SRV

[bouche]

I can't even imagine what he'd be doing if Stevie Ray Vaughan were alive today.

I remember seeing the El Mocambo show at Andre's on DVD and was utterly devastated more than ever that SRV isn't around no mores.

I ended up downloading a DVD rip of that until I get my own copy. I saw a new DVD at HMV a few weeks ago. Does anyone have it, or know what one it would be?

[meggo]

love the srv as well. have you seen the srv austin city limits? awesome.

[Velvet]

I was lucky enough to see him twice. When I was in grade 11 or so a girl I hardly knew (we both hung out in the smoking section) told me her dad and his friend were going to Fredericton to see a guitar player I had never heard of and she was thinking of going. "I'll go if you go" I said, and off we were. At the time I had stopped doing any drugs for about six months or so, but I thought maybe I'd get a gram, heck not many concerts hit New Brunswick back then, y'know, special occasion and all. Well, I ultimately decided that I would stick to my guns and not get high for the show.

So I see the show and get my mind blown, I remember it well - it was soooo great. And at one point Stevie makes this little speech about how he used to get high all the time and blahblah and not telling us what to do but to be good to each other and if he was still getting high he wouldn't be able to get up on stage and do what he's gotta do for y'all. And then he melted all of our faces with the most awe-inspiring sh!t on six strings. Just thinking of it now gives me the willies. Suffice to say, I was pretty glad I didn't pick up that gram.

So a few months later SRV is coming to the Monton Coliseum and I get there early enough to be second in line for tickets. I bought about eight tickets or so for me and my friends, second row.

The night of the show comes, and we take our seats. There's and aisle down the middle of the floor and I have the aisle seat, dead centre, though that matters not, 'cuz as soon as The Stray Cats come on to open the show, I'm off my seat and dancing at the stage. And I'm the only one. The Coliseum holds like 10,000 people and it's likely a sellout, and I'm the ONLY person standing up in the whole room while The fu©king Stray Cats are rockabillying their heads off. Of course I danced the whole set away, and at the end of the set Brian Setzer comes downstage, shakes my hand, and thanks me for dancing.

When SRV came on a hundred or so other people joined me at the front of the stage, again I'm dead centre 'cuz I haven't moved. Stevie comes out and plays a deadly show. At one point he accidentally dropped his pick and grabbed another. I couldn't stretch far enough to grab it, so I had to jump a little bit. Snagged it. It's white, has his name on it, is worn straight on one side with a really quite remarkable groove knotched about a quarter-inch deep in it. The groove must be from a manic pick-sawing pickslide freakout, though I don't recall it. Show was fantastic, and I had a great souvenir. At the end of the show some kids asked the road crew for picks and they gave them some brand new ones.

I forget if it was between bands or after the show that I bought an official backstage pass off of some 17-year-old security kid for $5. Yep, that's right, $5. It was one of my first meet-famous-people things, which are always a bit of a trip, and I can honestly say it was one of the nicest. He was engaging and conversational and actually spent a good five or more minutes just talking to me. When I told him the story about wanting to get high the last time I saw him and how much I was inspired by the speech he actually kind of lit up. He was concerned whether people thought the speech was a drag and wasn't sure about doing it every night, and whatever, it just seemed to make the meet-a-rockstar thing a bit more meaningful. He signed To Todd Thanks For Caring and damn he has cool handwriting. My friend was there with me (I got him in on my pass) and he just signed that one with his name.

So there's my SRV story.

Well there's another one, but I'm sick of typing.

I miss SRV.

[meggo]

wowwwwwwwwweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!! that is awesome.

[Del]

Great stories Todd... Hopefully you'll feel like sharing the other Stevie tale with us eventually...

[guigsy]

friends, fans of Stevie Ray...

i love a lot of music. and guitars are awesome, especially when they're played like that. but, despite the fact that i like the way the man plays guitar, i have always had a hard time getting into his songs. what am i missing here? why am i not much of a fan? anything i could pick up that would surely change me?

Thanks.

[Jay Funk Dawg]

I'm thinking about Stevie all the time, when I'm at the El Mocambo and I can almost visualize him performing on an imaginary stage... Freakin' out on some Jimi Hendrix song, jumping on top of his custom Statocaster.

If anyone hasn't see Stevie's DVD 'Live at the El Mocambo" you really should check it out...

I'm a big Stevie Fan and it was great to read your story Velvet... From what I've read, Stevie's life completely changed after he kicked his drug and alcohol habit. And sharing his story of drug abuse with his audience was very therapeutic and important to him. RIP SRV.

[Jay Funk Dawg]

Here's the track listing of a SRV Bootleg

El Mocambo - Live at the El Mocambo, Toronto, Canada, 11jul83 [Exx-ellent Records, EXX-52519] (Italy, 1994) (61:41, 12 tracks) incomplete, missing "Little Wing", available in fold-out cloth display same track listing as G-Ray and official El Mocambo video

1> Testify 3:32

2> So Excited 4:08

3> Voodoo Chile 6:41

4> Pride And Joy 4:32

5> Tell Me 3:04

6> Mary Had A Little Lamb 3:15

7> Texas Flood 9:54

8> Love Struck Baby 2:40

9> Hug You Squeeze You 3:46

10> Third Stone From The Sun 7:12

11> Lenny 8:44

12> Wham 4:10

[Paan]

I saw him a month or two before the crash... fabulous.

"Mary had a littel lamb..."

