Ras Iginga (Stedman “Steady” Joseph)a Wonderful Musician and a True Friend

Steve and Steady in Baytown, TX..1976-ish

During the mid-70’s I moved from Baltimore to Baytown, Texas…talk about “Culture ShocK’. I was a downtown CITY BOY. I din’t own a car and didn’t even have a Driver’s License. I moved from and very urban city to the heart of urban cowboy count literally. We would go from oil refinery jobs straight to Gilley’s.

I met a guy through my sister, named Bobby Threadgill. I knew the “Texas Threadgill” name because I’m musician and knew about Janis Joplin starting out in Austin, at Threadgill’s. Bobby was related to Kenneth Threadgill, somewhere down the line, or so he said. HE had started a band and asked if I would like to try out. I went to the rehearsal where Bobby had this total poser, mediocre songwriter doing his thing. It wasn’t my cup of tea……but……there was this guy from Trinidad, in a straw “skimmer’ straw hat, like John Dillinger wore, who play the steel drums. Man! HE WAS AMAZING. His name was “Steady”, Stedman Joseph and I left really impressed by this cool guy, amazing musician. We didn’t exchange numbers or anything but he was the best this about going over there.

Just before I had left Baltimore I had discovered reggae. I loved it. I was walking down the street in Baytown when I saw the first legit dreadlock Rasta I had ever seen. I hailed him and we started talking (And smoking a joint). His name was “Rabbi”. It turned out that HE was starting a band! My best friend, Charlie Gatewood played guitar, so I took him along.

And there….over behind the drum set….was STEADY!! Not only did he play steel pan, like a MASTER, he was, to this day, the best drummer I’ve ever played with. Maybe it was that fact that he THRILLED me with he way he played Soca and Calypso rhythms. He was a Montereys reggae drummer but I’ve never seen anything play Soca like him. He also played steel drums with 4 sticks, 2 in each hand. He was brilliant. Later, during PRESSURE days, he and, guitarist, Ras Abijah would busk playing jazz standards, songs that were still years out of my reach. We started my first reggae band and we called it “STEADY”, against his wishes. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot about reggae.

I left that band moved back to Baltimore for a while. During that period Charlie and I ran into reggae legend, Keith Hudson, and did my first recording session. We flew Steady up from Baytown to do that session and it is around on YouTube to this day (See Keith Hudson “Troubles” and “Irie, Irie”…that’s us!). He flew home after.

“STEADY” had played for a calypso artist, Lord Brynner, who had changed to a reggae artist names Kade I Man. Brynner had hired us in Baytown/Houston several times. He wanted to get started in Austin so he looked me up. He had flown a young Trinidadian bassist Courtney Audain, down from New York to from this band. (Courtney is my best friend to this day!)

I called Steady, Rabbi and Adufo (both percussionists who had played with STEADY and Brynner) to come up from Baytown to form this band. We did our first show, my first reggae show in Austin, (that turned into 40 years of Austin reggae!) at Antone’s, a major Austin Blues venue. It was packed.

At some point “Steady” got busted for selling pot and fled to Trinidad. During the late 80’s I had become part of another reggae band, PRESSURE, in Austin. We had to replace our drummer and I knew how to contact “Steady”, who had become Ras Iginga Tafari. We played together for a couple of great years in PRESSURE….one day he quit the band.

PRESSURE at it’s height. One of the best bands I’ve ever played with.

L to R Ras Iginga-drums, me-guitar/vocals, Claude McCann,-keyboards/vocals Tom Robinson-sax, Courtney Audain-bass/vocals and Ras Abijah-lead guitar/vocals.

After that Iginga got into crack…It was an awful and steady (no pun) decline that eventually took everything from him. He was caught by the FBI and deported back to Trinidad where he declined and passed away. R.I.P. my friend.

Iginga and I laughed a lot and loved each other a lot. He was always smiling, back there on the drums. I am most grateful that I had him those good, very good years. I can’t believe the long history that we shared. We lived together in the road, played thousands of hours of great music, and were really good friend. I miss you very much, man.

NO NUKES, May 6 1979, Washington D.C…Jane Fonda, Tom Hayden, Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash and Jackson Browne and the “Quaalude Dude”

I don’t really remember who I went with….

It was a big rally and we knew Jane Fonda, Jackson Browne and Joni Mitchell we gonna be there. It was 6 months after Three Mile Island had a partial meltdown, which scared the shit out of everybody in Baltimore, since we were in the “BAD” range.

