I can't believe how fast 20 years can go by......but Stevie Ray Vaughn left us just this week 20 years ago when his helicopter crashed on a mountain side following a show in Troy Wisconsin in which he appeared with his brother Jimmie, Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, Buddy Guy and others. I remember thinking how I wished I could see that show which featured all my favorite blues players on one stage. SRV being my favorite. I awoke the morning after the last show to scattered radio reports that a helicopter carrying some of the musicians from the show had crashed on a fog shrouded mountain side.......reports were sketchy and varied about who was on that helicopter and they ranged from Eric Clapton and SRV to Eric Clapton and his entourage to SRV, Clapton and Robert Cray. In the end it was SRV and a few people from Eric Claptons management group who perished. I was devastated with the news that SRV had been killed at the young age of 35 years and now just as then I can't help wondering.....what would have been? The music we missed out on due to the untimely death of a still rising star. The ticket you see in the upper right hand corner of the picture is my ticket stub from the first time I ever saw SRV play live! I waited since 4:00am at the Sears in Braintree for the ticket agency to open so I could get 4 seats for me and my buddies to go see him.......10th row center on the floor at Lowell Memorial Auditorium.....a small, intimate venue. His performance was "Jaw Dropping" to say the least. We left that show different than when we went in. Such control, such power......and so much talent. I saw him play live 6-8 times before his death. Once he opened for Robert Plant at Great Woods (ticket stub middle in picture) that was a great show but because he was the opening act I was disappointed he did not play longer than his 45 minutes. The ticket stub in the middle of the picture was from the last time I saw him play. He was teamed up with Jeff Beck. SRV was promoting his "In Step" album and Beck his "Guitar Shop" album and this was quite possibly the best show I had seen.....they were both amazing! They finished the show with a Howling Wolf song called "Goin' Down" (a recording you can hear from SRV's boxed set). They both traded riffs and solos on this last song......SRV broke a string midway through and continued without missing a beat twirling the guitar behind his neck, behind his back....just amazing! Best song I have ever seen at a show......it was powerful! I still shiver when I hear this song.....maybe because it was the last I had seen of Stevie Ray Vaughn. Maybe because it really was that power and emotion that SRV could derive from his Sunburst 59 Strat. 20 years later and I still get excited when an album is released with "new" material as there have been a few posthumous releases since his death. He was truly something to see play live and I will never forget it.
Sorry to be so long winded......music really forms the tapestry of our lives....don't you agree?
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