Tall Tales of a Shorter Nature
October 18, 1975 The McClellan High School band had trekked east across half of Arkansas and the entire breadth of the Mississippi River to compete in the Memphis State Marching Contest. This was the performance that really mattered, the culmination of all our efforts since marching camp started up in mid-August. In no particular order, …
October 27, 2021
Having moved into our new house in southwest Little Rock that summer, I transferred to Cloverdale Elementary for the first day of fifth grade, just after Labor Day. Cloverdale was within easy walking distance of our home, which was a first for me. This was my fourth school during my family’s nomadic period, achieved American …
October 11, 2021
The first day of sixth grade, I encountered a brand spanking new set of friends when transplanted from my old cadre into the classroom next door. That day, I met David Stebbins, Carra Bussa, Susan West, Richard Manson, Julia Goodwin, and my first serious crush, Tahnya Hayes, who conveniently sat immediately in front of …
September 14, 2021
My friends were depending on me to knot the rope and save us. Everything hinged on my dusty Boy Scout knot-lore, and things were looking as grim as an 8 am meeting in the principal’s office. Years earlier, my parents decided I needed hobbies other than reading comics and watching Gilligan’s Island reruns. …
August 20, 2021
45 years ago today, May 18, 1976. It was the final days of my senior year at McClellan High School. My stint as humor columnist and cartoonist for the school paper, The Lion-Up, was ending with the last published issue of the year. Good-bye, grueling monthly deadlines forcing me to do something creative for 2 …
May 18, 2021
I recently framed a photo and placed it where I can fondly glance at it between bouts of internet time wastage. It shows the 1973 Cloverdale Stage Band, seventeen young musicians posed on gym bleachers to be immortalized for the school yearbook. This was about the time teenage hormones commenced steering us onto the …
April 23, 2021
Part the First The codpiece has held a certain fascination, as well as other important items, for those of us involved with historical reenactment of the Renaissance. It has been regarded with fear and ignorance by many and a certain reverence by others. This discourse aims to dispel the fear and ignorance, and if you …
March 12, 2021
Generally overlooked by modern music historians, the Air Lute has faded from view since its heyday as the preeminent intangible instrument of the Renaissance. It is unfortunate that the instrument and its repertoire remain largely unnoticed today. The Beginnings Air Lute performance arose in Europe after the introductions from the East of the Ud, a …
March 1, 2021
A Tail of Woe Monday, January 2, 1978. The Arkansas Marching Razorback Band was in Miami for the Orange Bowl, affectionately called the Balaba Bowl by band members. Perhaps because of their similarity to oranges, balabas was a band-coined euphemism for breasts, which coincidentally were my primary goal in life at that time. Heedless of …
February 20, 2021
It was Saturday night after the band’s holiday concert. Since I was a groovy band kid, I was invited to a post-concert party at the home of band sisters Carol and Cheryl Mathis. Carol played baritone sax, and I played tenor sax, so we often sat together in band. Carol could chew gum and play …
February 1, 2021