest:

“He had just gotten to town from touring with Rick and barely in the house when we were surrounded by officers with guns. I was pregnant with the twins, who were due in early May. Dana was 6 or 7. I went ballistic on them. My parents were stunned.” ¹

The matter was an unfortunate case of I.D. theft. Randy’s wallet had been stolen in Los Angeles and his identification was used to pawn stolen goods in Dallas. Although the case against Randy was quickly dropped, the trauma of the incident lingered.

On May 1st, 1970, Jennifer, under the name “Mrs. R.M.,” wrote the following in a “Letter To The Editor” of the Scottsbluff Star-Herald:

“It has been a frightening thing to Randy and his family to be placed in this type of jeopardy and to be subjected to this kind and type of law enforcement. A traumatic experience such as this is not easily forgotten by a young man, his wife and family. It has caused extreme mental anguish as well as financial sacrifice, all of which we feel is unwarranted.” ²

Brighter days were ahead, however, when Randy became a father for the second time.

On May 14th, 1970, Jennifer gave birth to boy/girl twins at West Nebraska General Hospital in Scottsbluff. The couple did not know they were having twins until the day of the birth. They were named Heather Leigh and Eric Shane, the latter was named after Rick Nelson, whose real name was Eric. Randy and Jennifer also had a six-year-old son, Dana Scott, who was born in November 1963.

With extra mouths to feed, Randy set forth looking for a job. At 24, he had been a working musician since he was 15. But he was about to embark on a brand-new career path.

The Frank Implement, Co.

The Frank Implement Company was owned by the family of Randy’s high school friend, Roger Frank. Roger knew Randy was looking for a job, so when a position opened in their parts department, he thought Randy would be a good fit since he had grown up on a farm and knew the equipment. So, Randy accepted the position. “I’d never worked a job in my life. It was a real switch,” he said. ³

There was also a lot to learn:

Randy: “I was a parts man…So, the guys would come in in the middle of summer and want that part immediately and if you’re a little slow…But after three or four months, you start remembering things. So they would come in and I wouldn’t even have to look in the book.” ⁴

_{Frank Implement Co. in the early 1970s:}

Despite his new job, Randy didn’t abandon music entirely…

Hiram Scott College

Hiram Scott College was a liberal arts college that opened in Scottsbluff in 1965. In order to make the college more diverse, they actively recruited students from all over the country by posting ads in newspapers in almost every state. Randy’s wife Jennifer took a job as a secretary at the college in 1966 to help with Randy’s living expenses after his move to California.

_{Jennifer (center) at Hiram Scott College}

While working at the college, Jennifer met Stephen Love, a student from Pittsburgh, PA. Love was a musician, who had recently taken a job as an entertainer at The Woodshed, a local restaurant and lounge that had recently opened in Scottsbluff. Jennifer told him about her husband Randy, who was a member of Rick Nelson’s band. She promised to introduce them when he returned from California.

_{Stephen Love at The Woodshed, 1969}

Goldrush

Love recalled his first meeting with Randy: “I went over to his house one day when he was back from Hollywood.. He answered the door and I said ‘Randy….We should get a band together.. I hear you sing really good and so do I. He invited me in and we formed Goldrush.'”⁵

Randy and Stephen recruited three other local musicians to join their new band: Dan Rossi, Bill Schulz, and Mark Jarosz, who were all students at Hiram Scott.⁶

Goldrush practiced at The Woodshed and played several gigs there.

_{Randy and Stephen Love at the Woodshed.
Photo source: Stephen Love.}

Ad for The Woodshed (the band playing is not Goldrush):

Goldrush also performed at other area venues, some of which were well-known to Randy from his days with his first band, The Dynamics. One such venue was the Scottsbluff Armory. In this ad from August 1970, Goldrush appeared on the same bill with Randy’s former band, who were then calling themselves The Dynamics Ltd.:

Goldrush’s repertoire included mostly covers, but did have a couple of original songs.

Steve Love described their setlist:

“It could have been anything from ‘Gloria’ to ‘Dear Mr. Fantasy,’ which Randy sang lead on. Randy liked Dave Mason songs from Traffic and I did lots R&B, Temptations, Four Tops, Smokey Robinson…I also did ‘Down by the River’ by Neil Young.”⁷

Below: Goldrush at the Woodshed. All photos courtesy of Janice Mooney, former girlfriend of Bill Schulz. Used with permission.

_{L-R: Bill Schulz, Randy, Dan Rossi, Stephen Love}

Meanwhile, Randy kept his regular job at Frank Implement, which was becoming increasingly difficult:

“The band would play until three in the morning and I would have to get up and be at work at eight. I started getting into work later and later.” ⁸

_{Randy at a Haun family reunion at Pioneer Park in Scottsbluff, August 1970.
Photo by Jennifer Meisner.}

In the Fall of 1970, Rick Nelson began calling the establishment asking Randy to return to California & rejoin the Stone Canyon Band. He wanted Randy to play bass on a song he was recording (“Life”), as well as fill in at a gig in San Francisco.⁹ It didn’t take much convincing. Randy had already been itching to return to the West Coast. As Randy put it, he finally had to ask himself: “What am I doing playing rock and roll in Scottsbluff, Nebraska?”¹⁰

One former Hiram Scott student remembered seeing Randy shortly before he left town where he made a somewhat prophetic statement:

“We were all sitting around in someone’s room in Skinner Hall when Randy Meisner announced that he and Bill (Shulz) were leaving to ‘go to California and be famous.'” ¹¹

Randy gave notice at the Frank Implement Company and returned to Los Angeles around the first week of December 1970. The members of Goldrush eventually joined him. His plan was not to abandon his new band, but to try to keep it going while he helped out Rick.

