image courtesy of
http://classof68.myevent.com/I was just thinking about how long I have dreamed of the DHS Class of '68 40th Reunion Jam.
I just searched my blog and found that we have been talking about this thing in one form or another since August 31, 2003.
For almost five years we've been posting our ideas about putting together this kind of an event.
WE ARE SO CLOSE TO MAKING IT HAPPEN!
This will be a joyous celebration of our generation's music but it will also be a wonderful opportunity for some of our great musicians to expose the public's ears to their newest sounds & also a great way to sell some CDs!!!!
I need volunteers to man the merchandise table!!!!
Tell somebody at Country Crossing
http://www.supportcountrycrossing.org/show_support.htmthat we'll let them make a pitch from the stage.
They can distribute their T shirts, decals and yard signs at our merchandise tables.
Tell them we want them to hire the dancers.
That oughta get them a few votes!
We need Chief Bigwater's buds or anyone else to videotape it for us.
David is gonna ask the DJ from Ozark who did Norman's Jam to be our MC.
If you have any suggestions or questions, call me on my cell phone 205- 657-7724 or email me.
image courtesy of Larry Coe
Circle yo' calender for Sunday, July 27.
Y'all are all invited to Cowboys
http://www.cowboysofdothan.com/
image courtesy of
http://www.myspace.com/cowboysofdothan
image courtesy of
http://myspace.com/thebopcats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YpVtW4cKvo
Rite now Wilbur's got 2675 views on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCAq3D-AAbU
Buddy Buie & J.R. Cobb's video from Tommy Wilcox Outdoors using song called THE DAY BEAR BRYANT DIED has 3400 views on YouTube.
image courtesy of http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=181441207Part 2 of Wilbur Walton's appearance on Wally & Dave's Show on Tuscaloosa Radio Station WTBC on Friday morning, July 11~Buddy Buie: Tiger Jack.
Tiger Jack: Yes, sir.
Wilbur Walton Jr. : That was me.
Tiger: That was Wilbur.
Buie: I know it was Wilbur but I was gonna ask you...
I didn't get to spend a lot of time with you when I was in Tuscaloosa working on the Bear Bryant deal,
Tiger: Right.
Buie: but I wanted you to know you're still a legend in my mind and everything and it's great to see one continue on...
Tiger: That makes two of us, me and you, we both think that.
I don't know if anybody else does or not.
LAUGHTER
Buie: Most guys that are legends in small town radio are just subjects of conversation over a drink or coffee but this one rocks right on! Congratulations!
Tiger: I don't know how long that's gonna continue. I'm getting so old that it's hard to rock like we used to but anyway there's a GREAT affiliation- the reason you're on here today-
because Wilbur's here- y'all kinda got it together back in the early 1960s.
Buddy got Wilbur started with the James Gang.
Wilbur: Buddy had it together way before I did. Buddy was managing and writing and there was a group called The Webs & Buddy was managing them. There was Bobby Goldsboro & John Rainey Adkins & Amos Tindall, Dave Robinson...
Was there a piano player, Buddy?
Buddy Buie: No, uh, I don't remember.
Wilbur: Anyway, they were over there rehearsing and they let me set in and sing. I didn't know nothing about it but Buddy...
Buie: But you had already been singing at the fraternity parties, hadn't you?
Wilbur: No! I was already out of high school. I hadn't sung anywhere. I didn't know a key from a...
You don't remember this but I remember a little bit about music.
I don't remember much about other things and I'm happy about that!
LAUGHTER
What were we talking about just then?
Buie: We were talking about...
MORE LAUGHTER
Tiger: Talking bands.
Wilbur: Oh, the band.
Tiger: Yeah.
Buie: Yeah, how you first got together and I said...
I was telling you that I thought that you had sung at the fraternity parties.
Wilbur: Oh yeah! I wanna tell you the first place I think of I ever sang.
You and Goldsboro were going to Birmingham to do some kind of...
I think y'all were going to make some demos and I took the car & y'all let me sang a song I wrote called EMPTINESS.
Buie: Do you know what...
Wilbur: Do you remember that?
Buie: I do remember it now I believe.
Wilbur: I remember it because I took the car. I'd never sung.
LAUGHTER
That was great that y'all let me do it. I wish I had turned out better.
