SUPER BOWL SUNDAY WITH TOM PAXTON (#31): The San Francisco 49ers were playing the Kansas City Chiefs. Tom Paxton and his special friend Peggy DeVilbiss, Cathy Fink, Marcy Marxer, Sue Edelstein, Bill Spence, their friends, and some of the Characters made a full house.
We ordered four 18” pizzas from the Pizza Guy. John Bohnel brought 3 big boxes of Mr. Crunchy Chicken. We had chips, dip, guacamole, popcorn, lemonade, ice tea, beer, wine, scotch, tequila. For the ladies not interested in football, Cathy gave art lessons in her studio. It was a tremendous night. Only two things that could have made it better; Jon and Wendy Sievert being with us, and the 49ers winning the Super Bowl for Jon.
At half time I went up to Cathy’s studio to check on the ladies. Peggy DeVilbiss was standing a in the hall by the doors to Cathy’s studio and my office. She said, “Certainly”, when I asked her if she would like to see a music video I had made, and I showed her Tonio K.’s “Say Goodbye.” She seemed impressed, so like the boring old neighbor who was always trying to get your to watch his vacation videos, I asked if she would like to see the other one I had made. When I showed her Tonio K.’s “That Could Have Been Me”, she said, “Tom has to see this. Wait here, I’ll go get him.”
Tom Paxton came in and watched “Say Goodbye”, and then asked, “Isn’t there one more?” After I showed him “That Could Have Been Me”, he look me in the eye and said “Those are brilliant!” He shook my hand and said, “We are going to keep in touch.” Then this man who had won a Lifetime Achievement Grammy, a man who had sang with Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and so many more, have me his email address and we did keep in touch. For me it has never gotten any better than that in my new creative career.
I asked Tom if he would consider giving us an interview the next morning. I didn’t know that the group was planning to go with Stan Allen to Abba House in Celaya. Stan is an angel, just like Cathy, and they have worked together, Cathy cooking a few meals for at least 50 people and Stan taking them to Celaya.
Check out the Facebook page for Abba A.C. ccipan, there are several Abba Houses, but this is the one that can really use your help. It provides a safe place for immigrants to stop and have a safe place to rest, eat , and take a shower. The stay is supposed to be limited to 3 days, but is extended in special cases. Stan told us about a young man who fell from a train and lost both feet and a hand. With help he is recovering. Can you imagine?
Anyway, Tom wasn’t looking forward to the drive and agreed to the interview. As I left the house to pick up Tom, I took Cathy’s Javier Estrada guitar (that’s another story), and said “Wouldn’t it be amazing if Tom would sing “I Miss My Friends Tonight” for Jon. When I picked up Tom, the rest of the group was getting ready to leave for Abba House with Stan.
John Bohnel had suggested we set up in the Jarden for the the light. Too windy. Next, we tried the courtyard outside of Starbucks. Too loud. I asked a group of 7 or 8 gringos in the far corner, “Could you please keep it down for a little while? We’re trying to film an interview with Tom Paxton.” The leader of the group said, “We were here first, go someplace else.” As I was walking away I heard him say, “No one even knows who that old guy is anymore.” I went back and to John Bohnel and suggested we go back to my house.
As we were packed up and leaving, I made sure I was last out. I went over to the big mouth, short, little priss with the permed grey hair and said, ”We can go somewhere else, but you’re always going to be an ass hole!”
We set up in Cathy’s reading nook, where John put a towel over the window, but was still concerned about the light. The interview went well. Our head writer, Bob Hawkins had spent 30 years with the San Diego Union Tribune writing about music and technology, in addition to spending 5 years before and 5 years after running smaller newspapers.
Bob had spent a lot of time researching and had even worked up a scenario describing how we could combine the interview with three songs from the concert to make a good 30 minute documentary. Unfortunately, that never happened because of Covid-19 and my inexperience.
At the end of the interview I asked Tom if he would sing, “I Miss My Friends Tonight” for our friend Jon Sievert. He agreed and used Cathy/Javier Estrada’s guitar, which he said was “a fine guitar.”
When Tom finished singing he said, “I like singing that song. I haven’t sung it in much too long.” Then we had lunch and finished the pizza and John Bohnel’s Mr. Crunchy Chicken.