You can see how well we killed the whole “Nuclear Power” thing. We can’t even pronounce the word properly. Even Congressmen on the NEW-CLEAR commission say NU-QUOO-LUR….It’s an American thing. SO, we dealt with that as thoroughly as we dealt with WOMEN’S RIGHTS and CIVIL RIGHTS and RACISM…..NOT!

The upside? It was fun. day full of protests…..the resembled a big party. Jane Fonda/Tom Hayden talked…Jerry Brown talked and we “listened” going…When is the music gonna start.

Finally it did start and it was really nice to hear them play, just acoustic, no band. My favorite tune of the day was Jahn Hall’s “POWER”. It’s a lovely song that actually had something to do with the thought of the day. He went on to become a Congressman. One night in the 80’s, when our reggae band, “PRESSURE” was playing in Joplin, Missouri, he was in the bar and asked if he could play with us. He grabbed his guitar, plugged in and played 2 sets with us.

So, back to the protest rally…..It was a big crowd and very hot, lots of pot in the air and alcohol being share. At one point there was a BIG chant going NO MORE NUKES! NO MORE NUKES! NO MORE NUKES! NO MORE NUKES! NO MORE NUKES!

I looked to my left and noticed this well baked young man, fist raised high above his drooping head, yelling NO MORE LUDES! (Quaaludes!) NO MORE LUDES! NO MORE LUDES! NO MORE LUDES! Well, at least we succeeded in getting rid of THEM!

Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash and Jackson Browne. Jerry Brown and Jane Fonda

(Read: Jane Fonda’s Bottom-blog entry here https://myentertaininglifestevecarter.wordpress.com/2017/07/04/jane-fondas-bottom/)

THE BEATLES….They Changed My Life, The World of Music and The World in General

I remember seeing The Beatles for the first time “LIVE” on the Ed Sullivan Show like it was “Yesterday”. It was the evening of February 9th, 1964. My whole family was crowded around our black and white TV. My mother, my grandparents, my sister Margaret and I. Along with just about everybody in the United States, we wanted to see what this thundering hype was all about.

Well, we are not disappointed. They were stunning, thrilling and musically PERFECT. Their songs were immediately inviting. (More about that “inviting” thing later. I have always believed if The Beatles arrived today, with those same songs, they would get just was famous as they did during their career span. ( See the movie YESTERDAY, it basically proves that point) If Mozart, Beethoven appeared today, they would, instantly, become the best thing classical music had ever seen. Likewise, if Billie Holiday or Duke Ellington or Charlie Parker showed up, out of the blue, they would change the world of Jazz.

This is redundant, at this point, but the Beatles changed our concept of bands. They wrote their own material and played their own instruments.

Now, on to that “inviting” thing. For me, they “invited’ me to sing along, learn to play guitar, write songs. They were phenomenal musicians but not like Segovia, Charlie Parker and other musicians that would take a liftime of training and practice to even approach their skill level. The Beatles were, like, “Come on over! You can do this, too!”

They made you WANT to be like them. I would play my grandfather’s cane and sing, looking in the mirror. That was the big thing that the Beatles did, they included YOU.

Even when they became Social Activist…there was nothing about political parties..It was just PEACE and LOVE. Even today, Ringo,( turning 80 on July 7, 2020 ) just waves his 2 peace signs and says “Peace and Love, everybody, Peace and Love. They invited us to believe that, too. God, I wish we had them in these tough times.

Thank you, Beatles for “inviting” me to go along, learn to play, write songs. At 66 years old I have been a musician for 50+ years. I can’t thank you enough.

I Saw This Young Guy, Once…Solo…On a Piano in 1972….I Think His Name Was Billy Joel!

In 1973 I went to see the band, It’s A Beautiful Day, with my friend, Andy Knefel, at Essex Community College, in Baltimore, MD. They were popular for a song “White Bird”.  It was during he height of the “Hippie” daze.

The opening act was a solo piano player. He played and sang beautifully and had really good songs. He did a very funny Joe Cocker impression, which is no longer a part of his show.

When he played this song…I think it was called “Piano Man” the whole place stood in awe. I said to Andy “This guy’s gonna be famous!”…Who knew?

I was always really please that I got to see Billy Joel in a relatively small, intimate setting.

By the way, all by himself, he absolutely SMOKED It’s a Beautiful Day. They forever vanished from my “wanna listen to list”.

