I was burned out from working in retail and was looking for other work. After all, I had worked at Belk, Sanger Harris and JB White's. It was time for a change. I looked everywhere for a job. I had taken a little time off from my Charlotte experience to unwind, but I was still looking.
I went back to Columbia Mall to put in an application at Rich's Department Store. I really didn't want to work there, but I was getting desperate. I had rent to pay. I went into the Human Resources office, and the lady there asked me if I had worked for Phil Barrett. I said yes. He was our store manager at Belk. She said that she didn't need to check my references, because I was coming to her from a good person in Phil. It pays to know people.
I was hired to work in their Luggage Department. I had experience in that area from other stores, so it was an easy fit. The department was next to the employee breakroom. I had two stockrooms in the department. Across from Luggage was Housewares, and next to Luggage was TV's. I liked spending my time in TV's, as it got kind of boring in Luggage. One day, the supervisor for Housewares came to me and wanted me to do stock work in her department. She was not my supervisor, and I told her that was not my area. It was made clear to me that I had to do what any supervisor assigned me to do. I grumbled but did it.
Word got around town that I was in Luggage, and the business started to pick up. I only worked in that department for three months. I would be transferred to another department, which I will cover next. One thing about Rich's: if they liked you, they would move you around. I thought the goal was to make a statement in your assigned place. Their goal was to move successful sellers to other places. Interesting concept.
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
Wednesday, February 13, 2019
Bankruptcy
In 1995, I had a lot of credit cards and no money to pay them. In fact, I had one with a $10,000 line, and I couldn't afford the minimum monthly payment. In all, I had $52,000 in debt. I was living way beyond means. Using credit cards was an addiction for me like being on cocaine. I had collection agencies calling me all the time. Morning until night. It created a bad case of anxiety for me. I was afraid to answer the phone. This was before cellphones, so I got these calls only when I was home. My answering machine took care of a lot of them, but I got to the point that I would roll up into a ball when the phone rang. I had to stop it, so I decided to go the bankruptcy route.
The first thing I had to do was get a lawyer. One was recommended to me. She was supposed to be the best. I went to see her and set up a payment plan for her fees. We then got to work. She gave me some forms to list everything I owned, including furniture, pictures, records, memorabilia, and more. I brought the list back to her, and we began assigning a value for each item. I came up with a figure, and then she told me to not do what something is worth but rather what something could be sold for. Then, I came up with that figure. She then asked what I could get for it, if I sold it at a flea market. I came up with that figure. It was considerably less than the first amount I had done. It was that amount that we used to access my "wealth".
It was then time to go before a bankruptcy judge. A paralegal went with me to court. This was in the Spring of 1996. There were others there to plead their cases before the judge. One man lost his truck. I was sure I was going to lose my assets, the majority of which were my records. There was an auctioneer in the courtroom who determined how much they could get for selling the stuff that people had. When my case was heard, the judge asked me one question. He asked if my records were worth anything. I said that they were worth something to me. I had not planned on saying that. It just came out. The judge looked at the auctioneer who shook his head no. The judge declared my case to be a "no-assets" case, and my debt was cleared. It meant I could keep my stuff. I was relieved.
All of my debts were wiped out except one. Sears refused to accept the judge's decision. They said they would set up a payment plan with me to pay them $15/month. I agreed to that. The first bill I got from them was more than the $15/month that we agreed to. I called them and told them they had made a mistake on the bill. They apologized and said they would send another bill. I never got another bill from them. I was afraid to go into Sears for several months after that, but slowly I returned there. No one said anything about my debt.
The only real downside to it was that the bankruptcy was on my credit report for several years, but I could answer the phone again.
The first thing I had to do was get a lawyer. One was recommended to me. She was supposed to be the best. I went to see her and set up a payment plan for her fees. We then got to work. She gave me some forms to list everything I owned, including furniture, pictures, records, memorabilia, and more. I brought the list back to her, and we began assigning a value for each item. I came up with a figure, and then she told me to not do what something is worth but rather what something could be sold for. Then, I came up with that figure. She then asked what I could get for it, if I sold it at a flea market. I came up with that figure. It was considerably less than the first amount I had done. It was that amount that we used to access my "wealth".
