{"id":6912,"date":"2015-05-19T15:05:16","date_gmt":"2015-05-19T22:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.louielouie.net\/blog\/?p=6912"},"modified":"2015-05-19T15:38:22","modified_gmt":"2015-05-19T22:38:22","slug":"rip-wally-todd-member-of-jack-ely-the-courtmen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.louielouie.net\/blog\/?p=6912","title":{"rendered":"RIP: Wally Todd, member of Jack Ely & the Courtmen"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I lost my friend Wally last week. On May 14, Wally Todd<\/strong>, guitarist with Jack Ely & the Courtmen<\/strong>, died of a sudden heart attack less than three weeks after the passing of his old bandmate.<\/p>\n

I met Wally back in 1999 when the Courtmen did a big reunion show in Seaside, Oregon in 1999. I was lucky to witness this very special reunion of friends that hadn’t played together in over 30 years.<\/p>\n

Here’s a photo of what the band looked like in 1966.<\/p>\n

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Here’s what they looked like when they reunited 33 years later.<\/p>\n

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The Courtmen took us a walking tour of Seaside, showing off their old stomping ground, including the housing complex where the Courtmen were living during the summer of 1966.<\/p>\n

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Here’s a photo of the band right before they went on stage. From the left, we have Wally Todd (guitarist), John Thoennes<\/a> (promoter of this event, passed away in 2012), Gordon Hirsch<\/strong> (drummer), Jack Ely<\/strong> (singer, leader, bassist, died less than 3 weeks ago), and Billy Truitt<\/strong> (keyboards).<\/p>\n

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It was really wonderful to see the camaraderie of old friends getting together…<\/p>\n

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Here’s some video we shot with Wally at the reunion…<\/p>\n