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Feeling a little melancholy tonight. I ran across some pictures and a video of my good friend John Denver today, and then listened to a few of his favorite songs. Never in a million years did I think that I would ever get to meet and spend time with so many of the people that my camera ultimately brought into my life, and JD was at the very top of that list. John and I were about as diametrically opposed politically as any two human beings could be, but music, aviation, photography and a love for the beauty of God's creation overshadowed politics, we never discussed it. Funny, he would say something and I could hear one of his songs in the tone of his voice, I'd laugh and say..."Grandma's Feather Bed", and he'd shake his head and grin.
When we began to get to know John he was done with the long hair, round spectacle look and was consciously distancing himself from that persona. I think he was morphing into a more sophisticated artist, his voice was maturing and the change could be heard when he'd sing his old songs, and especially in his newer music like "For You", which he sang for the first time at a concert in Dallas and it kind of became one of Sheila and my favorite tunes. The day of that particular concert we met up with John and Jerry Scheff at Love Field and we played airplanes all day. Jerry was a great guy, he played base guitar for Elvis for decades, boy did he have some stories. When I met Jerry his wild life had led him to a point where he had accepted Christ and was on a completely different path, there was a palpable Peace about him. He flew in with John on John's Lear 35 "Windsong" to play the concert with him. Jerry had never been in an open cockpit biplane, but that day he looped and rolled through the Texas sky with John and was smitten, as we all were, with aviation and the comeraderie of the day.
Late that afternoon John looked at me, laughed and said, "Man, let's just stay here and fly into the evening!" I told him that I was up for it, but that there'd be thousands of pretty ticked off people if we did. He said, "you are coming tonight aren't ya?" I told him yes, that the tickets were on the seat in my car. He smiled and said, "Go get 'em......" John Denver fans probably remember that one of his songs, "Autograph", was about the fact that he really did not like to sign them. He considered his music his autograph and felt like that should be enough to remember him by. I went to the car and got our tickets which he put on the wing of the Lear and signed..."Peace! John Denver", handed them back to me and told me that I wouldn't be needing them this evening. He told me to bring Sheila & JR and come around to the back entrance to the huge outdoor park where the concert was being held, his trailer was there. John told me to just tell the security guys there that we were his guests and to point us to his trailer. I wish I had a video of the discussion at the rear gate, there was no way the rent a cop was buying any of that story. About the time things looked hopeless, the door to a trailer up the hill swings open and John popped out looking for us. He waved and said, "Come on in!" Gotta admit that it was pretty fun walking by the two security guys, not that I blamed them of doing their job. John gave us all hugs and led us to the concert grounds where the fans were pouring in to get their seats on the grass. There was a line where the very front row was and it was already full of people. John hesitated for a minute, looked around and hailed another staff member that was standing close to us, he asked if he could create another row in front of the front row for us, the answer was "Sure!", and there we sat. John hugged us again and said, "see you after the concert!"
Cameras weren't allowed at these events but John insisted that I bring mine and shoot whatever I wanted to. Ultimately he ended up using shots from our day together and shots of the concert in his concert programs and promotions. I still see one of my images pop up every once in a while on the web. We were supposed to meet up at a small concert at The Majestic Theatre in Dallas the following year but I was out on assignment and he had the accident a few weeks after that in California.
I think of him often and all of our kids play his music regularly, James III is perhaps the biggest fan in the family, he knows every song by heart, I'm sure John would say...."Far out...........!"
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