The World According To Larry....

Or How We Caught Tempe Area Insanity. On the Road, March 31, 2001

One Ticket to Paradise, Please!

Yep, here's one of those tickets to the George Strait County Music Festival. Yeah, sure, Alan Jackson, Lee Ann Womack, Brad Paisley, etc. were performing live on the main stage...but in the depths of Tempe's Sun Devil Stadium parking lot beat the REAL heart of country music. No, not the Warren Brothers, you eeeediot! It is BR5-49! Live on the Lynchburg Stage.

Hey Everyone! Meet LARRY!

Some of you already know him as drummer Shaw Wilson, the suave, hard-hitting, stick-wielding pin-up boy from Lawrence, Kansas.

But his shirt says LARRY. Are you confused? You shouldn't be! We're not! Actually Shaw/Larry had the best stories of the day, along with Cowboy Keith, the guy who makes the boys sound good in those big stadium speakers. There was much discussion about BR5-49's meeting rock legend and the world's only surviving embalmee, Keith Richards. Were those really FISHING LURES in his hair or what?

The Lynchburg Live stage was already jumping by the time we got there. We had already missed the first two sets by the Warren Brothers...and that was okay by us. Arigon reckoned she heard better music played at Jollie's! Oh well...that's the record biz.

Folks gathered around to listen to the boys. We spotted Vince from Flathead, who's band had opened for the boys at Nita's Hideaway. Vince is also a childhood friend of Chuck's. We also spotted the Cougar Contingent -- and Lois Mead's brother we had met previously in Las Vegas. [But I don't know the guy in the shades and hat...looks vaguely like Krychek from the X-Files! Yikes!]

The sun was shining down kinda bright -- but for Arizona, the temperature was downright pleasant. There were quite a number of folks down front who knew ALL the words to the songs. The line about Dale Earnhardt in "Uneasy Rider" got an especially LOUD cheer.

Chuck and Jay sported shades. So did Donnie and Shaw/Larry. Gary, on the other hand, bravely squinted into the crowd.

Gary Bennett is sporting a new gee-tar from the Gibson guitar line. It's model no. J-150 (Super Jumbo Series) if you're interested in those sort of things. It sounds great and adds a nice warmth to the proceedings. Mr. Bennett was a little under the weather -- but he kept on playing and singing. He always gives the audience 150% -- and had everyone swaying to "Knoxville Girl" and giggling during "Psychic Lady."

Don Herron plays the Fiddle wearing a cool t-shirt

The man of the hour, of course, was Donnie Herron. That boy does triple-duty on mandolin, fiddle and steel guitar. He also was sporting a fine Arigon Starr t-shirt. He claimed he wore the shirt because he didn't have any clean ones....but who's gonna go on the bus and check his dirty clothes bag? Any volunteers?

Shaw was kept up that steady beat during all three of the sets. The boys took 20 minute breaks during the afternoon. They also took time to come out front and chat to folks. It's always nice to have time to chat with any of the boys. Even more fun to have time to talk to Mark ("It's His Birthday Today!") at the merchandise table. He's always got a good story to tell.

WOODSTOCK: THE LOST EPISODES -- It's not known to most folks, but Smilin' Jay is A LOT older than he looks. This photo was taken during Santana's set during the original Woodstock. Not many people remember that Carlos Santana played an additional rockabilly set before he performed crowd favorites like "Black Magic Woman." If you ask Smilin' Jay about this, he'll claim is wasn't HIM -- but his dad. Yeh, right. We have the proof right here!

WOODSTOCK: THE LOST EPISODES, PART II -- Okay, I cannot tell a lie. Smilin' Jay was NOT at Woodstock -- but was a member of the original Flying Burrito Brothers. Here he is performing with Chris Hillman and Gram Parsons. This was the one day that Jay refused to wear his custom made Nudie suit.

Next thing you know, we'll be telling you Jay played with Eddie Cochran....or was that Sugar Ray? -- Editor

Gay Wahpecome and her decorative headwrap

Gay was fortunate enough to catch some of the Jack Daniels swag that was thrown from the stage. She fashioned her neckerchief into a doo-rag, much like the one sported by the Monty Python character D.P. Gumby. Do you think her brain hurts?

Gary Bennett plays his new guitar and secretly wishes he had changed into HIS Arigon Starr t-shirt! Donnie looks like he might be ready to join the Royal Crown Revue or maybe a latter day Blues Brothers. That hat is too groovy for words!

Spontaneous Dancing Erupts At Sun Devil Stadium: One of the greatest things about watching BR5-49 is enjoying other folks' reactions to the group. Now, we know we ALL love them....but seeing someone else go as nuts as we usually do is very, very heartening. I was standing next to these fine folks during one of the sets -- and this is probably the first time I've seen some spirited wheelchair dancing. Cathy, Mary Sue -- I think this is one of the Cougar bunch. If you can send me a Photo I.D. I'll add her name. She was COOL!

Loretta Lynn By Request: No, we didn't get Chuck to sing "Don't Come Home a-Drinking With Lovin' on Your Mind," but got some cool stories from Chuck about his recent TV Taping experience. As correctly spotted by Diane -- Chuck, Shaw and Brenda were in the audience of the recent Loretta Lynn special on A&E. Turns out they got free tickets from one of their buddies in Nashville. Those of you who enjoyed the show like we did probably had fun pointing at the TV and screaming -- "Hey, that's SHAW!" Yep, it was them. "Brenda got lots of screen time," said Chuck -- "Even though she wanted to move from the front row where we were originally sitting."

THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR KICKING: Here's the view from the front. We always stand WAY too close and fear the day that Chuck's boot will make contact with one of our foreheads. That's the chance you take.

PLAY IT AGAIN, MR. BENNETT: The always amazing Gary Bennett was probably singing...hmm, let's see...."Georgia On A Fast Train" or something like that here. We didn't get to hear "The Game" -- which is a personal favorite. However, we are happy to report the track made the cut for the new CD.

DONNIE IS AN ALIEN: Fans of the Art Bell radio program flooded the host's switchboard on Friday night following an appearance by noted ancient scholar Zacariah Sitchin. Seems Sitchin discovered that the New York Times edited some crucial language from a story in the paper's late edition regarding the human genome project and the discovery of 223 so-called "Alien" genes. The original report claimed that these genes could possibly be from an "extra-terrestial" source.

What has this got to do with DONNIE? Well, take a look (left) at his nifty antenna! Makes you think, huh?

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled craziness. Donnie actually changed shirts after the first set and wore a rather bland, white t-shirt during the second set. His playing continued to blaze....but that certain extra something an Arigon Starr t-shirt lends to the proceedings was missing!

Aaahhhh....that's better. Donnie's blazing fiddle burns a little hotter with help from an Arigon Starr t-shirt.

Another successful road trip. We'll be checking in with you again from our home town of Los Angeles from the gigs in Anaheim, LA and Bakersfield. Thanks for stopping by and putting up with our madness! We sure do appreciate it! HOORAY FOR BR5-49!

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