WHEN DALLAS ROCKED, THE KIRBY WARNOCK STORY

I heard about Jimmie Vaughan growing up because he was in The Chessmen and I was in high school at the time. Whenever we’d come through Dallas, we’d hear about the Chessmen with KLIF or something like that. When I saw them, you understand, this was back when people played live. You didn’t watch it on YouTube. You had to go to the club and see them play in person. And they just had a presence or a skill set that was just above everybody else. It was just Jimmie and Stevie, and there was everybody else.

A FALSTAFF AND A GLOBE

Long before the idea of Louann's came around Lou and Ann Bovis were running the Falstaff Tavern in the English Village. Not too long after the Centennial kicked off, Ann's brother Anton Martinkus joined them. Anton was an old warhorse, serving under George C Patton long before he became General Patton. He knew him better at Major Patton back at Fort Sheridan. He stayed with Lou and Ann until WWII broke and he went back to kicking butt and taking names at places like the beachhead at Leyte.

THE LAST WORDS OF BIG TEX…

Well, Guy Lombardo was at Louann's one night. I was selling popcorn table to table. They had a special table set up for them out in the middle of the club. I walked up to the table, but it was dark and I didn't recognize him. So I asked if he'd like to buy some popcorn. He looked up at me and said, "I'll make you a deal". He and his band were there with their wives. He said, "We want to go dance. If you'll sit here and keep an eye on the ladies' purses, I'll buy all the popcorn you've got." So I did, and he bought all my popcorn. I made more money that night than I ever thought I'd make in my life. Roy Orbison was there signing autographs. I wasn't selling popcorn that night. I was out picking up beer bottles off the tables. I used to like cleaning the tables. I'd sniff the beer bottles. On occasion I might have even sipped some beer out of a couple of them. Hell, when you're a kid you gotta get your beer where you can. So, Roy Orbison was over there signing autographs. He looked over at me and said, "Would you like an autograph too?" I said, "That's okay, I'll get one next time you're here". And he never came back to Louann's.

DROWNING IN A WHISKEY RIVER

So Whiskey River opens. Gatemouth Brown, Rusty Wier, Gary P. Nunn. We also had Ray Wylie Hubbard and Michael Martin Murphy. I had dinner with Michael at The Pawn Shop and he came over to Whiskey River and we really hit it off. B.W. Stevenson was there. Hoyt Axton. Delbert McClinton, Bees Knees, Shake Russell, Bugs Henderson all played there I’ll tell you one story - Paul McCartney from The Beatles came in one night. I think he was with Wings then. He was sitting with the Five Americans, I think Freddie King was playing that night.

BUD BUSCHARDT, HE’S SUMP’N ELSE!

The second weekend that I was at WFAA, things really changed. That was the weekend of November 22, 1963. I was still in school that day and they let us out early which was something they never did. So, I asked my professor “Dan, what do we do in a case like this?" He said, “There's my desk. There's my phone. You call RIverside 8-9631 right now.” So, I called, and actually got through the switchboard, and asked for Mr. Turner. And as luck had it, he happened to be on his way to lunch and ran into Jay Watson (WFAA Program Director) and Jerry Haynes in the lobby. Jay said, “I need studio quickly and camera live, whatever you can do.” And Turner said, “Well, what’s the big deal?” Jay said “The President’s just been shot.” And then it was absolutely crazy. I was running from studio to studio. Don said, “Strike all the studios you can."