Draft:The Rickshaws

The Rickshaws were a short-lived rock band based out of Cle-Elum, Washington back in 1978, 1979. Their only claim to fame was being pulled up on stage by then Seattle Coliseum manager Adam Corbitt to take the stage for local band Harbour, that had simply not showed up. They played an impromptu set of five songs, to include covers of Listen to the Music, Dirty Deeds (Done Dirt Cheap), and Freebird. Lead singer and keyboards, Rick Shaw, had a clear, steady and powerful tenor. The rest of the band were serviceable musicians, but the drummer had a tendency to improvise riffs and solos with no warning and worse timing, detracting from the stellar vocals. Eddie Money, the opener for Van Halen, who was supposed to follow, had cancelled the date due to illness so legendary rockers Pantera followed The Rickshaws. When Van Halen finally took the stage at just past 10:30 PM, lead singer David Lee Roth was so drunk he could not sing or even speak coherently, the date was cancelled and rescheduled for later in the tour. Only one other mention of The Rickshaws can be found, they played the Senior Prom in a small k-12 school in the central Washington town Easton, that same year.