Ron Altbach has died

[Robbie Mac]

This was posted an hour ago on Mike’s Facebook page. Ron was a former member of King Harvest, was the touring keyboard player for the BB during the late 70’s, and co-wrote “Lady Lynda” with Al.

“ Our dear friend Ron Altbach passed away after being in a coma for several days. So many of us who had the good fortune to know him are saddened by the loss of a treasured friend. Ron and myself along with the great Charles Lloyd formed a group called Celebration. Ron also played keyboard with King Harvest of Dancin in the Moonlight and played for a time with The Beach Boys. He was an accomplished pianist of the classical kind. Ron was such a great friend to all who knew him and we all feel a huge loss with his passing. We all give our thoughts and prayers of condolences to his beloved Elka. Ron will be lovingly remembered by all who knew him.”

[mtaber]

Ron was from my area.  He’s from Olcott New York, about 25 miles from me. I never met him though. His dad was a doctor in the area if I remember correctly. King Harvest was his band, he played keyboards. At Olcott Beach, which is on the shore of Lake Ontario, there’s a large rock near the lake that has “Dancing in the Moonlight” painted on it.

The Beach Boys played a concert at a local college, Genesee Community’s College, in May of 1973 (thanks to my brother for remembering when the concert was). I believe they played there largely because it’s fairly close to Olcott, but that’s purely conjecture - in any case, the show was very late in starting, the crowd was getting restless. Finally the band came on stage and Mike explained that the reason they were late was because Mike had gone to Olcott (presumably to visit Ron) and he got lost trying to get from Olcott to the college!

RIP Ron…