Ritchie Havens

So sorry that the world has lost Ritchie Havens. He was an icon of the music festivals of the 1960s (where I saw him quite a few times), and if you've seen the movie "Woodstock" you must have been moved by his "Freedom." He was sooo wonderful. He wrote many songs, but was also a master of the cover song, he would make a song his own. We both got to see him as recently as 2003, during SXSW he played an official showcase at the Cedar Street Courtyard where we watched him from a few feet away on a warm night. This is probably my favorite listen from Ritchie Havens, "Follow."



Follow
Words by Jerry Merrick

Let the river rock you like a cradle
Climb to the treetops, child, if you’re able
Let your hands tie a knot across the table.
Come and touch the things you cannot feel.
And close your fingertips and fly where I can’t hold you
Let the sun-rain fall and let the dewy clouds enfold you
And maybe you can sing to me the words I just told you,
If all the things you feel ain’t what they seem.
And don’t mind me 'cos I ain't nothin' but a dream.

The mocking bird sings each different song
Each song has wings - they won’t stay long.
Do those who hear think he's doing wrong?
While the church bell tolls its one-note song
And the school bell is tinkling to the throng.
Come here where your ears cannot hear.
And close your eyes, child, and listen to what I’ll tell you
Follow in the darkest night the sounds that may impel you
And the song that I am singing may disturb or serve to quell you
If all the sounds you hear ain’t what they seem,
Then don’t mind me ‘cos I ain’t nothin’ but a dream.

The rising smell of fresh-cut grass,
Smothered cities choke and yell with fuming gas;
I hold some grapes up to the sun
And their flavour breaks upon my tongue.
With eager tongues we taste our strife
And fill our lungs with seas of life.
Come taste and smell the waters of our time.
And close your lips, child, so softly I might kiss you,
Let your flower perfume out and let the winds caress you.
As I walk on through the garden, I am hoping I don’t miss you
If all the things you taste ain’t what they seem,
Then don’t mind me ‘cos I ain’t nothin’ but a dream.

The sun and moon both are right,
And we’ll see them soon through days of night
But now silver leaves on mirrors bring delight.
And the colours of your eyes are fiery bright,
While darkness blinds the skies with all its light.
Come see where your eyes cannot see.
And close your eyes, child, and look at what I’ll show you;
Let your mind go reeling out and let the breezes blow you,
Then maybe, when we meet, suddenly I will know you.
If all the things you see ain't what they seem,
Then don’t mind me ‘cos I ain’t nothin’ but a dream .
And you can follow; And you can follow; follow…

RIP Gary Moore

58 years old. Don't yet know the cause of death.

RIP Charlie Louvin

I've loved these guys all my life, they were my favorite band as a kid. My parents both loved music of the country variety and I soaked it in, both at home on my record player and on the honkytonk jukeboxes. The Louvins blazed a trail of “close harmony” that later inspired the Everly Brothers and many more, including my personal Goddess of the 1970s, Emmylou Harris.

This is the cover of their most famous album, it was designed by Ira Louvin (who died in a horrible car wreck in 1965), and leaves no doubt that those devils in your head can definitely take form. This album cover regularly shows up in “bad LP cover” listings, so, for better or worse, it became memorable.

I ran across a great little interview with Charlie Louvin here on Raised Country. Very colorful!

Louvin Brothers Wikipedia

NYT – RIP Charlie Louvin

The Last Day

Look well to this day
For it is life
The very best of life.
In its brief course lie all
The realities and truths of existence,
The joy of growth, the splendour of action,
The glory of power.
For yesterday is but a memory.
And tomorrow is only a vision.
But today well lived
Makes every yesterday a memory of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore to this day.

Ancient Sanskrit Poem

This was read aloud at the memorial service today. It was a day we thought about those who are still with us, and how much we would miss them if they were gone. It was hard to watch others in great pain of the kind that may never heal. It was good to hear others share their memories aloud. We reminisced afterwards over a late lunch and a bottle of wine, then spent the evening curled up on the couch with some favorite TV episodes, a fire, and Henry the cat - who is, thankfully, still with us too (and the company of a 19 year old cat is a rarity).

I think it was a day well-lived.

This song was played today by the same guitarist (only 26 years later). It sounded very much the same. It's called "Song For Life."

