a day with roy buchanan - digitalnc

November 8, 1974 The Guilfordian

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Roy Relaxes during interviewphoto by Causey

A DAY WITH ROY BUCHANAN

What she needs,money carit buy.

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There are old people whoneed someone to talk to. Boyswho need fathers. Guys inveterans' hospitals who needsomeone to visit them. Kids whoneed tutors.

We know lots of people andgroups who need your help.

Write "Volunteer,"Washington, D.C. 2001

Wfe needyourThe National Center for

Voluntary Action.

by David F. Dickinson

On Saturday, November 2,Roy Buchanan came to

Guilford College. None of theone thousand-plus people whosaw him in Dana Auditoriumcould have possibly felt thatthey were presented withanything less than one of themost memorable concerts oftheir lives. In the past threeyears, Roy has risen from totalobscurity to legendary status

and after witnessing lastSaturday's performance, Inow realize that all of theaccolades that have beendirected toward him still fallshort in describing the man'stalent as a guitarist. EricClapton is credited withdescribing Roy as the "bestguitarist in the world", adescription with which 1heartily concur. Never have 1seen a guitarist who could dothe things with a guitar thatRoy does so nonchalantly.Using only his ancient FenderTelecaster and a very smallFender amp, Roy producessounds that are oftenreminiscent of Jimi Hendrix,who, as we all know, wasnever seen without a mountainof amplifiers and assortedelectronic "gimmicks" suchas wah-wah pedals, fuzzboxes, etc...

Behind the identity that isRoy Buchanan, "world'sgreatest guitarist", lies ano-ther identity that is asfascinating as the man'ssuperb guitar work. As amember of the Guilford UnionDance and Pop Artists

Committee, 1 was one of threepersons given the task ofacting as a "star liason unit"for Saturday's concert. Thisduty gave me the opportunityto rap with Roy and his bandin a somewhat intimatefashion, both before and afterthe concert. The experiencewas fascinating.

At eight o'clock, Saturday

night, Rob Newman and 1found ourselves in the star'sdressing room in Dana. Ourassignment, whether we choseto accept it or not, was to waitthere for Roy and his band andto guard a case of Coke on iceand several sandwiches whichmore than casually resembledthe bill of fare at our friendly

neighborhood mess hall.Around what I remember

vaguely as eight-fifteen, therewas a flurry of activity at therear door and suddenly theband and Roy had arrived.They milled around and I

approached the one that 1recognized as Roy andintroduced myself. After some

more milling around and

questions concerning time,

Roy sat down opposite me andopened a Schlitz from the two

cases that had been brought inby the band. As Steve Causey

snapped photos of Roy and

vice versa, some of the brewwas passed around and in thatmellow atmosphere, Roy laidout some of his philosophy on

life as well as answering

questions thrown at him by

the half dozen people there.I found myself engaged in a

discussion ofreligion. Roy was

running down his particular

interpretation of God, sayingthat he knows God's name andthat the name is Jehovah. 1found myself being drawn tothis man even though I did notparticularly agree with every-thing he was saying. Idiscovered immediately thatRoy has a peculiar habit oflooking you straight in the eyewhen he is rapping to you,thus capturing your totalattention. Roy revealed thathis father was a Jehovah'sWitness minister and we

subsequently discussed theeffect that such a strictreligious upbringing can haveon a person's life. Roy went onto explain what he feels isfundamentally wrong with thekind of "religion" that"charlatan" Billy Graham,puts out for the people to feedupon.

Then Roy mentioned that hehad recently read Zen and theArt of Motorcycle Mainte-nance and that he felt that thebook had been a religiousexperience for him. At thatpoint, I recommended that hepick up a copy of Baba RamDass' Be Here Now. He saidthat he had never heard of thebook but I somehow had thefeeling that he would love it ifhe ever got into it.

Someone in the dressingroom mentioned Jimi Hendrixand that set Roy off on a longdiscussion of his admirationfor Jimi. He said, "I lovedJimi, the same way 1 lovedJimmy Dean". He went on to

talk about how he had knownHendrix way back when andhow Jimi was such a beautiful

person who could reach out

and touch the depths of yoursoul from the coldness of a

vinyl disc. Roy talked abouthow the two of them hadplayed guitar together beforeeither was well known.

By this time I felt that I hadknown Roy Buchanan for a

period of time considerablylonger than thirty minutes. Itis very rare to meet anindividual capable of reachingacross that vast separatenessthat is created and sustained

Airport 1975 is currentlyshowing at the Golden Gatetheatre, in the Golden GateShopping Center. It wasinspired by the novel Airport,by Arthur Hailey, and couldbe considered a sequel to themovie Airport, although thetwo movies are unrelated inplot.

Airport 1975 is about a crisiswhich hits a 747 as it isnearing its place of descent.The movie is centered aroundthe emotion generated by thecrisis. The plot is very simple,but it is also very absorbingbecause of the excellent way

Are you interested inmountain climbing or rapell-ing? Would you like to learn?Come to the Cliff-Hangersmeeting Sunday, November10, at 7:00 P.M. in King 103.

Movie Review

by ego but Roy is such anindividual. He cuts straightthrough the superficialities,tells you where he lives, asksyou where you live and thenrelates to you accordingly.

It is impossible to relatehere the various other thingsthat were discussed on thisnight as anyone who was not

there would never understandexactly how it was. Let issuffice to say that meeting RoyBuchanan and rapping withhim was a real enlightenment.

in which the interest of theviewer is held. After the movie

was over, I realized that I hadbeen excited very much by it,and I also realized that theexcitement was generatedmostly through emotions, andvery little through violence orother actions. It does not

pretend to be a complex moviewith numerous connectingconcepts, but it does as good ajob of gripping the interest ofthe viewer as one more

complicated.The all-star cast includes

such famous personalities asCharlton Heston, GeorgeKennedy, Helen Reddy,Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., SidCaesar, Dana Andrews, andLinda Blair. Shows are

presently at 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10pm, at a cost of $2.50 foradults and SI.OO for children.

by Bob Johnston

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