Bill Anderson, Amy Rigby, the Big Guitar and Beef Wellington

Back in the 1990s we used to do the Sandwich Antiques Market. They were the high, halcyon days of the Sandwich Antiques Market....and the antiques market in general....at least compared to what it is today. Oh Lord but we bought and sold some good things there. We would arrive a bit after noon on Saturday, find our spot (we had a great spot, two big trees and near one of the entrances...only downside was the barber shop quartet selling elephant ears near us), unload a bit and then start tromping around as everyone else set up, to see if we could find anything to buy. One afternoon, I'm guessing 1996ish, we were wandering the far field (where I once got a GREAT deal on a flint EAPG Bellflower pitcher and goblets) and came across a huge wooden cut out of a guitar. Of course we stood there and ogled it a bit. The dealer told us it had come from an old ballroom in Milwaukee, that it had been a stage prop. It had three autographs....well, two and a half really. There was a Claude King one from 1968 and a blurred Johnny Cash. The Johnny Cash autograph was faded...I have a feeling somebody tried to wash it and it was faint, and has faded further over the years. There was another signature at the top that we couldn't quite read. I have no idea what we payed for it but buy it we did...because hey....it was a big guitar. I still have the image in my mind of Ernie walking across the fields, back to our beat up old white van, with it tucked under his arm. Oh, for a picture....

It hung out in our dining room for a few years and then made it into a corner of the living room. Some of the little handmade plaster tuning pegs have fallen out over the years although we have them tucked in a little plastic bag. When our beloved Amy Rigby played here...I think it was just our second house concert, she looked at it and said, "Oh, and it's signed by Bill Anderson and the Po' Boys!" Of course once we knew what it said, the signature was clear as day. Many things in life are like that, huh? So we said, "Oh my gosh....well then you have to sign the guitar too!" She did and that's how the tradition of having the big guitar signed by everybody that plays here was started.

The other night, before the Eric Brace and Peter Cooper show, we were chatting in the kitchen with Peter and he mentioned Bill Anderson. When he was getting ready to play, standing near the big guitar, I pointed out the Bill Anderson signature. He gave me one of those Peter Cooper smiles and took a picture of it to send to Bill Anderson because, well, he's Peter Cooper. The next day, after kindly responding to my gushing thank you for such an incredible show, he told me that Bill Anderson REMEMBERED SIGNING THE GUITAR!!! I swear to God I could not have possibly been more tickled. TICKLED, TICKLED, TICKLED I tell you! He said it had been the birthday of his girlfriend (who would go on to become his wife) and it was at Nick's Nicabob in Milwaukee. They went to dinner at a place called Frenchy's and he had Beef Wellington for the first time.

note Mort Aaronson's little drum kit with his signature!

I kid you not....he REMEMBERS our guitar.....and just that little bit of a story...his girlfriend's birthday and his first beef Wellington....I just can hear and see and feel the surrounds of my big guitar! This is why I love 'things.' I know we're all supposed to be downsizing and not tied to physical things but DAMN can they bring the past, whether recent or long ago, alive! Chatting to Owen the other day about a piece of antique glass and he got all fired up, defending a chip on it....."but how it got that chip, who held it, what was happening when it got chipped...that's all part of its story." Lord I love that boy. And he's right....and now, thanks to Bill Anderson and Amy Rigby and Peter Cooper....my guitar stands just a little prouder in the corner of our living room!

Nick's Nicabob:

 
So...in honor of all this....I decided we had to have Beef Wellington for dinner tonight. I've never had or made Beef Wellington before but what the hell. What else would you do when you found out this story? I'm home today with a wretched cold and watery eyes (both my colleagues have had colds,  as have both boys....I didn't have a chance) but I sent Ernie to the store to buy beef tenderloin, lots of mushrooms and puff pastry. I momentarily thought about making the puff pastry from scratch and then I decided I was insane. 

getting started with minced mushrooms (thank you Teri's-food-processor-on-loan)

I must say, it was stunningly good. I didn't use paté, I just used mustard and added some horseradish (thank you Ceal), the mushroom duxelles and some prosciutto....it actually was incredibly easy. I read a million recipes and ended up going with a very simple one. I made a delicious shallot red wine sauce with the pan drippings and promptly forgot to put it on but it was so good on its own that it didn't matter. We don't eat beef all that often, and certainly not tenderloin but this might have to be a special occasion dish from now on....and we'll always drink a toast to Bill Anderson as we did last night! Thanks to Amy Rigby, Peter Cooper, Nick's Nicabob and the great Whispering Bill!