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" C L A R E N C E W H I T E C H R O N I C L E S "
The Online Newsletter of A Guitar Virtuoso
September 13, 1998 (Number.14)
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* Bill Monroe Memorial Birthday Issue! *
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Edited by Etsuo Eito
Copyright by Bluegrass Workshop "North Field" 1998
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same address with the appropriate word in the subject field.
Back issues of "CLARENCE WHITE CHRONICLES" can be downloaded
at the following web site.
http://www.urban.ne.jp/home/koa7/byrds.htm
No part of this newsletter can be reprinted in any format
without editor's permission.
____________________________________________________________________________
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[ Editor's Note ]
Thinking of Bill Monroe the Father of Bluegrass, and Clarence White
the Innovator of bluegrass guitar......
Once there was an opportunity that Clarence White should have played
along with Bill Monroe early in 1973. But it could not be realized as
Bill Monroe's tour bus was stopped because of an engine trouble on
the way to the TV studio in Los Angeles,CA. Then, the Muleskinner band
made a historic TV session (which we can see "Muleskinner The Live"
video released by SIERRA company) without Bill Monroe. This is the
famous Muleskinner band story.
And, I still often think of how it would be if Clarence White had
joined Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys on guitar... They surely would
make so cool sounds and so tight rhythm that no group ever made before.
But now, they both are in the heaven and it could not be any more.
That's why I made this issue for a special tribute to Bill Monroe and
Clarence White.
I have had a private interview tape of Alan Munde talking about
Clarence White's death since several years before. I kept it secretly
in my collection,and I was hesitating about this matter for long.
However, I think now it is the time to talk about this interview tape,
as Roland White's interview article (subject: The truth about Clarence
White's death) appeared in a Japanese bluegrass magazine "Moon Shiner"
issued July 1998. He talked about their tragic accident happened in the
midnight on the street of Palmdale,CA after 25 years. He mentioned that
the drunk woman driver was pregnant then in the interview, but he never
mentioned that she was a young Japanese woman. He seemed that he wouldn't
like to make us (Japanese readers) shocked and surprised. So he did not
talk that the drunk woman driver who killed Clarence was a Japanese woman
named "Yoko Ito", I guess.......
Anyway, I decided to publish this tape for our readers. But it was
so difficult for a non-native speaker to hear and write down all
what they talked on the tape. Sandy Rothman kindly enough worked
for this troublesome transcription. Without his great concern and
help, I wouldn't have been able to print this interview.
Here's an old memory of Clarence White by Stan Wolfe who first saw
him at a club in Berkeley back in 1964. This neat story will carry
you back to the bluegrass music scene of the Bay Area in 1960's.
Thanks a lot, Stan, for your gem story! And also, thanks a lot, Sandy,
for your additional notes to Stan's story. It is another neat description
about the music scene in Berkeley of those days.
Editor
_______________________________________________________________________________
[Contents of this issue]
* Truth or Fiction ................. ..(email correspondence) Sandy Rothman
* I guess it is a truth ................(email correspondence) Etsuo Eito
* Alan Munde's Interview .....by Randal Morton, transcribed by Sandy Rothman
* Clarence White at the Cabale Creamery ........ ...............Stan Wolfe
* Additional notes ............................. ............. Sandy Rothman
_______________________________________________________________________________
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1998 02:40:05 -0700
To: colonels@ac.mbn.or.jp
From: Sandy Rothman
Subject: Truth or fiction?
Dear Etsuo-san,
Just a brief note. Tonight I was in Moe's Books and happened to see a book
I've never seen before called "Nashville Babylon," by Randall Riese, 1988.
It's all about scandals and tragedies in country music. It contains a short
statement about Clarence's death and mentions the name of the drunk driver
who killed Clarence, which I had never heard before. I copied the following
line from the book: "The driver of the car, Yoko Ito, was booked on
suspicion of felony drunk driving and manslaughter." Have you ever seen
this name before?? I never have. I wonder whatever happened to her, and
whether she even knows who he really was or what he meant to us. I heard
that the woman who hit him had been a troublemaker in the bar that night.
