Returning from Pat's Memorial Service today, I was thinking about Pat after listening to friends and family speak about him and wanted to share some of my experiences working with Pat as his booking agent and thoughts about him as a friend. In 1976 I helped start a band called Cross Cut Saw, a band in which Pat later became the star player. I was already long gone when Pat joined, so he and I did not know each other as musicians. We did know who the other was and not too long after I started the agency in 1997, Pat approached me one night, at the now defunct CAB STAND, and asked me to represent him. He later joked that he got down on his knees and begged me, but the truth of it was, I had just started to work Nationally and was making sure that I could pull everything off.
We worked together for many years and Pat & the band put in long hours on the road, while I put in long hours on the telephone. Pat used to tell people who called him direct, that he played harmonica & that I played telephone, so call Harty if you want to book me. He really enjoyed what he did and I had to pleasure of working with him for almost 10 years. He was a great musician and people admired him for his vocal ability as well as his harmonica chops! There were many frustrations along the way but from the point of view of his audiences it was all a great success! He brought a lot of entertainment into people's lives and showed us all how to fun with the Blues! He had a great sense of humor. The last time I hung out with him in person we both sat in, that night at the BBC, with Howard & The White Boys. After the Show he was still entertaining about a dozen folks or so in the portico, with just himself and his harmonica!
One of the things that I took great pride in doing for him, before he & Debbie got married, was to route on of his Tours so that the last show would take place in Tallahassee at Sloppy Joe's (this was during a period where the Blues Club was dark, between Dave Claytor closing and Gary & Kim Anton reopening) right between his birthday and Debbie's birthday which were around the same time. It was especially gratifying for me, since that date landed on my birthday and I got to celebrate without a lot of hoopla, while Pat & the Band entertained everyone! And so I believe, he will live on, in our hearts and our minds, listening to his music when we need uplifting because were feeling a little Blue or just plain 'ALLERGIC TO WORK'!