Saturday, August 30, 2008

Hey y'all~

Chuck Leavell is on the cover of Keyboard Magazine this month.
http://www.keyboardmag.com/article/keyboard-artist-master/aug-08/86173

A cat named Michael Kimmel has written a book called GUYLAND http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061702747/Guyland/index.aspx
& the FOOL has no idea what he's talking about & in fact...

This deal with these people is they are just as off base as OUR MORON Mark Kemp.

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/727993.Mark_Kemp

We will live with these scalawag & Yankee morons till the end of time!!!!

THE BIG LEBOWSKI is a big deal now. There's a big article in ROLLING STONE this week.

I just so happen to have a BIG LEBOWSKI sweater that's better than THE BIG LEBOWSKI SWEATER!!!!

Friday, August 29, 2008

Email from CD Baby Customer

WILBUR, SOUNDS GREAT. KEEP ON ROCKING.

I THINK THAT`S ALL THAT KEEPS US OLD

ROCKERS ALIVE. KEEP ON KEEPING ON!

TOMMY MANN

THE K-OTICS

Thursday, August 28, 2008

s~

C. & I picked you and T. up in my 1958 Chevy Biscayne one Saturday night in the summer of '67. Both of you girls wanted to go to the Robert E. Lee & see GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guess_Who%27s_Coming_to_Dinner

I bit my tongue ("Can you believe it! The girls wanna go see this movie about this n*grah-lovin' left wing kook girl who marries a N*GRAH!) but we were gentlemen and we took y'all to the theatre.

What a terrible movie. Y'all may have been watching the movie but C. & I did what we often did in the Houston Theatre in Dothan. We looked for rats. The Houston Theatre in Dothan was so eat up with rats that most girls from our high school weren't even allowed to go into the Houston.

Ratsizzzzzzzzzz
luvzzzzzzzzzzzz 'em some popcorn.

Well, the Robert E. Lee wasn't quite as bad as the Houston but y'all had some whopper wharf rats. They looked like little possums scurrying across the aisles.

C. and I started laughing as we watched the shadows our little furry friends run to and fro.
You & T. asked what was so funny so we told you about the rats.
I'm pretty sure you said something like,"You're just trying to show that you're so much more sophisticated because you come from Dothan."

Naw, we just liked watching the rats 'cause the movie sucks.

Anywayzzzzzzzzzzz...

Y'all wanted us to prove the rats were there. I said,"Now look straight down that aisle & in just a little bit, you'll see a rat run across to get some popcorn." Sure enough y'all saw a rat, screamed and that was the end of that sorry movie. You girls were ready to leave so from then on we went to the Coffee Drive-In in New Brockton like we were supposed to anyway.

best,
r

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Hey y'all~

O.K! O.K! O.KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!
I GOT CHA! I GOT CHA!

I GOT THE MESSAGE!

COUNT MY F*CKIN' BLESSINGS!

"COOL YOUR BEANS!
Don't go overboard. Consider yourself lucky. Savor the moment.
Now go do yourself a favor & TAKE A COLD SHOWER!"

Thanks, I needed that.

Now let's get on to a more important subject...

Hello friends and bluesfans... Here's a link to the latest from ProJect-X Studio (aka Frank's Garage)... Enjoy...


I talked to Gloria Jane this evening and Buddy's still in ICU because he continues to have a little fluid on his lungs but he's getting stronger every day and pretty soon he'll be in a regular room and on the road to a complete recovery.
WE LOVE YA, BUD!
Everyone here in ZERO's looking forward to seeing you coming back stronger than ever!

FROM THE LIPS OF JOHNNY WYYYYYYYYYYYKER!
http://www.myspace.com/jdwyker

...I'd like to comment on Buddy Buie.

The first time I saw Buddy Buie he was probably managing the Webs and we were sharing a bill with them at THE OLD DUTCH & I don't even remember what the name of my band was but in Buddy Buie I saw a guy who had more desire and more ability and more natural talent than anybody I'd run into in my life up to that time. He wasn't really a guitar player but he could make enough chords & he wasn't really a singer but he could write the most beautiful songs & when he would rair back & play one for a room full of people, he didn't let his guitar playing & vocals stand in the way, I mean, if you had any imagination at all, you could hear the finished product & I also noticed that Buddy took care of the little details nobody else wanted to do, like booking the jobs & making sure the guitar player had his pick. You know, all that kind of stuff~ I'm probably the least talented musician in the world but through watching him & a young Dan Penn; they both had that same power when they'd play one of their own songs.


& finally we have the last installment of Tiger Jack's hour long interview with Wilbur Walton Jr. on Wally & Dave's Morning Show on Tuscaloosa's Mighty 12.30, WTBC.

musical intro: BABY, TAKE ME BACK by Wilbur Walton Jr. & The James Gang

Big Dave McDaniel: Welcome back to The Morning Show!
We're having a great time talking about all the great days. Hey Baby Stuff!
It's all here & we want to thank the great folks at Hull & Associates for sponsoring this segment of the show. Anytime you need insurance for your life, your home, your car- Check 'em out!
HULL & ASSOCIATES!

Tiger Jack: We've got just a few minutes remaining with Wilbur Walton this morning. Let's take a quick phone call from Rodney, I believe. Is that correct, Dave?