MORE LAUGHTER
Buie: At every Sigma Nu party at the University of Alabama though later on,
you were part of the entertainment and after you got a band, we put everything together.
You were probably one of the most sought after fraternity bands in town.
Wilbur: Well, I like that kind of music.
Tiger: Well, Wilbur's a lot like me. He doesn't remember everything- just the high points.
I guarantee you they played a lot around here at the University.
I guarantee you I remember that much.
We were fortunate enough to have 'em once or twice maybe at the Ft. Brandon Armory when we were doing our little sock hops at the armory back in those days. You know it's too bad you can't do things like that now days.
Wilbur: I was wondering about that.
Tiger: They just don't work.
Wilbur: Where do people play?
Tiger: I don't know. They don't. They don't play any venues like that. Mostly around here they play at bars, night spots.
Wilbur: There used to be, like you say, sock hops, like at armories.
They'd have 'em at different places and people would come.
It didn't cost an arm and a leg to get in either.
Tiger: I think we charged like two bucks a head and three for a couple, something like that.
'Course I guess that was pretty good money in 1965. It's pretty cheap now.
Buie: And best I remember we paid something like...
When I rented the Dothan Recreation Center where I did my first promoting, if I remember correctly, I paid $75 to rent the building and the chairs.
They had all the chairs I wanted. I just had to put 'em out and put 'em up.
Tiger: And put 'em down...
I think we paid about a hundred bucks for this one here when we first started but, you know, everything changes and that's one of 'em.
That kind of entertainment for kids just doesn't happen anymore.
Wilbur: No.
Tiger: I don't know where it went or why it went.
Wilbur: Well there are more places- more things for 'em to do.
Tiger: Most of 'em stay home and play computer games, I guess.
Wilbur: That seems to be the way of it now.
Tiger: Yeah, but I don't know. Like you say everything changes.
Buie: There was Ft. Brandon and then the Oporto in Birmingham.
Tiger: Oporto was in Birmingham. Dave Roddy did that.
Big Dave: Yeah, that was right next to Lawson Field.
I remember that. As a kid I went to those sock hops.
As a kid in Birmingham, I sure did.
Tiger: Wilbur and I were talking about Roddy a little while ago trying to figure out what he was up to. I hadn't...
Buie: Didn't he have some health problems?
Tiger: Well, that's what Register was saying. I don't know. I've not been in touch with him.
Wilbur: Robert Register! Yeah!
Before I forget it. Robert set this ...
arranged this for me to be here today and I want to thank Robert Register for doing that and Wally, Dave and Jack for letting me be here.
Buie: Hey, Robert Register...
Tiger: You got a big fan in Register.
Wilbur: HE'S WEIRD.
Buie: Register is by far the most active and the most influential of anyone for the music from that era in our part of the country. Robert has taken a great interest. Got a great blog and he has been just really great to all us old timers.
Tiger: Well, somebody's got to.
LAUGHTER
We need all the help we can get, don't we?
How much time we got left in this segment?
Big Dave: You guys can go to the bottom of the hour. You're clear 'till then.
Tiger: Oh well, we got plenty of time.
TO BE CONTINUED..."Scouting is a Game with a Purpose". Baden-Powell
http://www.inquiry.net/ideals/scouting_game_purpose.htm
GREAT PICTURE OF Little Bobby Peterson (with the hat) AND THE CANDYMENhttp://www.wtbc1230.com/history.html
To: "robert register"
Subject: Re: chastised by the cat who played keys on "you can't always get what you want"
Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 18:20:39 -0600
HEY THERE !!!
JUSTO HAS IT RIGHT!
LITTLE BOBBY PLAYED WITH ME IN JACKSONVILLE IN
THE DYNAMICS(DOT RECORDING ARTISTS) THEN
ORBISON HIRED ME! LATER I TALKED
ROY INTO HIRING
BOBBY AS
THE CANDYMEN'S KEYBOARDIST. HE GOT DRAFTED SOON AFTER THIS! HE WAS ALL OF 108 POUNDS SOAKING WET! HE WAS NOT MADE FOR THE MILITARY!! HE WAS A BORN PIANO PLAYER!! ONE OF THE BEST IN THE WORLD,(BESIDES THE
GREAT DEAN DAUGHTRY!) LATER WHEN HE WAS RELEASED FROM HIS OBLIGATIONS WITH UNCLE SAM, WE WERE DEEPLY INVOLVED WITH THE NEW YORK SCENE,(LITERALLY,
STEVE PAUL'S NITE CLUB)!
