charley - ProfilesArchive

About Me

Growing up in Memphis, TN, during the 1950's and 60's, music has always been a big part of my life. A three year stint in Oklahoma City, beginning in the mid-1960's, allowed me the opportunity to explore my Memphis roots playing the Blues and R&B based rock'n'roll music of the day; titillating the palate of teenage and young adult audiences playing high school and college dances and parties across Oklahoma, and over into New Mexico. Then the move to Texas at the close of the 1960's. After graduating college at North Texas State University (now named University of North Texas), I worked in the record business throughout the 1970's and into the 1980's, when I moved over to the movie/video side of the home entertainment industry and helped build the new (at that time) video rental business....eventually serving on the board of directors of the Video Software Dealers Association Texas Chapter throughout the 1980's, 90's, and into 2001.I have collected records all my life, and I listen to all styles of music (key word is music). I have, also, collected a few vintage instruments along the way. I play guitar, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, kazoo, a little piano, and I sing. That's me and the guys, New Hokum Boys, playing an old jug band blues, "Stealin' Stealin'", that was recorded in Memphis in the late 1920's by the Memphis Jug Band (with Will Shade), among others including the Grateful Dead and Arlo Guthrie in the 1960's and 70's. Although the song's writing credits have been given to Gus Cannon, I haven't come across a recording of the song by Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers. Recent discussion amongst jug band aficionados credits the song to Will Shade, of the Memphis Jug Band. The NHB plays concerts, festivals, and private parties in the Dallas/Ft Worth area doing this old-timey style of music. I, also, perform regularly as a solo act (Rev "Goodtime" Charley) in eateries, at festivals, and on the streets doing the same material mixed with 1950/60/70's folk, blues, and pop/rock. The harmonica player, Tom, and I play volunteer gigs at a local hospital cancer treatment center, as well as children's day care centers in the area. If you are interested in where any of the live performances are going to be, you can get that information on the music (band) page. Just click on the picture of the New Hokum Boys in my friends list. And, why did I put over there that I am only 'Here For: Friends'?....I simply think you need to be friends on some level first, before you network, date, or what have you.Thanks for readin'!

My Interests

Playing music, listening to music, collecting music, collecting instruments, walking, bicycle riding, cooking, gardening, fishing, boating, anything outdoors and/or around the water......and, of course, all things hokum!

I'd like to meet:

Kindred spirits.......

Music:

I listen to all types and styles of music, but I really love making my own music. Going into the studio is a favorite thing to do. That's me and the guys, New Hokum Boys, you're hearing on my page here. Check out their MySpace page for more info.

Movies:

I was in the movie/video business for 20 years so I have seen (and own) too many movies to comment about with any brevity.

Television:

Criminal Minds; CSI; Cold Case; Law & Order; History Channel; A&E Network; Discovery Channel; Bravo; BET.....pretty much anything informational and entertaining, when I have the down time.

Books:

Biographies, history books, photographic collections, etc......

Heroes:

.....have always been cowboys.....or, at least, characters who live on the periphery!

My Blog

An observation.......

I don't know sometimes............Those who know me well enough to also know my family...my parents...probably are aware that my father has Alzheimer's disease. Things progress, time goes by, and he i...
Posted by charley on Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:11:00 PST

07-07-07

I keep hearing about this date 07-07-07 -- July 7, 2007 -- and how special it is supposed to be. I'm not sure what kind of cosmic meaning is inherent in the date, but I do know how special the date is...
Posted by charley on Fri, 06 Jul 2007 07:21:00 PST

An electric moment.......

We've been having some fairly violent weather around the area for the past week or so. Yesterday morning (Wednesday) I was driving to my lunch time gig performing at the Potbelly in Addison. As I sat ...
Posted by charley on Thu, 31 May 2007 06:13:00 PST

Well, I was just thinking.........

I was just thinking a short while back that I would do a little more writing. A while back I moved into some new digs over by the lake. I've been taking my walks along the trail around the lake, and w...
Posted by charley on Sun, 27 May 2007 09:55:00 PST

Always heard it comes in 3's..............

Lord, Lord why? I got a call from my friend Stan while on my walk yesterday that our friend Jimmy had passed away that morning. He has been up in Oregon in an assisted living facility due to a stroke....
Posted by charley on Tue, 29 Aug 2006 07:18:00 PST

Laid him in the ground...........

We laid Mark in the ground yesterday. Six of us carried him from the coach to the grave at the little private family cemetery where his mom, dad, grandparents, great grandparents, and on are buried. I...
Posted by charley on Sun, 20 Aug 2006 08:45:00 PST

Happy Birthday Mark

Today, August 5, 2006, would have been my dear friend Mark's 55th birthday. Every year for a while now he has taken his family to Hawaii visiting friends over there for summer's end vacation, returnin...
Posted by charley on Sat, 05 Aug 2006 09:11:00 PST

just sharing some thoughts on a bad dream...........

Last night a handfull (7) of us gathered at a home out in the country north of the Dallas/Ft Worth area. We talked, we cried, we laughed. As we sat down to the table to eat, we held hands all around a...
Posted by charley on Tue, 01 Aug 2006 04:33:00 PST

Still a bad dream..............

I still haven't been able to wake up from this horrible dream! I don't like this dream anymore and I want it to be over! I don't want to be in this dream anymore!
Posted by charley on Sat, 29 Jul 2006 11:00:00 PST

Got a call today............

I got a call this evening that one of my closest, and longest running friends was killed in an auto accident today. He and his family are on vacation. I mentioned this friend in a previous blog in whi...
Posted by charley on Thu, 27 Jul 2006 09:20:00 PST