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.
9 comments:
Thank you, great story!!!! However, there's a video floating around from this concert. But that is from Nov 18, 1987. Maybe he played more than one concert in Troy?? Jeppe from Denmark
Hey Jeppe, thank you for your comment,,,,but the concert in my story definitely took place about 1973 or 1974. I'm basing that on how old my daughter was at the time....and she was about 2 or 3 years old. He very well could have played another concert in Troy in '87...in as much as he built a house there. I would love for you to post a link for that video!!!
LOL now that I read you comment once again, Jeppe...I got to thinking about the comment I added to my blog - where the "town folk" were quite sure John's house on the bend in the river would not survive the first flash flood...(it was not uncommon for log jams to occur up river from Troy, and then suddenly break up on the Grand Ronde - causing those flash floods) that if he DID play again in 1987 there,,,,,his house made it! (Hear that, Joseph? :o)
Hi,
Just to follow on for your exchange. John Fogerty gave a concert in Troy during 1974-5. This was reported in Rolling Stone as part of an article discussing his solo recording style, his current self-titled album and the then controversial release of the Golliwogs singles collection. There was a picture of John in rubber boots, hammer in hand and nails in mouth.
Best to you,
Steve in France
I'd like to take a drive there one day mom, be fun road trip down memory lane. You didn't mention the school house, I actually attended there for just a minute, all grades, one room schoolhouse. I'd like to find a picture of that.
I'll never forget when my father-in-law (Cecil) came to Spokane and told us he sold his Troy property. He said, "I think the guy's a rock star, his name is John Fogerty." I grabbed his arm and said, "From Creedence Clearwater Revival? He IS a rock star Dad! Creedence is one of my favorite groups, and he's the lead singer!"
It's the prettiest spot down by the Grande Round River, so quiet and peaceful. I remember in 1968 when my new fiancé took me to Troy for the first time to meet his parents. Being from the Bay Area, I was kind of scared driving the last two hours down a narrow dirt road to get to the ranch. A mountain on one aside and a deep canyon on the other. If you met a logging truck you had to back up till you found a wider spot to let him pass. I forded the river in a truck with my future father-in-law, rode horses, saw my first rattle snake and shot a rifle for the first time. Quite an adventure for a city girl. At that time the population of Troy was 33!
I've always wanted to go to a Fogerty concert and would have loved to go back to Troy for this one. I think my husband's cousins, Max and Sandy, were there.
We want to take our grandsons to see where their great-grandparents ranch was someday.
Sherry Waldrip
John played many times at Troy Oregon in the early 70's. He would spend a good part of the summer there and often played in my families little cafe and bar. The Troy Resort. He would often " jam" with the locals and was considered part of our little community. His wife at that time was a sweet lady named Martha. Those were fun, simple times.
Lived in Joseph, Oregon at that time and me and three friends of mine took my 1964 Chev down to Troy for that concert. Great time
Watched a great concert on PBS the other night. John Fogarty performing at Red Rocks. It brought back a great memory. I was stationed in Northeastern Oregon 1975 at a place called Sled Springs about twenty miles north of Enterprise.There is a small town called Troy just north of there. It sits on the Grande Ronde river and at that time had a population of 25 people. On my first visit there I found out John Fogarty owned a large cabin there complete with a full blown musical studio. The story was he was fed up with the music industry after learning he had released his interest to his songs through bad contracts. His move to Troy was to get away from it all and just do his own thing music wise. The other thing he did was put on an annual fourth of July party at his place complete with food and beer. So with out further encouragement our fire crew decided we would attend. Fogarty had a huge barn on his place and a stage had been set up on one end. So all day it was playing in the river, drinking beer and generally having a good time. What surprised me was the turnout. I estimate at least 2500 people were there coming in from as far as Lewiston Idaho. As the sun went down John made an announcement that the music would start soon. He also invited any of the locals who wanted to jam to come up on stage. I had just put away my guitar earlier so I grabbed it and guess what? For about an hour I got to jam with Mr. Creedence himself. Man what a thrill that was. The guy had no ego at all and was just the most polite celebrity you'd want to meet. I was going to return the next year but as i recall our crew was on a fire somewhere. I don't know if he still resides there ...Iv'e always been curious. So that's my fifteen minutes of fame.
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