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23 Jan 12 - 06:29 AM (#3294877) Subject: Did anyone know Rick Curtis? From: Tigger the Tiger Rick Curtis was a spectacular guitar player who performed in Indiana in the sixties. Is there anyone who ever knew or saw him perform? |
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23 Jan 12 - 12:14 PM (#3295018) Subject: RE: Did anyone know Rick Curtis? From: GUEST,999 Richard Curtis - Biography Biography by Jason Ankeny The beginning of Rick Curtis' professional music career begins in the Goshen, Indiana psych-folk band These Vizitors, which was formed in 1965 by the Curtis siblings: singers/guitarists Rick and Tom, singer/bassist Michael and singer/tambourine player Patti, with friend Travis Rose on drums. After earning a devoted local following and even appearing on WGN Chicago's wildly popular children's television program The Bozo Show, the group signed to Capitol, traveling to New York City in 1967 to record with producer Phil Ramone; the sessions yielded five tracks in all, with the most commercial -- "For Mary's Sake" and "Happy Man" -- appearing as a Capitol single in May of 1968. By that time These Vizitors were settled in West Palm Beach, Florida, appearing on local bills in support of the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Jefferson Airplane; when the single went nowhere, the group dissolved, although Rick and Michael continued pursuing a career in music. In 1972, the Curtis brothers contributed original material and vocals to the Crazy Horse LP At Crooked Lake, which they parlayed into an option deal with Polydor; there they befriended the struggling duo of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, and together the foursome cut a pair of demos: "Blue Letter" and "Seven League Boots." While the former was later re-recorded on the self-titled 1975 Fleetwood Mac album that heralded Buckingham and Nicks' addition to the group, the latter was later retooled by Crosby, Stills & Nash, becoming their 1982 smash "Southern Cross." In the interim, the Curtis Brothers -- now consisting of Rick, Michael and Tom -- cut an eponymous 1976 LP for Polydor, two years later completing a follow-up for International Artists that remains unreleased. Mike later toured with latter-day lineups of the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield, in addition serving for 12 years as a member of singer/songwriter Hoyt Axton's backing band. Rick Curtis died unexpectedly after suffering a seizure in January 1995. From http://www.angellesmusic.com/jennifercurtis/RichardCurtis.html |
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24 Jan 12 - 06:14 AM (#3295340) Subject: RE: Did anyone know Rick Curtis? From: Tigger the Tiger Sorry but i should have remembered that there was another musician named Rick Curtis. The one I was searching played acoustic guitar alone,autoharp, and was starting banjo when I knew him. He could play like Doc Watson,but also could do songs that required more power. Could do "Living in the Country" and whistle. He played at the Fourth Shadow in Fort Wayne Indiana. A fellow who played for the love of it. Thanks for searching an answer though. |
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06 Feb 12 - 08:36 AM (#3303019) Subject: RE: Did anyone know Rick Curtis? From: Tigger the Tiger Looks like I was wrong;the entry above does refer to the same Rick. Apparently he switched out of folk and bluegrass after I knew him. Thanks for the information. |
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09 Mar 12 - 10:27 AM (#3320450) Subject: RE: Did anyone know Rick Curtis? From: GUEST,sparkl77 Rick Curtis lived at 504 S. 5th street and my husband lived at 504 S 6th street in Goshen. My husband was a very close friend of Rick's and the family. Rick came to Goshen for a short time and spent a week at our house, visiting. He drew a picture of my son who was 4 at the time. I still have it. He struggled with life's ups and downs and was a true artist. His life was too short. I met Mike and Tom. They were awfully nice. Their mother had a child's clothing store uptown, catering mostly to babies. Their father had the local music shop where you could listen to 45s in the booth before you bought them. They sold musical instruments and sheet music. I loved that era. |
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09 May 12 - 09:09 AM (#3348631) Subject: RE: Did anyone know Rick Curtis? From: Tigger the Tiger Thanks for the information;I hope you heard Rick play folk guitar. I have found his first daughter,so I know what happened to Rick and April. |
