“Those who knew him know what we have lost” wrote Annemarie, Billy Crash’s widow.
This strikes home like an arrow to the heart.
I first saw Martin – pronounced “Maddean”in our local dialect – about 30 years ago at a winegrower’s do in the hills above Stadecken where he lived with lyrics like “So en gudde Palzwoi, der leeft dir in de Hals noi” – “Such a good Pfalz wine, it runs down your throat” – and “Es muss Woi soi, der iss gut fur doi Blut” – “It has to be wine, it’s good for your blood.”
I was hooked from the first second.
We bumped into each other queueing for Willy DeVille at the Schlachthof in Wiesbaden – “Des iss de rischtige Mussig”, he said, sat next to each other at a Dr John gig in the KUZ in Mainz, bumped into him at a Cajun hoolie in the Frankfurter Hof in Mainz and went to every gig we knew about. (He once ripped me a new one for overlooking one..)
We weren’t friends, but we were, if you get what I mean. He always seemed as pleased to see me as I was to see him and it was so honestly genuine and his death saddens me no end.
And I’m honoured that his friends found my picture of him from way back in 2010 for their condolences in today’s paper
Someone commented on the original post “You meet the nicest characters, don’t you?”
How true.
There’s more here
Lowell George had it down to a “t” –
“And it must be dust or smoke that’s in my eyes”
Go well, Maddean….
Mainz Daily Photo 