I saw/heard John play at a rock concert in Berkeley in 1970. HE was first on the bill. Most of the people there had come to see the band, not him, and made it quite clear when he walked on stage, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. He was not Mr. Showbiz. He was carrying three guitars and a six pack. The crowd was not hostile to him exactly, just not interested, and John's stage presence was not, shall we say, exactly riveting. So John sits down center stage in a folding chair, pops open a brewski, has a drink, puts it down, never smiles. waves or says hello, picks up one of the three guitars and ... and...HITS THIS IMPOSSIBLE CHORD!!!! and it rings out some blend of blues, Afghan goatherd chants, Brazilian samba, gamelan, and Morton Subotnik and everybody in the Berkeley Community Theater shuts up and looks at the stage holy shit and he had 'em by the short and curly ones until he wandered off the stage 45 minutes later. I don't remember the band at the top of that bill, but I sure remember him.

I'm sorry I never got to meet the man. HIs music has been played in our house a lot over the past thirty years. May you rest in peace, John. Seth from CHina