jack Finnegan

Canvas on the wires

Reviewed: 06-26-23

This is a Philadelphia blacktop story even though it has mainline polish rubber and leather married.

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Ohana

Reviewed: 06-03-23

I saw Willie twice and as I listened to his memoir those bookends of time are anchored by a common thread . My good friends and neighbors Jack and Kim invited me to Maui to hear Ben Harper , Willie , and Jack Johnson all help the children in Hawaii learn and grow as the future Stewart’s of our planet but most of all to be inspired .
There is a common thread where I first saw Willie and I first got to take in Jacks first concert at the beautiful Santa Barbara County bowl . The night I saw Willie with three friends was pure concert karma with no tickets available and a personal policy not to support scalpers I followed my music loving intuition and sauntered up to the box office , ( any chance there might be tix ? Well my friend it’s your lucky day I’ve got six press tix going unused . I only need four . The seats were front row on the lawn seating setup and Willie was part of my life just like magic .
One morning I saw this fellow with a guitar on his back skateboarding down my street drawing smooth flowing lines and I wanted to know why I never had seen him in the water cause I knew all the surfers around here . He graciously stopped his run with plenty of down road stretch to build back a flow and I introduced myself as Jack and he did the same . Two years later after watching him on several occasions with that same canvas bag Taylor practicing his chord changes facing the seawall before having worldwide musical recognition I met him at a benefit for Heal The Ocean before the show at the same venue I first saw Willie and we laughed about how the two Jacks first met . Jack said to me you are Jack I’m the other Jack you got it first . That kind relationship first persona I have heard spoken by JJ about his good friend Willie the common thread is kindness and friendship .
As I’m writing this it’s early June 2023 and Willie had all his friends and family celebrate his 90 th birthday over two nights performances at the Hollywood Bowl .
Jack who’s my neighbor here on the mainland was of course singing his song Willie got me stoned and the next day I saw him here before he headed back out on tour .
The song was about a night in Maui after a show . It was on my birthday and it was the other bookend of seeing Willie . As I listened to a Long Story and all the highs and lows , blues and loss it’s the love of music and storytelling that always prevails because the way the gift was passed on and nurtured in Willies family assured that his life purpose was meant to touch many a heart . My dad just passed and his mother played piano and sat him on the bench as a boy to hear Danny Boy . As I listened to Willie talk about the double album with Leon Russell I recalled the two times I had seen Leon and as Willie talked about a few songs on the album I recalled the duet Willie and Leon’s rendition of Danny Boy and Daddy was right here as I played my harmonica and he sang it before he closed his eyes .

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No stone unturned

Reviewed: 06-26-21

John ,
Takes the mantle to guide the Pilgram . Humility is portrayed , Devine awareness is its bedfellow which proves to be a formidable duet . This elixir for living in the modern world filled with rapid fire distractors is the emotional utopia that delivers the goods . Essence is the common thread that never wavers in Beauty’s roller coaster wave of love .

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Modern day Woody

Reviewed: 05-13-21

Heavy influence by Woody because there was an Arlo style interwoven with Steves style. I happened upon Steve at a Townes Van Zandt tribute on Austin City limits. I found another nugget from my muse ( Kate Wolf ) in an interview less than a year before she passed away that acknowledged Steve as a soulful folk / country icon and writer. Both Kate and Steve hold Bobby ( as Joan Baez ) called him with high praise for his influences. I loved the history of the Village and it's roots in 1965. I had my own musical muse mystical Village experience on a sultry summer night in August of 2005 but that's another story for another time .

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