Hello, KCIW
listeners, and welcome to Curry Cafe, where we
put together a panel of volunteers and guests
who discuss various topics from whimsical and fun
to more serious subjects.
Well, hello everybody. This is Ray Gary, and
I am the panel today.
Rick has decided that
he needs to take a day off, and
we have one guest who will certainly fill
the hour with
wonderful stories about what it's like to be
an entertainer your whole life.
So I will now turn the microphone over
to Bobby Joe, and he'll talk about himself.
And Thank you. Knowing him, he will talk
about himself,
enough that I can just go get a
beer.
Right. I'm I'm a legend in my own
mind. Right? Yeah. Well, it's such a pleasure
to be on the show. I I really
do. It's kind of an honor to have
you. It really is. So
Well, it's, you know, the,
I love the town. I just, my wife
and I have been here just
oh, well, probably going on four months. It
couldn't be a friendly in in those four
months, have you ever heard anybody beeping a
horn? I know. No?
I mean, I walk and I I I
walk a lot. I try to walk as
much as I can,
at it,
was it Sport Haven. Uh-huh. And,
I I love to tell it because everybody's
so friendly when you talk and you get
to you get to recognize them, they get
to know you. And this one guy, this
big old burly dude one day and walking
down there and he goes, you know,
how can you be mad, upset
because you're looking out at the ocean and
just and those waves just he goes, I've
got problems and everything
and everything, and I gotta deal with it
and financial, all that. But here I am
in this, and I go, brother,
everyone's got problems, but that's why we
we come here. That's why I love it
because, those waves are just
they just cut at you. They just work
at you. Oh, you're feeling bad for you?
You're on the pity pot? Yeah. Let me
just hang around a little bit longer.
I call that strip there that, where they
walk on the, a mall for older people.
You know, teenagers hang out at the mall
to meet people and to pick up girls
or whatever.
If you're, like, 65,
or above, then you fit in right in
there. That's our mall.
Yeah. It's, it's the town. That was one
of the things I had mentioned,
numerous times about,
never have I been in a place that
I've seen so many
white haired or gray haired people, mostly white
haired people like myself.
Yeah. I, I I was in something the
other day. I don't remember what it was,
and there was a couple in there, had
a little kid, little toddler. And I'm thinking,
boy, that that's a rare sight around here.
In my neighborhood, there's one. You see them
walking to this little girl every now and
then and I have to
you know, it's the only kid in the
whole neighborhood. Yeah. Right. So
everybody
tries
to spoil them and stuff like that. Yes.
That's what and the
the dogs,
we finally we got the little dog from
the humane society,
and so now we're proper because
everybody and their brother has a dog out
there. Yes. You know?
And you can't be out there without a
dog, you know? No. And
so I I really enjoy that and stuff.
Dogs are a wonderful
conversation
starter.
People will come up to you and wanna
talk about your dog.
And and sometimes I think that's okay, and
sometimes
I couldn't care less about your dog, and
you don't care. Why don't you just leave
me alone? Just because I'm walking here with
a dog doesn't give you the right to
come up with me and start asking me
questions.
Well, that's, you know, that's your prerogative. Right?
Everybody it's well, it's like showing the pictures
or,
you know,
me, it,
I have a hot rod. My wife and
I have this hot rod and it's like
showing pictures as a kid. Oh. Check this
out, you know, and doodle What what do
you have? I have a '29 model a
Oh.
For pickup with a flatty in it. It's
like an old fifties hot rod. Yeah. It's
got a chop top
channeled.
It's been
extended a little bit.
It, the it's got an old,
sixties Merc
motor in it with,
I mean, Ford Fati with a Merc crank
in it. Oh. It's got a little ISKEC
cam in it. I'm from from it just
sound it's so wonderful and oily and
soundly, you know, the fifties. Are you involved
with the car club here at all? No.
I I'm actually,
was involved with when out from Rapid City
because that's where we came. We came out
here because of my
I have a I have a model t.
A You do? A '26 model t pickup,
and I
I find it to be an excellent place
to get rid of excess money.
If you've got you've got a spare 20
in in in your wallet Well, yeah. Sucker
will take it away in a second.
Well, that's it for the
the little time enjoyment.
We were thinking about bringing that. In fact,
I just put my my,
Hot Rod up for sale in back in
Rapid City. And we were thinking about bringing
it out here, and I said, why? It'd
be cool. And you stroke your ego because
I'm sure there's not one that looks like
this. It's the top, this guy that built
it,
he took a '56 Ford hood,
and that's the roof on it. Oh.
It's it's really done really well.
And,
and then I'd like you say, I put
a ton of money into it. Had it
rewired and did this and did that and
pay blah blah blah blah blah. And you
you're buying this, buying it, and putting it
in. And and,
and it's been in two parades and two
car shows,
and
so I'm good.
I I'm hoping to have mine
running and safe
for the,
parade.
And when I say safe, a model t,
you took your life in your hands. Yeah.
