these next two pics were taken a few days before he died
Here's a commercial Cliff did with my friends from Amys Ice Creams
Here is my memorial page to my friend of 28 years, I can't believe he is gone
from us. He went to prison a coupla times and 2 weeks ago he told me "Don, I've
been to prison twice but I ain't ever gotten busted". Cliff and I go back
many years, have remained close always. I saw him Saturday before he passed. He
looked great. He told me he doesn't come in often cuz he doesn't have much
money. Clifford has not had to pay for a drink in any club I've run,,,,ever.. I
used to set my watch on him coming in my club Sugars/Yellow Rose,,,always at 1
am, was faithful to which club I ran.. Cliff will be missed by thousands, our
legacy as "the live music capital of the world" will be greatly diminished, he
is legendary worldwide. The countless people he has helped is legendary. My
phone has been lit up since he passed. I will do everything I can to flourish
his landscape he has created. He reinvented the blues, paid for the forgotten
Blues Legends to resurrect their careers and thus reinvent the blues. Paid their
airfares, put them up at his house,,,helped make Stevie Ray Vaughn what he
became. Our Music community will/is devastated by his death. I can't believe he's
gone. The shock will last forever. I can't see my old friend pulling into the
Rose in his old blue van, gettin' out in his dark blazer, his dress shirt, no
tie, wrinkled and untucked, baseball cap on, and showering his charm and warmness to everyone he
encountered. Fer sure Austin has lost a huge part of what Austin is and has
become. I will write more later but I have been crying all day and my phone has
not stopped ringing all day. One thing for sure is that I am very good at
raising money for those who need it. I will start tomorrow raising money to
cover the cost of his funeral. I am going to bed right now, but tomorrow I will
raise that money for his family to bury my dear friend. Keep in touch thru my
space or my emails. It's something we owe to Clifford and to Austin. . If you
would like to write a tribute or salute to Cliff, this is why I started this
webpage. Send it to me and I will post it to this page, so you can see your
thought, remember Clifford, maybe send me a picture to post. It is late I am sad
and I will be at ANTONES TOMORROW Wednesday, OPENS 4PM. And then frequent Antones as long
as they are open. I encourage all my friends to do the same. I will add more
when I can. Please send me your letters to me at
http://www.dkaustin.com/clifford_antone.htm
http://www.dkaustin.com/clifford_antone.htm
I will post all digital pics and letters as I can digital is better for me
Here is the first
CLIFFORD was one of the first people I met
when I opened HUTS back in '81.
He came by often and offered his help in
anyway he could to get us
established in the Austin music scene. He's
the person that introduced me to
STEVIE RAY VAUGHN......because of Clifford,
SRV was the headliner at the
first AUSTIN BLUES & HERTITAGE FESTIVAL HUTS
sponsered and promoted
(45,000+ folks showed-up).
He put us in touch with most of the live
music we had at HUTS &
SMITTYS.....THE COBRAS (w/SRV), LOU ANN
BARTON,ANGELA STREHLI,WC CLARK,JIMMY
VAUGHN,THE T-BIRDS, OMAR & THE
HOWLERS,MARCIA BALL and the list goes on.
These were the premier acts in
Austin.....and are now LEGENDS........Thanks
to Clifford. Angeli Strehli was his
girlfriend and because of him, Angela
and her band played every Thursday night at
HUTS for 9 years
Clifford is responsible for the Austin Blues
Sound that is known worldwide.
He started the careers of so many blues
artists with his club and he even
started his own record label to get these
artists on record and out to the
radio stations for the public to hear.
I remember in '82, at his club, he had some
ol' black guy selling bar-b-que
sandwiches out his backdoor for 99 cents.
That gentleman's name was STUBBS.
Thanks to Clifford, he started his own
restaurant,bar-b-que sauce label and
later his own blues restaurant/ club in
Austin. Stubbs died about 5 years
ago but his club is still going strong
booking top of the line acts from all
over.
Clifford NEVER charged me to get into one
of his clubs to hear the music.
He ate at HUTS quite often and even asked me
if he could hire some of my
employees to work part- time at his club. He
was a
wonderful,honest,kind,caring giant of a man
.....and he knew the BLUES.
i'M PLAYING all THE ARTISTS I have that he
introduced me to and played at
my clubs tonight in a small tribute to
Clifford Antone........"6 STRINGS
DOWN......ANOTHER BLUES SINGER HAS GONE TO
HEAVEN".............