RIP Bill Maddox

Bill Maddox, former Eric Johnson drummer, shot to death
I was skimming through twitter yesterday and found this shocking news. It had a stunning effect. In fact, I can't sleep so I got back up to finish this post. From the news article:

A law enforcement source who wished to remain anonymous because he’s unauthorized to talk to reporters said a woman believed to be Rhonda Maddox called 911 at 7:27 a.m. and reported a burglary in progress at the couple’s home. “They’re in the house,” she told the 911 operator, “I’m gonna have to shoot them.” The phone was put down, then the operator heard a single shot, followed after a pause, by several more.

Later yesterday night, a close friend of his stated in a forum post:

Evidently a neighbor was off his medications and threw a rock through either a plate glass window or door. Bill and Rhonda thought it a burglary and called the police. The neighbor entered the house and there was a confrontation with a gun ending with Bill dead and the neighbor flown to the hospital with a gun shot wound.

That last account has not been presented in the news media yet.

A year before we moved here, in fact, a year before we were even considering moving anywhere, I flew down to Austin from St. Louis to attend 2 live taping concerts at Antone's with Alien Love Child (Eric Johnson, Chris Maresh, Bill Maddox). The tapings became this record. Actually there were 3 nights of tapings, but I held myself at only 2 (kind of like being offered a plate with 3 large cookies and leaving one there just so you won't appear to have lost all control). People came to those shows from all over the USA and at least a couple flew over from the UK. After the 3rd show, it had been arranged for us diehard fans to be able to meet Eric, and a small restaurant (Austin Java) was rented out after hours. It was my first EJ show and first time in Austin. That's how this place ended up on the short list when we were deciding where to live - because it was the kind of place that put up a statue of Stevie Ray Vaughan, it was nice weather in January, and the positives grew and grew.

After moving here, I ended up doing some website, graphic design & production, and flash animation for Eric. If you are a big music fan and in Austin, it's likely that you will have an opportunity to do get involved in helping out a favorite musician at some point even if it's just hanging posters. Anyway, it was because of that involvement that I got to meet Bill quite a number of times, either backstage or at casual social events. He was an extremely nice person, and always had a smile, onstage and off. He had been playing in bands with Eric since the early 1970s.

All I know about this tragedy are the accounts mentioned above, and am not sure if there will be any more information released. One of the most disturbing things is that it's possible that he may have been killed with his own gun. I hate guns, but out of respect for Bill and everyone who knew him, I am not going to turn this post (or the comments that get added) into my usual anti-gun rant. Those can be found elsewhere at the Oasis here, if you care to look.

Here are a couple of pics that I took the last time we saw Alien Love Child, which was in August of 2009. It was a long time ago... too long, and we didn't even hang around afterwards to say Hi to the band. Now I regret that.


[addendum Dec 28] Update: More about this not being a burglary.

Liz Carpenter RIP

Liz Carpenter was Press Secretary for Lady Bird Johnson during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and because she was there at the time, the task fell to her to write LBJ's statement that he delivered to the nation after the assassination of JFK. She was also assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Education under President Jimmy Carter, on the International Women's Year Commission under President Gerald Ford and on the White House Conference on Aging under President Bill Clinton. She co-founded the National Women's Political Caucus and co-chaired ERAmerica.

We got to spend a good part of an evening with Ms. Carpenter in 2005 while side-by-side occupying the front rail of Willie Nelson's all-star benefit concert for Asian tsunami relief. She said she was writing a book about Bobbie Nelson (Willie's sister and piano player) but I don't know if that book was ever published. She also gave us a giggle at one point when she said she didn't know who Joe Ely was but he sure did sweat a lot.

She was an author, and progressive activist to the end, a Texas treasure, a yellow-dog Democrat and a true Austinite.
___

[Liz Carpenter/LBJ Library] [KXAN interview, commenting for her own obituary]

RIP Rusty Wier

He was part of the "cosmic cowboy" ("redneck hippie" or whatever you want to call it) movement in the 1970's, spurred by Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Jerry Jeff Walker and many more. He's been playing the clubs, including a regular gig at the Saxon Club for the last 15 years. I mostly think of him when I hear this song of his, but Bonnie Raitt added some cash value to it with her cover. Don't it make you wanna dance?

RIP Ted Kennedy

Sen. Kennedy on the subject of health care insurance for everyone:

Ted Kennedy was a true liberal, and one of the causes he was most passionate about was reforming the American health care system so that every person would be covered, and that no family would have their lives destroyed by the devastating costs of medical care. The video above was from a little before he was diagnosed with the brain cancer that finally took his life last night.

Previous post: Our Elder Champion

...and again, posting his eulogy given for his brother Bobby.