They call the brakes a suggestion,
and and that's not a joke. They the
brakes didn't stop the wheels. It stopped the
transmission.
Really? Yeah. And it it basically slowed you
down, then you had to go do a
bunch of downshifting and pull the emergency brake.
Oh, so it's still it's all restored then.
I'm sorry? It's a restored one? It's not
a hot rod? It's a Oh, it's yeah.
It's it's actually never been restored. It's still
in original
good shape with
I took the engine out and cleaned things
up and put new valves on that kind
of stuff. But gotta show me that, brother.
I just I'd love it. My dad and
I built
a '29 model a,
five window business coupe,
back when I was, like,
what,
17, 18 years old.
And from the ground up, bought it for
$35.
Oh. This bloody thing for $35.
But,
well, listen.
So, yeah, we'll we'll show that.
But I came up here to place,
play music, and I was been so you
you you good people have been so gracious
to have me on the a couple of
the shows and stuff like that. Wow. Do
we yeah. You you you kinda make our
microphones
shine. People say, oh, Bobby Joe's on. Let's
go listen to that song. Yeah. Let's hear
this so toad.
But if for those of you who haven't
seen him, Bobby Bobby Joe was one of
the,
premier entertainers,
that we have here in town. Not that
the others aren't good, but
Bobby Joe kinda, I think,
stands at least a half ahead above
a lot of them.
Well, thank you. Thank you very much. Well,
I just been at it for a zillion
years and I've kind of found my calling,
you know. Yeah. And I play the old
blues.
I'm gonna play a song for you that
and
it's playing on
my wife's dad's guitar. It's a 90 year
old
Martin guitar. It's the par
Parler
guitar because it's
not a full bodied one, but it still
got that Martin sound.
I got a gal who lives up
on a hill.
I got a gal who lives up
up on a hill.
Many women come to see me, but baby,
I love this
still.
She got eyes like diamonds,
shine like londigome.
Got eyes
like diamonds
shine like clondigo
When she make love to
me,
man, she feel me so much.
Honey, you're
so beautiful.
You got to die someday.
Honey, you're so
beautiful
you got to die someday.
So why don't we make love
until you
pass away?
That was amazing.
I I
yeah. I'm I'm
well, I'm tongue tongue tied.
Sitting and listening to Bobby Joe, watch him
play this music is
really, really, really amazing.
I did notice something, though, in the beginning
of this song that seems to be kind
of a common thread for blues songs.
All these guys had a gal that lives
up on the hill.
You bet.
Have you noticed that? I bet the the
hills must have been filled up living.
I guess that was it was well, you
know, a lot of those cats would
steal
the lines different lines and put them in
their system. Of course. Yeah. Yeah. So so
you'd hear
so you learn that. Yeah. You can become
a blues singer. I guess you learn about
six or seven different things and then There
you go. Just run lines from each one.
Yeah.
But,
yeah. You know, I I I was like
telling you earlier that,
my mom, god bless her god rest her
soul that,
she goes, oh, Bobby, you just have such
a nice voice. You should sing country.
And I go, oh, there's no way I
wanna do that.
And,
I wanna be a blues guy, you know,
and all of a sudden, well, then
the blues is wonderful, but then
here now since she's passed away, I,
I have been listening to a lot of
these old the old guys. Yes. And they
had so much
white man's soul, you know, they had the
blues, you know,
in it.
And so part of my act is a
lot of these old tunes
and everything. I try to do different things
that
not everybody
plays. And it's it's, I'm gonna let the
the cat out of the bag. It's it's
good because most of people don't know if
I'm doing it right or wrong.
Yeah. Well, it sounds good. It doesn't there
there there is no right anyway. Well, Well,
you're trying to make it your I bet
you Robert Johnson never sung sang the same
song twice. Yeah. And what a wonderful story
about, you know, at the end of going
in that,
that's what happens is these these guys,
they get
they'll find some old famous mentor or something.
And the guy the mentor wants to pass
that on to them.
So they just absorb it up. But then
they've got that, then they put their shtick
to it. And my goodness, you know. That's
yeah. That's kind of the Robert Johnson story
right there. Yeah. Right. He he used to
go around playing in bars and whatnot and
everybody saw him coming and they go, uh-oh.
Yeah. Because he wasn't very good. And then
he went away for I don't know how
long Yeah. And ran into one of those
guys you're talking about.
And according to to legend, they set out
in the cemetery
Yep. And this guy taught Robert Johnson how
to play.
And he came back saying he he'd met
with the devil Yeah. Which was, for those
people, probably a
a moralistic
story. And, oh, yeah. I just worked hard.
Well, you know,
one of my
songs that I do is called Got My
Mojo Working. Uh-huh. And you know what a
mojo is? Yeah. Because it had the rubies
and Yeah. It warts off the evil spirits.
So they're really that's a Cajun
Mhmm. Shtick, you know? And,
and boy, they believe that. Yes. And they're
they're all Yes. Probably to this day. Oh,
for sure, for sure, you know. I had
the pleasure I was,
when I got out of the service and
I was raised in Southern California, I went
to Southern I went back to Southern California,
and then I went up that my, my
folks had moved up to Ogden, Utah.