It was then time to go before a bankruptcy judge. A paralegal went with me to court. This was in the Spring of 1996. There were others there to plead their cases before the judge. One man lost his truck. I was sure I was going to lose my assets, the majority of which were my records. There was an auctioneer in the courtroom who determined how much they could get for selling the stuff that people had. When my case was heard, the judge asked me one question. He asked if my records were worth anything. I said that they were worth something to me. I had not planned on saying that. It just came out. The judge looked at the auctioneer who shook his head no. The judge declared my case to be a "no-assets" case, and my debt was cleared. It meant I could keep my stuff. I was relieved.
All of my debts were wiped out except one. Sears refused to accept the judge's decision. They said they would set up a payment plan with me to pay them $15/month. I agreed to that. The first bill I got from them was more than the $15/month that we agreed to. I called them and told them they had made a mistake on the bill. They apologized and said they would send another bill. I never got another bill from them. I was afraid to go into Sears for several months after that, but slowly I returned there. No one said anything about my debt.
The only real downside to it was that the bankruptcy was on my credit report for several years, but I could answer the phone again.
Saturday, February 2, 2019
Charlotte
After Belk closed all of their stores in Columbia, I was out of work. In looking around, I found a company that wanted to hire me. It was Prudential Insurance. They liked my ability to sell. So, I went to their orientation and found out quickly that this was not the place for me. They wanted me to sell insurance, mostly to my friends and family. That was the first strike. They also wanted me to go through the phone book and make cold calls to people. That was the second strike. The third strike came, when they informed me that I would not get a commission from the sale for the first year. A mentor would basically get the money I had worked for. I would be paid enough to pay for rent and gas. I never went back.
I was needing money for rent. I saw an ad in the paper for someone in a marketing firm. That sounded doable. I went to their office in my three-piece suit and found it was a telemarketing place, and all of the women on the phones were in shorts and t-shirts. I was very overdressed a d walked out of the door.
Then, one day the phone rang. It was my old Belk store manager, Phil, wanting to know if I wanted to help them close the books on the stores. He said the former warehouse manager, Don, was going to do it, and he needed someone familiar with Accounts Payable. So, I said yes. The job was in Charlotte at the headquarters for the Belk family that owned our stores. We had a van, and we left the Columbia Mall parking lot every morning at 7:30 and drove to Charlotte to be up there by 9:30. The offices were on Tyvola across from South Park Mall. When we got there, we had all of the held invoices and the stock receipts in several boxes. We would take a receipt and match it to an invoice. We would check to see if they matched. Once that was reconciled, we would send that invoice to be paid. We sometimes could only pay partial invoices, which usually meant a call from a vendor when they got their check. We would try to get out of the office to return home by 3:30-4:00 to avoid the rush hour traffic. If we didn't, we wouldn't get back to Columbia until 7:30-8:00. That happened some at first.
Charlotte has a lot of nice restaurants. We tried to go to a different one each day, since Belk was paying for it. One reason we would go to a different one was that Don had bad luck with some of them. Either he got sick on the food or get hurt. One time, he bit into a sandwich that had a staple in the meat. He cut his lip, and it wouldn't stop bleeding. Our food was free that day.
We also would go up in all kinds of weather. It snowed twice. We braved the snowy roads one day, but the other we turned back before we got to Rock Hill. Our safety seemed kind of important. Another thing we did was stop for gas along the way on I-77. We stopped at all of the gas stations at least twice and got to know the workers inside. They got to know us too.
The job was starting to last longer than we had planned. We were supposed to take 3 months to close the books. We weren't anywhere near that to finishing, so we started a new plan. Pay the invoices without checking the stock receipts, as long as it was not over $10,000 each, We started okaying checks like crazy. We even joked that we could issue ourselves $10,000 checks without authorization and no one would no. Of course, we never did that. Too bad.
