Friday, August 27, 2010

Stevie Ray Vaughan

It was TWENTY years ago today that Stevie Ray Vaughan and four others were killed in a helicopter crash following a concert at Alpine Valley.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

He wasn't the headliner, but some say Stevie Ray Vaughan stole the show that night 20 years ago. His wailing Stratocaster and Texas brand of blues had people on their feet.

It would be the guitarist's last performance. At age 35 and with his career peaking, Vaughan was killed when the helicopter carrying him from Alpine Valley Music Theatre crashed on takeoff in the fog.

Death came instantly early that morning of Aug. 27, 1990, yet it would be nearly six hours before the wreckage was located on the side of a 150-foot ski hill at the adjoining Alpine Valley Resort.

The nearly 40,000 people who witnessed the show made their way home on foggy highways without knowing what had happened. The earliest reports said Eric Clapton, who had top billing, might have been on board the helicopter. Finally, the truth was known. It was Vaughan along with three members of Clapton's entourage and the pilot. All were dead.

It was such a terrible loss.

It speaks to Vaughan's brilliance that twenty years after his death his talent is still respected and he remains an admired and beloved performer.







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Unfortunately, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had a glaring error in its online coverage of the sad anniversary.





In two places online, the Journal Sentinel refers to the crash being FORTY years ago.

1990 wasn't 40 years ago.

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UPDATE: Someone at the Journal Sentinel woke up and made the appropriate correction.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The quality of headline writers have really gone downhill. Somehow I suspect the print edition has the same error.

Mary said...

If the print edition contains the error, that's really an embarrassment for the Journal Sentinel, another shining moment.

At least the JS got around to correcting the online story.