And I went up to
Ogden, Utah on and
hung around there and played. And then my
blood father came into my life. Uh-huh. And
he lived a 130 miles from New Orleans
Oh. Street.
So I went down and visited with him
about two weeks, got to know him, I
came back, and then I decided, man, this
is my chance. I I want to do
this. So I get a U Haul trailer,
get all of my stuff that I had
and bonsai down there. Took me three days
to get down there.
And I just
stopped at his place
in in,
Brookhaven, Mississippi
and
loaded stuff. I mean, I kept on going
because I'd had some money, and I went
and lived on Bourbon Street for Oh, wow.
And it was just such a a wonderful
experience because of,
you know, I was all fresh, all eager
to do this, and I could play some
and,
especially the harmonica, I could play. And,
but, man, there'd be cats on the corner
playing for change that would scare you that
they were so good. Yes. And I can
remember I love telling this that
a guy told me there, he says, if
you really wanna hear
the great players,
go over about
three
streets over from Bourbon. Uh-huh. Because
Bourbon was commercial and, you know, I was
right by Al Hertz Annex and and, you
know, you had Pete Fountain place and you
had all these jazz places and stuff.
So I did. I one day I and
it was parallel, and I forget the name
of the street. It was, like, about three
streets over. And then you were out of
the bourbon with all the the shim sham
stuff. It was just, like, all the time.
It was real. Yep. And we go in,
and I found this place. It was in
a whole old hotel.
I walked down, and you know, and then
you go in the door and here here's
the, here's the,
the light bulb, which is
but I went in this room,
and, man, these cats were playing in there
and you you sit down and you get
a a beer for
35¢
or something.
And the most phenomenal
jazz playing in the world, I just go
Oh, yeah. People walk over your jaw, you
know, because you're and just and they're playing
for beans, playing for nothing. Yeah. But it
was that
it was that,
that spirit,
the the art the artistic bohemian spirit of
the it was all about the art. It
wasn't about the money. I mean, we'll live,
you know, I can I can live on
baloney sandwiches if I get to play,
you know, with That's the way it's supposed
to be? We it really is. It really
is. I had an experience about, oh, probably
fifteen years ago. I have a friend that
lived in Key West, and my wife and
I went down there to visit her. And,
you know, Key West people don't do the
Key West thing. You know? Yeah. Yeah. But
we were,
walking down Duval Street, hopefully finding somebody that
could play decently
because a lot of them can't.
And we
heard of on a bar off Duval Street,
couple of doors down,
a a band playing something sounded pretty good.
And we went in, and
they weren't good. They were really good. And
it just so happened that night, they were
recording a a CD.
And
like we were talking before about making a
song your own, that's what they were doing,
and they did a very good job of
even, like, Mojo working. Yeah. Believe it or
not, they Yeah. They didn't
necessarily approve on it, but they changed it,
and it worked.
And,
so the next time I went went back
to visit my friend, she said, oh, that's
gone. And and turns out she'd been dating
one of the guitar players. Oh. During a
break, we were sitting with this
very nice looking woman, and
the guitar player just came over and sat
down and started talking to her. You know?
I'm a guitar player. I can do that.
And they did date for a while, but
so she got a copy of that CD
they were making that night, and she said
they're a rarity in Key West, and they're
they're valuable, not in the world, but I
have it, and I'm keeping it. Oh.
And, when I was doing my doo wop
show, I used to play some songs from
it once in a while, but, you know,
there's amazing things you find out there sometimes.
And the experience,
it's all like like you say now that
you have that
in your mind, in your soul Mhmm. That
you were there. You
Exactly. You experienced it. And that's what
I try to do with the performance
is
the people we're all we're all at one
the same level. Yeah. I just happen to
be the one that's the singing of the
plane or whatever. But I don't know anybody
or anybody else, you know. I'm just I
love to go to where this music takes
you, you know.
I've,
have more than once gone and seen some
of the,
the old players like
well, I don't think I put BB King
exactly in this, but I saw BB King
and Wow. That would've Bo Diddley a number
of times and quite
a few of the guys that you might
call has beens or not have. To me,
it was an experience just to be in
the same room with them. Oh, yeah. A
few years back, we I was living in
Tucson, and Willie Nelson came to one of
the little casinos there
in a in a in a room that
I'm sure didn't seat a 100 people.
And and,
we had seats, like, four feet off the
of four
Yeah. Rows off the off the stage. And,
I don't know if he's just having an
off night or what, but at at one
point, my wife said,
I'd like to take that guitar and smash
it on the stage because he was not
playing well Yeah. And which is really bad
because he plays really well. Yeah. Right.
And may maybe maybe he's
not
traditional or doing what a guitar player should
do, but he sounds great. Yeah. And he
was forgetting the words to songs and things
like that.
And I'm saying along with,
to myself, you know, with Angel Flying Too
Close to the Ground, which I've heard him
say many times was his favorite song.
