A new era

Gary (Beau) Stotler was a welcome addition to the group. He wasn’t the best guitar player in the world but he was good enough and he was a good singer. He was great to work with always willing to work hard, try new things and just be a good team player. He actually made us a better group. Our plan was to get better then do more traveling. The days of staying in one place for months were over. A month was about as long as we wanted to stay in one place. We had always wanted to work the Casino Cabarets in Reno, Tahoe and Vegas. In order to do that we felt we had to incorporate more show and comedy. In that era people playing show lounges didn’t just stand on stage and play music. I’m not sure but I think our first engagement after putting the new group together was in Richland Washington at a club Named Adrain’s. At one time it had been a supper club. It still had the Decor of a supper club, very nice, but it had become a rock and roll dance club. We opened there and was an immediate success, the crowd loved us. That thrilled us and gave us confidence. We continued to practice every day and started to slip in some comedy skits. The first skit we put together turned out really good. Gary dressed as an old man complete with hat and suit and Ron, the drummer, dressed as an old lady complete with dress. The idea was they were an old vaudeville act not wanting to give up the business. They sang ” you make me feel so young” While singing they also danced. When the song was over the music continued while they threw insults at each other. Some were a bit off color but all were funny. I saw them do it dozens of times and I laughed every time. They both did an outstanding job. The problem with doing comedy at a dance club is getting the crowds attention after they’ve been drinking and dancing. If you’re gonna do it you gotta do it early before they get too drunk. I have another story that proves that point. This actually happened later on at another appearance at Adrain’s but I brought it up so I’ll tell it. The show Sesame Street was a big thing at this time. They had brought out the song Rubber Ducky. We decided we could make a skit of that. I was to sing the song while sitting in the floor wearing a shower cap, holding a bucket and a bath tub brush and a couple of rubber duckies. Now the idea was the bucket was filled with water. It wasn’t it was filled with confetti. However the duckies were filled with wate to try and sell the water trick. We did it a few times and got a good reaction. One Saturday night, not a good night for comedy, a guy comes up to me and request the Rubber Ducky act. It was late in the evening. I explained to him it wasn’t the right time. He said he had brought some visiting family members in just to see it. I pleaded with him to no avail. Finally we decided we had no choice. We tried to explain to the packed house and asked them to please keep their seats during the act. I took my place in the middle of the dance floor in the bright lights. The music started and I started to sing. Out of the corner of my eye I see a guy wandering across the dance floor behind me. Then I see our guitar player Beau ease over towards him and ask him to please move. The next thing I see is the guy take a swing at Beau. Then I see the two of them go to the floor. The drunk on top. I jump up and start over there with my shower brush in my hand. This thing has a handle about 16 inches long and a brush on the end about four inch square. I turn it on edge and hit this dude on the back of the head with all my might. He pauses mid stroke and looks back at me like ” I’ll be with you in a minute” he didn’t even flinch. Thankfully security shows up and gets the guy under control and out the door. Needless to say we didn’t finish the ducky bit. We took a break until we could collect ourselves. It was funny later but at the time not so much. I wish I had a film of that it would be hilarious.

We loved working at Adrain’s. It was a nice area, the Columbia river ran right through the three cities Pascoe , Kennewick and Richland. The river was real wide which made for a great place to water ski. Later on we brought the boat there with us. The people there were great. We made lots of friends. I think our first stay there was for a month. Our next stop Was Spokane Washington, another great place. The Club was The Canterbury Inn. It too was great. We loved playing there the crowds were great. I think we were booked in there for a month also. At this point we didn’t try any comedy routines there. This place was rockin’ by 9:30 every night. For some reason I really liked eastern Washington. It’s farm country they grow lots of wheat.

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