2009.77: Bodie's Music Inn "Hold it right there, partner!"
There are a lot of stories I can't tell about touring Europe and Japan with a blues-rock band, but some memorable moments happened in Amsterdam. We had a gap in the concerts after the gig and we were to spend about 7 full (paid) days in the city. We were staying in a big chain hotel like a Hilton or Ritz, with displays of diamonds at the entrance in glass cases on both sides of a walkway. Rich tourists were ogling that stuff and long story short, that kind of snooty place is not my scene and no one in the band was into it. I did like the cute chamber maids they employed though and made a point of chatting them up every chance I got. After a couple of days, we got ourselves moved into a funky little place on a canal called "Bodies".
Bodies was run by a guy who spoke fluent Dutch with an Oklahoma accent and ran a bar called "Bodie's Music Inn", which I believe was nearby but may have been in the hotel basement. We liked the funky feel of this place a lot more.
One day I walked in and saw Red Holloway talking amiably to a couple of tourists and he waved me over and said, "Listen to this voice" and then gestured to the man to speak.
"Hold it right there, partner!" said the man, whose voice I immediately recognized as that of John
Anderson. John had to be one of the most widely used character players ever. Red recognized him from all the westerns (hence the signature phrase) but I knew him more from Twilight Zone and Outer Limits. He did have a beautiful voice, and maybe did Shakespeare at some point in his life (see the article). John and his wife were very pleasant people and I'll treasure the meeting however brief and alas superficial it was.
A few days later I was called in my room at Bodie's to come down and enjoy one of his specials: Scotch and chocolate milk, something I later saw George C. Scott serve to a truckful of hookers in "The New Centurians". Bodie then said, "There's someone here to see you" pointing away from the bar. It was a smiling Claire, a maid from that fancy hotel we'd just left.
God it was good to be (that) young!
