Jan. 30, 1971: Gold
The guys in this hugely successful acoustic duo, Gold, went on to have even bigger brushes with the big time, but not together. See the long note at the end of this article.
Jan. 30, 1971
Gold Capitalizing on ‘Whole Sound’
Recording Four Original Songs
At 5:30 p.m. last Saturday, three hours before Gold was
supposed to play, the kid calls Bob Bakert’s house in
“We’re not used to this,” Bob explains. “Usually we’re
playing colleges and they supply the PA and the extra mikes. It’s part of the
contract.”
But a friend got them into this. His brother wanted them to
play and it turns out to be a teenage dance in a basement recreation room in
the Jewish Community Center on
It’s definitely not in the master plan. What Gold is into now
is larger crowds, college audiences, Bob tells you. In six months they should
have a record out. No PA? Isn’t that something this group shouldn’t have to
worry about?
* * *
THERE’S ALWAYS
the chance that things are too good to be true for Bob and partner Dave
Nehrboss. What other group would get a television shot in
“For two guys who didn’t know beans,” Bob says, “it was
really something. After that, the big time. First rights of refusal. Exclusive
contract for TV and records. And every once in a while the rep comes down and
buys us dinner.
“That was an instant ego trip. So we thought, oh God – stars!
But nothing much happened after that.
* * *
“THEN WE
played the Eric Andersen concert last October at
“He came over to David’s house, we sang our songs for him and
he raved, thought everything was really good. He was going to take us to
“After that, we decided not to get too excited about
recording studios. You know, there’s a lotta guys who’ll say they’re gonna make
you a star.
“But we don’t want to do the smash single and never be heard
again. We feel we have a whole sound, like Crosby, Stills & Nash.”
* * *
UNTIL THE
time came for bigger crowds and more money, they spent nearly six months
building their local reputation at Jerry Raven’s venerable Limelight Gallery.
Now they’re recording four original songs at Act-One Sound
Studios and will appear tonight at the UB coffeehouse, next Saturday at
“I don’t know about our popularity,” Bob cautions. “We always
seem to get a good crowd, but to what point are people talking about us?
“We always maintain a thing with an audience. We’re very
loose, generally. And with David and I, it isn’t the whole night. It’s song
after song. Every song is a big crucial point.”
* * *
THIS TIME
the first crucial point passes without a word being sung. Someone puts a pretty
heavy call through to Bill Levy of Seneca Sound and by 8:30 Gold has two mikes
(they’d prefer two more for the guitars) and a big Altec Lansing speaker.
When Bob and Dave and bass player Gary (Ogre) James take the
stage, things still don’t look too good. About 10 friends are at tables on one
end of the room. And about 15 teenagers are coming and going from tables at the
other end. Gold is alone in the middle.
* * *
THE SECOND
crucial point comes in the first verse of “You With Me,” an original. So this
is what gave
First, there’s Dave’s voice. High, strong and clear, he can
hit G above high C without a flinch or a falsetto. Bob’s singing is not as
unique (his range is lower), but it’s still excellent. The harmonies are
virtually flawless.
Dave handles rhythm guitar while Bob plays lead, throwing in
Steve Stills and Neil Young riffs, weak only when his improvisations run out,
which isn’t often. Ogre (“I’ve been 6 feet since I was in third grade”) gently
supports it all.
* * *
ABOUT 75
percent of Gold's material is original, Bob says. The rest is CSN&Y,
Beatles, James Taylor. But they’d rather do their own songs.
“‘Suite: Judy Blue-Eyes’ isn’t Bob Bakert and Dave Nehrboss,”
Bob remarks. “It’s Steve Stills and his friends.
“Most of our stuff is sad. It’s about girls, and to girls. A
lot of it is search-your-head stuff. It’s not commercial by the fact that it
wasn't written to please people, but it DOES please people.”
* * *
COULD BE
because the songs are catchy in the CSN&Y vein. And the words are simple,
striking poetry that makes for popular success.
Like where Dave writes: “I put birds on my feet and walked
across the water.” Or the “Mystery Girl” – “Have you seen her smile? Makes you
want to cry. Have you touched her life? Makes you want to die.”
Or this verse of “Worry No Longer”:
“Worry no longer, for I have seen/ The end of my life from a
time machine./ Pushing on flowers and biting the rain./ Counting the hours and
going insane.”
* * *
THE THIRD
crucial point is the first 30 minutes. The group, figuring it would be a goof-around
night, hasn’t decided what they’d do. And the kids, helplessly hoping for some
action, are too restless to get into the music.
“Well, here we are down at the center,” Bob says impatiently.
“OK, what’s up, kids? What do you wanna hear?”
Luckily someone says Neil Young. “Southern Man” makes things
better. So much better that later in the set Bob apologizes for what went down
earlier.
“We’re used to playing in front of a crowd,” Bob says at the
break. “When there’s nobody in front of you, it’s hard to get excited. We’re
used to a big room, a lot of people.
* * *
FOURTH
crucial point is when Bob starts the second set by asking everybody to come up
closer. They do. The lights go down and it feels like a coffeehouse now, not a
rec room.
It must get to the group, too. Halfway through the set, they
break into a bunch of Neil Young, going into each song as far as they remember.
“We haven’t done some of this stuff in six months,” Bob confesses.
And lastly their own “Be My Reason Why” – “Please make me happy/ At least will you try/ I’ve been lonely too long/ Be my reason why/ Be my reason why/ Be my reason why.”
The box/sidebar:
A Simple Name
Pertinent and impertinent
information about Gold:
Bob Bakert, 20, lead guitar and vocals,
Dave Nehrboss, 19, rhythm guitar and vocals,
Before last May, Dave was performing solo, working days at a
bakery, and Bob was sitting around the floor of UB’s Norton Union, playing
guitar.
They met when Dave sang at a UB art festival and asked Bob to
back him up. They wound up playing together for three hours and decided to make
it a partnership.
Talkative Bob and quiet, introspective Dave have no hassles, Bob
notes. “We can sit around together five days a week.”
* * *
GARY (OGRE) JAMES came along in November, when Bob and Dave figured they could use some
depth in their sound. Ogre, 19, is also from
“I thought of the name long before we had the group,” Bob says. “At the time I was doing a thing of going back into the West. Gold was something of value during Western times. It’s our kind of name, short and simple.”
So what became of Gold?
Bob Bakert, in the bio on his website, bobbakert.com, concedes
that his “ego got in the way” and recounts how he left partner Dave Nehrboss in
late 1971 and moved to Atlanta in 1974, where he played commercial gigs for
many years, wrote songs of his own and recorded two albums. Since rediscovering
acoustic music, he has become a prominent figure in
Dave Nehrboss, according to a bio accompanying a Gold
CD on walmart.com, picked up a new partner, Bobby Frauenheim, and played
showcase clubs in
A gig in Greenwich Village in 1973, opening for
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, got them a mention from John Rockwell in the New York
Times, who noted, “The bill opened with Gold, a Brewer-and-Shipleyesque duo
from
Gold wound up landing a five-year contract with
A&M Records and recorded their first album at the Hit Factory. Then Bobby
became ill and the album sat on the shelf until it was remastered and released after
Bobby’s passing in 2008.
The bio notes that Dave went on to perform and record “in
the tradition of Gold” with his wife Sherry Hackett in a group called Sky. Sky
played locally for many years and reunited in 2019 for a show at the
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