We finished up our job in February 1996. We had started just after Thanksgiving in 1995. The books were closed, and we went home. Phil got a job as a Belk store manager in Orangeburg. Don got a job at a bank. I was still looking at the want ads.
I was needing money for rent. I saw an ad in the paper for someone in a marketing firm. That sounded doable. I went to their office in my three-piece suit and found it was a telemarketing place, and all of the women on the phones were in shorts and t-shirts. I was very overdressed a d walked out of the door.
Then, one day the phone rang. It was my old Belk store manager, Phil, wanting to know if I wanted to help them close the books on the stores. He said the former warehouse manager, Don, was going to do it, and he needed someone familiar with Accounts Payable. So, I said yes. The job was in Charlotte at the headquarters for the Belk family that owned our stores. We had a van, and we left the Columbia Mall parking lot every morning at 7:30 and drove to Charlotte to be up there by 9:30. The offices were on Tyvola across from South Park Mall. When we got there, we had all of the held invoices and the stock receipts in several boxes. We would take a receipt and match it to an invoice. We would check to see if they matched. Once that was reconciled, we would send that invoice to be paid. We sometimes could only pay partial invoices, which usually meant a call from a vendor when they got their check. We would try to get out of the office to return home by 3:30-4:00 to avoid the rush hour traffic. If we didn't, we wouldn't get back to Columbia until 7:30-8:00. That happened some at first.
Charlotte has a lot of nice restaurants. We tried to go to a different one each day, since Belk was paying for it. One reason we would go to a different one was that Don had bad luck with some of them. Either he got sick on the food or get hurt. One time, he bit into a sandwich that had a staple in the meat. He cut his lip, and it wouldn't stop bleeding. Our food was free that day.
We also would go up in all kinds of weather. It snowed twice. We braved the snowy roads one day, but the other we turned back before we got to Rock Hill. Our safety seemed kind of important. Another thing we did was stop for gas along the way on I-77. We stopped at all of the gas stations at least twice and got to know the workers inside. They got to know us too.
The job was starting to last longer than we had planned. We were supposed to take 3 months to close the books. We weren't anywhere near that to finishing, so we started a new plan. Pay the invoices without checking the stock receipts, as long as it was not over $10,000 each, We started okaying checks like crazy. We even joked that we could issue ourselves $10,000 checks without authorization and no one would no. Of course, we never did that. Too bad.
We finished up our job in February 1996. We had started just after Thanksgiving in 1995. The books were closed, and we went home. Phil got a job as a Belk store manager in Orangeburg. Don got a job at a bank. I was still looking at the want ads.
Monday, January 21, 2019
AP
There was a meeting called in the breakroom of all those Belk employees present. The announcement was that the Belk store at Columbia Mall would be closing in three months. We had already closed the downtown Belk store, and all of the offices and warehouse had moved to Columbia Mall. The reason for the closing was that we were not making enough money to stay open. Because of that, we had been holding invoices to be paid for over a year, and we were not paying any of our vendors, so they had stopped sending us merchandise. Belk had given a three-month notice so that employees could find other jobs. Some did, including one woman in Accounts Payable. I was promoted to her job.
Each Monday, I would go into the manager's office, and he would give me a list of lies to tell vendors when they called asking about their money. I kept the lies on a yellow pad. When a vendor would call Accounts Payable, I would read a lie off of the pad, such as we had an issue with the plumbing that took some money to fix. Or, your money will be coming as soon as we reconcile the receipts. Sometimes, the vendor would call more than once a week. They would say that I told them something when they called last, so then I would go down the list and pick out another lie. I was not proud of this task, but it kept the vendors at bay for at least a few days.