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16 Apr 13 - 01:38 PM (#3504323) Subject: RE: Did anyone know Rick Curtis? From: GUEST,Catana I knew Rick in West Palm Beach . He and his siblings performed in the area. On December 5 1968 we had a child together. It would be his second child, Corbin Michael Curtis. He was given his middle name after his uncle, Michael Curtis who presently performs with the Byrds. Corbin was kept a secret from Rick's other children until a few years ago when I took him to meet his sister, Jennifer Curtis. All of Rick's children carry his musical talent. His son Corbin has written over 250 songs and is still writing in different genres of music. Rick's family were devout Catholics and his mother had at one time designed clothes for Shirley Temple in New York. Rick's father Dale worked for a local radio station in West Palm Beach but remaind manager of the family band. Rick also had a younger brother in elementary school that was not part of the band when I knew them. Thier music was vibrant. Patty Curtis was always begged by audiences to sing Janis Joplin's tunes and she was great. I loved to hear all of them sing. I left Florida in 1968 and never returned nor did I keep in touch with the family. |
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08 Jul 14 - 07:35 AM (#3640084) Subject: RE: Did anyone know Rick Curtis? From: GUEST Terrific to hear all the children got some part of Rick's talent. I knew Rick from 1963 to 1965. He was playing a variety of bluegrass and folk;that was the music he loved. I learned many songs and some guitar from him. Performing solo he was perhaps the best acoustic performer I ever knew;most I loved his bounce and sheer joy. He was way too good to play back up for anyone. I cannot but feel many of his sorrows later came from playing with a group. I did find Jenny and tried to tell her something about what he was like back then. |
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17 Oct 15 - 09:59 AM (#3744651) Subject: RE: Did anyone know Rick Curtis? From: GUEST Not the start of Rick,the end. His real talent was a solo performer of old time songs;a true power performer. He most loved the Greenbriar boys but also could do Living in the Country, played at the Fourth Shadow in Fort Wayne In, Completely wasted in folk rock. |
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27 May 16 - 08:33 AM (#3792415) Subject: RE: Did anyone know Rick Curtis? From: GUEST,non member Rick Curtis performed at the Fourth Shadow coffee house in Fort Wayne,Indiana solo for a couple years before he joined the family group. Rick was interested in Bluegrass and carefully selected folk songs,some blues. He was a real power performer with 6 string,12 string and autoharp. Great guitar player. He had so much talent and should have stayed with the music he loved;never should have been in a group. |
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31 Jul 16 - 04:10 PM (#3802906) Subject: RE: Did anyone know Rick Curtis? From: GUEST,The real butch i knew Rick from childhood, played in my first band the capers, with mike&tom curtis. Rick was a huge influence on all of us at the time,when he came back from a short run in the air force. he actually owned the fourth shadow coffee house in ft. Wayne in. Rick and I always had a very special relationship,so playing with him many times over the years had a huge impact on how I wrote , listened,played music , I miss him dearly as a lot of other people do I'm sure! He made song writing a major part of my life. I have manyMemories from the times we spent doing crazy things. I was glad to see that all of ricks children,unknown to each other carry that special song gene.i have some great recordings of his very early years,folk music? I also have original artwork Rick had given to me , he was amens singer from another star city, will write more later. Love to Rick, and all of his siblings |
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14 Apr 17 - 06:30 PM (#3850531) Subject: RE: Did anyone know Rick Curtis? From: GUEST,celino dimitroff He was such a sweet and troubled soul... Had the opportunity to hang and jam with him in the early 80's in Gainesville, Florida with Joe First in the bad called "The".. One song came to mind, (other than "Southern Cross") was "Don't light that Dynamite"... Was heartbroken to hear of his passing... |
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04 Jul 17 - 07:59 AM (#3864233) Subject: RE: Did anyone know Rick Curtis? From: GUEST,guest I got information from Jennifer Curtis,she was born shortly after I left Fort Wayne. She has been in touch with some of the other children.Did you ever see Rick perform at the Fourth Shadow?First I have heard of his owning it;When I went down there,it was owned by older woman. |
