Photo of the Day: Doobie Brothers Live

This morning, on my way to work at Rockefeller Center, I headed toward the Fox News Building more out of idle curiosity than anything else. I heard some music coming from that direction, and thought I’d see what it was all about.

Had I known earlier that it was the Doobie Brothers, appearing on Fox and Friends as part of its All-American Summer Concert Series, I would have made an effort to get there much sooner. I was even able to get relatively close to the stage—something that was impossible when, several years ago, I watched a Bruce Springsteen Friday morning appearance with the E Street Band, on the Today Show.

The group sounded sharp on “China Grove,” one of my favorite tunes of theirs. I stayed around for another song, taking a few more pictures until, much to my deep regret, I headed across the street to the pile of work awaiting me at my office.

Walking away, I heard a pair of women talking about the show. I wasn’t following the conversation closely, but I did pick up phrases such as “The Seventies,” “long hair,” and “moustaches,” followed by giggles. As you can tell from the accompanying image of band members John Cowan, Patrick Simmons and Tom Johnston, those images persist, like their evergreen hit “Long Train Running.”

Two weeks from today, I intend to catch in concert in upstate New York Michael McDonald, who took the Doobies in a somewhat different direction in the late Seventies and early Eighties before going solo. It will be an interesting contrast with the group members who preceded him, then returned.