Could it be this woman? It's still a mystery, I guess...All for now,
Sandy
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon Jul 27,1998 20:30 JST
From: Etsuo Eito
To: Sandy Rothman
Subject: I guess it is a truth.
Dear Sandy-san,
Many thanks for the important information! Yes, I have ever heard that the
drunk driver who killed Clarence was a woman, a Japanese American woman. But
I didn't know her name. I got this information from a friend of mine Greg
Morton (who is originally from Memphis,TN. and now working at LA Music in
Tucson, AZ), who had make a private interview (about Clarence White's death)
with Alan Munde several years before. He(Greg) recorded this interview on his
tape recorder, and he made me a copy cassette. Alan Munde told about that drunk
driver in this cassette tape. I will send you a copy of this cassette, and can
I ask you a favor ?
I would like you to make a hearing dictation word by word from this tape, as I
can't hear exactly what he talks in the tape. Partly too fast, partly too
small voice to hear. So I can understand only half what he speaks in the tape.
Will soon send you a cassette copy.
Thank you very much for your always great concern.
Etsuo
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 04:09:27 -0700
To: colonels@ac.mbn.or.jp
From: Sandy Rothman
Subject: Alan Munde interview
Etsuo-san konnichi wa,
I received the tape today. Here is a transcript of the short talk by Alan
Munde. I can understand everything he says except when the other guys are
talking at the same time. I probably didn't get every word he said... but
I hope at least eighty percent. I wonder if you plan to translate this for
your Japanese readers.
It was of course extremely painful to hear details of the tragedy...Roland
could tell many more details, but I don't think he has ever wanted to. I
have never felt that I could ask him about it. It's hard not to try to feel
or imagine the immense pain that Clarence must have experienced...we can
only hope that he became unconscious very quickly...
Thanks for letting me hear the tape. I was glad to do this transcription for
you. The more I think about this, however, the more improbable it seems to me
that a pregnant woman (Japanese-American or otherwise) would, for health
reasons, be out drinking in a bar or be a troublemaker and a drunk driver, as
the story goes.
Anyway...best wishes,
Sandy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I n t e r v i e w w i t h A l a n M u n d e
-- Topic: Clarence White's death --
Interviewed by Randal Morton
Taped by Greg Morton
at the Tennessee Banjo Institute,
Lebanon,TN. November 1990
Transcribed by Sandy Rothman
-----------------------------------------------------------------
[Note] Alan Munde was the banjo player for the White Brothers
when they toured England and Sweden in the spring of 1973,
and also he played the banjo for the Country Gazette. Alan
also worked with Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys,
among others.
------------------------------------------------------------------
(RM for Randal Morton, AM for Alan Munde)
AM: It's like that "Live in Sweden" with Clarence and Roland --
RM: That was great.
AM: I mean it was never intended to be a record, it was just a guy, the sound
guy just, you know, turned his tape recorder on and got it, which was a
wgood thing, 'cause, you know, it wasn't a month or two and Clarence was
dead. You know.
RM: Were you around when that happened?
AM: I remember the day very well; I wasn't with them, but I was just,
actually, out at the beach. I remember Roger Bush's wife got the call,
and came rushing, down the beach...fact is, he and Roland were supposed to
come down, maybe not that day, but the next day, you know, and hang out.
RM: Wow.
AM: Yeah, so...
RM: Was that in L.A., when you were living...