And he's screwing up the words and going
all over the pit.
Just to have been in the same room
with him, I wouldn't care if he didn't
even play the guitar.
Yeah. It was like
Well, that's it because they, you know,
and there there's life. There's the real thing
because
people put him up on a pedestal. Man,
he's only just a person. Yes. And he
has the gift,
and he has
given the gift to the world. Yeah. His
I mean, in these songs
and him and the performance because you, you
know, you
you you understand it is I I love
talking
about,
Bob Dylan because I never was
I love Dylan's songs. Yeah. But I wasn't
real crazy about his voice because I always
look at it where, you know, I have
to have the right
tonality and the phase phrasing and blah blah
blah.
Until I watched it, not this
I've watched the movie here lately, but then
a documentary
about probably
fifteen, twenty years ago.
And
and, I got it because he wrote those
songs for him. Yes.
And and he's so bloody ass good with,
you know, pardon me, you know,
of
doing that, of singing those songs because
they're they're his songs.
And and nobody else does them as well
unless they completely, you know, like,
Neil Young took
Watchtower and just went crazy with it. Yeah.
He's a much better version.
And
but, like I say, he had the voice
to do that. When when Jimi Hendrix
first started singing, he he contacted his father
and said,
something among all the nonsense, but don't be
too embarrassed about my singing voice.
But Bob Dylan is doing it, so I
can do it. And and and and there
again, he has absolute perfect voice
and and the feeling for what he's doing,
the songs that he wrote.
Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's a this movie is
the the latest movie out has been out
for probably a year or so ago, and
it's it's very good. Mhmm. The guy that
plays plays him
and everything. And, in fact, here's a you
were talking about how, you know, these musicians
own stuff. Now I
I've done this. You've probably heard me do
this song,
and I I've I've just always enjoyed it.
And it's I love the way Dylan does
it. I love the way that,
Van Morrison does it and,
those
two. In fact, I
I got turned on to it because of
the Van Morrison way, but it was Van
Morrison
yoga.
That was great. You know,
and as I'm as you're playing it, I'm
thinking that
that Dylan wrote songs like that because he
lived that life. It wasn't, yeah, he wasn't
in a in a,
fancy,
apartment or a house or something writing songs
about that. He lived that life. He lived
in,
you know, the whole Greenwich Village scene and
was,
when Arlo Guthrie and all these people were
breaking in and they were walking around with
their with their guitars over their shoulder.
I used to,
when when I was in high school, we
used to go in once in a while.
Thought we were I lived down on Long
Island. I thought we we were really being
daring because we were gonna go in and
go to Greenwich Village and and just walk
around and hang out and stuff. And, it
was it was quite a, quite an experience
for us because, I mean, there'd be people
sitting on the stoop shooting up and nodding
out and just all just all those, holy
cow, this life really
but what I didn't realize is that is
that Arnold Guthrie and all these people were
playing in these coffee houses. You know? I
could have gone and seen them way back
in the day. You know?
They lived it like you said. Yeah. You
know?
And have the opportunity
to experience that. I
I think I went when I was in
the service. I was on submarines and I
ended up in New London, Connecticut.
Uh-huh. And we would come down to
the to the Big Apple there and,
of course, I had
to see all, you know, the different things
in that Greenwich Village. Yeah. But I didn't
see that that part of it. This was
back in the in the,
in the late sixties.
Okay. And that was when you were That
was earlier sixties. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We were
just high school kids. We didn't know anything.
And literally, that was like,
holy cow. Look at that. You know? Because
we lived on on suburban Long Island. You
know? So, you know, it was it was
quite an experience, and I wish I had
had the knowledge to appreciate the experience.
If only I knew that, you know, they
all Well, but that's the that's the thing,
though. But you were you were there. You
got to do it. It's
I figured out that song because, you know,
him and,
Joan Baez had a little fling. Oh, yeah.
And when she ended it,
her song was,
and Dylan's was I think it was it's
all over now, Baby Blue Yeah. Was his
rebuttal.
Diamonds and Rust, I think, is one of
the the best songs ever written. Yeah. Joan
Baez does so beautifully.
And
do you know if that's a true story?
I mean, did she actually get a phone
call from him or what? I was just
thinking about it the other day, and that's
what the song was about. Well, yeah. And
she was yeah. That
because they still
connected
and and stuff. And when she ended it
Yeah.
And, of course, him being Dylan, you know,
and
I I tell you when it's over with
you.
I mean but,
yeah. All that, it was that's my favorite.
I mean, that's the only one I could
really do. And I had mixed emotions. I
used to do it where it was a
a male and then the girl was that
was the deal. And I thought, no. I
I forget who the artist was. I heard
that
he did a woman song that that made
it popular. And I figured, well, if he
can do it, I even forget who the
guy was, but so I do it. I
do it in
first person that I'm the Joan Baez, you
know, the female that, hey, you know,
out Diamonds Russ, you did this to me
and blah blah. Yeah. That whole song, the
music, the way it's just, yeah, amazing how
that thing is put together.
