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Show Wednesday, November 3, 1 976 Page 8 IC NOT By Jay Meehan KMOR Radio fcc- ... afltoBjOg) Mys Tiny Moore and Eldon Shamblin, besides being a couple of ex-"Texas Playboys" Bob Wills' definitive western swing band and current members of Merle Haggard's band "The Strangers", Strang-ers", are two of the most perceptive and human of that species of American musician, the road picker. On Saturday afternoon past, between the Quarry-Batha Quarry-Batha light heavyweight fight on TV and the 5:30 p.m. sound-check preceding their scheduled concert that evening at the Salt Palace, Tiny and Eldon took time to reflect on their four decade involvement in American music. We should probably start with where you're from, how you got started in music, and what you did leading up to each of you joining the Willis Band. .Eldon: Well, I'm from Weatherfork, Oklahoma. That's west of Oklahoma City about 65 miles, and I started in music, oh, when I was about 17. 1 went to Tulsa in about 1935, and worked with a group called the Alabama Boys. I always played guitar. I joined the Willis Band in 1937. ; Where was the band headquartered at that time? Eldon: Tulsa Oklahoma. Was that during the time of the KVOO Radio broadcasts?- Eldon: Right. We had a daily show at 12:30, and then the dances there at Cain's Academy. On Thursday and Saturday nights we had an hour midnight show. How old were you when you started with the Texas Playboys? Eldon: Let's see. I would have been twenty-one. Tiny, what part of the country are you from? Tiny: I'm from Texas. What was your early musical experience? Tiny: I played violin as a youngster, 6 or 7 years old. I played the violin until I heard Leo Railey play the electric mandolin. He was the first I've heard he played the eight string model. At that time I had an electric mandolin made for my by a guy in Fort Arthur. This was about 1938 or 1939. Was it a four string model? Tiny: No it was an eight like Leo Railey's. He didn't play any jazz or take-offs. He played more of a : straight melody line. Back in those days we were being influenced a lot by guitarists like Charlie Christian. 1, , ',:.,, Were you involved in any goups at this time? Tiny: I went over to Louisiana and played in a cajun band for a while. Then I went back to Houston and joined a radio program there. From there I went into the service, where I played not jazz or country but whatever kind of music was happening. After the service I wentback to Port Arthur. It wasn't too long after that; that I joined Bob Willis' band. Were you still with the "Texas Playboys"? Eldon: No, I was still in the service. I got out shortly thereafter. Was the primary musical direction of the band at that time to play dance music rather than to please, say, jazz or country and western music fans? Tiny: Always. Eldon: Dance music, that was it. The "Texas Playboys" drew its material from such widely varied sources. Was it a band that rehearsed a lot or did you just play so much that a lot of rehersals weren't necessary? p Eldon : No, we did an awful lot of rehearsing. Back . the 1940 era, Bob was building a big band. We'd recorded San Antonio Rose. I'd say that by 1942 it was a twenty-two peice band, with about five saxes, and three trombones. We had an arranger with us at that time who would handle all the horn parts, and the fiddle and steef guitar parts were seoarate, too.. 'HQS TEAM STANDINGS The Other End Silver King Bank First Security Bank Mid. Mt. Lodge WON 20 10 14 11 LOST 12 13 18 21 HIGH TEAM SETS Silver King Bank 1976 The Other End 1880 Mid.Mnt. Lodge 1859 HIGH TEAM GAMES Silver King Bank 677 Mid. Mnt. Lodge 668 Silver King Bank 664 HIGH INDIVIDUAL SETS Norma Cowin 469 Luann Marcellin 414 Georgine Plummer 409 HIGH INDIVIDUAL GAMES Norma Cowin 194 Myrt Arko 157 Norma Cowin . 156 Doubles were bowled by Judy Putman, Norma Cowin, and Carrie Yates. Splits were picked Up by Carry Yates 3-10, Phyllis Sweatfield 5-10, Fawn Workman 3-10, 2-7 and Georgene Plummer 3-10, 2-7. Just about the time we got the band going pretty , good the war came along. , Did the band perform during the war? Eldon: Well, most of them went into the service. Bob went into the service and Johnny Lee Willis, ' that's Bob's brother, took over the band, what was . left of it, and, then, when Bob came out of the j; service, he was in about a year, he went to Los-Angeles Los-Angeles and organized a band there, that was in ; ' 1943. : - ' ' KJ." Was that when he started the big dancehatt in Sacramento? . r. Tiny: No that was later, in about 1949. Bob was ; living in Fresno when I joined him in 1946. V Was the band headquartered in Fresno, and were'' the members of the band encouraged to move to that, area? Tiny : Yes, in those days you always lived where the :. leader lived. You couldn't jump on a jet plane and join thei tour, back then. Bob Willis' band probably traveled as well as any group in those days. What was the road like back then? . . "1 Tiny: Areyou famUarwith those olf flexable buses? Flixible was a Brand name. We had no beds. It was strictly sit-up. However, the distances weren't as long as they are now. - , Eldon: The longest travel distance between jobs was about 250 or 300 miles. Tiny: The shows were about five hours long then, and we worked about four nights a week or so. We only play about an hour, hour-and-a-half now. The difference between then and now is that we left Denver last night about 1:30 in the morning. I slept all but about an hour-and-a-half of the trip and Eldon slept' the whole way. Traveling is much more comfortable. Was there more spirit and comaraderie among the musicians in those days than there is today? Tiny: I don't think 'so. Eldon: The difference is that, back then, we were just playing that dance music. Not realizing we were having any impact on anybody. We