April 13, 2005

Wednesday's Duane Allman Pic

duanestudioeat.jpg
Here's Duane and Dickey listening while "Eat A Peach" gets mixed.
Wail on, Skydog!

As a lucky bonus, some kind readers from Vicksburg sent in another pic of the Duane Allman memorial there and the story behind it:

remebersm.jpg

Being from Vicksburg, I am familiar with photo in question. I was born in 1978, but I can remember still seeing it when I was young, so I can tell you that DOT did let the carving stay up. By the mid-eighties, it was gone. It was popular back then to carve your name, your girlfriend's name, et cetera in to the embankments along interstate 20. It has kind of fallen out of favor now. I don't know if the Highway Patrol is cracking down or what. Anyway, that is the end of the story; you guys are interested in the beginning. It has been a while since I heard it, but I will do my best.

Four men were involved. There was also present the usual contingent of girlfriends/spouses to stand around and watch. I don't know how long it took. I do know that disaster was averted when someone realized that they were leaving out the second "M" in "remember." Therefore, when talking about the carving to people who know the story, you may hear it referred to as "Remeber Duane Allman."

A lot of people must have seen it. My father, who had no connection to Vicksburg at the time, but was attending Louisiana Tech University 100 miles due west on interstate 20, recalls seeing framed pictures of the carving being sold around campus. I know the story because I went to school with the children of one of the perpetrators, David R. I have a better picture in which you can see the "signature" on the carving. He likes to tell of how people over the years have tried to tell him that they were responsible for it. I will try to get the original or one of his descendants to make a post.

-Mark

Wow, this is so unbelievable! My husband and three of his friends did this carving on Feb. 3, 1973 (I had yet to meet my future husband, with whom I will be celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary on May 17). They had planned it out carefully, and then ran everytime they saw the highway patrol come by, and thank goodness, they went across the street and saw that they had left out that "m". "Remeber Duane Allman" just didn't have the right ring to it! So, they fixed it and there it stood, for about 10 years! Other people would claim to have done it, some even bragging about it to David, but he had the pictures and the proof! All of them, David, Dennis, Don (who ended up marrying my sister!), and Len are all still living in Vicksburg. The hill is pretty much gone now, but the memory still lives on, apparently!! A picture of it even made it into Rolling Stone!!! That was exciting, to say the least.
So, if you have any questions, you can email us. And thanks Mark, for sending the link to Erica! It has made my day!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Tricia

Thanks, y'all, for sharing your stories and clearing things up for us.

Posted by floridacracker at April 13, 2005 06:39 AM

   



Comments

The power of the internet at work. Unbelievable.

This thread goes right off the coolness scale....

Posted by: Carl in Atlanta at April 13, 2005 10:13 AM

Don't we get to hear from the nicest folks?

What did those boys carve this thing with?

Thank you again, Mark and Tricia.

Posted by: Donnah at April 13, 2005 10:28 AM

Vicksburg is 20 miles west of my parent's hometown. The embankment picture really takes me back.

Was there any kind of Tom Petty -- Allman Bros. connection? I still like Petty. When they had that post 911 concert and most of the rockers moaned and whined their songs, and then Petty came out and sang "I won't back down," I turned to my wife and said, "Yeah! That's a Southern boy!"

Posted by: Salt Lick at April 13, 2005 02:17 PM

That's got to be one of the best tributes to Duane.
Ya'll did it right.

It'll be a while before this one gets replaced as my background wall paper but something had to make Ivan go.

Thanks,

GM

Posted by: Gmac at April 13, 2005 03:21 PM

I am the sister who happens to be married to one of the other fellows responsible for the carving. We have photo albums full of the carving in progress and at completion, including the "Remeber" part. From what Don can remember is it was a lotta fun and they weren't going to let anyone get anything past them. He was surprised to see that people are still talking about it this long afterwards.

Posted by: Linda at April 14, 2005 09:31 PM

Linda, I'm afraid he's just going to have to live with having done something so totally cool that people just can't forget it.

Posted by: Donnah at April 14, 2005 10:02 PM