Glenn Campbell

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Tom

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Last evening I watched a documentary on Glenn Campbell. What a great, but somewhat depressing, show. When diagnosed with Alzheimer's, he committed to a 15 show tour, which evolved into 150 shows over a couple of years.

He was a wonderful performer.

Watching the video of one of his performances, he couldn't remember the lyrics of the tunes, so he used a teleprompter. When the teleprompter said "Glenn, do a long riff", he proceeded to play the guitar in a way and at a speed that few guitar players could match.

I've subsequently learned that Glenn was committed full time to an Alzheimer's, facility.

Some sicko recently tried to spread the rumor that he'd passed away, but it was subsequently denied by the family.
 
yes Tom a saw that documentary. It came out about 6 months ago. It is very sad to see a person with so much energy at one time, to be totally defenseless against this disease.
 
Agreed Rene. We can only hope this doesn't happen to us. He's just 79.
 
Yep, there's no question that Glenn was one heck of a performer! It's sad to hear about his current circumstances. I think it was Dolly Parton that said if her husband had collected on her life insurance every time the rumor mill reported her dead he could have paid off the national debt by now. I guess it comes with the territory when you're that well known.
 
Most people think of Glenn Campbell as a very popular country artist with many hits like By The Time I Get to Phoenix and Galveston. But that was his second career. In the early 60s he was an extremely successful session guitarist playing on dozens of hits as a member of the Wrecking Crew. Most notably he recorded for Phil Spector and the Beach Boys. He is the lead guitarist on most all of the Beach Boys biggest hits in the early 60s. There is an excellent documentary about the Wrecking Crew called (imaginatively enough) The Wrecking Crew:

https://www.amazon.com/Wrecking-Crew-Brian-Wilson/dp/B00UMX6WPC/ref=sr_1_1/ref=sr_1_1?_encoding=UTF8&keywords=the%20wrecking%20crew&qid=1447038554&refinements=p_n_theme_browse-bin%3A2650367011&s=movies-tv&sr=1-1
 
Yep, it's discussed in the Wikipedia article linked in my prior message.
 
I saw that special, too - very interesting. I have an LP album of Glen with Tennessee Ernie Ford, both singing and Glen on the guitar -- wonderful stuff, among my favorites for just sitting and listening. His guitar work is superb.
 
I enjoyed his duets with Bobbi Gentry, not a big fan of his solo stuff though. Hard to believe he is 79.
 
We saw one of the shows on his Goodbye Tour at the Showbox in Tuscon a few years back. His kids have a band and did the opening show. During his segment they explained that he would get confused and miss a lyric or two. He also had a fellow in the wings with a flashlight that would flash at him and show him which way to leave the stage as he would get confused where to go. The voice was as good as any old singers voice would be, but the trouble with where he was in the song arose several times during the performance. He was very upfront about the difficulties he was facing and the steps he was taking to enjoy life to the fullest. Having his family, 2 boys and a girl if I remember right, tour with him was his inspiration he said.

Ken
 
HIs first albumn was all instrumental. . .and I believe it's still in my collection. Betty and her late husband Bill used to hear him in a local CW bar in the early 50's in Abq. . .
 
I was privileged to see Glenn perform when he was in his prime.  He could sure play a guitar!  Sorry that he is suffering with Alzheimer's...a dreadful disease.  I'm glad I can remember him "when."
 

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