 

 

 

Places I Have Been

Billy the Kid’s grave

Gettysburg

The Catacombs in Paris

Le Puy en Velay lava spire with a church, Saint-Michel d’Aiguilhe, from the 900’s built on top

I played on stage at The Grand Ole Opry-Nashville

Mammertine Prison, last place St. Peter and St. Paul ever were before they were executed.

Mount Vernon and George Washington’s grave.

Rennes le Chateau, where Mary Magdalene is rumored to be buried and where the legend of the Da Vinci Code was born.

Shskespeare’s grave

Niagra Falls

Pompeii

Napoleon’s tomb, Paris

I had dinner in the restaurant where Van Gogh painted “Cafe at Night” in Arles, France.

Muir Woods

Kingston, Jamaica. We played in Bob Marley Stadium

Chichen Itza

Ephesus, Turkey… In the Roman theatre where St. Paul read The Letter to the Ephesians from the Bible

Bonnie and Clyde’s graves

Medieval York, U.K., Where Constantine was crowned Holy Roman Emperor, in 306 AD

Central Park and Times Square

Abbey Road-London

Segovia, Spain

The Alamo

Chateau Chillon, in Lake Geneva, where Lord Byron carved his names on a column where Francois Bonivard was chained. After he wrote “The Prisoner of Chillon”, a famous poem.

Culloden battlefield and Loch Ness, Scotland

Willie Nelson’s Western town, Luck, Texas

Carcassonne, the biggest castle in Europe.

Whiskey A Go Go in L.A.

Pusher Street, legal hashish market in Copenhagen.

Fontvraud Abbeye, Richard the Lionheart grave. France

Beautiful Bergen, Norway 

Doune Castle, where Monty Python and the Holy Grail was filmed. Scotland

Bruges, Belgium

Castles on the Rhine, Germany

Hadrian’s Wall-separating England and Scotland

Altun Ha, Mayan ruins, Belize

The Atlantic and Pacific oceans

Burnham Market, the tiny English town where I was born in 1954.

Austin, Texas, where my childhood musical dream came true

Santa Fe. N.M.

Red Rocks Amphitheater, Colorado

Charleston Waterfront Slave Market

Cafe du Monde, New Orleans

Quebec City walls

Lauterbrunnen and Jungfrau, Switzerland

Bellagio, Italy

The Parthenon, Athens

The Pantheon, Rome

On the ferry from Dover, U.K. to Calais, France

Salzburg Castle, Austria

Fisherman’s Bastion, above the Danube, in  Budapest

The island of Menorca, off the coast of Spain

Pont du Gard, massive 2000 year old Roman aqueduct, France (3 times)

Jim Morrison’s Grave, Paris

”The Staircase” from The Exorcist, Georgetown, Washington, D.C.

Leonardo da Vinci’s grave in Amboise castle. Catherine di’ Medici’s home, where Mary, Queen of Scots grew up.

Greyfriars cemetery, Edinburgh, where the little dog, “Greyfriars Bobby” spent 14 years guarding the grave of his owner until he died himself.

The cave on the Greek isle, Patmos, where St. John wrote Revelations

The pedestal where they burned Julius Caesar’s body for 6 days

Lyon, France…The food capital of the world!!

 

 

 

 

The Viking Ship/Kon Tiki Museum, Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon Tiki and Ra II. Oslo 1999 with Erik Moll

In 1999 I got to go to Norway with my pal Erik Moll (and guitarist Rick Poss). We were touring 10 towns, in a 2 week period. Erik Moll, in the back of the bus! Well, tram….in Oslo.One of the coolest day-off trips was to the Viking Ship/Kon Tiki museums, they are sort a 2 for 1 museum in Oslo.

The Viking ship is really cool and seems to be in great shape considering that it was buried for a long time. I recall there were some cool artifacts like the Oseberg Cart. The Oseberg ship was used as a burial ship for two significant women. The cart is highly carved with snakes and CATS! Like I said…2 WOMEN!

1000 year old Viking ship

The Oseberg Cart was of considerable age even before it was placed in the grave. It was possibly built before 800.

Right next door was the Kon Tiki Museum, housing Kon Tiki and Ra II, both used my explorer, Thor Heyerdahl. I remember, growing up, hearing about this guy.

Heyerdahl is notable for his expedition  in 1947, in which he sailed his hand-built raft, Kon Tiki, 8,000 km (5,000 mi) across the Pacific Ocean, from Peru to the Tuamotu Islands in French Polynesia, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Talk about balls!

