The 9th Occasional and Farewell Stevie Ray Vaughan Fan Club Tour and Soiree

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The 9th Occasional and Farewell Stevie Ray Vaughan Fan Club Tour and Soiree - Sept 28-Oct 1, 2006

Thursday: We started out at the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area hotel banquet room from 5:00 pm until midnight - meeting new folks, catching up with friends since the last tour, sharing SRV stories, and meeting special guests. Special guests this evening were Stevie's uncle Joe Cook and Stevie's friend and personal assistant, Timothy Duckworth, who entertained us with stories of Stevie growing up in Oak Cliff, and life on the road.

Friday: The luxury tour bus took us sightseeing in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, including Stevie's childhood home and high school, the "Tick Tock" walk and his last home. Then we traveled in luxury down the road to Austin viewing rare videos along the way and stopping for lunch at Sorge's in Temple where Cutter Brandenburg surprised us with a visit in the parking lot. In Austin we toured the internationally famous Austin City Limits studio where Stevie and many great musicians have performed since 1975. We got to view the unaired video of John Mayer's performance of "Ain't Gone 'n' Give Up On Love," and enjoyed a visit by Stevie's bandmate in the Cobras, Alex Napier. Then we stopped at the Stevie Ray Vaughan Memorial at Auditorium Shores for our group photo (below). We were treated to an SRV Birthday Party at Wild About Music.With our hotel situated on the famous 6th Street nightclub districtin Austin, it was a short walk to hear one of the best blues guitarists in the world, and friend of Stevie's, Alan Haynes. Those who got there early enough also got a rare treat to see 93-year-old piano pounder Pinetop Perkins who was in Muddy Waters' band.

Saturday: Traveling back toward Dallas we had lunch in historic Taylor, Texas, where the extra-special treat was souvenir shopping and meeting Stevie's roadie, Byron Barr, entertaining us with stories and photos from being on the road with Stevie for three years. Of course, rare videos on the bus ride back to Dallas, where we visited Stevie's gravesite. Double Trouble's former assistant Beverly Howell met us there and some lucky fans were presented with autographed photos of Chris and Tommy. The final sightseeing stop was visit to the SRV Museum exhibition. Back at the hotel we visited more with Cutter Brandenburg. A private concert for us by new Texas guitar sensation Tyler Dow Bryant, who brought along special guest Wes Jeans. One of our own, Tamas Katona from Hungary sat in with the band, and demonstrated Stevie's influence on Eastern European blues with an excellent performance.

Sunday: VIP seating for the Stevie Ray Vaughan Remembrance Ride and Concert ! A motorcycle parade and six hours of great music! This year's headliners included The Jeff Healey Blues Band, Omar & the Howlers, Eric Tessmer, and Wes Jeans with special guest Tyler Bryant. After the show we met Jeff Healey for autographs and photos. A member of our group, Warren from Australia, WON the SRV chopper in the charity raffle!! A final dinner and celebration at Humperdink's. Those still on their feet went to Dallas for the blues jam at Deep Ellum Blues featuring Texas Slim.

Click on the thumbnails for larger photos. All copyright Craig Hopkins, 2006.

The Fanatical 49. I left this photo relatively large, but if you want a 1.4mb version to print, email me.