The Trout Show

Jeff Beck and Me

January 12, 2023 The Trout Season 3 Episode 2
The Trout Show
Jeff Beck and Me
The Trout Show
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Show Notes Transcript

I, along with millions of others, were fans of guitar virtuoso Jeff Beck and I was sadden by the announcement of his recent sudden passing. This podcast is a quick story about how I was lucky to be invited by his record label to see Jeff live back in 2010 at the Bonnaroo Music Festival. How it all came about and how I was fortunate enough to be able to write my story on Jeff's Facebook page. Rest in Peace Mr. Beck there will never be another guitarist like you.
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Today's podcast is supported by David Smith of Edward Jones. Are you happy with your financial strategy or maybe like to see what other opportunities are out there? Or gave David a call at 46937 215 87. That's 46937 215 87. David is only concerned about one person that's you and your financial health. So check him out. David Smith, Edward Jones. 46937 215 87. Hey, everybody, it's the trout. Hope you're having a great day. Yesterday I got word along with millions of other people, that the great guitars Jeff Beck had passed away suddenly. And I was shocked, like most people that were fans, that Jeff had died at 78 years old. Now, if you're not a Jeff Beck fan, all I can tell you is that Jeff was in the same stratosphere as a guitarist as Jimmy Hendrix was. And there's a correlation between the two, and I'll get to that in a minute. Jeff's skill set was so phenomenal that he could not be replicated. People on the Internet and people on YouTube, fantastic guitars themselves would try, and they just could never make it happen. Now, if you're not a guitarist, you're probably thinking, why couldn't he? It's because Jeff had this ability to do his guitar was not really an instrument. It was part of him. It just kind of like, exuded this kind of magical musical power that he had over the guitar. So I thought I'd relate a quick story about my time I got to see Jeff the only time I got to see him, which is kind of an interesting story because it touched me, and it still reminds me of how fantastic Jeff was as a guitar player. So back in 2010, I'd won a trip, and I was actually there at the Bonnew Festival where Jeff was playing for Marino Records. It was an interesting deal because back in 2010, not only people were using Twitter, but Jeff had a Twitter feed. And I'm sure he probably wasn't the one putting it up there, but they mentioned one time about, if you want to see Jeff or possibly want a free trip, tell us what you think of Jeff. So I tweeted out a quick message about how Jeff had influenced my guitar playing over the years. Really appreciated him. I don't know if it was a week or two later I got a tweet back or a special message from Ryan Records and said, you had won the trip. And I thought, this has got to be phony. They're probably wanting some money for me to go see Jeff. So I tracked down the gentleman that sent me the message, and I said, hey, I'm Rick Troutman. He goes, oh, my gosh. You're the guy that won the trip to see Jeff Beck? And I went, wow. You're kidding us. No. So Jeff was playing at Bona Roux, which is a huge music festival in Tennessee. So my wife and I went to go see Jeff, and before I got there, I got a message from Ryan of Records that said, hey, we're going to send you an autograph CD. People were still using CDs back then from Jeff of his newest album, which was Emotion and Commotion. I thought that's great. So when we arrived in Bonarou is about, I don't know, 20, 30 miles from the nearest city, and I can't remember what the town was. And I got a message from the Rhino again saying, you know, there may be an opportunity to meet Jeff. And I went, oh, that would be fantastic. Now, I wasn't going to go slobber all over Jeff and go, hey, dude, you're so good. No, I just wanted to meet him and thank him and tell him how much I appreciate his music over the years. So we went to the festival, and of course, there's thousands of people there, but I look at them on my phone, and I go, Why have I got no bars? This guy tries to get in touch with me, I'll never find out about it. So my wife and I, we went in to see Margaret Cho, the comedian. She was in a tent like thing with the air conditioned. And I was sitting there watching Margaret, and I noticed the lady down in the aisle from me was on her phone, and I tapped her on the shoulder, and I said, Excuse me, could you tell me how you're getting a phone signal here at Bonneroo? And she goes, oh, you must have at and T. I said, how did you know? She said, Because if you have at and T, you'll never get out because they only have one tower, and it can't handle the capacity of all the people that are here now. And I think she had verizon or team. I don't remember which one she had. And so I started to talk to her, and I asked her, I said, Where are you from? She goes, I'm a writer from the Chicago Tribe. And I said, well, I'd won this trip. And I said, you know, I'd really like to meet him. And she goes, I know Jeff. And? And I went, what? She says, I know Jeff back. I'll see if I can make that happen for you. Okay? So I think it was the next day that we went to go see Jeff, and what happens if you go to Bonaroo? They have stages placed all over the big area that they are, and one band comes in, and 15 minutes later, another band comes in, and it was fairly warm that day. I do remember that. So we got there, and there's a grunge band out of Seattle was there, and there was a buffer between the stage and the first row of people of about ten or 15ft. So I'm standing there, and I'm realizing while I'm there that if this woman wanted to get in touch with me, there was no way she could tell me, I've got a set up for you to see Jeff back. So as the crowd started filling up, my wife and I were about 30ft from where Jeff was going to be performing. And all of a sudden the the press came in. All the people for the press came in. And my wife says, hey, look, there's that woman that says they have Jeff Beck. You ought to go say something to her. And I just kind of laughed like, OK, I'm going to go tell her. Well, I'm in this crowd. Would you tell Jeff to wave at me from the stage? Well, of course, that never happened. And after the first song, all the press was delegated away and they weren't never there anymore. And I got to see Jeff and had a wonderful time, enjoyed it tremendously. And I thought, what a great show I put on. Rhonda Smith was playing with him. I'm trying to remember who the other performers were. But it was it was a great so that would be kind of the end of the story, but and I enjoyed it immensely. And I'll never forget the concert. But as I'm leaving the next day, I get a message from Lino Records that says, would you do us a favor and tell us how you felt about winning the trip and seeing Jeff back? We want to post it on Jeff's Facebook page. And I went, wow. So I had taken pictures of Jeff, gotten really close to him. So I'm sitting at airport. I had my I think I had my laptop with me sitting in the airport. And I wrote the story about seeing Jeff. But it was an interesting situation because Jeff had came out and was playing a white strat. And I equated Jeff's playing a white strat from when I saw Jimmy Hendrix playing 40 years earlier. This was 2010. I got to see Jimmy Hendrix in 1970. And I said there was a correlation between the two because here's the two at the time. Jimmy, of course, had passed away, but they both came out with white stretch. They were both phenomenal guitar players and changed the guitar world and music world forever. And I sent it off to him. And the next thing I know, it was on Jeff Beck's Facebook page. And it stayed on there for a long time. And I could tell people, hey, I got to see Jeff Beck. So that was my story about the great Jeff Beck and being able to see him. I had followed his career for years, and so did many other people. There's not much to say. I could be very saddened about this. But when things like this happen, I truly believe we should take the opportunity to be happy. And you're probably going happy. I think you should be happy that we as fans and musicians like myself, got to experience this gift to us who was Jeff beck I will probably spend the next few days or weeks going back into Jeff's catalog, watching him on YouTube, playing his music, and remembering that day that I got to see him live. Life is short, folks, but, you know, we get a chance to be able to see some of the greatest performers, and I'm thankful for that. So this is the trout. Until next time. Remember, it's only rock and roll, but we love it. See ya. Thank you.