Rodney: That's right.

Tiger Jack: All right, Rodney, what's on your mind?

Rodney: Well, I just wanted to call and say that through the magic of the Internet, I'm listening to Wilbur talk and how happy I am to hear that he's back singing again & Wilbur's always had a tremendous fan base and he's just the sweetest guy you could possibly know...

Dave: Rodney ~ Is this Rodney Justo?

Rodney: Yeah. Yeah.

Wilbur: I didn't recognize your voice!

Tiger Jack: Rodney Justo was with the Candymen and later with the Atlanta Rhythm Section.

Wilbur: That's right.

Rodney: The voice comes and goes, Lips. Some days I think it's pretty good, then I go, "What the heck am I thinking?!!!!"

Wilbur: I heard you were singing with the Atlanta Rhythm Section for a while.

Rodney: Yeah, it was just a temporary thing. I was filling in for Andy who had surgery & they asked me if I'd come in and fill in so I learned 15 or 16 songs in three days and worked about 5 or 6 dates.

Tiger Jack: We had Buddy Buie on a little earlier in the hour....

(ed. note: Here feedback cuts out all of Rodney's audio on the tape although his words were broadcast & went out over the Internet)

Tiger Jack: Where are you, Rodney? Atlanta? Tampa?

Tiger Jack: That's great. You played for us out here at the armory here in Tuscaloosa several times with The Candymen. Remember it well. Been a long time but I still remember the good parts.

(ed. note: Rodney comments on Ft. Brandon Armory)

Tiger Jack: Yeah, it was. It got so hot they blew it up!

Wilbur: You know that answers a question for me. I saw a picture of The James Gang in the armory there and all the shirts were wet.
Looked like they were tie-dyed!
And it's sweat!

Tiger Jack: It was hot. There's no doubt about that.

Wilbur: I just recognized that. Rodney, there's no need to quit singing.

Wilbur: We were just talking about that. Rodney, that's one reason I did this CD. I like these four songs on this new CD which is the reason I'm up here but I wanted to sing and I didn't have anywhere to sing.

Tiger Jack: Wilbur, we're running out of time. Rodney, we appreciate you calling in. It's great to hear from you again. I know Wilbur is excited to hear your voice.

Wilbur: I am, buddy!

Tiger Jack: Thanks for calling in. We appreciate it.
Here. Thanks a lot.

Tiger Jack: Wilbur, tell us about the CD. Where can they get this MR. REDBUD featuring Wilbur Walton Jr. and David Adkins?
Where can they buy this?

Wilbur: It's at CD Baby http://cdbaby.com/cd/wilburwaltonjr
& I think you can download it on CD Baby.
If you'll read, I can't see... it's on Playground Records, is it .com?

Wally: Playground Recording Studio dot com
http://playgroundrecordingstudio.com

Tiger Jack: Playground Recording Studio dot com.
You can get it right there!

Wilbur: The name of it is MR. REDBUD.

Tiger Jack: MR. REDBUD.
What's your favorite cut on there, Wilbur?

Wilbur: MR. REDBUD!!!!

Tiger Jack: MR. REDBUD.

LAUGHTER

Tiger Jack: I hear ya! We appreciate you being here today, Wilbur. We've had a great time.

Wilbur: Thank you so much.

Tiger Jack: Wilbur Walton of the James Gang!
We appreciate him being in here & we'll do it again sometime.

Big Dave McDaniel: We will, guys! Thanks a lot.
The Morning Show returns at 6 A.M. Monday here on WTBC





all three images courtesy of http://myspace.com/playgroundrecordingstudio


Our old YJHS bud Frank Tanton keeps bringing in ON!!!!
Please check out THE GRIND
@
Hello friends and bluesfans... Here's a link to the latest from ProJect-X Studio (aka Frank's Garage)... Enjoy...
Well, I wish you'd look at this. Looks like fun.
I linked to this site after visiting the Downtown Dothan website: http://www.ircusa.com/downtown/html/local_links.html
You might find this interesting with the pictures. Frank Gaines has done a book he has for sale on the website. Look for it.
If you like history and genealogy you might find this interesting.
FYI Sharman
Sharman Burson Ramsey
http://www.southern-style.com


THE SWINGIN' MEDALLIONS http://www.medallions.com/index5F/dates5.html
Hack, Jerry, Andrew, and Brad in Gainesville, GA '06

Founding Father of The Medallions, John McElrath, will be the recipient of a tribute to him in his hometown of Greenwood, South Carolina.
http://www.medallions.com/index5F/documents/Mr.SwingingMedallionLtr1QuickCopies.pdf

article courtesy of http://www.mrbill.com/WWInterview.htm

by L. WAYNE HICKS

Saturday Night Live evolved from a cult hit to a mainstream success, and along the way made a star of a simple Play-Doh figure known as Mr. Bill.

In the early seasons of Saturday Night Live, the long-suffering figure was stepped on, dropped from the Empire State Building and slammed into a brick wall at the hands of the evil Sluggo and the treacherous Mr. Hands - all in the name of entertainment. Entertaining it was.

The Super 8 films featuring Mr. Bill were audience favorites, a respite from the hit-or-miss skits that featured the original Not Ready for Prime Time Players. A survey once rated Mr. Bill third in popularity, following John Belushi and Gilda Radner. Mr. Bill's high-pitched exclamation of dismay - "Ohh, nooo!" became a national catchphrase that fans even used to greet Saturday Night Live performers on the street.