AM: I lived in L.A. He was living in a place called ...somethin' valley,
which was near Lancaster, California, where his mother and dad had lived,
and we were down in L.A., and it's about 60 miles away, which is, for L.A.,
(not so far)...now, there's 150-200,000 there -- probably don't have room
to put an airport now. But that's where Edwards Air Force Base was, and
that's where there was a lot of aircraft-related industry up there, and
Roland's dad worked there... and then Clarence bought a house up there,
and they were livin' up there, had just gone out to...just a club, you know,
that Clarence had played many many times, before he was with the Byrds, to
pick, and was just comin' out loadin' up the stuff, and had put the stuff
in the trunk and walked around to get into the car, and the lady came by
and side-swiped the car and hit him, and knocked him on down the road, and
Roland had just walked around to the front...and he was -- you know, they
don't know that, but he was hit also and knocked over the hood of the car,
by the lady... and you know, Clarence was, you know, 150 feet down the road.
RM: Wow...(all talk at once)
AM: It knocked him out of his boots...Yeah. And she wasn't even a citizen,
she was a Japanese lady...(all talk) Yeah.
RM: That's terrible.
AM: Yeah, it is. You know, and Roland had said, Clarence had just said, you
know, "We better get out of here, we're gonna, you know, somebody's gonna
hit us"...you know, so he walked around to get in the car, and sure enough
somebody came along and...
RM: Terrible.
AM: Yeah.
RM: And killed him instantly, did it...?
AM: Uh, he...didn't last very long, no. I don't think it was instantly, but it
wasn't... you know, Roland said there was, oddly, or, as happens often
enough you hear about, there was a paramedic that was in a car just behind
him, you know, just out drivin' around and saw it happen and stopped, and
so he had some kind of aid almost immediately, but...seemed like the
doctor said, or somebody, Roland told me that, you know, it was like there
was not a bone that was not broken...
RM: Wow...
AM: You know, they just...it just got every bit of him.
RM: Mmm.....
AM: You know, so...
RM: But uh, his playing behind you really made a difference, though, didn't it.
AM: Oh God, I thought it did, you know and it's real weird 'cause I didn't do
anything different, but it made it sound different, and it sounded better.
RM: He complemented it so well...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Tape ends)
_______________________________________________________________________________
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: StanWolfe@aol.com
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1998 23:54:22 EDT
To: colonels@ac.mbn.or.jp
Subject: Clarence White at the Cabale Creamery
Hello, Etsuo, here's that memory you asked about... about my accidental
introduction to the Kentucky Colonels and Clarence's guitar playing in 1964.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Clarence White at the Cabale Creamery
by Stan Wolfe
In that year, I had just acquired a serious interest in folk guitar and
bluegrass music, but I hadn't yet acquired an ear for the well-flatpicked
guitar. I was 20 years old and in college then, living in an apartment. One
of my roommates had a record album called something like New Dimensions In
Bluegrass Music by some guys named Weissberg and Brickman, and it had a
certain appeal to me, and the thing about it that was especially appealing was
the very distinctive, though subtle, guitar part that sort of had arms to it
that reached out and grabbed me every time I heard it.
As my interest in bluegrass grew, I began to sit in with local bluegrass
musicians (the banjo player I hung out with liked to play Earl's Breakdown a
LOT) and I took in bluegrass whenever and whereever I could. And so, on the
evening of April 18, 1964, at the prodding of my roommate and one of his
professors, we drove 50-miles north to Berkeley to hear a band called the
Kentucky Colonels play at a place called the Cabale Creamery (might have been
on Telegraph Avenue). I went up there as a complete flatpick innocent and
came back a changed person.
As I recall, in 1964 Bob Dylan was just emerging on the music scene, and folk
music was everywhere. We got out of our car in Berkeley, and as we walked to
the Cabale, we could see through the open door of one nearby club, and watched
a Dylan look-alike sitting on a stool in blue stage light wrapping up his set.
