Little Feat Willin'

My mom was friends with Lowell. He died the same year I was born. Then she died 12 years later, so you can bet I got fed lots of the miraculous Mr. George. I don't know if he's the greatest American guitarist there ever was cos I have problems with greatest anythings ~ but if there could be one, I think he could be a contender! :-)

He's awfully cute as well, and wrote the sickest, most outrageously funny, romantic, surreal and unreal lyrics to boot so this made him a triple yummy, triple threat .. mebbe more?

I guess they dated around 1972'ish. She used to say of her "guitar angel" ~~ "oh, Lowell's just a nice, upper middle class Jewish boy who was Bar Mitzvah and then went astray, much like your father, ma petite Adrianne." Mom's family was as Christian as they get but somehow she always fell for Jewish musicians ~ go figger! Here's my figger: people like my parents and Lowell George didn't really give a damn because they left the pursuit of an organized religion far behind by the time they became teenagers. My Mom's parents insisted she continue her religious studies until she was confirmed (at 16 y/o) ~ the exact same for my Dad but you can substitute "bar mitzvah (at 13 y/o)" for "confirmed."

Lowell's dad wanted him to join the family business (they were the 'furriers to the stars' in LA). But Lowell of course said like 'no thanks, pop, I think I better play guitar'. Mom told me he didn't like his parents' business because it required a constant supply of quality pelts and hides. Whatever. This was when Lowell commenced his simultaneous assault on the music scene ~ first with Zappa, then with a band named after his small feet (no, really) but LG changed it to Feat in an homage to two heroes, Zappa and Beefheart. That Zappa and Beefheart had introduced an exceptional list of the US' best musicians to the world is something that still goes under~looked.

Like many great composers and band leaders throughout recorded history, they were brutal task masters (names from jazz like Miles Davis and Charlie Mingus come to mind). I'm uncertain whether Zappa or Beefheart ever dismissed a player while on~stage, but my parents had each witnessed Miles and Mingus having done this at least once. It's not very nice to do this, but some band leaders / composers don't care much about "nice" ~ it seems to be a concept alien to their philosophy of live performance. I can love their music while detesting their social style. But Lowell was both too nice and brilliant ~ Dad made the case to Rene and I that "this is a core reason why Lowell was doomed. Most of us who knew him felt pretty much the same way." This makes good, albeit tragic, sense to me.

So, this is a naked and definitive Lowell country blues especial. I hear that he was very much "Willin'" just like his girlfriends, one of whom named Caroline was like 'well, maybe, baby, let's see what u got. can u play that thing or are u just modeling it for show?' He said like, "well, have a seat over here, little lady, and let's see what i can find just for you ... ." He played her this one acoustic solo and then on the stereo, one with the band ~ a recording of the then~unfinished 'all that you dream'. He told her the second one was written for her earlier when they first met. She swooned ('our kinda man, Amy' and tickled me) cos she knew this gentleman was an unusual find. Her attraction to him carried with it an equal measure of fear for him as it did love; she knew in her heart that he was in for some heavy sledding.

She scribbled in my sketchpad: "He loved Bonnie, then he was flirting with me ... I guess the guy has a thing for red-haired, green-eye'd girls. Statistically, we're in the most extreme minority of natural hair and eye colors .. but you'll learn more about that when you get a little older."

Dad walked in when he overheard the grrl talk. He gave a gentlemanly bow and announced : "Ladies!"

With that, he attacked us with the famed love attack ~~ 'my two girls ~~ hmmm, this one [he'd throw me up in the air and catch me, screaming petrified and laughing so hard it hurt] ~~ yes, I shall have me some of this little red~head tonite! And this one, the bigger one, I shall have as well!'

And we three would laugh til we cried tears of joy. I guess, in our own way, we were all still pretty young back then... .