A pin drop? I am surprised you didn't hear a gun going off.
Them's Fight'n Words!
Well, now you can see what I mean about some people. How can you
blame the guy for being off when he gets a question like that from time to time.
Someone put that person up to it I am sure. Most people would have more
brain cells then to ask that kind of a question of Monroe himself. Clearly,
this person had a chip on their shoulder about something.
In 1974 I was in Denver Colorado at a festival... it turned out to be
a very colorful experience for me. Some good, some bad.
I did get to take this GREAT picture of Baker flipping off Monroe. Classic!
If I ever write a book I will dig that one out.
Baker wanted to go off somewhere after their performance and Monroe
wanted him to stay near by. Baker was having a hissy fit, you know...
turning around fast and stomping his feet... that kind of thing.
And about that time I said "Baker, I want to take a picture".
Baker said, "I'll give you a picture!" :-)
SOooo I have this photo of Monroe walking away to the right of frame
and about 5 feet behind him Kenny Baker is holding his fiddle by his belt line,
glaring at Monroe.
And... with his right hand holding his fiddle, he is flipping him off. Classic!
I printed one out on paper for Baker and titled it "The Best In Tension".
The night we got there, I was with Kim... the girl in the Bean Blossom 1975
photo pages, Monroe was on stage and had been on stage for a bit.
Picture this, it is dark out. The stage has the Bluegrass Boys with Monroe
on it. The audience is pretty good in size. Everyone is listening to
Monroe's show. What could be better for a summer night?
Monroe starts to play Kentucky Mandolin. The audience is riveted...
You can sense the magic in the air...
Then some 20ish shirtless guy stands up and yells out at FULL VOICE,
"Hey, Mike! Over Here! Mike! Hey!"
Monroe... stops in mid tune.
He looks up slowly... and out into the audience at this guy.
It was like that Twilight Zone where everything on the planet is frozen in time.
Total Quiet falls over the audience!
It was like that for what seemed an eternity. However,
when I moved my gaze from Monroe to this guy... he had vanished
into thin air! It was only 2 to 3 seconds... but poof! Gone!
It was like Monroe vaporized this guy! :-)
After a moment Monroe started Kentucky Mandolin again.
This time Nobody said a word.
Now...
The last story I would be wise to put in another post because
it will surely fail the censor's test here. I would not want to
have this post taken down over a story about Jack Cook which
involved my girlfriend at the time, Kim.
So, if I post it, you had better read it fast...
I have to think about this...
Kim was a babe! However, she wasn't perfect...
She hadn't been around the south much... and she
thought Jack Cook was French because of his accent.
The story goes downhill from there. :-)
...to be continued.
Jim Moss
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