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"I think it was in '93 that Jeff came to our house for Christmas. My wife, our two young boys, and Jeff. He shows up a couple of hours late in the afternoon wearing a top hat and a fur coat. It was the first appearance of the fur coat; he had just purchased it. I think he had just gotten some money from Sony. He bought a top hat and this fur coat. I think the left sleeve was held together by safety pins. He appeared at our front door. Our sons Nick and Ben were one and three years old at this time. He was leaving later that day to England to visit people, visit some friends. He showed up at our house carrying an open, half-used Christmas basket which he had gotten for a gift from Columbia Records. This was his offering to the Christmas festivities at our house that day. There was a Christmas tree and he put the open basket, with half of the stuff in it eaten, under the Christmas tree, which I thought was really nice. He was sharing his booty. And I thought that was very sweet. That was just a great day, a lot of lying on the floor playing with the kids. He exhibited something that day which I had never seen before. It's late in the afternoon, now the television is on and Warner Brothers' Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons were on and my three-year-old son was sitting on the couch. All of a sudden Jeff got up and stood next to the television, just to the side of it. He was word-for-word miming these cartoons, and these are some maniacal music and maniacal songs with extremely complicated rhythms to the soundtracks and the pratfalls. He knew every beat and every word. My son Nick, who always spoke very well, he kept looking at Jeff, and looking at the TV and looking at me, and this went on for a couple of minutes and Nick finally went, 'Dad, how is he doing that?!' And I said, 'I don't know, Nick. I don't know...Just sit down and watch him.'"-Steve Berkowitz from A Wished For Song

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"Somewhere I might have a video. My sons Nick and Ben, are four and two, says Steve Berkowitz. "They would watch Silly Symphonies and Merry Melodies while Mom and Dad made dinner. Jeff was over, lying on the couch watching these cartoons with the kids, and then, all of a sudden, he is standing next to the television and mouthing all the words and music of the cartoons and acting them out and being silly. Nick looks at me and says, 'Daddy, why does he know that?'

"'I don't know why Nick, just watch him...'-from Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye

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"We first met while he was staying with a friend in London during the Christmas holidays in 1992, at what was once the Dome cafe on the corner of Kings Road in London. He was a fairly penniless musician at the time, so I bought him lunch. The first meeting was almost like going on a blind date, not romantically, but we got on so well immediately. He wasn’t the most gregarious person, but we clicked and connected: we were similar ages and were both just starting out. I think we were in the cafe for about four hours.

"During that first meeting, he said to me that he’d never want to play an arena, and if I expected to make any money off him, I was talking to the wrong person. He loved playing small rooms, which is why when we met he laid down the gauntlet for me to find tiny venues for him to play. I remember him saying to me that when people are talking in a venue he would try to use their noise to become part of the song, so the whole thing would blend together. But the reality is that nobody ever did talk at his gigs. They were completely silent. People would listen and watch with their mouths open half the time."-Emma Banks of Creative Artists Agency, and Jeff’s UK live agent, via The Guardian, 8 Mar, 2016 (I believe the year was actually 1993, not 92 due to Berkowitz's anecdote above, Jeff was still with Rebecca Moore in 92 and naturally would've spent the holidays with her-though technically they could've sent him as a matter of business, but still, 92 would've been a bit too soon after he'd been signed, and it obviously makes more sense he'd go to London to meet with Emma that year as he was due to return in March of 94.)

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Just before this trip, he had been to England for a week over the New Year, to visit Elizabeth Fraser, the singer with Cocteau Twins, whose voice, he told me, stopped him in his tracks. "It sounds like light," he said.-Dave Lory, from Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye (the trip mentioned would've been in January, 94, the start of the Sin-é solo tour) 📷 Merri Cyr/Nicola Dill

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Jeff with cousin Alison and her brother, Christmas, 1994

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Merry Christmas to all celebrating! 🎅🎄🎁

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Art by El Gato Gomez | Instagram

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Vincent Price - The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)

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Thanks to Daniel James Huppert for sharing this with us!

November 17, 2016  · New York, NY  · 

Throwback Thursday... (12/18/94), the first time I met Jeff Buckley. This was at Maxwell's in Hoboken, a few days before the release of his album, Grace. Today is Jeff's birthday. He would have been 50. I’m to his left with the long hair.

From comments on FB:

Daniel James Huppert

Correction: Grace was release a few months before, in August. So long ago, I got it mixed up. It was a few days before Christmas of '94. That must be what confused me. I still remember the winter chill in the air, as I walked into Maxwell's, and seeing Jeff waltzing around mingling. He climbed up on the bar and started licking plates of leftover food, lol. Reminds me, now that I think about it, of his lyrics in "So Real", "We walked around til the moon got full, like a plate."

