The Drovers Old Time Medicine Show - Prater's Creek Gazette

Farewell To Richard Pryor

My next door neighbor, where I grew up, always bought lots of 8-tracks of dirty jokes. We’d sit around for hours listening and memorizing these jokes. When I was in the sixth grade I was the undisputed dirty joke teller. “Gene Tracy’s Truck Stop Tapes ” were a favorite. He had a couple of Richard Pryor tapes, but he didn’t like them as much because they were not just “dirty jokes”. So he gave them to me, and I could only play them when my parents weren’t home. I would get lost in Pryor’s stories.

Richard Pryor was a brave, fierce storyteller. His routines always had lots of great characters: winos, drug addicts, and lots of women. While most people have things about themselves they hide from the world, Pryor brought all of his insecurities and weaknesses on stage with him.

When he started out in the 1960’s he was a Bill Cosby wannabe, and was marginally funny. But when he came into his own, he became the greatest standup comedian ever. His stories always had that moment when something is so tragic it is funny. On the 1976 album Bicentennial Nigger, my favorite, he has the routine of taking acid for the first time. Hilarious! “I can’t breath! I forgot how to breath!” “Hal, open the door Hal.” The album ends with him talking about America’s 200th birthday that year. He says he’s just so happy to be here, and he is so thankful his people were shackled up in the bottom of a boat. Something like “they’s 400 of us, 350 died!” The audience gets quieter and quieter. A few people nervously laugh. The audience wonders: “Is this funny?”

He had been sick for years now and we had to go without new recordings and movies of his standup act. And we missed them. And we’re going to miss Richard more than ever now. Richard Pryor, one brave genius.

The Coolest Looking Bands To Have Been In

I always liked bands that had a certain look all of their own. Below is a list of these bands in no particular order. This is a list of groups, so individuals such as Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Loretta Lynn, PJ Harvey, Hank Williams, David Bowie, etc. are not included.

Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys - Bill didn’t want his band looking like comic hayseeds, as all of the other acts on the Opry did. He and his band dressed in suits to show they were serious.
The Clash - From the first, spiked hair, album to the greased back, bolo tie wearing days, (greatly influenced by hanging around Joe Ely), they were too cool.
The Stanley Brothers - They wore regular suits, which wasn’t groundbreaking or anything, but come on!, it’s Carter and Ralph!!
Flatt and Scruggs - Earl and Lester in matching outfits, Curly Seckler and Paul Warren in same color as Earl and Lester, but different outfits, and then Josh Graves and bass player in comical get-ups. They had it down.
Buck Owens and The Buckaroos - Those Nudie suits and the matching silver metal flake Telecasters of Buck and Don Rich. Awesome!
The Beatles - Mop Tops and matching suits to the psychedelic clothes of Sgt. Pepper. Has their ever been four white guys who had a bigger influence on all aspects of youth culture? No.
James Brown and The Fabulous Flames
Alice Cooper (the band)
The White Stripes - With their three-color scheme (red, white, and black) they have a distinct look. And no female musician is hotter than Meg White.
Jim and Jesse and the Virginia Boys
Led Zeppelin - Jimmy Page in his wizard outfit. The coolest rock star ever.
Run-DMC - Black tracksuits and fedoras, and of course, Adidas without shoe strings.
Roy Acuff and The Smokey Mountain Boys - Dapper Roy, Bashful Brother Oswald in his overalls and big watch chain, and Pappy with his chin whiskers, were the ultimate Opry personalities.
Parliament/Funkadelic - A band led by a black dude with a long blond wig and wearing a white mink coat landing onstage and emerging from a space ship. Another guy on guitar and vocals wearing nothing but a diaper, Bootsy on bass with those outrageous Starchild glasses……Yeah!
KISS - I couldn’t finish this list without mentioning these guys!

Flatt and Scruggs The Clash