That's history now. Mr. Bill left the show in 1980, when series creator Lorne Michaels and the original cast departed (Michaels has since returned). Mr. Bill's creator - and voice - Walter Williams kept his Play-Doh pal in show business after Saturday Night Live, with commercial pitches for Holiday Inn and Lexus and new episodes of the Mr. Bill Show.

Mr. Bill appeared on Rich Little's 1981 album "The First Family Rides Again," which had President Reagan joining forces with Sluggo. Today Mr. Bill can be found at mrbill.com, where Williams sells collections of Mr. Bill videos and DVDs, boxer shorts, Halloween costumes and other memorabilia.

The site also features Williams' other work, including the pilot for Michael O'Donoghue's Fox television series, simply called "TV," and a commercial parody for Saturday Night Live about Elvis' coat going on tour.

In a telephone interview from his home in California, Williams reflected on the origins of Mr. Bill.

LWH: You created Mr. Bill in '74, right? Williams: Yeah. In New Orleans, my hometown. And he got on the air in '76.

Williams: Yeah, which was actually the first season. It was the '75-'76 season, which was the first. It was on in February of that first season in '76.

LWH: How does a guy from New Orleans manage to get something on Saturday Night Live?

Williams: I'm Lorne Michaels' cousin.

LWH: Really?

Williams: No. I'm just kidding. Actually, I was making little films in New Orleans. I kind of decided that's what I wanted to do. I was making comedy shorts and showing them around town. Saturday Night Live came on the first season and somebody mentioned to me they had this contest where you could send in your home movies.

I sent a reel of films in, one of which was my first Mr. Bill film. That's the one they picked and put it on the air. In fact, when they aired it, it was Feb. 20-something, I forget the original airing, and it happened to coincidentally be the same weekend as Mardi Gras. Saturday Night Live was pre-empted that night, even though they told me they were going to put it on. The affiliate let me come and watch it, but no one believed me that it was on. But it was.

LWH: Did you think that was going to be a one-shot deal?

Williams: Yeah. Pretty much. Most of the films, I come up with an idea and I make the film. I don't really plan to be doing it over and over again for 25 years and selling boxer shorts and things or whatever. But there was a demand for it and they asked me to do more. I just kept making more and more and finally got on staff and made a whole lot more, along with other films. It's a great opportunity. I got to make a lot of movies and get a lot of audience reaction.

LWH: So you were on staff for a while?

Williams: Yeah. I was officially on staff for the fourth and fifth seasons. I got hired as a staff writer also. I did other films and skits. The first film I did, non-Mr. Bill, was this concert of Elvis Presley's coat. It was just the coat on tour. That went over pretty well. I wrote skits, Weekend Update jokes, and also did Mr. Bill films. I really had two jobs, going around the clock there the last couple of years.

LWH: Was it your goal to get on staff, or was that just a lucky happenstance?

Williams: No. Well, when they started doing the Mr. Bill movies I told Lorne Michaels I wrote other material. He said, "Well, why don't you submit something for the commercial parodies?" I wrote a couple of things and he liked it and gave me a writing position the fourth year, the fourth season.

The first three seasons I just kept making the Mr. Bills and submitting them. I didn't get paid anything but I knew I was building an audience so I figured I would just keep doing it, as long as they would put them on. Finally they got so popular they gave me a full-time job doing that.

LWH: How did you come up with the characters?

Williams: I wanted to do this bad animation thing. I was watching some of the more recent Popeye cartoons that were really poorly animated. The original Popeyes are beautifully animated. They kind of kept getting progressively less and less motion. I was thinking pretty soon you'd be able to see the hands moving the thing around. That's kind of where the characters came from. The hands could accidentally drop the character.

Then I decided I want to set it as kind of a kids show type motif. I came up with the Mr. title. Mr. Something because everything is Mr. when you do a kids show. I knew that I didn't want to start beating up Mr. Bill right away. He doesn't enjoy it. People mistake it as some kind of masochistic thing. He's always complaining, but he just can't get away. He's kind of a victim of his form of animation. He can't run away. He's just there for whatever's going to happen to him. I decided I needed to delay the action a little bit.

I gave him a best friend, his dog Spot, to start working on first. And then Sluggo is just like the figurehead character. He never talks or anything, but he's always the doctor or the insurance agent, somebody that's a figure of authority. Mr. Hands was really kind of carrying out orders. He wasn't really doing anything malicious. He was basically just trying to help. So there's this formula to it that seems to work. Seemed to work.

LWH: Were you the voice of Mr. Bill?

Williams: Yep.

LWH: How long did it take you to think of that voice?

Williams: Right off the bat. It came right out. I knew I wanted to do a high voice, a silly kind of kiddie thing and that's just what came out.

The early season also had the Muppets on there, which didn't really catch on.

Williams: Actually, it wasn't the Muppets. It was new characters created by Jim Henson. I don't think they were even called Muppets.

LWH: They were just & Muppet-like creatures.

Williams: Right. Exactly.

LWH: But they never caught on like Mr. Bill did.

Williams: I guess not. Well, they were the first season and Mr. Bill went on a few more, so ...

