It is with great sadness we must report that Sir Doug Sahm passed away on Thursday November 18, 1999. We have made the former "unofficial" Doug Sahm home page a memorial site to the Texas Tornado. Please email your memories & tributes, and we will post them here. (Please be patient , it may be a while before you see your post -- the emails are coming in from all over the world faster than we can handle them . We're about a week behind in posting, but we're getting caught up. Please continue to check back. Thanks!)
Thanks for sharing your memories of Doug Sahm, and our best to his family and friends.
..a note to let everyone know we thank you for your prayers and thoughts.. i'm blown away! this came out of the blue.. i have seen things in the paper like my dad had chest pains, thats not true, i never said that, my dad was a health freak, he did have a prob. with his finger, but none of us me or dad thought it was anything like this!! he was sick the night of his death, but he had told friends that he was feeling better and wanted to just rest!! i spoke to dad a few days before his death and and we sung songs over the phone to each other making plans to record another sdq record.. talking trains, all the stuff we have done a million times, there's so many things going through my head right now... and there are no words for them, i have recorded and toured the world with my dad and to think that i will never to get to stand next him on stage again much less not get to hug him, is truely mind blowing... thanks again ...
shawn sahm 11/19/99
I love the Email. Dad was a great grandpa and father. Ya'll have touched us with your beautiful memories. Have to say some of them made me cry and laugh. But please keep your spirit happening. Dad loved life and people. I can't tell you how much I miss him already dad was so fun to be around. His grand kids love to read the e mail too. God bless ya'll.
Dawn Sahm Schaftlein 11/21/99
First, I want to thank everybody who truly loves my Dad and knows what a great talent and person he was. My only regret is that I didn't get to perform with him more often. Dad was a great bandleader who brought the best out of his fellow musicians. When Doug liked what you played you knew you did your best. There is no other musician as versatile and well-rounded, he could play it all. A musician's musician. His guitar playing was one of a kind. You always knew it was Doug. And he had one hell of a voice. He helped put Texas music on the map. So to Dad, Mom, Truby, J.R. Chatwell, and Sims you are truly missed and loved very much. Always remember the good times...Dad, my feller-weller. (that's what we used to call each other). All that matters is family and friends....every thing else is irrelevant. Thanks to everyone for your support.
Shandon Sahm 11/22/99
I only knew Doug for 5 years. Those five years seemed like a lifetime as anyone who got to know Doug would agree. Just this morning while at Sun Harvest I saw a box of golden seal tea and thought I could use some of this for my headcold I've been having for the past few days. Just one of the many influences Doug has had on my life. He was very much into herbs and not drinking tap water. Don't think I'll ever drink tap water without thinking of Doug. There are just too many every day things that make you think of Doug as he was so down to earth and he always made time to talk to anyone. Both of us being German and Scorpio's we just seem to groove. Thanks for setting up this site as it has been a relief for the family to read all the wonderful thoughts.
Dawn & I thank you all.
Lerry Schaftlein 11/22/99
Doug meant the world to me, he was a great friend. It was an honor to have performed with him throughout the years. I will always hold him close in my heart. It saddens me that my son will never get to meet him but you can be damn sure that he will know him.
Clay Meyers
ClayMeyers@camstudios.com 11/22/99
Doug Sahm was a great inspiration and influence on our music, he was very open and ready to sit in or ask us to sit in whenever we were in the same town. He loved to play and talk about music, it was always fun to see him. The road will be a sadder place without the possibility of running into him somewhere. Condolences to the family.
The Iguanas
iguanas@earthlink.net 11/24/99
I loved the SDQ from the moment I first heard, "She's About A Mover" on AM radio. I particularly remember them on "Shindig" when Doug suddenly appeared in a cowboy hat !! shouting something like "y'all come back, you hear!" I thought, "wow, those guys must be from Texas!" Over the years I collected their lps (never did nail a copy of "Funky Blues, dammit!") in record stores and cutout bins. I'd been working in radio about eight years when I finally met Doug at KSJO in San Jose, California. This was January 29th, 1981, the day of their appearance at The Bodega in Campbell, California. Doug, Augie, and John Perez appeared at the station for a nice on air interview and all signed my original "Mendocino" LP. Doug wrote, "Tom, thanks for keeping the faith. KSJO, we love you. Doug Sahm Sir Douglas Quintet" That night I got down to the club early to hook up with my good buddy Cornell Hurd and hang out with the band. Doug was in high spirits, smokin up a storm in the dressing room and chugging water out of gallon jugs...I thought I was the only guy that drank water like that!! And the other, too!. Everybody was real nice backstage, high energy from Doug, of course, everyone super friendly and just...well, groovin! Two sweet ladies appeared who were old friends of Doug and Augie, and they brought with them some special homemade food they knew Doug and Augie liked. I thought that was so cool...kinda took the term "groupie" to a new and higher level. Those guys went out and blew the crowd away, even though it wasn't a big crowd, they played just like it was 50,000 in a stadium. I remember Alvin Crow doing the best Buddy Holly cover I'd ever heard. At another show with the Tornadoes in the early 90's I mentioned that to Doug, and he said something like, "yeah, something about those Lubbock boys, they seem to do Buddy the best". I also caught the SDQ just a bit later at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz...at one point I went back to the dressing room and the band had departed for the stage. One guy was sitting alone in a corner in a big overstuffed old chair. He looked familiar, and I politely asked if maybe I knew him. He said, "I'm Mike Bloomfield." I was speechless. Mike joined the band onstage midset for some real hot Dylan covers. Less than two weeks later he was found dead of a drug o.d. in his car on the streets of San Francisco. The Tornadoes played the Sonoma County Fair in the early 90's, and I went down there in my big black hat, black alligator belt with chrome Lone Star buckle (the kind that opens beer bottles) and my black chrome tipped boots, jeans and jean jacket, and most importantly, a brand new "Border Wave" t-shirt from 1981 that I had stashed for just such an occasion. Walking up to the backstage area, I see Doug and Augie talking to some fans through the cyclone fence. I yell, "Hey Doug, It's me, Tom Mix from KSJO!" Doug shouts, "Hey man, what are you doin out there??..cmon back here! Security lets me in, I rap with Doug and Augie (Augie hadn't slept in a few days, I think), met all the band (Ernie spotted my Texicalli Grill shades with "South Austin" on one side, and says, "Hey, that's my hometown!" What a sweet guy.) So I ask Doug can I introduce the band, (what the Hell, I'm a pro at this stuff, and I'm dressed for the show) and he says sure...I go up on stage with everybody, Augie, Louie, Speedy and Ernie, onstage gettin ready, and I hit the mike to intro myself and then work the crowd with series of high enery questions..."anybody come here tonite to hear some tex-mex music?? (BIG NOISE) and on thru rockabilly, r&b, tejano, blues (Louie says, "I'm here for some blues!), then Doug and Freddy appear and I give the big band name intro and blow off the stage as they blow into the opener. Whatta Show!! Whatta night! I was on such a natural high (o.k., two beers) I took off my boots outside the fairgrounds and walked home three miles in my socks!! Hanging out with Doug Sahm was like hooking up with a user friendly lightning bolt...he was a friend to all, like an old neighborhood buddy you grew up with as a kid. He just always seemed to be turned up to "10"...a WORLD CLASS HUMAN BEING who grooved on life, people and music. He played the whole spectrum of Texas music with his own special touch, the only way he could...the Doug Sahm Way. He couldn't do it any other way, and I don't think he could have stopped it, ever. It was like water building behind a dam, it just had to bust out!! My deepest condolences to his family,friends, musician friends, fellow players and his fans. He will be missed so much, because he was such a one of a kind guy! Now, I gotta go find a copy of "Funky Blues" to top off my collection...I love you Doug!!
Vaya Con Dios, Mi Amigo De Musica!
Tom Mix, former KSJO DJ and SDQ fan
breier@windsorwines.com 11/25/99
I just listened to "In The Dark" and "The Gypsy" on the way back from a little daytime Thanksgiving gig. Doug sings so soulfully and the band grooves like crazy--especially when those triplets kick in under the sax solo on "The Gypsy". I never met him, but I feel like I knew him, and he's definitely been an influence on my music.--Willy Dalton
wdalt@mindspring.com (willy) 11/25/99
I first heard of Doug Sahm when I was at the University of Colorado in Boulder in 1970. My professor, Larry Weiss, couldn't stop raving about him. I lived in Greenwich Village in New York after that and played at the Lone Star and at the Village clubs and lived on Macdougal Street behind the Kettle of Fish; that's where I connected with the "Texas contingent." A couple of years later (1980) I moved to Austin and had the great privilege of seeing Doug perform many times in all of his various configurations, and had the great honor of singing with him when I was in Teddy & the Talltops and he sat in with us one evening at Antone's. Through the years he has been an incredible inspiration. Truly a genius. I have see him sing country at the Broken Spoke -- all night long, flawlessly -- with Alvin Crow, nailing every classic and standard, remembering every lyric; I've seen him rock and roll at Steamboat, including when his sons, Shandon & Shawn first played onstage with him so many years ago -- he was so proud!!! Of course we've all seen and loved hearing him sing flawlessly in Spanish; and last spring I saw him rock the house at Antone's with his great, full-tilt blues band, deriding the crowd of yuppies and computer geeks even as they paid a nice big cover and spent plenty of $ to see him -- he said, y'all don't know the real Austin; here's some of our REAL Austin, Texas blues music, man. DIG IT!!!!!!
When my friend Lucinda Williams would see him out on the road he would always tell her, hey, Vancouver's happening! Or some other exciting place he'd just found. He was truly a part of the landscape and will be forever. He WAS Texas music, he was the spirit of all great music. He embodied the spirit, truly of life itself -- human, exasperating, goofy, brilliant, sweet, compassionate, shy, with the insecurities all of us have -- but he had more than that; he had an absolute and total grasp of what was amusing, and what was AMAZING about life -- the fact that we are here at all, and that we get to KNOW we're here -- and (as best I could understand this was absolutely his point) HAVE FUN WITH IT. Love and Blessings to Pammie, Shawn, Shandon, all of the Sahm family, and his dearly beloved lady in Wimberley -- I literally fell to my knees when I heard the news and have been saying little prayers of thanks periodically over the last week, crying several times and being just bummed and sad the rest of the time but knowing that what I feel is nothing compared to the grief and loss that so many, many other people who knew and loved him so much more closely and deeply than I did, are feeling and will feel for ever; most of all I am so grateful to have had the privilege of seeing and knowing (just a little bit) this incredible spirit. With deepest respect and sympathy, Mandy Mercier
MZMercier@aol.com 11/24/99
I remember when I was a kid I used to haul ass home from school to watch The Lloyd Thaxton Show... his show was kinda the Anti-Bandstand, his guests were not quite as mainstream. One day I saw the Quintet, keep in mind that I was about 10 or 11, and here comes this Singing Cowboy a Farfisa and a song about a mover. Needless to say, I looked at everything differently from that point on.
