The Name Droppers Gazette
I’ve been in and around media since 1975, radio, TV, and some film. I’ve had radio shows, TV shows, night club gigs, sang and played guitar with bands and served as DJ for more parties and camp fires than I could possibly remember.I was in radio so long ago that I interviewed Paul Ray. Johnny Walker and I worked at the Texas Tech radio station together when Dale Dudley was the new guy in town.The Prince of Iran was a regular at a disco I worked then and the Joe Ely band was battling it out with Jay Boy Adams for the top of the Lubbock heap. Stubbs was a real man and place then. Please don’t forget him or Jessie Taylor either.I opened for the Fabulous Thunderbirds at the Cotton Club, playing records... Stubbs' idea.Jimmy Vaughn didn’t care much for my Blues Brothers record, but I swear that was him in Blues Brothers 2000!I did a music magazine show on KXAN years ago called Previously Recorded.The last few years, (11 in fact) I worked for KLRU/Austin City Limits, the last 6 as Operations Manager. We played everything from Garth to Coldplay.If you blink you’ll miss me in the Life of David Gale, but I got to work with Director Allen Parker.I‘m a character in Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Operation Barracuda, and a member of the Ian Fleming Foundation. We have 20 plus vehicles from the James Bond films and I have many friends from the series both behind and in front of the camera.Some top moments I remember may seem sad, but you have to remember how great these people are and go and see live music. Don’t put it off. Life is short and two forty five minute sets are shorter. Go now.Some of my favorite experiences?Willie Nelson,besides all the times he was around Austin City Limits doing various things, in the 80’s right as Honeysuckle Rose was coming out, Willie played a concert in Big Springs, TX at a high school football stadium and the whole thing was run by prisoners from the federal lock up there.I remember seeing Willie and his band on stage in the middle, a circle of fans around him, then the convicts and guards rounding out the wagon wheel.I had fun on the bus with the band and a smuggled bottle of Jack, while Willie signed as many autographs as were needed and as long as it took in a stinky locker room. I bet those cons thanked him for spending that extra time…I remember Tom Lewis and I hanging out with the Joe Ely Band and the Blasters, Jessie Taylor had broken his hand and Charlie Sexton filled in at age 16!Another time, we were at some outdoor festival in Lubbock and I remember one of the Blasters talking to one of the Go-Go’s on the phone. I thought that was so cool. Tom and I skipped out on our DJ gig and went to a party with all those guys and Stubbs. We put on Should I Stay Or Should I Go? by the Clash and split out the back door.Back in Austin I was on the elevator with Dolly Parton going up to 6A and I complemented her on how great her stage dress looked for that night’s show.She said “Oh thank you honey, but this little ‘ole thing is just for sound check.†What a great lady.Another KLRU memory was being in the edit bay with Gary and Dan and David Byrne when someone came in and told us that George Harrison had passed away.At the time, we were working on the Taliking Heads song “Once In a Lifetime.†The everpresent lyric being, "same as it ever was."With another Beatle gone, it never would be.Bryan Beck of KGSR and I have had many adventures. One of the best was walking and spending time with Beau Jocque carrying his accordions up to the stage at one of the Swamp Romps.Man, we rocked it when he came to town. The real deal. Sadly, Beau Jocque passed away before he played Austin again.Which reminds me of one year at the Kerrville Folk Festival during The Festival of the Eagle. I nestled my little dome tent in between a group of Tipis and some of the AIM guys. I walked Floyd Red Crow Westerman up to Chapel Hill and back most evenings. He was a great artist and actor, a dear American treasure of a human being.I guess the biggest memory was being in London with Doug and the Bond guys for a fundraiser honoring EON. I ran into Joe Strummer and I asked,“Do we have a mutual friend from Lubbock Texas?â€He spun around and said,“Joe Ely mate!!â€I spent the rest of the evening with Joe talking about life, the Lubbock guys, and his work with the Mescaleros.He actually thought that my involvement with the James Bond stuff was cool! Imagine that... the king of punk digs Bond. Time and people change.Later that year, after he passed the Clash’s London Calling was included in Die Another Day.Make plans to see live music this week!! Or the standup comedy of Matt Sadler of course.
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