Wikimedia

A week ago today an old friend of mine who I had played guitar with when I was 16 took his own life. I think some of the things that kept running through my head besides the music we played, was the music that he had me listen to. I was grateful for the music I might not have really listened to very carefully if it had not been for him turning me onto some great guitar Gods of our past and it got me thinking…

My friend Tony really turned me onto to musicians that I was not too familiar with but who were geniuses. Take Ten Years After. I fell in love with Alvin Lee, who passed away in March of 2013 due to complications of a surgery, however I will never forget how he played a guitar. This British blues rock band had it going. The sounds of acoustic guitar wailing with a great lead took my breath away as a teenager. The band started in the late 60s and had great songs like I’d Love to Change the World and Hard Monkeys, I always felt Alvin Lee made that band. He was like one of the kings of guitar right up there with Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, or Jeff Beck, which was another guitar God my friend turned me onto.

Jeff Beck, who was one of the original members of the Yardbirds and was what my friend said, one of the greatest guitar players ever. He certainly did change the sounds of music with his extreme distorted guitar. Somewhere I read that he pretty much invented how electric guitar could be used. I am unsure if that is true as I am a real Clapton head, but when I listen to Beck, goose bumps fill my body. The Rolling Stone’s ranked him the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Times.” Beck changes the way guitar was played.

Tony also turned me on to artist Tommy Bolin. I had never heard of Tommy, however I knew the bands he played in like The James Gang and Deep Purple. Who could ever forget Deep Purple? I never paid much attention to him when he played in these bands but paid close attention to Bolin as a solo artist and I quickly began to collect his albums. I think the song “Post Toastee” was one of my favorites by Bolin and the song in itself was a masterpiece. Just as I really started to get into him, Bolin died from an overdose of heroin and all I had left was albums.

Finally the other guitar player my friend turned me onto was Duane Allman from The Allman Brothers Band. I was not a big Southern Rocker at all however; my friend really taught me how to listen to his guitar. Allman introduced me to slide guitar and what it sounded like, he also showed me what playing guitar with heart meant, which is why the music world suffered when at the age of 24, Duane died. It seemed like no other person could take his place, and though I am still not a huge country rocker, I thank my friend for introducing me to Duane.

Come to think of it, I probably would have not listened to any of these all time great guitarist had it not been for my friend who just died. This past week, I have listened some of these great guitar Gods of our past and have fondly said goodbye not only to my friend Tony, but goodbye to some great guitarist.

I was playing a gig this weekend. I saw a guitar player open tuning their guitar. Oh, the sweets sounds of a guitar that is open tuned. It is a richer fuller sound. It rings and the tone is deep. There are so many things you can do with a guitar and open tuning and it certainly got me thinking…

Richie Havens was one of the greatest folk singer I have ever heard. Listening to him over and over as a kid I learned the technique as a young guitar player how to play open tuning. Havens offered me that gift through his music. He also offered me a new way to interpreted songs. He would take cover songs and put a spin on them like no artist I could have ever imagined, and he offered that great gift to me as well. Richie Havens died yesterday at the age of 72 of a heart attack.

When I think about musicians who made the 60s, who forever would be a part of the 60s, Havens had to be one of them. I was a kid, too young to go to Woodstock, but oh, how I have memories of listening to him sing at Woodstock. Who was this man and how could he possibly sound this wonderful? I remember getting albums of Richie’s and listening to them repeatedly. The way he interpreted songs was magnificent. Songs like, Here Comes the Sun, or Just Like A Woman, these were breath taking.  Motherless Child and Freedom is what I will always remember him for.

I was gathering information last night about Havens and did not realize that he was the opening act for Woodstock, perhaps I was too young to remember and too young to remember that he played for three hours. I started seeing him as a kid more and more on TV. This Brooklyn native, whose father was a Native American, loved his sons’ voice and listened to him. Havens reported that his father had a knack for music. His family was very musical and so Havens began a Doo Wop group. At the age of 16, he started a gospel choir. I suspect he knew he had talent so he left NY and headed off to Greenwich Village.

