RIP Rusty Weir

John Macy · From: Rockport TX/Denver CO

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John Macy
Rockport, TX
Engineer/Producer/Steel Guitar

Stu Schulman · From: Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)

I am totally bummed,Rusty was a good friend for many years and the nicest guy ever. Crying or Very sad

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Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952.

Herb Steiner · From: Spicewood TX 78669

I echo Stu's comments. Rusty was one of the first musicians I met and played with when I hit Austin in 1972. He was one to never miss a party, a fun time, and was an amazing entertainer. The loss of Poodie and Rusty in one year is a blow to the old-timers who remember the glory years of the Redneck Rock scene here.

Rusty my friend, I'm sure there's a never-empty bottle of Cuervo Gold wherever you've landed. Adios, mi amigo. Sad

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My rig: Infinity and Telonics.

Son, we live in a world with walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with steel guitars. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg?

Jerry Hayes · From: Virginia Beach, Va.

That's sad to hear! I never knew Rusty but he had some great (but obsure) tunes. I used to sing one in our band in California called "I Heard You Been Layin' My Old Lady"....... He had a great sense of humor! Does anyone know how old he was?..RIP Rusty! JH in Va.
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Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!!

Herb Steiner · From: Spicewood TX 78669

Jerry
Rusty was 65.

Interesting story about "Layin' My Old Lady," not to take undue credit. Rusty, Donnie Dolan, Layton DePenning and myself were driving up to Winter Park CO in the spring of 1973 in my Ford Pinto station wagon. We had a gig at Adolf's Club there in Winter Park.

Rusty was singing "I Heard You Been F..king My Old Lady" in the car and I told him it would never get on radio with those lyrics. I suggested "layin'" to him, and mentioned that it was alliterative to the word "lady." He thanked me, and that's how he performed it from that time on.

I never got co-writer for it, though. Wink

Stu Schulman undoubtedly remembers Donnie Dolan and Layton DePenning, and they will back up my claim. Rusty got ideas from everyone he knew, so it was no big deal.
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My rig: Infinity and Telonics.

Son, we live in a world with walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with steel guitars. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg?

Roy Davis · From: Denton, Texas, USA

Herb, great story.

Stu Schulman · From: Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)

When I played with B.W.Stevenson we had the same handlers that Rusty had "MoonHill"I had gone by to pick up my paycheck on a Mon. afternoon Rusty was hangin out with Wild Bill his road manager,Bill was installing JBL D-120's in all of the guitar amps,about 6 Twins,Bill told me don't just stand around grab a speaker and put it in,So I did,never having done that before I put about 8 screws right thru the speaker cone,Bill Called me a worthless Yankee I felt terrible and offered them my paycheck,Rusty couldn't stop laughing,he thought it was the funniest thing that he had ever seen...What a good guy,I'll miss him,Stu
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Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952.

Tommy Shown · From: Denham Springs, La.

Herb, I just read your tribute, that you and Stu just said about Rusty. I was a teenager then. The local country radio station here had a dj that did what he called progressive country show on friday nights from 9 to 1 in the morning. I remember him playing some of Rusty's songs. The ones suitable for airplay of course.It's sad about his passing, the memories are another story. They will be with ya'll forever. IT's sad the good ones are going. Sometimes I think the Man Upstairs don't want us. Or he just ain't ready for us yet. I am sorry to hear about ya'll's friend. He must have been a great one.
May God Bless
Tommy

Rodney Garrison · From: Montague County , Texas (deceased)

Herb,
You are bringing back some good old memories about Rusty. I was in Phoenix Az. with him and The Lavender Hill Express. Rusty had the ONLY wrist watch between all of us. It quit on him out there at 10 till 6. For the last 37 years when I see THAT time on a clock , I can't help but grin and think of Rusty. Not only will it be " 5 oclock Somewhere ", it will always be "10 till 6 "for memories of Rusty and the laughs.
May God bless Rusty and his family.
Rodney Garrison
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Herb Steiner · From: Spicewood TX 78669

Rodney My Brother!
Hey, dude, we were thinking of you and Donnie Dolan when we had an informal reunion of BW Stevenson band members this year at Threadgill's. Present were Waller Colley, Stu Schulman, Danny Hawk, Riley Osborne, Cam King, Steady Freddy Krc, and me. You and Donnie were there in spirit, as was Buckwheat.

I urge all the forumites who read this thread to go to Rusty's website that Macy linked in the initial post here and watch the video and look at the photo page. These guys were and still are great musicians and some of my dearest friends in the world.

Love to all, y'all.
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My rig: Infinity and Telonics.

Son, we live in a world with walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with steel guitars. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg?

