Russ Kunkle.

Here is a picture taken after the show by my pal Jimmy Jeffreys. Jimmy is a great photographer who I have called a friend since the early 1990's. He makes for a good traveling pal too. It was getting late when this photo was taken and you can tell it was dark....

Out of all the people in Key West this trip Russ was the one person I just had to talk to. He is such a legend and I have been listening to him perform since the 1970's. Not to mention all the recordings he has produced. Wow. It was a real thrill just to share a brief time with him. Later that evening I had a few glasses of wine and some conversation with him and a long list of musicians until about 3:30 AM. What a nice person he is! That was a very cool night.

While I am thinking about it. Go get the new Russ Kunkle cd. You can get it here:
http://www.mailboatstore.com/index.php?cPath=25

I can't mention Russ without mentioning Nicolette Larson.

Without diving into a long story about Nicolette Larson I just want to say that her music played for hours and hours in my house via vinyl lp and cassette tape way back so many decades ago. She was always one of my favorites. She took Jesse Winchester's "Rumba man" and made it "Rumba Girl." She took Neil Young's "Lotta Love" and made it her song. It seems like 1978 was just yesterday.

In the links below you will find a very nice tribute cd which I bought the day it came out. This disc is full of awesome performances from all the top shelf artists that were friends of the couple. Go check it out.

http://www.russellkunkel.com/main/photos.html

http://www.nicolettelarson.com/

http://www.nicolettelarson.com/cause.html

http://www.nicolettelarson.com/index4.html

I'm still doin' the Rhumba baby
I can't seem to quit
If my mama catches us doin' the Rhumba
My mama would just a-pitch a fit
But I can't help myself
It's much bigger than me
If I were you, I would hang onto
A Rhumba girl like me