Donnie McCormick & Eric Quincy Tate

Eric Quincy Tate was the first band I saw perform in a club when I was old enough for admission. But before ever hearing Eric Quincy Tate [EQT], I visited Donnie McCormick's Atlanta apartment on Greenwood with my cousin, his friend. Entering Donnie's home was a total immersion in artwork. Creations and found objects adorned each and every wall and surface. Central to the living room was a large wooden cable spool used as a coffee table. It was not uncommon in its use as furniture, but in Donnie's case the central spool had a few slats removed and electricity was wired into the inside space created. (I wish I'd photographed it.) The small interior was furnished as a tiny room with an overhead light. In the center was a old crone doll seated in a little rocking chair. In her lap was a miniature airplane liquor bottle. She was The Whiskey Woman.

Donnie McCormick's Greenwood Avenue apartment in Atlanta;
the undersea mural (below, right) covered all walls of a bedroom;
other two photos are living room walls. [personal photos]

Donnie commandeered the living room from an antique wooden wheelchair. Pabst Blue Ribbon was the beverage of choice. When it was time for another he wheeled into the kitchen to fetch a fresh cold one. When EQT's 1972 Capricorn Records LP Drinking Man's Friend was released, the music fit perfectly in context with Donnie's visual art. "Whiskey Woman Blues" was storytelling with an insider twist.

Eric Quincy Tate
(clockwise from bottom left) Joe Rogers, Donnie McCormick, 

Wayne "Bear" Sauls, Tommy Carlisle, David Cantonwine

A simple Google search leads to much online documentation about Donnie McCormick and Eric Quincy Tate. Capricorn Records producer Paul Hornsby said:

"Donnie was a star waiting to happen in the '70s. Eric Quincy Tate was the greatest bar band I ever heard. Donnie blew me away every time, as a drummer and as a singer."

Like too many posts, this one also closes with a passing. Donnie's health failed over a long period of time. He succumbed to chronic pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure on January 11, 2009, at age 64. He was loved by many and lived a life of art and music all his days (and nights.) The mold was broken.

Sources:
"Donnie McCormick: Soul Survivor Beats to a Different Drum," by Candice Dyer, GeorgiaMusic.org, July 29, 2005
"Donald Eugene 'Donnie' McCormick," by Holly Crenshaw, The Atlanta Constitution, January 18, 2009