Maybe his last song was Blowin' in the Wind, I don't know. The nearby Cabale
Creamery was small and unadorned, with a small stage and maybe a couple dozen
small tables for the audience. We had a table right in front of the stage. A
couple of familiar South Bay bluegrass musicians were in the audience: Herb
Pederson, Butch Waller (sp?) and probably other members of the Pine Valley
Boys. I overheard Butch discussing the nuances of Gibson mandolins with a
young lady. There were a couple of mike stands at stage center. Someone from
the audience walked up and taped another mike onto the stand, and this may
have fed a tape recorder, as I recall. I wasn't expecting anything special,
but, to make a long story short, when the Colonels came out and played their
opening set I was wiped out! They were great! As far as their stage
personalities, Billy Ray was the band's "bad boy" and clown; Roger Bush was
the straight man/bass player/MC; Roland and Clarence White had (especially
Clarence) non-speaking roles...the challenge was to get Clarence to smile, and
he gave in occasionally. Roland was the leader of the band. They were each
excellent musicians, and, me being the aspiring guitar player, I was
especially moved by this flatpicker I had never heard of before named Clarence
White. As I recall, their entire first set did not feature any of Clarence's
solo picking. But even then, I could see that his back-up work was worth the
price of admission right there. He stood to the rear, Roland and Billy Ray to
the front. His guitar had an old, worn, beat-up face (could have been the
D-18 or the D-28). Their first set might have included this list of songs:
Wait a Little Longer Please Jesus
Foggy Mountain Breakdown
Hot Corn Cold Corn
Lonesome Road Blues
Memories of Mother and Dad
Don't Let Your Deal Go Down
Roanoke
Uncle Pen
Feast Here Tonight
Clinch Mountain Backstep
Way Down Town
During their second set, Clarence showed his stuff on several solos, and this
set included:
Wildwood Flower
Listen to the Mockingbird
Cumberland Gap
Pass Me Not
Shady Grove
Ground Hog
Pike County Breakdown
In the Pines
Duelin' Banjo
Pig In a Pen
Rose of Old Kentucky
And by the end of the evening, when I had heard Clarence play Alabama
Jubilee, Beaumont Rag, Shiek of Arabie, Under the Double Eagle, Footprints in
the Snow, and New River Train, that was it...all I could think or say was the
1964 equivalent of YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING! I'VE GOT TO PLAY GUITAR LIKE
CLARENCE WHITE! I'd be happy if I could play just one song in his style.
As I watched Clarence play, I noticed that he gave no appearance of trying
very hard...no "flying fingers." He barely moved his left hand fingers even
while playing extremely fast pieces. He seemed to brace the palm of his right
hand on the bridge pins. His right hand little finger curled under his palm
and did not seem to brush the face of the guitar. As I recall, he was thin,
dressed in a coat and tie, and wore his hair short and combed back. When the
band took a break, I would stand up from my table and sort of get in the flow
of band members and fans who were following the band back stage. And I did
this partly to maneuver my way to where I could stand next to Clarence and
maybe ask him some questions. So I remember noticing that he was shorter then
me by a few inches (I'm 5'-11") because once or twice I did manage to walk
next to him back to the door of the warm-up room. Somehow the door of that
room always closed before the "groupies" like me could push our way in.
Somewhere around that time, Doc Watson's album came out, and that put me even
more over the edge. I spent the next 10-11 years slowing down tapes and
records of Clarence's music trying to learn a little from him. I learned that
I will never play like him, but it was some of the best time I ever spent in
my life so far. I did learn a decent immitation of Beaumont Rag, Foodprints
in the Snow, etc., but foolishly I gave up the guitar in 1975 for reasons that
completely escape me now. (I'm back at it now and it's slow going.)
And what is it about Clarence's flatpicking that moves us? I am no closer to
having the vocabulary to describe that as anybody else. I used to say that
Clarence White distinguished himself by being more "musical" than other
players, but obviously that doesn't say anything. He put emotion into music,
instead of merely "reciting" music. He had a highly developed sense of
phrasing, synchopation, variety, timing, tonation, and he understood music
from both the player's standpoint as well as that of the listener. Some of
the rest of us, we just make notes.
Related to the above, the artist Georges Braque once noted that "the best
thing about art can't be described."
