Photo: Jill Khan
The Miami Music Scene has been burying a lot of its greats of late, and today I shoveled dirt on the grave of one of Miami's most unique musicians, guitar legend Johnny Salton.
Save for the occasional airplane flying overhead, today's ceremony at Mt. Sinai cemetery in Opa Locka was tranquil and somber. A far cry from the joyful noise Johnny spent his life making. Charlie Pickett, Johnny's singer when he performed in the Eggs, gave a heartfelt eulogy about Johnny's "uplifting" ability. Pickett orated that "Johnny was a natural guitar player" and "he didn't play in squares or circles - he played in ovals."
It's hard to explain Johnny Salton's musical legacy in words better than that - so below is a video containing Johnny's uplifting playing on the Eggs song "Overtown." Later this week we will discuss Johnny's other two bands of note: The Reactions and his most enduring project, The Psycho Daisies. Today, let's listen to the "oval" playing of Johnny Salton. He didn't write this tune, and he didn't sing it - but his stamp on it is unmistakable.
Bravo Johnny!
Posted by: margaret | 10/20/2010 at 04:34 PM
RIP, Johhny. Lost another one of the greats.
Posted by: Deb | 10/20/2010 at 04:45 PM
Sorry to hear you left us, Johnny.
This takes me back. I had just arrived in Miami in 1984, from England and years of riots there. All my new artist friends told me about Charlie Pickett and the Eggs but I never did catch them, so they were a true legend to me. I moved into Graduate Student Housing on Ponce de Leon at the University of Miami and had my first physical experience of American segregation. A million miles away in Coconut Grove behind a solid police cordon, riots took place. I watched the smoke from my window.
Posted by: Joanne | 10/21/2010 at 03:20 PM