"Mystery Man at the Fillmore"

It was a long time ago. My memory tells me I was on a bus in San Francisco, but my logical brain tells me that couldn't be because I have never been on a bus in San Francisco; so it must have been through the window of my buddy, Herb's, mustang.

It was a 1968, blue, mustang with a cloth top, and we were on our way to Los Angeles from eastern Washington. A trip that actually took only 23 hours from start to finish because we drove all night and even stopped in 'Frisco for breakfast. This was before the Seattle Seahawks were even thought of - and we were going to watch Johnny Unitas and the Baltimore Colts (that's right, kids, the BALTIMORE Colts) play Roman Gabriel and the Los Angeles Rams (yes, kids, that is correct as well, the RAMS were not in St. Louis during the Dark Ages).

Anyway, the point is that this was a long time ago when I was in San Francisco for this particular memory. On a billboard, hanging off the front of a building in downtown San Francisco was this performer's name; and I knew his music. Everybody did.

Tonight on HDTV, he was performing from the Fillmore Theatre in San Francisco; so I tivo'd him and after the performance I went back into the archive, found a spot to sketch, paused the machine and sketched this image. Ok, it ain't perfect. The hat was really hard to capture, and I failed, and his hair isn't really this long, and he wasn't wearing a tie, or even a funky, traditional shirt like the one I have on him. The only part that really resembles him is the nose and mustache.

I have set aside an all expense trip to the nearest refrigerator of your choice for anyone who can name him; as if there haven't been enough hints in what I have had to say here, more than this quick and dirty sketch of the man.

Who is he?

watercolor, ink, sketchbook