Funny Gig Stories was: John Fahey

[Rick Walker <looppool@cruzio.com>]

Chris Cohn wrote:
"I saw him several times in DC area,and he never spoke o the audience at 
all which I really dug I don;t care for stage patter.  He was definately 
drinking,and played beautifully. At one show at the end he just sat 
there. The audience eventually fidgeted nervoulsy,he said ,that's it you 
can go home now."


You story cracked me up, Chris and reminded me of a story that Martin 
Simpson used to tell about ending a performance.


He told us that once he was playing some outdoor summer festival in 
England somewhere
and it was just pissing down rain at an outdoor venue.

Everyone had gone home because of the rain but he figured that if he 
didn't perform he wouldn't get paid so
he went ahead and played his entire set.

There was only one old guy out in the audience.

Martin played his whole set to just this one guy sitting in the pouring 
rain and finally he said,

"Hey man,  you are the only person out there.  Would you like to make 
any requests since you are my only audience?"

.......................

The old man replied,   "Yes, would you quit fookin' playing so that I 
can put all these chairs away and go home."



*********
By the way,  if you ever get a chance to see Martin Simpson perform, no 
matter what kind of music you are into............go see him.
He's an amazing performer and one of the best story tellers I've ever 
heard.  Being on the road with him was just such a delight
as he can just talk and talk about fascinating things.   He retunes his 
guitars between every single song of his set,  all the while
telling amazing stories as he , seemingly,  tunes unconciously.   One of 
the best performers and musicians I've had the chance
to see or play with.