Pinkie was born too late, 1948, one year after the Year of the Pig. He grew up in overalls on a farm outside of Poplar Bluff, Missouri where the girls all wore pigtails. At an early age, with just a guitar and a grin, he smashed his piggy bank and became a road hog.
1957 found him hanging out with Jack Kerouac, talking trash and pigging out in all night eateries. Still just a piglet, he began to dream the restaurant dream of hog heaven.
1965 was the year Pinkie spent in Haight-Ashbury when his friend Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, keyboard blues master helped form a band called The Warlocks, later known as The Grateful Dead.
In July of 1966 he made a trip to upstate New York to comfort his buddy, Bob Dylan, as he recovered from his motorcycle accident. Pinkie rented his house, Big Pink, to Dylan's backup band, The Hawks, where they recorded "Music From Big Pink" and took Pinkie's advice to change their name to The Band. In late 1968 Pinkie went back on the road with the Dead. He went into mourning in 1973 when "Pigpen" died.
Pinkie headed back to his Midwest roots to soothe his grieving soul, landing in Memphis; home to Beale Street, blues music, and some of the best BBQ in the world. When the King heard Pinkie was staying at the Peabody Hotel he insisted Pinkie come live at Graceland. Elvis always said only Pinkie could make a peanut butter and banana sandwiches like his momma made them. August 16, 1977, tragedy struck another good frien