Last night I met up with Tinka at the Alameda County Fair to see Roy Clark perform (yes, the guy from
Hee-Haw who's also a highly regarded guitar/banjo/fiddle player, he's 78 now). A surprise was who introduced Roy-- out walks General Chuck Yeager, the highly decorated fighter pilot/test pilot (portrayed in
The Right Stuff), he's 88 yrs old now. He told a few short stories of his flying P-51 Mustangs in WWII Europe, being shot down, rescued by the French Underground, hidden in French cat houses (since that's where Nazi soldiers were not allowed hang out) and escaping via Spain. Then he became a test pilot, broke the sound barrier, then led fighter squadrons in Vietnam. Apparently he and Roy Clark are great friends, as Roy flew planes too. After his intro, Mr. Yeager then sat in the audience, so it was easy after the show to stop by for a minute and shake hands. Quite a bio:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_YeagerOh yeah, Roy Clark was good, folksy and humorous, but age has slowed him down, he needed to sit on a stool having had hip surgery, and he doesn't pick as well as he used to, but he performed examples of several styles, on electric guitar, acoustic and fiddle. Even attempted a Spanish guitar instrumental. He has some young talent in his band who were quite good and they all got a chance to be in the spotlight, so it was like a variety show. It was full crowd, tho' lots of senior citizens, weather was perfect and a good ol' time was had at a county fair. Roy Clark bio:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Clark