Pete Burak · From: Portland, OR USA

The NRPS did Weirs "LMOL".
Here's a version, song #16:

http://www.archive.org/details/nrps1976-06-20.flac16

John Hopkin · Posted 24 Dec 2009 7:12 am **what we can learn...**

i did not know rusty wier and only discovered his story while searching to see if he was the 'rusty wier' i thought i remembered from the 50s...i did a search and came upon an article at the following address:

http://laketravisview.com/2009/10/10/rusty-wier-succumbs-to-cancer/

i read it with increasing disbelief: HIS story was MY story--symptom for symptom, treatment for treatment...the only difference being 2 years in our ages...i, too, had had the symptom of lack of energy...for 6 or 7 years i had bouts of 'tiredness' ranging from "i'm tired" to debilitating exhaustion...i couldn't mow the yard...i'd go to bed on thursday and stay there till monday trying to recover from whatever i had...the doctors were clueless...over the years i had 2 nuclear stress tests, 3 "sleep tests," and diagnoses of everything from mono to sleep apnea...finally, my GP asked, "have you ever had a colonoscopy?"...of course not--i'm a guy...what do i need one of those for?...well, i had one and they found the same thing that rusty's drs. found--stage IV colon and liver cancer...2 operations and 6 chemo treatments later, though, i was cured--4 years ago last october...my point is:
GET A COLONOSCOPY!!!!...don't put it off...i think the threshhold age is 50, but you might be advised to do it sooner if there's a history of cancer in your family, as there was in mine (which i ignored)...i stupidly put mine off till the doctor suggested it on my 63rd birthday...there is a blood test for it, also, but they have to specifically TEST for that component...whatever it is, the target number is 6...mine was 33 when diagnosed but now it's 2...guys are reluctant to have this procedure done and many, like me, were/are more concerned with their prostate than their colon...the upside is that, if you're clear, you only have to have the test every 10 years...rusty's death will not have been in vain if it helps even one other person catch or avoid this disease...thanks...
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Herb Steiner · From: Spicewood TX 78669

I must also wholeheartedly agree about the need for regular checkups for colon cancer beginning at age 50, and sooner if you're genetically predisposed. That means colonoscopies. Rusty was my friend and a musical colleague, and his passing affected the entire Austin musical community.

My father had a bout with colon cancer, although that's not what eventually took him, and had to have a section of his colon removed. That makes me a candidate for the disease, genetically speaking. So at age 50 I had my first c'scopy. The doctors found polyps known as tubulovilous adenomas. These are growths that are benign in the beginning, but almost always become malignant if left to grow. Polyps were found in each of my subsequent procedures, and I am now scheduling my 4th c'scopy for this coming spring.

The painful way Rusty left this world is something I would not wish on my worst adversary. Be safe, not sorry. Take care of yourselves, regardless of the cost or the inconvenience. You're worth it.
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My rig: Infinity and Telonics.

Son, we live in a world with walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with steel guitars. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg?

Hook Moore · From: South Charleston,West Virginia

Colon cancer is what just killed my Dad as well.. Everyone get checked, its a horrible way to go..
Hook
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Todd Fujawa · From: Austin, TX, USA

Hi folks, new to the community, been lurking for a while.

I had the pleasure of playing with Rusty his final years. We met when he hosted a showcase/revue at Aunt Tillyâ€™s, I was one of the musicians in the showcase and thoroughly enjoyed playing with Rusty. I had already been playing professionally for 12 years at this point, but he taught me so much in that period of my life. He had just been diagnosed a few months after we started playing together.

We would often hang out after the gigs and shoot the shit for hours, smoke a few joints and more than anything just enjoy those moments after a great night of music with the handful of other musicians hanging around at 3 AM after closing the bar/club. Aunt Tillyâ€™s was on the Lake Travis, and their were boat slips behind it where folks docked their sailboats and lived. More often than not those folks enjoyed our pre-dawn, post show acoustic jamboree and other times we got run off by a rightfully angry tenant of the marina.

Rusty was a friend and a mentor, and I am forever grateful to have known him and to share the stage with him. Singing everything from my originals, his originals to Bobby Blue Bland (mutual fans). In fact it was my rendition of Turn on your Lovelight that got me invited to join the revue as a regular picker/singer.

Craig Stock · From: Westfield, NJ USA

I got to meet Rusty once around '82 in Lubbock just before a Marshall Tucker show that he was the opener for.

Me being a young kid and shy,he was the most gracious person, coming up to me and introducig himself.We chatted for a bit. It was nice of him to take a moment like he did, and he made himself another fan that afternoon.
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Regards, Craig

I cried because I had no shoes, then I met a man who had no feet.

Today is tomorrow's Good ol' days

Tucker Jackson · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

Man, I'm really sorry to hear of this. It takes me back to my Austin days... Rusty was a good 'un for sure.

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

Of course, this thread is from 2009, hard to believe it's been that long. I think worth digging out, he didn't get enough recognition as far as I'm concerned.

I never met him or even saw him. But I still have my old vinyl copy of Stoned, Slow, Rugged around here somewhere.

MIchael Bean · From: North Of Boston

I'm glad you renewed this post, because I didn't know that Rusty had passed. I used to see him around all the time when I was playing the Lock Stock & Barrel in Austin from 78-82.

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