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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
OT: how I met Joan Baez
OT: how I met Joan Baez
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waltertore
617 posts
Jun 05, 2010
7:40 PM
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I was watching a documentary on earl scruggs tonight and there was a segment with Joan Baez. My mind flashed back to me meeting her, something I had long forgotten. I was playing my regular weekend gig at the black cat lounge on 6th street in austin and was turning the corner looking for parking place for my 63 caddy. Well, this woman was crossing the street and I stopped to let her cross. She looked at my plates and said "hey california". I kept the original black and yellow california plates on the car for my entire 11 years there. I said "you from california?" and she said yes. I said me too and when I told her I lived in sonoma county she lit up. She asked why I was in austin and I told her I was playing down the street. We said goodbye and I drove on. Strangly I felt like I knew her or she was famous or something. Anyway after my first set, Paul the owner of the black cat came up to me and said did I know who was sitting in the back for the whole set? I said no and he told me Joan Baez! He said she told him about our meeting on the street and with suit I was wearing and the car I was driving, and the way I was talking, she had to see what I sounded like. He said she dug it big time and he asked if she wanted to sit in. She said she didn't want to start any scene and left. Funny how a tv clip can trigger a lost memory! Here is my typical attire and car, taken in austin at that time. The lovely lady on the hood is my wife of 30 years, Judy, and my longtime bassist James "rock bottom" dupree. James was raised on haight and ashbery in SF during the hippy era. His parents were beatnicks that granfathered into the hippy era. He told me stories like grace slick giving him and his buddies cans of paint and telling them to paint pictures on her house. Walter
Dwight Yokum featured my caddy in his guitars, cadillacs video. It paid our rent for the month.
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walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year.
" life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
2,000 of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
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JDH
143 posts
Jun 05, 2010
8:18 PM
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Great story Walter, keep them coming. I had a beautiful 64 Caddy, presidential blue fleetwood, for about 15 years, the longest I ever kept a car.
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(:o
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strawwoodclaw
49 posts
Jun 05, 2010
9:10 PM
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I just watched the Imagine domcumentary on Joan Baez
I loved it : )
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nacoran
2009 posts
Jun 05, 2010
9:23 PM
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I had a friend who was going to give me his '65 Lincoln Continental. I knew I was going to see him later that week, but I guess he got impatient. He sold it for $100. I saw the same model, in not in as nice shape, on Pawn Stars a couple months ago. The pawn shop BOUGHT it for about $10,000.
I drive a Nissan instead and console myself with the fact that at least it gets better gas mileage. The rest is just blowin' in the wind.
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Nate
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waltertore
619 posts
Jun 06, 2010
5:51 AM
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JDH: I have lots of stories like this that are outside the blues scene and will post more as they hit me to type them. An acoustic tour with The Call and Harry Dean Stanton, Joey Ramone, David Johanson, the dead kennedys, Norton Buffalo, Asleep at the Wheel, Neil Young, Tony Jo WHite, Los Lobos, Dwight Yokum, Mitch Ryder, Badfinger, Johnny Cash, Timbuck 3, Rocky Erikson, Bob Dylan, and a bunch more. I don't like to type very much....
My caddy was a park ave model. I won a lot of money in front of clubs with guys that claimed I took the logo off a buick. Cadillac made the park ave model in 62 and 63. They cut 9 inches off the rear end and advertised it to the people with pre war garages (so they could close the door), older folks, and those needing to park on busy Park Ave! They only made about 1,500 of them. I also had a 59 limo that was all black with a texas flag on the right fender and an american flag on the left, and big fat whitewalls all around. It had a 8 selection pump bar too. The bottles were in the trunk and tubes went to them. You pushed which drink you wanted and it came out from the back of the front seat. I would park it on the sidewalks in front of the clubs and we used it as dressing room between sets. I would turn the a/c on and we would chill a bit before going back in those non airconditioned clubs of texas. I also drove that thing through towns at high speeds and the police would stand at attention and salute those flags whipping by :-). Buddy Holly's wife dug my music and she would come down to Austin a couple times a year and we would tour the scene with her in the back. I sold both and bought a new geo metro when I decided to go to college and the commute to SWTSU in san marcos was about 60 miles each way.
Friday and saturday's, after gigs were done, lots of us musicians would meet in the parking lot of the austin opera house with our rides. Jimmy Vaughn and charlie sexton came in those chopped hot rods, and kim wilson came in his restored old vw bug. It always made me smile when I saw him pull up. The blues harp king of the time driving a VW BUG??? His California roots at work. Walter
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walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year.
" life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
2,000 of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
Last Edited by on Jun 06, 2010 6:36 AM
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