A man with an encyclopedic memory, John “Cadillac” Curtis’ can reel off dates of shows from decades ago and recite details, interesting trivia and behind-the-scenes anecdotes for hours at a time.
(Tony Duncan / Johnson City Press photographer)
This Cadillac has high mileage and plenty of memories
By Doug JanzPress Tempo Writer
djanz@johnsoncitypress.com
People who’ve attended major concerts throughout the East have probably seen some of John “Cadillac” Curtis’ work, even if they didn’t know it.
The longtime stagehand, music lover, traveler of our country’s roads and collector of memories and memorabilia estimates he’s worked more than 3,000 concerts (and seen a few hundred more on his own time), providing technical support as what most people call “a roadie.” He’s traveled close to 1 million miles, mostly driving but some riding with co-workers, has been to all the lower 48 states and gotten up-close views of such superstar acts as Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan and The Band, Bruce Springsteen, George Harrison and Ravi Shankar, Jimmy Buffet, Billy Joel, M.C. Hammer, Celine Dion, U2, the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Prince and Willie Nelson.
“I think music is very therapeutic, if you’re really into it,” he said. “It’s good for the soul.”
A man with an encyclopedic memory, he can reel off dates of shows from decades ago and recite details, interesting trivia and behind-the-scenes anecdotes for hours at a time. Known for his hearty laugh and generosity, Cadillac is also a lover of tradition and keeping up with friends, and has sent out as many as 3,000 Christmas cards in a year, hand addressing, signing and stamping each one (he estimates he’s down to about 1,000 annually in recent years; he has to start so early some people receive theirs in October.)
“The thing I like about that is that you actually get to have a pleasant moment thinking about that person,” he said. “I drop ’em off the list when it’s been so long since I’ve seen ’em that I can’t remember what they look like.”
His life as a stagehand has taken him all over the country, but Cadillac loves traveling. He’s been from the Florida Keys to Maine, from the Great Lakes to Brownsville, Texas to San Diego and Seattle — think of the song “I’ve Been Everywhere” — and is known to send his friends quick notes and handwritten letters from all corners of the country, often written on hotel stationery, receipts or even the back of napkins.
“Every now and then on the road, you gotta do laundry,” Curtis said. “Some people sit and read a book. I write quick letters to people.”
The stage work itself involves a lot of loading in and loading out, but there are plenty of specialties that go with setting up, operating and breaking down the stage, lights, sound and everything else for a huge event — carpenters, electricians, even the riggers who climb high up to the arena ceiling to set things up. Curtis usually fills the role of deckhand.
He’s had his union card with the International Alliance of Theatric & Stage Employees Local 699 for 31 years, actually becoming the local’s first paid lifetime member.
The roadie life means long hours and Cadillac admits, “My sleeping habits aren’t like other people’s. A lot of times I’m going to bed about the time most people are waking up.”
Curtis has roots in Elizabethton and Johnson City, graduating from Science Hill High School in 1972. He remembers one of his first big concerts, and still one of his favorites, as being The Hollies, the Raspberries and Danny O’Keefe at Dobyns-Bennett High School in 1972.
“I always loved seeing concerts and that’s what sort of got me into working them,” he said.
Before concerts he worked on movie sets. A friend in the union convinced him to go to Whitesburg, Ky., to work on “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” starring Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones, and that led Cadillac to join the union and embrace the lifestyle. He also worked on “The River,” starring Mel Gibson and Spacek.
There’s a scene in “Coal Miner's Daughter” when Spacek chases a woman with a stick, and Curtis says, “That was my stick. It had to be just right, to look kind of natural. I found it in a ditch in Kentucky. It went on as a prop with Universal.
“I wish I had that stick,” he added with a laugh. “There’s been a few times I coulda used it.”
In “The River,” in a scene with actor Scott Glenn where the flood waters begin pouring through a pile of sandbags, it was Cadillac hunkered down on the other side of the bags with a water hose.
He was a greensman on “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” in charge of working on bushes and trees on the set, often to hide things in the background of shots. He was impressed with Spacek’s acting ability. Curtis also worked on several TV pilots and movies filmed in Asheville, N.C.
From there he moved on to working mostly concerts, although his resume includes jobs at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta; setting up for appearances by George Bush Sr. and Bill Clinton and Al Gore; and with touring Broadway shows like “Cats,” “Les Miserables,” “Grease,” “Evita” and “Fiddler on the Roof,” among others.
In addition to country and rock concerts, he’s also worked events like “Sesame Street,” “Disney on Ice,” “River Dance” and many conventions. He spent a couple of years practically living at Walnut Creek Amphitheater in Raleigh, N.C., working shows and making many friends.
Among his favorites: concerts by Dylan/The Band show circa 1974, the Grateful Dead, Johnny Cash, Mahalia Jackson (when Curtis was a youngster) and The Dead Kennedys in a Knoxville club in 1985.
The variety of his favorite shows is interesting. He admits especially enjoying concerts by U2, Brooks & Dunn, Webb Wilder, Crosby, Stills Nash & Young and Weird Al Yankovic as well as Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble. He recently saw a Ralph Stanley concert at Lincoln Theatre in Marion, Va., that really impressed him.
Curtis is a compulsive record-keeper. He has memorabilia, show tickets, Christmas cards people have sent him and countless other items neatly stored, usually sorted and dated.
“I’m probably semi-obsessive-compulsive, if you can be that way,” he said. “Everything’s got to be in the proper order, in sequential order.”
His travels slowed down over the last couple of years as he stayed home to care for his ailing parents. His mom, Ruth, and his father, John, passed away within the last three years.
“I hope to get back out on the road soon,” he said. “I still love music. I love what I do.”
He also has a firm grasp of history; places and dates are meaningful to him. He was on site for the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, was in Clear Lake, Iowa, for the 50th anniversary of the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly and was at the Alamo for the 150th anniversary of the famous battle, among many other significant dates.
He shares a birthday (Jan. 8) with Elvis Presley and annually throws a party for himself and The King. Curtis has visited Cadillac Ranch in Texas (with old Cadillacs planted nose-down in the ground) and Hell, Mich., (so he could send friends a “postcard from Hell” and tell them he’s “already been to Hell”). He’s been many times to Punxsutawney, Pa., for Groundhog’s Day festivities, one of his favorite events.
His nickname, incidentally, was coined when Curtis was a senior in high school. He and friends were on a trip in his car, a 1967 four-door Cadillac Calais “hand-me-down,” but two of his friends were also named John, so they all got nicknames to keep things clear. “They called me ‘Cadillac’ because of the car I drove,” he said.
Cadillac still has an old Cadillac, although not that same Calais. And even when he’s driving his other car, an old Volvo, he refers to it with a laugh: “It’s my Swedish Cadillac. Ha-ha-ha!”