Yep. Not to mention the words, you know.
Yeah. I know. She you're so good at
words. Yes. You know, she hate and he
and he because he was. He was just,
I saw another another great,
one that I
a guy that I really got into was
Leonard Cohen. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And,
No. He was in the village too with
us. Yeah.
And once again, didn't have a very good
voice. Not any voice at all. No. But
but when you But it worked for what
he did. Yeah. Yeah. Because at songs, he
was a poet. Mhmm.
And then I think he got in the
game and, like, it was he was, what,
in his forties, his late forties when he
decided to be a songwriter
and
and, but
I I saw a documentary and he was
seeing how him and Dylan got together.
And Dylan said, I can write a song
in, you know, five minutes or fifteen minutes,
you know. And and and and then he
said, well, I can write one in
six months or something like that. Yeah. And
he was lying. I read somewhere that he
worked on Hallelujah for seven years. Yes.
Yeah. Yeah. There I I read a thing
about where,
that his kids
says, god, you know,
please don't say anything about Hallelujah because he
would change it through the years. Yeah. It
it was daily. It was Yeah. That was
the seven years part. Yeah. It was seven
where it would go, okay. I like that.
Well, no. I don't like that no more.
So I wrote this one, you know. But,
God, his songs, you know, it just,
so powerful.
Mhmm. You know? And,
all those all those cast, man, they were
just so gifted.
I do, you know,
But,
you know, it's just
the songs, those great songs, and
to be
a a song smith, I guess they call
it Yeah. Kind of a thing
and everything.
So it's it's so fun to talk,
shop,
the music and, like, the experience of life
that you've had that, you know, maybe you
don't play music, but yet you're still
a connoisseur of music. I think so, yeah.
Yeah. Well, yeah, you know, if it's good,
if it's bad, did it touch?
I've had cats. I never
forget
because I really don't get in
because I'm always wrapped up in stuff and
everything.
It takes a lot for somebody to touch
me, you know, and
I was playing music with a guy that
he was in,
god, he was part of the,
was it Doobie Brothers or something like that?
But he anyhow, he was in and out,
loo dee doo.
And he played,
and when he did this song, and it
just touched me. It just
it just I was just engrossed in it.
And I told him that. He goes, well,
I got a big blowjob. But, I mean,
it was just there's performances
out there and and, like you say, the
different,
the different people.
Gosh. Yeah. I I just find,
creativity just fascinating.
I, like I said, I don't play an
instrument. I don't know anything about playing or
how it works or anything, but I I
say, like, who decided that now is when
the guitar comes in and he plays this
and they and somehow they they seem to
do it on the fly. I don't know
if you must have seen from,
Woodstock. I'm trying to think of
Richie Havens. No. No. That's another one. Yeah.
He he No. Who? Oh, can't think of
the name. A,
Santana.
Yes. The song they didn't say. And Yeah.
I can't remember the name of the song
either, but that's like, nine minutes long.
And I'm watching this thing, and, okay, Santana's
playing. And then, like, magically, it goes over
to somebody else, and then magically,
it goes over to the drummer who does,
like,
an eight or nine minute solo.
And somehow, somebody else in the band knew,
oh, he's done now. Let's pick this up
and do and and I've talked to band
members
about that, and they said, well you know,
because that could not possibly have been rehearsed
that you you do this Or no. As
that. It was put together there.
And they said, when you when you're in
the groove and you I said, that's the
way it works. He was It does. You
go into a
it's a it's really,
like a trance. Because everybody gets
sub subliminally,
everyone's on the same page.
And I've played when when I just did
it and stopped, but the whole band stopped.
Yeah.
And so you and, you know, how'd they
do that? Well, we just you just felt
that you that you knew it was coming.
That was a you know, I I love
telling the story. I had a I was
a part of an eight piece rhythm and
blues band,
and it had the horns, it had trumpet
bone, and sax,
and,
b three player,
lead guitar,
bass, drums, and then myself,
lead singer with blowing harp.
And
once you got past all the egos and
all the drama and everything, but you got
that thing pointed
to the right direction,
I'm telling you, brother Ray, that was the
that was the most
strongest drug that you could ever ever experience.
It just
it was so good. But then, of course,
it ends at the end of the song.
You go then you're putting that, well, why
don't you do this and you do that,
you know? You mentioned egos. That's got that
has destroyed more bands probably than any
when you put four or five people together
that are
very creative, and creative people can be really
hard to deal with,
And they all want theirs done this way
or done that way. You
know? Crosby, Stills, and Nash.
You get you yeah. You get to sort
of interrupting,
but you get
when it comes start when they start becoming
successful
Mhmm.
Then there comes the problem. Yes. Because then
they start taking it. They just take it.
A good friend of mine that I
I saw Three Dog Night
back in,
6970.
And that was just when they come out
with,
you know,
Easy to be Hard and all this stuff.
Yeah. They had their first album.