His other famous expedition, was sailing a reed boat, named after the sun god Ra, across the Atlantic.  The boat set sail for the Caribbean, from Safi in Morocco, on May 24, 1969. Defects in design and other sailing problems caused it to founder in July, 600 miles short of its goal.

I NEVER get tired of exploring and getting close to HISTORY!!

Bigorre-Les Maziaux….a Beautiful Hidden “Hobbit” Village in France

STOP THE TRUCK in Bigorre-Les Maziaux. I can’t believe I have been here 3 times.

My friend. Michel “Mike, the Frenchy” Penard, took our band (STOP THE TRUCK to this village when we made our first trip to Philippe Lafont’s rodeo, Equiblues. It was funny…he said “I don’t think any Texans have ever been here.”..Me:”Why?”..Mike: “Because it’s not on a map!” Seriously, it’s so small you have to know it’s there to find it.

On the way there I always take people by the Dolmen at Les Pennes, a 5000 tomb. You have to know it’s there or you’d never find it. A friend who lives nearby took me there, down a tractor road on a farm, a real hidden treasure!

I can smell and hear this place when I think about it.  

It is a stunning, atmospheres little village…If you blink, you’ll miss it. It’s so quiet here. You just can’t help but calm yourself when you’re here. That is, except when you’re a young woman climbing to the roof of one of the houses…Mild panic. there.

The flat stones on each end of the roof are there so you can lay boards across, end to end, and work on the thatch. They are also a good place to stand when your are throwing buckets of water when they catch fire. The French are very smart!

My daughter, Mina Carter…House climbing.  

My son, Graham Carter, saluting the village. 

I have been there with STOP THE TRUCK (Alan Moe Monserrat, Boomer Norman, Johnny Arredondo, Mike Koetting)

House of Wills Band (Stephen Zirkel, Micheal Stevens, Jonathan Dexter, Kim Miller)

And with Austin Country All Stars (Cam and Tammy King, Patterson and Emerson Barrett, Leeann Atherton, Richard White and his bestie, Peter and Oliver, Emerson’s buddy)

Cam and Tammy King

Oliver

 

Marilyn von Steiger…How One Powerful, Little Woman Changed Our World

Marilyn von Steiger…

She was tiny, funny and a good bit older than us. She was a friend of Mike Koetting our sound man/road manager. He has known her kids since high school. Mike brought her to see our Country Music band, STOP THE TRUCK at Gino’s Italian Grill, our home residence gig for about 5 years where we had a loyal and devoted crowd, every Tuesday night. She was impressed.

Marilyn had worked in the music business for the infamous Huey P. Meaux. She had run some of his publishing.

She started showing us how to be more businesslike and promote ourselves. She sent our Cds to Europe made connections with DJs in France, Spain and Holland and got us some airplay. We even charted in France thanks to Michel “Mike, the Frenchy” Penard.

Thru Marilyn and Mike the Frenchy we got our first gig in Europe at the Rail Theater in Lyon. It was a big venue and I remember us all going “Gee, I hope some people show up.”

To quote Moe (Alan Moe Monserrat)…..”I just remember thinking the hall was going to be big and empty when we got there. But it was sold out! Then when I sang the originals we played, the crowd sang them with me! I was in shock. We’d never been within 3,000 miles of there. They flat out loved us.”

We even got 2 encores that night and this gig started what was to be a decade of great gigs in France, Spain and Holland.

Marilyn, Mike Koetting, our road manager, and Kristine Yoakam, our first, best fan/friend in Lyon. 

How Marilyn did this next part…I’ll never know……

Marilyn had made friends with Djs and promoters, Mike Penard, Luis Sala in Catalonia and, a year later, Kees de Haan in Holland. She wanted to help get us some exposure in Europe so, this tiny 90 lb woman went over there, by herself, and found us some gigs.

Mike Penard told the story of going to pick her up at the train station in Lyon, looking for some young-ish to middle aged woman to get off a train, when up comes this little 78 year old woman, who was smaller than her luggage, asking  “Are you Mike, the Frenchy”?

We played in Lyon, Girona, Spain and The Jambalaya Club in El Masnou, outside of Barcelona and then flew to the beautiful island of Menorca to play at Akelare Club. All because the wonderful woman went out and did the work. It was our first European tour and it was wonderful!

