I remember seeing that guitar in the auction ad. I really thought about buying it. I have a great luthier and it would have been fun to do. But having Frank Ford do it is wonderful, so I'm really glad I didn't have to run up the winning bid for the current owner!
I saw Judy in person one day when I was around 18, in a friend's rambling apartment in NYC. I had walked through a series of rooms looking for someone and rather quickly walked round a corner into another room. A woman was sitting there in a chair. She looked up at me alertly as I passed by. I turned my head as I walked by and looked at her, too. She had the most extraordinary blue eyes. It was overwhelming.
I think I smiled, but surely I nodded my head as I walked away from her down another hallway. I found the person I was looking for:
"Who is that woman?", I remember asking.
"That's Judy Collins! The Singer."
"Oh," I said, nodding my head.
Doing the math, if I was 18, she would have been around 32. I'm 64 now and have never seen eyes like that again.
Good night, folks,
Harry/gilded