Fact #196821
When:
Short story:
On Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA, in rush hour traffic, a white van going one way passes a battered old 1953 Pontiac hearse bearing Ontario licence plates heading in the opposite direction. In the van: guitarists/singer/songwriters Stephen Stills and Richie Furay, both former Greenwich Village folkies from The Au Go Go Singers plus friend/manager Barry Friedman. In the hearse: guitarist/singer/songwriter, ex-Winnipegger Neil Young and Torontonian bass player Bruce Palmer, both formerly members of The Mynah Birds, in LA to look for Stills whom Young had met a year earlier in Fort William, Ontario. After 6 days searching in vain, they were heading north to San Francisco on that April afternoon.
The occupants of the white van noticed the hearse and Stills remembered that Young liked old hearses. Somehow the white van managed to manoeuvre itself behind the hearse. Honking their horn, the white van caught the attention of the two in the hearse. Both vehicles pulled into the parking lot of popular hippie hangout Ben Frank's restaurant. The occupants of both vehicles got out, Stills and Young embraced and introduced the other occupants. Later that evening, in Barry Friedman's house, Stills, Young, Furay and Palmer agreed to form a band. Taking a nameplate from a steamroller parked outside Friedman's Fountain Avenue house, they named themselves The Buffalo Springfield.
Full article:
Richie Furay : We were driving in a white van on our way down Sunset Boulevard. I don't remember what we were doing, but we got stuck in traffic and I saw a black hearse with Canadian plates going the other way. I remembered that Stills had told me that Neil drove a black hearse. Stephen was sure that it was Neil. So somehow we pulled up beside the hearse and, sure enough, there were Neil and Bruce.
Bruce Palmer : It’s the most remarkable karmic event ever. It’s hard to even imagine. We passed parallel to one another and imagine if they had been looking the other way? You wonder about kismet and fate and all that when you consider this. Each of us was looking for the same thing: a band. We had each been looking for the other. They needed a guitar player and bass player and we needed a band so it was perfect.
Stephen and Richie sat down and sang Clancy, (later at Barry Friedman's house) and Neil and I were aghast. It was so good. That was one of the first songs that Neil had ever played for me. The band formed right there on the spot.
Richie Furay : When Stephen and I started singing Clancy, I think it probably sounded good enough to Neil because he had probably never heard the song sung that way before and it impressed him. We had added harmonies to it and I remember Bruce sitting there nodding his head in agreement. It just all fell together and the next thing we knew we started playing together, the four of us, and all we needed was a drummer.
(Source :
Tweet this Fact
Bruce Palmer : It’s the most remarkable karmic event ever. It’s hard to even imagine. We passed parallel to one another and imagine if they had been looking the other way? You wonder about kismet and fate and all that when you consider this. Each of us was looking for the same thing: a band. We had each been looking for the other. They needed a guitar player and bass player and we needed a band so it was perfect.
Stephen and Richie sat down and sang Clancy, (later at Barry Friedman's house) and Neil and I were aghast. It was so good. That was one of the first songs that Neil had ever played for me. The band formed right there on the spot.
Richie Furay : When Stephen and I started singing Clancy, I think it probably sounded good enough to Neil because he had probably never heard the song sung that way before and it impressed him. We had added harmonies to it and I remember Bruce sitting there nodding his head in agreement. It just all fell together and the next thing we knew we started playing together, the four of us, and all we needed was a drummer.
(Source :