Just where did this guy come from?

1956
I was always a dapper little weasel,
in a cheezy kind of way.
I was raised in a sleepy little border town few people had ever heard of (unless they'd been in the Navy) called San Diego. It was the 19th largest city in the country then, now it's 5th! I remember the excitement it generated when a Twilite Zone episode set in the future mentioned San Diego as the biggest city in the world. We kids got excited about that!

1972
I began as a street musician. I took my trusty Tenortrope to Balboa Park and started playing anything that popped into my head. I was playing a Charley Poole song, when a girl came up with an autoharp and said: Hey, that's a Charley Poole song! I know that one! Can I play too? Her name was (and is) Sarah and we became sweeties. We started a stringband with some friends called the Normal Heights Lounge Lizzards and started playing in Balboa Park. The cops would come around and roust us, but we (and others) pressured the city to issue permits. We were issued the first performer permits in park history by the late Chip Moon. (A capital fellow) The NHLL went through some personel changes over the next three years. First version was Mike Shway on guitar. (I played mandolin) Then Carlo Calabi and Mary Haas. (banjo and guitar, respectively) We all moved to the Napa valley and played in Yountville every week-end. I started playing fiddle around this time. Sarah and I moved back to San Diego and started again, this time with John Jones (guitar) Pam Ostergren, (banjo) and Dave Brown. (2nd fiddle) After a summer playing in Silverton Colo. Sarah and I broke up, and thus the band. Those bums that are calling themselves the Normal Heights Lounge Lizzards now never were in the band and are still sore about it. They're not as skilled of musicians as we were though, so DO be kind to them.


1975
Hunt and Peck! Johnny "Jazz" Jones and I teamed up as a duo to do an all novelty repetore. We had many adventures and were underpaid more places than you can shake a stick at. People seemed to love our act, but couldn't find a place for it in THEIR establishment. Weirdest gig: playing for the "blink" convention. (Blind people) They even held an auction. Picture that! They were very nice people though. During our third year, I finally found out what everybody else knew: "No Show Jones" wasn't reliable.

NOTE: Mister Jones has seen fit to contact me about this page and protest this statement. I agree heartily that he wasn't all bad, and that we had loads of fun when he wasn't diddling my girlfriend behind my back. He promised ( months ago now! ) to write down some of our adventures in his notorious style, and I intend to hold the blackguard to it! 1/8/02

1978
EZ and the Governor During the spring and summer of 78 I was hired under a CETA grant to be part of a moble theatre company. We were suposed to do plays about San Diego history, so naturaly we chose the closing of the red light district in 1912 as a subject. The area was called the "Stingaree" and included all the land from the corner of 4th and Market to the bay! There were whore houses, bars with names like "The Tub of Blood" and even opium dens! What a shame these historical artifacts are all gone because of christian intolerance. We had to do photo shoots for publicity, this was one, with the at-that-time mayor: Pete Wilson. Usually they sent the popular Karen Johnson out for these. Everyone called her "Whoopi" back then. She added the "Goldberg" part later. That's me in the grey top-hat, right behind the "clown".