The night we saw Garth Hudson play at Fitzgerald's

I'm going to write today about the time that Elizabeth and I saw Garth Hudson play with Burrito Deluxe at Fitzgerald's in Berwyn, Illinois. It was an auspicious and magical evening for us and it gave us a chance to see one of rock and roll's most accomplished and inventive musicians up close and personal.

As background, I need to discuss the deep, deep dive that Elizabeth did on the music of The Band and all the musicians who were in the group as well as people who were involved in the periphery of the group. In the late '90s Elizabeth went through a serious illness that required a long period of treatment and recovery at home. She listened to a lot of The Band, a group that we enjoyed. We had seen The Last Waltz several times each, both alone and together, and as she recovered from her horrific experience, Robbie Robertson's album Contact From the Underworld of Red Boy was announced. Elizabeth ordered a copy and when it came, she immersed herself deeply in it, as did I. She entered a contest sponsored by the record company to write a personal essay related to the theme of Robbie's incredible song "Unbound." Her essay was a heartfelt discussion of her illness and her hard won recovery and the role that music played in making her whole again.

We kept up with The Band members as the years progressed. We went to The First Waltz at Chicago's Metro in 1999. The First Waltz was a concert that borrowed the idea of The Last Waltz--a group (in this case The Nicholas Tremulis Band) backed a Homeric catalog of Chicago-associated performers, including BoDeans, Ivan Neville, Lonnie Brooks, Sonia Dada, Sir Mack Rice, Robbie Fulks, Jon Langford, Alejandro Escovedo, and Blondie Chaplin. Billy Corgan played with his father on guitar. Rick Nielsen did a rocking version of Cheap Trick's "Downed." And we saw Rick Danko, who performed "Book Faded Brown" from the reformed Band's newly released Jubilation as well as a beautiful "It Makes No Difference." The concert concluded with most of the performers, including Robbie Fulks and The Mekons' Jon Langford joining Danko for a few Band songs, including "The Weight" and an incendiary "Rag Mama Rag."

Fast forward to 2004, and Elizabeth reads in The Chicago Reader that Burrito Deluxe, with Garth Hudson, will be appearing at Fitzgerald's. Of course we ordered tickets right away. It looked like it could be a great show, and we were happy to make the drive out to Berwyn to see it. August 27th was a pretty warm summer day as I recall, but as it morphed into evening it became fairly comfortable. It was a Friday  night, so both of us were off from work the next day, and we were pretty excited, not only about Garth but about Burrito Deluxe in general. For one thing, the group included not only Garth, but also Sneaky Pete Kleinow, who was not only an original member of The Flying Burrito Brothers, but also rock music's pre-eminent steel guitarist, appearing on tracks by Neil Young, The Byrds, Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, and a host of others. 

We arrived very early in order to eat at the restaurant. Fitzgerald's original building was a roadhouse through around 1925, and as the area grew, it became home to several nightclubs. In the fifties and sixties it was known as The Hunt Club and then Deer Lodge, complete with pool tables. The Fitzgerald family bought the place in 1980, also acquiring properties on either side of the main building, which became a cocktail lounge and restaurant. In 2020 the Fitzgeralds sold to Will Duncan, who heads Thalia Hall and Dusek's in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, another property with a bar/restaurant/stage setup. Duncan hasn't changed much about Fitzgerald's, and it's still a great place to take in a show.

When we pulled up to park across the street, we glanced over at the main entrance. "That's him!" exclaimed Elizabeth. I looked over, thinking she was probably deluded, but no, she was not. There stood Garth Hudson talking to another man, just as natural as you or I. We parked the car, still a little shaky, and proceeded to the restaurant. We were seated at a table and Elizabeth got up to look around the grounds between the restaurant and the concert venue next door. She went to the doorway when suddenly the screen door opened and there, again, stood the figure of Garth Hudson. He held the door for Elizabeth to pass. That was it. That was her encounter with Garth Hudson. She was too shell shocked to speak, and I can tell you that Elizabeth is not prone to being star-stricken. 

So, we saw the show, and it was pretty cool. Burrito Deluxe had a nice repertoire of songs spread over two CD releases, plus they did songs by The Band, Flying Burrito Brothers, and Amazing Rhythm Aces-- I forgot to mention that bassist "Stick" Davis was from the Aces. A show that was worth every penny we spent, the transport time, everything. Afterwards the guys stuck around for some meet and greet and signed things. Elizabeth had Garth sign her Last Waltz movie poster that she got a movie theater to give her when it was reissued, and I had him sign a copy of his solo CD, The Sea To The North, which had been released in 1991. And I have to tell you, if you haven't heard this album yet, you need to listen to it today. It emphasizes what a pure musician Garth Hudson is. A man who truly believes in the beauty and the restorative powers of music. And in a world that appreciates a greater diversity of musical expression than ever before, Garth Hudson should be seen as a pioneer, the kind of benevolent madman who has helped launch a thousand ships because people saw and heard what he was doing and thought--'music doesn't have to be one certain way.'

In The Last Waltz film, Garth says, in an interview, that "actually the greatest priests on 52nd Street and on the streets of New York City were the musicians. They were doing the greatest healing work. They knew how to punch through music that would cure and make people feel good."  And that's what music has always been for him. It's a gift, a kindness. On the Hal Willner Disney tribute Stay Awake, Garth performs an instrumental version of the song "Feed the Birds" that is simply heartrending. One recalls that the song was, for Walt Disney, the very definition of the emotion at the heart of everything he did, and a metaphor for the entire Mary Poppins film, so it's no wonder that it took a musician as unique as Garth Hudson to infuse the song with the musical magic that it deserves.

By the way, and this is a bit of a non-sequitur, but I really don't quite know where else to fit it in: Garth Hudson is also a very solid saxophonist. Rooted in the R&B tenor style of guys like King Curtis and Lee Allen, he can also turn in a soprano solo that is as lyrical as all heck (most obvious is his work on "It Makes No Difference").  You've also got to love the way that he multi-tracks the sax on The Band's cover of "Ain't Got No Home" to make himself a little horn section there, on record, and blows a mean solo as well. And he plays some really beautiful sax on The Sea to the North.

One reason I'm writing this today is that I read a troubling post on Facebook this week that says that Garth is pretty depressed, and that he also feels largely forgotten, living in an assisted living facility in New York. The post suggests that people send him cards and messages of good will to let him know that, while we cannot keep his troubles at bay, we are indeed thinking about him and all that he has meant to us over the years as lovers of great music. You can read the details at this ClassicRockHistory story.

However, it appears that Garth may not want to receive a flood of letters or to be seen in this way. According to this report at Saving Country Music, he has communicated through his representatives that he does not give permission for his mailing address to be shared as he is "an incredibly private person."  I am certain that it is a difficult time for this great musician but he is approaching it with his usual charm and calmness. 

Reading the post and article did get me thinking about the night we saw Burrito Deluxe, and the story has an interesting postscript. That night, we drove by a car wreck on the highway, and then drove into an intense thunderstorm with torrential rain. The next morning the feline rescue where I worked had a cat brought in that had been found outside, heavily wounded and infested with maggots. No one gave him much of a chance, but treatment was undertaken. He slowly began to recover and became my personal project at the shelter for the next several months. When he had recovered enough to be adopted, I had already completed the paperwork to take him home. We named him Scout, and he became a deep part of our lives for the next sixteen years, as well as an eternal reminder of the night we saw Garth Hudson play.