|
|
|
Are you ready for some football?! Headed to Tuscaloosa this
weekend to see the Crimson Tide's home opener against Kent
State. I feel quite sure that Bama will prevail, According to
the point spread out of Las Vegas, the Tide is favored to squeek
by the Ohio team by 107 points. I am uncertain as to if the
Rutherford boys from Tallapoosa will run out of barbecue at the
tailgaiting across the street from Bryant-Denny Stadium. College
football season couldn't get here fast enough. Some folks say
that baseball is America's sport. I'm of the belief that there
is nothing that demonstrates physical talent and team work like
football. Do any of you remember the time of "midget football"
at Tallapoosa Elementary School? I went out in the 5th grade and
Coach Harris gave me a week to demonstrate some kind of aptitude
toward the game. The uniforms were blue with yellow letters. I
got the number 5, just like Paul Horning of the Green Bay
Packers. Coach Harris was very tactful when he told me that I
would be a great tackling dummy and perhaps I should consider
another athletic endeavor or perhaps join the band. I am headed
to Tuscaloosa this weekend to see the Crimson Tide. I also enjoy
seeing the half-time performance of the "Million Dollar Band." I
think with inflation over the decades the University of Alabama
band should be the "Billion Dollar Band." With the current
administration's economic policies maybe the "Trillion Dollar
Band." I'm just sayin'. Fortunately I got in beginner band with
classmates Claire Allen who played flute and Fay and Kay Allen
who played trumpet. In beginner band we played "song flutes."
Recorders is what they call them in schools now. The 5th graders
in beginner band had a concert in the school auditorium and I
have emceed concerts with 80,000 in the crowd but was never as
nervous as that chilly night back in 1961. Rod Ferguson was our
band director and I remember he always wore cardigan sweaters
and chain smoked during band practice. This of course was before
the time of Surgeon General C. Everett Coop. Mr. Ferguson
motivated us to give it our best because music is something we
could to the rest of our lives. In the 6th grade we moved up to
the high school band. Johnny DeVere, Connie Elliot, Brenda Cobb,
Michael "Mallard" Albright, Michael Pope and Joseph Johnson made
up the core of the high school band and they let us whipper
snappers know at the outset that we would have to work hard to
say in the band. Johnny DeVere is the most natural drummer I've
ever known. Joseph Johnson could have gone to the Berkley School
of Music in Boston. His trumpeting was that good. A few years
later Joseph along with Michael Pope, Bink Dawson, Michael
"Mallard" Albright, and Ted Straton formed a band along with
band director at that time Jimmy Couch to form the first band I
was ever in. "The Wild Frogs" was a horn band that
played a lot of Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass and Al Hurt
instrumentals. Ted Straton played keyboards and went on to play
with Les Dudek out in the Bay Area of California. Les Dudek
played guitar for Boz Scaggs and the Steve Miller Band.
He also worked with Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac and
pop culture icon Cher. Ted Straton was perhaps the funniest
person we went to school with. It is Ted who hung the moniker on
me "Rhubarb." Ted came back home a number of years ago and lives
in Carroll County. Graduations and people moving away kept the
Wild Frogs a short endeavor. I have a picture of the
group hanging in the house. The band room the first couple of
years of being in the band was next to the lunch room. I can
just smell those yeast rolls that Mrs. Brooks and Mrs. Thurmond
made. The lunchroom at our school also had great chili and fish
was served every Friday. The band room later moved to the
basement of the elementary school. During football season we
practiced behind the school marching 8 steps to every 5 yards.
We did it over and over and over again so we could give a good
performance at the ball park for the upcoming game coming up on
Friday night. The band taught us all a degree of self discipline
and achievement. Jimmy Couch was succeeded by other fine band
directors such as Bill Brown, Bob Ward, and Larry Culpepper.
Larry Culpepper is now the head of the culinary arts program at
North Georgia Tech. He was the best snare drummer who ever
picked up a pair of sticks. He is a legend among alum of the
Marching Southerners at Jacksonville State. Bob Ward was an
accomplished jazz guitarist and was a favorite of members of the
band for his ability to make us laugh. Larry Culpepper threw me
out of the band my last week of my senior year for mouthing off
to band captain Butch Henderson. That exercise taught me
humility. Butch has been a pharmacist in Cherokee County and now
has moved back into this area. When we were in high school, I
wouldn't take an Alka Seltzer from Butch. Butch by the way was
the best tuba player I ever met. It should be noted I've not
known many tuba players. Aside from learning in high school how
to type, music is something I use everyday. My love for music
began on Robertson Avenue. The high school band at Tallapoosa
was small. Perhaps about 30 musicians hit the field every years.
We were little, but loud. Being a part of the first Haralson
County Rebel Band in 1968 is something I am proud of. This
community owes a debt of gratitude to the many years of service
of Paul Ramsey for making the Rebal Band a top notch
organization. Truth be known, I might have never gradutated from
high school had it not been for the school band. Hollywood's
newest "It" girl Blake Lively who has roots in Tallapoosa. Blake
was vice president of her senior class at Burbank High School
and her boyfriend is Golden Globe winner Leonardo DiCaprio.
Blake's mother, the former Elaine McAlpin was a beauty at West
Haralson High School back in the '60s. Ms. Lively celebrated her
24th birthday on August 25th. 24 years? I have boots older than
her.
Rhubarb Jones is a
Tallapoosa native and a Distinguished Lecturer in the Department
of Communication and Director of Special Projects in the Office
of Development at Kennesaw State University. Previous columns
can be found at
www.tallapoosa-journal.com Commentaries can be heard after
the "Tradeline" program on WKNG 1060. Comments are welcome at
P.O. Box 1001, Tallapoosa, GA 30176 or via email at
rhubarbjones@aol.com
|
|
|
Site
Maintained by
Ann Taz
Borowski |