In 1990, I got to see the Tornados play one of their first shows, it was on the patio at the 8.0 bar in Dallas, and it was one of the best parties, and greatest shows I've ever seen. Later I was lucky enough to be introduced to him, and we talked about Oregon, where I was from..he said then he was thinking about buying property for you guys on the Oregon Coast....did he ever do that?
Later, we talked a bit at a Sound Warehouse Convention and laughed about that show at the 8.0...seems they remembered our rowdiness.. Wouldn't you know it, the radio station is doin a tribute to him, and "Adios Mexico" just came on...god, we went wild during that song...
Well, Sahm family, here come the tears... I will miss him, and my heart is with you all during your time...
Vaya con Dios, Amigo....
Don Crouch, Seattle
DKCrouch@aol.com 11/24/99
The Maloe Melo (Home of the blues in Amsterdam) are in a shock. Doug Sahm rest in peace and keep on rocking.
Jur and Patrick Scherpenzeel the Maloe Melo Amsterdam
J.van.Doorn@cable.A2000.nl (J.van.Doorn) 11/24/99
To the family of Doug Sahm,
We are very saddened by your loss. We are the parents of Louie Ortega. Joe & Alice. When Louie called to tell us about your Dad it was a total shock, my goodness they had just seen each other!! He was truly a fine man. I remember having Thanksgiving dinner at my Louie's house & your Dad honored all of us with his presence. Again, I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am.
Lovingly & with deepest sympathy,
Joe & Alice
Jlee1135@aol.com 11/24/99
I was with Doug last new years in Lafayette La. at the back to back club to listen to TK HULIN. He was in great spirits
Bluelan@aol.com 11/24/99
Doug . . . . We will always remember the times we met you and all the lovely songs you sung. There will never be another you. We feel so sad . . . . May the good Lord bless and keep you . . . .
Inger and Ingrid, Ostersund, Sweden
carlsson-inger@telia.com (Carlsson Inger) 11/24/99
Doug, the news of your dead hit me real hard! I saw you 7 times in Belgium. The first time about 18 years ago with the Sir Douglas Quintet. Since that day I'm a big fan. I will mis that marvellous, broken and warm voice! Doug, I'm missing you but will never forget you...
Benni (Belgium)
benni.dillen@aquafin.be
Rest in peace, Doug Sahm.
Yesterday afternoon, under a bright, sunny South Texas sky, Doug Sahm was laid to rest. His family, friends and fans said their final good-byes to a man who had touched them all.
His family spoke of his life, sharing the private and personal stories of life with a brother, a father, a family member, as only those closest to him could.
His friends; those he grew up with, those he worked with, those he knew and regarded as friends; those who loved him.
His fans; from youngsters to the aged, of every size, shape and description, they came to say good-bye to a man who had been a part of their lives; a man they loved.
For hours, by the hundreds, they filed through the flower filled chapel, solemnly paying their respects to a man who had touched their lives in ways, which for many, words could not express.
Looking out across the standing room only chapel, they were there; those who were recognizable by their presence on the stages, in the studios and in the audiences of the last fifty years.
They came, to say good-bye to someone who was very, very special in their lives, and there were a lot of them. Of the standing room only; overflowing into the parking lots, officials at the Sunset Memorial Chapel said it was the largest chapel service attendance ever. Doug would have liked that.
As I walked to the gate for my flight last night, I noticed an adjacent gate sign read "Phoenix." As the words and melody of, "... Is anybody going to San Antone, or Phoenix, Arizona?..." came to mind, I thought, "I'm in San Antone... and forgetting is out of the question... there were too many good times. One doesn't forget the good times"
Enroute to Dallas, conversation with my seatmate turned to the purpose of our respective reasons for being in San Antonio. When I explained why I'd been there, the young lady said, "Oh, Yes, I remember them (SDQ), my mom always liked them!"
When she asked about the music and the concerts, I said, "Imagine a concert where being in the audience is like being at a backstage party with the band... being a part of it!"
That was the one thing Doug Sahm seemed to have always created in all his fans; being a part of the show, as well as a spectator. His fans were important to him, and they knew it.
He may be gone, but his presence remains; in our hearts and minds... the reminders are in his music. The Music never dies.
Rest in Peace, Doug Sahm
HeirChk@aol.com 11/24/99
This is a great memorial to Doug Sahm because it shows just how many people he made real happy over the years and calls up newly found memories as we read it. Hearing 'The Rains Cam' late at night on KAAY, reading the RS reviews for Mendocino and findin it was even a million times better, gettin 'Rough Edges' at Leisure Landing in BR and diggin on Dynamite Women and Spearfish by Night for years, findin that a friend had all the obscure Smash records, hearing Groovers Paradise at least a few times on BR hippie radio. And seeing him those times in New Oleans at T ips'. He was the Texas musician of the latter part of the 20th Century. He helped bring Roky back to the earthlings. He was a real guitar blues player. And he made a lot people happy with the best damn rock and roll sound they'll ever hear.
rwillia1@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu (Richard Williamson) 11/24/99
So sorry to hear the news. I bought "Doug Sahm and Band" in ''73 on the strength of my enthusiasm for Bob Dylan. This spurred me on to collect more of Doug's excellent music. More recently I've been a volunteer presenter on local radio here, presenting a weekly Blues Show on which I've played tracks from "Last Real Texas Blues Band" "Hell Of a Spell" and "Juke Box Music". At home I've also been playing his Scandinavian release " Texas Tornado" with its sublime version of the country song "Invitation To The Blues". I and many , many others have lost a great musician. His family have lost much more. My deepest sympathies to them.
Martin Davies, Wales, Great Britain
MARTINDAVIES756@aol.com 11/24/99
I feel such sadness. Sadness for the loss of a friend. Sadness for Shandon, Shawn and the whole family. After the loss of Sims Ellison it took me awhile to re-group. The loss of Doug hits that same chord. Texas music will not be the same anymore. I had just talked with Doug several months ago. I had called him about performing on Nov. 6th. He told me that date was his birthday. We talked of music, Austin, Shandon who I had co-managed while he was in Pariah. We talked of Shawn and also of Doug's wish to record with Omar in the future. Man, Doug was a musician....he knew how to be in the right place at the right time....I have to assume that he's happy where he's jammin' now...he's always one step ahead of the rest of us.
Kevin Wommack kevinwom@aol.com 11/24/99
I took Doug for granted. He was always there, beautiful and powerful... an ocean, a mountain, a sunset, the air that we breathe. My greatest sympathies to Doug's family, friends, and fans. And to the world, for losing a truly good spirit. His music and his spirit lifted our lives above the mundane. I'll miss Doug.
Tom Pedersen, Austin
tspedersen@earhtlink.net 11/24/99
We've lost another one of the good ones. You can't say enough about Doug and his place in rock-n-roll history. He was the ultimate rock-n-roll cowboy. Sir Douglas Quintet at Antones, SXSW 1994. That show pretty much summed it up for me and I'm sure for everyone else in the room that night. His spirit lives on. God bless you Doug.
Lorne Rall, Nashville, Tn.
Rudfauborg@aol.com 11/24/99
I heard the tragic news about the death of Doug Sahm Friday morning 6 O'clock in the morning. Of course i could't believe it,I was totally shocked. First my condolences to the whole Sahm family and all his friends,musicians he played with and fans. I saw him in concert so many times in The Netherlands,with the S.D.Q.,Texas Mavericks,Last Real Texas Blues Band and the Texas Tornadoes. A few weeks ago I was very glad to hear that he would perform again in the Netherlands in Feb.2000. That's all over now,however his records will be played forever. Doug,ain't letting you go,I'm gonna miss you
Siem Dekker
BMG The Netherlands B.V.
Siem.Dekker@BMG.NL 11/24/99
It's not a contradiction in terms to say that Doug Sahm's funeral was one of the most joyous, life-affirming events I have ever attended. There were more musicians from every strata of music in one place than imaginable and pickup trucks were parked by Harleys parked by lowriders parked by SUVs...
The line to walk through the chapel for viewing was endless. I could see Joe Ely hugging a crying Dawn Sahm Schaftlein, who would again break into tears when she saw me -- it had been years since I'd seen Doug's daughter but she caught the bouquet at my 1977 wedding. Jimmie Vaughan squeezed my hand comfortingly as we walked to the casket. Saints medals, offerings of affection, feathers, necklaces, little pieces of mojo and occasional contraband were being left in his casket as he lay there, cowboy hat and shades intact, his steel guitars flanking him. I slipped off one of my rings and left it with him. It seemed like such a miserably insignificant token, just a Celtic circle of silver infinity when what I got from Doug Sahm will bring me joy for the rest of my life.
Shandon was first in the receiving line, looking a little lost but brave; a young man who has lost a bandmate, his mother, and his father in a short period of time. He's also inherited his father's professionalism, playing a Meat Puppets show 48 hours after his dad's death. Doug would not have had it any other way. On the end was Dawn, married and the mother of Doug's two grandchildren and tearfully exuberant in her appreciation for all the people paying their respects to her father. I still see them at Soap Creek Saloon as kids, Shandon rapt in front of the bandstand and Dawn swaying dreamily as her dad played fiddle.
But the one that got me was Shawn. He'd worshipped his father from birth and loved the opportunity to play with him while pursuing his own bands too. And for all the lessons he'd learned at his father's knee, he was for the first time publicly stepping up on his father's behalf since his father would not be there to do it himself. Because I have known him since he used to try to charge a quarter to "let" you park at Soap Creek, I am guilty of thinking of him with the greatest of affection as the son. Today, at his beloved father's funeral, I saw him as a man, a proud Sahm.
An hour and a half after the service was supposed to start, the viewing line was stopped until afterward so the services could begin. Doug's friend Sister Terry spoke movingly about him and his spiritual quest. His brother Victor spoke eloquently and poignantly of Doug the young boy, the one few of us have ever seen and even fewer knew. His three children shared their heartfelt emotions with words of love and stories with warmth and humor. I am sure everyone inside the chapel would agree it was appropriately respectful and relaxed.
I wouldn't know. I was outside with the larger portion of the crowd who couldn't fit into the chapel. Most gathered around a speaker in back of the chapel and strained to hear the tributes. They went on for a while and I wandered away after the kids spoke, seeing something resembling a tailgate party happening. Yes indeedy, mixed drinks on the left and a cooler of beer on the right. I took a beer and Artie Osborne and I toasted the Texas Tornado. And isn't *that* what a funeral should be?
There was a get together afterward but I left before the services were over. It was a pleasure to see the turn-out and so many friends. Doug Sahm was a personal friend and the shock of his death was astonishing but I had not had time to grieve for my friend, my newspaper put me on the job. For the four days following his death I had been working almost round the clock to help prepare the Austin Chronicle's tribute to Sahm. But the day of the funeral deadline was over and like everyone else, I could simply let myself mourn the loss of possibly the most talented man I have ever had the privilege of knowing.
Did anyone notice the moon was full the night before the funeral? That kind of a moon is called a frosty moon. It lit the sky with such luminous beauty it made me stop and wonder. And for the services, the day was balmy with clear blue skies a light November wind. A frosty moon and November wind... just the sort of thing Doug would have liked.
