The Zig Gazette

June 18 2009

Thezigsband.com Myspace.com/thezigsband

Jim Ziegler, Bill Raffensperger, John Hoff, Jim Downing

Saturday 6/20 Grand Lodge Ketchum, OK

A Tanner Tale

Also in Wichita, Tim Henry told us a David Tanner story. (We’ve had complaints that we have not mentioned Tim Henry enough lately, so here you go) Incidentally, Tim holds forth every Saturday night at a jazz club in Old Town, so if you’re in Wichita, don’t miss him.

They were in high school together and they got a gig with some older band, The T-Towners. Tim was on keys and Tanner was on bass and they thought they’d broken through to the next level; playing with older musicians, the big dogs.

The gig was in downtown Okmulgee. Tim and David went walking around before the gig and as they passed the barber shop, someone inside yelled at long-haired David implying that he was of indeterminate gender. The brash Tanner stuck is head in the door and suggested something akin to auto-eroticism. Hey, this is a family Gazette, OK?

You young people, it was my age group that pioneered non-conformity. It was truly dangerous just to have hair over your ears in Oklahoma in 1968. Not only would they not hire you at McDonald’s, they wouldn’t even serve you! You might as well have worn a sign saying “I want some rednecks to beat the crap out of me.” (We invented the term redneck, too.) A Goth in those days would have been killed on the spot, mistaken for some unidentifiable wildlife, or bigfoot.

Anyway, the lads outran the barbershop oafs. Tanner continued insulting people and when the private gig was over, several locals were waiting outside ready to pounce on the pale, gaunt hippie.

David was hoping the band would protect him, but the bandleader said, “Well, David, you’ve pissed a bunch of people off and damaged our reputation here. I’m afraid you’re on your own, good luck.”

David called his dad to drive all the way down and rescue him. I believe some police were required to get him safely to the car. This was also when John Tanner was running for District attorney.

Saturday 6/20 Grand Lodge Ketchum, OK

Tribute

There was a lot of talent at Mooney’s, most of whom had played with Frank, and a big crowd. At one point you couldn’t even get to the bar. Phil Bethel and Kenny Babb started the show at one pm with John Hoff on drums. Then the Zigs did a set and played all our big hits that we didn’t do the night before. Oddly, even if we do say so ourselves, we played particularly well all weekend. Frank was proud of us, and we have another comrade on the other side pulling for us.

Don White did a set with Dub Cross, Annie Walser on piano and Hoff again on drums. Hoff actually got a break when The Smokehouse Band played. Tabor from Left On Harvard played drums. We have to say that guy has a clue, he’s hanging out with the geezers; he gets it. I thought Ronnie Wood and Annie both played some killer piano. We were going to tear it down at five, but Polly did a set that ran until six. It could’ve run all night, but some of us had Monday morning obligations. There was still a goodly crowd at the end.

Special kudos go to MVP John Hoff, who worked his ass off all day and lost five pounds. Hoff is a great tub whacker, and he kicked us into some great grooves.

It was a good day in honor of our departed drummer, Franklin Paul McPeters, a universally beloved guy.

We remembered when we were out on the little deck and they were using one of the motel rooms for an extra ladies’ room. Frank kept sneaking in and opening the blinds, but every woman who used the toilet shut them.

When Frank approached a door that opened inward, he would often kick it and pretend he’d hit himself in the head. He kept us laughing.

Libby Jones said “Frank was my buddy. We were at Reasor’s and he said, ‘Look, Libby. Zucchini is on sale two for a dollar. You could eat one.”

I was telling White I like Polly’s voice and he said “When I lived in Nashville, people often gave me demos and said “Listen to this gal sing.” OK. Over and over it was ‘Check out this girl singer’. After a while I just told people I’m from Tulsa. We have Ann Bell, Marcy Levy, Debbie Campbell and Gus Hardin, etc. I’m not easily impressed, OK?”

Another guy tried to impress Don with some lightning guitar licks: “What do you think of that, old man?”

Don said, “If speed was what mattered, rabbits would rule the world.”

You have to play the space between the notes, too.

It was a sad day, but we also looked more closely at our old friends with renewed affection.

Saturday 6/20 Grand Lodge Ketchum, OK

FLOTSAM

The band isn’t on Facebook, but I am. An old high-school buddy invited me to join, and then it kind of exploded. I get these friend requests from total strangers looking for virtual friendships, I guess. “I’m not liking my anti-psychotic meds today…” Some people whom I actually like seem to spend far too much time posting their every thought or link they found. But there are some upsides to this.

For instance, I’ve been asking around about Rance Wasson for years. I haven’t seen him since Steve Munson died in 1990. He found me.

Those two had a duo that was known as Everclear or Riley C. Condor And The Wall Of Sound. Rance was Riley and Steve was The Wall (on bass). Rance appears on The Green Album, Peter Nicholls’ follow-up to The Tulsa Sampler.

Rance was part of Waylon Jennings’ band when they were on top. Their bass player got the axe and Rance was at the Tulsa airport and gave me a call, but I wasn’t home. That was one of the big near-misses of my career. But I probably would’ve gotten in a world of trouble with those guys.

Rance and I had known each other a dozen years and one day we were playing pinball at Bongo Sylly’s with Joe Danger when I asked him where he was originally from.

“Hobbs, New Mexico.” He beamed.

“Unbelievable! My uncle used to own a dairy farm in Hobbs.” I replied.

“What was his name?” Rance asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Bill Carpenter.” I said. It’s a small town, I figured everyone knew each other.

“MY uncle bought YOUR uncle’s dairy farm!” He said. We gaped at each other.

It’s a small world, isn’t it? Does this make us cousins?

A few people have heard sneak previews of our next CD, still in production. Naturally, it will be dedicated to Frank; his last session was during that late March snowstorm. John Wooley, the foremost journalistic authority on Oklahoma music of all kinds, pronounced our rendition of “Tell Mama” as “Killer!” We can’t wait to get it into your hot little hands.

Saturday 6/20 Grand Lodge Ketchum, OK

ONCE MORE AROUND THE SUN

As of May, the Old Zig Gazette has now been running seven years. The first Gazette went out to maybe a dozen people and pretty much said “Great googly Moogly! It’s them Zigs at Rulser’s on West Edison! Come on out!”

Well, now circulation is up to 253 people and in all this time only two people have cancelled their subscriptions. A couple of subscribers left the earthly sphere, but that doesn’t count. They are probably still reading in the great beyond.

Besides that, a lot of Gazettes get forwarded. The Blues Society often pastes us into their newsletter and Wanda Watson quotes us in hers from time to time. No telling how many people actually read this drivel. We hit at least 16 states and four foreign countries.

There are a couple of people who have confessed to saving them and tell us they have a pretty thick stack of paper so far; maybe even a book.

You can also read some back issues at Thezigsband.com on the Gazette page down at the bottom. Those are .doc documents entitled BOG – Best Of Gazette. We’re a little behind on updating that, but we’ll get around to it right after we join the Procrastinators Club.

Saturday 6/20 Grand Lodge Ketchum, OK

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