GonzoToday
  • Pages
    • Front Page
    • Featured content
    • The GonzoToday Interview
    • Commentary
    • Poetry
    • ART
    • News
    • Travel
  • Music
    • Music videos
    • Music Reviews
  • Columns
    • The Publisher Pontificates
    • Greetings from Scranton
    • The Vinyl Vault
  • Fiction
    • Flying Trees Publishing
    • Books
    • Short Stories
    • FAN Fiction
  • Flying Trees Publishing
  • About
    • Our staff
    • About GonzoToday.com
    • Mission Statement
  • Submissions
  • Log In

Stevie Ray Vaughan 25 Years Gone By

August 27, 2015 Kidman J. Williams Commentary, Front page, Music, News 0

Tweet

By: Kidman J. Williams

SRVImageWhen you are twelve years old you really don’t have an idea of who you are.  You don’t know what you really like and don’t like.  Your whole identity is made by your parents.  At twelve you really are just starting that long road of defining who and what you will be.

Sometimes it is just a natural toe dipping that starts you on the path of self-discovery.  In some cases, like mine, you are grabbed by your ankles and tossed into it like a sack of garbage banging off the back of a dumpster.  That was the case 25 years ago when I came in and saw the news of Stevie Ray Vaughan dying.

I walked into the house to see my Father just looking in amazement at the television screen.  He was slack-jawed as I was listening to the claims that Stevie’s chopper went down after a show at Alpine Valley.  At that point, the only thing I really knew about SRV was that my Father loved him and I loved the music that he did.  It grabbed me like electricity grabs you and then catapults you from the initial grounding.

As I listened to MTV’s John Norris speak about SRV and show clips I became more and more involved.  I became much more aware of everything.  I looked over at my Father.  A man who I never saw cry was getting choked up.  That was the power and love that came through to people when SRV played.  It was soul shaking.

John Norris continued talking about how the helicopter hit a man-made ski hill during the dense fog that was very well known around Alpine Valley:

“Stevie could have been driven out of Alpine Valley in a van, but gave his seat to someone else and opted instead for the ill fated chopper.”

My heart sunk when I heard John Norris say that and I wasn’t even totally sure why at twelve.  It wasn’t like I personally knew him.  He wasn’t my Uncle Stevie.  But even at that green age, even though I couldn’t understand it, my heart and mind knew that the Earth lost a major force; we lost a small part of happiness in the world.

It wasn’t until later in life that I really understood what the world lost with SRV.  Vaughan seemed to touch everyone around him.  You never hear a bad word about him from those who knew and met him.

We can still feel his musical impact every time a young kid picks up the guitar and tries to play a blues scale.  We can still feel his hurricane like presence in the room when Pride and Joy hits our speakers.  We should feel honored to carry on just an ounce of the passion that SRV had for people and music.

Share :

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)

Related

  • 25 Years
  • Guitar
  • John Norris
  • kidman williams
  • Pride and Joy
  • SRV
  • Stevie Ray
  • Stevie Ray Vaughan
Previous

Civil Rights Matriarch dies at age 104

Next

Doll on 54th

SUBSCRIBE TO GONZOTODAY.COM

SEARCH OUR ARCHIVES

Support GonzoToday.com by buying our books... thanks!

or purchase directly through Amazon.com

Music video vibe

“Blackbird” by Sir Paul McCartney

Featured Content

  • 5 Irish Beers That Are Better Than Guinness This Saint Patty’s Day

    March 17, 2023 0
  • Put Warren Zevon in the HOF NOW

    March 6, 2023 0
  • The News Mainstream Media Doesn’t Want You to See

    March 6, 2023 0
  • An Early Parade

    March 6, 2023 0
  • Grammys 2023 Brings Out the Best in Journalism

    February 12, 2023 0
  • A Trip Through Ocean City

    January 29, 2023 0
  • Martin Luther King Jr Died Twice

    January 19, 2023 0
  • So, about Sierra Drummond’s new song “Signs”

    December 14, 2022 0
  • Death of The Killer: Jerry Lee Lewis

    October 30, 2022 0
  • amethyst crystals

    A Sparkling Amethyst Tour in Uruguay

    September 15, 2022 0
  • Traveling Light in a Heavy World

    Todo esta muy tranquilo en Uruguay

    September 8, 2022 0
  • We Need More Gays

    August 8, 2022 0
  • Chapter 1 from The Community Garden … more than tomatoes are dying

    July 21, 2022 0
  • Corrupt

    July 18, 2022 0
  • Armageddon

    Glory to the Heroes

    July 14, 2022 0
  • Remembering Ryan Leone: Author, Filmmaker, and My Friend

    July 13, 2022 0
  • Don’t Run Again, Joe – Greetings from Scranton

    July 6, 2022 0
  • The Relevance of Elvis

    June 29, 2022 0
  • Knock Out Racism 

    June 27, 2022 0
  • Gonzo News Update – Sunday, June 26, 2020

    June 27, 2022 0

Hunter S. Thompson 1937-2005

Art
  • ART | How to paint like Ralph STEADman

    September 19, 2017 0
  • The Great Red Shark by Joey Feldman

    July 7, 2017 0
  • “People’s Fears” by Joey Feldman

    November 15, 2016 0

SUBSCRIBE TO GONZOTODAY.COM

Shorts
  • My Encounter with Hunter

    December 21, 2017 0
  • Drug Run | Chapters 1-10

    November 15, 2017 0
  • God’s Grace: An Abortion Story

    September 2, 2015 0
Music
  • Celebrating a Half Century of the Music of Frank Zappa

    June 5, 2017 0
  • Album Review: The Damn Truth’s Devilish Folk

    April 10, 2017 0
  • The Doors First Album and Mary Werbelow: 50 Years on

    December 30, 2016 0
Read more from our writers
The GonzoToday Interview
  • An Interview with Heathcote Williams

    July 7, 2017 0
  • A Quick Talk with Benicio Del Toro

    April 22, 2016 0
  • CIA Whistleblower John C. Kiriakou: the Gonzo Today Interview

    April 2, 2015 0

Copyright © 2023 | WordPress Theme by MH Themes

 

Loading Comments...
 

You must be logged in to post a comment.