But they were the hot ticket and and
they were cocky, but they were so bloody
good. Yeah.
Then they made zillions of dollars,
and they were fighting and
the lawyers.
Yeah. The the lawyers are and like this,
and the lawyers are going, yum, yum, yum.
So the it got to where the singers
were each suing each other, and then the
singers were singing,
suing the the musicians. The musicians
were suing this I mean, it just and,
of course, it was largely dump dump dump
dump. They just ate it up, and it
just destroyed it. Yes. I don't I don't
need you guys. I can do this myself.
Yeah. That's right. Every now and then, they're
right too. Some sometimes they somebody will break
away from a big band and Wow. And
they all actually work.
Well, but it's a thing. Well, like, the
Beatles, like, you know,
you know, Paul McCartney is Paul McCartney. I
mean, he's just that gift
and all that, you know. The the the
Beatles came out about, what, nineteen
sixty three ish or something like that? Yeah.
And,
I was a big doo wop fan at
the time. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. And
I don't know. There's people talk about these
these Beatles, and I'm listening on the radio.
I wanna hold your hand, and I'd say,
what the hell is this big deal here?
Because I was I was used to the
the the doo wop harmonies and things like
that. I said, I don't even hear any
anything.
And eventually, I did have to,
to give in to the fact that they
were pretty good. I gave in to that
fact about three or four weeks ago.
But the heck
I when
when I used to,
do my show and I I would play
a Beatles song, I would always play an
alternate song because I said, everybody does their
music better than they do. They had great
lyrics and,
there again though, the egos got away. And
then,
I remember Ringo Starr saying at one point,
he says, well, I know we were riding
high. I hope I hope
we lasted long enough for me to save
up enough money to buy
a beauty parlor. I tell them.
Well, that's true because it it just, you
know, it just
it just blows up.
And you're here are these cats that they
they
when they went to, was it, Hamburg, Germany
Yeah. And then they learned their craft and
playing the music to and lived their their
lives together. They're brothers. You know? They bonded.
And when they come back by, they was
they just like we're talking about the, thing
with the Robert Johnson. They come back, man.
Those cats were bad to the ball. Yeah.
I mean, they were just they were popped,
but they were they had it down. Everything
was right where it belonged. Yeah. And,
but then
then you slap
millions of dollars
to each one of them. Yeah. And I
well, wait a minute here. Maybe I don't
need this guy. I don't need that. I
hear it like this, and it should be
like that.
And,
then that era,
it finally goes
it just it comes to the end.
That was it. Here's the block. It was.
Yeah. Now what do these people do on?
I mean, look
at George Harrison was turned out to be
a great songwriter
Yeah. And singer. Did he write many songs
for The Beatles? Well, they wouldn't let him,
I I heard. I mean, he'd he'd get
one in every time. You know, tax man.
Every once in a while, he'd get one
in. Not like the Lennon McCartney
thing. You know what the interesting thing about
the Beatles breakup was? The first Beatle
to have a hit record on his own
was Ringo Starr. He was
oh, yeah. It just,
And I've also heard a friend of mine's
a drummer, and he said that
he saw
this famous drummer from from the forties,
being interviewed on Johnny Carson or something like
that. And he asked him who the greatest
drummer was, and he said Ringo Starr. Yeah.
Well, that was it. He had a reputation.
That's why they brought him in because I
guess
the drummer
guy was real good looking guy. Yeah. He
got all the girls, and he could play,
but they needed He still worked at the
post office. Yeah. That's right. He just retired.
He got his watch.
You know? And,
but, what's his name? The Brian
guy that
created him really,
He knew that they had to have
that balance, they had to have that. And
and Star, I read a thing that he
did, he had impeccable
rhythm,
impeccable. Uh-huh. And,
that's made the difference. That's what they needed.
They created all the deal, and he's right
there. That, and speaking of that is, like
I said, a real, real good friend of
mine,
and then unfortunately, he oh, he's passed away,
was Floyd Snead, the original drummer of Three
Dog Nights. Uh-huh. And he's the big black
cat,
and he played the double bass drums and
but he played polyrhythms.
And the cat that,
brought him into it was Joe Shermy, the
bass player. Uh-huh. And I had the honor,
the privilege to play music with them, and
I'd stop him. I said, well, that's the
reason why you had all the hits because
when you get a drummer and a bass
player playing
like that,
they're locked up, it's very hypnotic.
And they were.
See, so Joe
could play,
to the to to those,
polyrhythms.
And that's where all those hits and it
went well. But then,
the singers didn't like Joe
because Joe was a good old boy from
Texas, and he didn't put up with all
this fancy
dancy being I'm so super
thing and a good old boy. Uh-huh. And
so they got rid of Joe.
The minute they got rid of him, that
was the last hit they ever had Wow.
Ever had.
And it was and they they tried to
find
a bass player that could play to Floyd,
and they couldn't. So they had to get
rid of Floyd.
And now they have Oh, wow. Yeah. And
another stuff that wore it out. So that's,
you know, that chemistry
Mhmm.