When the Columbia Mall store closed, the operation moved to Columbiana Centre. By this time, there were two of us in Accounts Payable that moved there. It was a girl named Ginger (no not the same as a previous story) and me. We had been able to get some money together by closing of the two stores, and turning the Batesburg store over to another branch of Belk, so we were able to cut checks to some vendors. Ginger's job was to check invoices against receipts, and my job was to put forth those invoices for payment. Our "office" was in an old stockroom on the "second" floor of the store. There was little ventilation, so it got very hot in the summer and very cold in the winter. We had to take breaks during the day, so we could go downstairs and breathe. We had a radio in the room to help with the boredom. Ginger was forever calling a song request into a radio station to play "Mother-in-Law". I got very sick of that song.
Speaking of songs, one of the cuts that Belk made was to cut out the Muzak in the store. The employees and some customers complained about the dead air. I went home to my extensive record collection and recorded 20 90-minute cassette tapes with instrumental music. We played those in the store over the PA system. That worked well. When Christmas came, I recorded another 20 tapes with Christmas music. Yes, I had enough records to do that, too. When the store finally closed in 1995, those 40 cassettes disappeared.
Ginger and I would go to lunch in the mall's food court. In the winter, it was fun to see the high school kids come to the mall wearing shorts, and seeing their blue skin. It was their fashion statement. One day, we watched a guy from WIS TV try to eat more ice cream than someone else. We got on the news that night cheering them on.
When the announcement was made in 1995 that Belk was closing the Columbiana Centre store, we liquidated all of the merchandise still there. There were just a few employees left, including me, our warehouse manager, and our store manager. As we were about to lock up the store for the last time, the three of us went into the Men's Department area and turned on a big screen TV that was still there. We watched the verdict in the OJ Simpson trial. We couldn't believe our ears, when they said "Not Guilty". It is kind of funny how you remember where you were when events happen. During the Bronco chase, I was closing up my parents' house for the last time in 1994. Now, we were closing up the last Belk store in Columbia for the final time in 1995. It was a very sad day. I still have on my key ring the key to the warehouse at Columbiana Centre from Belk. It doesn't open anything now.
Each Monday, I would go into the manager's office, and he would give me a list of lies to tell vendors when they called asking about their money. I kept the lies on a yellow pad. When a vendor would call Accounts Payable, I would read a lie off of the pad, such as we had an issue with the plumbing that took some money to fix. Or, your money will be coming as soon as we reconcile the receipts. Sometimes, the vendor would call more than once a week. They would say that I told them something when they called last, so then I would go down the list and pick out another lie. I was not proud of this task, but it kept the vendors at bay for at least a few days.
When the Columbia Mall store closed, the operation moved to Columbiana Centre. By this time, there were two of us in Accounts Payable that moved there. It was a girl named Ginger (no not the same as a previous story) and me. We had been able to get some money together by closing of the two stores, and turning the Batesburg store over to another branch of Belk, so we were able to cut checks to some vendors. Ginger's job was to check invoices against receipts, and my job was to put forth those invoices for payment. Our "office" was in an old stockroom on the "second" floor of the store. There was little ventilation, so it got very hot in the summer and very cold in the winter. We had to take breaks during the day, so we could go downstairs and breathe. We had a radio in the room to help with the boredom. Ginger was forever calling a song request into a radio station to play "Mother-in-Law". I got very sick of that song.
Speaking of songs, one of the cuts that Belk made was to cut out the Muzak in the store. The employees and some customers complained about the dead air. I went home to my extensive record collection and recorded 20 90-minute cassette tapes with instrumental music. We played those in the store over the PA system. That worked well. When Christmas came, I recorded another 20 tapes with Christmas music. Yes, I had enough records to do that, too. When the store finally closed in 1995, those 40 cassettes disappeared.
Ginger and I would go to lunch in the mall's food court. In the winter, it was fun to see the high school kids come to the mall wearing shorts, and seeing their blue skin. It was their fashion statement. One day, we watched a guy from WIS TV try to eat more ice cream than someone else. We got on the news that night cheering them on.
