I love David Byrne and Barry White, and I love cars, too. My favorites include the 1953 Packard Caribbean convertible, Henri Chapron Citroën DS 23 Pallas, 1956 Buick Roadmaster, Ferrari 365 GTB, Maserati 3500 GT… all cars I can ill-afford to own let alone properly maintain.
When David Byrne once visited me at KCRW during a nightly show I briefly hosted, he ran in all agitated, saying he parked his car outside in a no-parking area. School was in and parking was always scarce. I told him I’d move his car. He replied, “No, you won’t know how to drive this car!” I asked him what kind of car it was. He told me it was a Citroën. I told him that I once owned a DS 19 with the “citromatic” hydraulic clutch. He handed me the keys and I parked it.
Sometime later, Barry White visited me at KCRW. Similar situation. I wondered what kind of car he drove? Cadillac? Rolls Royce? No, this time it was a metallic gold Stutz Bearcat, the kind of car you might see in a Blacksploitation film. It would go well with the shiny chartreuse suit he wore that night.
Photo by Steve Laufer
The great bluesman Robert Johnson once observed, “A man with a fine car has no need to justify hisself.” Certaintly that would be true for David Byrne and Barry White.