Of, like, you were saying, like, the Beatles.
I mean, there's Ringo Starr was
they got rid of the the one guy,
and they couldn't believe that they got whatever
his name was,
Most or something, Mickey Most. Was it Bobby
something? Or Yeah. Yeah. Something like that. But
but boy, when they ring over Best. Pete
Best. Yeah. There you go. Yeah. You have
a bad
alright.
Okay. We got we got the control room
thinking they're part of the show here. I
don't understand what this is.
We could have a People just can't stay
in their place. Let me, let me Everybody
everybody wants to be
on the on the on the radio.
Let me do this. I'm gonna,
I'll play a little harmonica thing. Yeah. We've
got about
fifteen minutes you can fill with,
your music.
Well
So where were you gonna be playing in
the near future that we could go see?
Let's see. Where am I?
Well, I'm gonna be at the,
Umbrella Farms here next month.
I,
I've never been to that and I hear
all the musicians
raving about it, so it must be a
good year. So cool, man. Yeah. Just two
miles from my house. It's it's 15
acres.
Uh-huh. And this
young guy, I say young, I'm He's one
of my neighbors. Yeah. Yeah. Really nice guy.
Uh-huh.
But, man, they're just making it's so cool
because you it's an it's an event. You
go there and he he
it's just huge and he's revamping it and
getting things going, but he's buying the music
and there's a little cafe and there's
this and stuff and
but, I'll be there.
Let's see. I,
I'm gonna be
busking
over at Kuntai
Mhmm. Here.
I play a lot, let's see. When is
that? That's next
a week from this coming Saturday, two weeks.
And,
I'll be there.
I play a lot I have the honor
to play at these assisted living places Oh.
And stuff. And,
I play in there. I'm gonna play at
the Azalea,
festival
and Uh-huh. The big Azalea up in the,
you know, your park up there, which has
the the dome like the shell, like the
Hollywood Bowl. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Do you,
at the assisted living places, you must find
a lot about people who appreciate
your music and the time period. Yeah. It's
so it's
I finally got it. You know?
I've been real fortunate at my age that
I can still play and I can still
sing.
And
it's my thing is now sharing
that. Mhmm. Before it was
always trying
to get there, to be something, be somebody.
And I never
quite could hang with it all. I've I've
been gifted to to be able to
possibly have the talent to do it, but
to hang on to it and and play
the game. And I just I've I don't
do well with agents, booking agents and stuff.
Uh-huh. I just
I like
to say what I'm gonna do, and then
I go do it as opposed to somebody
booking me and telling me how to do
it. You know? I went to a tribute
show a while ago. I hate tribute shows
for the most part. Do. And I don't
remember even who this guy was
a tribute to. But anyway
and I think he only sang one or
two songs by the by that album, but
but he kept saying things like remember
record players when you and
sitting there being insulted. I said, this guy
thinks he's
what? I don't know. He's 50 years old
or 30 years old.
Hey, you old folks out there.
I felt like I was in an assisted
living home with him.
Now can I tie can I straighten your
napkin for you? Yeah. No kidding.
Yeah. Go there and do what you do.
Well, and that's in the like you say,
the tribute thing. Because all you know? And
people, oh, they
sound just like, yeah, okay. Yeah. When I
started out as just a kid, a pimply
headed kid,
I could sing
something sound like Eric Burdon. Mhmm. So I
was the big hot setup, and I get,
you know, invited to parties and stuff. I
sing Eric
Burton. And of course, my stroke of my
ego, as a little kid, I wanted to
be I wanted to be a part of
it. Then I realized, well,
the hell with that. You know? I mean,
all I'm doing is just making Eric burn
me better. I mean, I'm promoting
his shtick. Yeah. So And often you go
to those things and they're singing songs you're
kinda halfway sick of anyway because you've been
hearing them for years, and they don't do
them as well.
You're you're
Now we had a we had a we
had a band here that
I think they've all,
scattered to the four winds. It was called,
Fleetwood Back.
They had a a lead singer who still
lives in the community and then another
female singer who also still lives, and they
had great musicians.
And they could have no problem at all
toured as a tribute band anywhere in the
country. They were really, really good. But they
all had their own jobs, and they all
had this and that. Nobody wanted to quit
their job to go travel,
but they were really amazing. And they were
singing Fleetwood Mac songs, which you hardly ever
get tired of. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Well, yeah.
Because they were just
But they talk about egos. There was a
band with with with egos.
Well, you can imagine with all the money,
you have all the money. They stick you
in a room with all the cocaine.
And who is the star?
Yeah. Right. Which one? Who is it? Yeah.
Because it was his it was they were
all just bloody good. What was the guitar
player's name? I can't remember.
Well, yeah. He's, The main guitar player who
wrote it? Yeah.
Oh, gosh.
And, anyway, he
was,
Stevie Nicks' boyfriend. Yes. And they had a
band that they were doing a recording.
And Mick Fleetwood approached him one day and
he says, I'd like you to come play
with us.