When the announcement was made in 1995 that Belk was closing the Columbiana Centre store, we liquidated all of the merchandise still there. There were just a few employees left, including me, our warehouse manager, and our store manager. As we were about to lock up the store for the last time, the three of us went into the Men's Department area and turned on a big screen TV that was still there. We watched the verdict in the OJ Simpson trial. We couldn't believe our ears, when they said "Not Guilty". It is kind of funny how you remember where you were when events happen. During the Bronco chase, I was closing up my parents' house for the last time in 1994. Now, we were closing up the last Belk store in Columbia for the final time in 1995. It was a very sad day. I still have on my key ring the key to the warehouse at Columbiana Centre from Belk. It doesn't open anything now.
Friday, January 11, 2019
American Eagle
During the latter days of Belk in the mid-1990's, they had a travel agency in the Columbia Mall store. I used that agency to book a flight from Columbia to Nashville to visit Del and Chris who had moved there. The only direct flight was on American, so I took it.
When I got to the airport, I found that the plane was a small prop plane that was actually American Eagle. The plane sat around 28 people. It had two pilots and one flight attendant. The cockpit was separated from the cabin by a curtain, and you could see the pilots easily. Because the plane was so small, it could not be attached to the walkway from the terminal to the plane, so we had to walk out onto the tarmac to board the plane and load our luggage. This whole experience made me nervous. Primarily because a plane like this one had crashed in Alabama a week before and had killed everyone on board. Our plane was about half filled with passengers.
Apparently, my nervousness was seen by most everyone in the plane, because the flight attendant asked if I wanted to sit by her at the front of the seating area. I agreed, and she held my hand as we took off. She gave me a Sprite, and I had a window seat to look out at the scenery. I started getting nervous again, when we started flying over the mountains. The plane seemed to be just above the trees. I could look down and see a person mowing his grass.
After drinking the Sprite, I had to go to the restroom. It was at the front of the plane and very small. The ceiling was lower than I was tall. It also was made of metal. While I was in there, the plane hit an air pocket, and my head hit the ceiling. I saw stars. When I came out, I had a big bump on my head.
We got to Nashville, and we were all thankful we landed safely. I stayed in Nashville with my friends for a few days and got to see the city. We went to a couple of record stores, and I found some cool test pressings. Then, it was time to board the American Eagle back to Columbia. I knew better what to expect with the flight. All of the seats were filled this time around. A guy had brought his guitar on board. Liquor was served. Although I didn't drink, enough people did. We had a party on the plane with singing and guitar playing. I forgot all about being scared.
When I got to the airport, I found that the plane was a small prop plane that was actually American Eagle. The plane sat around 28 people. It had two pilots and one flight attendant. The cockpit was separated from the cabin by a curtain, and you could see the pilots easily. Because the plane was so small, it could not be attached to the walkway from the terminal to the plane, so we had to walk out onto the tarmac to board the plane and load our luggage. This whole experience made me nervous. Primarily because a plane like this one had crashed in Alabama a week before and had killed everyone on board. Our plane was about half filled with passengers.
Apparently, my nervousness was seen by most everyone in the plane, because the flight attendant asked if I wanted to sit by her at the front of the seating area. I agreed, and she held my hand as we took off. She gave me a Sprite, and I had a window seat to look out at the scenery. I started getting nervous again, when we started flying over the mountains. The plane seemed to be just above the trees. I could look down and see a person mowing his grass.
After drinking the Sprite, I had to go to the restroom. It was at the front of the plane and very small. The ceiling was lower than I was tall. It also was made of metal. While I was in there, the plane hit an air pocket, and my head hit the ceiling. I saw stars. When I came out, I had a big bump on my head.
We got to Nashville, and we were all thankful we landed safely. I stayed in Nashville with my friends for a few days and got to see the city. We went to a couple of record stores, and I found some cool test pressings. Then, it was time to board the American Eagle back to Columbia. I knew better what to expect with the flight. All of the seats were filled this time around. A guy had brought his guitar on board. Liquor was served. Although I didn't drink, enough people did. We had a party on the plane with singing and guitar playing. I forgot all about being scared.
