Johnny Rivers Riverside Resort Laughlin, Nevada (Mid 1980s) Johnny Rivers was the first artist I ever got in trouble over because of what I said in a concert review. I didn't criticize his playing. Rivers' delivery of "Memphis" gave me chills, he does the definitive version of "Secret Agent Man" and had an assortment of songs that captured a lot of the essence of 60s rock. What I nailed him for was that between songs, it was kind of like the audience wasn't there. No snappy stage banter, barely introductions to songs and too much time spent (apparently) trying to decide what the next song was going to be. The casino told me that if I couldn't say something nice, don't say anything at all. Up to that point, I had been pretty generous with praise, always trying to find something positive to say about acts in which I had no personal interest and some which were really kind of lame. I liked Johnny River, before and after I saw him play. He just needed to tighten up his show a little. He kept disconnecting from the audience. In retaliation, I started running non-reviews. A photo and a short (they were here, now they're gone) factual caption to go with it. This was actually the beginning of a period of being denied the right to print the truth in a newspaper, not only about concerts, but FBI reports and financial information from AP wires services that applied to local businesses which our corporate offices owned stock in. This led to a brief period of personal outrage over being a small burgeoning area's vehicle of the public record and omitting truth because it would offend corporate or an advertiser. In the end, I just went to work for the casinos. They hired me do sound, which is what I wanted to do in the first place. I stopped writing reviews. We all liked it better that way, at least for a while. It all started with the Johnny Rivers review, because I had the audacity to say it could have been better. But "Memphis" still gave me the chills.