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as seen in the virginia pilot friday, nov 25
in reading link wray's obit the other day, i was not only saddened by
the death of a rock guitar pioneer who invented the power chord but
was pleasantly reminded of the time i actually met the man, waaay back
in 1966 in portsmouth (VA).
..............(i have edited out several paragraphs of information
that is common knowledge).........during that year (1966), WAVY
television produced a weekly, low budget 'american bandstand'-style
show called 'disco-10' hosted by local djs. every week students from a
selected local high school woulld dance to the hits of the day. in
addition, the program always booked a 'special guest', usually a
national artist passing through, a local band made good or, sometimes,
simply a video of a top performer.
for one of the tapings, wray and the wraymen were booked, thanks to
the popularity of 'batman'. he was there to lip-synch the hit.
the late father of a high school friend was a WAVY advertising rep, so
he was able to get him and me to the taping at the stations studios.
we were a couple of wise-guy high school nerds smitten with the
british invasion bands of the day........so there we were, two dweeby
music freak high schoolers who looked like middle school
students-standing next to wray and his band while the assembled
student elite from some local high school gyrated to rock, paying the
special guest absolutely no mind. to them he could have been a serbian
accordionist.
but we two geeks were aware of wray's prowess, especially my guitar
worshiping friend. although intimidated by wray's stature, we gathered
up the courage to chat with the man.
he turned out to be a charming, affable bloke, relating to us in a
matter-of-fact manner how blighty bands co-opted his power chord style
into their own hits. there was no bitterness to his voice-to him it
was simply a fact of the matter. stylish in a black pompadour and
wearing a glittery jacket, he demonstrated his technique on his
unplugged guitar.
even so , we were in awe. we were at the source.he was ground zero,
the starting point for thunderous rock guitar-a detail not lost on us.
the next day when we tried to tell peers at school of our experience,
we were mainly met with stares of 'so what?'
that same thought comes to the minds of most music fans nowadys. even
many boomers give a blank look when wray's name is mentioned.......
and for myself and my friend, we'll always think about the time this
rock and roll rebel tok the time to thrill two squeeky-voiced
adolescents and help nudge them on a perpetual love of rock and roll.
eric feber/va pilot
