The recent news of the passing of Tina Turner (May 24, 2023) had me looking for the television special “John Denver and the Ladies” where John performed one of his songs with Tina Turner. I had forgotten about the little ‘shtick’ they did when John introduced Tina….very iconic of the silly stuff that television producers wanted out of John. It was funny and cute though, I’m glad it was included in this YouTube video, shared in the John Denver Channel.
After the ‘shtick’ John and Tina went on to perform “Downhill Stuff” a song John wrote. The song is a little bit about skiing, and a little bit about letting go.
It’s funny (ironic, maybe) that neither John nor Tina had it easy….Tina had to fight very hard for her solo career and John had to fight very hard to shake the ‘gosh-golly’ image that was forced upon him. In the end, they were both successful beyond their wildest dreams but if they wrote a song about getting there, it would be more like ‘Uphill Battle’ rather than ‘Downhill Stuff.’
It looks like they put John’s band on the set as well as Tina’s band…seeing that there were 2 drum sets and multiple players doubling on other instruments. It was fun to recognize the very famous saxophone/flute player Jim Horn – also James Burton on electric guitar, Hal Blane (RIP) on the drums, Denny Brooks (RIP) on acoustic guitar (right next to John). Do you recognize anyone else?
Jim and Anne at the Coffee Gallery Backstage – Photo by Valerie Nestrick
We are all sad to witness another “end of an era” after hearing the announcement that the Coffee Gallery Backstage in Altadena, California will be permanently closed. Backstage owner, Bob Stane, made this very difficult decision while recovering from a recent hospitalization.
The 49 seat Coffee Gallery Backstage was truly a unique and very special place for us as performers as well as the audience; more of a listening room than a Coffee shop and owner Bob Stane was more of a friend than a proprietor.
Here is the official creative description of CGB from their website:
The room “location” is a coffee bean warehouse somewhere in Central America. You are comfortably stranded while your cruise ship rides out a storm at the mouth of the river. You, fortunately, are ashore and have stumbled upon this warehouse where a group of musical and witty, mostly American, expatriates are earning their cups of exotic coffee by entertaining with voice, guitar and humor.
There seems to be a never-ending supply of them; it is almost always a different group every week night. The entertainers seem to be overjoyed with this bean storage facility as the audience is starved for “good” music and comedy and no machinery of any kind makes a sound while they are performing. Grinders are not allowed. Each individual bean is crushed, quietly, by hand by underpaid field workers.
Jim and I were regular performers at the Coffee Gallery Backstage, and we appreciated the “no grinder” rule more than anything. We could sing the softest, sweetest John Denver Ballad and never heard a pin drop from the actual coffee shop outside the backstage room.
We called Bob Stane “The Voice of God” as he liked to make announcements through a microphone he kept close at hand from his seat in a darkened corner of the room. Bob ran the lights and sound and occasionally the air conditioner (if we begged him to) and he would gleefully announce to the audience the availability of indoor plumbing and lead everyone in the “seductive dimming of the lights” ceremony at the beginning of each show.
We love you and will miss you Bob! There is not or will ever be anything like the Coffee Gallery Backstage. We continue to wish you a full recovery (nothing else will do….) and lots of joy in your garden for many seasons to come.
We are all familiar with the “April Showers Bring May Flowers” saying. But what do you get with March showers in Southern California? The answer to that is WEEDS….lots of them! We have a big back yard and we mostly grow food in the garden so we don’t use herbicides of any kind. Our cool and rainy winter provided the perfect growing conditions for a bumper crop of weeds.
It wasn’t until now that we’ve had time to focus on the mess in the yard – but I am anxious to begin planting my spring/summer vegetables so I need to make room! Jim is pulling out the big ones and I am getting the little ones…yay teamwork!!
So if you don’t hear from us for a while – you know why! We need to get this done, then get ready for a road-tour by the end of April. Check our website calendar for upcoming dates and locations. https://jimcurrymusic.com/future-concerts
You may recall a photo I posted in December. An incredibly talented wood carver, Jim Miller, came to one of our concerts and surprised us with a carving of Jim and his guitar.
We love this little guy! He sits on a shelf in our living room and makes us smile.
Jim Curry, Jim Miller and “Little Jim”
Flautist Diane Ireland loved the carving too and she took a picture of it. Then she did something unusual – she animated the carving with a downloadable app to make it sing! The photo of the carving was animated by the app and a soundtrack of Jim singing “Country Roads” was added.
This is just for fun and it’s a fascinating thing to see something brought to life this way.…are you amazed at this technology? Or is it just a little frightening?
Just a few days ago (Jan 28) we were performing our John Denver tribute concert with the Bartlesville Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra played beautifully and from the first notes of “Rocky Mountain High” to the very last note of “Poems, Prayers and Promises” we were all transported by the lyrics and music of John Denver.
Near the end of the concert, I invited the audience to visit our website to read my monthly blog. I also mentioned that January 28 was the unhappy anniversary of the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster (which happened in 1986) and that there was a John Denver connection.
Here it is:
John Denver loved being a pilot and he had a strong desire to experience space flight. He helped develop a program where citizens could go on NASA space missions, and was in line to be one of those citizens, having passed all the physical and mental tests required to qualify him for space flight. John hoped to be the FIRST in line, but that was not to be – school teacher Christa McAuliffe was selected instead. McAuliffe was chosen to fly on the Challenger space shuttle, which broke apart 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all 7 crew members.
John was inspired to write a song in memory of the Challenger crew called, “Flying for Me.” I included the link below if you would like to listen to the song, including John’s introduction.
Flying for Me
Trivia Alert! There is also a rumor that the instrumental ending of the song is the exact same time as the total flight time of the Challenger mission. I couldn’t find any official statement about that so I timed it….. 73 seconds.
"It was an amazing evening. We have had many different performers at our conferences; The Beach Boys, Tony Bennett, Three Dog Night, America. Jim Curry ranks among these acts. I would book Jim and his band again in a heartbeat."
Daniel Young Corporate Function, Keystone, CO
"I have to tell you I don't know when we've enjoyed a show as much as we enjoyed yours. It just swept us away and we did not want it to end! You are all so gifted. And the music of John Denver speaks for itself. It touches the heart."