LWH: Why do you think Mr. Bill caught on?

Williams: I tried my best to make it funny. I guess other people thought it was funny too. I basically got to make the film. I didn't have to go around and pitch it. In fact, if I had gone around and pitched the idea to try and raise funding, they would have had security wrestle me down or something. But it fit into my budget at the time, which was Super-8 films.

The film, the processing, the Play-Doh, a few props, and my time. I just kind of kept evolving the character once I got an opportunity to do more. I really didn't think of it as an ongoing thing. The challenge was to continue to surprise the audience. That's what it takes to make people laugh. A lot of committees and big studios put a lot of effort into assuring that people are going to laugh, but it doesn't really work that way.

Somebody, a real tight-knit group of people, has to think it's funny in the first place and somehow preserve it all the way through the production phase and editing. If you can kind of preserve that all the way through without giving it up and thinking it's old, the audience sees it for the first time and hopefully laughs. I think I have a talent for it and luckily I got the opportunity to make the films. I didn't make it for a late-night Saturday night audience. Everything I make are things that seem funny to me.

LWH: How long between the first and second appearances of Mr. Bill?

Williams: Let's see, the first one was on the first season and the second one was, I think it might have been at the end of the first season. There might have been two on the first season. The second one I actually appeared in. Mr. Bill goes to a party, a real party. Most of the movie he's getting ready to go. Different stuff happens to him. He goes to the party. It's a real party with people and the doorbell rings. I say, "Oh, I'll go see who it is." Mr. Bill is standing there below the door. You see me come out, I don't see anybody, I go back in. There's no one there. Then I cross my leg. My foot comes into camera and Mr. Bill's flattened on the bottom of my shoe. That was me.

LWH: Your claim to fame.

Williams: Right.

LWH: Did you keep using Super-8 the entire time you were making the movies?

Williams: No. The first four seasons I did. Even the first full-time season I had I continued, then I moved into 16 mm. I've actually done several Mr. Bills over the years for different shows.

In fact a few years ago, the first season on the Fox Family Channel, I did 40 new episodes and I used digital video. Sometimes I use a computer-generated replacement for certain stunts that would be hard to achieve with the real thing. He's been kind of a big science project for me. I've gotten to try out a lot of different techniques and technologies, computer animation.

LWH: Mr. Bill always met an untimely end.

Williams: Somehow, yeah.

LWH: Did you go through lots of Play-Doh?

Williams: Oh, yeah. By the peak of Saturday Night Live, I was going through the 55-gallon drums of Play-Doh. They don't last too long. It takes, actually, several stunt men per episode.

LWH: How did you decide to do this?

Williams: As a teenager, I was fortunate enough to meet this guy who was making a feature film. He was dating my sister. He's older than me. But he was writing and directing and starring in, doing the whole feature film. I got to work on it in various capacities. I did the sound.

The main thing, I saw how a film was totally shot out of sequence. It was something that was created and never really existed. Little pieces of film shot at different times and put together in a way that made it seem like something that was really happening. That got me really excited. I started making my own little comedy short films with Super 8. And they went over real well.

Even my first one I made, I had a little screening and everybody really laughed. Actually, they probably laughed at it more when I was rewinding the film and everything was going backwards. I continued making films, and very seriously so, even as a late teenager and early 20s. I didn't really have a real aptitude for anything else. I went to school. My uncle told me be an engineer. But this filmmaking thing, I got very excited about it. To this day that's all I've done.

LWH: Lots of teenagers made 8mm and Super 8 movies back then, but not many actually did much with it.

Williams: I was serious about it. As I say, I got a really good reaction right from the start. People laughed. I was very energetic and ambitious. I know there's a process on "Saturday Night Live" where the writers have to make the case for their sketches.

LWH: Was that the case with Mr. Bill?

Williams: No. Lorne just said, "Look, I don't know how you do it. Just go do it. If it works, you'll be a hero and I'll be a hero. If it doesn't work, I won't put it on." So he just let me go off and do them. Then he would see them at dress rehearsal. He had a chance if he didn't want to put them on. He put every one on, though. There are 27, I think.

Actually, to this day, Mr. Bill is still the most frequently used character on the show, even more than the cheerleaders [portrayed by Will Ferrell and Cheri Oteri]. It's hard to believe.

LWH: So it never got bumped for time?

Williams: Well, it would get bumped for time sometimes, but it would then run [on a later show]. But all the ones I made were shown. The films went first because of the sets; you had a guest host and sets were built, so that was an important thing. But if there was a timing thing, the films were a good insurance to throw in. That would be easier to cut and put on the next week rather than strike a set and so forth.

LWH: You weren't the only one making films for Saturday Night Live. Albert Brooks was as well.

Williams: Yeah. He only worked on the first season also. Then Gary Weis and then Tom Schiller, who's one of my favorite people, and me. I guess we were pretty much the only filmmakers.

LWH: Was there a rivalry between the filmmakers?

Williams: I don't know. The first three seasons I was basically submitting them. Maybe there was, but I didn't even know. I was just lucky they got on. I would tell people I think it might be on, but it wouldn't be. By the time I was there, the fourth and fifth seasons, it was just me and Schiller and we were really kind of best friends.