I says, well, I can do that, but
you have to take my girlfriend too. Yeah.
And then Wow.
Well, that's how it that's how it happens.
Yeah. And she had the shtick, and she
still does. Everybody still loves her. Yes. She's
ornery and everything. She can still sing? Oh,
man. Yeah. You know? And it's just everything
that
so anyhow, this harmonica I've been playing harmonica
for many, many, many moons.
I got turned on to this, back
when I just got out of high school
in '66. I graduated in '60 1966.
And I was
and that was right when the Vietnam thing
was going on. And I knew I was
gonna go in the service, you know. And,
so I was in garage bands, and and
we were the best band in the garage,
but it would change about every two weeks.
New people would come on board, the other
Mhmm. Leaving.
One day, this drummer calls me up and
he goes, hey, man. You gotta come over
and listen to this. And I go, what
is it? And he goes, I'm not gonna
tell you. You gotta come over and listen.
And it was the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.
Oh, wow. And
when I heard that, I ran out and
literally bought a harp for a buck and
a quarter.
I couldn't play a lick, but, boy, I
had all the moves. You know? And I
let Paul play on the on the album,
and I just, you know Yeah. Mimicked it
and everything.
But
I just took to it and I just
couldn't
leave it alone. And then I went into
the service and I started
buying albums, anything that had harmonica on it.
And that's how I learned
different positions,
excuse me, that I found out that,
you know, they can play in different keys
on the one harmonica, and I didn't know
that.
And then these different players, that's how I
got turned on to a lot of these
great, great players, you know, Johnny Musselwhite and
and,
you know, of course, Butterfield
and,
and just the Seagull Shaw
Shaw band,
you know, and,
I just loved it. So
I stick stuck with it. And now I've
I've, I just been playing for, gosh, over
fifty years. And it's The army would be
a good place to do that too because
you could just stick it in your pocket
and and Well, that was it. I'd take
it and drive people nuts. But myself, I
can I when I started,
I was in sub school
and in the barracks, and it was in
New London, Connecticut, which is, you know, like,
out in,
the forest and stuff? And I'd go out
outside and and go out and look around
and get in this little area here, make
sure no one could hear me. And I
could play one note
and drive myself nuts, but then I go.
Uh-oh. Now you got a song. Then I
go.
And then I got and it just and
it developed and developed and developed. And
I've already I've been fortunate to have a
good ear, so I was able
to clean it up to make it worth
sounding.
You know, kind of a thing. And and
it just, it's been such a great, great
friend
to me because,
it's to me, it plays now it plays
itself,
which means that I'll start out with a
a tone,
and then the tone gives me another idea
instead
of I don't like the I like what
when we started the the,
the show here, and you're talking about how
those cats could just go from one thing,
Santana. Yes. Well, that's that's it.
The the the note and then it something
else comes on to and you go from
that note. It isn't it isn't something rehearsed.
I just cannot,
play. I have a wonderful story. One of
the finest
harmonica players that ever lived was Sonny Terry,
and he was a black
guy.
Okay.
He was a black guy and he was
blind.
And he was with Brownie McGhee, which Brownie
McGhee was this really great
blues singer, guitarist.
And then Sonny Terry, he blew harp, or
so was the Brownie McGhee.
Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Well, anyhow,
they were in New York and they were
down probably,
in the black area there and playing a
corner.
Some guy drove by, a white guy drove
by and he heard them. So he come
back and he listened to them. And he
happened to be,
affiliated with a Broadway show called Finnegan's Rainbow.
Uh-huh. And so
he goes, god, these cats would be really
good as a a side thing Mhmm. To
the play.
So they hire them.
So okay. That I do. And they they
go to this. Well, they're rehearsing. Well, these
cats never rehearse. They just play. It kinda
goes like this. Okay. And they make it
up right as they go.
So every time that they did it, the
song, it would,
he'd he'd Sonny Terry would play it different.
And finally, the director goes, I'm sorry,
you know, mister Terry, but you've gotta play
it like this because everything is arranged like
that. He goes, hey, man. I can't you
know, I just play and everything.
And and then one of the the guy
that I think hired him leaned over and
There's one minute left. The one and a
half minutes left. Left. Okay.
Yeah. Leaned over and told him how much
money that they were getting paid. He goes,
hey, man. Don't worry about it. I can
let
end of story. So He's like that,
oh, what's his name? Freeman, the guy that
used to do the comedy
records. Yeah. Yeah. And he's he's got the
piano player playing one note over and over
and over again.
And and he keep,
breaking off into a blues riff, and he
says, you have to play one.
He says, I can't play one note, man.
And Freeman says, well, you know,
if you don't play the music, you're not
gonna get paid. He immediately snorted.
Okay. I get it. Anyway, we're down to
less than a minute now. Any final words
for the audience? Well, thank you so very
much, brother. Oh, thank you. It was it
was just such a pleasure to really get
to know you, you know.
We enjoyed having you here. Yes.
Down to,
twenty eight minutes or twenty eight seconds here.