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
The Cobbwebs
As I wrote earlier, my two best friends were Del and Chris. They had been recording some cover songs on Chris's four-track at his house. We started talking about doing some original songs. I had written songs since the fourth grade, and Chris was very good in writing music, as well as lyrics on his own. Del was a very good singer. The three of us decided to form a group.
There were a few names that we considered including Rave On and Eastside Project. The one that stuck was The Cobbwebs. It kind of had a double meaning. We were writing songs that were inspired by groups from the 1960's, so the meaning of "cobwebs" made sense for old sounding songs. Del had relatives in Georgia named Cobb. One had been a Southern general during the Civil War, so we settled on The Cobbwebs. Also, there was a group called The Cobwebs, so we had to add the other "B".
Chris played lead guitar and drums. Del was the lead singer, and he also played bass guitar and keyboards. Chris also mixed the tracks, as he majored in technical recording at Memphis State. On a trip out there, Del and I joined Chris to record two songs on a professional soundboard in a real studio. I learned how to work the board and produce the songs. Even with Chris's four-track, he made the two of them sound like a full band.
We heard of a project that a local radio station was producing featuring bands from the Columbia area. We submitted a song and was accepted for a CD and cassette tape release called "The Burning of Columbia". We went to a guy, who had us sign a contract. It said that they would record our song at their studio, and we would have to pay them to get promotional photos made. We pooled our money, and got that done. They never used the pictures. When we got into the studio, Chris wanted to work their soundboard, but they told him no. The recording lasted almost all of a Sunday afternoon. The radio station released a cassette. We never saw a CD. We were the last song on side two of the tape. The song was called "Cry Baby Cry", but when it was listed on the tape, it listed "Cobbwebs-Cry Baby". We weren't pleased with that either, but we had signed a contract. We did get the radio station to play our song a couple of times, and another radio station in town played it, and we were interviewed about it.
After Del and Chris moved to Nashville, they continued recording songs. I continued to write lyrics and send to them. We were looking for a record label to sign us. They would send out sample tapes to labels along with sheet music. The labels would return the tapes because of unsolicited material, but they would keep the sheet music. I sent one to Elton John, but the tape was returned. I also sent one to Yoko Ono. She kept it. We gave a tape to Gary Lewis. He listened to it, and said he liked it. We sent one to Peter Noone, and he said he liked to play it while driving in his car. We started getting some buzz that our music was good. One independent label wanted to represent us. We put a cd together of 20 original songs and called it "Magic Boat".
I wrote six songs that were included on the CD. In 2001, the label sent copies to mostly college radio stations and some foreign stations in Europe. We sold a few copies in Oregon, but mostly in Europe. At the end of 2001, we were rated in several top-ten lists in Italy, Bosnia, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, and other countries. Two of my songs got a lot of airplay in Europe--"She Said No" and "She Said Yes". The first was a song about a guy asking a girl for a date, but she said no. The second was a song about a guy asking a girl for a date and expecting her to say no, but she says yes, and then he doesn't know what to do next. These two songs in effect became our single release.
In regards to labels keeping our sheet music, we were concerned that they would steal our songs, so everything was copyrighted. The law basically says that two songs have to have eight measures the same in order before it can be said that the two songs are the same. We listened to a lot of radio after submitting our songs. One song had six measures the same but not eight. Too bad. We could have made a gazillion dollars had it been eight.
Our independent label wanted us to perform at a oldies festival in California. We wanted to go, but it became almost impossible, since two guys played all the instruments and did all of the vocals. The promoter said that he could provide a backing band for us, but we only would have two weeks to get that all together, so we passed on the festival. Soon thereafter, we had some creative and marketing differences within the band, so we split up. Chris and I were still writing songs. In 2007, Del and Chris got back together and recorded another CD. In 2008, the three of us got back together in Nashville and recorded a third CD. Those last two have not been released formally, but you can find some of the songs on social media, if you look hard enough.
