A really nice piece is the flyer for Jim Carroll's spoken word tour. There's no date but it was either '93 or '94, March 6th. My Benson night school English teacher introduced me to his work in late '74 or early '75. I'm not sure what she read from whether it was something of his published in a newspaper, a lit journal, ...? but when Basketball Diaries was published I bought it right away. Same with the Catholic Boy LP. I then followed him up until his death a few years ago. When I saw him on this spoken word tour, he was visibly shaking, some combination maybe of methadone and nerves. But he was brilliant. It made me feel bad when I realized how deeply fragile he really was. His I Want the Angel is one of my most played mp3s and I use the poem as my personal mantra. A link to a much later performance is here.
Other things here are copies, and they're noted. One is a DVD of Bob Gardiner teaching a film class at PCVA in the mid 70s. This was right about the time he and I were friends, when he was living at the Lawn apartments. He kept his Oscar on top of his dusty fridge, he kept his keyboard at PCVA, and I would sit cross legged on the floor for hours listening to him ramble around. He died a few years ago from suicide. He was 54. He had suffered from the effects of schizophrenia on and off forever.
A hand written arrangement of the jazz standard Laura, for which I was named, by my father Wayne Davis. Key of F, a Four Freshman sound.
Peter Frampton 9x11 glossy what looks to be a PeeChee folder type picture? On cardboard, good shape, "To Laurie."
Jackson Browne Hold Out tour, 197? - autograph on yellow legal pad lined paper, not great shape (smudged) and photocopied set list which they followed.
@ Portland coliseum. I'd worked the show a couple days before too in Seattle. (I must have been working for the road crew though I don't remember anyone specific, nor even which sound or light company. I remember I drove my VW Bug up with Rudi Battjes, who was a drummer at the time for the PDX band Stories. Maybe it was a drummer gig then, don't know. I do know it was a union show because when I worked it the day or two later I was union by then.) It was the third time I saw Jackson in concert and I haven't seen him since. I followed his first six albums hard. I know Late for the Sky and For Everyman by heart, every nuance. I know what key the songs are in and who's in the backup band and who was supposed to be and who couldn't because he was sick.
The first time I met Jackson was when I went backstage with Bob Gardiner in 1976 as guests of Pacific Alliance. Gardiner was there because he and Will Vinton had continued their Amazing Adventures in Plastacine by creating the animated cooling tower skit as a commercial for PA. Jackson was touring with Warren (RIP) Zevon, the No Nukes is Good Nukes tour. (Zevon's final song, Keep Me in Your Heart, is what I used as music in the tribute to my brother). I consider that night backstage at the Paramount Theater in Portland, Oregon as the most significant moment in my life.