RICK AND THE
McCOYS WERE LOOKING FOR A KEYBOARD MAN SO I TOLD HIM ABOUT
LITTLE BOBBY PETERSON AND THE REST IS HISTORY!!! THEY SIGNED WITH
MERCURY AND
HUMAN BALL WAS BORN!!!
RODNEY THE ROCKER IS STILL THE MEMORY CELL, SO IF HE SAYS IT'S GOING TO RAIN YOU BETTER GET OUT YOUR GOLLOSHES(RAIN SHOES)!!! LET'S SEE HOW MUCH SHIT I CAUSE BY MISPELLING THAT!!!! I ALSO BELIEVE THAT EITHER
MORT SHUMAN OR THE GREAT
DOC POMUS CO- WROTE
'SLOOPY' WITH
BERT BERNS. IF YOU WANT TO KNOW THE REAL DEAL ABOUT THIS SONG GO ASK
ILENE BERNS, SHE OWNS IT!!!!! LATER I WILL GIVE YOU A REAL
'HANG ON SLOOPY' STORY THAT WILL ABSOLUTELY BLOW ALL OTHERS OUT OF THE WATER!!!! TELL MY GOOD FRIEND
AL KOOPER HE'S GETTING A LITTLE TESTY LATELY!!
HA! HA!
LOVE YOU AL,
YOU'RE ARE THE GREATEST!!!
GOOD EVENING TO ALL!!!
RENEGADE ROBERT NIX!!!!!
photo courtesy of Greg Haynes at
http://heybabydays.com
THE CANDYMEN:
Little Bobby Peterson, Bill Gilmore, Robert Nix, John Rainey Adkins, Rodney Justo
Top left to right: The Candymen- Bobby Peterson, Rodney Justo, Robert Nix, John Rainey Adkins
Middle left to right: Bobby Peterson on keys, Robert Nix, Rodney Justo
Bottom: Bill Gilmore, Bobby Peterson, Robert Nix, Rodney Justo, John Rainey Adkins
On the
Orbison Way, we did in fact, play on the album.
It was Bill Gilmore,John Rainey Adkins,Robert Nix,and me.
Playing Piano was
Bobby Peterson who preceded Dean Daughtry.
Also on the dates was Bill Dees Roy's co writer singing background.
Rodney Justo
photo courtesy of
http://paulcochran.comStanding: Robert Nix, J.R. Cobb
Seated:
Bobby Peterson, Buddy Buie & Rodney Justo
The Candymen Performing at Miami Beach's ParTee
The Candymen at The ParTee with Little Bobby Peterson
Alachu-Aid I: Hampton and Bobby Peterson 
Gordon, jamming with renown keyboardist Bobby Peterson at Alachu-Aid I, New South Music Hall, Backstage Bar, 1987
~ images courtesy of
http://garygordonproductions.com/great_gainesville_bands_part_two.html
Hi Robert - My name is Charlie and I came across your blog a while back when I did a google search for Robert Peterson in an attempt to learn a bit more about him. I've been meaning to get in touch for quite a while and am just now getting around to it. It shouldn't have taken me so long.
I read in your blog that you had heard two rumors about Robert - one from an ex-wife who said he had died of a brain tumor or something and another that he was living on the streets in Gainesville, Florida. Well, the second is correct. Perhaps he had someone tell his ex that he had died - I'm sure he wouldn't be the first guy to try that!
Robert was a well-known "street person" here in Gainesville for many years. He was in pretty bad shape. I was told that he did have some type of illness that had affected his brain, although I forget what it was and he never said anything to me about it. He drank quite a bit and was not too fond of bathing. One of the popular clubs here at that time was called Richenbacher's and he often stood outside there or outside some other clubs. Musicians and others, like myself, who were involved in one way or another with the music scene here had heard about his time with the McCoys. (I actually may have heard Robert back in the mid-60s since I heard The Candymen a couple of times at a local teen club called The Place) Club owners generally wouldn't allow Robert inside due to (trying to say this nicely) his lack of hygene, but occasionally a band would convince the owner to let him come in and sit in if there was a keyboard in the band and he wasn't too
rank. Despite his appearance, he was always completely lucid when I talked with him and was obviously intelligent. People would often give him some spare change but I never once saw him begging or bothering anyone - he would just stand there. He looked like he was crazy as a loon though - constantly scratching his head with one hand while chewing on the collar of his (usually filthy) shirt. So, not surprisingly, most people gave him a wide berth!