[NPR story]

RIP Les Paul

Legendary guitarist Les Paul was still performing into his 90s. Here's a bit off the old TV show from 1953 (including commercials!)

Uncle Walter

It was always comforting to hear his voice, not because the news was comforting, but because his reporting of it was not tainted by the biases of corporate sponsorships and their political agendas that spin the facts into a new animal. He was the voice of the news for us baby boomers. We learned about all the events through him -- VietNam, the assassinations... I think the most galvanizing bond is the one that formed throughout the reporting of JFK's assassination. We were moment-by-moment going through the experience, not just through him but with him.

His life should be celebrated. And that's the way it is.

[link with videos]

RIP Delaney Bramlett

[OBIT] Of Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, one of my favorite bands in the 60s. They were one of the best live bands I ever saw, and I've yet to see justice done to them on film (or videotape) included these posted. You had to be there. The "Friends" part of it included Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, Gregg Allman, George Harrison, Leon Russell, Dave Mason, Rita Coolidge, King Curtis, Bobby Whitlock, Jim Keltner. This wiki entry clears up the timeline some, and I learned a few things out of it too.

Delaney and Leon Russell were in the the house band for the TV show Shindig!, called the Shindogs... good way to make connections. George Harrison liked D&B enough to try and get them on the Beatles' Apple label (which couldn't legally happen) and Delaney taught Harrison to play bottle slide guitar. Through Harrison they got hooked up with Clapton and toured with him as an opener for Blind Faith. D&B were Clapton's band on his first solo album, and later the band became Derek & the Dominos (sans the Bramletts), and there's a Mad Dogs and Englishmen Joe Cocker connection in there too. They burned very brightly.

RIP Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter

Oh man. I am really very sad about this. I really admired Steve Irwin because of the way he lived his life for the preservation of animals and the environment. Did you know he was also an atheist? Bet you didn't. Not surprising when you consider his level of passion for this life and this world.

His MySpace profile (yes, it's really his), has some little personal things that may not have appeared on his official website (which, at this moment, just has a media statement on it). If you have a MySpace profile, you can log in and look at his photos that he has posted there. In this picture is a Wombat named "Minibus". Crocodile Hunter is a misleading nickname. Wouldn't it be great if the intention of all hunters was "I'm going to hunt you down and help you, try to save your life and the lives of others, fix what's not working out the best way for everyone, and do it by risking my own life"? I will always wish that I could have lived my life more like this man, but I realize that own strengths, phobias, and general personality type made it impossible. I have to be the best person that I can be, and I believe that he did that.

-- Sydney Morning Herald -- Leave condolences -- Wikipedia/Steve Irwin -- AP news -- Reuters -- This song, True Blue [.ram] by John Williamson will be featured at the Memorial --

- Crocodile - Hunter - Steve Irwin - stingray

RIP Kim McLagan, previously Kim Moon

Heartfelt condolences go out to Ian McLagan after the death of his wife in a car accident. Ian McLagan is one of our local treasures, he was the keyboard guy for Small Faces, then later on Faces with Rod Stewart. He's not retired, far from it. He's playing his butt off in the Austin clubs with Ian McLagan and the Bump Band.

He and Kim had been married for about 28 years. She was a 60s model who was previously married to Keith Moon. Here's another page for her, [Kim Moon]. She had a skincare/spa sort of business. She was still a very beautiful woman. Deepest sympathies to Mac. Here is the news link for the accident.

Photo by Todd Wolfson.

UPDATE: They are having her memorial over at Rock Island in Zilker this evening (Tuesday the 8th), same place that we had the service for ev, aka Jeen Lilly of Scrumptious Monkey. --[memorial link1]---[memorial link2]

- Google links - Music - Austin - Texas - Texas Music - Ian McLagan -

Birthday thoughts for Jeen Lilly

Today would have been the birthday of ev brown, AKA Jeen Lilly of scrumptious monkey and others. The cake is taken from her last blog post. She was supposed to be starting a new cake decorating job that morning (it's an early morning post), and it's one of the last things she ever posted. I don't know if she ever actually started that job.

I only met her in person a few times, she was mostly an online friend. I really miss her and think of her all the time. When I post something, I think "ev would have responded to this", or when I hear Book People mentioned, or a certain show comes to town, or we do some activity like First Thursday or Eeyore's where I think "I would have invited ev to join us for this". Even Eric's forum has lost some luster, I just miss her.

Previous postings on her passing:
RIP ev brown, AKA Jeen Lilly
A Bright Spirit