As mentioned a week ago, the invitations to the 50th anniversary reunion have been sent. I've returned mine with a check. Hope many other have done so, but haven't received word from the Alumni Office yet.
Sadly, Robert J. (Bob) Reames won't be attending. Received and confirmed news from Sharon last week that Bob passed away on June 16 after a long illness. No other details at this time.
As for news from the past ---
From Paul Crume’s front page column on the Dallas Morning News Sunday August 25, 1963:
"A staunchly Democratic Dallas family was embarrassed the other day by an 8-year-old had suddenly noticed the current events all around him.
"He was trying to piece out some meaning out of what he was getting from grown talk and TV, and he finally asked his grandmother what about these wars. ‘When were these World Wars I and II, and who fought them?’
"She told him that France, England, United States, Italy and Japan were fighting Germany and Austria In World War I, and that the United States, France. England and Russia had paired off against Germany, Italy and Japan in World War II.
"The 8-year old nodded sagely.
"‘And now,’ he said, ‘we are fighting the Russians and the Democrats, aren’t we?’"
In many ways, little has changed in 50 years.
In some ways they have. On this day Channel 8 TV featured a "Home Town Hootenanny" at 9 PM sponsored by the Varsity Shop (now Culwell & Son). Haven’t heard the term "hootenanny" since around that time. They were open-mike affairs for amateur folksingers. I attended at least one where I made a fool out of myself after being overserved. "Folk music" had been growing in popularity for several years: Woody Guthrie (who I do not believe I have actually heard sing) was the godfather, followed by Pete Seeger, Burl Ives, the Kingston Trio (very popular during our high-school years), The Highwaymen ("Michael rode the boat ashore"), the New Christy Minstrels (members included Barry McGuire, Kenny Rogers, and Kim Carnes who later became famous in their own right), Peter, Paul and Mary (heavy on the social commentary, but with pleasant harmony), Joan Baez, Bob Dylan (who pretty much founded "folk-rock"), Judy Collins, and many others in the ‘50s and early ‘60s. Hasn’t been much on that scene for awhile.
Bob,
ReplyDelete1.) Woody Guthrie sang with "The Weavers", famous for the song "Good Night Irene"
2.) Michael "row " the boat ashore might be the correct name for the song? Whatta ya think?
T Land
1) Didn't Leadbelly (Huddie Ledbetter) write "Good Night Irene"?
ReplyDelete2) According to iTunes, the title is billed "Michael (Rode the boat ashore)"
Maybe our resident musicologist Vinton knows.
It is “Michael ROW the Boat Ashore” (folkmusic.about.com/od/folksongs/qt/MichaelRow.htm )
ReplyDeleteRe: Bob Reames. Dubbed “Uncle Remus” by his JHS brethren, Bob was the first electric bassist I ever played with. Others in the band, The Jazzmen, were Frank Fertitta and Vic Stewart. In the summer of ’60 I was working at the Ranger Station Car Wash (Zang near Illinois in Oak Cliff) and I somehow talked the manager into hiring a jazz trio to play on the patio on Saturdays to entertain the patrons while their cars were getting dried. So Bob, Vic and I played our meager “jazz” repertoire for the same salary I was making there…$1.00/hr. Ah, memories.
Geary McEvoy called me yesterday and mentioned he had been in touch with Bob a few months ago and said Bob was really looking forward to the attending the reunion. The best laid plans…. RIP Bob