As related by Stefan Grossman from his website, today. (This is a direct quote from Mr. Grossman. Don't shoot the messenger. *G*)

In the summer of 1964 I travelled to Berkeley, California from New York City. I was part of the 'blues mafia' (folks that were intensely involved in country blues playing and research). Tom Hoskins aka 'Fang' (he was the person that rediscovered Mississippi John Hurt) had dubbed me 'Kid Future' and told me to look up John Fahey aka Blind Joe Death when I got to California. John was performing at a Berkeley club named The Jabberwocky. When John took his break I went down to say my hellos. I introduced myself and he hugged me tight, grabbed me and then dragged me in to the toilet where upon he pulled down his trouser and seated himself on the toilet for several minutes of heavy farting!!! All the while we discussed with fervor the recordings of Charley Patton, Willie Brown and Son House. John was a character! Over the years we spent time together in Italy and the USA. He came to my home in Italy in the 1970s and recorded a series of audio lessons. He was afraid - and afraid was the word he used - that he wouldn't be able to describe or explain his music. But after a few days of recording we had six full hours for a wonderful series of audio lessons (which will be re-released on CD in the coming months). On these lessons he told stories of how each composition evolved. He poked fun at himself and basically put down his composing skills to 'robbery' - you robbed a little here and a little there and the end result was something other folks could call original. I remember taking John to the Villa Borghese in Rome where he had an outdoor concert. He was nervous - mighty nervous. We talked about stagefright and he told me that his way to handle it was to tell the audience straight off that he was nervous - bring the audience in to his psychic as well as musical world. In the 1990s I asked John about doing video lessons. By this time John had burned a lot of bridges and clubs were reluctant to book him. He had a reputation of drinking too much and being generally in bad health and an unreliable performer. I booked the Freight & Salvage for two nights and John played magnificently. During the day we recorded videos lessons. John was all geared up and by the end of the sessions he had put down enough material for three lessons. He insisted on wearing sun glasses for the lessons but these seemed to only help him play and explain his music. Sure, John was difficult at times. He had a habit of playing mean jokes on friends that really cared for him. But he was always intensely involved in music of all sorts and happy to share these sounds with anyone interested. John was a character. He was a big bear of a man with a delicate child inside him. I miss him.