JAPAN 1992 - MEMORIAL CONCERT
Billy Vaughn and his Orchestra:
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Orchestra - Tracks -
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- Memories 1 -
Memories 2 -
Schedule -
Memories of Billy Vaughan
Etsuhisa Honda（International Director and in charge of Western Studies Department, Victor Music Industry Co.)
When he first took the stage, Billy, who was not supposed to be a drinker, had bought a bottle of whiskey. When I asked him about it, he told me that he had taken a few pints to cheer himself up and climbed on stage, and that the rest of the musicians were waiting for him. Pat Boone, who happened to be in Japan for a concert on one of his many visits to Japan, was surprised to see Billy on stage. Billy, who had been on stage in Japan, had later performed at Disneyland in Anaheim.
The first time I visited Billy in the U.S. was in the summer of 1968, when there was a large record store at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Pine Street in Hollywood, now a parking lot. Next door to it was the Dot Records company, and Billy's office was on the second floor, working with one secretary. There was a piano and a life-size display of Billy. As an added bonus, something odd was mounted on the wall. Upon closer inspection, it was a small toilet. A mischievous friend had put it on, and it was being used as an ashtray.
His home was in Enreno, about a 20-minute drive from Hollywood. Across the boulevard from the house on the right was a house, and on the left was a country cottage-style studio, where he recorded "The Pearl Shell Song" and other small songs. I visited Billy's house four times before and after, but all four times were at different houses in different places. In 1972, he went with music critic Kei Aoki to Palm Springs, known as a vacation home for Hollywood stars, in 1974 to Sauvang, known as Denmark Town, and in 1978, from California to his hometown in Kentucky. In 1978, he returned from California to his birthplace in Kentucky and became Bowling Green.
Billy visited my house in Kamakura twice, once in 1980 after a concert in Fujisawa and again in 1986. The first time was in 1980, after a concert in Fujisawa, and the second time was in 1986, when I met Patrick Gallois, a flutist, at our house for the first time. Billy was a matchmaker for my wife and I, and we were married after a chance meeting with a woman who had given Billy a floral waving on stage at one of his Tokyo concerts in 1967. We will never see Billy conducting again, but the Billy Vaughan sound will be carried on by his admirers and will continue to be played like Glenn Miller's troupe. Billy goodbye!!