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29 Aug 17 - 01:02 AM (#3874099) Subject: RE: Did anyone know Rick Curtis? From: GUEST,Robert First I knew Rick when he lived with my brother in Gainesville Florida back in the early 80's. Rick and I had some great times. I would sit in my brothers house and listen to the guys jam. Since I practiced martial arts Rick said that I would be his security when he hit the road again. My time around him was short but man it was intense. My favorite of his songs was Sparks in the Dark. |
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07 Oct 17 - 06:12 PM (#3880877) Subject: RE: Did anyone know Rick Curtis? From: GUEST my husband OG and i lived next door to joe first where rick was staying in gainesville fla. about 1980. we shared a duplex. joe was a school music teacher. he and rick had a complete music studio set up in joes living room and OG and i would go over often and hang out and listen to them play. we could also hear them through the very thin walls. they did a great rendition of When a man loves a woman " and i used to plead with them to record it. (this was before michael bolten recorded it) i have very fond memories of rick. i also remember getting the letter from stephen stills out of our shared mailbox and giving it to rick. the letter offered rick $ for his seven leauges song which later became southern cross. i moved to hawaii 30+ years ago , so just now learning and am saddened to learn Rick passed away in 1995. it is nice to read these other comments as it expands my knowledge of rick. . |
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09 Aug 18 - 09:43 AM (#3942702) Subject: RE: Did anyone know Rick Curtis? From: GUEST,DH I played drums with Rick and Joe in Gainesville. It was a creative time, I had a lot of fun with those guys! |
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17 Oct 18 - 10:12 AM (#3957110) Subject: RE: Did anyone know Rick Curtis? From: GUEST This is only a small contribution to the thread- but I always remember my short conversation with Rick Curtis. In the 70's the students at the Fort Wayne Art Institute spoke well of 'Curtis'. It seemed that maybe he had taken art classes there. I was new there and spoke with him once and had no idea who he was at that time. We were walking to a students house and I must have ask him about what he did. He was kind and told me about his musical family and mentioned the song that became "Southern Cross". I don't remember seeing him around the art school crowd after that time. I had just heard the song today and did this search out of curiosity. I'm sorry to see that he passed so young. It's lovely to learn that he had a daughter. |
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30 Oct 18 - 06:43 AM (#3959200) Subject: RE: Did anyone know Rick Curtis? From: GUEST,guest Thanks to all for informing me of the various stages of Rick's life.I learned my basic guitar from him and many of the songs he did regularly in the sixties. Sometimes he played a washboard with a bell....Although I was around many famous performers in later years,I never saw anyone who gave a better solo performance. He communicated such absolute joy him his music. |
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07 Jan 22 - 12:27 PM (#4131417) Subject: RE: Did anyone know Rick Curtis? From: GUEST,Thomas I knew Rick when he was performing at the Fourth Shadow in Fort Wayne, and other Coffee Houses in Indiana and Ohio. This was around 1964-1965, I think. He was a fine acoustic guitarist and also played Autoharp and a little banjo. He was from Goshen, so we got to see him quite a lot in those early years. He was always welcome, and he audience always liked him. Rick taught me a lot of guitar techniques, and I bought my first Autoharp because I liked the way he played it so much. I have a photograph I made of him playing guitar, which I cherish. I was very sad when I learned of his death. He was a real treasure. |
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23 Sep 23 - 01:02 AM (#4182232) Subject: RE: Did anyone know Rick Curtis? From: GUEST I saw Rick perform many times at the Fourth Shadow coffee house in Fort Wayne, IN in the late 1960s. His partner April modeled for a figure drawing class at the Fort Wayne Art Institute. April was pregnant at the time. Rick often played a 12 string guitar and a banjo at times. Is Jennifer Curtis his daughter? And April her mother. |
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23 Sep 23 - 01:02 AM (#4187868) Subject: RE: Did anyone know Rick Curtis? From: GUEST I saw Rick perform many times at the Fourth Shadow coffee house in Fort Wayne, IN in the late 1960s. His partner April modeled for a figure drawing class at the Fort Wayne Art Institute. April was pregnant at the time. Rick often played a 12 string guitar and a banjo at times. Is Jennifer Curtis his daughter? And April her mother. |