Adios, Texas Tornado. You old son of a gun.
xoxoxoxo Margaret
mmoser@auschron.com (Margaret) 11/24/99
Doug was my hero and he was my friend. As sad as I am over his departure from this world, I take great comfort in all the good times he gave me and so many other people all over the world through his music and through himself. I can't imagine a better send off than his funeral in San Antonio, where bikers and businessmen, vatos and cowboys, girlfriends and baseball fans and the greatest musicians in Texas all got together to say "Adios", then retreated to the club to play into the night. Shawn, Shandon and Dawn--you are chips off the old block. The stories you told were wonderful. I already knew your dad was proud of you all, but he's even prouder now.
"You can teach me a lot of lessons, you can bring me a lot of gold, but you just can't live in Texas, if you don't have a lot of soul."
Thanks for the good times.
Joe Nick Patoski
joenickp@ix.netcom.com (Joe Nick Patoski) 11/24/99
(The magazine I work for, Texas Monthly, has a memorial site on their homepage www.texasmonthly.com)
Just a note to Doug's worldwide fans-I attended Doug's services yesterday in San Antonio, along with hundreds (maybe over 1000-they had to set up speakers outside!) of friends, and fellow musicians. We heard from Sister Terry (Doug's 87 year old spiritual leader), Doug's brother, Vic, as well as Doug's kids, and some very touching stories about dad. I believe that it was Shawn that said if Doug could see how many folks were there, he'd say something like, "Look, they LOVE me, MAN! " Yes, Sir Doug, we do.
frankm@ccms.net (Frank in Austin) 11/24/99
I missed my only opportunity to meet Doug Sahm earlier this year at Koufax's house for the De La Hoya-Trinidad fight. I sincerely regret that fact now but though I never met him I loved the Sir Douglas Quintet in the 60's when I was a teenager. And since I started working with Doug's good friend John C.(alias Koufax) all those memories of the Quintet camew back to me. My sympathy goes out to all his family and friends and I will pray for him every week in church. Goodbye Doug you where a true Texas legend.
Arthur F. Sandoval Jr., Kelly AFB
arthur@txdirect.net (Arthur Sandoval) 11/24/99
While on an eight hour drive home today from Las Vegas, I slipped on a "best of" Doug Sahm tape that I'd compiled. Imagine my surprise when I arrived home and saw the news that he had passed. I didn't know he was gone and here he was, as always, helping me through with his music. I'm sorry that I missed his last swing through the Bay Area as I tried to catch him as often as possible. Adios compadre...
jmcinnis@pacbell.net (Jim McInnis) 11/24/99
My name is Randy Crockett, Columbus, Georgia. I went to a concert at the Municapal Auditorium when I was around 14. I heard She's about a mover LIVE!!!!! I can still play that song today and I am now 46. So sorry to hear of Doug's passing. I just wanted the family to know how far reaching his music was all the way to Columbus georgia on 43rd street. Know one ever really stops and thinks of who listened to their songs and how it affected their lives. I have been playing since I was 13, 34 years now, and his song was always a requested number.
DEBIWOWCOOK@aol.com 11/24/99
As a teenager in Upstate NY, She's About A Mover was one of my favorite songs. My dearest childhood friend Linda & I were sure that Sir Douglas Quintet was British (just as Doug suspected people would!) and we hung on every word. I remember those days so well! Linda died several years ago and because she's gone, those memories are even more bittersweet for me today. When I moved to Texas in 1987, I immediately got involved in booking musicians. I spent a lot of time in many of the Austin clubs and especially at The Hole in the Wall. That was undoubtedly Doug's favorite watering hole and I would see him there frequently. We spoke occasionally, but I was mostly just thrilled about being in the same room as Doug Sahm! And he was such an entertainer, on or off stage. In 1990 I moved my office and apartment into the old Austin Opera House (now The Terrace) complex. Shandon Sahm was my next-door neighbor (and surrogate son) for 6 years. Whenever Doug was looking for Shandon & couldn't find him, he would come knock on my door and say "Where's my boy? Have you seen my boy today?" Then he'd stay for a while and we'd talk about music and how great his kids were - two of his favorite subjects. What a loving and proud father he was! For several years now I have been working at the back door of the Continental Club. Doug was a fairly frequent visitor and we got to chat a lot. He always told me the best stories! He would always come in the back door like a ray of sunshine - with colorful clothes and a bright smile. I had the opportunity to hear him in almost all of his musical incarnations over the past 12 years. He was an amazing talent and an amazing man. My life is richer for having known him and I will continue to celebrate his life.
My love & prayers go to Shandon, Shawn, Dawn, Deborah and the rest of Doug's family & friends.
Dianne Scott, Austin TX
DScott4056@aol.com 11/23/99
I have been overwhelmed with sadness since hearing the news! I was married to Willie Nelson and have known Doug of about 26 of those years - I've seen him sing and have eaten Tacos with him all over the country - I will miss his "up" spirit and his way of singing any kind of song he wanted to - God Bless him and the family he leaves behind - I'll always see his face in the Mountains!!!
Connie Nelson
cremepuf@postoffice.pacbell.net 11/23/99
I am so saddened by this tragic news that I can hardly put it into words. I live in Nashville,Tn now but saw Doug many times in California growing up. I got to meet him once, and was lucky enough to ask him to autograph a poster for me. He did so very kindly. Anyway, I cant think of any other musician that has touched my life as deeply. God Bless him always. To me he is the ultimate master of Rock'Roll,Country,Blues,Tex-Mex and Jazz..all bundled into the most REAL,authentic and human sound possible. To say that he will be missed in a musical sense is not nearly enough. I have had 3 TRULY sad days in my life...the day my father passed away, Dec 8, 1980, when John Lennon was murdered and this past week when I heard about Sir Doug. That is how much I loved him and his music. I am very grateful for this web site to give me a chance to express my grief, and to tell his family my prayers are with them and Sir Doug always.
Mark Weisman..Nashville,TN jprg@bellsouth.net (jprg) 11/23/99
Doug was the captain of our Soap Creek Saloon softball team "back in the day". At the time he was doing a "Blue Monday" gig at the original 6th street Antone's and I can remember him being the window into the world of the blues for me. We had a lot of fun laughing at his great sstories and marveled at his intense energy. Years later he came to SF and recorded at my "home" studio Different Fur in SF and we had quite a few great laughs as he worked. One of the great talents ever in American roots music and a hell of a character-as befitting his home state's larger than life image. I'll never forget when I met him first and told him I was from Texas City and hated it, etc. He reminded me that Charles Brown was from Texas City and something to the effect of "hey I can't do nothing about Texas City but you wanna burn one?" Somehow I imagined him living to be 100 as he seemed that wise when he was 30 and had that amused, wizened visage behind which I always assumed was more going on than he revealed. My best wishes to his family and friend whom i know will trweasure his memory forever-thankfully he has left a big legacy to remind us again and again of his talent and musical vision.
Dick Deluxe
regner@contentconduit.com 11/23/99
I sure did hate to hear about Doug passing away. I only got to meet Doug once when he was here in El Paso, Texas. The Texas Tornados were autographing photos and I had met Augie Meyers a couple of years before through Claude Casey Morgan that was my lead guitar player when we had a 6 piece rock and roll band in Baumholder, Germany. Although Doug and I had never met, I took a picture of my wife and I, (Thomas Country), to him and he asked me what I wanted. I told him I wanted an endorsement. He took the picture of us and asked me, "What do you want me to write?" I told him to put the best duet within 300 miles of El Paso. Doug responded, "Why don't I just put to Thomas Country, The Best," and that's what he did. He didn't even know that I knew Augie, but he set down his pen and we talked about music, particularly Country Music for several minutes while people were standing in line waiting for an autograph. We really did appreciate that. He then handed it to Freddy Fender and said, "Sign It", which Freddy did. Augie, if you see this, please let me know what your e-mail address is and if you happen to have one for Claude Casey Morgan that would be appreciated also.
Sincerely,
Edmund D. Thomas (Thomas Country)
ethomas@elpasonet.net (Ed Thomas) 11/23/99
MAN,WHAT MEMORIES! THANKS DOUG.
LEOLAUREL@aol.com 11/23/99
My deepest sympathy to the Sahm family. Not often does the death of someone I never met hit me like this (I did see him play live, though) but then its not often someone rock so purely, profoundly and honestly. What a great guy whom we lost and way too soon
jglantz@earthlink.net (Jaime Glantz) 11/23/99
I'm just sitting at home, listening to a song of the "4 aces" . Hearing Doug sing "Clinging to you", I feel like visiting his homepage. What I read there, I can't believe... Since half a life I love this fellow and his music...man I was 15, when I listened to Mendocino the first time. I'm a german Tex-Mex singer and got a band named FRED MARTIN & the Tejanos. We love to do a lot songs from Sir Doug and the Tornados. They made me write own Tex-Mex songs with Bavarian lyrics. And I will write a song to him... Doug...we over here think of you all the time and we never will forget you. We feel so sad...
FRED MARTIN
fred.martin@online.de, Isargringo@aol.com 11/23/99
in my life i've had a couple of people touch me deeply - some knew how much they meant to me - and others never will. one of the people that touched my life was a man named robert whom i met in college in austin, texas. one day we were passing through the student union and he saw doug sahm and augie myers sitting at a table - i guess robert knew them because we were graciously welcomed to their table..we sat down and i got to meet doug sahm and augie myers..everytime i hear "she's about a mover" i flash back to that sunny afternoon...years later, whenever the texas tornadoes would come to town i'd be there...funny how music helps us eternally experience moments in time like that...to sir doug's family and friends: my heartfelt sympathy..and also my gratitude for you all so graciously sharing him with us all.
kwatson@son1.nur.uth.tmc.edu (Karla L Watson) 11/23/99
From the day my brother brought home a 45 called "Mendicino" in the mid '60s I was a fan. I never got to meet Doug Sahm in person but I feel like he was my friend. I know many people who called him their friend and we are all a little "messed up" over this sad event. But just remember-Doug was a FREE SOUL and THAT is what will keep on. Like a spinning tornado his soul will live on from Austin to San Antonio to Sweden to Japan to Phily to San Fran and on and on and on..... the airwaves,cd players,mp3s and ol'dusty record players will spin that Tornado...and remember him FOREVER!!!!!
With lots of love, Mick Gray
mickholly@aol.com 11/23/99
Sir Doug had as much to do with my musical education and appreciation as Mr. Bill Monroe, the Father of Bluegrass (1911-1996). Sir Doug led me, as a teen, from "New Wave" and country-rock into the world of Tex-Mex, honky tonk, blues, salsa and swing. Me, my brother and a bunch of friends piled into a car during a South Dakota spring in '81 to drive five hours to see SDQ in a small Minneapolis bar. I still remember the show as one of the best I've ever seen. I've spent hours hunting down and listening to his music since that time. "The Rains Came" is one of my favorite songs ever. I wish I had had the chance to see Texas Tornadoes live. Sir Doug lives on through the airwaves of WDVX (89.9 fm) in East Tennessee (www.wdvx.com).