Well, despite his appearance, that sumbitch could still PLAY! If you hang out around any local music scene for a while there are always some moments that you will always remember because they were PURE MAGIC. Having read quite a few of your blog entries over the past year, I know you know what I mean. Well, one of those for me was the time I was at another club in Gainesville (which is still in business) called Market Street Pub. I was there to hear some friends, Britton Cameron & Jack Sizemore, who had a great duo and band. That night they were playing there as a duo. Well, they finished their set and someone convinced the manager to let Robert come in and play during the break between sets. They had an old, funky and somewhat out of tune, upright piano which was up against the back wall. Although it was still functional, I don't think it got much use. Robert came in and and proceeded to play jazz which was pretty much improvised and was some
of the best jazz piano I've heard in my life! At first, not many people paid much attention but, as he continued, much of the crowd was in awe and sitting there with their mouths open in a state of shock. After the normal 15 minutes of break time had passed, nobody said a thing and Robert, who was obviously in a state of reverie, continued to play - probably for almost an hour in all. To this day I feel blessed to have been there!
Sadly, Robert also died on the streets, quite literally. Late one night he was crossing University Avenue to a beer store that was near where he was staying and was hit by a car. I'm not sure exactly when that was - I'm thinking about 1996 or ??? There was at least one article in the Gainesville Sun newspaper about Robert and a memorial jam or two. I've been meaning to try to get down to the public library and look in the newspaper archives to find it. If I get it together to do so I'll be sure to send you a copy.
A former Gainesville musician (who I've met but don't really know) named Gary Gordon (and former mayor - bet they don't allow hippie musicians to become mayor up in Alabama!) who is now out in California has a long section on his website about Gainesville bands. Naturally, much of it revolves around bands he was in and there are some gaps including details of things I was involved in. (I was part of a student group called Rose Community Center which put on shows on the University of Florida campus. This was back when Tom Petty was in a local band called Mudcrutch, which just released an album, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, from down the road in Jacksonville, played for us too. In fact the only time those two bands played on the same stage was for us. But I digress . . . ) I recently discovered Gary Gordon's webpage and there are two pictures of Robert jamming at a benefit show. Ironically, the show is Alachu-Aid (Gainesville is in Alachua County) which was
a
benefit to help the hungry and homeless. One is near the bottom of Part II and the other is near the bottom of Part IV.
Here's the link:
http://garygordonproductions.com/great_gainesville_bands.htmlBy the way I've really enjoyed reading your blog. It really makes me realize that there have been great music scenes in lots of places, but especially in college towns it seems. I'm 56 and some of the bands you've mentioned were groups I remember from way back. The first band I saw play live was the Allman Joys at the American Legion Hall on University Ave and I've been hooked on music ever since. The local folks you write about are fascinating and I'm hoping to find some recordings of them. Every scene has its stories - the successes, the missed opportunities and the tragedies but through it all there is that MAGIC that shines through and for every musician who has some measure of success there are a hundred who were just as good who should have been well known.
Charlie RamirezGainesville, FL (Home of the Gators, but don't hold that against me =8^)
R,
AMEN on the boo,hoo,hoo -
and you can post it and say I said it!
Memory Lane is for visiting, not for taking up permanent residency.
If you had bad times, then BUILD A BRIDGE AND GET OVER IT!
THIS LIFE AIN'T NO DRESS REHEARSAL.
We WILL have fun, we will cry, we will laugh but best of all we WILL be there!
SR's '68!
jcr
I'm all out. Of screams, that is. My website and email went kablooey, enraged army ants chewing their way into the fibred optical units where maladies and miladies roam, but I sent a nasty package of roach and bug poisons straight through the wires to the queen ant's boudoir and cleaned out the wholelllllllllllllll fershluging morass of a mess, and now everything is working again.
