Protect Your Hearing & BALANCE

I'm as serious as a heart attack here, people.

Those of us who like to listen to loud music have got to protect our ears. At home or in the car, you can simply turn to the volume down so it doesn't hurt anymore. We have control over that. But when you are at a concert, you really ought to have a pair of ear plugs in your pocket. Depending on who is playing or the size and acoustic quality of the performance venue, you really ought to give yourself the option of reducing the decibel level in your own ears. Pictured here are my favorite brand of ear plugs, which I see in Walgreens drug stores wherever I go. 35 decibels is about the highest reduction level you'll likely find on ear plug packaging. These help.
About five years ago, I simply gave up using headphones. I simply never use them for listening to music anymore. I think having a sound source that close to my eardrums is not safe at any volume level. Recent stories in the news express similar concerns in regard to iPods.

All my life everyone told me to protect my ears so as to not loose my hearing. Well, guess what, that's not all you can loose. You can also loose your sense of balance if you abuse your ears, too. No one ever told me that. I wish they had. Your sense of balance is regulated in your inner ears.

As a child, I had virtually year-round ear infections. Our local pediatricians and ear, nose, throat specialists were in agreement that I had the worse case of ear infections they had ever seen. I'll spare you the details. I really outgrew ear infections by my 30s, but by then I had developed scar tissue on my left ear drum that caused me to loose about one third of my ability to hear in my left ear. Not only that but during the 1980s, my left ear started hearing everything with some distortion which leaves me now without the ability to hear sound (and music) as pure as before. Growing old is a bitch ain't it?

In the last two years I have been diagnosed as having Menieres Disease in my left hear which makes me dizzy and lightheaded about 75% of the time, but on the left side of my body only. I have never felt localized dizziness like this before. Certain body or head movement will trigger a momentary dizziness. I have learned to ignore it and go about my merry way. It has not caused me to loose any sense of balance, just cause me to exert greater strength to maintain my balance which leaves me more tired at the end of the day. I repeat, growing old is a bitch, ain't it?

The best thing I can do is to preserve my remaining hearing. So I do all of the things mentioned above and I do them willingly. My advice to you is to protect your ears from unnecessarily loud sound, music and machinery particularly, and also to take extra precautions against getting head colds that can settle in your ears and cause infection. Washing your hands with soap a water often is the best prevention for catching colds. Do these things now so you can enjoy music your whole life.

2009 UPDATE: In the Fall of 2006, I made the difficult decision to simply stop going to concerts because I just don't think my left ear can tolerate amplified music even with ear plugs. Anyone experiencing constant vertigo as I have since 2004 will do ANYTHING to make it stop or at least get a little better. I can not take any chances on the vertigo getting worse. Some days, weeks, or months are better than others. I'd love for it to completely go away.

Hap Pebbles Remembered

Hap Peebles was a concert booking agent and promoter who put on concerts in about ten upper Midwest states. His headquarters was in Wichita, Kansas. His biggest specialty was country music. Country music biographies and documentaries have mentioned him often with the highest praise, saying that signed contracts were unnecessary as his word was good and that if he said he would do something he would plus more.

A local friend, Carl "Crazy Legs" Palmer brought over a couple of plaques that were given to Hap, one an appreciation from radio station KFDI in Wichita and one from the Jaycees in Topeka for his emergency relief fundraising immediately after the devastating tornado on June 8, 1966, that practically cut the city in half.

At the recent Ponderosa Stomp festival in Memphis, Tennessee, Sun Records rockabilly legend Sonny Burgess asked where I was from. As soon as I told him he immediately said Hap Pebbles booked their shows in this area in the 1950s and 1960s and that he was a good person to work for. Another testament to his good reputation.

Peebles died in 1993.

Please take a look at the photos of these plaques in my Flickr Photo Album entitled "Hap Peebles".

https://www.flickr.com/photos/daddyodilly/sets/72157600861976595/

Poor Early Examples of Stereo and Fake-Stereo Records

Here is a response I composed for the Rockin' 50s message board run by Bill Griggs on the topic of overdubs added to Buddy Holly's demo and apartment recordings:

In the 1960s record labels would do anything to make low fidelity recordings sound like high fidelity. Stereo was new and being accepted. Multi-track technology was making lots of new developments throughout the decade. Consumer demand was there, too. Had record labels released demos and air checks without enhancements, there would have been complaints. It was not like it is now where consumers want vintage recordings to sound as much like originals as possible with as little evidence of deterioration as possible. These days people tend to know what they are getting and like it that way. Back then, most everyone wanted everything to sound brand new like it had been recorded that year. Thus record companies would overdub new instruments and voices, usually in stereo and overdub them onto older mono recordings, some being masters, others being demos or air checks.

Most often, though, mono recordings would be filtered into fake stereo, tuning out treble one one stereo channel, and bass on the other. This effect was way too common through the end of the 1970s. It almost always sounded terrible and to me physically painful when heard with headphones. Even worse, the RCA label would, in addition to this, DELAY the right stereo channel a bit from the left creating a crisscrossing effect. Way too many Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke, and God-knows how many country LPs had this effect applied. Thus, Elvis or Sam could be heard harmonizing with themselves, totally different from the mono 45s or older mono LP pressings.

Some Sun recordings made at 706 Union had stereo overdubs made at the new 639 Madison studio, Charlie Rich's "Lonely Weekends" being one.

Duck Dunn and Al Jackson re-recorded their bass and drum parts in stereo to make early Otis Redding mono recordings into stereo. Their efforts were subtle and don't sound too bad.

B. B. King's earliest mono records on the Modern label had big band overdubs in stereo added on LP releases in the late 1960s to try to make these records sound like his then current LPs on the ABC label. The orchestra used was of exceptional quality (even making me wonder if it was Count Basie's orchestra making extra bucks but PLEASE don't hold me to this. This is how rumors get started!). Listen to these same mono originals on current CDs. They sound so incredibly good. Why would anyone want to add to these? Well, it's 'cause they were not in stereo and they had to be in stereo so they could put the word "STEREO" in big letters on the cover so people would buy them.

Hank Williams SR had too many demo and masters overdubbed in stereo with ever increasing numbers of added instruments as the years went by. They just ruined Hank's original sound.

At some studios, mono recordings were recorded in two tracks, instruments on one channel, voices on another to facilitate better balancing at the mix down stage. Yet when the demand for stereo came around these two track recordings, never intended for stereo in the first place, got released in stereo. The all voice track on one side and all instrument track on the other sounds, again, just really awful. This happened to lots of early Beatles records on American LPs.

Fake live LPs happened then, as well. Existing or new studio recordings would have fake audience applause grafted on. Some labels just couldn't manage recording concerts.

So, it was the same when it came to putting out Buddy Holly's numerous demo and homemade recordings. These days, efforts would be made to restore these recordings to their original sound, but in the 1960s, like everyone else, the recordings had to be in modern sounding high fidelity stereo. I prefer to hear the undubbed versions when ever possible, but I actually like the Fireballs' overdubs. The Jack Hanson group can be heard struggling to follow Buddy's momentary breaks in rhythm. The Fireballs sound much more confident and seamless. I am particularly fond of "Crying, Waiting, Hoping". George Tomsco is a great guitarist and I think the whole group, under the direction of Norman Petty, sound fine on the overdubs. So much so that I think had Buddy lived he should have recorded an entire LP with Fireballs as the back-up group. I think it would have given Buddy a proto-surf sound which, in the early 1960s, would have modernized his sound a little and would increase his chance of new Top 40 hits on the charts and on radio.

At any rate, I really dislike the things done in the 1960s and 1970s to try to make old recordings sound new.

Profession Wrestling Pre-WWF As I Remember It

Here is copy of the email sent to Larry Matysik, author of an excellent book on professional wrestling in St. Louis, Missouri. This pretty much details my fascination with professional wrestling:

Larry:

I could not put your book down! I love "Wrestling At the Chase"!

I am a life long resident of Topeka, Kansas. I have been a fan of professional wrestling since the early 1960s when I was about ten years old. I remember exactly how I became a fan. One day my Mom and one of her sisters where laughing their heads off in the living room. I asked what was so funny. They were recalling the early days of television and how wrestlers like Gorgeous George would carry on to get the audience all worked up. I asked if they still did anything like this on TV. They said yes. Well, a lot of ten years olds have TV Guide figured out by that age, so a careful study revealed that we had not one but two professional wrestling television programs every Saturday. "All Star Wrestling" was seen Saturday mornings at, I think, 11:00am on WDAF, channel 4, from Kansas City. Then after the 10:00pm news, there was "Wrestling With Bob" on what was then called KFEQ (now KQTV), channel 2, from St. Joseph, MO. I quickly became a fan and had to watch every week.

My Mom said that since I liked this so much we ought to go see a card at the Municipal Auditorium. I couldn't believe she would make such an offer. She didn't have to ask twice! That would be the beginning of me going to see live wrestling dozens of times during the 1960s.I recall that All Star Wrestling had a regular weekly circuit that was followed very consistently during the 1960s. As I recall they were in Wichita every Monday, Sedalia, MO, every Tuesday. Wednesday seemed to be a night off, maybe? Then there was wrestling in Kansas City every Thursday, even on holidays. Then it was St. Joseph every Friday. Saturdays seemed like a busy day. They taped "All Star Wrestling" during the morning, "Wrestling With Bob" was broadcast live from the TV studio in St. Joseph at 10:30pm, and they had a card at the Fort Riley Army base on Saturday nights a couple times of month. Then, every other Sunday afternoon All Star Wrestling came to the Municipal Auditorium here in Topeka.

That was a perfect time for me!! It was at the auditorium where I saw Bulldog Bob Brown and Texas Bob Geigel as an unstoppable tag team, Pat O'Connor, the Viking, Roger "Nature Boy" Kirby, Rufus R. Jones, Mike George, Dave Peterson, Jeanie Antoine, Betty Nicolai, several midgets, Danny Little Bear, and so many more! I recall seeing special guests like Bobo Brazil, Ernie Ladd, and especially Antonio Rocca, the barefoot high-flyer! I saw Edouard Carpentier. I could swear I saw a young Andre the Giant at some time here perhaps in the 1970s. Is that possible? We rarely saw Harley Race. Seems like when we did he was always just back from some distant place. Even then he was wrestling around the world and often not here in the Central States area.

Then a terribly exciting thing happened. At the first card I attended in 1968, ring announcer Bill Kirsten breathlessly announced that the weekly TV taping of "All Star Wrestling" was moving from WDAF to Topeka, to our brand new state-of-the-art television station, then called KTSB (now KSNT), channel 27, our NBC affiliate. Thus began a weekly trip to the TV station on U. S. Highway 24 between Topeka and Silver Lake. Every Saturday at 9:30am we had free ringside seats to see the stars of "All Star Wrestling". There were about 60 bright red wooden folding chairs set up on two sides of the ring for the audience. A lot of the same people came every week. For about four years, I had little trouble getting neighborhood friends, school friends, and even out-of-town cousins and uncles and aunts to come with us to the TV tapings. One day we actually had three carloads of friends and relatives go with us. Man, that was a lot of fun! I remember how amazed everyone was when they brought out the Spoiler! He was covered from head to toe and had cat-like agility. Man, he had the crowd worked up.

Another time a wrestler I think named Bob Blunt had what looked like a for-real epileptic seizure in the ring and had to be led out of the studio. I don't think that was supposed to happen.

I used to wear goofy hats to the show so I could see myself on TV when I got home and watched the show at 11:00am. I had a hillbilly hat with patches, buttons, a feather, and a corn cob pipe stuck in it. One time Dick Murdock jumped out of the ring, snatched the hat off my head, pulled out the corn cob pipe, got in the ring and rubbed it in his opponent's eyes. He might have been disqualified for using a foreign object! I got it back.

Another time, before the taping began, announcer Bill Kirsten told us that at the end of the show us kids were urged to chase Bulldog Bob Brown around the ring and out the door to the parking lot on cue and that the cameras would follow as far as they could (this was LONG before handheld TV cameras!) We did and it looked great on TV later. We threw gravel at Brown in the parking lot until he yelled at us, telling us he'd fix it so we would never get to come back. We took that as the cue to stop. We got some exercise that day!

"All Star Wrestling" was syndicated to local TV stations all over the Central States area. So, I can remember before being let into the TV studios, we could hear them in there taping interviews and promos to promote the cards being held in each city where the show was broadcast. Thus before taping the show, they would do promos for cards in Wichita, Kansas City, Lincoln, etc. The promos for the arena cards in Topeka were always done during the taping of the show itself.

