Good Morning Gentle Readers,
First time I saw John Stewart was at the Golden Bear in Surf City with Alice and that crazy chick that kept trying to kill herself. Seems like Alice was carrying on with a Seal Beach cop, but I can't recall exactly. The Golden Bear dated to 1926 and had seen some legendary acts. Dizzy Gillespie, The Doors, Steve Martin, BB King, Boingo, John Klemmer, Burritos, and Asleep at the Wheel (to name a couple).
That was before the city decided it didn't meet earthquake standards and bulldozed it for some forgettable plastic redevelopment scheme. They sold the used bricks for somebody's equally forgettable patio. Now used bricks are fake, but then, you could have the real thing and some of the faithful snagged a few from under the wrecking ball.
John Stewart was a small venue kind of guy, the persona and the magic never quite came across as well on vinyl or CD. Except that one he did with Stevie Nicks. And the old stuff with the Trio. I'm still grateful Alice dragged me off to that show.
He wrote Kath's favorite song. Okay, maybe not her all time fave, but close. The one that catapulted the Monkees to fame and fortune. In a Stephen King sort of precursor to reality, before we knew the curtain was falling on the annual 4th of July Bash here at the Casa, all the girls circle danced to Day Dream Believer (several times). You had to be there, but it was a visual worth archiving (except we didn't).
And the original anti-war folk song. Bonus: Gordon Lightfoot's Early Morning Rain.
Time gone to graveyards.
As Always,
TWC
Photo Credit (unless otherwise noted): ©TWC, all rights reserved