Daniel James Huppert

Haha, someone remembers!!! I used to get mistaken for the lead singer of Candlebox SO OFTEN, it's gotten me on the Jumbotron at a Van Halen concert, into a Page/Plant reunion show, and VIP'd at parties. We'd roll with it, cuz it was Hiiiiiii-larious!!!

From Comments on Redit:

RevDaniel

I used to work at a Tower records, and someone put on Live at Sin-e. Hearing the scat high notes in The Way Young Lovers Do blew my mind. We knew a Sony rep, and a few of us were invited to see him perform in Hoboken NJ a few days before Christmas of either 93 or 94 (for the life of me, I can't recall which). We all had a private hang out session in the basement (that club's backstage area), and Jeff and the band were super nice. I still have a signed promo poster that he wrote "Happy Jesus Birth - Jeff Buckley". I've been a lifelong fan ever since hearing his music.

Yeah, he was pretty cool, in a quirky way. He was stirring olive oil on a dinner plate and licking it dry, haha! We talked a bunch. It’s been ages, but I remember him telling me one of his vocal influences was Judy Garland. I got photos with him somewhere. Coolest part was he remembered me, and we ended up hanging again at a Julianna Hatfield show he was opening for at Roseland Ballroom in NYC. He was whimsical, for sure. Very genuine.

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Maxwell's: Hoboken, New Jersey, December 18, 1994 📷 Jared Miller/Denise Batura

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Photo by Jared Miller

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Flirting with a reporter at Maxwell’s, 95 (He played there Jun. 16 and Dec. 18, 94, but based on his hair and outfit, I’m gonna say it’s December) 📷 Merri Cyr

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Maxwell's: Hoboken, New Jersey, December 18, 1994. 📷 Merri Cyr

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The location (118 N. 11th St) now

The Grace album shoot happened at Arcadia Studios in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in December 1993. My friend Billy Basinski had this amazing loft space, Arcadia, where he hosted cabaret and music shows. The space was very opulent and textural and I used some of the surfaces as they were and also built some sets to shoot against. There was a small stage and the space was decorated with unusual vinyl pieces and his boyfriend Jamie's art works. When Jeff and Sony hired me to do the album package, I thought this would be a wonderful backdrop. For the day of the shoot I made some stage sets and used much of the existing features of the space.

It was once again a high-pressure situation for Jeff and he was pretty nervous coming in, knowing that a lot was expected from him. There was quite a few business people there watching, so part of my job was to distract him from feeling self-conscious and ease him into the moment. Of course it is easier to photograph people on a one-to-one basis, but when that's not possible it is important to create a relaxed space in whatever way you can conjure so people lose their self-consciousness. With Jeff we started on a black backdrop to warm up and let him jump around to throw off some of the nervousness. Then he did what came naturally and started writing in his notebook, sitting under a table with clocks all over it. As things warmed up images started evolving, the atmosphere lightened, and we started to experiment. The amazing thing about photographing Jeff was his willingness to try almost any idea I put forward.

Being able to create photos with him was a unique experience because of his creative and playful energy, and his trust. He did not try to censor or control while we were doing the work; he was willing to meet me, follow a lead, and be present. Even when he wasn't totally in love with the idea.-Merri Cyr from So Real

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"In December of 1993 Jeff Buckley came to a rented studio in New York City to meet me and my assistant @LyndaChurilla, showing up in a pork pie hat, carrying his guitar and his Judy Garland jacket on a hanger. His manager said, 'Take that hat off, get rid of that guitar and that jacket!' Jeff pretended not to hear him and I took the pictures. He did a little concert for us and we were there for hours and he invited us to come see him perform at CBGB the next night."-Bruce Weber

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"I took this picture of Jeff in his apartment near CBGB's. It seemed like he never really ate breakfast, lunch, or dinner all he cared about was his guitar. The first time I met him he came by my studio, guitar in hand with a pork pie hat and wearing a jacket he described as his sequined Judy Garland blazer."-words and pics by Bruce Weber

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Irving Plaza: New York, December 17, 1994. 📷 Merri Cyr

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Irving Plaza: NY, December 17, 1994 📷 Merri Cyr

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Irving Plaza: NYC, December 17, 1994 📷 Bill Tompkins

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Bill Tompkins/Getty Images Jeff Buckley performs on July 19th 1996 in New York City. (Photo by Bill Tompkins/Getty Images)