My daughter said she answered a question on Facebook tonite about the first concert she remembered and how old was she at the time....
She said her answer was: My mom sang "Let the Midnight Special" with John Fogerty at a small concert he did in Troy, Oregon - I was 12 years old."
She was right. And of course there's a story that goes with that comment. It goes like this ----
John Fogerty was building a house in Troy at the time, and we had become friends. My husband, Joseph, was even helping him and his crew (translate - members of his band) with the construction. The house was being built on the bend in the Grand Ronde River there. So did you finish the house, John, and did you live there? I remember some of the "town folk" saying the house wouldn't last the first flash flood on that river. Hmmmmm....
As for the concert, it was fantastic, except for that some lowlife stole Fogerty's white Fender guitar (no I recall it WAS a Fender, not a Gibson - altho his bio says that was a 'trademark" of his - Gibsons, that is) when he took his one and only break after playing with his band for over FOUR hours at this FREE concert (we're talking about John Fogerty here, folks, of Creddence Clearwater Revival - gotta put in a plug for the man).
He played at the then-known-as-"The-Tack-Room" in Troy that night. There was absolutely NO advertising, only word of mouth, and yet people came from all over. My daughter said "a small concert" -- by Troy standards, whose population is (per Wikipedia) standing at about 25-30 -- this was NOT a small concert by any means. There were hundreds and hundreds of people that showed up. I even personally heard some say they were from Canada.
It was a great night. I sat with his wife, Martha, in the first booth by the stage. Then -- I got to sing with the band. And yes, I picked Midnite Special to sing. I will never forget it. :o) I nailed it. :o)
During our friendship I remember the Fogerty's gave us a kitten from a recent batch their lady cat had produced. We eventually named the kitten Karellan, because he was the Overlord in our lives....after Arthur C. Clarke's novel, Childhood's End. (He also wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey - for those of you who might think Stanley Kubrick wrote it - not - Kubrick did the film - ok - genius, in either case. (Sidetracking - but as my daughter says - a trip down memory lane. That's why I blogged it. So you can remember too.)
Oh, I should have added - the year - it would have been 1974 - best I can figure. I had a very young daughter at the time who was probably not more than 2 yo.
