I was reminiscing the other day with my buddy, Seattle bassist John "The Savage" Lee, about a memorable gig we played with the late, great blues guitarist Isaac Scott back in the late '70s. This job was at a tavern on Vashon Island. Guitarist Jerry Christie was also on this gig, but neither John nor I could recall who the drummer was.
Have you ever heard the Wild Child Butler tune "Hippie Playground?" Well, that was a pretty apt name for Vashon Island in the '70s. Especially in the fall, you know, during the mushroom harvesting season. Such lovely dancing by the bar patrons during that time of the year...
But I digress. When we arrived at the tavern, Isaac was complaining that he didn't feel well and had an upset stomach. Just before we were to begin playing, he started looking really bad. He suddenly took off towards the end of the stage where an old upright piano was parked. He then pulled open the front panel of the piano and threw up into the piano for a good long time. When he was done puking, he closed the piano up, and, apparently refreshed, commenced to playing the gig.
Now here's the mystery - I was telling this story a couple of weeks ago to Kim Field, another harp player that worked with Isaac many times. Kim said that he was familiar with the story because it happened at a gig that he was playing! What the...?!
So, here's what the inquiring minds at Jet City Blues want to know: how many players recall gigs where Isaac Scott threw up into a piano? I mean, this is going to turn into an apocryphal story into a few more years.
We await your feedback on this vital issue.
Isaac Scott, playing a different piano at the G-Note Tavern in Seattle, sometime in the mid-'80s.
3 comments:
Well, I was there the same night as Kim, when Isaac threw up in the piano THAT time, anyway. Isaac liked to tell the same well-worn stories over and over, and it wouldn't surprise me a bit that he would use a stunt like throwing up in the piano more than once - with a new audience of sidemen! (Dalton)
Ah hah! Were you guys on Vashon island when this happend? Upright or grand piano?
OK, that's two times - anybody else? I've got to ask Steve Bailey about this the next time I see him.
Yes, it was the long-suffering upright piano at the Evergreen Tavern on Vashon - the same place where a bunch of Bikers came in one summer night with a tablecloth full of mushrooms picked that afternoon and got the whole bar, most certainly including the band, very, very high! I also recall one Fourth of July at the Evergreen when the fellas were setting off off quarter sticks of TNT in the parking lot - the whole building would seem to jump a few inches every time another explosion went off out there... but hey, nobody minded - it was just another Fourth on Vashon, back before the yuppies started moving in!
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