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Show TEGE88 Wednesday, July 6, 1977 Page 9 Mil By Jay Meehan - KMOR Radio Mt Bell Retires Cord Boards It was a week that saw northern Utah music fans experiencing both sides of that ol' musical coin, from screaming loud, yet articulate, rock-and-roll to soft, yet hot, accoustic traditional. That is not to say that "rock" and "folk" are the only two valid forms, it's just that they arrived the same week and in many ways are opposites. The two events in question are last Tuesday's (June 28) "Lynard Skynard" concert at the Salt Palace which also featured Dickie Betts and his new group "Great Southern" and the "2nd Annual Golden Spike Old-Time Fiddle Contest and Bluegrass Festival" held Thursday through Saturday at Weber State College in Ogden. Attending the Salt Palace concert mainly in hopes of interviewing Dickie Betts, rock-guitar virtuoso with the now defunct Allman Bros. Band, I left with not only even stronger feelings about Betts' musicianship, but was totally knocked-out by the experience of a live Lynard Skynard concert. The only other band I could compare them to, as far as power, originality, and control, would be the Rolling Stones. They feature three guitars which seemingly can do it all, and a super-strong vocal approach, which at times has six singers, including three female background vocalists, at the microphone. Although I was forewarned about their guitar work by my brother Patrick, the powerfully pulsating rhythms and searing twin and triple leads took me by surprise. I found myself without a reference point, save the aforementioned Stones. "Waterbed," who, along with his trusty sidekick side-kick "Kubie," catered one of his famous Texas style "hickory-smoked" dinners for the bands, made an interesting comment after surveying the almost-packed house of mostly 15-16 year olds. He said: "Looks like The Church could be in a heap of trouble." Could be. I know one thing, it was an entirely different set of gold tablets those Skynard boys were reading from. As far as the interview with Betts went, Craig Reece and I slipped into his dressing room after his part of the show, but he only stuck around for about two minutes. He wanted to go say "hi" to them Skynard boys, ya see. ! He did respond, however, to the only question put to him, saying that his recent meeting with the legendary Les Paul was very friendly. They didn't play together, though, as Les didn't feel he knew any rock-and-roll riffs. Well, that's show business. You don't always get invited out back to the bus. As "Waterbed" found out with "ZZ Tops" stage manager, sometimes you just get invited out back. And now on to the more traditional American music. Preparing ourselves for a day "on the green" at Weber State's football stadium this past Saturday, we discovered we had been foiled by the weather. Not Saturday's which was beautiful, but Friday's, which was probably somewhere in Nebraska by the time we pulled into Ogden. It seems that the fiddle contest judges, who always seem to be shut away in a cave somewhere, were hearing more wind than fiddle during Friday evening's portion of the contest. This necessitated a decision by Jim Shupe, major-domo of the "Golden Spike Old Time Fiddle Festival," to move the entire event into the Fine Arts building. This served to make the listening easier but the "festiveness" somewhat harder. Elbow-room and spectator improvisation was held to a minimum. There was an interesting development in the "fiddle contest" side of things this year. W'hereas last year only one Wieser finalist entered the actual competition inOgden (eventual winner John Francis from Spokane), this year four out of five made the trip to Utah and, in what has to be termed a rather large coincidence, finished in the exact order they had a week previous in Wieser: Herman Johnson 1st, Dick Barrett 2nd, John Francis 3rd, and Junior Dougherty 5th. Young Mark O'Conner, whom Mr. Shupe termed the "Mozart of the Fiddle," came in fourth while capturing the hearts of the crowd. At twelve years old Mark won both the junior-junior junior-junior and the junior competitions at Wieser, competing against fiddlers 17 years old. At 14, Mark won the National Guitar flat-picking championship, which is held annually in Winfield, Kansas. He defeated guitarists of all ages in this one. He is now 15, and well on his way to becoming one of America's all time traditional musicians. Remember the name, Mark O'Conner. The Deseret String Band, five again with the return from Indiana of fiddler Skip Gorman, and the McLain Family Band each performed short, rather up-tempo sets during intermissions in the fiddle competition. One of the highlights of the evening came from a gentleman who stood at the microphone with guitar in hand near the top of the show and rather meekly announced : "I'm from up there in Idaho and they talked me into doing this yodeling song tonight. I used to sing it to the cows when I was milking them. This is the first time I tried it on people." FIREPLACE HAUS 184 North Main 654-3331 Heber FISHER FACTORY OUTLET 2941 Highland Dr., SLC Phone: 487-2072 Wood and Coal burning Stoves Complete Installations BUY NOW and guard against next year's Fuel Bills l i 4y TrJ RESTAURANT Impeccable Dining Fri., Sat., Sun. Open at 6:10 p.m. ty . rn. .T, r. f. AflyT. Xi A at ! 