Susan
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Dvanzantgirl
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Post by Susan on Jun 29, 2007 14:11:29 GMT -5
Please share with us your story about George. I know all that knew him have one. Lets celebrate his life. I met George in June of 2006 at Bobby & Jenny's house. I remember standing on the front porch and seeing in the distance a gentleman sitting in a lounge chair. I kept staring and thinking OMG, that is George McCorkle. I went inside to ask if I was correct. Jenny said, "yes" that is George, just go introduce yourself. I said, "NO, I can't just walk up to George McCorlke and talk to him". At that moment I had no idea I was standing next to his wife, (ViVi). She said, sure you can he's my husband. Took me by the arm and off we went. I was scared to death. But he stopped what he was doing and shook my hand and even gave me a hug. He made me feel so at ease and just struck up a conversation with me like we were neighbors. Throughout the day I spent time with Vivi who made me feel like family. George and Vivi were kind enough to take a picture with me. Jenny printed it out right than and George Autographed it to me. Here is a copy of it. And to me, it is priceless.  Thank you George for all the memories and music you have given thru the years. |
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Post by missy on Jun 29, 2007 18:45:45 GMT -5
Although I never met him, last year at the DSJ jam I had the honor of visiting with George and Vivi on the phone.
Such nice folk's to actually take the time out of a big gathering and jam to visit with me... a fan. I felt as if I'd known them for years.
I'll never forget that phone call
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Post by stanwilliams on Jun 30, 2007 14:48:49 GMT -5
That was a Great day Susan...
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Post by Guitarmike on Jun 30, 2007 21:46:28 GMT -5
I never got the chance to meet George, but Bruce handed me the phone one day and I got to speak to him. I had an old Marshall amp head he was interested in and I was very happy to know it would go to a good home! George was so cool on the phone, it was like talking to my father almost. He was one of a kind, and I will never forget him.
God Bless my friend. and God Speed.
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wallbruce
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Mr. Jukin'
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Post by wallbruce on Jun 30, 2007 22:44:56 GMT -5
I only have one my heart is ready to share.. You all remember the night I was asked to tech for him at Opryland... If not this will refresh ya:  George, being the friend he was figured he would give me an experience I would never forget... Now, being at about every show of his I know he usually only uses one, maybe two guitars in a night. Definately only brings one amp... Well, that night he brought three guitars, two amps. He knew I was nervous as hell, he smiled and said I was the only one he trusted with his gear. That night he changed guitars EVERY song,,,, Then hot swapped an amp in the middle of the show.... I was never so terrified of screwing up in my life. But, when it was over, Dan Toler was joking about it. George just looked at me smiled, and said "I did not have one guitar out of tune all night"... I love you George, thanks for believing in me, even when I doubted myself. I miss you. |
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Susan
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Dvanzantgirl
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Post by Susan on Jul 1, 2007 12:47:09 GMT -5
That is great Bruce and I am sure you have a whole lot more. God Bless you Bruce and George and his family. We miss him.
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Post by Mrs Hooty on Jul 2, 2007 17:37:57 GMT -5
I only have one my heart is ready to share.. You all remember the night I was asked to tech for him at Opryland... If not this will refresh ya: George, being the friend he was figured he would give me an experience I would never forget... Now, being at about every show of his I know he usually only uses one, maybe two guitars in a night. Definately only brings one amp... Well, that night he brought three guitars, two amps. He knew I was nervous as hell, he smiled and said I was the only one he trusted with his gear. That night he changed guitars EVERY song,,,, Then hot swapped an amp in the middle of the show.... I was never so terrified of screwing up in my life. But, when it was over, Dan Toler was joking about it. George just looked at me smiled, and said "I did not have one guitar out of tune all night"... I love you George, thanks for believing in me, even when I doubted myself. I miss you. I don't remember that story Bruce but it is a beauful one and a very fond memory  |
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Post by florabama on Jul 2, 2007 19:21:30 GMT -5
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wallbruce
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Post by wallbruce on Jul 4, 2007 9:45:45 GMT -5
Family, friends say final farewell to McCorkle
TAD TAYLOR, For the Herald-Journal
On an overcast Spartanburg morning, hundreds of family, friends and fans bid a final farewell Tuesday to founding Marshall Tucker Band guitarist and songwriter George McCorkle.
A sleek black, gray and gold custom tour bus, with a graphic of an upward-pointing arrow and highway gracing the top rear, showed the way to McCorkle's ultimate destination and carried McCorkle from the chapel to the graveside service.
Both somber and celebratory, the memorial service was filled with fellowship, spirituality and, of course, music.
"I've seen people today I haven't seen in 30 years," booking agent and band friend Chip Smith said. "It was just like being at The Beacon in high school."
Smith said many of those gathered to bid farewell to McCorkle were pieces of the puzzle that fit together to bring the Marshall Tucker Band to gold and platinum prominence in the 1970s and helped establish the Southern rock genre.
Marshall Tucker tribute
Surviving original Marshall Tucker Band members Paul Riddle, Doug Grey and Jerry Eubanks, along with several other musicians who have played with the band since the mid-1980s, attended the services, including bassist Frank Wilkie, guitarist Rusty Milner, drummer David "Ace" Allan and bassist Tim Lawter.