Steve Hooks, Knoxville, Tenn.
shooks@ftenergyusa.com 11/23/99
I was in a hotel room in Portland, Oregon when I last spoke to Doug. He was on the phone back in Texas saying "Isn't it a groove up there, man!" Over the years that I have played in bands with Shawn and Shandon, Doug would always feed us with inspiring road stories. He really wanted us to experience life as he did, "Out on the road and in the Zone." His incredible drive motivated us all, and his spirit will continue to inspire us forever. God bless his soul!
Dave Derrick
Dhderrick@aol.com 11/23/99
Doug Sahm... What a loss!!! The best show to roll through the Blue Cafe in Long Beach Ca.!!! The Last Real Texas Blues Band!!! We will miss you but we will never forget you...
The Blue Cafe, www.thebluecafe.com
reelmusic1@earthlink.net (Vincent Jordan) 11/23/99
So sorry. Hate to see you go. Thanks for the music. Saw you several times in Holland and Belgium. Good memories. We'll miss your amazing warm voice. Vaya con dios. See you later.
Paul Pinxten (Week In Week UIT/MaastrichtNet),
mnet@maastrichtnet.nl (Paul Pinxten) 11/23/99
My condolences and blessings to the family and friends I know are even harder hit by this than any of us fans. Only got to see SDQ once, way back so far that I can't even clearly remember where it was. Think it was Great American Music Hall in S.F. around the time of the Return of Doug Saldana. I remember the music. And the man. A great night, and of course we have all the old LPs that even now I get out and play. Now I'll have to get off my duff and get caught up, I reckon. A true original, may he rest in peace and music. I just realized that our band, the Geezers, doesn't have any SDQ sangs in its lists. We will now.
Bob Loomis (and wife Bev), Concord, CA
BBloomis@aol.com 11/23/99
wow, that's a trip right off the bat. the email is adress is 'sir doug'. it's spooky writing his name and know he's gone. the last time i saw doug was on speedy's front porch for south by red river. it's the anti-sxsw party that could only be thrown on speedy's front porch, and only be for real with doug and bill bentley and homer henderson and peoples like that there. as was the menu for the day we did jimmy reed songs together. of course. he named speedy the king of doody town. the continental. he called the band the last real texas blues band. he lived for his family and his music. as a friend i'll vouch for that. as a super super fan(first and foremost and with respect to the talent)it's another huge gap in the musical food chain.
hook herrera c/s
costa brava, espana
hookherrera@ctv.es (rancho gancho) 11/23/99
From Doug's old house above the old Soap Creek Saloon in Austin in 1976 to one of the best gigs I've ever seen him perform, at the KB club in Malmö in 1997 - what a long, strange, wonderful and very funny trip it was. He stayed with me several times in Stockholm and we had a typical Swedish x-mas smorgasbord the first time he was here. He was chewing some meat and said:
- This is good, man, what is it?
- Reindeer.
He stopped chewing. He took the meat out of his mouth. He said:
- Reindeer?
- Reindeer.
- Mats, don't e v e r tell Santa about this.
I never did.
When a friend called and told me about Doug's death, this was the first thing I came to think of. And there were so many others, too numerous to tell, the night we crashed a VIP-party for Lindsay Wagner at The Palomino in LA, when we saw Mickey Mouse undress after a gig at Disneyland, when he took me to a jazz gig at The Armadillo Headquarters. He was the fastest talker and slowest drivers I've ever met. I saw someone mention a gig at The Bottom Line in New York with 37 people in attendance, I was at the same gig. He did Willie Nelson's "Funny how time slips away" and tears were streaming down my face, it was the only time I heard him do that song - I will never forget it. But there were so many others...with The Texas Tornados in New York, with The Quintet in Los Angeles, with "The big band" in Sweden where nobody'd ever heard someone like Rocky Morales and went completely nuts! But there was a special night, after a party at Augie Meyers's old farm in Bulverde, Texas, when it was just the three of us and Augie played accordion, Doug played guitar, smokes and beers were passed, the night was warm, the moon was full and the two of them played some of the most marvelous music I've ever heard. Shit, Doug Sahm didn't die. He couldn't. Doug Saldana always returns, always, in the hearts and memories of us all. He never made me fully understand baseboll, though. But there will be time for that, plenty of time.
- Mats Olsson, Stockholm, Sweden.
mats.olsson@expressen.se (Mats Olsson) 11/23/99
"Outward I know I look happy,
but it's only because of my pride.
and if you look in my heart, dear,
you'll see that I'm cryin' inside."
Like every one of the thousands and thousands of fortunate souls that had the opportunity to experience the magic of Doug and his music, I too, am his biggest fan. Apart from being a long time friend and lover of Sir Doug's music, and having taken hundreds of concert photos of SDQ, Doug gave me the the great opportunity of working on the cover of the Quintessence lp. I will always remember the meetings in Doug's hotel room on Sunset Blvd. JP and I were treated to wonderful 2 minute concerts by Doug every so often, when he would get an inspiration and grab his guitar. Thank you Doug for being a friend without having to. I took my then 65 yr. old father to see the Border Wave SDQ at the Whisky-a-gogo, and introduced him to Doug after the show. My heart swelled with pride as Doug gave him a big hug and proceeded to treat my father like his father. At every So. California gig we went to susequently , my dad,"Senor", was always on the Guest List, and was always rewarded by Doug dedicating "The Rains Came" to him!!! My two sisters (Stella and Minnie) and I, have and always will be, sincere and enthusiastic devotees of the greatest fellow San Antonian ever. We mourn his passing, but we rejoice in the legacy he left us. To his family, I would like to say that your pain is shared by us, we who became part of your family after having our hearts and souls touched by Doug. The Legend of Doug Saldana will never die!
All across the USA, jump up and say "Chicano, soy chicano, right on!" We love you man.
r4j27@gateway.net (joel aparicio - friend of doug with pride!) 11/23/99
I loved Doug's music from their being the first American group that captured the British sound and fooling everyone to the Return of Doug Saldana to the fun live shows. The man loved to entertain and spared no talent as he sang with soul. He moved to his own drummer and we were all thankful to go along for the ride. Thanks buddy.
andy saldana
andybeatle@aol.com 11/23/99
My favorite Doug albums were "Doug Sahm and Band" with Dylan (favorite song was 'San Antone') and the album containing "Catch Me in the Morning", my favorite Doug Sahm song period. I've been looking for this CD for a long time; my old record is unplayable. Some friends and myself really had a good time driving back from Austin singing along with the Tornadoes. I'll surely miss Doug.
Big Mike
UTRXMR 11/23/99
there must be ahellof jam in heaven now. peace and love brother!
dbsk@webtv.net (Dorissa Boliniski) 11/22/99
Saddened to hear of the passing of one of the great American voices. His appearance on Austin City Limits back almost 30 years ago now changed my life. Thanks to Doug for his beautiful music and his beautiful singing and his lovely messy guitar, too. I guess for the rest of THIS life, we're just gonna have to live with all those tapes and records and CDs he left us. We already owe him big. He was one of the components of what was good about Rock 'n Roll, and he is irreplaceable. Also, he was a helluva nice guy. I'll never know exactly what all those words slurring out at the end of "If She'd Only Come To Me" are, but I sure do agree with 'em!
Thanks Doug.
sgregoropoulos@cinetelfilms.com (Steve Gregoropoulos) 11/22/99
Living in the East, we would make the trip to New York City to see Doug, where he usually played somewhere in the Village. In the mid-70s Doug would play a funky little hole called the Other End and he and the band would sleep upstairs on the owner's apartment floor. The joint was on Bleeker Street, the same Greenwich Village neighborhood Doug hung out in with Brian Jones and Dylan in 1965. He grooved on the city big time, and he always welcomed us or anyone to talk backstage. There were many nights at The Lone Star, with Doug and the boys (a 15-year-old Shawn once too!) crammed on the tiny stage, rocking the house. The bar was directly in front of the stage - spitting distance. Deep into the late set one night in 1981, some big-deal record exec was pounding down vodka next to me, predicting Doug would be the next Willie Nelson, whatever that meant. I tried to tell him Doug probably had eclipsed old Willie already, but he didn't really catch my drift.
So many nights where Doug and his boys would just make everything seem right - 1973 with the big band at Max's Kansas City; 1989 my wife and I slow dancing in the tiny Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, Massachusetts with the revue with Lou Ann Barton; same year in New Orleans at Tipitinas, where Doug just plum wore out the crowd, calling song after song after song. Even Flaco was ready to pack up his ax that night.
I interviewed him twice when I was still writing - once for Option magazine and the other time for Tower Pusle! magazine. What a soulful, poetic speedster, never quite tripping over his words but always out there on the edge of his own groove. Doug's music has been the soundtrack to my life since I was 17 back in 1971 and I always counted on seeing him one more time. No, we won't see a cat like Doug again in this lifetime and it breaks my heart. I teach fifth graders now and tomorrow I'm going to talk to them about Doug and how a person so intent on following where the road takes them can be a hero to many of us. I'll play them a few of his tunes. I'll always miss him, but we'll all hook up further on down the road. Love and hope to his family and good friends.
Rob Dudko, Connecticut, USA
Stir Dudko@aol.com 11/22/99
As well as being part a SDQ'er, Texas Tornadan, and a Last Real Texas Bluesman, Doug was part of the Formerly Brothers Family. This was the band that really introduced me to Doug's music. The band was stationed in Canada and also featured Gene Taylor and Amos Garrett. Their studio and live cd are 'do not miss' quality. After this, anything with Sahm's name on it became an automatic purchase. To his family, I give my heartfelt condolences. He's now part of the pantheon of great American musicians that future generations will honour.
bakhshyangagik@hotmail.com (Gagik Bakhshyan) 11/22/99
I heard the news Sat. morning listing to Lone Star Jukebox on KPFT in Houston. I had to call my brother who lives in Austin to confirm. I was shocked , saddened ,felt lost thinking of never seeing this hyper active musical tornad again.. This guy was hard to believe. ALthough I havent listened to Sir Doug lately, I own most SDQ vinyl and many CDs and they were in my usual listening rotation. MY last recollection of hearing Sir Doug was the sound track from a movie about golf with Kevin Costner( the title eludes me). I was on a Italian offshore oil platform off the coast of Pointe Noir,Republic of Congo.I dont even recall the song It was a Texas Tornado song " a little bit is better than nada" I think. ANY how Im trying to explain to these Italians,French ,and Congolese who spoke very little English what a ledgend Sir Doug was in Texas and the musical world. anyhow what ever was lost in translation was made up by my sincerity and excitement of hearing this song and remembering the times I saw him live in houston and Austin.Being a native Texan and 48 years old I got to see SDQ and many other incarnations of Sir Doug.Enough Rambling You will be missed.Vaya con DIOS.
dblanton@mpehouston.com 11/22/99
I've just been scrolling through the e-mail reactions to the death of Sir Doug. Although the loss of a Great Man of Music is palpable, it does my heart good to see how much he was/is appreciated by music lovers from all over the world ... how much his joy in music making touched others. Fortunately, we have the records, though nothing is like Doug in concert when he could and did play anything -- from blues to rock to jazz to soul to country, all combined, and everything in between. He was a unique force in roots music and he proved it every night. My sympathy goes out to his family and friends. Fifty-eight is too damn young ... but he packed a lot of life and music and happiness, for himself and others, into those years.
