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Post by ekforum on Dec 1, 2009 16:09:52 GMT -5
Ronald Wayne (Ronnie) Van Zant - born January 15, 1948 in Jacksonville's St Vincent's Hospital.
"Genius" is just something you're born with! Ronnie, to me, was the second coming of Mark Twain.
He dripped charisma. He was eloquent. When he spoke, he always chose his words carefully. And he wrote songs just like he talked. THAT's what stood out. And the fact that he never wore shoes on stage!
I always thought Ronnie Van Zant's lyrics were so truthful because they were based on personal experience. And his sense of humor was so sharp. Just about every song he wrote contains a real funny line or two. Original funny lines, a rarity.
If Ronnie Van Zant were to come out today then I am sure he would have the same impact. There was no better storyteller in rock n roll. He was one of the best rock songwriters that ever lived. I don't think anyone ever recognizes that.
Ronnie was two people. When he was straight, he was one of the finest people I'd ever met...when drunk, he was a mad man. Unfortunately, towards the end of my tenure with the band, he was drunk the whole time. That's mainly why I left...working with him just wasn't fun any more...and he was the only reason I wanted to join the band anyway.
I was in the band from Nov. '72 thru May '75. I never saw Ronnie pick up a guitar one time...but I do recall him saying that he knew 3 chords.
I cannot EVER remember a gig where Ronnie wore shoes!
I've said it many times before...Ronnie was the centerpiece and we were just the sidemen. We provided the perfect foil for what he needed to write. Providence somehow put us all together and we were all the luckiest musicians on earth to play behind such an American Original.
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Post by ekforum on Dec 1, 2009 16:10:40 GMT -5
Ronnie used to yodel "yo-do-lay-EE-HOOO! I f**cked your old LAY-DEE TOO!"
Wow...that was TOTALLY INAPPROPRIATE.
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Post by ekforum on Dec 1, 2009 16:11:57 GMT -5
Ry Cooder is IMPOSSIBLE to emulate. He's in a class all by himself. "Into the Purple Valley" was one of Ronnie's favorite albums of all time. Geez....I heard him singing those songs MANY TIMES. And NOBODY can play like Ry, so there's no sense in trying! Forget about it.
However...I'd say Ry was a DEFINITE inspiration, not only for MISSISSIPPI KID, but for quite a few Skynyrd touches.
Lynyrd Skynyrd could've been a J.J. CALE cover band. Ronnie LOVE'd to sing his songs.
I have to admit, I'd never heard a J.J. Cale song til I met Ronnie. I really have to say that.
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Post by ekforum on Dec 1, 2009 16:14:43 GMT -5
I can tell you that Ronnie got on all of us once in a while. And, many times, for good reason. He never laid a hand on me, but he came DAMN CLOSE.
Like the time one night in Lake Charles, Louisiana, he broke a lamp in a hotel room, slammed me up against a wall, and held the broken-jagged-glass lamp to my neck. He said he could cut my throat if he wanted to! (That was the time he tried to go sober for 3 weeks. Didn't take.)
Or the time he broke down my hotel room door and threw it (and the jamb) into the bathroom. He was looking for someone (not me). Like I said...CLOSE. (He apologized as he left but I still had to sleep that night in a door-less room.)
Ronnie was HARD...but he was mostly FAIR. I only objected to his methods when he was drunk, because then you couldn't talk with him. At all other times, he was the picture of reason.
Like I've said, we didn't drink at rehearsals. So we were able to always work things out at Hell House. The road, however, was a different story.
Ronnie excelled at verbal abuse...the last 5 months I was in the band, it was a constant barrage. Aimed at band members, mainly. RELENTLESS.
Q -Did Ronnie become that much of a corporal punisher? Was it really that bad?
Oh yeah, it was beyond description actually. It was not only towards me; he was that way to everybody. He just got really out of hand. Our manager made the comment that the crazier we got the bigger we were going to be. He thought that geniuses were crazy anyway. I felt the same way. I just said as long as you don’t aim it my way then I don’t care how you act. There were just some really crazy things that went on the last month I was with the band.
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Post by ekforum on Dec 1, 2009 16:16:26 GMT -5
Q - Knowing that Ronnie was a great songwriter, do you think had he lived that he would still be performing today with Skynyrd? Or do you think he would have moved on to being a country artist?
Ronnie probably would've done a FINE solo country record. Possibly many of them. Who knows? Ronnie was a country singer fronting a rock 'n roll band.
Q - Did you ever talk to Ronnie after leaving Skynyrd?
A year or so after I left Ronnie, in a magazine article, said "Ed King has one year to live". I'm not sure what he meant by that....but I'm still here. No, I never spoke to him after leaving the band. If he HAD called me and asked me to come back, I'm sure I would have. After all...he was the reason to be there in the first place.
Allen and Gary called...Kooper called....but not Ronnie. Good thing.
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Post by ekforum on Dec 1, 2009 16:17:51 GMT -5
He was at his most creative when the entire band was finding the right 'feel' for the song. Yeah, it got LOUD in there. But once he got a verse and chorus, he'd leave to go fishing while the rest of us pulled it together.
I've said it many times before...Ronnie was the centerpiece and we were just the sidemen. We provided the perfect foil for what he needed to write. Providence somehow put us all together and we were all the luckiest musicians on earth to play behind such an American Original.
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Post by ekforum on Dec 1, 2009 16:24:00 GMT -5
It was the band's first trip to San Francisco. We had a tour bus (a very primitive one, as they were a very new thing in 1974). Everybody wanted the driver to take us on a tour of the town and they just happened to drive through S.F.'s version of Harlem. Stopped at a red light, someone (I won't say who) stuck his head out the window and yelled out a racial slur to 3 guys standing on the corner.