were just trying ; to survive. But you must have known you were in some pretty high cotton. Tiny: Oh yes, it was a prestige job. Don't get us wfrnqg in thatj' Another thing' that was one of the' biggest 'differences was that in those days Bob Willis was an orchestra leader, or a band leader, and it was the band that was selling. It was not a single singer like it is now. We did a lot of jobs without Bob, and, the people were not as happy when Bob wasn't there, but since it was a dance and not a concert, we could still make most of the people happy. Eldon: We could still play Bob Willis music. Tiny: Yeah, but with the modern day set-up, if that singer, whoever is being featured, isn't there, you're .dead. This statement is quite possibly related to the fact that Merle Haggard had not appeared for this show in Denver the night before. At the time of the : interview the band had not heard from him and didn't know whether of not he would be performing at the Salt Palace that night. He did not. For the t second night in a row Merle Haggard had missed a - concert and the officials of the tour had received no word from him. By Sunday evening all TV networks were caring stories stating that Haggard was missing. Early on Monday morning the Newspaper contacted Haggard's offices in Bakersfield, Calif, and was informed that although they had received no communication from him, people in the Harrah's Club orginization in Reno had received a call from a person they beleived to be Haggard canceling a booking there and saying he was alright and was "just taking some time off for personal reasons. The interview with Eldon Shamblin and Tiny Moore will continue next week. 11 SNOW PLOWING Crescent Ridge Maintenance 649-8212 f 649-8000 Plowing: Private drives and commercial parking MOUNTAIN TOP SERVICE 649-9617 649-8938 649-8197 Get plowed with Mountain Top Service CARPET CLEANING Park City Carpet Cleaning Service 649-9055 Quality professional steam cleaning ARCHITECT Roy W. Reynolds A.I.A. Registered Architect P.O. 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It was probably hanging there on some fish hook in the backs of our brains, but it was still early, too. we'd neara tney a pe closing sometime arouna eight. And another thing it was plenty close; before you got there you wouldn't even feel the snow on the ground cold. So what we had, basically, was two more hours of thinking about it. I know I did. We even thought about seeking advice on the telephone, but each wanted the other to do it because it seemed kind of dumb, and neither of us would. Mostly the conversation went like.this: "Well, do you think we should go get it?" and-the answer was, "I don't know." Before too long, as you might have guessed, it was quarter till eight, and I said, "Well, I think we should probably go and get it." So we put on our down vests and put the kid's down vest on him and we all left surprisingly easy. You knew you could still chicken out. The kid was lucky he was under age. Anyway, it'd be like a lot of times when you can tell if the reviews you read were wrong or right from the early show faces filing out past you. At least when we got there we saw it was a good place for late-stumping candidates, and knew we weren't the only ones. A lot of people were still showing up which was too bad because you knew it killed any chance of a tardy excuse. We went inside and up the front steps where kids were playing all over and uckety-split our kid joined in and was gone between, through and around adult legs. Without any idea. Two leaflets were handed silently to us at the top step. The one that said Introduction was fairly tame, and, of course, we'd already read a good deal about it anyway, about what the President and Surgeons General and other doctors fhatr-saitl?rBut the" others flyer," the one-perforated above where ey'nteetfe&Bm a name, address, phone and signature of approval, was enough to make you again think twice. First of all it told you what might happen if you didn't . take what they' were offering. A real key sentence went: "...complications may lead to pneumonia or death in some people." Then they started talking about people under 25 maybe needing additional or different dosage, and we're standing there 25 years old on the borderline and wondering what really was going on. Further down was what might happen if you did take this vaccine, where the words jumping off the paper were, "fever, chills, headache, or muscle aches..." And then came another sentence hardly helping their cause: "As with any vaccine or drug, the possibility of severe or potentially fatal reactions exists." Thanks just the same. I mean if you don't really have to. :' But for some reason we found ourselves circling around like the flow and then standing there in front of this table full of slivery and cotton things down to our last layer of clothing before birthday suits, kind of hypnotized by the whole ordeal. Too fast I was in front and being asked which arm so I chose the left just in case it might hurt like hell or fall off afterwards. The lady who'd asked rubbed the cold cotton on and woke up the old clumsy and the next lady, the one with this black and silver Flash Gordon ray gun, began tugging on my arm and saying, "C'mon, relax. It hurts a lot less if you relax. C'mon get over here. I can only reach so far." When my arm was hanging enough she put her little Swyie flu space gun against it and zzzzt! it hurt. Not as bad or ugly as assembly line needling, but it was felt and something you wouldn't want to feel all the time. And sifter all that we had were sore spots on our left arms for a few days and just maybe a winter free of flu. But still it seems a bit much to hope for, because, who knows, it could've been just water in that gun, just another political ad. 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