Long live Doug Sahm!
Peter Robinson (PRobin5478@aol.com) 11/22/99
I know I've already placed a message,but I thought maybe you would want to see a poem I had written for Doug last year :
www.geocities.com/Paris/Bistro/9039/author.html
I also have a message board that I made up for Doug last year :
www.InsideTheWeb.com/mbs.cgi/mb197575
Doug Rules My Heart,
Betty
P.S.: I love you, Doug !!!
tattoolady_01@hotmail.com (Betty Ritter) 11/22/99
Dear Shawn and family,
It's a lot colder up here in Canada with the news of your father's death. For three decades I have been a fan of Doug's music and he has become an icon of Texas, rock and roll, the blues, the sixties, the seventies, Tex Mex - you name it Doug was it. I am so saddened. I have nearly twenty of Doug's albums and tonight I will dust them off, fire up the old turntable, throw open the doors and turn it on up. Tonight, the sweet sounds of "Does anybody know the Way to San Antone" and "Me and My Destiny" will be heard throughout my neighborhood. And if anyone wonders why, I will just say I'm praying for the Return of Doug Saldana. Good luck, keep the faith and know that you have many friends around the world
Dave O'Malley
bigdave@magma.ca (Dave O'Malley) 11/22/99
I only heard this evening that Doug had departed this world. I have fond memories of his works from the 60's up to date, with special memories of Groovers Paradise which will always be among my top ten favourite albums. On a trip to the States this summer, I picked up the Best Of 1968-1975 and play it constantly (if only to save the vinyl). I could kick myself for not having gone and seen a gig of his, however the records will always be with me. Gone but never forgotten.
Julian Porter, Basingstoke, England
jporter@babbleco.freeserve.co.uk 11/22/99
I am saddened to learn about the death of Doug Sahm. I was fortunate enough to meet this man through my brother (Louie Ortega) at several concerts they played together. He was a great entertainer and a very nice person, I know he will be missed by many people around the world. My deepest sympathy to the Sahm family. (Julie Medley)
wfsgirls@inreach.com 11/22/99
This is indeed very sad news. I feel strange in that I was in Taos myself earlier that week. Doug had a truly unique sound, which is one of the ultimate compliments you can give any musician. He will be sorely missed.
Mark Golding, Laurel, Maryland
GOLDINGM@mail.nlm.nih.gov (Mark Golding)
Heard of Doug's passing on Damion Einstein's Fri afternoon show on WRNR (103.1, Annapolis, MD). I met Doug back in '78/79 at a show and I asked if he was going to be in any more movies. The band was great - a real anomaly at that time too. The cat never strayed from the truth and essence of himself. Everyone speaks highly, of course, about Rocky and Augie, but Doug also had one of the best bass players I know of in his band; the great Jack Barber. See you in Groovers' Paradise Doug.
CL, Baltimore MD
clawrenc@jhudis.dev.jhu.edu (Curt Lawrence)
SIR DOUG, YOU WILL BE MISSED DEARLY BY A COUPLE OF CORPUS CHRISTI BOYS WHO GREW UP LISTENING TO YOU AND THE WEST SIDE HORNS TEAR IT UP. THE LORD IS THE MOST SELFISH QUINTET FAN!!!! VAYA CON DIOS MI AMIGO, DON & LEO LAUREL
Donald.Laurel@Equistarchem.com (Laurel, Donald V.) 11/22/99
Doug was the quintessential Texan. His heart and soul permeated the music. Even a band as far removed from Texas as Mott the Hoople (Ian Hunter) was moved to record "Crossroads." In a world where mainstream music is strangled by arbitrarily defined boundaries, Doug refused to play the game. Thanks, Doug, for all the joy you've given us over the years. How satisfying it must be to know that through your music, you will live forever.
Stan Purser, Houston
nspurser@lan-inc.com (Stan Purser) 11/22/99
Doug Sahm and his music have meant so much to us over the years. We werepriviledged to have known and worked with the man who was probably the most authentic American musician of our times. We'll miss him but we still have some of the music.
One of the fondest memories of my life in recording is the afternoon inthe early 80s when Doug, Augie, JP, Speedy and Alvin piled out of a rented van that had just parked on 8th street in front of Electric Lady Studios in NYC. They brought out an incredible array of vintage guitars and yes, the Vox Continental organ as well as JP's original Beatles size Ludwig drum kit that was on the sleeve of the Tribe LP. They didn't even bother to check into their hotel but set up their equipment and proceeded to record 40 tracks of incredible music performed live, no overdubs or trickery allowed, in 2 days and nights non stop. Doug then spent a couple of days at our flat to recover from the record and get some of his business together. He spread out huge maps of the U.S. on our living room floor and walls and like General Patton started putting hundreds of little pins in the map oneach town and each state where there were radio DJs that he knew. He then called every one of them up to announce that "The Sir Douglas Quintet" was back. I never even looked at the phone bill. (Craig)
Doug and I passed through time together from the sixties until now. I will always sing his songs and keep the spirit strong.(Cassell)
With love and thoughts to all in the family,
Craig Leon& Cassell Webb
Beacons Bottom, Bucks, UK
cleon@mystic.demon.co.uk (Craig Leon) 11/22/99
Adios Amigo de Musica
Somewhere out in the South Texas breeze there's a voice that mingles with the mesquites and the prickly pears. I heard that voice as a little boy singing "Why Why Why" and "Two Hearts in Love" blasting out of '56 Chevys and hot rod Fords and blue plastic transistor radios - shakin' in the humidity and crying in the San Antonio night. After the Beatles it was an English game until five guys from San Antonio sang "She's About A Mover". It was that voice again! Beat-on-the-beat, staccato Vox and a real South Texas drawl. They may have had Sir in front of their name but we knew they were one of us and when "The Rains Came" we danced until our shirts stuck to our backs. Doug loved California and California loved Doug. San Francisco, Hollywood & Honky Blues, indeed! And just when I thought he would never come back to Texas, there was Doug Sahm playing out at the Soap Creek Saloon and the Armadillo, sounding like he'd never left and helping us all understand that we had always loved country music as much as rock & roll. Europe beckoned in the 1980's and he heard the call. He loved Amsterdam and Tubingen and Helsinki. He'd sign autographs "Love to all" and he meant it. So where do you go when you've been in the business for forty years, and when you've already had #1 hits world wide and piled up accolades galore? You get together with three old buddies and do it all over again....and you do it right! All of my life I have heard that music and that voice. It is the soundtrack to my life. Doug's moved on now but the music still plays. Tonight I listened to "Live From The Limo" and followed it with "The Return of Doug Saldana" and it made me smile. I'm older, and wiser, and a little more sane but his voice and his music will always remain in my heart forever.
Adios amigo de musica.
Randy Niendorff
rniendorff@lucent.com (Niendorff, Randal G (Randal)) 11/22/99
I can't believe Doug is gone.. He was one of those artists you alaways figured would be there, popping up with yet another musical identity or re-establishing an old musical relationship. To me, Doug Sahm represents the best of Texas music, a mixture of many influences and cultures without any strain or self-consciousness. He loved every kind of music he played, and was never less than convincing in any style. I own around 25 Doug-related albums and wish I had 25 more. I just hope that his loss will spur someone to re-release the Mercury material that has been out of print for far too long. Even "Doug Sham and Band" is only available as an import. Maybe Rhino will consider a multi-disc, cross-licensed box set. I can think of no artist who deserves it more.
Goodbye, Doug. You're leaving much too soon, but I'm glad you left all this great music behind.
Ron Frankl, NYC
ronfrankl@yahoo.com 11/22/99
I have been a great fan since the days of "She's About a Mover" that my sister and I used to play over and over. Through Doug and Augie, I discovered the real American music and the importance of singing and playing from the heart and to hell with slick production and endless overdubs. I had the pleasure of promoting a show with Doug and Augie and was able to spend some time with them and my fondest memory was singing harmony with Doug in my car to "Ashes of Love". Thanks for all the great music and for the great attitude in life, to live life to the fullest and to always be positive. To Doug's family and friends, we were all lucky to have had him in our lives. He will live forever.
Charlie Jackson
charlin@bright.net (Jackson) 11/22/99
We'll miss ol' SirDoug. I always enjoy players that look like they're having a great time, too. Hey hey - whadisay!
leec@Basit.COM (Lee Cunningham) 11/22/99
It's well over 30 years since we heard Doug Sahm for the first time.Ever since that moment we've been a big fans of him and his music thelonger the more! The news of his passing away made us all very sad. He was afrequent and very popular guest in our country. It's really hard, having to accept that we will never see him on stage again! With his abundant joy of life and excellent music he gavelots of good times and pleasure, not only to us Switzerland but to many otherpeople all over the world as well. Also on behalf of the circle of us Swiss fans, I would like to thank this outstanding man and great musician for his musical work in general, butparticularly also for the more than 20 really great shows he gave us in this country. We shall never forget him and we?ll always love his great musical heritage. Doug, may you rest in peace, but keep rockin' in heaven!
Hans-Peter Millischer and Kilian Mathis
hmillisc@sairgroup.com, kili@bluewin.ch 11/22/99
Had a nice party here in San Antonio tonight. We talked about Doug and all the everything. I thought I'd see him again. I'll miss him. I never thought of him leaving, ever.
webb1@ivylane.com (Mitch & Hillary Webb) 11/22/99
I to was one of so many that happen to cross though the lifepath of sirDoug,. I had the previlage to play with him and Augie and many others at the Broklyn bar and grill near down town San antone. To Dawn Sahm, I'm so very sorry, But the stories you would tell me about grandpa and your little girl showed me how loving and caring he was, kiss the baby for me,
ROBBIE.G....
pinky@stic.net 11/22/99
Rest with the angles my friend, Cause you'll be playing with some your old buds again.I'll miss you.
ROBBIE -G...
pinky@stic.net 11/22/99
It's cold cold morning today in Pisa, Italy. I knew about Doug's death and i haven't any words. I have dreamed with his music but i've never saw one of his shows. I know that he was one of the best musicians i've ever heard ....he was a sincere man and he have a sincere smile and he played with heart and love. I can't forget all the best days spent with my friend with Doug's music! This morning i've cried just like i've cried when i knew about Townes death. Music will never be the same. We have lost the last real rock'n'roll musician and our hearts will remember his name and his music forever.... I'll play my tribute for him for all the rest of my life. Today my heart is broken...... ADIOS AMIGO, SEE YOU IN HEAVEN.....
LUCA
luca@officinaweb.it (luca rovini) 11/22/99
Our sincere condolences to the Sahm Family.
I've DJed for almost 30 years here in New Mexico. Doug Sahm & all the configurations he performed with have always been (and always shall be) this wonderful, joyous & honest music I'll play in a heartbeat. It's too sad to think of this wonderful, original & entertaining voice being stilled.
I played over an an hour of Doug's music Saturday 11/20/99 on my radioshow (KUNM-FM). Took numerous phone calls from people, much likemyself, who just did not want to think the news was true. We all lovedDoug very much.
well--Saluti!--to a wonderful force known as Doug Sahm! Thanks, man,for enriching our lives & ears with such neat tunes, and, our world withyour presence!