I'm happy to say I heard the Kentucky Colonels live in 1964. It was an
extremely memorable performance.
And I went back to hear them the next night.
All my best,
Stan Wolfe
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
****************************************************************************
Additional Notes to "Clarence White at the Cabale Creamery"
by Sandy Rothman
CWC readers: Etsuo-san, our thoughtful editor, kindly sent me an advance
copy of Stan Wolfe's story, because he knew that I was one of the
(inconceivably few) people in the audience that night. Stan's recollections
brought back memories. I don't feel I can remember enough to write a real
story, but I did write down a few things inspired by reading Stan's piece.
I emailed them to Etsuo, and he wanted to add them to this edition of the
Chronicles. Thanks to Stan for bringing back memories of an incomparable
time, and to Etsuo for sharing them. Life was very different then.
Bluegrass was "music," not an "industry." And Clarence and the Colonels
were on the road, playing an exciting and original version of it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>I was 20 years old and in college then, living in an apartment.
Stan might have been living in San Jose or maybe Palo Alto, two college
locations approximately 50 miles south of Berkeley...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>the...guitar part that sort of had arms to it that reached out and grabbed me
>every time I heard it.
What a neat way to describe it. Great art has a way of doing that, and
Clarence's music was maximally artful, wasn't it. It's hard to imagine
anything quite like that happening now...that sublime degree of
subtlety...that soulful depth of emotion...that singular creativity...and a
humble personality to go along with it. The speed, fury, and precision of
today's instrumentalists rushes by like the Shinkansen (bullet train)
passing an old local. But the old local has a memorable look, sound, smell,
and character that can never be replaced. (In fact the whole band had a
unique dynamism and dimensionality that is unimaginable in today's world of
lined-up, often unrecognizable bands. But that's not news to the readers of
this magazine!)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>As my interest in bluegrass grew, I began to sit in with local bluegrass
>musicians (the banjo player I hung out with liked to play Earl's Breakdown a
>LOT) and I took in bluegrass whenever and wherever I could.
I wonder who the local bluegrass musicians were, who the banjo player was,
and where he saw bluegrass in 1964 in the Bay Area? There were very few
chances to do that around here at the time. If Stan was living in the South
Bay, he might have gone to the Offstage in San Jose, or the Top of the
Tangent in Palo Alto, where local folk, old-time, and bluegrass acts
appeared.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ...we drove 50-miles north to Berkeley to hear a band called the Kentucky
>Colonels play at a place called the Cabale Creamery (might have been on
>Telegraph Avenue).
It was on San Pablo Avenue, a main north-south thoroughfare parallel to
Telegraph on the opposite (west) side of town, at the southwest corner of
Dwight Way and San Pablo. I don't recall how "Creamery" got attached to it
-- maybe from the steamed milk that was in the cappuccinos and lattes? The
name "Cabale" was taken from "Cabala," a medieval system of Jewish
mysticism. (Other dictionary definitions are: "a traditional, esoteric,
occult, or secret matter" and "an esoteric doctrine or mysterious art." Do
any of those terms resonate with bluegrass, nearly a cult in itself?!
Hahaha.) One of the Cabale's founders was Rolf Cahn, a Jewish refugee from
Nazi Germany who had served in the US Army during the war and also played
and taught classical, flamenco, and folk guitar. Bluegrass was scheduled
only occasionally at the Cabale, but on the other hand, it was the only
club in Berkeley where it was presented at all during that period (1963-4).
