11 Comments

What a great piece of journalism Bill, on so many levels. Thank you.

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1st piece I've read of yours.Great piece on SRV. Am a big fan. I'm envious of your time spent with him. Have only been to Austin once,very cool city.It breathes music as New Orleans does.

My cousin and her husband (Martha Hume Flippo & Chet Flippo)were both journalists like yourself and attended U of T in Austin.I look forward to reading more of your work.Forgive my long windedness (?even a word)

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Cool, Chuck. Take a look at some of my past posts archived here. The subjects range from Jaco Pastorius to John Zorn, Keith Richards, Stanley Clark, Buddy Rich, Bela Fleck and Chick Corea, pedal steel guitar and many more.

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Tears for Stevie. Greatly appreciate your wonderful words. Hope I reflect my brush with his music as faithfully. *one typo: ties / tries?

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"In the song 'Tick Tock,' he sings the refrain, 'Remember.' And what Stevie was trying to tell me, and I guess all of us... he was trying to tell me, 'Nile, remember my music. Remember how important music is to all of us. And just remember that it's a gift.' Stevie was truly touched by the hand of God..."

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That was just beautiful.

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Beautiful piece. Thank you

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Beautiful.

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Thanks for this; it was beautiful. I was one of those Austinites who was in mourning after he died. I’d been too young to be affected by Janis’ and Jimi’s deaths, but SRV was part of life in Austin. The last time we saw him perform was in a bar on 6th St. After the opening act (the Cobras, a local band who themselves were phenomenal), the place became jam packed. I wanted to leave not long into his set; I was tired. My husband said ok, we’ll be able to see him again. Sadly, not true.

It was something to read the names of the musicians who were performing in Austin back in the day; it brought back so many good memories. Austin has changed. Then, it was a gathering place for musicians with outsized talent blown in from conservative places like Lubbock and Dallas/Ft Worth. My husband was a working musician then and played with many of them. You almost couldn’t go wrong no matter which club you picked on a given evening. And then, money moved in. Isn’t that always the case? Anyway, thanks for this.

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Beautiful piece. I remember the day I heard the news, it was the weekend of Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle - I saw over a dozen or so bands over that Labor Day weekend and almost every one of them mentioned or paid tribute to Stevie Ray in some way. As the man said, he transcended scenes or genres, and he was one in a million.

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SRV -- a musical hero + inspiration forever, for me (72 years and counting), and my two boys, now adults (I guess that means all three of us). Thanks for such excellent writing, Bill -- you always show how the finest reportage is to be done. Cheers from the TooFar North ...

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