The weirdest thing that happened at the TV tapings was this: For a couple weeks in the audience there was a group of about five or six teenagers who were patients from the State Hospital, accompanied by a uniformed hospital aide. These kids were very clearly schizophrenic cases. I am surprised they would even bring kids who were already nervous, excitable types like this to something as stimulating as a professional wrestling card. Strangest of all was that one of them was a guy I remember from junior high school. He wasn't there long. He was the first guy we knew to use drugs. He was way over the top and eventually disappeared from school. Now here he was a mental patient and looked like he was up to no good. This one Saturday during the TV taping a wrestler (I forget who) was knocked out of the ring on the floor right in front of these kids from the State Hospital. As though they had this planned they got up and attacked the wrestling while he was down. They kicked him repeatedly. The other wrestler (I am sure Dick Murdock) got out of the ring and really punched our former classmate on the nose and knocked him out cold on the floor. He never came-to. The hospital aide and the old security guard quickly removed the other patients. The fellow who was knocked out was picked up a hauled out of the studio. A lady who was in the audience every week with her son spoke to Bob Geigel. When she came back to her seat she told us she was a nurse and offered to administer first aid to the out-cold attacker. She said Geigel told her to go sit down and don't mention this to anyone. I thought for certain they would not show this scene on TV. By golly, they did. All of it. These kids from the State Hospital never came back.

The show was taped here for about four years when they started to tape the show at the arena cards at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas. Actually, of the two weekly TV shows we had here, the show from St. Joseph could be pretty exciting. It was live so there were all the unexpected things that can happen on live TV. One time at the end of the show a skinny guy in the audience was so mad he got in the ring and challenged Bob Brown. There was a stand-off. Finally Brown pushed him down under the ropes. They left the cameras on! Another time, the action in the ring was dull and the audience pretty quiet. Some guy yelled out "Do something, guys, or I'm gonna send my wife up there to whip ya both!" Everyone was laughing so hard, even the wrestlers! Even referee Dick Moody, who was such a stoneface, had to stop! Even the commercials were live. The local Ford dealer would saunter out with his hands in his pockets and suggest coming by the lot after church on Sunday and kick tires when there was no one around, then call on Monday. These little old ladies would demonstrate their sewing machines from their fabric shop. A farm supply store would set up a display with bags of seed, salt blocks, and garden tools which a couple of times got used as foreign objects in and around the ring. Weirdest of all was a local pharmacist who would advertise his pharmacy, or "prescription shop" as he called it. What was funny was that when he first started advertising on TV he was nervous and scared stiff. Over time, he loosened up quite a bit. Eventually, too much. He gradually evolved into a swinger Playboy tuxedo type using his paid advertising time to announce what nightclub he would be at shortly and that women ought to join him for a drink. When that happened all of his advertisements after that week were pre-recorded. No more hustling chicks on TV! That guy was likely taking too much of his own medicine! Promoter Gust Karas was a constant presence on the St. Joseph TV show. He looked like a gangster with his gravel voice, hat, and suits with dark shirts and white ties.

Your book, Larry, answers a lot of questions about what was going on over there in St. Louis. The NWA had the country divided up in pretty distinct regions, or districts as I always called them. All Star Wrestling put on cards throughout Kansas, much of Nebraska, always including Lincoln but always excluding Omaha, much of Iowa, Missouri, but excluding St. Louis. On our TV shows, we often saw tapes provided from other parts of the country announcing the arrival of visiting wrestlers. But I just don't recall hearing much about what was going on in not-so-distant St. Louis. Surely, St. Louis was part of the NWA Central States district but how come we rarely heard about what was going on there? Well, your book clearly tells the story of the unique wrestling promotion you had there. So many large cities had professional wrestling EVERY week. I often wondered if that was too often and led to frequent poor attendance. From your book, I see that Sam Muchnick felt that every three weeks, not weekly but a little more often than monthly, was the right frequency for having a card at Keil or the larger Arena. Very smart move!

Your book, like the autobiographies of Harley Race and Ric Flair, detail with some disbelief the unfolding of events in 1984, the year professional wrestling changed forever. I myself, as a fan, was excited by the newfound popularity of professional wrestling in the 1980s and 1990s, but at the same time missed the style of regional promotions like we had before the rise of nationwide promotions like the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling. I always watched WCW on television. I always watched "WCW Nitro" and "WCW Saturday Night". I often watched "WCW Worldwide". I think "WCW Thunder" was one show too many.

During the 1990s, WCW came to the Kansas Expocentre here eight times and I attended every time. I still have my ticket stubs. "Clash of the Champions", "Worldwide" and "Thunder" originated from here at one time or another. I know much has written about how WCW was a badly run business, but from my viewpoint as a fan, I think this is where the best wrestling took place. Boy, things came unraveled during those last two years, but I really miss WCW. During the last two years of its existence, All Star Wrestling no longer produced a TV show. During its time slot it showed the AWA weekly syndicated program and included advertisements and interviews for the upcoming local cards. This program and the 1980s ESPN program are what I have seen of the AWA. They were an excellent promotion. I miss them, too.

I liked ECW, too, a LOT. They came to Kansas City twice in 2000. We went both times and loved it! We never saw "ECW Hardcore" on TV here. The DVDs and "ECW on TNN" is all I ever saw of ECW on television.

I have all of your St. Louis Wrestling DVDs. I haven't watched them all yet. (I have two boxes full of DVDs I have bought that I have yet to watch!) But I have seen the volume with the Sam Muchnick tribute. That was really nice! I really appreciate the detail in your book. You obviously have a huge amount of material for research for your book, That along with your firsthand recollections and your excellent writing style made it a memorable experience for me to read it. Thank you again. Now I know what was happening in St. Louis. Now I need to finish watching your DVDs!

new entry, February 4, 2020: The wrestling television program mentioned above "Wrestling With Bob" had this theme song: https://www.flickr.com/photos/daddyodilly/albums/72157712977156513

King of Surf Guitar Acknowledges Daddy-o From Stage, Killer Rocks KC

May 9 and 10, 2006, was an exciting rock 'n' roll weekend for your truly. I went to Kansas City both nights. On Friday, Jerry Lee Lewis performed at the Folly Theater. This was the first of a series of concerts put on by Bill Shapiro, DJ on KCUR radio, possibly for broadcast. The Folly Theater was described as the oldest theater in Kansas City, having opened in 1900. This was the first time I had ever been there. It is located at 12th and Central, right across the street from Municipal Auditorium. I thought the Uptown Theater was older. At 7:00pm, Shapiro gave a 30 minute lecture on Jerry Lee Lewis, his music, life, and place in the world. I suppose this was the longest introduction I'd ever heard. Jerry gave a rockin', good natured performance including "You Belong To Me" ("see the Pyramids along the Nile"). What was kinda funny was that right after the very first song some Englishman indignantly yelled out "We've come all the way from England to hear you play the piano and we cannot hear the piano." Jerry twiddled a knob or two on his amp. God Lord, mate, give the guy at the mixing board a chance. It always takes a song or two to get the balance right. Once His Majesty was mollified, he again yelled out a request for "Kansas City" which Jerry and group honored with great gusto. EVERYBODY adds "Kansas City" to their set list here, no matter what kind of music they play. It always gets a lusty audience response. Locals are far from indifferent to this song. Of note, this night's bass player was B. B. Cunningham, a Memphian of great renown. His group the Hombres had a 1967-68 hit with "Let It All Hang Out". By God, Jerry actually kicked the piano stool during the finale. The audience went nuts. Jerry's band hung out with fans by the bus for a good half hour posing for pics and signing autographs. This was the third time I have seen the Killer. I saw him twice in the 1980s.

On Saturday, I saw the King of the Surf Guitar, Dick Dale for the 13th time since 1995, at the Grand Emporium. I will never forget these blazing concerts! Dick is indeed a living legend. For the first several songs Dick was clowning around on stage, playing song fragments, unintentional medleys, and joking with the audience. He was no doubt happy to be playing the final date of his six-week long annual Spring tour and was letting himself go. Though, by the time he got to "Miserlou" he got down to business and for the rest of the show showed everyone just exactly what he can do, playing guitar that has inspired endless other players for decades. He, as usual, also played drums simultaneous with the regular drummer, played drum sticks on the strings on the bass guitar, and trumpet! Dick announced that he has recorded a song for inclusion on a tribute album to Joe Maphis, the famed country and rockabilly guitar player remembered for his double-necked Mosrite guitar. He then played a country guitar medley as an example of what Maphis would play. He started with a few notes and asked "Anyone know this one?" I yelled out "Wildwood Flower". Everyone looked at me. Dick said "Say again?" I repeated my answer. He pointed at me and said he didn't think anyone would know that. He then said "I'm gonna play this one for you, friend!" Since I think 1996, Dick Dale has played these six-week long Spring tours that cover the northeast quarter of the United States. He usually starts in Colorado then goes as far northeast as Maine, then works his way back to the Midwest. Kansas City is usually the last or next to last stop on these tours. He'll play six nights a week on average. Last night he referred to these tours as "Blood Alley". In the last six weeks, I attended all three nights of the Ponderosa Stomp in Memphis, Tennessee, and concerts by Wanda Jackson, Sonny West, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Dick Dale. I've seen more live music in last month than I usually see in years. Please see photographs of these concerts in my Flickr Album! After the concert Dick confirmed that Sundazed Records is indeed in production of reissues of all his 1950s - 1960s recordings for the Deltone and Capitol labels. Dick has often expressed misgivings about his old recordings, but these are indeed the records that, along with his West coast concerts, made him famous. Fans think they are great and no doubt will love to hear them scratch-free. Dick owns these master tapes, not Capitol/EMI.� Two compilations of these recordings came out on Rhino in the 1990s. I think Dick has sat on these recordings for long enough. Each of his LPs are to be reissued with non-LP bonus tracks on both CD and LPs. I really hope these will include his records on the Cougar label, which I think Dick owned. My guess we'll hear these in 2007.

