http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevie_Ray_Vaughan
Twenty years ago. I remember the day. I had a friend I had made back in the 1980’s. His name was William O. Rolands. Everyone called him Bill. He worked for a supplier in Boston and I had helped him even score a job at another supplier in Wisconsin. He was from Waukesha, Wisconsin and this was close to home. We had grown up worlds apart but somehow over many nights, business meetings, and a few beers we somehow became fast friends. Bill was a very likable guy and we always had fun no matter what town we were in and back then we were traveling hard and having a great time from Boston to the mid-west. I can remember several great nights on the river in Cincinnati and at the No Name restaurant in Boston but that is a whole ‘nother story. I won’t mention the night at Howl at the Moon and a long cab ride to the north side of Cincinnati.
Anyway. Bill got a job at great company in Mukwonago, Wisconsin and I was proud to say I gave him a stellar reference for a company that had tried to even hire me. I had been there several times and it was a cool place. Bill was happy and had even recently married a cool girl who was an ace accountant. His life was going great. I had just seen him on a trip and we shared a meal and traded some stories. He knew I loved music and asked me about what I was listening to. I told him about what I considered to be two major players at that time. Robert Cray and Stevie Ray Vaughn. He nodded his head and said send me a tape so I can hear this stuff. I said ok, I will.
After I got home I dug out a recent Stevie Ray Vaughn bootleg and made Bill a cassette tape. Now remember this was 1990. CD’s were not really being recorded on a big scale. But I had a state of the art cassette machine, the Nakamichi CR7A. In fact I still have it. So I made him a tape.
On the morning of August 27,1990 I stopped by the Brown Summit, North Carolina post office and saw the Postmaster who was a woman and a friend of mine. Now Brown Summit is a very small place. In fact it is a rail road crossing really. But the post office was small and kind of quiet. My kind of place. Slow pace, quiet, and the operator speaks Southernese. Yeah. I still miss that lady. She has retired.
I dropped the cassette into her hands and paid the buck or so postage. It was addressed to my friend Bill in Wisconsin. Stevie Ray jamming on a live bootleg. It would be Bill’s first initiation into SRV blues and his incredible talent.
I went on into work that morning just two miles down the road. Later that afternoon I got a call. It was Bill. Bill said I have bad news for you. I thought. Oh no another business problem. No he said. I am in Mukwonago. I was just listening to the local radio. They are saying Stevie Ray, Robert Cray, and Eric Clapton are dead from a helicopter crash near Alpine Valley. I held my breath. Anyone who knows me will know I love EC, Stevie, and Robert Cray.
Later that day I found out after listening to national radio reports that Robert Cray and Eric Clapton were ok. Stevie Ray was not. I could not believe it.
Now I do. A week later I was on my way to Charlotte on a business trip alone. I was listening to Stevie on tape play some tunes and thinking about what had been lost that night. I am not afraid to say my eyes teared up for about ten miles. I still love his music that much. He was an incredible talent that will be forever missed. I will leave it at that.
Bill did get his cassette later that week and he called to say that he really loved the music. We were great friends and I will always remember the times we had together. He died later that year suddenly of bone cancer. He was a few years younger than me. He left a new wife and a huge amount of friends. I was one of them.
So anyway… today is one to remember for SRV and Bill Rolands.
See you down the road.