Renzo Giromini (renzo@unm.edu) & Sonya Gaye Dixon-Giromini (a former Austinite who cannot bear to bring herself to the keyboard to relate, at this moment, coherently all the joy--and sheer Kill-Hell pleasure--Doug's music brought to her life)
Doug--we'll keep you in our hearts and see ya on the radio
renzo@unm.edu 11/22/99
As a high school kid in San Antonio, I'd heard of the Sir DouglasQuintet in the middle '60s. It wasn't until I was in Austin that Igot to know him and his band, some of whome would crash at friends'houses and entertain us with tales of the road, like how to findcomida picante enough for a passel of horn players from El Westside in NYC. That was easy, look in Chinatown. At one time I had a copy of list of Chinese restaurants that their road manager and pal of mine, Jim Groenewegen had given me, just in case I ever got to Nueva Jorque.
But Doug, bless his heart, was a real ball of fire. I'd see him some where, talkin' up a storm about "diggin' some crazy brand-new Mexicanbebop" or about enchiladas or about beisbol. He was a true original.After him, they broke the mold. Vaya con Dios, Doug.
TBSamsel@richmond.infi.net (also tejas@infi.net) 11/22/99
Dear Earl and Shea Lynn,
Well my sweeties I'm real sorry about your Grandpa Doug. I just talked to your mom and she said ya'll were reading these so I thought I'd put a couple of lines in here especialy for ya'll.
I know right now things are probably pretty tough, hard to understand and even harder to deal with. I also know you don't have to look to far to find a reason to smile in spite of all the sadness. You're probably gonna hear all kinds of stories about your Grandpa Doug this week. Well you take all those stories and you file away in your head with your memories of him and whenever you are feeling sad or missing him you just close your eyes and think of one of those memoriesand he'll be right there with you and I guarantee he'll make you smile. That's what kind of guy he was, talking 90 miles a minute, making you smile the whole time! See, you're smiling right now , that's how easy it is!!
My sweeties, ya'll take care, and kiss your Mom for me and give her a BIG hug, that'll make your Grandpa smile and real happy!
I love ya'll,
Aunt Elaine XOXOX 11/21/99
Dawn, Shawn, Shandon - my prayers and thoughts are with ya'll - he be missed.
I'll start at the beginning and try to be brief. I first met Doug at the Atlantic City Pop Festival in 1969 (a few weeks before Woodstock). I was a music journalist covering the festival for The Washington (DC) Star. My brother, Ron, happened to be Director of Publicity for Mercury Records (Doug's label at the time). I sat there and heard one of the best sets of my life. Doug told me afterwards that it seemed unreal on stage to him.
Over the years I would get phone calls: "Miiikkkee, ah'm in DC. Let's do it." And we would. Probably a dozen times over the years. Either he would be playing The Birchmere in Alexandria, VA or one of the many colleges around DC. We'd have a blast. The last time I hung with Doug it was for three days in DC during Clinton's first Inauguration. The Tornadoes were playing one of the Inaugural Balls--but we had passes to all of them. Hung backstage with Doug and Dylan at the Pension Building, shared the dressing area with Willie Nelson. And, we had a chuckle when Clinton would show up at every Ball to play his sax for a few minutes. Hillary looked beautiful.
Doug and Augie came by my house and I took them to Fio's, my favorite Italian restaurant in DC. Doug was wearing one of his almost floor length Dusters, cowboy hat and more. My favorite waitress, Maria came over to me after dinner. She had never heard of or seen Doug Sahm before that night. She whispered in my ear: "Thanks. Whoever he is, I'll never forget him."
I'll never forget him either. Adios Amigo. Until we meet again.
All my love to Shawn and the rest of the family.
Michael Oberman
MAOMuzik@aol.com 11/21/99
My wife and I have been moping around since we heard the news on Friday. We're both so sad. Somehow the whole thing is more devastating because we only knew about it after a friend called from Austin: "Have you heard about Doug?" No! There's been no coverage, no obits, no radio testimonials here in Virginia; nothing on NPR, nothing in the NY Times. What's going on?
Doug Sahm was one of the truly original American musical talents. His creative output covered such a vast terrain, appropriating and combining great stuff from all over the place: Ray Price to Clifford Brown to Otis Redding to Bob Wills to the Grateful Dead to conjunto to swamp pop to cajun. It was never self-conscious or academic, his mixing it all up; it's like it just flowed out of him that way, he couldn't help it. He was a walking, talking jukebox.
And did he ever put on less than an amazing live show? I guess I saw him a half-dozen times or so, in various incarnations...At the Bottom Line in NY in the early 80s with, shamefully, a crowd of no more than 30 people. But he tore it up. It must have been one of the first tours with Shawn. He and Doug did John Mellencamp's "Hurts So Good" with Doug introducing it by saying "Nice to finally hear some good shit on top 40 radio..."
Saw him a bunch of times at the old Lone Star on Fifth Ave. in NY. He always packed 'em in at that place. Once was with the Texas Mavericks line-up, when everybody on stage wore wrestling masks except the drummer Mike Buck and Doug introduced him as "the straight man in this operation"....One of those nights I caught him at the back bar upstairs and we got to talking and, believe me, what everyone says is true: Doug was absolutely the most genuine, down-to-earth, easy-going guy you'd ever want to meet. We talked about Smiley Lewis and Bruce Springsteen and the Kettle of Fish on MacDougal St. It was like talking to somebody you'd known your whole life.
I think it was a few months later I saw him there again with the Quintet & Rocky Morales (I remember him asking for some beers up on the bandstand and then cussing out the barstaff - good-naturedly - for bringing Budweisers; "What's with the domestic? C'mon, how 'bout some Heinekens?") & that night I talked with him some more and actually asked for his autograph (first and last time I ever did that with anybody) on a vintage SDQ fan club postcard from '66 or so that I found in a store in the Village. I still have it of course; it says "TO JIM - LOVE TO ALL IN NY"....
I saw him with the Quintet a few more times in the mid 80s in LA, at Club Lingerie once and then opening for Los Lobos at the Roxy. He did a great "Like a Rolling Stone" that night.
I saw him a few years later, '89 or so, at an amazing show in, of all places, a beach music/shag club in Virginia Beach, VA. It was a Sunday in this big open dance club with a ballroom, and palm trees and Ford Thunderbirds painted on the walls, and Doug &the Quintet started playing early, like 7:00. I guess at 9:00 it was the weekly shag dancing get-together so they were supposed to finish early. They played a great set; Doug played a lot of keyboards, Louie Ortega sang a few songs. It was the first time I heard that fabulous conjunto version of Dylan's "To Ramona" that turned up on one of the Tornados records. Then all these older shag aficianodos started showing up, with toupees and powder blue suits and white loafers, all ready to make the scene, and damn if Doug didn't just whip out the red 335 and tear into "T-Bone Shuffle" and get the whole place shagging like it was 1959 in Myrtle Beach. It was the greatest - "Back home in San Antonio we do a dance like that. We call it 'The Push'." I think by the end of the night he had 'em shagging to "Mendocino"....
The last time I saw Doug was at the newer Lone Star near Times Square in '91, a full-blown Texas Tornados show with a massive crowd. It seemed like he could step back a little and just have fun, let Freddy and Flaco and Augie shine. When I think about it, it seems that's what Doug did best. As great a writer and singer and guitar player as he was, it was as a bandleader that he was most singularly amazing. Getting the people together that he did and, for so many of them, keeping them with him for years and years - who else does that? And you could see it and hear it - the affection for one another that he fostered, the fun that they were all having - in every show he put on. Has there ever been anyone better at shouting out his soloists' names than Doug Sahm? "Squeeze it Flaquito", "Play some steel guitar, Tommy ", "Blow some horn, Rocky", and always, of course, "Mister Augie Meyers." (The only competition is Bob Wills.)...Anyway, I ended up talking some (okay, listening) to Doug that night as well - about Mexican wrestling and how Vancouver was now the hippest city in the world - and he did this thing where he kind of covered his mouth with his hand like he was telling you a secret. It was like he instantly made you part of his special club. My wife and I are still trying to figure out that thing with the hand.
Doug has meant so much to me over the years. The music, of course, but also just the way he carried himself, the way he did his own thing and did it because he loved it and had fun doing it. He was a classy guy. He did what he did as genuinely and soulfully and joyfully as anyone I can think of. I didn't hardly know him - except from his music - but I know I'm going to miss him.
Our thoughts are with all of Doug's family & friends in Texas and around the world...
Turnerjim9@aol.com 11/21/99
I had the honor of seeing the Sir Douglas Quintet twice in early '81 I spoke a while with their bassist Speedy Sparks at a club in Campbell. The SDQ had also played at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz Ca. Mike Bloomfield had joined them onstage to play some Dylan Covers.Doug is going to be sorely missed. There was a board tape made of this showwhich was one of the best SDQ performances! Both Mike Bloomfield and Doug are probably jamming now. God bless Doug, may his musical spirit live on and inspire others. He had a knack for combining and exploring musical genres that could appeal to a wide audience.
rkopecky1@excite.com 11/21/99
i miss doug from japan , forever you are
kiyoshi fujiwara akita, japan
guest3@dep.nakayoshi.co.jp (13) 11/21/99
I came home after a Big Sandy gig in the Maloe Melo and I look and check my email and I was awake for the rest of the night. The news is always hard when someone is gone I meet Doug Sahm in Amsterdam and he do a rehearsel in the Maloe Melo and I learn a lot of him that day for my own music. That day was special to me and one of the highlights in my live he is one of my hero's forever. I know the Gourds they are friends of me and we talk about Doug Sahm and they play Crossroads on their first tour in Europe. It was a good thing they play and recording with their hero I was proud on those guys and the combination was real cool. Sir Doug was more than a rock and roller he was a special guy and I'm sure he is still rocking upstairs in god's home of the blues. Doug Sahm rest in peace you are in a lot of good memory's. All the best and my deepest condolences to the family.
