More Memories
Ronald O. Teofan
My post several days ago brought me some e-mail response. One e-mail
was from New Zealand. Wow, this newsgroup really gets around.
Back in 1954 the Old Dominion Barn Dance on WRVA was just one of many
live country music shows on radio. Many of them were 50,000 watters so
up and coming artists had plenty of opportunities to showcase their
talent. Back then I was living in Northern Illinois and had been
listening to WRVA whenever it would come in because Mac Wiseman was a
regular on the show. My only experience up to that time was picking
banjo with a local bluegrass band . I learned all of Mac's songs and
when college got out for the summer I thought I would like to play for
Mac so I wrote him a letter. Lo and behold , a few days later the
telephone rang and it was Mac inviting me to come to Richmond to
audition for him. I didn't have any money so I hitchhiked all the way
from the Chicago area to Richmond (hitchhiking was relatively safe
back then). When I got to the audition, I met another musician who
was trying out also. He was Don Hoglen who played mandolin (he drove
from Kansas City).. Mac hired both of us. The first Saturday night
Mac still had his other banjo picker and mandolin player and after the
show and after paying them he told them they were being replaced. Up
to then ,they had no idea. This was kind of sad but that's the way it
was.
Other regulars on the show were Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper. A member
of their band was a young dobro player named Buck Graves. Stoney told
me that when Buck started with him that he was just a beginner but
that he was really developing into a fine player. For those of you who
don't recognize the name, Buck Graves later became Uncle Josh with
Flatt and Scruggs.
Travelling with Mac was an experience. He had a Country Squire station
wagon and we did a two week tour of one-nighters across the country
riding in it. On our way back to Richmond, we drove through
Lexington,VA where Flatt and Scruggs were giving a concert that
evening. We were going to be idle for a few days so Mac offered to
drop me off and I accepted. I found Lester and Earl in a local hotel
and I spent the afternoon visiting with them. We shot several games of
pool which I believe Earl won. He was a pretty good pool player.
I didn't stay with Mac much longer after that, anyhow it was time to
go back to school.
I was a dental student at Marquette University in Milwaukee. I earned
living money by working at various clubs there (One was named the
Cackle Shack) . Incidentally, Milwaukee was a great town for
Bluegrass. I later hired Don Hoglen (the mandolin player) and also
Chubby Collier who was Mac's fiddle player and we had a pretty decent
band .
Well it's almost 2AM and I have to get some sleep. Hope I'm not boring
anybody.
Geff King
Ronald Teofan wrote:
>
> Well it's almost 2AM and I have to get some sleep. Hope I'm not boring
> anybody.
Not at all - great stories! Remember when there were more working
musicians and the picking parties on Saturday night didn't even get going
until 2:30???
A couple of years and about two Internet accounts ago, I got to talking
off list with a BGRASS-L subscriber (name completely escapes me) who
played with Jack Cooke in Baltimore back in the late 50s - early
60's. He had some great tales of playing till one, driving down to DC to
hear the Stonemans, hanging out with them till after closing, getting
home at 5:30, taking a nap, and going to work at 7:30. I hear this sort of
thing gets more difficult as you get older...
Anyway, if (Ken, I think - I'll remember his last name by lunchtime) is
still on the list, maybe he'll catch this thread and pass some more of
these stories on..
Geff King * gk...@ari.net * Reference Librarian/C&W Bass Player
Data-Bases Searched * Dog-Houses Slapped
"If we only knew how good it was going to get,
we would know when to quit." -Webb Wilder
Archie Warnock
Geff King wrote:
> Not at all - great stories! Remember when there were more working
> musicians and the picking parties on Saturday night didn't even get going
> until 2:30???
Shoot! We're all gettin' old, aren't we?
> A couple of years and about two Internet accounts ago, I got to talking
> off list with a BGRASS-L subscriber (name completely escapes me) who
> played with Jack Cooke in Baltimore back in the late 50s - early
> 60's. He had some great tales of playing till one, driving down to DC to
I can't recall who that might be, either, but if he's still around, I'd
love for him to speak up, too. He'd have to have known our dear friend
and wonderful picker, the late Caleb Linder.
I know Caleb played with Jack back then, and that Jack actually had a
weekly TV show on a local station.
Speaking of Jack, this story may or may not be true, but John O'Dell
swears he was there. Ralph and the gang showed up many years ago to
play the dreaded Sandpiper in Duldalk (that's across the water from
Baltimore, for you out-of-towners :), and for some reason, Jack didn't
have a bass with him. He was hoping to borrow one when he got to the
gig. Well, that apparently didn't work out, so he did the entire show
playing his... yes... face! And y'all thought Too Slim was the first!
John swears it's true.
> hear the Stonemans, hanging out with them till after closing, getting
> home at 5:30, taking a nap, and going to work at 7:30. I hear this sort of
> thing gets more difficult as you get older...
I wouldn't know about that... ;-)
--
Archie
-- Archie Warnock Internet: war...@clark.net
-- A/WWW Enterprises Phone/FAX: 301-854-2987
-- http://www.clark.net/pub/warnock/warnock.html
-- As a matter of fact, I _do_ speak for my employer.
Fred Geiger
Archie Warnock, about Baltimore, Jack Cooke, Caleb Linder...
>
>I know Caleb played with Jack back then, and that Jack actually had a
>weekly TV show on a local station.
