This is me at the Blaisdell hotel
downtown Honolulu, with
J.T. And The Rowdy Band.
It's still 1980, been playing in Susan Luke's White Stallion Band at Ducky's Silver Spur for the past five months. One night, J.T. Cardens comes in. He's 40 something years old, dyed in the wool country guy, singer, has his band - J.T. And The Rowdy Band. He'd been trying different guys, looking for the right combination. He came and talked to me about playing banjo and harmonica in his band. He'd already had drums, bass, lead guitar, and him on rhythm guitar and singing. I accepted, but before our first rehearsal, he calls me and asks if I would be ok to play lead guitar, maybe double on banjo and harmonica, he was not happy with his lead guitar guy. That was just fine with me. Still didn't know much, but was looking to learn. Besides the regular rehearsals, he would take me to his house after gigs, play records by Merle Haggard, George Jones, Hank Williams, Ernest Tubb, Johnny Cash, and a whole bunch more of the classic country guys. He would say, "Ok, now learn this guitar part". So I would get it the best I could. He did this with all those old time Country guys. This is where I learned what Country Music is, the sound, the feel, and the guitar work. We played in all the Military clubs around the island (Oahu), and all the civilian clubs. We did events, fairs, it was a fun two years. Around the two year mark, J.T. says we need to go to Nashville. He says, "We're too good a band not to work". The drummer, Tom "Stix" Bridges, gets an early out of the Army to accommodate, he's 41 at the time. T. Taylor, the bass player, takes an early retirement, a cut in his pension, AND, he's got FIVE daughters - 11 years old up to 16 years old, and of course, his wife. He's 46. I have my 7 month pregnant wife. We all agree to go to Nashville. We all take a month to get our affairs in order, some stopped off at their hometown to rest a while, and we're all to meet in Nashville on a certain date. If I remember correctly, it was the first of December when we were to meet. So, we all get there, we have a two week booking in Sault St. Marie, Canada. We head up there, play for the two weeks. I have to add this part, because it's one of my most memorable times. It's mid December, zero degrees, snow and ice everywhere. We're on stage playing our usual old Country Music, when this older man, Elmer, limps up to the stage and asks if he could sit in on Dobro on the next set. We agree to let him come up and play. He asks me to tune his Dobro, so he hands me the case. It's been in his car, so there's ice all over the instrument. So, I let it thaw for a few minutes I tune it, and hand it back to Elmer. Let me add, he is the nicest old guy you'd ever want to meet. So, I get him all hooked up on stage, and he knows we're from Hawaii, so he asks if we know "Aloha Oe". We start playing, and let me tell you, it was one of those tear jerking times that you just never forget. If that wasn't enough, the very next night, a young guy comes up to us and asks if he could sit in on banjo - this was after he saw me play mine. So, of course, we welcome him. He gets up there, and his style is completely different from mine - what's known as the "Chromatic" style. We do Foggy Mountain Breakdown, and a few others - same - one of those unforgettable times. The guy's name was Manley Peters - also one of the nicest guys you'd ever want to meet. It's times like that that make all the less than pleasant goings on in the business worth it.
So, we get done with the two week show, get back to Nashville. J.T. calls a meeting at his house, at which time he informs us that, "I do not want to go on stage anymore". The rest of us, of course, are in total disbelief. It's late December, one of the worst snow storms in the history of the South. So, we're all out there looking for jobs. T, the bass player, lands a job at a truck stop, being a mechanic. This guy is 46 years old - not a youngster, crawling around on his back under trucks and other vehicles, in the freezing cold. I had (barely) got an apartment for me and my wife. Tom, the drummer, also looking for work, came and stayed with us - sleeping on the couch, being that the apartment was a one bedroom. After a week or so, he heads to San Jose, where his parents are living, I guess to try to start over. I heard he got into computers, and did pretty well with it, so that was good. Me and wife, Lynda, we head to Bryan/College Station, Texas to stay with a friend of Lynda's. Keep in mind, she's 8-1/2 months pregnant by this time. Backtracking for a minute. Our drive to Texas was in a 67 Chevy Caprice with perfectly smooth tires. I had borrowed a few hundred bucks from my mom to get it. So, I'm driving in the blinding snow, snow and ice all over every inch of the roads. Around midnight on one of the days, the car spins out and we land in a ditch - of course, the ditch is full of snow. We're in Arkansas, there's hardly any traffic, but then here comes a tow truck. They say, "We'll get ya out for $25". My wife is outside the car walking around to stretch her legs. I say, "I don't have $25 on me, but I'll send it to you when we get to Bryan. It's two guys - they calmly get back into their truck and drive away. Another attack of disbelief, but well, such is life among humans. So, I finally dig us out of the ditch - and two hours later, we're back on our way. We finally arrive in Bryan, took me 33 hours to go 700 miles, no sleep, no rest, and a hot dog on the way. Bryan is pretty near Austin, so I'm out looking for places to play music, join a band, something. I put ads up all over town - nothing. So, after a couple weeks of this, I call my old boss at AAMCO in San Diego - the LAST thing I wanted to do, and the boss says come on out. So, I leave my 9 month pregnant wife in Texas, while I head to San Diego. It took me a few weeks to get enough money to send for her, and by that time, she'd had the baby - Clint. I guess we barely escaped death on that one :D . I got an apartment through a friend at the shop, it was actually a nice little place, rustic, clean, and affordable. So, there we stayed for the next four months, trying to survive, and trying to take care of a newborn baby. Wasn't easy, but we did it - in spite of it all.
I guess I'll talk about the next chapter - where we moved back to Hawaii, with the plan to maybe start our own band. So, there ya have it.
Nother video. I make all these videos in my little studio, play all the parts, sing all the parts. Something I love more than just about anything.
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