Jan (the Lazyman) van Doorn, Amsterdam
J.van.Doorn@cable.A2000.nl (J.van.Doorn) 11/21/99
I have been a fan of Doug for over 35 years and have seen him at so many different venues in SA, Austin, Dallas, Ft Worth, and New York City with one or another of the various configurations. Austin Opry House, Soap Creek(old & new locations), Antones, Nicks Uptown Cafe in Dallas, Billy Bobs Texas in Ft Worth, the State Fair in Dallas, Armadillo, and the Lone Star Cafe in NYC. Whenever he was on stage he gave 200% effort and played and played and played so many different styles of music WELL. He always made time to talk to his fans or have his picture made with them and he treated us like family. I am going to deeply miss Doug but luckily I will have many pictures taken with him and many of his albums, cd's etc... to keep him alive in my memories and my soul. Doug was the consumate musician, showman, & friend and my heart goes out to his family, friends, and fellow musicians at this time of sorrow. God Bless You Doug. Thanks for enriching my life. To paraphrase a quote on an earlier e-mail - "The Silence is Deafening." --Tim Alpern, Austin, Tx
TimAlpern@aol.com 11/21/99
What a loss to the musical world with Sir Dougs premature death. Just as we were expecting him here in the spring with another tornados-tour. I have followed him since the 60s and it was a very happy moment for me when Doug finally came to play in Sweden for the first time, this was at Göta lejon in Stockholm and the crowd was in excasty and I got to report on the event for a major SWedish newspaper. I then met him persoanlly for the first time at the record company Sonet in 1982,when he was in Stockholm for soloshows at the Tyrol in the fairground Gröna Lund premises. My interview with him then is a memory for life and I cling to that tape with great fondness. Since then we met in my home town Gothenburg where he played with Sir douglas quintet in 1983 and 1985, in 83 with Doug Clifford on drums and in 85 with Ernesto Saldana Durawa on drums. From then a great friend of Ernies with three visits to Ernie and Gingers home in austin and some fine occasions to watch the musicians in the doug sahm-clan i got even more hooked on that kind of eclectic cosmic music that is the texan of which Doug Sahm was the finest exponent. The night in october 1985 at the Oh la la-club on the west side of san antonio and the drive with doug to the places where he once saw T- bone Walker and the likes play as akid is of course escpecially memorable. My finaly Doug meeting came when thre Texas tornados played Oslo in 1991 and what a great show from the guys and yet another great meeting with Ernie and the bassplayer Speedy Sparks. Thanks for everything Doug and my deepest feeling to his family and friends.
LEIF WIVATT, Kungsbacka, Sweden
leif.wivatt@telia.com 11/21/99
Doug,though your gone now,you have left us plenty of memories in you tunes,in that each time I hear your music it takes me back to when I wore my cool shades,chased the chicks played your tunes while making out with my girl in the back seat of my cheby !!! Thanks again and TEXAS will miss you as you were known to the RAZA as one cool white boy,, hay te watcho y nos. veremos en el mas allaya...
nudekitty8@hotmail.com 11/21/99
I happened to catch the video for 'Makin Guacamole' on TV one day, went out and bought the cassette of the first Texas Tornados album, and got everything they ever put out since then. I just found out today (11-21-99) about Doug passing away, but didn't want to believe it. Then I came to the website here and read all the messages.....My love goes out to all of Doug's family and friends, and of course, to our amigos--Flaco, Freddie and Augie. There was still so much for this band to do....I grabbed 'Live from the Limo' the minute I saw it in the record store, and after the last song finished playing that night, I just looked at the cover and wondered what was in store for us on Volume 2....The Tornados made you feel like you were partof what they were doing, from the "Gringo Lingo" charts (thanks fellas, it helped!) to the fan questionnaires they put in the liner notes. The Texas Tornados came along at just the right time for me. They represented a wonderful, cosmic hybrid of souls and sounds, and their audience reflected it-- Gringos and Latinos grooving to the same great music. So long Doug, I will miss your voice and your spirit. To Flaco, Freddie and Augie: keep the faith, brothers. --chuck bailey, MS, USA
cbailey2000@hotmail.com (c.bailey) 11/21/99
I just want to join all of you in expressing my sadness at the loss of o great musician. I started listening to his music in the early 70's and at that time I never thought I'd get to see him play. Then he came to Stockholm in 1981 and, of course, after that he played here lots of times and it was such a joy to see him on stage. He fell in love with Scandinavia, it seems, getting quite a big audience here with songs like "Meet me in Stockholm" and the Swedish fans loved him back. I was fortunate enough to meet him through a Dutch fan who knew Doug, Ad Koekkoek. At the show he was awarded a silver record for his album "Midnight sun" and I talked to him briefly backstage and also was invited to the late night supper given by the Sonet record company. He seemed such a great and warm hearted person and as a musician he was truly unique. Thanks for the memories Doug!
Jörgen Lindström, Stockholm, Sweden
jorgen.dss@telia.com (LINDSTRÖM C JÖRGEN) 11/21/99
I´M shocked about my all-time favourite artists premature death. As a radio producer in my home town of Gothenburg,Sweden I have intervied Doug a couple of times, the first being at the Sonet record company in 1982 where I got 30 minutes of interview on tape still in my care. The news of his death reached us here in sweden at 16.15 and just as I was doing a spot on Cher doing a show in our town later that day. I got the news confirmed through a phone call to Austin and my dear friend Ernie Durawa and could after that call announce his death to my radiolisteners after having played his last radiohit here in Sweden, the fabulous track Sooner or later. I guess our listerners were as shocked as me and I believe we at Radio Gothenburg were the first in sweden to break the sad news. On the coming wednesday edition of my roots-profram Beat I will air part of my first interwiev with doug. My deepest condolences to his family and friends.
Leif Wivatt, Gothenurg, Sweden
leif.wivatt@telia.com (WIVATT LEIF) 11/21/99
just listening to "shotgun willie" & doug's great electric guitar solos on "stay all night" and "devil in a sleeping bag", perfect accompaniment to willie's classics....he was involved in so many great projects....i spent a lot of time in austin '73 thru '75 when willie & doug & so many others were creating and rendering so much good music....and growing up in houston, i think i saw the quintet at a KILT back-to-school spectacular in '65....or maybe playing la maison or the catacombs....thanks for his special gifts.... jim bernath, littleton co
jimi99@earthlink.net 11/21/99
To Doug's Family, and his many friends, We'll all miss the live performances of this Texican. He truly was the "World's Oldest Teenager". A hunk o'burnin' funk, real Texas soul music. Here at El Rancho Weirdo, we're fortunate to have lots of his musical memories available, and they hold high places in our hearts.The memories of the times our family saw him live on in our heads. From Skipwillies in SA, to the Sons of Hermann Hall in Dallas, Doug was always a great show andvery much the entertainer. Leading the horn section, then playing piano,now a Guitar Slim solo on guitar. What a beautiful groove, Baby.Family Man Sam and the Whole Famned Damily
rives@innova.net (Rives family) 11/21/99
My sympathy goes to the family of Doug Sahm. We know he's jammin up there with some of the best and in a beautiful place full of peace. I have been Dawn's friend for several tears and years, and never really knew or understood who her father was. I had the pleasure to meet him on a couple of occasions as "Dawn's Dad" and see him as "Grandpa" as well. I can tell you he was so proud of his family and loved his grandchildren dearly. To see the Texas Tornados at Flores Country store was a privilege and an honor. It finallyI sunk in who he was! He's really a great guitar player and entertainer. I feel blessed to be such a tiny part of his life and to know him as an individual as well as a musician. My husband, Cole has listened to his music for years and years and is also so deeply saddened by this lost of Doug and the sad heart of our friend Dawn and her brothers. He will truly be missed. We love you guys. Be of strong heart, stand tall and proud that you've had your whole life with one of the greatest musicians and his family of musicians around to enlighten your lives. It can only inspire you to keep his memory and legacy alive. I know he's in a great place with a lot of great people. It' been a pleasure Doug! --Karen G. Engle-Cole
Me247365@aol.com 11/21/99
I only heard Doug Sahm in person once, about 27 years ago when his band opened for Old and In the Way at Temple Univ. music shed near Phila. Pa. My clearest memory being his high praise for Rolling Rock beer which he was swilling throughout the evening. Nov 18th found me, and several other folks, at the Bob Dylan/ Phil Lesh show at UMass, Amherst Massachusetts- we were thinking about Texas when Bob & Phil were encoring with 'Not Fade Away'...I suppose that great Buddy Holly tune sums up the way we'll feel about Doug. Chris Rollins South Amherst Massachusetts
CANARTGRP@aol.com 11/21/99
I had the opportunity to chat with Doug a few months ago during an in-store signing for the Tornados "Live from the Limo, Vol.1" CD, as well as attend the Austin City Limits taping-what a show it was! Doug WAS Texas music. Frank in Austin
Frank Mancuso, Saint Arnold Brewing Co.
frankm@ccms.net (Frank Mancuso) 11/21/99
I first saw Doug at the teen canteen in san antonio in 1965 - he was wearing a leather fringe jacket and had hair down past his shoulders - the quintet blew everybody completely away - she's about a mover was played on kono abou 3 times every hour, and I'm sure my mother was sick to death of hearing it- but when it came on, we always turned it up loud - he was truly a san antonio icon; his interview in rolling stone in 1972 was classic- he will be missed- --Ted Wood
wod1@gateway.net (wod1)
I was really shocked when I learned that Doug's no longer with us. I will remember his gig in Antone's during 1998 SXSW as one of the best, most laid back and at the same time most intense performances I have ever seen. --Christian Rintelen, Zurich/Switzerland
rintelen@datacomm.ch (Christian Rintelen) 11/21/99
The news was devastating. I've been a fan since finding his "Border Wave" lp in the early 80's. I never had the chance to see him in concert, but his music was (and will always be) a part of my life. It was eerie reading of his death-- I had been listening to his brilliant "The Last Real Texas Blues Band" in the car to and from work for the last several weeks.
Like SRV, Doug was someone who also introduced me to other musicians that I otherwse wouldn't have checked out like Willie Nelson, Delbert, Flaco, Roky, Lavelle White and countless others. About the only other musician who could match the passion and skill to play so many styles of music would have to be Clarence Gatemouth Brown, and heck he wouldn't have the gumption to tacke "99 Teardrops" the way Doug and the Texas Tornados did several years ago on ACL. Thanks, Doug, for making the world a better place to groove in. God bless you and your family in these tough times. Your music and legend will live on.
rudofskyfw@webtv.net (Frederick Rudofsky) 11/21/99
I still can't believe he is gone. As a native of San Antonio I was born and weaned on the Texas Grooves of Doug Sahm. The sound was unique and soulful, "The San Antonio Sound" as I have referred to it in my 45 years. In my travels around this globe Doug was always near, always on my tape player, my CD or my MP3 player. My memories go back to my college days studying late at night and listening to "Ain't That Loving You Babe" or Nitty Gritty". I would relax on long plane flights listening to the "sound"...that sound of Texas blues, Tex-Mex mish-mash that was pure genius. I will miss him but his legacy will always live on. His body of musical work will be unmatched. As I write this email I'm listening to "San Francisco FM Blues" still sounding as fresh and funky as the first day I heard it twenty seven years ago. God bless Doug Sahm !!! --Mike, San Antonio Texas
mikeL54@onramp.net (Michael Lopez) 11/21/99
Hello, I was checking out your discography on Doug. Mavercik Records release a 20th year Hole In The Wall Live Recording in 1994. Doug Sahm is on the cover and there are 3 live track of Doug and the Texas Mavericks - "Texas Tornado Medley", "Visions of Johanna," and "Sometimes." The CD is still available, although only 1000 were made. What a loss! The greatest Texas musician ever. Dan Grant.
dmgrant@ibm.net (Daniel M. Grant) 11/21/99
I don´t know if you all american fans of Doug Sahm know how many friends he had here in Sweden and in the rest of Europe. He played here several times, he recorded here and he wrote songs here. I met him in Austin twice and here in Malmoe, Sweden, once, a couple of years ago. And he was the same way his music was - warm and friendly. He was one of a kind, a true musician with so much to give, a man who can´t be replaced. --Larz Lundgren, Malmoe, Sweden.
