This August will mark the 20th anniversary of Stevie Ray Vaughan's untimely death in Alpine Valley, Wisconsin.  Please share some of the memories I had of him when I saw him in Montreal in 1987.

It was sometime in  September 1987, f'ng cold for Montreal for this time of year (gj-. - I brought a coat to SRV’s outdoor concert in Jarry Park) and intended to attend only of many shows during the three day Millerfest festival: Stevie Ray Vaughan. Local Montreal Blues legend Frank Marino was opening up. I had seen David Bowie with Peter Frampton on guitar earlier that summer at the Olympic Stadium (yes with Duran Duran opening as well as Michel Pagliaro, other notable Montreal music icon) but SRV was the cherry on top.

He's the man who saved the blues - BB KING

Does BB approve? I think SO

A couple of days before the show I hear on the news that his dad passed away and that he was going to interrupt the tour to attend his daddy’s funeral. The day of the funeral was the Montreal date.on while he was on tour and that the Montreal date was the day of his dad’s funeral.  I was planning to go to the show with my best friend at the time (my brother-in-law today - I married my best friend's sister but I digress) and we already had tickets.  We stayed tuned to Montreal's rock station CHOM-FM and we were relieved to know that the show would still go on.

On the way to the show we decide to bring four beers each as my father owned a corner convenience store and as eighteen year olds were strapped for cash.  We get to the gates, get searched and are denied entry because of the bottles on us.  So we drank four beers each in about three and a half minutes.  Belch!  Security laughs at us and lets us in, pointing to the Johnnies on the spot yards away (there were already line ups). 

He's my best friend - BUDDY GUY

Every time we heard something loud, we identified it as a helicopter and got all hot and bothered. We knew he'd be late.  The radio stations, yes even the local French speaking stations were updating their listeners with hourly bulletins.  The show was on ! 

Meanwhile at Jarry Park, the crowd had long since gathered and was now swelling from the stage.  We found ourselves about three hundred feet from the stage.  I couldn't see didley squat.  My five feet six inches would have permitted me to be a decent view about twelve feet from the stage so I had to make do with what I could.  People were quickly gathering around us and we were quickly gaining a better view from our vantage point in contrast to those arriving only minutes after us.

SRV and Buddy Guy

Nonetheless, we secured good, hard ground.  Albeit not without the routine foot sweeping of your immediate space ensuring no off-edged rocks or sharp twigs break your fall should you pass out from obliterated drinking (ed. - already four beers up and we've just arrived - time elapsed four minutes). 

We heard a helicopter and so wno we freaked out like Beatles chick groupies only to realize that it was some type of sound test.  Not so bad, the tough, cool looking biker guys looked as erratic.  Frank Marino played well and so did Jim Zeller.  This was the first time we had heard of and seen Jim Zeller on harmonica.  All I can say is wow!  These guys seemed to have played past their slotted time by about a half hour.  Everything was sounding the same.  Like great performers, they realized it was time to get off before the audience hinted it. 

We must have waited another 45 minutes and our heart skipped a beat every time we heard something loud thinking it was Stevie Ray's helicopter.  Stevie Ray was to fly non-stop from DFW to Montreal's Dorval Airport then board a helicopter and fly right to the venue, probably 10 minutes away by air.  Next thing you know, the lights go off, what ended up being the helicopter, was audibly imperceptible and had landed without anyone in front of the stage really knowing it.  Like I said, it was f'ing cold in Montreal for this time of year.  Many of us were drinking and finding less ingenious ways of warming up. 

I stumbled on a large log that probably rolled under my legs after my safety sweep.  I went feeling for it with my foot hoping it wasn't round so that I could stand on it for the show.  I love oblong shapes and I loved this log.  Wow now I was six feet tall!  I elbowed my bro-in-law and he followed suit.  He was on a bigger part of the branch, somewhat more of a trunk in fact.  I was standing on the tapered end and struggled to keep my balance but the reward was the clear line of sight to the stage.  Unobstructed, I may add. 

Stevie Ray appeared on stage and opened with Texas Flood.  The most poignant and riveting version you ever heard.  Remember readers, this was Stevie Ray appearing right after his daddy's funeral! 

Suddenly, the log we were standing on came alive like something out of a fantasy movie.  Someone was reaching for my hands from down below.  My bro-in-law and I looked at each other in light amazement but major fear.  We had been standing on a passed out drunk all along!  He was actually reaching to tell us it was ok.  He just made one request and that was to my brother-in-law (ed. - Bob from now one, ok eh?) and that was to stop moving so god damned much!  He mentioned to him then pointed to me in a gesture that seemingly indicated to Bob to follow my example of staying put, calm, and cool.  I even got a smile of approval from the drunk.  Anyways, he let us stand on him for a couple of more songs before eventually getting up and staggering away at a permanent forty-five degree angle. 

I don't remember the rest of the Stevie Ray's set but I do remember the concert as being eventful.  I do remember leaving the show and seeing the drunk by the exit gates still in a horizontal position, somewhat in between a lethargic and lucid state, acknowledging us with a grin.  The grin highlighted guilt that he didn't remember a thing of the show.  He was too plastered or hammered or whatever you want to call it.  I have a memory. 

Bob first turned me on to Stevie Ray's music when I was around seventeen at a time when I didn't care too much for the blues.  I was more a Chuck Berry, Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley type of listener.  Little did I know that these were all offsprings and offshoots of the blues.  Stevie Ray made me hear it.  For me, he brought rock and blues together, while at the same time, separating them.  He made me realize the similarities between the blues and country.  The guitar troubador made me also appreciate country at a time when I thought only Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Conway Twitty, and George Jones existed. 

Like B.B. King said, "He's the man who saved the blues."  Stevie Ray had a great spirit, which he displayed in his anti-apartheid speech dedicated to brotherly love.  Stevie Ray became a special role model for me around 1989 when he turned is life around and sobered up.  He did so for many others as well.  Buddy Guy says, "He's my best friend". 

What happened to the legendary #1 guitar? 

#1 has obviously been retired and legend now surrounds its whereabouts and fate.  I heard it was broken in a museum six months after SRV's death by a fallen girder.  I heard it's in Jimmie's possession.  Imagine what it could fetch at a charitable auction (ed.  Blackie got over a million) 

Stevie Ray Vaughan rest in peace 

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