Buddy and I perform Little Darlin' at the Border Legends Jam...
...while my heroes look on.
left to right: Frank Dove, Frank's son, Dalton Powell, Randy Jones.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Holy Cow!
I was surprised the place was so crowded. It was "hail fellow well met" from the parking lot to the bandstand. Old friends, neighbors, classmates and bandmates embraced. The first batch of songs were played on acoustic guitars: The Boxer, If I Were A Carpenter, Reason To Believe... Then electric guitar, pedal steel, keyboards and drums were added to the mix and we went country: Jambalaya, Precious Memories, Silver Wings... A tribute to Danny of Danny's Music Box followed. He was given a plaque in appreciation of his support of local musicians, and we told him to "tell 'em where you got it, babe!" Then, while we played "Knockin' On Heaven's Door, the names of the deceased were read aloud: Bobby Fuller, Jamie Hilliard, Steve Crosno... A group called the Bobby Fuller Faux took center stage and blew the roof off the dump with a rockin' set of Bobby Fuller and Buddy Holly songs. A reunion of original Moon Pie members kept up the pace and volume. When their set ended at 11:00, I started making my way to the door. It was "hail fellow well met" from the bandstand to the parking lot. I wobbled and teetered in the crush of humanity. Mouths moved and I heard nothing, but I came away with a reassuring sense of belonging to the community to which I aspired all those years ago.
Zoomer Roberts
3 October 2008
Zoomer Roberts
3 October 2008
Border Legends Music Jam
Doug Pullen writes about the national music scene for elpasotimes.com.
El Paso Times
October 01, 2008
It started with a class reunion but has turned into very different reunion entirely.
The Border Legends Music Jam at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2 at Big Al’s Wings and Suds, 1201 Airway, will bring together some El Paso’s better known musicians from the 1960s and ‘70s, including former Bobby Fuller Four drummer Dalton Powell, Moon Pie Daince Band’s Rod Crosby, multi-instrumentalist Zoomer Roberts and many more.
One possible highlight of the jam: a special set of Bobby Fuller’s music, including, no doubt, his iconic version of “I Fought the Law.”
“What’s strange is that most of us haven’t even seen each other in the past 40 ears and we’re going to be playing together for a one night,” said Donna Pence, a keyboardist who is helping organize Thursday’s historic jam session.
She’s part of the group putting together activities for this weekend’s 40th reunion of Irvin High School’s class of ‘68. “I started a social Web site, irvin68.ning.com for that, and we noticed that a lot of us that used to play in bands in El Paso back then were joining the site,” Pence said via e-mail. “And it was lke the past 40 years just melted away, like a long summer vacation, and we naturally started talking music and the idea of a jam was born.”
Many of the musicians will dip into their songbooks from the old days. Powell, Crosby, Charlie Thomas, Ron Stone and others will be a part of the Bobby Fuller set. Among the other musicians confirmed to take part are Randy Jones, Jack Woodberry, Buddy Winston, Paul Quattlebaum and Ed Clore. Souvenir t-shirts will be available at the show.
Pence sounds geeked. “It’s going to be quite the music reunion,” she said.
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