Havens of course got into music and played wherever he could, mainly coffee shops as that was what folk musicians did in the 60s. He soon released some demos and eventually MGM picked him up. In 1967, he recorded his album Mixed Bag, which I thought was a perfect title for this album. On this album remains one of my favorite songs by him which is Dylan’s Just Like a Woman. That was when I noticed his open tuning strumming. I was unsure at first how he achieved to get such sound out of his guitar and making the guitar sound like it was saying grace. A friend of mine said he opened tuned. It was as if he used that guitar almost like a drum. He slammed it and strummed it, and I never recognized his chords. I learned through him how divine opening tuning could be.

He had a successful career and he released more than 25 albums, his last was in 2008. He kept busy by acting in the 70s, and in 2000, he started his own record label called Stormy Forest. Havens was an artist I listened to often. His music soothed the soul as far as I was concerned. It was deep and filled with emotions and feelings. I think that is one thing Havens did the best, he used his voice as utter expression and he used it well.

I will miss Richie Havens, but what I have is a collection of his music, a song in my heart, and the memories of trying to figure out how he got his guitar to sound so rich. Richie Havens was a folk genius who took the music to levels unimaginable for a folk singer. I can guarantee you that rock and roll heaven just got better!

The Pioneer Hotel before the fire. Picture from Wikimedia

I was sitting in my living room today having coffee when I saw the news that Louis Cuen Taylor the man blamed for the Tucson Pioneer Hotel was being released today. Many things went through my head including what it must have been like sitting in a jail for 43 years for a crime he more than likely did not commit. The other thing that was dancing through my mind was how the fire impacted me when I was just twelve years old, and it got me thinking…

I cannot remember how many times our family either drove by or walked by the Pioneer Hotel located at Stone Avenue and Pennington. I remember going inside of this grand hotel and recalling how luxurious it was and how incredibly big it seemed to a 12-year- old. It was one of the biggest buildings in Tucson at the time.

The Pioneer Hotel, which was an Arizona landmark, was eleven stories high. I recall my father, a carpenter, said that the city had every right to complain about the hotel since the fire department at the time could not reach the top floor. Albert Steinfeld built the hotel in 1929 and he made claim the hotel was fireproof and was safe.  He and his wife died that day in the fire.

What I remember so well was the date because December 19 is my parents wedding anniversary and no one is ever to forget their anniversary date! The year was 1970 and at the age of twelve, it was hard to understand how so many people could have died in a fire like that.

I recall the news saying that there were more than 750 people at the hotel that night. The great hotel was hosting a Christmas party for Hughes Aircraft employees and the hotel was packed when the deadly fire broke out.  I kept remembering the news talking about how people were jumping out of the window falling to their deaths. People were talking about how horrific it was to see people leap to their deaths.

For a kid, trying to imagine people jumping to their deaths was enough to create nightmares. I recall telling my parents about my nightmares and my mother would tell me not to watch the news. However, you did not have to watch the news. The talk of the fire was everywhere. It seemed like there was someone at school, or at church, or the grocery store that lost someone in the fire. It was impossible to not hear about the day Tucson lost the most people in one tragic event.

My dreams eventually went away, but the pain in my heart would stay there. Being rather empathic, even at twelve, I felt the scar that this would leave on Tucson and so many residents that lived here. The loss that day was profound.

Today, Louis Cuen Taylor who turns 59 this week and was a 16-year-old boy when fingers began to point at him, will walk away from this tragic event as well and walk into his freedom. Experts are saying that this fire might not have been arson. In fact, even the trial judge stated he would not have convicted Taylor.

For those who live here in Tucson and lived here when the fire broke out, December 19, 1970 will be a day we will never forget. It was the day the Pioneer Hotel burned down and killed 29 people. It was a day where one of Tucson’s tallest buildings no longer stood tall. It was a day where fire regulations began to change. It was a day that for some like me will forever remain as a cruel reminder that bad things happen to good people.

Do you recall the Pioneer Hotel fire?