| Played Thomas Jefferson’ s Violin
At a unique Heroes Convention, | met Lindsay Wagner, star of 7he
Bionic Woman. She was unaware that the CIA served as technical adviser to her series, but she spoke poignantly of the positive influence that her TV alter-ego had on young amputees she visited in hospitals.
| also met Tom Laughlin, of Bi//y Jack movie fame. A couple of years later, he and his wife Delores Taylor invited me to a large dinner party.
They were Thomas Jefferson enthusiasts. In their home, there was Thomas Jefferson's furniture, Thomas Jefferson's silverware, Thomas Jefferson's recipes--we started with peanut soup--and even Thomas Jefferson's violin.
| mentioned playing the violin as a child, and Laughlin invited me to play this one. | hadn't held a violin for twenty-five years, not since | had used it as a prop when | started doing stand-up comedy, and four decades had passed since that concert in Carnegie Hall. It felt like a previous incarnation. But now Billy Jack himself was handing me Thomas Jefferson's violin. How could | resist?
“I'd like to dedicate this to Thomas Jefferson's slaves,” | said.
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_015460