[paisley]

definately check out that El Mocambo Stevie Ray Vaughn show Guigsy, totally amazing... that'll convert ya

was a little down on him my self just because of the way he was somewhat over-marketed on tv but once you saw the guy live you had to hand it too him, he definately meant it

(remember hearing an interview with him where Stevie Ray said he learned how to play guitar the best he could because he wanted to get back at a girl who dumped him and broke his heart... mission accomplished I'd say)

[guigsy]

(remember hearing an interview with him where Stevie Ray said he learned how to play guitar the best he could because he wanted to get back at a girl who dumped him and broke his heart... mission accomplished I'd say)

he might be my new hero. i'll check it out.

[paisley]

try and find a copy of the El Mo video or dvd... a lot of what blows you away is watching how hard he goes at it, sweat literally pouring off him, like a man possessed... though I'm sure just the audio rocks too

[paisley]

(remember hearing an interview with him where Stevie Ray said he learned how to play guitar the best he could because he wanted to get back at a girl who dumped him and broke his heart... mission accomplished I'd say)

he might be my new hero. i'll check it out.

kinda funny part of the interview was he said she had to walk past his house to go to school and always tried to ignore him so he'd crank it up and rock his heart out in his living room window to try to make sure he got her attention ::

(sadly, I don't think she did end up very impressed by his playing... wasn't a big music fan.... though you'd figure she couldn't help but concede to his fame later on)

[ggrtrhhrtgg]

I was lucky enough to see him twice. When I was in grade 11 or so a girl I hardly knew (we both hung out in the smoking section) told me her dad and his friend were going to Fredericton to see a guitar player I had never heard of and she was thinking of going. "I'll go if you go" I said, and off we were. At the time I had stopped doing any drugs for about six months or so, but I thought maybe I'd get a gram, heck not many concerts hit New Brunswick back then, y'know, special occasion and all. Well, I ultimately decided that I would stick to my guns and not get high for the show.

So I see the show and get my mind blown, I remember it well - it was soooo great. And at one point Stevie makes this little speech about how he used to get high all the time and blahblah and not telling us what to do but to be good to each other and if he was still getting high he wouldn't be able to get up on stage and do what he's gotta do for y'all. And then he melted all of our faces with the most awe-inspiring sh!t on six strings. Just thinking of it now gives me the willies. Suffice to say, I was pretty glad I didn't pick up that gram.

So a few months later SRV is coming to the Monton Coliseum and I get there early enough to be second in line for tickets. I bought about eight tickets or so for me and my friends, second row.

The night of the show comes, and we take our seats. There's and aisle down the middle of the floor and I have the aisle seat, dead centre, though that matters not, 'cuz as soon as The Stray Cats come on to open the show, I'm off my seat and dancing at the stage. And I'm the only one. The Coliseum holds like 10,000 people and it's likely a sellout, and I'm the ONLY person standing up in the whole room while The fu©king Stray Cats are rockabillying their heads off. Of course I danced the whole set away, and at the end of the set Brian Setzer comes downstage, shakes my hand, and thanks me for dancing.

When SRV came on a hundred or so other people joined me at the front of the stage, again I'm dead centre 'cuz I haven't moved. Stevie comes out and plays a deadly show. At one point he accidentally dropped his pick and grabbed another. I couldn't stretch far enough to grab it, so I had to jump a little bit. Snagged it. It's white, has his name on it, is worn straight on one side with a really quite remarkable groove knotched about a quarter-inch deep in it. The groove must be from a manic pick-sawing pickslide freakout, though I don't recall it. Show was fantastic, and I had a great souvenir. At the end of the show some kids asked the road crew for picks and they gave them some brand new ones.

I forget if it was between bands or after the show that I bought an official backstage pass off of some 17-year-old security kid for $5. Yep, that's right, $5. It was one of my first meet-famous-people things, which are always a bit of a trip, and I can honestly say it was one of the nicest. He was engaging and conversational and actually spent a good five or more minutes just talking to me. When I told him the story about wanting to get high the last time I saw him and how much I was inspired by the speech he actually kind of lit up. He was concerned whether people thought the speech was a drag and wasn't sure about doing it every night, and whatever, it just seemed to make the meet-a-rockstar thing a bit more meaningful. He signed To Todd Thanks For Caring and damn he has cool handwriting. My friend was there with me (I got him in on my pass) and he just signed that one with his name.

So there's my SRV story.

Well there's another one, but I'm sick of typing.

I miss SRV.

wow, that's a great fu©king story!!

[Jaimoe]

I haven't thought about this for a long time, but I work with people that shot the El Mo show. It was produced by Citytv. I've had talks with one of MuchMusic's main producers in the past about the El Mo show - where he was just a young camera operator at the time. He said that SRV was unbelievable that night, but they ( Citytv ) just thought they were recording a hot-shot guitarist on the rise. Little did they know.

I cried when SRV died. Buddy Guy said at the time of his death that Stevie was the best blues guitarist. Who's to argue with Buddy? He had it all: soul, tone, imagination, melody and technical skills, all complimented by a passionate singing voice.

Mike, get any SRV DVD. They are all good.

R.I.P. Stevie.

[bradm]

The first rock'n'roll show I ever went to was SRV & Double Trouble, on the "Couldn't Stand The Weather Tour", March, 1985. It was at Massey Hall, and I managed to get an 8th row floor ticket. I had my head blown completely off.

I saw him on other time live, with Jeff Healey and Jeff Beck (with Tony Hymas and Terry Bozzio) at SkyDome in November, 1989. IIRC, Beck and Vaughan were alternating who was the headliner, and that night it was Vaughan. This was after he got cleaned up (around the time of "In Step", I think), and Vaughan was spot on. The encore was "Goin' Down", with Jeff Beck, and you could see that were peers, but different.

Aloha,

Brad