Welcome friends, This is part three. Like I said, there will be a four and there will be a six. But I can’t say for certain about a five. All I know is that I’m really tired of influencers being the butt of jokes. Influencers are everything. Influencers make it all possible. And we’re going to talk about a few of them. Mighty influencers like Link Wray, John Lee Hooker, Oliver Anthony, and more. So let’s get on with the program, shall we?
Lots of talk about Stanford. So, I will add a Stanford story.
The first time I visited San Fran was to visit my brother. He had just graduated college and moved from our home state of Georgia to dig for dot.com gold. We went out for a night on the town and settled down at a place called the Club Deluxe. There was a bar tender who everyone called the Vice Grip. People were swing dancing like it was 1932. My brother met a sweet girl who had just graduated from Stanford. They connected like two magnets at a science fair. The next afternoon, she gave us the grand tour of her campus. We walked down to the square where we found a couple dozen people in a circle playing 5-gallon buckets as drums. One guy kept walking from pail to pail testing each one for his perfect pitch. I thought that was super funny. No one laughed but me. At one point the earth started to tremble and I assumed we were experiencing an earthquake. I was the only one who felt anything, and it never made the news. The California people thought I was crazy. But I am sure they were crazy. We all had crazy fun.
My brother has now been married to the girl from Stanford for 30 years.
I have probably been to San Francisco 50 times since then and there is something I love about it. It is a magical place. It is the bigger Nashville, Memphis, or Macon Georgia. But these places all share something. That Something is the mystery behind art and beauty. I hope we never figure it out.
Thanks Chuck for all the great stories, I always find something interesting in here. keep on pushing that Pen or Tapping those Keys. somehow it all ends up on my computer screen and I feel a little smarter for it ? And for that may Somebody Bless you !
One time, near the green pastures of Stanford University, or perhaps just its adjacent medical facilities, as me and my wife were unpacking our four day old first daughter bundle of joy from the Byzantine contraption known as a car seat, we saw John Lee Hooker, walking alone.
(The baby was new and little, so she was packed in there tight.)
He was wearing a bowler hat, and maybe on his way for a checkup or something. And while I’ve been warned off this sort of thing many times, I couldn’t help but feel like seeing him there was good news, and that the world was just gonna get cooler and cooler.
Probably it didn't, but the kid turned thirty the other day. So there’s that.
You’d see other evidence of Mr Hooker around the Peninsula sometimes. There was one cafe that had a head shot of him on the wall, and if you asked the proprietor about him it was either, “You just missed him” or “He’s surely on his way”. Coulda been true.
Link Wray with a fanny pack is like when I saw Grant Hart in sandals and socks. Outside a bar in Baltimore. Or Jerry Garcia with a mullet. Actually too high to recall the Jerry Mullet in Real Time but there is documentation. God bless em'.
A high school class mate of mine became a doctor and was working at Stanford. One day, he walks into a room and John Lee Hooker is sitting there on an examination table. My friend says, “Hi. I’ll be your doctor today. I’m Mark. John Lee says, “I’m the Boogieman.” Worth the price of medical school right there.
Man, you always hip me to some "new" music and validate my choices when you include stuff I know.
Thanks and give 'em hell in' 24
Lots of talk about Stanford. So, I will add a Stanford story.
The first time I visited San Fran was to visit my brother. He had just graduated college and moved from our home state of Georgia to dig for dot.com gold. We went out for a night on the town and settled down at a place called the Club Deluxe. There was a bar tender who everyone called the Vice Grip. People were swing dancing like it was 1932. My brother met a sweet girl who had just graduated from Stanford. They connected like two magnets at a science fair. The next afternoon, she gave us the grand tour of her campus. We walked down to the square where we found a couple dozen people in a circle playing 5-gallon buckets as drums. One guy kept walking from pail to pail testing each one for his perfect pitch. I thought that was super funny. No one laughed but me. At one point the earth started to tremble and I assumed we were experiencing an earthquake. I was the only one who felt anything, and it never made the news. The California people thought I was crazy. But I am sure they were crazy. We all had crazy fun.
My brother has now been married to the girl from Stanford for 30 years.
I have probably been to San Francisco 50 times since then and there is something I love about it. It is a magical place. It is the bigger Nashville, Memphis, or Macon Georgia. But these places all share something. That Something is the mystery behind art and beauty. I hope we never figure it out.
That’s my Stanford experiment/ experience.
Thanks for the tunes. They are appreciated.
This is quite the holiday playlist.
Always an education. Thank you.
Oh man, that's a lot to take in. Thank heaven I'm retired.
Thanks Chuck for all the great stories, I always find something interesting in here. keep on pushing that Pen or Tapping those Keys. somehow it all ends up on my computer screen and I feel a little smarter for it ? And for that may Somebody Bless you !
One time, near the green pastures of Stanford University, or perhaps just its adjacent medical facilities, as me and my wife were unpacking our four day old first daughter bundle of joy from the Byzantine contraption known as a car seat, we saw John Lee Hooker, walking alone.
(The baby was new and little, so she was packed in there tight.)
He was wearing a bowler hat, and maybe on his way for a checkup or something. And while I’ve been warned off this sort of thing many times, I couldn’t help but feel like seeing him there was good news, and that the world was just gonna get cooler and cooler.
Probably it didn't, but the kid turned thirty the other day. So there’s that.
You’d see other evidence of Mr Hooker around the Peninsula sometimes. There was one cafe that had a head shot of him on the wall, and if you asked the proprietor about him it was either, “You just missed him” or “He’s surely on his way”. Coulda been true.
Link Wray with a fanny pack is like when I saw Grant Hart in sandals and socks. Outside a bar in Baltimore. Or Jerry Garcia with a mullet. Actually too high to recall the Jerry Mullet in Real Time but there is documentation. God bless em'.
Damn...this is the only place you would get a playlist like this...and Link Wray loved fanny packs...
A high school class mate of mine became a doctor and was working at Stanford. One day, he walks into a room and John Lee Hooker is sitting there on an examination table. My friend says, “Hi. I’ll be your doctor today. I’m Mark. John Lee says, “I’m the Boogieman.” Worth the price of medical school right there.
You and DOLLY?! Jeez, you know all the dudes. Great photo.