COUNTRY…..on the move!
Anyone under the age of 50 is probably not going to be
very interested in this particular column, however anyone that is in
the music business, no matter what your age or your genre of music, it
will probably be an eye-opener.
My wife Sheila and my daughter Bobbie Lhea have been
watching re-runs of the Johnny Carson show on ME-TV, a cable outlet in
our small town. They run the shows at 9pm, which is great, especially
when bedtime is around 11pm. Watching the ‘news’ isn’t much of a
priority anymore, a great deal of what is labeled ‘news’ is nothing more
than someone’s opinion. AND, most of that ‘opinion’ is a bought and
paid for advertisement for one political group or another. Wow, there’s
got to be a lot of money floating through the media to get so much of
it on the air, and worse those that plop ‘false’ news on top of the
non-news.
Johnny Carson was a great entertainment show. I never
realized how easily he ‘entertained’ when watching him back in the
80’s. Born in Corning, Iowa, spent his boyhood in Avoca, Iowa, grew up
and went to high school in Norfolk, Nebraska, went to college at the
University of Nebraska, was an Ensign in the Navy, got into broadcasting
and the rest is history. Recently they aired the program where Carson
returned to his old boyhood home in Avoca, Iowa (with his girlfriend)
and a pleasant journey it was for him. Later he held up the local Avoca
newspaper to show the audience about his visit, the same newspaper that
we advertised our National Old Time Music Festival which took place in
Avoca at that time. He never talked about our festival, but ‘way back
when’ I had a lady very interested in advancing my career in music, and
she constantly badgered Carson, and his executive-producer
Fred DeCordova, in an attempt to get me on the Tonight Show. She didn’t
get much back from DeCordova, but on one occasion Carson told viewers
“he wasn’t going to have a hillbilly singer on his show who sang old
songs and played the harmonica wrapped in a coat hanger.” or words to
that effect. I’m sure there were many performers, especially ‘folk’
artists who did that, so he probably wasn’t speaking directly to my lady
friend or me, but my guess is, because she bothered him so much, it
probably was us. The bottom line is how very difficult it was then, and
even more difficult today, to get any of America’s old-time ‘roots’
music before the public. The ‘system’ is so bought and paid for from
the bottom up, everything has a price, and if you are willing, and able,
to pay the price you can get anything you want on the national media.
That brings me to the crux of what I’m trying to say….Have you noticed
how very little programming there is for elder citizens on national
media these days? Scan through your program guide, or flip the 900
channels you have on cable and see how many programs are actually
devoted to senior citizens. You might find one or two that deal with
medicine, doctors, health problems, etc., but you will not find a
program, even vaguely similar to the type of easy to watch entertainment
like Johnny Carson. The guy could spend an hour talking to ‘unknown’
guests as well as super-stars. He could spend 15 minutes having fun
with interesting animals, that 15 minutes flying by as you watch his
antics. AND, Carson also had good music on his show. Recently we
watched an astonishing performance by B. B. King, one of the most
amazing blue’s artists to ever grace that genre of music. Carson had a
‘hook’ with his show, and when it didn’t work, that’s when Ed McMann
guffawed the loudest. It was almost a Laurel and Hardy relationship.
AND, it worked.