I'LL MISS YOU BIG GUY.....YOU'VE GOT A HELL
OF A BLUES BAND UP THERE WITH
YOU......
Larry
_______________________________________________________________________________
We all love you and
Clifford! He is a great man and will ALWAYS be remembered not for what was bad
but for all the GREAT things he brought to us here is AUSTIN.
My message to Cliff:
Thank you for being you and seeing out to the future that someday, oneday this
whole city will be built around MUSIC. And Yes You did it! You saw through the
hard times and put many memories in too many hearts and all we can say is Thank
You! You are gone but NEVER forgotten.
No matter what WE WILL MISS YOU AND LOVE YOU,
Love the City of Austin!/Jacob Ramirez
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dear DK,
I wanted to express my deepest condolences. I immediately thought of you and
Susan when I first heard the news. I know what great friends you two were and I
know this must be a very difficult time. I am so sorry.
Clifford was a great man and I will never forget him. I loved listening to all
of his encounters with some of the greatest musicians we have ever known, and
about his life. If it were not for him we would have more than likely never been
graced with such greats as SRV, or even known about Muddy Waters and so forth.
He was the one who got me interested in the blues. When he spoke you could not
help but be completely mesmerized & wonder what is this mysterious type of music
"the blues"? If it were not for Clifford I would probably still be as clueless
as I was before I met him. Thanks to Clifford I have an undeniable love of the
blues.
Had it not been for you DK, I would have never met Clifford and created a
friendship with such a wonderful man. No matter if a couple of years had passed
and I would venture out to Antone's and he was there he would always remember me
and greet me warmly. We would talk and catch up on old times. I always treasured
those run in's with Clifford. But now they are truly held close to my heart
forever. I will miss him dearly as will all of Austin. Though he has left us
physically we know his soul & legacy will live on.
Once again my deepest condolences,
Traci Miranda
Austin wouldn't be what it is today without YOU Cliff.
You will be remembered in the hearts of so many
people...and your memories will soar to new heights
with the best music in the world...that you helped to
create. I will never forget you and your Dr.
Pepper...a longtime server to you at The Yellow
Rose....xoxo TBone
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Mark Edmonds, former radio guy 05-24-2006
08:04:46
To say Clifford Antone was responsible for the re-birth and growth of blues and
roots music in the late 80s and early 90s worldwide is an understatement kind of
in the way that saying the sun is the thing in the sky the warms the Earth.
Through his efforts at his clubs and with his record label business (which I
suspect never made heaps of money), he helped bring the genre to a new
generation of soon-to-be fans while reminding the faithful there was reason to
carry on. My fondest recollection of Clifford was during the week the "new"club
(up on Guadalupe) hosted it's 20th Anniversary celebration in the early 90s.
There in a small back office, every night you'd find him holding court with an
"A" list of Chicago blues luminaries he'd flown in to play...Jimmy Rogers,
Junior Wells, Pinetop Perkins, to name a few. It was clear he loved and
respected these forgotten-by-the- mainstream performers. It was also clear the
feeling was mutual.
Cole M- U.T Student 05-25-2006
13:04:44
It's amazing to think I was able to share his last class ever with him and it
just kills me to think a man with that much love (for music, and for all of us)
and knowledge is gone. Mr. Antone vauled everyone of us so much and just wanted
to teach us about everything he could and his ability to light up the class room
was of one i've never seen. Life is just not fair when it comes to taking such a
big hearted man as Antone away from us at a young age. Mr. Antone, I hope you're
ripping it with Stevie, Albert, and Marvin. With all the love you gave everyone
you met in your life, may you R.I.P and rock the hell outta heave
"I feel like the heart of Austin
music has been ripped out."
"I consider him the most iconic
role model for how live music should be embraced in this
community."
"How many other teachers at the
University of Texas got their name in the title of the
course? He adored the students and loved giving back to
them. He didn't want that class to end every day; there
was so much material he wanted to share with them. He
brought a lot of musicians into the classroom, and the
students just went nuts."
"Clifford saw so much genius in
the young adults we serve; he did so much to bring the
resources together to help them get a second chance."