(Gravedigger V/Nashville Ramblers bass player Tom Ward peruses the Cyndie Jaynes Photo Collection for stories behind the photos.)
Among Cyndie Jaynes’ photos, I recognize a subset of black-and-white images from the Cavern Club, Hollywood, in 1985. My old band the Nashville Ramblers is featured in the pictures. These particular photos show us in our earliest phase.
The lead photo of the subset captures a once-ever moment: [guitarist/vocalist] Carl Rusk and me onstage with Claudia Brandes. She made a guest appearance with us to sing—as best Carl, [drummer/vocalist] Ron Silva and I can recall—a cover of Manfred Mann’s 1964 pop hit, “Do Wah Diddy.”
The equipment we are using is our 1985 gear, and you can just barely see a Vox Essex amplifier peeking out of the photo. Carl is using the first of several Hagstrom guitars that he would employ, a pale blue one that may have come from or gone to Ron Silva. My bass here is a 1966 Framus Star bass.
The photo subset includes a couple of pictures of Ron behind the drums, and the length of his hair helps to date the photo. In 1986 he went for a much longer hairstyle.
There is also a Cyndie Jaynes color photo showing Pat Works with me in the background. I’m so pleased to see this because I loved Pat and I’m happy to have a picture that connects me with him way back then. I was younger than Pat and his circle (including the Tell-Tale Hearts, whom I admired almost like the youth “gang” you couldn’t quite join, although they might tolerate you), and I wished for more of these times with these cool people. But they all too quickly moved away.
By the time I got to San Francisco, that group had moved again, or was simply less cohesive, kind-of atomized. This photo of Pat and me brings back a special feeling. I was pleased to be hanging around with these sophisticated older cats (and kittens), and we look pretty awfully relaxed in this one photo.
— Tom Ward
More photos from the Cyndie Jaynes Collection: