Okay, I was hoping to keep this blog somewhat chronological, but that's not going to happen. This entry is about the "dark" part of my limited music career. Sometime shortly after leaving the Whitsuntide Singers, I got a call from the crusty old booking agent, Joe Musse. He said he had a seventeen week gig for me in a trio, that would be playing all over North America!
He said he had a female vocalist who turned out to be none other than Barb, our (TWS) first lady singer! All he needed was a banjo player. I think I tried to get my best friend Wayne to sign on, but he was in school and not much interested. He did suggest Scotty Ross who was one of the most interesting dudes I ever came across in the '60s and 70's.
Scotty could really play banjo, didn't sing much, (or talk much either) but if I wanted the gig I needed a five string "plunker". Scotty was a REAL hippie and into drugs (who wasn't back then), but he also carried a semi-automatic weapon at all times! A little nerve racking if you hit a wrong chord or something.
Anyway, Joe gave the Nameless Three bus fare down to St. Louis where our gig was suppose to start. How exciting! He assured us that someone would meet us at the station, and our new career would be off and running. Upon arriving at the Greyhound depot, we were greeted by a guy in high polished riding boots and a midget. We loaded our stuff into a van that was brightly painted and said "ROYAL AMERICAN SHOWS" Joe had signed us up with a carnival!
Sure enough we arrived at some railroad yard with rows and rows of train cars that were all part of the circus. We were shown to our "quarters" which was a box car with bunks and a very small screened-in window for ventilation. It was St. Louis in August. After we got settled in we went to meet the "director". He explained that the "show" was a western themed strip show! We would sing and play between stripper's acts.
Wait, it gets better. Rehearsals would start in the morning after breakfast, and we only had a few days to get ready before we were to go on the road, the railroad. The realty of our situation was beginning to sink in. As we sat down in the mess tent with midgets, strippers, lion tamers, and toothless tilt-a-whirl operators, Barb began to sob uncontrollably. Scotty just ate his grits with one hand, and kept the other on his 9mm.
It was now time to get fitted for costumes. Scotty and I had complimenting pink and sky blue sequined cowboy suits. Barb looked like a plump Dale Evans. It was humiliating and funny at the same time. The good thing was, now Scotty had a holster for his gun!
"Jesse" was the star of the show, and that worked out fine because the Nameless Three knew the song Jesse James, and ripped off a version that brought the rehearsal tent down, (so to speak). But we only got to do one verse, as we weren't the actual performers people would come to pay to see.
Barb was very uneasy around a dozen or so naked women at 9AM in the morning. Scotty couldn't stop grinning. Naked women for twelve hours a day for seventeen weeks was his cup of tea. I got to know one of the dancers, and she suggested we do the midway together. That night on the top of the Ferris wheel, I casually commented that there sure were a lot of black people in St. Louis. She responded by saying "I'm black" to which I clumsily responded "See".
If you'd have told me a week earlier that I would be working in a carnival and going out with a stripper I'd have called you nuts!
Barb got homesick after a couple weeks, and Scotty ran out of weed. The Nameless Three were coming unraveled. The next stop was The Calgary Stampede, and if we were going to bail out it better be before we left the country! I wish I had a publicity photo from that gig. Here was "Jesse" semi-nude straddling a 5/8 inch wide painted plywood horse (imagine the discomfort) and me in a pink sequined cowboy suit!
We waited until payday and beat feet outa Dodge. I never saw either of my trio mates again.
He said he had a female vocalist who turned out to be none other than Barb, our (TWS) first lady singer! All he needed was a banjo player. I think I tried to get my best friend Wayne to sign on, but he was in school and not much interested. He did suggest Scotty Ross who was one of the most interesting dudes I ever came across in the '60s and 70's.
Scotty could really play banjo, didn't sing much, (or talk much either) but if I wanted the gig I needed a five string "plunker". Scotty was a REAL hippie and into drugs (who wasn't back then), but he also carried a semi-automatic weapon at all times! A little nerve racking if you hit a wrong chord or something.
Anyway, Joe gave the Nameless Three bus fare down to St. Louis where our gig was suppose to start. How exciting! He assured us that someone would meet us at the station, and our new career would be off and running. Upon arriving at the Greyhound depot, we were greeted by a guy in high polished riding boots and a midget. We loaded our stuff into a van that was brightly painted and said "ROYAL AMERICAN SHOWS" Joe had signed us up with a carnival!
Sure enough we arrived at some railroad yard with rows and rows of train cars that were all part of the circus. We were shown to our "quarters" which was a box car with bunks and a very small screened-in window for ventilation. It was St. Louis in August. After we got settled in we went to meet the "director". He explained that the "show" was a western themed strip show! We would sing and play between stripper's acts.
Wait, it gets better. Rehearsals would start in the morning after breakfast, and we only had a few days to get ready before we were to go on the road, the railroad. The realty of our situation was beginning to sink in. As we sat down in the mess tent with midgets, strippers, lion tamers, and toothless tilt-a-whirl operators, Barb began to sob uncontrollably. Scotty just ate his grits with one hand, and kept the other on his 9mm.
It was now time to get fitted for costumes. Scotty and I had complimenting pink and sky blue sequined cowboy suits. Barb looked like a plump Dale Evans. It was humiliating and funny at the same time. The good thing was, now Scotty had a holster for his gun!
"Jesse" was the star of the show, and that worked out fine because the Nameless Three knew the song Jesse James, and ripped off a version that brought the rehearsal tent down, (so to speak). But we only got to do one verse, as we weren't the actual performers people would come to pay to see.
Barb was very uneasy around a dozen or so naked women at 9AM in the morning. Scotty couldn't stop grinning. Naked women for twelve hours a day for seventeen weeks was his cup of tea. I got to know one of the dancers, and she suggested we do the midway together. That night on the top of the Ferris wheel, I casually commented that there sure were a lot of black people in St. Louis. She responded by saying "I'm black" to which I clumsily responded "See".
If you'd have told me a week earlier that I would be working in a carnival and going out with a stripper I'd have called you nuts!
Barb got homesick after a couple weeks, and Scotty ran out of weed. The Nameless Three were coming unraveled. The next stop was The Calgary Stampede, and if we were going to bail out it better be before we left the country! I wish I had a publicity photo from that gig. Here was "Jesse" semi-nude straddling a 5/8 inch wide painted plywood horse (imagine the discomfort) and me in a pink sequined cowboy suit!
We waited until payday and beat feet outa Dodge. I never saw either of my trio mates again.
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