Randy Meisner: A Retrospective

Jim Messina

Pogo
Beverly Hills High School
January 25th, 1969

Poco (then known as Pogo) performed as part of Beverly Hills High School’s annual “Jazz Night.” Three Dog Night was also on the bill.

Original concert flyer

Page from the 1969 edition of the Beverly Hills High School yearbook, with photo of Richie Furay

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R.F.D. (aka Poco)
Troubadour, West Hollywood, October 24th, 1968

The band that would become known as Poco gave its second performance at the Troubadour on October 24th, 1968 billed as “R.F.D.”

Richie Furay explained the meaning of R.F.D. in his autobiography, Pickin’ Up The Pieces (2006):

“For our first public appearance at the Troubadour, as one of several bands playing a Monday night hootenanny, we called ourselves Pogo. That changed for the next two shows, one at the Troubadour and the other a benefit concert at the University of Southern California….Those nights we performed as R.F.D. The name was probably inspired by Mayberry R.F.D., a television series that had aired its first episode in September; it was a spin-off from The Andy Griffith Show. In that context, R.F.D. meant ‘Rural Free Delivery.’ The letters were also [manager] Dickie’s initials—Richard Franklin Davis—but that didn’t stop some people from thinking it stood for ‘Richie Furay’s Dream.’ In some ways, this last theory was appropriate because the band was the fulfillment of the dream I’d had after the Buffalo Springfield ended.”

The Herald-Examiner review below mentioned three songs the band played, all of which would end up on their debut album, Pickin’ Up The Pieces, released in 1969: “What A Day,” “Just In Case It Happens, Yes, Indeed,” and “Short Changed.”

“The group goes in for the high, rich harmonies that the Springfield loved, except that in the Springfield Furay was usually the highest voice and in R.F.D. the bass player, Randy Meisner, sings above him.” –Michael Etchison, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, October 30, 1968

Clipping courtesy of Jennifer Meisner.

The last paragraph alluded to a “promised” future engagement by R.F.D. at the Troubadour. Indeed, the band did return for the promised stint on November 19th, billed once again as Pogo. This two-week engagement became legendary and put the band on the map. Read more about it here.

Author

Jessica Buxton

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Pogo At The Troubadour, February 4-9, 1969

Pogo played a six-night stand at the Troubadour in West Hollywood beginning February 4th, 1969. The band was billed under their original name, Pogo. This was most likely Randy’s final appearance with the band until the original five members reunited in 1989.

Los Angeles Free Press, February 7, 1969

In Michael Etchison’s review of the opening night in the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, he proclaimed Randy’s performance of Richie Furay’s “Anyway Bye Bye” as the “high point of the set” and noted how the song rose to a “falsetto climax.” This is nearly seven years before Randy was wowing audiences with the falsetto ending to “Take It To The Limit.”

“The high point of the set I saw was bassist Randy Meisner’s singing of ‘Anyway Bye Bye,’ in which he started sounding something like Rusty Draper in ‘Night Life'”‘ and rising to a falsetto climax that sparked cheers from the partisan audience.”

“Anyway Bye Bye” was one of only two songs mentioned in the review. “How Many More” (aka “Hurry Up”) was the other. Both of these songs ended up on Poco’s self-titled second album in 1970, with Richie Furay singing “Anyway Bye Bye.” Randy recorded the song eleven years later on his second solo LP, One More Song. He told BAM magazine in 1980 that he relearned the song from a recording of himself singing it with Poco at the Troubadour in 1969.

Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, February 7, 1969:

Review from the Los Angeles Free Press, February 9th, 1969. Randy was incorrectly referred to as “Randy Messina.”

Pogo photographed on the roof of the Troubadour, circa February 1969:

Author

Jessica Buxton

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