I don't think it was either-or. There were kind of two separate types of things. There was definitely a lot of rivalry about getting skits on, though. By the time I got there, everyone was kind of settled in with the formula and various partnerships. That was a little more difficult.

LWH: Do you have a favorite skit that you wrote?

Williams: I really liked the Elvis Presley's coat. It was a film. I used a lot of my relatives in it. It was done like a Beatlemania-type commercial. That was fun. My Uncle Walt and different people were in it. They were the people interviewed outside, the testimonials. I did a lot of Weekend Update jokes.

LWH: Anything come to mind?

Williams: There's so many. It probably wouldn't make any sense out of context. They're all so topical. I was actually an extra in several skits. I was in the Three Mile Island skit. I was a pirate on the Raging Queen. I would pop up.

My biggest moment was the very last show of the last season [I was on], when Lorne decided that was enough. That was a pretty smart move of his, really. We all left, but it was the last show and he came up with the idea that we were being replaced. NBC let us go and they were going to staff it with a whole new crack group of the finest young comedians. So I was supposed to be one of the new cast members. I had a tuxedo T-shirt on. I had a few lines. It was pretty funny.

LWH: You left in 1980?

Williams: Yeah. That's when everyone left. It was kind of fortunate because Mr. Bill was at its peak in the fifth season. He probably was the hottest thing on the show because a lot of the people had left. Danny and Belushi had left. So Lorne decided that was it. So everybody left. The whole staff, writers, actors, we all left.

It was nice leaving there at that peak because a lot of things get to that point and they just burn out and become like everything else and everyone gets tired of it. If anything, people said, "Well, where is he?" Which I think is good. Rather than , "Oh, yeah, I had enough of that."

LWH: Yours and Mr. Bill's appearances correspond with the first five seasons.

Williams: And a couple after that. There was one show where I wrote the cold opening for the show, Dick Ebersol's first show. Chevy Chase was poking around his old dressing room, which is now a storeroom. He picks up the Bee's costume and Mr. Bill's buried under a pile of beer cans. He's been stuck there since the wrap party.

LWH: Is it a coincidence that you were there when the show was supposedly at its funniest?

Williams: I guess it was a coincidence.

LWH: Do you take any credit for that?

Williams: Mr. Bill certainly was, I think, a big contribution to the show. I'm not saying it was the most popular, but there are some people who thought it was their favorite part. The ratings in the fourth and fifth seasons were the highest ever, probably triple what they are now. That's when everyone stayed home. They didn't go to parties and the nightclub business died. It was a 50, 60, 70 share, crazy numbers. Those were the years actually when Mr. Bill was on a peak. The fourth and fifth, I did 10 each year.

LWH: How long would it take you to write one Mr. Bill?

Oh, it varied. A couple of weeks. Trying to write them and assemble the props. Filming it. I filmed it myself. And editing it. It's a film. It looks simplistic but it's still pretty much a pain in the ass like making any movie. There's a lot of tedious work.

Writing the script is really in some ways the hardest part, coming up with the jokes and then somehow preserving it to the end even when it seems like it's not funny anymore because it's an old idea but that's the trick. If it seemed funny in the beginning, if you can somehow keep it and get it onto film and preserve it, the audience, hopefully, will get the same spontaneous feeling you got originally about it.

LWH: Did you ever hear any jealousies or any bitterness from the cast that Mr. Bill was getting this airtime?

Williams: A little bit. A little bit. I'm not going to name any names. But there was some.

LWH: Did that bother you at all?

Williams: Nope. It's totally out of my control.

LWH: Mr. Bill's been around a long time now.

Williams: Almost 30 years.

LWH: Do you ever get tired of him?

Williams: No. I don't really have to do much with it, really. Occasionally I do things. If someone can track me down and has an idea and I can think about whether I want to do it or not, but I don't pursue it. I don't really think about it.

People don't recognize me, so they don't know to ask me. I go to a party. I never bring it up. I like the anonymity. I never went into this for the recognition. In fact, I like not being recognized. I really like the process. And it was great. Especially at Saturday Night Live when they'd show the movie. I was there in the studio once I got on staff. I got to listen to a live audience reaction to the film, which is amazing, and it would give me a lot to go on. Like if something didn't quite go over, I could analyze it, if the shot wasn't right or something; the next week I could try to perfect that. But just getting it done was really the satisfaction. All the other stuff pretty much was gravy.

Monday, August 25, 2008



IMAGE COURTESY OF HTTP://LIMESTONERECORDS.COM

Speaking of Mitch Goodson and the Capers... in 1968 they recorded as THE K-PERS and made a FANTASTIC 2-sided single. I love both sides, and hope to find a better copy someday (the B-side is kind of beat up, as you can see). The A-side appeared on one of the "Psychedelic States" albums (mastered off my 45). The B-side has yet to appear on a compilation CD.
Jeff Lemlich

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Roberto,

Thanks for the time warp express.

I have to look at a calender to see where I is.

Peace,
T

Hey y'all~

Seeing the Wood Storks flying over my pickup west of Montgomery Saturday morning was an omen.

Wood Storks before hurricanes make a perfect fit for a Super Weekend!

HURRICANE FAY: The Perfect Storm!!!!

best,
rr


The NEXT installment of the Wilbur's Interview On the Wally & Dave Show:

Dave: Have mercy, Jack!