5 i ! S Mountain Bell customers in Park City were part of the passing of a bit of Americana June 30 and most didn't even realize it. That was the date the telephone company retired the last long distance cord board in the Salt Lake City office and converted to the faster, more accurate "Zero-Plus" "Zero-Plus" dialing system. The new equipment replaces the old-style, mahogany cord-type switchboard which has long been associated with the telephone company. It has served Park City long distance customers since 1940. While "Zero-Plus" dialing allows each operator to handle at least twice as many calls per hour and customers can place certain types of calls up to 40 percent faster, the change was not without mixed emotions among some long-time telephone company employees. "It's impossible to work on a board like this for as long as I have without feeling a bit melancholy about the change," admitted Gloria Unamuno, manager of operator services. Mrs. Unamuno had worked on the board since 1954. "I accept the change because it's a part of progress and our customers deserve the better service it can provide, but I can't help but feel a little sad," she added. This was the second major cutover of its type in the past six months. With the change, all communities served by the Salt Lake office (except Kearns and Riverton) are now served by the "Zero-Plus" "Zero-Plus" dialing equipment. Kearns and Riverton will be cutover to the new system later this year. Provo, Ogden, Price and Logan are scheduled to be converted to "Zero-Plus" dialing in 1978. Ken Hill, Utah Public Relations Manager encouraged Park City telephone users to become familiar with the new-method new-method of placing certain long distance calls and use it whenever possible. : Horse Special of the Week By Hank Louis Early morning two days forward of the Fourth, the fuzziness, like a napkin stretched across the empty bar glass, rubber-banded to bear the weight of one thin dime, has not yet been burnt away the dime hangs on in the face of serious work. Deadlines blew with the duds. Peek through the numbers of the months hanging like secret veiled portraits on the wall: the blank spots between now and Halloween deceive, flat there on their flaps, clear as fresh-puttied fresh-puttied glass in the center minimal sleep-smudge sleep-smudge at the borders white as the surrounding thought. Thinking days? Masked well, for its printer knew nothing of festivals at remote pinpoints on his map, nothing of who's not birthdays nor anniversaries, nothing of record months and quarters, nothing of got wells, got a jobs, born babies, very firsts, momentum changes, races won, paintings nor books nor photos sold, nothing of just plain Wednesdays nor half-price Monday nights, nothing of needed rains. Fog often will creep in on its "little cat feet." Talking softly, carrying its Big Stick. Yesterday's number need never have been bigger, nor red. Freedom need not have a birthday to be celebrated, to be thanked: Hangovers are forgotten fast as other-way faces in the street. I a DOG FOOD i in u iii ii ii ra .i n in iv ) J "1 w - J Canine Crunch 50 lbs. -$8.95 Will be closed Tuesday to recover from Monday SHIELDS RANCH E 137 tea Main Beter tit KENNEL FEED E SEED 654-3202 at the hnnn I II II I Ml it3 CLUB CAR 19 THE I ,IDI CAR LIVE ENTERTAINMENT IS III I A m AUTO PARTS A WKATHH AUTOMOTIVE PARTS SUPPLIES EQUIPMENT A ACCESSORIES ibutors ol DUP0NT POINTS - CHAMPION SPARK PLUGS EVEHEADY LAMPS DELC0 BATTERIES "PERFECT CIRCLE" PISTON RINGS SfiSME 59 On UNION CARBIDE fill Trontmont . Wll I I wU lllllflll Our Price $1.76 Your Price $1.17 Helps Reduce Engine Wear Phone 654-0220 105 NORTH MAIN HEBER CITY PARTS FOR All CARS TRUCKS ITALIAN CUISINE Famous Italian Restaurant is now opn 7 days a week For Your Dining Enjoy mnt StHVING THE BEST ITALIAN fOOD WEST OF ITALY NOW REOPENED for Summer (and Carmen is Cooking!) 6- 10:30 pm 649-8211 Mileti's Social Club also open 7 Days a week every Teusday nite - special Happy Hour prices 6 to 1:00 " IlillL announcing A New Old Real Estate Company n COLEMAN LAND COMPANY W A . . .iff- .:- - L Since being involved in Real Estate Sales and Developement full time since 1972, 1 have gained an indepth knowledge regarding the unique Park City Real Estate conditions. We will be involved in all typns ol Keal Estate in the Park City region. Residential, Commercial, Industrial, and Special Developements. We are located above the pharmacy in Mt. Air Mall, so stop in and see us for all your Real Estate needs. P.O. Box 1800 1700 Park Ave. (Mt. Air Mall) 649-7171 |