Remembering Ron Crick

I knew Ron Crick from our days together at William Jewell College.  We both played guitar though he was a real musician and I was a wannabe folk hippie.  He introduced me to the New York folk music scene, and I remember clearly the day we found  a Tim Hardin album in a record bin down in a Kansas City record store named Penny Lane.  We listened to that record for hours and Ron regaled me with stories about New York and music –all of it infused with his own unique brand of humor.

I called him from Grand Central in NYC one spring morning.  I had gotten a ride to the Big Apple for spring break.  I was there with no money and no place to stay.  All I had was his offhand suggestion that I call him if I was ever in New York.  His Dad answered the phone.

“Stay put,” Ron’s dad said.  “I’m coming after you.”  Ron’s Dad took a train from their house in New Jersey into Grand Central to pick me up and take me back to his house.  He paid for everything.  When Ron finally showed up at his parent’s house he found me drinking beer with his dad.  Of course I would stay with him.  Tomorrow we go into the city to hear music at the Café au Go Go.

That next morning we did yard work for a neighbor lady and earned $40 which was just enough to pay for admission and transportation. The Cafe au Go Go was a Greenwich Village night club located in the basement of 152 Bleecker Street. The club featured many well known musical groups, folksingers and comedy acts between the opening in February 1964 until closing in October 1969.

The club was the first New York venue for the Grateful Dead.  Richie Havens and the Blues Project were weekly regulars as well as Harvey Brooks who was bass player in residence, the Stone Poneys featuring Linda Ronstadt played frequently. The Grateful Dead played 10 times in 1967 and 3 in 1969. Jimi Hendrix sat in with blues harp player James Cotton there in 1968. Van Morrison, Tim Hardin, Tim Buckley, Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Oscar Brown, Jr., the Youngbloods, the Siegel-Schwall Blues Band, John Hammond, Jr., The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Michael Bloomfield, Jefferson Airplane, Cream, The Chambers Brothers, Canned Heat, The Fugs, Odetta, Country Joe and the Fish, all played there. Blues legends Lightnin' Hopkins, Son House, Skip James, Bukka White, and Big Joe Williams performed at the club after being "rediscovered" in the '60s. Before many rock groups began performing there, the au Go Go was an oasis for jazz (Bill Evans, Stan Getz), comedy, and folk music

That night we saw Roger Mcguinn (Byrds), Tim Hardin, and a new group everyone was talking about,  Blood Sweat and Tears with Al Cooper.  It was a watershed moment in my life. On one side of us sat a couple dressed in a tuxedo and ball gown.  On the other side were two children of the street, completely stoned and filled with joy.  I was on hallowed ground at the very Zeitgeist of my generation.

This was the night Martin Luther King was shot, April 4, 1968.  Al Cooper said the band was “broken up” by the event and would we mind if they just played all night.  About 3:00 a.m. or so Ron and I began to walk the streets in New York City.  Ron struck up a conversation with some fantastically beautiful African American women.  They were hookers, the first I had ever met.  One of them took me by the hand and said, “You better get out town as soon as you can.  White boys are getting killed in this town tonight.”  Ron did not waste a moment getting us back to New Jersey.  I think that hooker saved our lives.

The next day I took a train through Harlem north to Connecticut and saw cars burning.  I saw gangs of young people roaming and looting. I was scared and my view of the world was forever changed.  I could tell Ron Crick stories all night!  He made a difference in my life.  I miss his mortal coil, but I celebrate his presence on this earth and in our lives.

Ron Crick died June 23, 2014