The usual entertainment at the Cabale included local musicians and quite a
few travelling "folk individuals" from the more developed Cambridge folk
scene. (The similarity between the Cabale's monthly calendar and that of
Cambridge's Club 47 may have been an inspiration for Rick Shubb's placement
of Berkeley and Cambridge as next-door neighbors in his legendary
"Humbead's Revised Map of the World" poster which may be viewed in the book
"Baby, Let Me Follow You Down" by Von Schmidt & Rooney). Physically, the
Cabale was a fairly small, long and narrow, dark room with the ambience of
a '50s Beat coffeehouse. Coffee drinks were made at the far end of the
room. When the Colonels played there the stage was against the long wall on
the north side of the room (the right side as you walked in); later, it was
on the short wall just inside and to the right of the entrance. I doubt
that the Cabale existed much beyond the following year, 1965. Around that
time a folk club got started called the Jabberwock; this was on Telegraph
Avenue (at the corner of Russell, near Ashby), in the site of the former
jazz club Tsubo's where the Montgomery Brothers had been the house band.
Jazz radio station KJAZ-FM was in the same small building. The Jabberwock's
monthly entertainment roster was roughly the same as at the Cabale, with
blues and folk and occasional bluegrass. A similar format was carried over
to the original Freight and Salvage coffeehouse (formerly Frank's Shoe
Repair, which some of us wanted to name the folk club) when it began in
1968, as folk music in Berkeley found its way back to San Pablo Avenue
(near Hearst), where it still remains -- a much less mystical and more
professional incarnation in its second location (on Addison just off San
Pablo). Back to April of 1964:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>We got out of our car in Berkeley, and as we walked to
>the Cabale, we could see through the open door of one nearby club...
There were two other clubs on San Pablo that used to have blues or folk
music, but they weren't that close to the Cabale. One was called the Blind
Lemon, a blues club, and the other was Steppenwolf, which had folk music. I
guess it might have been Steppenwolf that he passed.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>A couple of familiar South Bay bluegrass musicians were in the audience:
>Herb Pederson, Butch Waller, and probably other members of the Pine
>Valley Boys.
They lived in the East Bay (Berkeley), not South Bay which is where Stan
and his friends had just driven from. Butch and Herb were both from
Berkeley and had gone to the same high school (St. Mary's). Their first
group was the Westport Singers, a bluegrass-flavored folk trio with
guitarist Rich Conley. At that time Rick Shubb and I had a bluegrass band
called the Pine Ridge Ramblers. Later, Butch and Herb became the Pine
Valley Boys. They eventually did quite a bit of touring, much more than we
did; Butch recently told me that they played Carnegie Hall in 1965 as part
of a national folk tour!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>I overheard Butch discussing the nuances of Gibson mandolins with a
>young lady.
This is funny! If you print this, please send a copy of the CWC to Butch.
He'll laugh at this! He'd probably like to read back issues, too. I wonder
now, in the late 1990s, how many passionate young mandolinists there are
anywhere in the world who might be discussing "the nuances of Gibson
mandolins" with any interested young ladies? Come to think of it, I may
have observed something like this endearing scenario at bluegrass clubs and
festivals in Japan...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Someone from the audience walked up and taped another mike onto the stand..
This was either me or Brooks Otis. If you're reading this, Brooks, was it you?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>...the challenge was to get Clarence to smile, and he gave in occasionally.
He's right! We, in the audience, always made a game of trying to get
Clarence to smile. (Of course the band members did, too.) As we sat at the
few small round tables that were just a couple of feet from the stage
platform (barely large enough for a band; better suited to a slightly
tipsy, rambling folk artist), we'd do various subtle things that Clarence
could see that might break his stony, serious expression. If I found myself
listening with my elbow on the table and my chin resting on my hand, I
would slowly move my elbow to the edge of the table...and if Clarence would
happen to look right at me, I would let my elbow slip off the edge of the
table -- you know that one! Corny and uninspired as it may have been, it
was usually effective. Seeing Clarence's face break out into a big smile
was one of those great things...what I wouldn't give to see it again.
Clarence's sense of humor was about as sophisticated as his guitar playing.
He was dry and understated and would crack you up with a minimum of words.
An old "sight gag" like the elbow-off-the-edge-of-the-table wasn't really
funny, but in the context of performing, especially the intensely driving
and sophisticated version of bluegrass that the Colonels were playing, it
was just enough to break the tension of the charged atmosphere, at least
for Clarence and a few of his mindblown devotees.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>He stood to the rear, Roland and Billy Ray to the front.
