[AGL] Fwd: VIVA John Clay; 20th-21st Century Folksong Writer and Banjo Player

[Frances Morey]

Here are some of Ted Klein's reminiscences and a picture from the god's, (good ol' days).
  Best,
  Frances
   
  Fontaine Note,
  The GH2 list might like to see this one, too.
  
Ted Klein <taklein at austin.rr.com> wrote:
  From: "Ted Klein" <taklein at austin.rr.com>
To: "Tony Robson" <rarobson1 at verizon.net>,
"Ramsey B Wiggins" <ramseywig at gmail.com>,
"Phil Waters" <pwats at hal-pc.org>,
"Pat D. Brown" <pat at beaufaux.com>,
"Nick Hopkins" <nhopkins at mailer.fsu.edu>,
"John Kelso" <jkelso at statesman.com>,
"Jim Cochran" <cochran1000 at sbcglobal.net>,
"Henry Jackson" <jackso3004 at gmail.com>,
"Frances Morey" <frances_morey at yahoo.com>,
"Fernando Corral" <fer1388 at yahoo.com>,
"Carolyn Simon" <cgsimon17 at yahoo.com>,
"Carole Boyd" <caroleaboyd at yahoo.com>,
"Barcus Nunley" <bnunle at peoplepc.com>,
"Barbara Imboden" <barbjci at mac.com>,
Jean Baraç <baracjw at aol.com>,
"Nora Beteta" <norsalbp at yahoo.com.mx>,
"Mary Jane Briggs" <Mjbriggs01 at aol.com>,
"Tom Linker" <TLINKER at austin.rr.com>,
"Leo Sullivan" <leos1234 at earthlink.net>,
"Victor Grant" <grant.victor at gmail.com>,
"Wayne Smith" <smitty78659 at yahoo.com>,
"Don Foxall" <dfoxy1 at worldnet.att.net>,
"Bill Helmer" <wjhelmer at gvtc.com>,
"Mary M. Klein" <magmklein at austin.rr.com>,
"Travis Klein" <allterrain at mail.grandecom.net>,
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"John Klein" <photomanjohn at yahoo.com>,
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"Byron Black" <bakhirun at gmail.com>
Subject: VIVA John Clay; 20th-21st Century Folksong Writer and Banjo Player
Date: Tue, 5 Aug 2008 15:18:53 -0500

                                            John (middle) Flipnotics-2006
  
   
  
   
   
  I met John way back when. He came to Austin from Stamford,  Texas and quickly changed. The Cliché was a coffee house that got started around 1959 and was under several different owners. It was the first integrated establishment west of Highway 35. Janis Joplin first performed publically there, even before Threadgills. I was the entertainment coordinator and some real talent came in. I returned from San Francisco one summer and John was at the door. He said, "Hey main, have you seen this place? It's wonderful."
   
  I took him in and he loved it so much that I got him a job as dishwasher, in return for free coffee and the chance to hang out. His nickname was, and still may be among the old timers, "Dishwasher John." The management got so used to him that they would occasionally chew him out if he didn't show up! I was working in a music store on South Congress that went out of business. I "inherited" the business and brought all of the instruments home to sell. John's first banjo came from that venture and he still plays it. John is a latter day ballad creator and makes songs about just about everything that happens around him. Here is one that I just got a copy of. It brings back many memories:   
   
   
   
    The Vick and Angie Song  
   
  By John W Clay                                                                                                                                                                   &nbsp;                                                                                                                                               
   
  In the very last year of the Eisenhower reign,
   
  I came down to Austin, and I got in the scene,
   
  when people from boredom were going insane. 
   
  It was winter, I was waiting for spring
   
  when the trees would come out and the world would turn green. 
   
  We still have trees but there is more room between
   
  and it is a different kind of weather when you talk about scenes
   
  and a season could last for years.
   
  Now Vick looked kind of wasted,
   
  Angie, was big and strong,
   
  and they only had a fight when they couldn’t get along.
   
  One night in the Cliché coffee house people got out of their way,
   
   when they started throwing chairs.
   
  I think they loved each other,
   
  from signs that I could catch,
   
  They couldn’t get along they were too even a match,
   
  they hated each other but they were still attached,
   
  they got divorced and drove out west together.                                                              
   
   
   
  Ted Klein lived in Austin’s very first beatnik pad,
   
  everybody had to move cause of hassle that they had.
   
  Ted got called up before the dean, cause he was so very bad.
   
  He had drinking parties he also had a beard.
   
  Ted Klein, got a job teaching Arabs how to talk,
   
  and soon enough he bought a car and he didn’t have to walk.
   
  That’s when he got married second time as I recall,
   
  then he started his family and career.
   
  Ted Klein found me a job and he found me a place,
   
  but Vick and Angie taught me the most about the human race,
   
  and at last I knew for sure that I had found a place,
   
  I was a freak but I was not alone.
   
   
   
  John lives on Lake Travis now with his friend, rescuer and sponsor, Leo Sullivan and family. He is still not alone. Victor lives in Temple, Texas and remains a talented artist and a good family man. Nobody seems to know what happened to Angie after she went west. Ted still teaches English as a second language and has remained with that "second wife" for 47 years. And them freaks all lived happily ever after...........            These are the good old days!
   

   
   
   

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