Recently at our National Old Time Music Festival, we
had a most interesting guest come and do some emcee work. Dave Berg,
the Executive Producer of the Tonight Show for all twenty years of the
Jay Leno productions, came to watch, listen, and observe what is
happening in ‘rural’ America with ‘entertainment.’ He got an eye-full
as well as an ear-full, and was quite pleased with the outcome. How
this all came to happen is about as interesting as Carson’s refusal to
have a hillbilly singer with a harmonica wrapped around his neck on the
Tonight Show. Way back when, you have to remember that I’ve been in the
music business all of my life. I’m now 81 years old, and started
performing for actual pay when I was ten years old, long time to be in
music. On one of the tours that I made (some of them were all over the
world), was to California, and I lost my lead guitar player for the trip
because his dad was so ill and wasn’t expected to live very long. I
put a small ad in a music magazine, and this guitarist Dave Berg called
me, we did a quick rehearsal, and we were off to California. It was an
amazing trip. When it was over, Dave decided he would stay in
California and pursue some opportunities in television. He did, and boy
did he go higher than he ever expected. He came to Norfolk, Nebraska,
last year to participate in the Johnny Carson Comedy Festival they do
there. Sheila and Bobbie and I went to see the show, and were quite
pleased with the manner in which they presented all that great old-time
flavor of national television broadcasting. After it was over a
startled Dave Berg realized who I was after I popped open a photo of one
of the publicity photos of our California tour. That led to his
presence at this years festival, and it also led to his interesting
observations about ‘senior’ entertainment on television at the national
level. He too, agrees there isn’t much regional programming at any
level of television broadcasting.
We both agree that somehow, somewhere, there must be a
way to bring the many genres of music available in America today,
especially those that seniors listen to, back to the tube. There must
be a way to bring incredibly gifted musicians, no matter what their
genre, to the tube. There must be a way to find a more ‘common ground’
OTHER than political hacks, for ‘time’ on the tube. We’ve been sort of
‘brainwashed’ about what we watch on television these days. It’s one
thing to use the ‘freedoms’ of America to espouse a cause or belief,
it’s quite another to overpower the media with it on a constant
never-ending daily basis. I think back to Carson, and his very friendly
‘political’ observations were quite funny, but not hurtful. I see it
today and I turn the tube off, it is so exasperating. I look at Carson
and I see him talking to an elderly man who was in the Olympics in
1912. An unknown person with a great story. And for Carson that
worked, exceptionally well. I look at Carson and I see him talking to
an 8-year old actor and handling it well, and I look at Carson and I see
a man who had an incredibly open mind and heart about who he would have
on his show, and how he would handle it. He was brilliant at it.
Compare what he did to today’s late-night shows. Entertainment? Well
yes, probably if you enjoy adolescent humor, or ‘games’ or nothing but
popular music, NOTHIN’ BUT popular music. And think about that for a
moment. You’ve heard some incredibly gifted musicians, vocalists,
songwriters, etc. along your own highway in life. You KNOW how good
they are. Do you ever see them on the tube? Nope, not likely. Not
even on ‘local’ television, that’s disappeared too.
So what can we do about it? Not much, unless you are a
multi-millionaire and you want to spend some money. What can we do at
the local level? Not much there either, have you noticed the only
‘live’ television we see is local news. There isn’t any ‘local’
programming anymore anywhere. And it used to be so darn good. I hosted
a program on PBS-TV, produced in Johnston, Iowa, called simply “Old
Time Country Music.” It was very popular, it aired in twenty-two states
and garnered awards and a large viewing audience. Seven years is a
long run for a local television show. We lost the producer of the show,
I had a heart attack, and ‘interest’ wavered from the production point
of view. I believe if enough people called Iowa PBS-TV and asked for it
to be re-run, and it should be, some of the very best old-time country
and bluegrass artists were on that show, and there were a ton of them in
the seven years that I hosted it. YOUR voice is not totally locked
out. YOUR voice might make a difference in today’s world of music,
especially the beautiful ‘rural’ music I have promoted for so many
years. You will be absolutely amazed at the incredibly gifted
performers that you’ll see on “Old Time Country Music.” Rather than
just let it disappear, do something about it. Won’t do much good for me
personally, especially at the age of 81, but it sure will do something
good for you. Call them at 515-725-9700 or send them a letter, Iowa
PBS, P. O. Box 6450, Johnston, IA 50131. AND please remember, our
voices are limited, YOU have to use your freedom of speech to make
things happen. YOU have to ask your friends to also do the same thing.
Let’s see what happens.
By Bob Everhart, www.music-saver.com
for Country Music News International