Singer-songwriter and humanitarian John Denver died on this day in 1997 when the small plane he was piloting crashed shortly after taking off from the Monterey Peninsula Airport near Pacific Grove, California.
My mom loved him and we listened to his records almost non-stop when I was a kid. It helped that much of my extended family lives in Colorado so we had an extra connection to him. Rocky Mountain High, Colorado!
That was the day I arrived in Inverness, Scotland to compete in the harp category at the Royal Scottish National Mòd. I went out to hit the pubs and look for new native-speaker friends. Unfortunately for me, I couldn't tell them apart from the English-only speakers because everyone was singing John Denver songs instead of the customary Gaelic ones.
It was like a strange nightmare.
I had also met John Denver in 1983 while doing restaurant music at the Olympic Inn (me, not him) in bustling downtown Poulsbo (that was a joke).
My mom loved him and we listened to his records almost non-stop when I was a kid. It helped that much of my extended family lives in Colorado so we had an extra connection to him. Rocky Mountain High, Colorado!
ReplyDeleteThat was the day I arrived in Inverness, Scotland to compete in the harp category at the Royal Scottish National Mòd. I went out to hit the pubs and look for new native-speaker friends. Unfortunately for me, I couldn't tell them apart from the English-only speakers because everyone was singing John Denver songs instead of the customary Gaelic ones.
ReplyDeleteIt was like a strange nightmare.
I had also met John Denver in 1983 while doing restaurant music at the Olympic Inn (me, not him) in bustling downtown Poulsbo (that was a joke).