Picture it. The Colonial Inn. Saginaw, Michigan. Spring 1975.
My dad was 22. He was at a nearly empty bar with a girl. There was another couple on the other side of the room, and a trio of guys in the corner. One of the guys left for a moment, came back with a guitar and handed it to one of the others. He started playing and singing a bit, and Dad thought, “Wow, he sounds just like John Denver.”
“I’d just started listening to John Denver,” Dad says, “and I didn’t know what he looked like. But man, he sounded just like him.”
The guy played for about an hour. If he’d known for certain, Dad says, he would’ve bought the guy a drink. But he wasn’t sure.
Until the next day, when he saw in the paper that John Denver was playing at the civic center.
That’s a great story! I’ve often wondered if I would recognize or even notice a celebrity if I saw them out of context, like in the grocery store.
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John Denver was the first concert my mom ever went to after she went away to college. She’s still a big fan!
i met John Denver back in the 80’s when he made that movie “Foxfire” for hallmark. He was much taller in person than you would think. While he was here, he played at Rabun Co High School. We went… I guess you would count that as my first concert! 🙂 thats a really cool story, by the way!
That is a cool story.
By the way–8 days.
Actually, now that I think of it, Pete kind of looks like John Denver circa 1975.
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Only sort-of-related: I saw Usher at an airport yesterday.
Dad has since told me stories of seeing Hank Williams Jr. and Wilford Brimley. Not at the same time, sadly.
Tom sat and talked with Robert Redford while waiting in the Cincinnati airport back in 1970. Mr. Redford offered him a martini…