lundgren@kampanjkonsult.se 11/21/99
He even was popular in all the way Holland! (''Goodbye San Fransisco -Hello Amsterdam, on CD Get a life ) Every year in summerholidays as we toured along de mid-european countryroads (Poland, Tsjechia) we very often loudly sang along with the songs of Doug Sahm an the Texas Tornados. Even my tenyear old daughter Myra and also her brother Joost associated these lovely songs with being on holiday. And thats a nice thought. Thanks to Doug Sahm and his music. --Jan Brauer. myra, joost, marianne
jbrauer@brauer.demon.nl (Jan Brauer) 11/21/99
I feel real fortunate to have seen Doug and Augie and the SDQ perform at a small club in Nashville a few years back......It was a real kick...and I got to talk with Doug for a few minutes. I shall never forget. Adios my friend. --Dick Pfefferkorn, Cumberland, MD
dpfefferkorn@allconet.org 11/21/99
The Texas Tornado is gone. Doug the energetic musician that opened my ears and mind for so much good music. You were a wonderful entertainer. I will miss your visits to Sweden as i will miss you for not beeing with us. God only knows. R.I.P
Kent Heineman, Stockholm, Sweden
k.heineman@spray.se 11/21/99
God Bless You Sir Doug! Although it's been many years, I am honored and privalaged to have met you on two differrent occasions. Your music will live on forever in our heads and hearts. My condolences to Doug's Family and Friends(especially you Augie).... Dale Dawson
ddawson755@aol.com 11/21/99
My wife (Johnnie Putman) and I do the all-night show on Chicago's WGN-AM. Thursday night, as our theme was playing, the news came across the wires that Doug had passed away. We were both stunned. We came out of the theme and asked our listeners to excuse us if we seemed a bit emotional, but that we'd just learned of his death. There are only a handful of times, over the past thirty-some years I've been behind a mike, that I can recall a moment as difficult as this.
Along with recounting Doug's Texas Tornado and Sir Douglas years for our listeners I recalled the first time I ever encountered this amazing talent. It was a night I will, truly, never forget.
It was the early 60's. One of the suburbs south of Chicago, Riverdale, had a teenage night club called "Poppel's Tropicana." It was the place all the local bands wanted to play. My band had been playing there for a while and, along with the rest of the guys, I decided to hang out at the club on an off night to see a new band audition. The club was about a quarter full as this new band set up. We asked around and found out that they were not a local band, but an out of state group that was traveling around the country playing where they could. When they hit the stage, what we saw can best be described as a scene out of a black and white 50's "B" movie ... only it was for real. From the first chord, struck on a 50's Les Paul goldtop guitar, they had us. You could feel the energy climb into a stratosphere other groups could only dream about. Smokin' Texas R&B the way it was meant to be played. Not some white kid trying to play a black man's music, but Southern Soul from the heart. This was the real deal. Would you believe it if I told you that by the end of the set the whole place was on their feet and following the drummer around the club as he held his snare in the air and laid down the beat while the rest of the on stage crew followed the lead singer/guitarist as he defined the ground rules of what a great performance should be? Believe it! I was there. It happened just that way.
Not surprisingly, they got the gig.
They only stayed for about a month because there were other clubs ... other places for Doug Sahm and the "Red Tops" to see. During that month, I had the very good fortune to get to know Doug and tried my best to steal every lick I could from him. By their last performance, the Red Tops made a "sold out" house the norm.
Years passed and I always wondered what happened to the group. Then, one night as I was watching "Hullabaloo" on NBC-TV ... could it be? They said its The Sir Douglas Quintet, but .. damn .. that's Doug! Well, ALLRIGHT!
Years passed and I segued into radio and, in the 70's, played more of Doug's hits, like "Mendicino" on Chicago's WLS. In the 80's, when Johnnie and I married and wound up on WGN, it was not unusual to come home and find a phone message from Doug asking how his Cubs were doing. It was, also, not unusual to set up a phone interview with him and, at the last minute, find out he wasn't where we were supposed to call him. Oh well, that was Doug. We would laugh about it and use the time to play some cuts off one of his latest albums. With all respect to the Quintet and Tornadoes, some of the solo stuff he did in recent years, to me, ranks right up there with his best. Much of it takes me back to a night in the early 60's when this unknown band auditioned at a local teenage nightclub just south of Chicago.
R. I. P. ... and play on ..
Steve King/WGN-AM, Chicago
WGNHimNHer@aol.com 11/21/99
Doug Sahm is dead. It felt like I was peeling layers from my heart to have to write that, say that, think that, and know it is true. It's not enough to say he was a good person, a man who gave his life in the pursuit of art that made other people's lives better. It's not enough to rage against the indignity of dying alone in a hotel room because your heart won't take it any more. It's not even enough to say, look what wonderful music he left us because DAMMIT HE'S NOT COMING BACK.
I sat with Ernie Durawa on Larry Monroe's show on KUT-FM (program notes at http://www.outer.net/segway/program/dbpm/PM111899.html) and we talked about Doug on the air in tight, strained voices that wanted to evoke the best of what had been while still struggling with the reality of what is now. I put my arms around Durawa, near 60 and sobbing because his boyhood friend and fellow musician died. Monroe was putting up a brave front but the shock was evident in the tears in his eyes. My editors showed up at the radio station. The program director Jody Denberg from KGSR showed up too, which, if you have any inkling of the business you know is almost unbelievable. KUT then played Sahm's cut of "Laredo Rose" from KGSR's newest compilation CD. Only in Austin would that happen and that's what Doug loved about this place, even when the squares and yuppies drove him crazy. But it was the spirit of the man that brought us all to one place to remember who Doug Sahm was and why we loved him so. Then we hit the bars.
I recovered from the hangover and while I sit here at home comfortably numb, my heart aches horribly with every beat. My friend is dead and I will never see him again, hear the music that made my heart dance for so many years, listen to him chatter as he calls me with the latest news, or negotiate to get him to play another Awards show. No, Doug Sahm is gone and my life is poorer for it. And though it may not realize it, the world is poorer for it too.
Margaret Moser, Austin Chronicle
mmoser@auschron.com (Margaret) 11/21/99
Thanks for the memories. I have been a fan of Doug Sahm since the early SDQ hits "She's about a Mover" and "The Rains Came". I collected his albums and saw him twice. Doug was a walking encyclopedia of Texas music. His music reflected the rich diversity of Texas: blues,c&w, rock, conjunto. Doug was truly an honorary Chicano. He will be missed but not forgotten. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family. There's Tex-Mex music playing in heaven tonight.
rall@prodigy.net (Munoz) 11/21/99
Man, I can't believe he's gone. You just don't expect someone like Doug Sahm to die.
Guess there's no guarantees in this life. I used to see Doug at most of the Austin Record Conventions and he was always a blast, visiting with all the vendors. Once he brought Doug Clifford from CCR with him. I still remember going to a Bob Dylan concert (Rolling Thunder Revue) in Austin in 1978. Bob stopped the show at one point and asked if Doug Sahm was in the audience. Some of the audience yelled that Doug was out of town, had a gig somewhere. Bob Dylan told the sold-out crowd "You people need to respect Doug Sahm. He started it all down here. He had long hair before The Beatles. And I love his music!" Amen, Bob. And God bless you, Sir Doug. Thanks for the juke-box music !
Sincerely, Ralph DeWitt, Ralph's Records, Lubbock, Texas
RalphsRec@aol.com 11/21/99
NU COUNTRY FM & PBS-FM AUSTRALIA
We are doing special tribute shows to Doug - one of our revered heroes - on maverick broadcaster Nu Country 94.9 FM in the Victorian capital of Melbourne (3.7 million population). Mid Pacific Bob Olson - an expatriate Californian secondary teacher - has long used the music of Doug and the Texas Tornados as theme music for his Saturday show. Bob did his tribute yesterday and another follows tonight on Long In The Saddle - one of our our roots country shows on the Sabbath. I also did a tribute this morning on High In The Saddle on 3PBS-FM - one of the pioneer public FM stations in Melbourne.We reached back to the obvious - Mendicino and She's About A Mover butequally importantly - Cowboy Peyton Place, Can't Go Back To Austin, YouCan't Hide A Redneck Under That Hippy Hair, Velma From Selma, Meet Me In Stockholm and Houston Chicks. The shock waves - so soon after the premature death of Hoyt Axton - will be long felt in a nation which rarely sees its Texan heroes. Ironically, Steve Young - another of the pioneers of the progressive country movement - is making his fourth Australian tour in the slipstream of the departure of The Dixie Chicks, Kevin Welch and Kieran Kane. We're doing another tribute to Doug tonight at 9 pm Australian Eastern Standard Time on Long In The Saddle on Nu Country which broadcasts live to the net at www.nucountry.com.au Adios Doug and thanks to Hank for your earliest memories. -- DAVID DAWSON - Programmer - Nu Country - 94.9 FM - and host of High In The Saddle (now celebrating its 14th year) - 3PBS FM.
SADDLE@ALPHALINK.COM.AU (DAVID DAWSON) 11/21/99
I was just thinking back to the one time I got to see Doug play at the Zoo concert series in Portland, Or. a few years ago. He played with such joy it was infectious, everybody was up dancing around the stage. moms, dads, little kids, old "hippies", I was dancing (I don't dance!) and thinking to myself that of all the concerts and all the music i've enjoyed, I'd never had as much fun before. I never wanted the music to stop that night and he did his best to keep it going. I wish more people had the chance to know his music and just how much we've lost by his passing. Jon B. Goodman
BOBBADCAT@aol.com 11/21/99
I was shocked to hear about the death of Doug Sahm. I attended a FreddyFender concert at 4th & B in San Diego last night when I heard. DonKnapp from the opening group 'Los Alacranes' told me the news before theshow. It is at that same venue that I was turned on to the Texas Tornadoes a few years ago. Freddy dedicated the evening to him and sang some Tornado songs in his honor and said he will continue to carry his music. Augie Meyers was there performing with Freddy and sounded great. Augie seemed a little shocked throughout the show. It must have been hard to play in the venue where he has played with his 'musical partner'before. I saw the Texas Tornadoes at a few San Diego Street Scenes also.Doug was always the front man like only he can in his cool trench coats.He sang songs that only he could sing with that Texas style raspy voice.He will be truly missed as I will miss not seeing him perform any more.A true American Legend! God Bless you Doug. My condolences to the Sahmfamily. Robert J. Navarro, Temecula, California.
rnavarro@pe.net (robert navarro) 11/21/99
Dancing is the greatest high and thrill. Sir Doug's sweet and fiesty music put wings on my young hippie feet at La Maison in Houston in the 1960s and to mine and my daughter's at Ann Richard's inuagural ball in 1990. What a wonderfully impish selection to end the formal evening with "Wooly Bully." Thank you, Doug Sahm for all the year's of dancing delight. Kathy
kwilliams@texoma.net (Kathy Williams) 11/21/99
Sarg Records Introduces Little Doug Sahm.....The Texas Re-Cord Company
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