John Fogerty is Coming to Minnesota

I had the privilege of interviewing John Fogerty a few years back when I was living in Vegas. It was one of my favorite interviews of all time and one of my longest interviews, as we ended up talking for almost 30 minutes.

CCR was a huge influence on me musically, even though the band was technically 'before' my time. They were the main reason I got into the "Vietnam War" era of music and it's one of my favorite era's of music.

One of the best parts of the interview was his story of him giving away his famous Rickenbacker 325 Sunburst guitar to some kid early in his career because he was upset about everything that was going on with the music label and the band dissolving.

Decades later he and his wife went into a record store and the owner came out and said "Hey John, I have your guitar!" After looking at it and seeing the word "ACME" that he had scrawled on it all those years ago, he thought, "yep, that's it". And with a nod, he confirmed to the owner that is was indeed the historic guitar. As John told me, "I'm not a real good actor".

The problem was, the owner decided he wanted "many thousands of dollars" for it ($40,000). John decided at the time that it was not worth it and declined. But he still thought about that moment and ultimately decided he did want it, and mentioned it to his wife.

Well, his wife found it years later at a different store. She contacted the owner, not saying she was John's wife, and asked what was the price. It turned out to be reasonable and she bought it.

This is the best part of the story. On Christmas Day he saw a present wrapped up, and it obviously looked like a guitar. He wondered 'could it be?' What he saw next brought him to tears. It was that old Rickenbacker guitar. After more than 40 years...it was his again.

I saw him perform in Vegas shortly after that interview and it was a very good, fun show. Go see the legendary John Fogerty at Treasure Island Casino on Friday July 10th. Tickets went on sale Friday morning.