Caleb and I used to both live in Annapolis, MD, and he was the first person
I played bluegrass with. We discovered Jack Cooke playing in a bar called
The Bluejay on Broadway near Fells Point. It was indescribable. The band
was Cooke, guitar and lead, tenor vocals; Dan Curtis, banjo and vocals;
Calvin Evans, fiddle; and Barry Glickman, bass and vocals. The Bluejay
was...well, they don't make 'em that seedy anymore. But the music, through
one mike, made that joint seem like Carnegie Hall on Christmas eve, or
something to that effect. Jack Cooke played some of the best guitar I've
ever heard, including Don Reno and Tony Rice--I mean rhythm, with runs
popping!out!at!ya! like Jimmy Martin. And he'd take breaks on
anything--Shuckin' the Corn, whatever. Coming back from Baltimore one night,
two Anne Arundel County cops pulled us over. They'd seen the instruments in
Caleb's station wagon. Eager to please these unlikely enthusiasts, we got
out the banjo and guitar and did our best on "Salty Dog Blues" and some
others, which the policemen-- one of whom was a banjer picker--seemed to enjoy.
Fred
Neil Rossi
Boring? Hardly. That was great! More reminiscences like that one, please.
At 01:54 AM 4/22/97 GMT, Ronald O. Teofan wrote:
(much deleted)
>Well it's almost 2AM and I have to get some sleep. Hope I'm not boring
>anybody.
--- Neil Rossi
Archie Warnock
Fred Geiger wrote:
> Caleb and I used to both live in Annapolis, MD, and he was the first person
> I played bluegrass with. We discovered Jack Cooke playing in a bar called
> The Bluejay on Broadway near Fells Point. It was indescribable. The band
I'll bet it was. There are several places in Fells Point that are still
indescribable :-)
> was Cooke, guitar and lead, tenor vocals; Dan Curtis, banjo and vocals;
> Calvin Evans, fiddle; and Barry Glickman, bass and vocals. The Bluejay
Well, Dan's still around and recently retired from his day job, so he's
actually got time to pick seriously. He sounds like he's enjoying it a
lot. Great picker - mostly mandolin nowadays.
> anything--Shuckin' the Corn, whatever. Coming back from Baltimore one night,
> two Anne Arundel County cops pulled us over. They'd seen the instruments in
> Caleb's station wagon. Eager to please these unlikely enthusiasts, we got
> out the banjo and guitar and did our best on "Salty Dog Blues" and some
> others, which the policemen-- one of whom was a banjer picker--seemed to
> enjoy.
Thanks for the story, Fred. I miss Caleb every time I play. I learned
something profound from him. Talking to him, you never heard him talk
about playing a job - he always played a show. It was never work for
him, and he never lost sight of who he was playing for. What a trouper!
Funny Caleb story - for a number of years, he had his own contracting
business - owned a bunch of bulldozers and heavy equipment and the
like. Then he decided he wanted to do something different with his
life, sold the business and went back to school to learn to be a
radiology technician.
Well, ol' Caleb couldn't do things halfway, so he went back to school
full time and moved into the dorm. Here he is, in his mid-40s, living
in a dormitory with a bunch of 18 year olds.
Now, we were playing together with Windy Ridge at the time. He was
driving a pickup with no cap and so every weekend these kids would see
this strange older guy coming into the dorm about 3 am, hauling a bunch
of PA equipment into his room. To this day, I have laugh at the thought
of that sight...
Geff King
Archie Warnock wrote:
> Thanks for the story, Fred. I miss Caleb every time I play. I learned
> something profound from him. Talking to him, you never heard him talk
> about playing a job - he always played a show. It was never work for
> him, and he never lost sight of who he was playing for. What a trouper!
What Archie said. Twice...
Now tell 'em about Bitter Sweet, featuring the Best Bluegrass Trio I
Ever Heard (Caleb, Frank Schoepf, and Caleb's sister Eleanor. NB Frank:
if you're still on the list, no need to thank me - it's the truth.)
Then there was the time that I almost went to see the Osborne Brothers
at
Sunset Park when Harford Express opened for 'em..weren't you there,
Archie?
Geff King, U.B.P.
John Lupton
At 12:07 PM 4/24/97 -0700, Geff King wrote:
>Then there was the time that I almost went to see the Osborne Brothers
>at Sunset Park when Harford Express opened for 'em..weren't you there,
>Archie?
Seems like I recall seeing Caleb Linder playing with Dean Sapp's Harford
Express back around the Spring of '90, not long before he passed on.
Somebody yesterday mentioned the name of Dan Curtis as a banjo player...is
this the same guy as Danny Curtis who replaced Caleb on mandolin in the
Harford Express for a while??
=========================================================================
John Lupton, SAS Networking http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~jlupton/
University of Pennsylvania home.html
Brandywine Friends of Old Time Music bfotm.html
"Rural Free Delivery", WVUD 91.3 FM rfd.html
=========================================================================
The University of Pennsylvania: a bar with a $31,000 cover charge...
Mike Nolan
At 01:14 PM 04/24/97 -0400, you wrote:
>At 12:07 PM 4/24/97 -0700, Geff King wrote:
>Somebody yesterday mentioned the name of Dan Curtis as a banjo player...is
>this the same guy as Danny Curtis who replaced Caleb on mandolin in the
>Harford Express for a while??
>
>
for the Express - he is phenominal. Before joining Dean et al. he was with
a group named Foggy Bottom who had a female singer with one of the best
voices I've ever heard. Her name was Karen Belanger - Anybody have any idea
what happened to her ?? is she still singing?? Please let me know, either
on or off list
Thanks,
Mike Nolan
BLUEGRASS, pick it up !!!!!!
Fred Geiger
John Lupton wonders:
>
>Seems like I recall seeing Caleb Linder playing with Dean Sapp's Harford
>Express back around the Spring of '90, not long before he passed on.
>this the same guy as Danny Curtis who replaced Caleb on mandolin in the
>Harford Express for a while??
>
Gibson (banjo) he was playing back in the 60s.
Fred