The Funeral of Pinetop Perkins, Austin TX, 3/28/11
I managed to get off work at noon so I could rush to Jon's house and we could meet his mandolin partner Rich and Jon's other partner, the great singer D, at Rich's house for the drive to Austin. Pinetop Perkins had been on one of Rich's CD and it's an incredible story of how that happened, which I found out at the funeral and which I'll tell in a minute here. D and Pinetop were very close; so close that he would come to visit her in Houston and they'd spend time together. She'd cook for him, etc., and they drove together from Houston to Austin and played together at festivals, etc. Jon of course was lucky enough to play w/Pinetop several times (on that note, so was my dear friend Rozzy!). I was just along to pay my respects and I felt soooo grateful to be there with them.
We got to Austin to the funeral home and it was a who's who of legends up in there. Bob Margolin for cryin' out loud (who is also very close w/Jon and D) and who I was totally starstruck to meet, his having been featured in my favorite damn movie of ALL TIME. Marcia Ball. Chris Layton. James Cotton. Willie "Big Eyes" Smith. There was a PA and instruments set up, ready for the musical tributes. And it was all so overwhelming and touching and I got to meet Pinetop's people. Here's a writeup of the funeral. Here's photos from the day, and you can see the back of Jon and the back/top of my head in photo #28 (we're on the right, sitting in a pew towards the front--Jon has his arm draped over the back of the pew and he's wearing a black jacket and you can see his light purple shirt collar). At one point I was at the coffin, looking at Pinetop (both Jon and Rich have a distaste for doing so and neither could do it) and James Cotton came up and stood next to me. Later on, after the funeral was over I spoke to him, telling him how much I'd enjoyed his singing when he opened for Levon a few years ago and he asked me to tell Levon hi for him next time I saw him. Which I certainly will, should I get the chance!
And BTW, the story of Pinetop playing on Rich's CD is this: a few years ago the Grammy's decided to give Pinetop a lifetime achievement Grammy. But they wouldn't pay to fly him out to L.A. for the ceremony and Pinetop couldn't afford it!!!!!!!!!!!! So Rich, who was living in L.A. at the time, offered to pay to fly him out, put him up at a hotel, and Pinetop could record the tracks on Rich's CD the weekend of the Grammy's. And that's what happened. A win-win situation for EVERYONE concerned. BTW, Pinetop was buried wearing his Grammy medallion around his neck.
After much tears and music and laughter (the opening song was one of Pinetop's more well-known numbers that he always did [sometimes twice if he forgot he'd already played it!!!], "How Long" and Margolin sang it and actually, it's one of my favorite songs, we visited w/a few more people (Jon's gal pal was also there, the same one we'd ran into the week before in Austin) and we came THISCLOSE to going to EAT w/Margolin but in the end he realized he had to go set up at Antone's for the musical tribute so the 4 of us just went to grab a bite at Carlos Santana's restaurant which is a block behind Antone's. D and I enjoyed margaritas and actually, the food was pretty darn good. Then we traipsed over to the packed house at Antone's, where D and Jon were expected to play, as Margolin was running the whole shindig.
We sat in Pinetop's manager's reserved, guest of honor seats section. Truly, I was trying to take the whole day in with stride and coolness but inside I was like "OhMyGod this is all so amazing and I'm rubbing elbows with these legends of blues and business and AAAAAAAHHHHH!" but I knew Jon expected me to behave myself so I tried my very best to do so. Actually I did see a couple of people I knew, including a favorite comic writer of mine who just married a friend of ours and I gave him a big hug. Later I ran into her too and gave her several hugs. BTW she has just recorded her latest album at Levon's studio--LUCKY!!!!! In truth, no one deserves it more than she, as she's a killer talent and genuine sweetheart. I also ran into another friend of ours who is a virtuoso and master of the Chapman Stick and when Jon and D finally got up onstage to do 2 songs (at midnight, unfortunately, and we were bone weary tired by then) I danced with my pal and his wife. And yes--I would have sold my right ass to get up with them and I was praying to God that I'd be allowed to do so but it didn't happen--Margolin played bass with them. Oh well. It ain't my time yet I guess.
After they did 1 song D sang her a cappella song that she's known for and brought the whole house to a hush. Then we got the heck out of there--D was miffed that she'd been forced to wait so long to get up, but come on--James Cotton, Marcia Ball, Bob Margolin, Big Eyes Smith, HAD to play first! They're international superstars/recording artists, and so are D and Jon but not nearly at that level, so come on. Anyway, we got home to Houston around 4am and I went to work the next day, heart full of the whole experience. Here's Margolin's touching writeup of the whole day, including loving words towards Jon and D.
Ok, so tomorrow I have GOT to write about last weekend in Austin (again! Chuckle, I can't seem to stay away from that town lately) and then the beautiful time I had this past Monday-Weds. in Columbus OH, playing bass for Jon and other blues notables, for a good cause.
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