CDs and Records From the Ponderosa Stomp 2006

Attending the Ponderosa Stomp in Memphis has inspired some fine additions to my music library.

I bought these CDs and LP at the Stomp:

Clarence "Frogman" Henry: "Ain't Got No Home" autographed
Sir Douglas Quintet:"Best", "SDQ is Back"
Warren Storm: "King of the Dance Halls" autographed
Travis Wammack: "Live Rock 'n' Roll Party", "Scratchy", "Snake Rattle and Roll", "Still Rockin'", all autographed
Wilson Pickett "Right On" This LP is yet to be released on CD.

Since returning home, I have purchased these CDs, many cheap as used or cut-outs. In each case, these artists have been under-represented in my collection. All were at the Ponderosa Stomp and performed with the exception of Big Sandy who was there as a fan:
Alarm Clocks: "Yeah!"
Billy Boy Arnold: "Ten Million Dollars", "Goin' to Chicago", "Eldorado Cadillac", "Live at the Venue", "Boogie 'n' Shuffle", "Consolidated Mojo", "Catfish"

Big Sandy: "Feelin' Kinda Lucky", "Dedicated To You", "Radio Favorites", " Night Tide","Rockin' Big Sandy","It's Time"
"Sonny Burgess: "Classic Recordings 1956-1959", "Tennessee Border", "untitled", "Arkansas Rock 'n' Roll"
Deke Dickerson: "Number One Hit Record", "More Milion Sellers"
Hayden Thompson: "Love My Baby"."Rockabilly Rhythm"
The Wailers: "The Fabulous Wailers", "At the Castle"
various: "A History of Garage and Frat Bands in Memphis 1960-1975" vols. 1-2

Sonny West: Rare Chance to Hear First Generation West Texas Rockabilly

I had the rare honor of seeing Sonny West in concert on May 20, 2006. Sonny, of course, wrote two of Buddy Holly's biggest hits ("Rave On" and "Oh Boy") and recorded excellent records of his own. He played a concert in a club I never heard of in Mission, KS, a suburb of Kansas City, on May 19, then at the Performing Arts Center in the historic downtown area of Leavenworth, KS, on May 20. This is a beautiful old movie theater with about 500 seats and old Altec speakers (so common in the old theatres AND Norman Petty's control booth in Clovis!). Both concerts were apparently recorded for release on CD and DVD. Sonny played a really nice set of his old rockabilly tunes, his hits for Buddy, and a killer version of "Haunted House" (the Jumpin' Gene Simmons hit), masterfully strumming a cream colored Fender, creating a tone younger guitar players just can't get. In between songs he told jokes demonstrating a modest, understated sense of humor that seems common among folks from West Texas. He seemed actually shy while speaking but tore it up while singing. Unfortunately, there were only 25 people in the audience. There seemed to be very little advance publicity that I know of. Maybe the Kansas City media had something. I sure didn't see anything even on the Internet. The only reason I knew about it is because they were handing out fliers at Wanda Jackson's concert at Knuckleheads in Kansas City, MO, on May 18. Sonny signed the cover of my copy of the Rockin' 50s magazine with his youthful face on the cover! Seeing Wanda Jackson and Sonny West in person just a week after attending the Ponderosa Stomp festival in Memphis, I'm still in a spin over all the great live music I've heard this month!