Tiger Jack: Oh!

Dave: Look! Watch your head now!

Tiger Jack: Bopped me right in the mouth.

LAUGHTER

Tiger Jack: I'm talking about the microphone. Let's clarify that!

MORE LAUGHTER

Dave: Hey, Jack, bend that thing the other way like this one here. Watch your head!
OH LORD GOD!

Tiger Jack: Small town radio.

Dave: I tell you.

Tiger Jack: Hey! YOU GOT THE RIGHT STRING BABY BUT THE WRONG YO-YO!
& that's Wilbur Walton & The James Gang on the Wally & Dave Show this morning. Tiger Jack sitting in~ We've got Wilbur Walton here with us reminiscing about the old days back in the 1960s. Rock 'n Roll around the State of Alabama and Southwest, Southeast & The James Gang was really into it back in those days & I want to talk about the James Gang but we're gonna wait just a minute because we have another special guest on the radio calling in- I guess Johnny...where are you? In the Shoals area? Wyker???????

Dave: Hey, John...
Oh, I think his cell phone's gone out, guys.

Tiger Jack: Well, he'll call back in a minute- then maybe- Trying to talk to Johnny Wyker who was the founding father of THE RUBBER BAND here in Tuscaloosa back in 1965 I believe. Went on to be a member of the group called SAIL CAT that had MOTORCYCLE MAMA & he's still in the music industry too. Wilbur, we're trying to get him. Have you got him back?

Dave: No, but we do have a nice lady from Dothan that's hanging on. Debby, good morning.

Tiger Jack: Debby from Dothan.

Bama Queen: Good morning!

Tiger Jack: How are you? You remember Wilbur & The James Gang I bet.

Bama Queen: Oh listen! I was 14 years old when I listened to Wilbur Walton Jr. at the Rec Center in Dothan singing Georgia Pines...singing Right String Baby But The Wrong Yo-Yo-WILBUR! DO IT!!!!

Wilbur: Well, I'm glad. My earphones are cutting on & off.

[ed. note: Bama Queen's audio was broadcast but it was lost from the tape]

Wilbur: Let me change earphones here.

Tiger Jack: Change your earphones out.
He can't hear.

Tiger Jack: Yeah, he's here.

Wilbur: He's across the...

Tiger Jack: The Bama Queen from Dothan, Alabama. O.K.

Wilbur: Yeah, Robert's sitting in there past that glass panel. Debbie, I didn't get to hear what you were talking about but I swear...

Tiger Jack: She says she remembers going to the Rec Center in Dothan, Alabama when she was 14 years old and listening to The James Gang.

Wilbur: Did you really?

Wilbur: Well, I'll sure do it then- He's standing right...

Wilbur: You know I haven't seen the whole thing yet. I've seen clips of it. I saw part of it last night up here. Robert showed me part of it. I want to see it.

Wilbur: Well, I'm glad you did.

Tiger Jack: Debbie, do you live in Tuscaloosa or are you in Dothan? Are you picking us up on the Internet or something?

Tiger Jack: O.K. We appreciate you calling in. We'll talk to you later, O.K.

Wilbur: Thank you so much for calling, Debbie.

Tiger Jack: Thanks for calling.

Wilbur: Thank you. Yes, bless you. I appreciate it.

Wilbur: I'm gonna try.

Tiger Jack: All right. Before we lose him again, let's get Wyker on here, O.K.
Johnny, how you doing, man? We keep losing you. Hope you can hang on for a few minutes. We got Wilbur Walton in the studio with us this morning.

Wilbur: Hey, Johnny.

Wyker: Yeah, I knew Wilbur back before he even started singing when he was a temp at Sigma Nu and he was friends with a buddy of mine named Jerry Sailor that later went on to sing with the Mark 5 up in Muscle Shoals and he died a few years ago. I talked to Wilbur about a year ago on the phone & he probably gets the same thing I get every time he runs into an old (ed. note: unintelligible) They say," Man, are you still alive? We thought you'd be the first to go." & I'm 63 & just got through raising and home schooling a 17 yr. old daughter and a 20 yr. old son and we've got an international net radio station on line. You can go to www.mfvr.com or .org ...that stands for Mighty Field of Vision Radio & we're actually trying to get a federal grant because you know now people don't have D.J.s like Tiger Jack that are heads up & hands on and that can break a local record. Like when we were freshmen in college in 1965, I got Johnny Townsend to sing with my band. He later went on to do SMOKE FROM A DISTANT FIRE & Tippy Armstrong came to play guitar with us and I found out in about two seconds I couldn't play guitar in the same band with Tippy & I had a choice of either getting thrown out of my own band or learning how to play saxophone within two weeks, on a trumpet within two weeks and so I blew till my lips bled. My...

Tiger Jack: Wyker is the guy responsible for, I don't know if he's ever heard this story before, but he's the guy responsible for putting TIGER JACK on me. Wyker used to... I'm sure you don't remember this, but you used to call me in the middle of the night and get me to play records then you would tape 'em so that the band could learn 'em. Y'all were the Mag 7 then.

Wyker: Yeah.

Tiger Jack: And one night, I used to like to lift a few cool ones before I come in, you know what I'm saying, & this particular night there'd been a few too many & Wyker called up & said, "Boy, you're roaring like a TIGER tonight!" & that's kinda evolved into Tiger Jack later on so...