As I recall, Roland and Clarence were generally in front, with the two
(sometimes three) others moving in and out from the back.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>His guitar had an old, worn, beat-up face (could have been the D-18 or
>the D-28).
He played both during these shows, as usual. Rhythm on the D-28, lead on the
D-18.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Regarding the set lists that Stan suggests, I'm thinking that he doesn't
have a reference tape. Very few of the songs on his list were done that
night. For instrumentals, I think Clarence only played "Wildwood Flower,"
"Soldier's Joy," and "Black Mountain. Rag" (along with a few life-changing
solos on some of the vocals). But Stan has an amazing memory of some of the
KC's other repertoire. I wonder how he can remember so many song titles.
Wonder if he took notes...he was a college kid at the time. And he does say
in his piece: "Some of the rest of us, we just make notes."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ...and wore his hair short and combed back.
Combed straight back, just like his older brother Roland's, but not very
short by 1964 standards.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>So I remember noticing that he was shorter then me by a few inches
>(I'm 5'-11").
I'm about 5'-8" and Clarence was shorter than me (maybe 5'-6"). So he was
shorter than Stan by quite a few inches.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Somehow the door of that room always closed before the "groupies" like me
>could push our way in.
A performing band needs a tiny bit of privacy...it's a good thing they
managed to get any at all in the informality of those days. I don't recall
going into the back room, either, but I might have. (I don't know when or
how it was decided that they would ask me to do a guest duet with Roland --
I think that just happened; it was a great experience for me, because just
two months later I traveled and sang with Bill Monroe for a short time. The
only problem was, Clarence handed me his guitar and that meant he wasn't on
the stage.) But I did see them during the daytime sometimes while they were
in Berkeley that week. At the back of the Cabale, actually out the back
door and across a small alleyway into a side building, there was a spare
room that the Cabalists let the Colonels use to sleep in. It was just a
bare room with a few old mattresses on the floor! (Ah, the old days. I'll
bet that's one thing they remembered about Berkeley!) I think somebody
finally took pity on them and gave Roger Bush and Billy Ray, maybe, a place
to stay inside a house. My memory's a little foggy...Roger, are you reading
this? Help! One day, Campbell Coe set up a sound system in the alley in
front of his Campus Music Shop and brought the entire band up to Telegraph
Avenue for an afternoon concert. What a day that was...I reminisced about
this incredible event in an earlier edition of the CWC. Campbell also held
a kind of open house for them at his apartment nearby, and did some jamming
with Clarence and Roland himself, using his original Selmer Maccaferri
guitar. Clarence's later playing of "Shiek of Araby" may have been inspired
by Campbell, who inspired lots of things in those days...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>I'm happy to say I heard the Kentucky Colonels live in 1964. It was an
>extremely memorable performance.
If I had only two short lines to write, I would say exactly the same thing.
I'm sure it's true for everyone who came to see the Colonels at the Cabale
that week...or any other time and place. Thanks again, Stan and Etsuo, for
the chance to revisit those days in memory.
Sandy Rothman
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| The desk of CLARENCE WHITE CHRONICLES |
| Bluegrass Workshop "North Field" |
| C/O Etsuo Eito |
| 2-13-7,Kitahirano, |
| Himeji,Hyogo, 670-0893 JAPAN |
| |
| PHONE/FAX: +81-792-82-0821 |
| E-MAIL : colonels@ac.mbn.or.jp |
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Your Always Kentucky Colonelly,
Etsuo Eito
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* Snail-Mail Address: 2-13-7,Kitahirano, *
* Himeji,Hyogo, 670-0893 *
* JAPAN *
* E-Mail Address : colonels@ac.mbn.or.jp *
* PHONE / FAX : +81-792-82-0821 *
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Clarence White Chronicles 15
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