Josh Fuller and I performed a benefit concert last night here in Beloit, Kansas. We had a full day of mishaps, which I'll describe later. The capper was to come back to Josh's house after sound check and hear about John. We decided to add John's "Song For A Friend" to our set list and it was difficult to get through the song without a voice crack or two.
John once chastised me for writing a third verse to his song, "Heart Of A Kid." The Trio was thinking of recording it and we thought that if there were three verses we could each sing a solo verse when we recorded it. John was very sensitive about anyone messing with his material and I heard about that in no uncertain terms.
I had taken a chance last night and written a third verse to "East Of Denver", which we had initially programmed into the show. I figured nobody would ever tell John, and since we were east of Denver I didn't want to offend anyone, so I wrote:
New York City and Detroit
I'd rather hang out in Beloit
The people there are just alroit (sic)
So I'll make exception for Beloit
I told the audience I was thankful not to be struck by lightning for singing that and I hoped John would cut me some slack.
Ah, man - what a loss! We'll be grieving for days. We'll all be listening to Stewart music today in his fond memory. RIP, John Stewart - 1939 - 2008. We love you, Johnny Stew!
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