Wyker: I'd also like to say I'm glad to hear Buddy Buie's well and doing good. I've had a few surguries myself; a ligament transplant in my right shoulder a few years ago from a motorcycle wreck & days & I broke Sail Cat up & when Motorcycle Mama was about 18 in the charts & I was living in Hollywood & I said, "I got to get out of here before they find a way how to get my BMI songwriter's money." so I bought the rest of the guys a plane ticket back to Alabama and I drove my old Cadillac back and bought a houseboat and just lived on the river for about five years & I was actually born in Florence & raised down there most of my life & went to high school in Decatur & came to Alabama as a freshman where I met Eddie Hinton & started working with him in '98 but I'd like to comment on Buddy Buie. The first time I saw Buddy Buie he was probably managing the Webs and we were sharing a bill with them at THE OLD DUTCH & I don't even remember what the name of my band was but in Buddy Buie I saw a guy who had more desire and more ability and more natural talent than anybody I'd run into in my life up to that time. He wasn't really a guitar player but he could make enough chords & he wasn't really a singer but he could write the most beautiful songs & when he would rair back & play one for a room full of people, he didn't let his guitar playing & vocals stand in the way, I mean, if you had any imagination at all, you could hear the finished product & I also noticed that Buddy took care of the little details nobody else wanted to do, like booking the jobs & making sure the guitar player had his pick. You know, all that kind of stuff~ I'm probably the least talented musician in the world but through watching him & a young Dan Penn; they both had that same power when they'd play one of their own songs. I don't know if Buddy remembers but I went over to Atlanta one time about '65 or '66 & we had signed with Columbia Records & was lucky enough to get a hit in the Southeast called LET LOVE COME BETWEEN US & I stayed with Buddy for a while & ended up over at Robert Nix's house who was the drummer for most of those great bands that y'all been talkin' 'bout & he's also got a band now with Dan Toler called the Toler-Townsend Band.

Tiger Jack: Is Johnny on that?"

Wyker: Yeah, he's still in L.A.
Married to Jennifer Toffel. Dr. Jim Coleman put 'em together & I'm sure you've heard the news on that...

Tiger Jack: Yeah.

Wyker: Dr. Coleman died a couple of months ago of a fall in his apartment. Fell down the stairs and broke his neck but I think there was more to it than that but I'm not going to say anything about it until...

Tiger Jack: Get back to the old days! How did you & The James Gang...
You told me a story a little bit earlier on the phone about how y'all crossed.

Wyker: Right! When Buddy was talking about The James Gang broke up & just left Wilbur. You know, I mean, it's hard to compete with Roy Orbison, especially at that time or anytime but Wilbur called me up & said,"I gotta bunch of Christmas jobs booked on The James Gang & I don't have a band. I said,"Well, I gotta bunch of Rubber Band shows lined up but I don't have a singer and Wilbur said, "Tell you what, I'll give you," I think it was $200 a week or a gig, "if you'll get a band to back me up." So he said,"You can pay the other guys anything you want to & ,you know, make a little extra money on it," & I did but it wasn't about money back in those days but one night we'd play as The James Gang & Wilbur would sing but he'd normally fiddle around for about two hours trying to get the P.A. working as he was knocking 'em out pretty good back then & he'd wait until he got his buzz adjusted just right & we didn't know any songs- basically- I went back to playing bass and Lou Mullinex was on drums and let's see, Tippy played guitar a little bit & Ronnie Brown played a little guitar & I played bass and we would do these long jams, like, imagine FUNKY BROADWAY & not put lyrics on it & I remember one night Wilbur was still stalling, trying to get the mic working. It probably worked. He just wouldn't flip the switch on until about halfway through the show but we didn't care, I mean, I was standing there facing the amps seeing pictures coming flying out of the bass amp & all this stuff & we kept playing...We were playing at a place in Auburn called the Sow'z(unintelligible). At first the people started yelling, "Play something else! Play something else!" & we just ignored 'em & kept playing this one chord instrumental. About an hour later, I looked up & everybody in the place was dancing & moving & the beer bottles on the shelves were swaying with the music so we kept playing about another hour & by then everybody had found them. I like to call this area THE LAND OF A THOUSAND DANCES. I mean, kids don't know how to act now days. You go to a party back then & everybody was doing some kind of dance~ The Alligator,laying down on the floor ~The Monkey, The Dog, The Funky Chicken~ all this stuff, well, we played as The James Gang one night. The next night we'd show up as The Rubber Band & I'd hire Cort. This was before Sail Cat. He was barely out of high school or still in high school & that worked out all right until we showed up in Mobile three nights in a row. First as The Rubber Band, then came back as The James Gang & the next night change clothes & went in & the third night we started hear kids say," Hey, didn't we see them here last night?" and another go, "Yeah, last night & the night before!" & we were lucky to get out of that tour alive but I can say that, you know, I was a member of The Rubber Band & The James Gang~the final version of The James Gang~ at the same time!

Tiger Jack: Well listen Wyker, you know how commercial radio is, we gotta take a break so we're gonna let you go.