Moe and Marilyn..

Being an elder, we didn’t have Marilyn in our lives near long enough. Moe and I were asked to speak at her funeral when she passed away. Moe did a good job and held it together but I just bawled. I could hardly get the words out. I can’t tell y’all how much this woman changed our lives and I will love her FOREVER………

A note from Hannelore Haakman van de Bergh.

(Hanny and AndreuNel-lo Puigdevall owned The Jambalaya Club, where we played our best gig in Spain…TWICE! We had a die hard following there and made many longtime friends.)

I remember Marilyn very well. She was a beautiful, charming and inteligente lady. At the time we met, my husband and I were running a country music club and she put us in contact with the Stop The Truck Band. We are glad she did. During her visit we talked a lot about my children (2 of them worked in our venue), and her son who lived in Switzerland and she planned to visit him. And even about David Allan Coe, she met behind the scenes when the movie ‘Urban Cowboy was to be filmed She and I we stayed in contact via e-mail and I remember her asking me if it could be interesting if she would write a book about her life and work. I wrote her it seemed a great idea to me, but I don’t think she ever did . At that time she was busy n moving into another house. And the last thing I heard about her was that she had left this world.. I will never forget Marilyn von Steiger, a lovely, charming and interesting lady.

 

The “Queen” herself….

Boomer Norman, Marilyn and Kristine Yoakam

My Run-Ins With Mary, Queen of Scots

I never really intended to know anything much about Mary, Queen of Scots…but she kept popping up in my travels to Europe, so….here we go!

Mary, we know her as “Queen of Scots” but that was the second time she was crowned Queen. Mary left her home in Scotland and moved to France at age 5.

She was crowned Queen of France at age 16, in 1558, to Francis II (age 14). She spent most of her young years living at Amboise castle. Her mother-in-law was Cathrine de Medici, wife of Henri II.

Tomb of Catherine de Medici and Henry II is St. Denis, Paris. Lookin’ good!!

Amboise Castle….beautiful! (My kids, Mina and Graham-bottom right)

Leonardo da Vinci is buried at Amboise. They never met, Mary was born after he died. 

She returned to Scotland in 1561 and lived in Leith. Leith is beautiful! Been there, too!

Mary was crowned Queen of Scotland, here, at Stirling Castle in 1593. Stirling is also famous for the battle at Stirling Bridge (William Wallace) and Bannockburn battle where Robert the Bruce defeated Henry II of England.

Mary had a Queen’s Chamber in Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh.

Mary gave birth to the future king, James VI in Edinburgh Castle

The Sheep Heid Inn, a restaurant/Bowling Alley…It has been open since 1360! The oldest pub in Scotland. We had a great dinner here. 

This is where Mary, Queen of Scots played skittles, now called bowling! 

Mary kept her hounds, here, at Doune castle. If you recognize it, it is because it’s was used for all of the castle scenes in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The interior was used for Winterfel, Game of Thrones and for Outlander Netflix series. 

Mary claimed the throne of England but Elizabeth wasn’t having it so…..OFF WITH HER HEAD!!

Last stop for Mary in, here, in Westminster Abbey, right across the hall for her cousin, Elizabeth I. They put Mary’s head back on for the tomb effigy. 

Courtney, Robert Palmer and The New Music Seminar, NYC 1983

My best friend, Courney Audian were in a Reggae band called PRESSURE in the 80’s. We were chosen, by the band, to go to The New Music Seminar in NYC in 1983. We had dozens of cassette copies of our EP, T-shirts and photos.

Countney and I had a ball. That is where I met Billy Barty and got a kiss from Mary Travers.

One night we went to this amazing club that was a converted old church. I loved it. The door man wan rolling joints and smoking right there in from of GOD and everybody….ahh NEW YORK!

At some point we went to the loo and noticed Boy George going up the stairs into a smaller VIP club. We tried to go in but were stopped and turned away at the door.

Right at that very moment Robert Palmer grabbed Courtney and said “Heeeeyyyy man!!” and started talking to him as if he knew him. Courtney, wisely, did not tell Robert that he was mistaken. Mr. Palmer just waltzed Courtney thru the VIP door, with me right behind…”I’m with THEM!”  We had a great evening in the VIP room. Thank you, Robert Palmer!!

That was also the trip where a racist cab driver kicked us out of his cab for being black. Me, Courtney and RANKIN’ ROGER from English Beat…..that guy was a jerk.