Good night world wherever you are- I love you in spite of yourself.
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Tonight I crash with visions of Willie, DAC, Charlie Pride and Ray Wiley Hubbard dancing through my head. Willie will always remember tomorrow as the day Ole Kev. finally made it to one of his picnics. Here- listen to Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain.
Good night world wherever you are- I love you in spite of yourself.
Good night world wherever you are- I love you in spite of yourself.
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The only time I met Willie was when he turned his picnic into Farm Aid II at Manor Downs racetrack near Austin. I had media backstage access and saw Kris Kristofferson drag a blind drunk/stoned Willie into a limo by his belt around sundown. This was after Jack Wagner lured Willie onstage to sing a duet of All I Need when it was clear Willie had never heard of Jack Wagner or All I Need. The whole thing was simulcast on VH-1. That was a helluva weekend.
Hey Anon- thanks. Good one. Have a good weekend.
Told the kids' mother the other day I was glad I wasn't attending Willie's 41st 4th picnic at the stockyards. Somehow, the cachet of hanging out in the Texas heat with thousands of sweaty & smelly, drunk and stoned fans is lost on me.
As it is/was, we attended FW Fourth, at Panther Island. Lots of, uh, 'humanity' on display. In 30 minutes, we saw over a year's worth of tattoos. With one footbridge within the event area, crossing the river took more than five minutes as Hector would stop every 20 feet to look for little Manuel, or someone's stroller wheel would lock up, or Bubba couldn't figure out how to carry his 6' umbrella in a vertical position. One of the vendors sold all manner of piercings, masks, and crack pipes. How convenient.
We made our way from the event area and over to W7, checking out the new bridge, the Trinity Playhouse (where I'd taken her mother to a SITP event on one of our early dates), and down past Montgomery Plaza toward University. Finally, we returned to where we were parked near Henderson & White Settlement, and watched the fireworks show atop the SUV. Afterward, it was 70 minutes to get to I-35W.
I've seen Willie three times, I think - all in the '80s: BBT, SFOT, and Reunion Arena. My assessment is that he's kind of phoning it in for the past 20 years or so - at his age understandable - and the memories of some good shows are OK with me.
So how was it?
I was trying to process the idea of Charley Pride sharing the stage with DAC. Pride is a class act, through and through. DAC, uh, not so much, though he's had some good songs.
Wonder how Chuck Connors would've done against Charley's fastball if the latter had been signed by the Mets?
The Best of Charley Pride was another 8-track staple in my Dad's Scout.
One last Willie recollection - When I was in college, I darn near wore out a home (but expertly engineered Maxell UDXL-II) cassette recording of Willie & Fam Live. I think I tacked on Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground and Always on my Mind for good measure.
Man, I loved that cassette...
That album was Willie's live masterpiece, his equivalent of Hot August Night, Frampton Comes Alive, Wings Over America, From Every Stage, and John Denver Live. All great live albums in the '70s. I don't include The Song Remains the Same because I don't think its sound fidelity was very good (though I did sorta like its Stairway...).
Hey Don- Yeah as I say in the upcoming post re: W4ofJP- it is a people watcher's dream.
Oh, the humanity.
I am still glad I got to see him live but yeah- phoning it in or whatever you want to call it- it did fall a little flat.
Charley was on a different stage than DAC.
PS FG has a ball signed by Charley Pride- her grandad gave it to her
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