Ronnie was standing in the doorway when the 3 thugs opened the door and dragged him out into the street. They had him down on the ground and were kicking his head against the curb. No, they DIDN'T get the worst of it.
Maybe you've now seen the ONLY photos of Ronnie ever wearing sunglasses on stage (or at ANY time). That was 2 nights later in L.A. ... and every time he sang, the cuts would open up and blood would stream down his face. Yeah, he liked that. WOW, WHAT A SHOWMAN!
Q - Did anyone on the bus help Ronnie out?
HELL NO! I've told you before, the "Skynyrd Family" is a MYTH. No one else suffered a scratch. (I was back at the hotel when it happened, but I wouldn't have helped him either!)
Sharon Lawrence adds ...
"Eventually that night, LS's idiot tour manager at the time and I took RVZ to SF General Hospital at my insistence. We sat for three hours with Ronnie bleeding from the head.
The hospital staff were busy with a bunch of Hell's Angels in worse shape and Ronnie became quite wobbly before a doctor could see him.
Charming fellows, that old Skynyrd band.
Will give you all a beauty tip. Ronnie used Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream on his face for several days and the shiner went away. This is a medication that Arden used on her famous stable of race horses so I figured it would be good enough for Ronnie."
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Post by ekforum on Dec 1, 2009 16:25:51 GMT -5
I truly believe that if you digest all of Ronnie's lyrics, you'll understand 90% of who he was. The other 10% he was still figuring out for himself.
Ronnie lived life and then wrote about what happened. BELIEVE IT... most of it, anyway.
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Post by ekforum on Dec 1, 2009 16:27:07 GMT -5
He'd pass out by 10-11 a.m. No, he DIDN'T have a tolerance. He was a BAD DRUNK. Miserable, absolutely incorrigible.
I wouldn't characterize his drinking spells as 'blacking out'...like some I've seen who are so drunk they can't even recall a TWO WEEK TRIP TO JAPAN. No, Ronnie wasn't remorseful or forgetful. Just a mean drunk. Nice guy, though, when he wasn't drinking. The last 6 weeks I was in the band, he drank the entire time. You gotta really love the way scotch tastes to put away 2 fifths per day.
The Jekyll-Hyde thing gets real old real quick and, for me, it wasn't worth the trip.
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Post by ekforum on Dec 1, 2009 16:29:52 GMT -5
Q - What was it that made a rough and tumble kid from the wrong side of the tracks in Jacksonville hit it off with a middle-class suburban kid from Southern Calfornia? Enough so to ask him to join his band? Its interesting to me because at face value, you and Ronnie seem to be from totally different worlds.
I have asked myself this question for decades. Seeing as how I firmly believe in Divine Providence, I would have to say that he was led into asking me into the band. I'm not crazy. How else was God gonna take care of me in my old age?
Q - What was it like when you lived with Ronnie and Judy when you first joined Skynyrd?
I guess I saw Ronnie 24/7 for a good 6 month period when I joined the band. I always be grateful for both of them taking me in. Ronnie didn't appreciate the "Corn on the Cob" routine, but other than that, we got along great. No porch sitting, but we sat in his living room and wrote a couple of tunes.
I had to laugh one time...I was reading in my bedroom. Ronnie was taking a bath. I guess it came time for Judy to "wash his back". Ronnie didn't call out to her...he did one of those "That Smell" whistles! And Judy came a-runnin'. Now THAT's what I call service.
During SAC's last tour, I'd already made plans to move to the South. Like I said, a guitar player is ALWAYS LOOKING for the singer/writer. I had found a really FINE writer in Raleigh...his songs and his voice had a LOT of character. But he was really a mess to work with. I hung around North Carolina hoping he'd get normal one day...but Ronnie called before that happened.
Every guitar player on earth is always looking for that lead singer who can be the perfect foil for your guitar parts. The day I saw Ronnie do "Need All My Friends", he became the only one I ever wanted to work with. Good thing he called me. I'd been looking for another singer for a long time.
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Post by ekforum on Dec 1, 2009 16:30:48 GMT -5
Skynyrd played Tampa Stadium with Chicago way back in 1974. After the show, Ronnie decides he wants to hit a bar. Luck of the draw happened. It was not a pretty site, I'll tell ya. One particular client ended up "back at the hotel", and took an unexpected flight off the second floor balcony, courtesy RVZ. It was UGLY!!
Geez, that night was INCREDIBLE. We all went back to our hotel rooms to catch some sleep...we had a 6 AM flight to catch. Not even 10 minutes went by when we heard this screaming coming from Ronnie's room "DONT KILL ME DONT KILL ME!!" Seems that the 'girl' he was with turned out to be a guy. A good lookin' girl, too! Ronnie pushed 'her' head through the tv set, took the mirror off the wall and hit 'her' what that, too.
As Andrew Dice Clay once again "You take the girl home, put your hand down her dress...You're holdin' a TREE TRUNK...OH!"
Next morning at the airport Ronnie's sitting there with cuts all over every knuckle. I think 'she' also may have lost all 'her' teeth. As for why Ronnie wasn't arrested?...I don't know. I expected it. We had an EARLY flight (6 AM) to catch back to Mobile, Alabama and we were sitting there at the Tampa airport waiting for the cops to collect him. WHAT A NIGHT!
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Post by ekforum on Dec 1, 2009 16:33:01 GMT -5
Q - A few years back I was at Charlie Danial's museum there in Nashville. He had a National that used to belong to Ronnie. Did he play it much or at all?
I believe the '29 Resonator was a gift that Ronnie bought specifically for Charlie. I never saw Ronnie play, not once. Though there is a picture in a book somewhere I saw...a short-haired Ronnie sitting on a bed playing an acoustic guitar. Maybe he knew ONE chord.
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