"I tell you, my lad, you're sitting in a veritable mecca of music history," the legendary
Sir Elton John tells
Mercury/
Republic breakout
Stephen Sanchez on the occasion of the young artist's second sold-out show at L.A.'s storied
Troubadour. "Why, it was from this very spot that
John Lennon was once tossed out for heckling the
Smothers Brothers." Meanwhile,
UMG boss
Sir Lucian Grainge anticipated being called onstage to play some glockenspiel. We kid, of course.
During his set, Sanchez (whose "Until I Found You" f/
Em Beihold sits in the Top 25 on
Spotify's global chart) paid tribute to Sir Elton, who's been a stalwart supporter of his career as well as a huge influence, by performing "Benny and the Jets." It was in 1970, you'll recall, that a fledgling Elton knocked the socks off the U.S. music world with his Troubadour bow. In a related story, a
HITS staffer once attempted to install a pipeline to pump Slivovitz directly from
Dan Tana's to the upstairs bar.
Photo: Conor Petersen
