Don`t know if DG will recall this concert, but hopefully he will! This would be way back in `78 or `79 at the Great American Music Hall in SF. I was with my first wife, Rowena, and she had made a fine cloth bag for my 1911 Stradolin. I went backstage to show it to DG--I had known all the guys (and Barbara!) for a few years at this point, and I was always hanging around like a hungry puppy!) Anyway, DG played a few tunes on it, including FISH SCALES which I believe he had just written. Said it was a real find--I had bought it for ten bucks the month before! He also complimented Rowena on the fine mando bag she had made. They were just about to warm up, so Rowena and I said we`d see them later, thanked Willy Amatneek for saving us some great front row seats, and left them to get warm.
The band came out to uproarious cheers (local crowd and all that!) and played ALL of my faves--I especially loved MINOR SWING! My fingers drummed along on my Stradolin, through the cloth bag. Quietly, of course.
David was starting up FISH SCALES, and stopped for a second--looked down at me and twinkled like he does (If you`ve ever played music with him, or seen him up close and persnal, you`ll know what I mean by that!)! Gesturing to the Stradolin, he nodded that I should keep adding muted percussion. Even though I wasn`t quite good enough to join them at that time, I felt very much like an auxilary DAWGER!
One by one, the other members of the Quintet stopped playing and stepped back into the shadows.
Soon it was just DG and me--me plucking my Stradolin through the cloth bag, DG matching my level. It was such a soft sound, but even in the cheap seats you could hear every note as we fired little riffs back and forth.
That was by far the best evening of my life (so far!). David is the most generous person I have ever met, bar none. The encouragement I received that night and on many other occasions transformed my entire life, I kid you not!
Dharma Badger, (ex resident of Bolinas and Saviour of Barbara Higbie`s toe)
