RIP Bob

[adams house cat]

My friend Bob, from Winchester VA, has passed on. He was eighty something so not a bad innings.

I'm posting on here because during the 50s and 60s he used to promote shows at the Winchester Roller Rink (sadly demolished) and was a fund of wonderful stories. Amongst others he put on shows by Orbison, Presley, The Animals, in fact most of the rock 'n' roll, British Invasion greats. Some of his stories were fabulous.

Everyone running around around looking for the Johnny Burnette Rock n' Roll Trio as they were due to go. They were tracked down to a bar (still there) up the street in a fight with local toughs. They went on covered in blood, gave one of the best shows he ever saw and then went back to the bar to finish the job.

Connie Francis was so foul mouthed as to make a sailor blush. She had to be kept away from her fans.

Skeeter Davis leaping into the crowd to beat the snot out of some girl who was eyeing her man.

A local bigwig offering Bob $200 if he could hook him up with Brenda Lee (about 14 at the time) with a bonus if he "got lucky."

Chuck Berry as obnoxious then as now.

Patsy Cline had approximate ideas about personal hygiene.

Link Wray having to be bailed for cutting someone in an alley behind the building.

Bobby Vee having to be physically pulled off of a local girl before he could go on.

Black people being barred from the Motown roadshow.

There were so many other stories. I didn't see him for some years before he died bit I'll remember him with fondness.

RIP Bob.

[West End Zuma]

RIP Bob

Sounds like he had great life. Many blessings upon him. Doubt he'd want to rest in peace, though, not with the likes of Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, et al to liven up heaven on a Saturday night.

I'll raise a glass to him.

[Uosdwis R Dewoh]

RIP Bob

That sounds like a genuinely fantastic life. Maybe not dealing with it at the time, but 90% of life is fun in retrospect. Here's hoping Bob finds peace death as much as found excitement in living. RIP.

[imp]

RIP Bob

Jesus Christ, for a minute there I thought Dylan was dead. I mean, sorry and everything, but, but... you know, be careful with the thread titles.

[adams house cat]

RIP Bob

Sorry imp. It did occur to me that it may be read as an obit for Dylan or Geldof or Seger or somebody but his name was Bob so I stuck with it.

Another Connie Francis anecdote. She came to town with two of the biggest guys ever seen, named, I swear, Tony and Vinnie, with bulges under their arms. Connected, maybe? It makes the HoJo rape all the more surprising.

[G-Man]

RIP Bob

Do you have more details on those stories, ahc? They sound fantastic. The Skeeter story sounds like a real winner.

[adams house cat]

RIP Bob

I'm not sure I can provide more details G-Man. Bob was a modest guy whose only treat was to sip Virginia Gentleman bourbon, Virginia Gentleman because, he said, there ought to be one and it may as well be him. Sometimes he tended to ramble a bit and a few of us offered to write down his memoirs for posterity but he always declined saying that no one would really be interested.

What I found most interesting, although the anecdotes were fun, was the insight into a different world, before the mega promoters took over rock'n'roll. People like Bob, along with the early radio DJs and the independent record producers, were the early driving force behind rock'n'roll.

Many of the early acts that he promoted where poor whites who took their attitudes out with them. They liked to drink and they liked to fight and didn't see why playing a rock'n'roll show should be any different to any other night out. Skeeter Davis was a girl from a poor rural background who reacted as she would have done at any country barbecue. Same with the Burnette boys and Link Wray.

Although Virginia was segregated Bob promoted black acts such as the Drifters, usually with two shows, one for blacks and one for whites.

I'll write to his family and ask if I can share more of his anecdotes, his son, Bob Jr. is a good friend.

Wow! Posting #1000.

[danielmak]

RIP Bob

adams house cat wrote:

I'll write to his family and ask if I can share more of his anecdotes, his son, Bob Jr. is a good friend.

I posted in the brief fanzine thread in Football that Ugly Things is one of my favorite fanzines. If you have the time and are so inclined, perhaps you might consider writing up a short (or long) story for them or another zine that focuses on garage, rockabilly, and 50s rock/R&B. I know it's easy for me to suggest that you spend a lot of time on a project that will bring no money, but the stories that you tell above would be of great interest to folks who are interested in the early history of (DIY) rock n roll.

[adams house cat]

RIP Bob

I'm flattered. Money isn't the issue. Medical bills have put us so much in debt that we don't even think about it any more. The problem would be time, certainly for the next few months anyway. Also, my legally trained writing style can be a little, shall we say, pedantic. After about July I should be in a position to think about it a little more. Drop me a pm with contact details and an idea of what you need.

A further anecdote. A country superstar, off his ass drunk, decided not to wait for the band bus after the show. He set off in a "borrowed" car and was stopped thirty miles south of town, having hit a road sign, with a fourteen year old girl, stripped to the waist, in the back of the car. Money changed hands and it never got to court.

By coincidence, I had a similar case in New Mexico except that this was emphatically not a country superstar and it did reach court.