Shawn Lane 1963-2003
Shawn Lane passed away last Friday, September 26 in Memphis. All of us who knew him are saddened to learn of his departure. If you weren't acquainted with Shawn personally, you missed the chance to know an intense but gentle and often childlike guy who loved to laugh about as much as he loved to make music. If you are not acquainted with his music, then you have been missing some stuff that is sure to blow your mind. Thankfully, much has been recorded and you can find it and listen to it. Unfortunately, a life cut short as in Shawn's case cheats us out of whatever music his fertile imagination might spawn in the future.
My first recollection of Shawn was in this battle of the bands thing in Memphis in the 70's, where he played with a group called Savage. I was listening with a friend of mine. Shawn was every bit of 13 or 14 years old at the time, and he just smoked everyone else out with his guitar playing. As a matter of fact, he smoked most of us 'pros' out so bad my friend turned to me and only half-jokingly said, "whatdya say we take the little fucker out to the parking lot and step on his hands?"
I can't say that Shawn influenced my playing at all, except through fear. I say this because it is simply a physical impossibility for my fingers to move that fast, that accurately, that cleanly. Or for my mind to function in the abstract dimension that his lived in. The fear was most acute when I started playing with his old Savage bandmates Chris Craig and Kinley Wolfe in what was to become Lord Tracy. I felt that there was no way I could ever live up his ability and his excellence. It took younger and wiser heads (Chris and Kinley) to make me see that wasn't the point at all. Still, I can remember one time in Memphis where Shawn played my old strat while sitting in with us at a gig. When he handed it back, I remember thinking that it would now reject my touch after being wielded by the master! How he played my high action and heavy strings like that, I could never fathom.
I was never that close to Shawn, but we were friendly. My most cherished memory of time spent with him occurred in Switzerland that dream summer of 1996 when I lived in Zurich. I had gone with some friends to this mini-NAMM-like music show in Luzerne and saw an advertisement that Shawn was to give a guitar clinic soon in Basel. On the day of the clinic, I rode my motorcycle over and found the music store where the presentation was already in full-swing. I was directed upstairs to a small room that was totally packed with people. I edged myself inside and stood by the door. Shawn was doing his thing, playing to some pre-recorded tapes, eyes closed, head back, and singing along with the notes that his flying fingers made. I remember this is the first time I had seen him wear that Mao hat that kind of became his trademark. The whole audience was completely mesmerized.
I stood by the door watching and listening for several minutes, when in the midst of his musical flight, Shawn spied me standing there, and no doubt surprised to see a fellow Memphian in such an unlooked-for place, screamed out "Oh my God!!!" and started laughing and lost his way in the piece. The entire room swiveled their gaze my way, and I caught daggers as to who could this guy head to toe in leather be, and how dare he interrupt their idol's presentation? Shawn of course got right back on track, chuckling all the while.
After the presentation ended, we caught each other up on just what we were both doing there. He had either just finished a tour with Jonas (Hellborg) or was going to start one. We headed to a little bar down the street where we quaffed several beers and smoked some Cuban cigars that Shawn had bought in Germany. He was in high spirits and I remember we had plenty of laughs. After an hour or so, his road manager told him they had to be going, and they headed off for Geneva, I believe. This was in the early autumn of 1996, and it was the last time I saw him. I will always remember him as he was on that day.
Shawn was not a normal guy. He had trouble dealing with day-to-day stuff the rest of us take for granted. He was always lucky enough to have someone that would watch over him, from his amazing incredible grandmother (Mamaw) to a succession of friends. He was a musical savant in a way, his life force was not wasted on driving or sports or any mundane distractions. It was saved entirely for music. I remember when the film Amadeus came out. I watched Tim Hulce as Mozart and said "that's Shawn."
I don't think Shawn was an especially happy guy. Most of the great ones aren't. It seems that there is a burden they bear that is crushing, like a bitter pill they have to keep swallowing to balance out the ecstasy they feel through their art. I can't speculate what brought about his end, and I won't. All I want to do is celebrate what was the most important thing to him, and that is his music. He will live on in our hearts and our memories.
Goodbye, gentle genius.
JimmyR 9/29/2003
Some Shawn sites:
His official page: www.noproblemhere.com
Another one: www.tarsun.net
A cool one from the Netherlands. Even has a lesson by Shawn: www.richardhallebeek.com/inter/shawn.htm
Jonas Hellborg's site: www.abstractlogix.com
