Cover of the padded blue book that held the pictures all these years.
I have been looking forward to sharing these pictures with everyone for a many years now.
In 1987 I met SRV and got pretty good pictures of the show in Montreal. Good in the sense that my friend Tom, a photographer, managed to get up front for the whole show using my camera.
The quality isn't great, since these are scans of prints from a disposable camera, but it sure brings back great memories.
Stevie signs my guitar strap
I met Stevie Ray Vaughan during the Live Alive tour in my home town of Montreal, Canada when I was 17 years old. He performed an outdoor show at the La Ronde Amusement Park on July 22, 1987.
I remember going to the show armed with my beige leather Martin Guitars guitar strap and Sharpie with hope that I might meet my idol. I had been playing guitar since I was about 13 years old and was obsessed with Stevie and his playing.
Having a ticket for the Stevie Ray Vaughan show entitled you all-day access the park and all the rides, so my best friend Marco and I went early in the day. He wasn’t the huge SRV fan that I was, but did appreciate his great playing.
My encounter with SRV begins in the early afternoon, when Marco and I took a ride in a gondola that ran across the whole park. I remember riding high above and hearing the chugging riff from “Change It”. I figured that there was a sound check going on and told Marco that we should get off and go find the stage.
Map of La Ronde
We arrived at the front gates of the auditorium (A) and could barely see the stage. We couldn’t even see SRV from there. We couldn't hear him either. But I was certain that he was the one playing at the soundcheck. I looked around and noticed that there were two exit paths from the stage: one backstage and one at the front of the stage. The front exit led to the seating area and over to where we were. The backstage led to a small artificial lake with no other way to land. Off to the side there was a small one story building that was fenced off (B). I told my friend that we should go over there and hope that SRV shows up.
A little later, while we were waiting and talking, Marco said to me “Dave, turn around”. I did. I was in awe when I noticed SRV about 40 feet from me, near the blue garbage bins in the pictures, about to enter the building.
Me and SRV
I called out “Stevie!” and he turned and saw us wanting to meet him. I was wearing my favourite SRV shirt with the “Texas Flood” album cover. Stevie stopped and noticed us and made his way over. I sat on this platform and asked him to sign my strap, which he did. It was a beautiful signature. He took the time to write his name very nicely and wrote “87” at the end. While he signed it I told him “I love you Stevie”. I think he chuckled a little.
I asked Marco to take a picture of the two of us, and he took two. I still feel bad today that I didn’t think to offer to take a picture of Marco with Stevie.
A minute or so later Stevie went back into the building. I don’t remember exactly how I felt but I’m sure I was on cloud 9.
Unfortunately the signature on the strap is completely faded away now, but I'll keep it and the memories of that day for the rest of my life.
We spent the rest of the day on the rides until the start of the show. While being protective of my strap, we went to the auditorium when it was show time. There was no opening act in Montreal, which is unfortunate because there were some great opening acts on that tour in other cities. I would have loved to see Omar and Howlers, Lonnie Mack, or the Fabulous Thunderbirds who appeared in other cites with Stevie.
After going through the turnstiles, we proceeded to find our seats. It was at this point that I ran into Tom, who used to be my sister's boyfriend. He was also the person who gave me my first guitar and introduced me to Stevie's music. It wasn’t surprising to see him there at the show. I showed him my strap which he thought was very cool. I didn’t want to flash it around too much in case someone got the idea to steal it.
When I told him I had some pictures with Stevie from earlier on and he said “Gimme your camera", which I did. He said “meet me at the entrance after the show”. Tom turned around and disappeared. It was a disposable camera with my precious picture with Stevie and me on it. I reluctantly trusted him to bring it back, and I'm glad I did.
The next day, I took my treasured camera to the photo-mat to have the pictures developed. Duplicates cost a dollar in those days so I got two copies and gave one set to Marco. I felt bad once again that we didn’t have a picture with Stevie. (is this paragraph needed for the story?)
So I share with you the result of my faith in Tom. Somehow he managed to get pictures of the whole show from the front of the stage. The pictures are way better than I could have ever taken.
I've only found one video from that show of "Scuttle Butting/Say What?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clECMtNJbOA
Tom Hanson
Tom was my older sister's boyfriend when I was 13. He heard I wanted to play the guitar, so he gave me an old Hondo acoustic guitar that was barely playable. I stuck with it and Tom taught me my first songs and introduced me to the blues. Tom loved blues. I didn’t at first, but I became obsessed with blues and bought hundreds of recordings over the years.
My sister and Tom did break up at one point but they remained friends. So did we. I would run into him from time to time. Later on I remember meeting him at the Blues stage at the Montreal Jazz fest. We hung out until 6 AM. A fire truck was wailing by with its sirens blaring as we exited Mike's Pizzeria on St Catherine. He said, “Dave, get in the car” and proceeded to try to find that truck. Tom was a budding photographer and was looking for action shots he could sell. He eventually became a well know and respected professional photographer for the Canadian Press. We never found the fire but we ended up at his place to jam. I could play a little blues and it was the first time I ever jammed with anyone. We both plugged into his Fender Twin. I didn’t know what to play when it was my turn to solo. He said “just play”. And I did and that was the start of a lifelong musical journey.
Unfortunately Tom passed away in 2009 due to a heart attack while playing hockey https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/tom-hanson-award-winning-canadian-press-photographer-dies-at-41-1.835145
He was 41 years old.
Thank you Tom.
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