[Harp-L] Butterfield was Jewish??

["Tom Ellis" <tomsmics@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Nope.  Irish and Catholic.  

I've seen a few references here to Butterfield being either stoned on smoke or smack, or drunk, on "To Tell The Truth".  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Butter was a deadly serious young man at this time, and although I'm sure he imbibed alcohol and a little smoke, smack was completely prohibited from his bands in the 1960s (in fact a few bandmembers were tossed out due to their drug problems).  It was only after his bout with perontonitis and the nearly debiliatating pain he suffered afterwards that he turned to the needle.  That he did, and would die of a drug overdose, was one of the saddest ironies of his life.

Everyone in Chicago carried guns for protection when Butter lived there.  Gangs were rampant--Irish, Puerto Rican and black--on the Southside and even around UofC where he lived.  And bandleaders carried cash and were out very late at night. White boys in the ghetto didn't exactly mean smooth sailing. 

The image of a stoned, gun packing Butter on national TV might make for a great fantasy, but it's nothing but that.

By the way, I've talked to Sam Lay a lot about Butter, and I've never heard the story that he and Jerome wouldn't go onstage with Paul if he had his gun on his person.  TOM ELLIS/Tom's Mics