Daily Grist: The more I try to understand women, the more I love my old truck.
Here is a story that was conveyed to me by my friend Herb Pederson about 10 or 15 years ago. It had to do with the perils of the road musician’s ability to remember where he is at and where he’s been on a daily basis. Now you all know by now, that my friend Herb is a world-class musician and as such has played with the biggest names in the business such as Emmylou Harris, the Desert Rose band, Vern and Ray, and John Denver, to name a few. There are times when the days and nights all run together and you have a hard time remembering where you’re at or where you’re going, mostly because you sleep during the daylight hours, and work at night. Your world becomes upside down and it is easy to become discombobulated, especially if you’re jet setting around the world with top-tier entertainment icons such as John Denver. This is one of those classic stories.
Herb told me that he and his roommate Emory Gordy Junior got to their hotel room just as the sun was peeking over the horizon, and being dog tired from playing most of the night they hit the sack immediately. Herb said he woke up about 3 o’clock that afternoon, and got to wondering; where the hell are we at? England? No that was last week I think. Scandinavia? No, I think that was last week also. Wonder, wonder, wonder, Germany? Hell I can’t remember. Herb said about that time Emory woke up, tossed around in bed for about five minutes and asked, Herb are you awake? Herb replied yes, Emory, what country are we in right now? They both ran down the schedule as well as they could remember but could not agree on one particular country. Finally Herb said, I know how to solve this ! He got up, rummaged through his pants pockets until he found some money which turned out to be Swiss francs. He says to Emory we are in Switzerland my boy ! Herb then went on to tell me that he still has a collection of bills and coins from his travels around the world as a musician for some of the greatest entertainers ever to grace a stage. They were playing for John Denver when this particular story happened, and Herb had nothing but praise for him, and said he was on the greatest guys in the world to work for. I asked Herb if he had any money that he has left over from the time he played with Vern and Ray. He said nothing but a couple of three dollar bills that he got back in change from a little greasy spoon café in the hills of Kentucky. How’s that for a good story?