Once in L.A., Goldrush recorded some songs at a studio in Hollywood. They also did some recording at a house in Sherman Oaks, where members of the Stone Canyon Band lived.

_{Goldrush at a Hollywood studio, 1971.
L-R Mark Jarosz, Randy, Bill Schulz, Steve Love, Dan Rossi
Photo by Jennifer Meisner.}

In June 1971, Rick Nelson’s producer John Boylan asked Randy to fill in for Linda Ronstadt’s bassist at a gig in Los Altos, CA. It was a four-night stint at a venue called Chuck’s Cellar. When Randy arrived for rehearsals, he met Linda’s other musicians: guitarist Glenn Frey and drummer Don Henley.

Goldrush drummer, Dan Rossi, recalled that he filled in for Henley at some point during the four-night stint at Chuck’s Cellar. He also remembered that both Randy and Glenn Frey commented to him about the other’s singing:

“[Randy] helped me as a drummer, I will always be grateful. We took our band to LA where he and I filled in for Henley and his bassist who had a conflicting gig. It was on that weekend gig in Palo Alto that Glen and Randy heard each other sing and independently each said to me, ‘That guy can really sing good!’ The rest, as they say, is history. And, OMG what history!!” –Dan Rossi, 2023

Randy also arranged for Goldrush guitarist Bill Schulz to audition with Ronstadt. Although he didn’t get the job, Schulz remembered Linda as “very sweet and kind.” ¹²

When Randy, Glenn and Don decided to form their own band, later to be called the Eagles, Randy didn’t want to leave Rick Nelson without a replacement. So he suggested Stephen Love, whom Randy felt was “very talented and had a great high voice.” ¹³ Rick agreed and Stephen joined the Stone Canyon Band as their new bassist.

Although Goldrush didn’t make it, the decision to bring the band to California would be life-changing for those involved. In particular, Randy, who would reach superstardom with the Eagles, and Stephen Love, who went on to play with Rick Nelson & The Stone Canyon Band for three years and appeared on their hit song, “Garden Party.” He also played with Roger McGuinn and New Riders Of The Purple Sage.

Randy, it seemed, had come full circle. Years later, he looked back on his decision to return to Nebraska and change careers as a watershed moment: “That was like a turning point for me. Just realizing what I really wanted to do,” he said.¹⁴ “It’s frustrating to not be in music when it’s in your blood. You need to be creating and doing what you should be doing.” ¹⁵

Notes

Many thanks to Janice Mooney, former girlfriend of Goldrush guitarist Bill Schulz, for her photos and remembrances. Sadly, Bill passed away in February 2024 in Malvern, PA. According to Janice, Bill spent his life devoted to music, giving guitar lessons and playing in a local band. “He was a very sweet and humble guy.” ¹⁶

_{Bill Schulz with Goldrush, 1970}

1. Correspondence with Jennifer Meisner ↩︎
2. Jennifer Meisner, Letter to The Editor, Scottsbluff Star-Herald, May 1, 1970. The Scottsbluff sheriff, Jim Miller, also wrote a response to Jennifer. Read it here. ↩︎
3. Interview with the Scottsbluff Star-Herald, August 17, 1975 ↩︎
4. Interview with Richard Randall, 1995 ↩︎
5. Public Facebook comment, 2017 ↩︎
6. Goldrush was not the first band Randy was in to recruit musicians who were attending Hiram Scott College. In early 1966, while Randy was still with The Dynamics, they recruited an African-American sax player from Hiram Scott named Marvin Fowler. Former Dynamics keyboardist, Steve Cassells, recalled that Fowler, who was originally from Oakland, CA, “played sax, and was incredible. He could play keyboards better than me – very Motown in style. And such a nice guy. Only with us for a semester or two.” (Correspondence with Steve Cassells, August 2023) ↩︎
7. Public Facebook comment ↩︎
8. Interview with Richard Randall, 1995 ↩︎
9. The San Francisco gig with Rick Nelson was most likely at Chuck’s Cellar in Palo Alto on December 11-13, 1970. This is not the same Chuck’s Cellar engagement where Randy met Don Henley and Glenn Frey. That meeting occurred seven months later at a gig with Linda Ronstadt. ↩︎
10. “The Eagles” by Barbara Charone, Hit Parader, January 1975 ↩︎
11. Private comment, Hiram Scott College Facebook group ↩︎
12. Correspondence with Janice Mooney ↩︎
13. Interview with Richard Randall, 1995 ↩︎
14. BBC Radio 1 interview, 1977 ↩︎
15. Interview with the Scottsbluff Star-Herald, February 24, 1991 ↩︎
16. Correspondence with Janice Mooney ↩︎