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THOUGHTS & WORDS: READER FEEDBACK
Batch #3: August 5, 1997
About Thoughts & Words
Thoughts & Words is a place for reader responses to ByrdWatcher. It's analogous to the letter column of a magazine. (Just as all magazines do, ByrdWatcher reserves the right to edit any correspondence, and the right to decide which correspondence to run on this site.) Questions, comments, criticisms and queries are all welcome at byrds@ebni.com. Names, handles, and E-mail addresses of correspondents will be published unless the writer asks that they be withheld or leaves them off the message. Looking forward to hearing from you...
Earlier batches of Thoughts and Words are archived on seperate pages which can be reached by using the links below:#1: April 18, 1997
#2: June 16, 1997
#3: August 5, 1997
Current
Hi ByrdWatchers. This is the third batch of reader reactions to the site. You can reach the first two batches or the current letters with the Navigation Bar or the link in the left-hand column.
Before we get to those letters, though, I'd like to relate a brief story of ByrdWatching, up close.
On July 22, 1997, I had the pleasure of seeing Roger McGuinn perform at Wilbert's in my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. It's the third time I'd seen him do the Live from Mars show, but thanks to the club's intimacy and McGuinn's obvious enthusiasm, it was perhaps the best performance of the three.
I also had the pleasure of meeting Steve Termeer face-to-face. Steve runs the ReByrdth trading circle and hails from Oxford, Ohio, and we had spoken on the phone a number of times but never met in person. (Send an e-mail message to ptermeer@tlcnet.muohio.edu for info on joining ReByrdth.) Steve brought along his friend George Felton, and three of us had a dandy time at dinner and the show. Meeting folks as friendly and helpful as Steve and George has been one of the highlights of working on the ByrdWatcher site. George sent some great pictures of the evening, and some older shots as well, and gave permission for me to post them here. (Thanks, George!) You'll find links to all the pictures on the Page called What's New on This Site; the shot of McGuinn's face on the Welcome Page is also a detail from one of George's older photos.
After the show, McGuinn signed autographs and posed for pictures with fans, as he very often does. I spoke to him for a few brief moments -- there was a long line of people behind me, so it wasn't long. I mentioned that I was "the guy who did ByrdWatcher" and thanked him for a good show. He sort of nodded and didn't say anything, so it wasn't really clear to me whether he realized that I was referring to this website (or whether he even knows of its existence, for that matter). He very graciously posed for this picture with me, but given his non-committal response, readers should not construe this photo as an endorsement of the site by McGuinn. Still, it's such a nice picture I just had to share it with you. Thanks again, George!
 Copyright © 1997 George Felton. McGuinn kindly poses for a picture with the author after a dynamite show at Wilbert's, Cleveland, Ohio, July 22, 1997. |
You'll notice from my T-shirt that I'm a fan of Wilco. You can imagine how pleased I was to see that band backing McGuinn on a VH-1 special less than a week later. Anyone who missed it should check the listings for VH-1; their programs are usually rerun a few times.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled Thoughts and Words...
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 19:48:06 +0000
From: Eric Meyer (eric.meyer@snet.net)
Subject: I've just discovered Byrdwatcher!!
Hi, Tim! What a treat. I've just discovered your labor of
love. It's great to find so many Byrds fans out there. I've got you
beat by about 20 years in terms of becoming a Byrdmaniac -- I've been
there since the very beginning. I certainly will be checking in
regularly to Byrdwatcher from now on. Thanks for a great job.
Oh, by the way, I'm also a huge Kinks fan!
Eric
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 16:16:31 -0800
From: Craig Buzzart (buzco@earthlink.net)
Subject: Great Site. Clarence and his Noble Guitars
Way cool site. My name is Craig Buzzart ("Buz") and I was one of those 1960s guys hanging around the Troubador with Gene Clark and Jim McGuinn. (I'm sorry, he played in a band I was in right after he came out from Chicago, and to me he'll always be Jim.) I currently own CB Alyn Guitarworks and am co-owner of Roy Noble Custom Guitars.
When I worked at Roy's in the mid sixties, we rebuilt Clarence White's Martin D-28 with a new top and new neck; that guitar is currently owned by Tony Rice. Roy built two other guitars for Clarence. We have located one of the two guitars, the simple Brazilian one now in the possession of Harry Hopkins in Kentucky.
The other guitar had Gretsch cloud inlays on the fingerboard. We at Roy Noble Guitars are trying to locate that one to take measurements off of. John Delgatto of Sierra records and Michelle Wright have given us the okay to replicate the guitars the guitars Roy built for Clarence.
Thanks a ton for the kind words, Buz. They mean a lot coming from those of you who were there at the time. I'm sure Clarence White fans will be excited to read about your plan to replicate his guitars. Can anyone out there advise Buz about the whereabouts of the other guitar?
Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 02:02:33 -0400 (EDT)
From: Uldis Kundrats (uldisk@netcom.ca)
Subject: Hard Copies of ByrdWatcher Content
I think it would be a great idea to have available a nicely-produced
hard-copy version of the contents of ByrdWatcher. I would suggest,
though, that you consider adding something "extra" to the
package -- perhaps some submissions by readers of Byrdwatcher or material from your own files which hasn't appeared in Byrdwatcher.
Your articulate style of writing adds a great deal to the message
you're trying to communicate -- you use words well and at many points,
your prose soars just the way that the best of Byrds music does. Your
entries are worth re-reading just to appreciate the way you've
expressed your thoughts.
Thanks for a great addition to the Byrds presence on the Internet!
All the best,
Uldis
Uldis, I'm extremely grateful for your generous comments. I'm also flattered that you're interested in a hard copy of the site. If enough other people were interested, I would investigate the economics of doing such a thing. My guess is that, short of having it published commercially, there would be no way to do it at an affordable price. (I estimate that the site would equal about 240 printed pages, so far.)
Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 23:57:46 -0700
From: Dale DeDoorknob (dlky24@inconnect.com)
Subject: Byrds
Excellent taste, I must say! "Sisters fled like confusion boats
mutiny from stern to bow... Good and bad I defined these terms
Quite clear..no doubt...somehow..." "My Back Pages" -- one masterpiece
I never grow tired of. Site is outta sight... keep on rockin'.
Dale
Date: Sat, 03 May 1997 19:17:09 +0900
From: Koji Kihara (koa7@urban.or.jp)
Subject: Rare Clarence White Recordings
Hello! Your ByrdWatcher site is very nice! I'm a fan of Clarence White and the music of the other members of the Byrds. I'm collecting their records. Clarence is one of my favorite guitarists. I have many rare Clarence White records, and have opened my own Clarence Discography webpages at http://www.urban.or.jp/home/koa7/byrds.htm. I think your readers might enjoy them. I'll be adding more pages to my site, so be sure to check back regularly. (I've also added a link to your site.)
Koji Kihara
JAPAN
Hi Koji, thank you for your kind words about the site, and for linking to ByrdWatcher from your Clarence White Pages. Anyone who loves Clarence White should click on the link to Koji's site posthaste. There you will find detailed scans of an incredible collection of Clarence White recordings. Congratulations on assembling such an impressive collection, Koji, and thanks for putting it up on the web for all to see.
By reading Koji's pages, I discovered the Clarence White Chronicles, an online mailing list run by another Japanese fan, Etsuo Eito. The list is in English. Anyone who would like to join the list should send an e-mail message to colonels@ac.mbn.or.jp.
Date: Wed, 07 May 1997 21:08:51 -0700
From: Larry Dunlap (dianab@hp-cv.cv.hp.com)
Subject: Clarence White Discography
Clarence was in the process of making an album at the time of his death. Four songs from these sessions were released on a compilation album called Silver Meteor on Warner Brothers. Also on this album are Everly Brothers cuts that Clarence played on. His solo cuts are great and include a superb rendition of "The Last Thing on My Mind" by
Tom Paxton. Sierra will probably include the four cuts on
their upcoming retrospective, but they are available on collector vinyl now.
Larry Dunlap
Thanks for correcting what I consider to be a pretty glaring omission, Larry. Not sure how I managed to leave that one out originally, but I've now added it to the Clarence White Discography. I've also added a few items that I learned about from Koji's Clarence site.
Date: Sat, 17 May 1997 22:12:07 -0500
From: Laurence R. Baker (labcbaker@bignet.net)
Subject: Byrdwatcher
What a delightful surprise to find the site. It looks great! (And I
have bookmarked it.)
Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 18:35:22 -0400
From: David Alan Goldberg (dag@cyberdude.com)
Subject: ByrdWatching in Cyberspace!
Hey Tim,
I've already seen a respectable amount of information on The
Byrds and Gram Parsons, but this truly beats all. This is an extremely
scholarly source of one of the most universally
perfect bands to bridge the gap between Aquarius and the Grand Ole Opry.
World-weary folk magnified by ringing
Rickenbackers amplified, eventually hitting the dusty trail
toward Cosmic American Music.
Bravissimo! `xx xxxx^
My compliments to the chefs!!! xx xxx
xxx xxxx
David Alan Goldberg xxxx xxxxx xxx
Charlotte, North Carolina xxxx xxxxx xxx
dag@cyberdude.com xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
May 19th, 1997 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
v xxx
vv
By the way, folks, don't forget about the ByrdWatcher Trivia Contest. So far I've had only one response, from VMalatesta@aol.com. V's guesses are, respectively, right, half right, wrong, right, and one-third right. I know someone out there has all the answers!
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