John Sebastian
Letter from Sebastian to the Acoustic Guitar:
Thanks for the article on David Grisman and me [“Keepin’ Satisfied”]. But don’t get me in trouble with the Van Heusens. I wasn’t “good friends with [Van Heusen’s] daughter.” I was friends with the daughter of a Coca Cola ad executive who threw parties that Mr. Van Heusen and Mr. Cahn attended, and they would always end up playing at these parties. This all happened in Halesite, Long Island, near where we lived in Huntington. There ya go. And, while I’ve got you, I wonder if any of your readers has ever spotted a 1961-ish Gibson J-45, obviously refinished with mahogany stain and lacquer. It’s pictured on page 76 of Douglas R Gilbert’s book, Forever Young: Photographs of Bob Dylan. It was stolen in front of the Albert Hotel in ‘65, and it’s on all the early Lovin’ Spoonful hits. I guess we all have at least one that got away-and that’s mine.
JOHN SEBASTIAN
Woodstock, New York