Wyker: I'd like to invite everybody to go to our website and get the whole story. I gotta bunch a songs I wrote, uh, stories I wrote called CAT TALES ~ T-A-L-E-S ~ but it's mfvr.com & music on there you can download. Tell you about a lot we are doing today & I'd like to encourage everybody to buy a copy of the beach music book, HEY BABY.

Tiger Jack: Yeah, we've talked about that a lot.

Wyker: 18 pound book! I mean you won't believe it! It'll break somebody's back when you hand it to 'em. I mean, they could have just made a coffee table out of it!

Tiger Jack: Well, all right, we appreciate you calling in Johnny. We gotta go take a break.

Wyker: Get some of the old guys together like Wilbur & Buddy & whoever else is still alive and put on a damn show and show 'em us old Boomers can still rock!


Tiger Jack: I hear you, buddy. Thanks for calling in.

Wyker: I love you. I love you, man, for what you've done for the music business.

Tiger Jack: Thank you, sir! We'll talk to you later. JOHNNY WYKER!!!!
formally of The Rubber Band, calling in to talk with us. We got Wilbur here in the chair with us & we're gonna be talkin' more about the music of the 1960s & The James Gang coming up here in a second but first, let's take a break...

TO BE CONTINUED...

SOUTHERN WOODSTOCK '69


Ask your readers if anyone was at the New Orleans Pop Festival, August 30 - September 1, 1969. I was there and remember seeing Janis Joplin, Santana, Canned Heat, It's
a Beautiful Day, the Youngbloods, Dr. John, Iron Butterfly, the Byrds, Tyrannosaurus Rex (later, T-Rex, i.e., Marc Bolan and Co.), and lots of others that I don't remember, for whatever reason!


Regards,
Bruce Wallace

Michael,

You can't imagine my delight yesterday afternoon when I saw the new edition of Coach Bryant's autobiography in the promotional display for BEAR COUNTRY located in the lobby of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival's theatre.

The CD which comes along with the book BEAR contains a song called THE DAY BEAR BRYANT DIED & we sure hope you'll find a way you can use it during the production of BEAR COUNTRY.

Please visit our myspace site http://myspace.com/paulbearbryant
& consider some of the other songs on THE DAY BEAR BRYANT DIED CD.
http://daybeardied.com

You'll be able to listen to samples of the songs at http://cdbaby.com/cd/bearbryant

Other Alabama themed cuts on the CD include:

ALABAMA MOON by Jeff Cook & The All Star Good Time Band

MY HOME'S IN ALABAMA by Cook & Glenn

BAMA ON THE RADIO by Bama Network Band

DREAMY ALABAMA by THE ATLANTA RHYTHM SECTION

Samples of all these tunes may be found at http://cdbaby.com/cd/bearbryant

TOMMY WILCOX OUTDOORS also used THE DAY BEAR BRYANT DIED
in a bass fishing video posted on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCAq3D-AAbU&feature=related

Hope to hear from you soon.

Loved WEST SIDE STORY, especially Cassie Abate's http://www.cassieabate.com/index.html
version of SOMEWHERE. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emuVLVylBiA&feature=related

Keep up the good work!

Best,
Robert Register http://blogspot.com/robertoreg


http://www.thevideobeat.com/1960s_rock_roll_movies.htm
MONDO DAYTONA - Daytona Beach "travelogue" hosted by Billy Joe Royal and featured The Swinging Medallions, Tams, and Florida garage band The Movers backing Royal doing Down In The Boondocks. Also known as WEEKEND REBELLION, the film was redited in the early '70's and retitled GET DOWN GRAND FUNK - for reasons best left unexplained.

Weekend Rebellion
Grand Funk Railroad, The Tams, The Swinging Medallions
1970 - Color - 85 min
"It’s 100,000 swingers making the scene on inner-spring sand," said a citizen of Daytona Beach, and now it’s here for all to see! Welcome to that special mix of maniacal footage featuring the infamous "spring break" from the 1968 docu-film "Mondo Daytona" laced with Grand Funk Railroad, the Tams, and the Swinging Medallions. Hear the Tams mellow out with "What Kind of Fool Do You Think I Am?" along with the Swinging Medallions doing their all-time hit, "Double Shot of My Baby’s Love," and wind up with the Grand Funk creating psychadelic riffs that split the screen so that every pixel lights up with fire!


A 2005 post from Jeff Miami:



<The Movers on 123Records. They are:Birmingham/Leave Me Loose Hello L.A. (Bye Bye Birmingham)/Hey You Hey Me>>THE MOVERS were indeed a real band, from New Port Richey, Florida.
They were originally known as the Intruders, but changed their name due to the Intruders soul group. The Movers can be seen backing Billy Joe Royal in the movie "Mondo Daytona", later reissued with the title "Weekend Rebellion"(with a totally unrelated, comes-out-of-nowhere clip of Grand Funk Railroaddoing "Paranoid"!).And just to drive Gary crazy... let me mention that NOONEY RICKETT (himagain!) also recorded a version of "Birmingham".JEFF
http://limestonerecords.com

MESSAGES FROM THE LIMESTONE LOUNGE:
http://limestonelounge.yuku.com/forums/5

THANK YOU

...for refreshing my memory. It was "Mondo Daytona" that I knew it under. I watched them film the pier parts and Billy Joe lip-synced while kids they pulled up from the beach did some odd dances.