Next meeting, January 12th, 2014 – 2nd Sunday

 

JOHNNY POWELL

1948 – 2013

We all lost a friend with the passing of Johnny Powell.  Those who were in attendance at last month’s meeting all were expecting to see Johnny there not knowing that he had died early that morning.  Later that evening the word began spreading and everyone was shocked and saddened.  As one member said when he learned of the news, “This one hurts too much.”  I think we all felt that way.

When the mass email was sent out to inform all BRC members, replies of condolences came from all over Alabama as well as Tennessee, Florida, Kentucky, Texas, Illinois, France, and The Netherlands.  Words such as ‘A best friend’, ‘A great bloke’ (from an Australian living here), ‘Great guy’, and ‘We all will miss him.’

Johnny’s daughter wishes to thank everyone for their kind words as well as being a friend to Johnny. 

We will take a portion of the December meeting to hear BRC members reflections on their friendship with Johnny and stories they have of him.

THIS MONTH’S MEETING

Two words – ‘Dirty Santa’.  It’s time for our annual game of taking, not giving gifts, if what you get can be called a ‘gift’.  Wrap up that crazy item you’ve been wanting to get rid of and join in the fun.

At our December meetings we also have our ‘Free For All’ time.  Time to bring any records you’re ready to give away and let the members take what they want.  Bring a box and records and maybe go home with 2 boxes!   

 

            WHERE ARE THEY NOW                

Guitarist for Roy Orbison, toured with the Beatles, opened for the Rolling Stones, sixteen top-forty hits, 29 singles on the Billboard charts, his own syndicated TV show, and his compositions recorded by some of the top artists of the 60’s and 70’s.  A pretty good resume form a guy who grew up in Dothan, Alabama.

 

Bobby Goldsboro was born in Marianna, Florida in 1941 and his family moved to Dothan where he grew up, graduating from Dothan High School in 1959.  He enrolled at Auburn University but left college within 2 years to try the music business.  Within a year he was playing guitar for Roy Orbison staying with him from 1962-64.

 

He left Orbison to try his hand at a solo career.  His first recording in 1962, ‘Molly’, would chart but it wasn’t until he recorded ‘See The Funny Little Clown’ in 1964 that he had his first Top 10 hit.  The single being the first of sixteen top-forty hits.  

 

In 1968 he recorded ‘Honey’ which would top the charts and go on to become the largest selling single of that year.  The song was also the number 1 song on the country charts and in Canada.

 

Bobby would have his own TV show in 1973 which ran for 3 successful years.    

 

Today Bobby continues to display his talents but in another way – oil painting.  Bobby is recognized as a world-class artists.  His work appears in galleries across the country and are bought by his fans and art collectors.  One of the largest banks in Ocala, Florida recently purchased twenty-eight pieces of art from the Goldsboro Collection. Check out The Locksmith Boss.   And the May Gallery, the number one art gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona recently announced a long-term association with the Art of Bobby Goldsboro.  Other cities that  have galleries displaying  Bobby’s artwork include Naples and Jacksonville, Florida.  One of Bobby’s paintings, ‘The Gathering’ was used for the cover of a coffee table book, ‘Ocala, a Portrait of Life”. 

 

Bobby has shown his multiple talents throughout his life and even today continues to be in-demand as a performer.  Congrats to another one of Alabama’s own.

BARE-LY SPEAKING

by

Howard Baer

“The Class of ’57 has dreams,

But living life day-to-day is never like it seems,

Things get complicated when you get past 18,

But the Class of ’57 has dreams.”

It seems like The Statler Brothers have been around forever, and I’ve kind of always liked them.  I especially like this song by them, and the older I get, the more I like it.

It tells the story of a typical small town high school senior class, undoubtedly from the south, in the mid 1950’s, 15 years later on.  That’s really not a very long time, and at the time the song came out (1972), they would only be in their early 30’s – still relatively young.  But their world had changed so much from 1957 to 1972, that it seemed like a much longer period of time that that. 

28 Seniors graduated in that Class of 1957, a time of peace and relative optimism.  That was a very typical number for a senior class for that time in a small town.  By 1972, almost all are doing the necessary things to keep society going and to earn a living.  Only one or two has a career that might have needed an advanced degree in formal education, as in lab research.  The rest are working in factories and mills, maintaining facilities, running stores, driving trucks, teaching children, selling the various necessities and luxuries of life, dabbling in farming and business, etc., and even playing organ in a church. 

Not surprisingly, the interaction in their personal lives has had as much affect on them as anything.  One boy is in an insane ward, one girl is on welfare, while another girl married a millionaire, and one boy committed suicide when a classmate took his wife from him.  And, as in every class, there’s always one that no one knows where they wound up or what happened to them. 

Times change, styles change, entertainment changes, society changes, but people remain people; whether it’s 1857, 1957, 1972, or even in 2013 and a new millennium.  The Statler Brothers do an excellent job in stating this in their song.    HB

 

  

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