In Sept of 1983, Stevie Ray Vaughn & Double Trouble pulled into the Hollywood Palace on Vine St, for what I believe was their LA debut.
The Palace was right out the front door & across the street from my guitar shop Visions Music, on the corner of Hwd & Vine.
Stevie Ray had just recently quit David Bowie’s band, after playing on the break-out hit “Let’s Dance”. Prior to that, Stevie was primarily a regional artist mostly known in Texas. His short gig with David Bowie is what propelled him into becoming an internationally recognized star attraction.
I had read about Stevie mostly in Rolling Stone; he was too much of a Blues artist to get much publicity in magazines like Circus & Creem & Hit Parader & Rock Scene, etc.
Almost every guitar slinger from the nearby Hollywood Guitar Institute was on hand to observe up close the new guitar phenomenon, who really was completely counter to the typical Eddie Van Halen / Randy Rhoads 2-hand tappers that were graduating en masse from the Institute.
Stevie was one of those Old-School guys who wrapped his thumb all the way around the neck, like Hendrix & Clapton, as opposed to the new guys who were taught the so-called “proper way” with the wrist up high & the thumb directly under the fretboard.
Even back then, I was one of a very few still around who had actually seen Hendrix perform live, in Feb of ’68…& I was immediately struck by how much Stevie Ray copied & emulated Jimi…from the flamboyant way he dressed, to his tone, to the actual material he was playing.
It seemed like a very substantial portion of the set was devoted to Hendrix songs like Voodoo Chile, which Stevie was pretty faithful to. I remember thinking that @ that time, he was a little short on original material, & was veering towards being almost a Tribute act.
Of course, as his career progressed, Stevie proved that he was a very talented writer as well as gun slinger extraordinaire.
Did anybody else ever see Stevie before he died?
Stevie Ray Vaughn 
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