There were a few names that we considered including Rave On and Eastside Project. The one that stuck was The Cobbwebs. It kind of had a double meaning. We were writing songs that were inspired by groups from the 1960's, so the meaning of "cobwebs" made sense for old sounding songs. Del had relatives in Georgia named Cobb. One had been a Southern general during the Civil War, so we settled on The Cobbwebs. Also, there was a group called The Cobwebs, so we had to add the other "B".
Chris played lead guitar and drums. Del was the lead singer, and he also played bass guitar and keyboards. Chris also mixed the tracks, as he majored in technical recording at Memphis State. On a trip out there, Del and I joined Chris to record two songs on a professional soundboard in a real studio. I learned how to work the board and produce the songs. Even with Chris's four-track, he made the two of them sound like a full band.
We heard of a project that a local radio station was producing featuring bands from the Columbia area. We submitted a song and was accepted for a CD and cassette tape release called "The Burning of Columbia". We went to a guy, who had us sign a contract. It said that they would record our song at their studio, and we would have to pay them to get promotional photos made. We pooled our money, and got that done. They never used the pictures. When we got into the studio, Chris wanted to work their soundboard, but they told him no. The recording lasted almost all of a Sunday afternoon. The radio station released a cassette. We never saw a CD. We were the last song on side two of the tape. The song was called "Cry Baby Cry", but when it was listed on the tape, it listed "Cobbwebs-Cry Baby". We weren't pleased with that either, but we had signed a contract. We did get the radio station to play our song a couple of times, and another radio station in town played it, and we were interviewed about it.
After Del and Chris moved to Nashville, they continued recording songs. I continued to write lyrics and send to them. We were looking for a record label to sign us. They would send out sample tapes to labels along with sheet music. The labels would return the tapes because of unsolicited material, but they would keep the sheet music. I sent one to Elton John, but the tape was returned. I also sent one to Yoko Ono. She kept it. We gave a tape to Gary Lewis. He listened to it, and said he liked it. We sent one to Peter Noone, and he said he liked to play it while driving in his car. We started getting some buzz that our music was good. One independent label wanted to represent us. We put a cd together of 20 original songs and called it "Magic Boat".
I wrote six songs that were included on the CD. In 2001, the label sent copies to mostly college radio stations and some foreign stations in Europe. We sold a few copies in Oregon, but mostly in Europe. At the end of 2001, we were rated in several top-ten lists in Italy, Bosnia, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, and other countries. Two of my songs got a lot of airplay in Europe--"She Said No" and "She Said Yes". The first was a song about a guy asking a girl for a date, but she said no. The second was a song about a guy asking a girl for a date and expecting her to say no, but she says yes, and then he doesn't know what to do next. These two songs in effect became our single release.
In regards to labels keeping our sheet music, we were concerned that they would steal our songs, so everything was copyrighted. The law basically says that two songs have to have eight measures the same in order before it can be said that the two songs are the same. We listened to a lot of radio after submitting our songs. One song had six measures the same but not eight. Too bad. We could have made a gazillion dollars had it been eight.
Our independent label wanted us to perform at a oldies festival in California. We wanted to go, but it became almost impossible, since two guys played all the instruments and did all of the vocals. The promoter said that he could provide a backing band for us, but we only would have two weeks to get that all together, so we passed on the festival. Soon thereafter, we had some creative and marketing differences within the band, so we split up. Chris and I were still writing songs. In 2007, Del and Chris got back together and recorded another CD. In 2008, the three of us got back together in Nashville and recorded a third CD. Those last two have not been released formally, but you can find some of the songs on social media, if you look hard enough.
Saturday, November 10, 2018
Macca
It was 1993. Paul McCartney was doing his New World Tour. It was announced that he was going to play in Atlanta at the Omni. Del, Chris and I had to go. After all, this was Paul McCartney. A Beatle. We had seen Ringo Starr in Charlotte earlier, so it just was a must see for us. I got tickets on the left side of the stage in the stands. We made reservations at a "motel" outside of Atlanta near Snapfinger Rd. (One should always snap their fingers when passing by Snapfinger). The concert was scheduled for May 1st.
A couple of weeks before going to Atlanta, they announced that Paul would be coming to Columbia to play a show at Williams-Brice Stadium on May 7th. We already had our tickets for Atlanta, but we couldn't pass up seeing him again, so we got tickets for that show too. Our tickets were in the upper deck of the stadium.
The State Newspaper put out a call for anyone with a big Beatles collection to contact them about running a story on them. We reached out, because at that time, our combined collection was valued somewhere around $200,000. They scheduled a time for us to come into their offices and bring our most expensive stuff. We brought picture sleeves, memorabilia, and other stuff. They put us in a room with a sheet on the floor. They wanted us to lie down on the sheet with our collection around us. The photographer stood on a ladder and shot down at us. We had to be very careful not to lay on our stuff to damage it. A reporter interviewed us on how we got interested in The Beatles. They used a quote of mine where I said that I was zapped through the TV screen, when I saw them on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. As we were finishing up the interview, I asked the reporter not to use my age in the article. I was acting, and I was doing roles that were younger than I was. I looked younger than my age. The reporter said he would do as I asked. When the article came out, it said "Walter Durst, 39". I was livid. I called the reporter, and he said that his editor made him put my age in the article because it was "company policy". I was irked to put it mildly.
Anyway, we went to Atlanta and saw the show. It was great. We sang along with almost all the songs. A few months later, I got audio and video copies of that show from a guy in Alabama. It was good, except for telling his friend to go get him a beer just as Paul finished singing "Yesterday".
The show in Columbia was almost exactly the same as the one in Atlanta, including all the intros to the songs that Paul spoke about. The only difference was in Atlanta he had a false start on "Michelle", and a scenery piece fell down during "Paperback Writer". They had told everyone not to bring audio or video devices into the concert in Columbia. There turned out to be no one checking for that. One could have brought an entire TV crew in, and no one would have said anything. I didn't get a copy of that show, but I do have a video of the soundcheck.
It was amazing to see Paul McCartney. I saw him again in 2015 and sang along to all of the songs again.
A couple of weeks before going to Atlanta, they announced that Paul would be coming to Columbia to play a show at Williams-Brice Stadium on May 7th. We already had our tickets for Atlanta, but we couldn't pass up seeing him again, so we got tickets for that show too. Our tickets were in the upper deck of the stadium.
The State Newspaper put out a call for anyone with a big Beatles collection to contact them about running a story on them. We reached out, because at that time, our combined collection was valued somewhere around $200,000. They scheduled a time for us to come into their offices and bring our most expensive stuff. We brought picture sleeves, memorabilia, and other stuff. They put us in a room with a sheet on the floor. They wanted us to lie down on the sheet with our collection around us. The photographer stood on a ladder and shot down at us. We had to be very careful not to lay on our stuff to damage it. A reporter interviewed us on how we got interested in The Beatles. They used a quote of mine where I said that I was zapped through the TV screen, when I saw them on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. As we were finishing up the interview, I asked the reporter not to use my age in the article. I was acting, and I was doing roles that were younger than I was. I looked younger than my age. The reporter said he would do as I asked. When the article came out, it said "Walter Durst, 39". I was livid. I called the reporter, and he said that his editor made him put my age in the article because it was "company policy". I was irked to put it mildly.
Anyway, we went to Atlanta and saw the show. It was great. We sang along with almost all the songs. A few months later, I got audio and video copies of that show from a guy in Alabama. It was good, except for telling his friend to go get him a beer just as Paul finished singing "Yesterday".
The show in Columbia was almost exactly the same as the one in Atlanta, including all the intros to the songs that Paul spoke about. The only difference was in Atlanta he had a false start on "Michelle", and a scenery piece fell down during "Paperback Writer". They had told everyone not to bring audio or video devices into the concert in Columbia. There turned out to be no one checking for that. One could have brought an entire TV crew in, and no one would have said anything. I didn't get a copy of that show, but I do have a video of the soundcheck.
It was amazing to see Paul McCartney. I saw him again in 2015 and sang along to all of the songs again.
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