97.09.18.

Todd Smallwood, Matt Andes & Rachel Andes performs at benefit concert.

The following was posted by Debbie Pollard on the Spirit mailinglist: "This Friday, September 19, Todd Smallwood and Company will be performing at a benefit concert for The Hamilton High School Gospel Choir Scholarship Fund at UCLA'S Pauley Pavillion at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $5.00 at the box office. For info. call 310-ucl-awin or 310-335-2520. In conjunction with a womens volleyball game, the performers are: Jackson Browne, Todd Smallwood and Company, and The Hamilton High School Gospel Choir. Jackson has been very involved with this inner city choir and Todd produced the choir in Under Seige 2. Todd tells me "we're hoping to bridge the gap between the choir with some serious rock n' roll." Sometimes called Little Brother, Todd Smallwood and Company are: Todd, Matt Andes, his daughter Rachel Andes, bassist Phillip Chen, Jackson's keyboardist Jeff Young, & Marty Ferra, Glen Fry's drummer. In her 1st live performance Rachel will sing Desert Rain, co-written by her dad & Todd. Desert Rain was incorrectly posted as co-written by Mark Andes, a common mistake with the 2 brothers. I originally assumed the band was called Little Brother because both Matt & Mark were in the band at the time, but "little brother" is Gregg Allman's nickname for Todd. Jimi Hendrix used to call Randy "little brother" also! Todd told me "Matt & I are both serious students of Randys style. In fact, my top 2 influences are Randy & Jimi. Randy taught us both so much, & he directly taught Matt his style." Randy showed Matt some of his trademark secrets when he gave Matt a Silvertone guitar like his. I told Matt "you are so lucky!" He solemnly responded "I know it Deb, he taught me guitar & alot more." They have been close for many, many years. Matt & Todd wrote the achingly beautiful, heartfelt INTO THE BLUE (for Randy), which they performed with Bruce Gary (a longtime friend of Randys) for the 1st time at his memorial on January 18, 1997. You can read the lyrics at Spirit's official website: http://kspace.com/spirit Matt, Todd, Bruce, & Rachel are all on Spirit's latest release CALIFORNIA BLUES which is available directly from Spirit at: P.O. Box 655, Ojai, CA 93024"