When Victor "Vick" Johnson sang "Eleanor Rigby" during Curtiss A's John Lennon tribute concert at First Avenue this past December, the guy in the charge of the show remembered, "It wasn't just sad. It was so many other things. We all knew he almost certainly wasn't going to be here next year."
Alas, Curt Almsted and his bandmates' instinct proved correct. A longtime guitarist for the Lennon tributes and many other bands about town, Johnson died at home Thursday morning after a year-long bout with liver cancer (not alcohol-related). He was 59 and left behind his wife, Cindy, and three grown children.
Some of the other bands Johnson played in included Stray Voltage, Hipbone, the Sleepers (with Gary Rue) and Amen (with Almsted, aka the A-men). A Michigan native who worked for Wells Fargo and later United Health by day, he still got out often at night to play. He first came to Almsted's attention 25-plus years ago when he handed him a card after a show. On the back of it, he wrote, "I like Steve Cropper."
"That was a magical thing to say in my book," said Almsted, who praised Johnson's knowledge and sheer fanaticism for all things rock 'n' roll. "He was the kind of guy who would have the portable record player with him on the school bus as a kid, and all the kids would gather around him to hear what he was playing."
Jack Thibault, a manager for some of Almsted's projects, said Johnson's knowledge of music was such that he often played in pick-up bands in the '70s and '80s behind a lot of rock greats who came to town without backers, including Martha Reeves, Alex Chilton and Question Mark of ? & the Mysterians. He also toured with Gene Pitney.
"He was versatile and capable enough to do all sorts of things like that," Thibault said.
Rusty Jones, local bassist extraordinaire, said of Johnson on Facebook, "He knew and played rock 'n roll better than almost anyone I've ever met."
It was Johnson who approached Almsted with the idea of singing "Eleanor Rigby" with a string section at this past Lennon tribute. Said Almsted, "It was a bucket list thing for him. And he was right, it was a beautiful thing."