Riddle could share only a few words with the Herald-Journal. "Well, I'm here," he said, leaving it at that.
Wilkie joined the band to fill in for original bassist Tommy Caldwell after an auto accident in 1980 took his life. He played alongside McCorkle and the other original members for a few years before leaving the band with McCorkle, Toy Caldwell and Riddle.
Visibly saddened, Wilkie, too, could only muster a few words. "It's hard to give him up," he said.
Fellow artists say goodbye
Wilkie joined scores of others lined up to view McCorkle for the last time. Exquisite flower arrangements filled the chapel, enveloping visitors, surrounding McCorkle as he lay in repose.
Many of the flower arrangements were unusual.
The Allman Brothers Band sent an arrangement nearly six feet tall, shaped like a mushroom, invoking a symbol made famous on the inside of their fold-out LP cover for "Eat a Peach," an album dedicated to their own fallen bandmate, Duane Allman.
McCorkle had his own fallen bandmates, as well. Tommy Caldwell's brother, Toy, the Marshall Tucker Band's guitarist and principal songwriter, died from a heart ailment in 1993.
Many others in McCorkle's musical brotherhood sent flowers, including the Charlie Daniels Band. McCorkle's road crew also honored him with a towering arrangement of white flowers made into the shape of a guitar. Toy's daughter, Cassidy, sent an arrangement that featured a toy electric guitar among the many flowers.
One last song
Texas songwriter and musician Jay Boy Adams, a prolific touring artist in the 1970s and early 1980s, performed with Southern rock heavyweights such as the Marshall Tucker Band, ZZ Top and The Allman Brothers Band and maintained an enduring relationship with McCorkle.
The two wrote together, and Adams said their most recent session had taken place early this year in Texas during an ice storm. Two songs constructed during the session were "One Wish" and "Count Your Friends."
He said during the session McCorkle told him that when he died, he wanted Adams to perform "Count Your Friends" at his funeral, but Adams said he told McCorkle that he would probably be unable to, since he thought his death would precede McCorkle's.
Adams said at the time of their conversation he did not imagine he would be playing the song at McCorkle's funeral just four months later, as he did Tuesday during the graveside service, singing as he strummed along on an acoustic guitar.
Poignantly appropriate, the song's lyrics say, in the end, one needs only six friends.
"Now my old man said you only need six friends to outlive you until the bitter end, to carry you to that hole in the ground," Adams sang. "If you can count your friends on one hand, you only need one more on the other hand to take you home."
McCorkle's preacher, Jerry Wallace, conducted the ceremony's religious portion, and read Psalm 23.
He won favor among those gathered as he confided in them.
"I must confess right at the beginning that I am a Southern rock fan," he said. "If I was in church I would say that deserves an 'amen.'" The crowd gathered around the gravesite responded in kind with a resounding 'amen' of its own.
Wallace said he considered McCorkle a troubadour, defining it to mean, "a poet, musician, a traveling minstrel, a nobleman," he said. "He had great charm, and I can see how he had the ability when he was performing to capture an audience right away.
"I found George to be a man of integrity, a man who was a student of life and a teacher of life; a patriot; a man who was very proud of his naval service during the Vietnam era.
"I call George a prophet, a voice of the American spirit."
"That's who George was and is to me, a very humble man," he said, "a man who told me one time that he never understood why all those people would come out and watch him play.
"He said he was just doing something that he loved and he felt was God-given, and he celebrated that."
McCorkle's stepson Alex added a bit of Eastern spiritual philosophy to the ceremony, sharing some of his stepfather's experiences with the I Ching, an ancient Chinese text containing a system of trigrams and hexagrams, and explained how one of McCorkle's earliest hexagrams translated to read "fire over mountain."
Alex said McCorkle told him that shortly thereafter he wrote a somewhat famous song. He said a hexagram in McCorkle's final week "was reciprocal" and translated to "mountain over fire."
Adams returned to lead the attendees in a sing-along rendition of "Fire on the Mountain," the famous hit song McCorkle wrote and recorded with the Marshall Tucker Band.
As the final chords faded, Adams turned to McCorkle's casket and said softly, "Rest in peace."
A Navy Honor Guard placed the American flag above McCorkle's casket, and a petty officer presented it to McCorkle's widow.
Volleys of shots rang out into the early afternoon sky, and as they echoed into the oaks, a lone bugler blew "Taps" into the breeze as the familiar farewell tune tangled with birdsong.
George McCorkle lives forever on the wings of melodies.
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Post by scottbraswell on Jul 4, 2007 18:54:14 GMT -5
george is the one that gave me the confidence to try my luck in nashville, which by the way has been pretty darn good.........the first time i ever spoke to george was after he saw me play the first time. he came to me and introduced himself, as if i would`nt now who he was. i told him he needed no introduction. that said a lot about george to me from the start. he was a very humble man. he asked me where i was from and that i should move out to nashville...... i trust george, and if he said i should do i something, then i`ll do it..........................SCOTT
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