Billy Spears Band page 4

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I Got a Gal (or three or four or five) in Kalamazoo (zoo, zoo,...)

For some reason - probably the Odee Acres Festival(s) - we were extremely successful in Kalamazoo, Michigan. We played at three different bars and had big crowds always. Two Kalamazoo bars I remember playing in: Big Daddy's and Fairway's. I remember "Take It to the Limit," "Good Hearted Woman," and Peter Frampton's "Show Me the Way" over and over on the jukebox.

We made friends and hung out with members of a local band, the Twang Brothers. Their bass player, Lonnie Goodwin, seemed to be in awe of my playing, so much so that he took me to a music store and fronted the money for an unused 1972 Fender Precision bass, to replace the Gretsch I was using. We had the owner of the store put a tortoise-shell pickguard on it and swap necks with another guitar, so it was a "custom" piece. I came to love that "P bass," but I don't think I ever paid Lonnie back fully. Sorry, man, if I ever hear from you I'll do it.

(That guitar, as well as a Gibson ES-335 I bought from Corky Bell for $375, were stolen from my house in a burglary in the nineties. Miserable bastids.)

One time when we were in "the zoo" we visited the Gibson factory, which was cool.

	Here are some cuts recorded at the "Second Annual Billy Spears Boogie" outside of Kalamazoo in May of 1976. The first picture on the left is of the actual gig, and the remaining ones are at a party, where the real fun was to be had. Cuts recorded at this event: Dim Lights, Thick Smoke Everyday I Have the Blues Heartaches by the Number I'll Fix Your Flat Tire, Merle I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry (over You) Move It on Over Through the Bottom of the Glass Six Pack to Go Roly Poly
	Between music makings. Labrador retriever in the foreground, Winnebago in the background. Throughout our time on the road, parties like this one provided a lot of fun for us as well as cementing our relationships with fans.
	Bob, Billy, Andy, Bud (yellow shirt), and Jimmy.
	Bud, Billy, Andy, the old-time fiddler whose name I've forgotten, and Bob.
	A pensive Pettit. Note the "Big Eat" T-shirt!
	What will we play next?
	I'm sure there was a hog inside of this contraption, and I'm sure I ate some of it. Not my thing nowadays.
	Bob giving free lessons.
	Billy, perhaps wondering how his life would be different if he'd had sons...?

Here are some pix from Big Daddy's:

Andy, Jim, and Billy enjoying postprandial stupor in Kalamazoo, late 1975.
I do know the young woman's name, but I'm not telling. She's responsible for the silly handkerchief around my neck.

Left: Buddy, pay attention to ME!
Above: Bob, Lawna Spears, and Carol enjoying Kalamazoo hospitality.
Lawna passed away April 26, 2007. Rest in peace.

The Billy Spears Band, 1975-1978 - page 4