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When I first met Richie Havens it was like an out of body experience. Being an acoustic guitar player
albeit singer I idolized him. I said Mr Havens I really liked your rendition of Eleanor Right and his response (which says it a!l about this humble giant) yes "isn't that a beautiful song?" Nothing about himself always defaulting to others rarely self. Richie was a wonderful trubador a folk singer who via his unique guitar licks and over the top chording above the fret bar was accomplished by his long fingers and precision baring. ( signature style). Many remember him as the opening act at Woodstock , where he was forced to extend his now historic set when the opening act failed to show due to a travel glitch. Ahhhh FREEDOM sung like never before ripping the living crap out of his guitar with a basic backup group barley audible over the dominance of Richie obviously focused and being a spokesman for a generation. It was a chilling nearly mystical moment in music history like Simon and Garfunkel New York Central Park gig , Judy Collins at the NYC Art Center or Harry Chapin....anywhere.
A few notes on Mr. Havens, IIRC there was a thread on him when he passed on nearly two years ago.
I was lucky to pick up on Richie Havens before the movie "Woodstock" hit theaters in the summer of 1970. I lived for digging through the cut out bins at stores like Woolworth's, Montgomery Wards, Gibson's, etc. etc. in the late 60's/early 70's. Buying lp's at 99 cents certainly appealed to me due to not having a lot of coin to spend. As Havens changed labels from Douglas to MGM to A&M to Elektra to Warner Bros, a lot of his releases ended up in those bins. Kinda sad in a way. Back then it was all about total album sales and high chart position. But what I bought, I liked! Loved his voice!
He was a great interpreter of other peoples material, such as Van Morrision's "Tupelo Honey" and Bob Dylan's "Just Like A Woman." And of course the song that went top 5 in the Summer of '71, his version of the Beatle's classic tune "Here Comes The Sun."
He spent a fair amount of his time on a variety of causes and one of them was one that he co-founded-"National Guard," which was an organization that helps children learn about all things environmental, not only in America but world wide. I regret not seeing him in concert but a couple friends of mine did a couple decades ago at a small venue and said he was one of the most personable people they ever met (both of them had backstage passes.)
Last edited by DOUBLE H; 07-24-2015 at 10:34 AM..
Reason: addition, spelling
He spent a fair amount of his time on a variety of causes and one of them was one that he co-founded-"National Guard," which was an organization that helps children learn about all things environmental, not only in America but world wide. I regret not seeing him in concert but a couple friends of mine did a couple decades ago at a small venue and said he was one of the most personable people they ever met (both of them had backstage passes.)
It's hard to tell from a record or movie but he always seemed like the kind of person I'd like to meet and have strumming away in my living room.
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