Topic starter
16/01/2007 7:49 pm
Today's tape was from July 1982, a cruise from Pittsburgh to NOLA. This was the only summer I wasn't able to do a UMR trip, none scheduled until fall, so I went on the Ohio and then down the lower Miss. One Texas Lounge session featured bird songs, as Dan Forman brought his two birds, and Alice's one, up for our viewing. Mom and Vic were on vacation again (although Col.Tooker might have been on one of his super secret CIA missions), so Dan was the leader. Other members of the band included Howard Kadisson on drums, Phil Gomez on sax/clarinet, Reggie Evans on trumpet, and Lowell Schreyer on banjo. Lowell is from Mankato Minnesota and he was a member of the Turkey River All Stars. Anyone remember this group? They were mostly doctors at the Mayo Clinic and Les Fields was their leader. I loved their motto: We want to play for you in the worst way! They would often sit in when we were in Winona or Wabasha, and one time they were awaiting us on the levee at Prairie, I think, with suitcases in hand. Turned out the office booked them for an overnight and didn't tell the boat crew. Henry Mitchell had to shuffle some people around to make room for them, but he did it. Lowell is a historian and was writing a book about the history of the banjo, so he used his DQ time to visit local library microfilms for information. Lowell's daughter Debbie would sit in as a teenager. She is now a professional banjo player, in the DC area, I believe. As usual, Dan was carrying on banter with Cruise Director Terry Severns and whomever else he could target between songs, and at one point the unmistakable laugh of Ann Zeiger is heard. At the end of that cruise I did my usual one-night stayover in NOLA to ride the NATCHEZ, and Doc uttered words he has lived to regret: Why don't you come down and stay for more than a day sometime? I came down for 4 days that New Years, and the rest is history...
17/01/2007 12:01 am
I remember the Turkey River group...I can remember them from those UMR trips I was on with Grandpa Zahn, Mom & Dad...
I think they'd get on in PDC and ride until eveningtime and would get off at a lock???
They played in the Texas lounge, I have pictures somewhere, I remember the young girl, who was around my age...and with me in high school...well...
17/01/2007 7:01 am
Does anyone here know Tom Sharpsteen, one of the original Firehouse 5+2? Tom was a friend of mine (mostly through model Ts and trains). Tom passed last week, and the memorial was last Monday. It was at the memorial that I learned Tom was one of the first to bring real New Orleans Jazz to California. It occured to me that a few on the list might remember him and would want to know that he is now playing with Ward Kimball again (and to quote an old joke, "The only downside is, God has a girlfriend who thinks she can sing"), so there's a hot jazz group up there!
17/01/2007 11:37 pm
Funny y'all should mention the Turkey River All-Stars! I don't know what Les Fields is doing now (assuming he is still living), but 8 years ago I got a hankering for some of their music. I looked up Les on the internet, and called him in Rochester, MN. I told him who I was and that I had a home-made tape of the group made in 1978 (sent to me courtesy of Dave Tschiggfrie) that I'd been listening to, and asked if they had any other recordings. He sent one that had been made in 1997; the group then was still active! It's good, but just not the same as being in the Texas Lounge, cruising up the St. Croix River.
Les really got a kick out of the fact that I remembered him after 20 years, sought him out and wanted to buy a tape!