I ran across this about a month ago and thought I would post a link.

Back in 1973 after Duane Allman was killed some guys from Vicksburg Mississippi carved this memorial in a dirt wall on I-20. It was quite a feat and from my research it stayed visibile for about 10 years or so. There are several pictures on the link and if you surf around you can find more. the guys responsible still live in Vicksburg and they all eventullly met Greg who was very moved by the gesture. I think a photo of the carving appeared in the "Rolling Stone" sometime in the early 1970's.

I drive past this area on my way to Jackson on I- 20 but I can not pinpoint its position and as the highway has been remodeled I think the old embankment is no longer there.

Any way its a nice twist to a the sad death of a great player.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/midgetbusdriver/sets/72157616134101904/

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I remember when we were free!

That is a cool thing,I wondered if it was still there,I've never seen it in person but have known about it for years.
Duane is my #1 guitar hero,his father's family comes from the same place as I do in Dickson Co.,TN.
I've known some of his cousins and his grandparents,and named one of my sons after him,but sadly never got to meet him in person,I saw him play though.
In my office is a b/w picture of Skydog taken a couple of weeks before his wreck....it's cool how many people recognize him.
Thanks for posting that!

Rebelsoul,

I never saw it. I think it washed away or was demolished in the 1980's when they added an overpass. It was on I-20 east of Vicksburg around the Bentonia exit I believe. I pass through there several times a year and cannot even locate a potential site.

It would be neat to erect a huge metal welded replica along the highway there, but you would need the land and the bucks.

Duane is one of my favorites also. If you could have fused Greg's voice and Duanes's guitar talent into one body he would have been the best of all time.

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I remember when we were free!

More:

http://www.florida-cracker.org/archives/001933.html

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I remember when we were free!

Very noble!

I've been to Rose Hill Cemetary and seen their (Duane and Berry)memorial.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cg ... &GRid=1189

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

I've been there to Rose Hill too many times,it's a cool place to go.
You can also find the graves of Elizabeth Reed,and Little Martha and the mauseleum where the picture was made of the band where Berry Oakley is standing above the guys with a cape on and outstretched arms.That was on the 1st album.

Duane Allman is possibly the greatest white blues guitarist ever... acoustic, electric, slide - he was a giant.

If you ever go to Macon, GA. visit Beales Restaurant ( if it's still there ).
The Allman Bros. first album cover was photographed on the side of the building. A waiter had told me Duane etched his feet and name into the floor ala Graumann's Chinese Theatre. Sure enough... it's there - whether Duane did it is another matter.

I have eaten at the H&H restaurant aka Mama Louise's many times...I didn't know about the other place.
And from what I've read about Duane and heard from the very few I know that actually knew him,he was a real character,mischievious and full of fun...I could see him doing that.
A friend of mine who knew both Duane and Bobby Whitlock said that one time Duane was "expanding his mind" for lack of a better phrase,and was wandering around tripping,he came back to "reality" in the middle of the night in a blinding thunderstorm,hugging a tombstone.
If that's true,and it could be more Duane legend...I've always wondered if that tombstone could have been the life like statue of Martha Ellis,"Little Martha",in Rose Hill.

To die so young (age 24) is a sad thing for such a talented musician, but then to have Berry die less than 13 months later in a smiliar bike crash...
...it's hard to believe that it's been since 1971. I can remember the shock when hearing the news.

_________________
Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

I know,I remember it like it was yesterday,and both crash sites are really close,just a couple of blocks distance...eerie.

Hate to say it, but I believe Berry Oakley committed suicide. From what I've read, he was very depressed after Duane's death and stayed so. Maybe the pain was to much to keep enduring

I think Berry was kind of on a death kick also,you're right,they said he never got over Duane's death and I think he might have been pushed over the edge and gotten reckless.
Since I didn't know them personally,you wonder what was really going on,everybody has their own version of things and events.
I know Gregg barely made it,and one time when I talked to him briefly in the late 80's at a gig,there was a vacant look in his eyes,that was in his drug heyday...and now he's in bad health,with a recent liver transplant.
Like I said I didn't know them,and have only met the others briefly,but the original Allman Brothers Band was both brilliant and tragic....when I look at that picture on the first album,in the graveyard,it's almost spooky.
We can only wonder how good the music could have gotten if Duane and Berry had lived.

+1

Berry was cookin' on 'Les Brers in A Minor' !!!

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Ain't that the truth!!
I'm glad there's still guys like us who remember people like Berry and Duane so long after they left us...there's still a lot of Allman Brothers fans around...a testament to their dedication and talent...."hittin' the note" Berry called it.

I read "Skydog" by Randy Poe a few weeks ago. (Duane liked his 1961 sunburst/rosewood Stratocaster for studio work) The quantity of drugs these guys were downing was massive. The road to self distruction was paved with many a mile before the actual accidents.

One way or the other self destruction was in route. I have had friends in the past that I knew were going to do themselves in because of their wild behavior. When it happens your not really shocked.

I hate to say it but I am not sure things would have gotten better musically. I think they really peaked. Although speculating is really a moot point. They left us a treasure and we are all thankful for those recordings.

Greg never really recovered. Dicky was/is a genius in his own right, and that's a point frequently ignored.

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I remember when we were free!