06-06-06

Yesterday, I made it through to the end of the neg sheets, except some that have multiple bands on them and a few stragglers that are in single sleeves as opposed to sheets. When I looked at my two sheets of Al Stewart - remember Year of the Cat? - I saw a bunch of backstage shots including a few of me (no idea who I let use my camera) so decided to scan them. When I saw this zany character's face......I instantly remembered everything about him. Which was: he was the happiest musician I ever met and he liked to have fun, as evidenced by this second photo:
...oh, and he didn't seem to mind me leaning on him.

The only thing I didn't instantly remember about him was his name. I immediately googled Al Stewart and found an 'alumni' link on his site. And as soon as I saw the name, Peter White, I was 99% sure that was his name. Clicked on the link to Peter White's website. Looking at the pictures on his site, I'm now 99.5% sure it's him. And lo and behold, he lives in L.A. I decide to email him a backstage group shot, with the 'I can get out of this if I have the wrong guy statement' of "I believe that's you on the left." Generally, I don't mind being wrong...I just don't like the feeling of humiliation that goes along with it. So, in my email, I left out the part that I totally remembered him because he was the happiest musician I ever met, etc., just in case.

Peter wrote back and indeed he is who I thought. And he graciously accepted my offer to show him all the photos I took of the show, so hopefully we will get together soon. He was also kind enough to officially identify everyone in the photo, including Peter Wood (who I also instantly remembered). And sadly, he informed me that Peter had passed away in 1993.

On top of that news, I just heard that Billy Preston passed away today. I took down the picture of him with George Harrison because I think it may be the only one I have of him so I need to save it for the book. Hopefully, you all had a preview look.

So, that makes 10 additions to my dead rock star (and blues and country and jazz) list, expanding it to a whopping 42. That's just way too many talented people in proportion to the number of bands I shot. I really hope the list ends here:

Michael Bloomfield
Marc Bolan (T-Rex)
John Bonham (Led Zeppelin)
Tim Buckley
Paul Butterfield
Ronnie Barron (Paul Butterfield Better Days, John Mayall)
Albert (the Master of the Telecaster) Collins
Papa John Creach (Jefferson Airplane)
John Denver
Tom Evans (Badfinger)
John Fahey
Rory Gallagher
Jerry Garcia (Grateful Dead)
Lowell George (Little Feat)
Maurice Gibb (Bee Gees)
Mike Gibbins (Badfinger)
Keith Godchaux (Grateful Dead)
Pete Ham (Badfinger)
George Harrison (The Beatles)
Alex Harvey
Bob Hite (Canned Heat)
Hollywood Fats
John Lee Hooker
Waylon Jennings
Terry Kath (Chicago)
Rick Nelson
Harry Nilsson
Gene Pitney
Billy Preston
Hank Snow
Darrell Sweet (Nazareth)
Stanley Turrentine
Jane Vasey (Downchild Blues Band)
Hock Walsh (Downchild Blues Band)
Muddy Waters
Carl Wilson (Beach Boys)
Dennis Wilson (Beach Boys)
Jimmy Witherspoon
Peter Wood (Al Stewart, Roger Waters)
Tammy Wynette
Mighty Joe Young
Frank Zappa