Patterson, Dow 2009-10-15
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General Interview Information
Interviewee Name: Dow Patterson
Additional Parties Recorded:
Date: October 15, 2009
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Interviewer: Andy Wilkinson
Length: 03:51:18
Abstract
Tape 1, Side 1:
Music, Dow is singing a song, John Stewart song, Childhood, Birmingham, Alabama, Norwood- suburb, Dad worked for a drug company, He injured his back, FAA, Radar, He went to CAA school, Mom went with him, Dow is 2 at the time, he was sent to stay with his aunt, In St. Augustine, Florida, Her husband was in the War, She saw a German Sub out of the window of her house, Once his dad graduated they stayed in St. Augustine for a while, 4 years old, moved to New Orleans, Shotgun Duplex, A shotgun duplex- two shotgun houses next to each other, Time Machines, UFO’s, Dinosaurs, buried treasure:, The main interests of Dow as a child, Penny arcade, Made his first recording there, The radio- did not see a TV until about 48-49, The first show was “The Lone Ranger”, Because of that, you made your own entertainment, Dad played the trumpet, and had been a radio D.J, Was in a band also, But had to stop playing the trumpet when he got false teeth, Dad- Birmingham, Alabama, Mom- Blossburg, Alabama, Mom’s heritage- German, Radio, The Shadow, The Green Hornet, The Lone Ranger, Enter sanctum, Johnny Dollar, King Tracer, Suspense, Advertisements became interesting with characters and plots, Tom Courbet – Space Cadet, Buster Brown Show, Froggie the Gremlin – to Dow; the first Tickle me Elmo, The arcade recorder- popular during the war, to send audio letters, Memories, Remembers having time with his mom, listening to the radio, Fred Astaire movies: songs, “Three little words”, Hit Parade, His mom told him that if he wanted to sing, he needed a company, Arthur Godfrey, His German Grandfather got him a Ukulele- Forbes Music Hut, Regal Ukulele, sound hole is sprayed on, It cost $5, He still has it, in storage, Whispering, Old McDonald, The songs got progressively harder, in the book, Ukulele, Kept up with the Ukulele, older boy scouts knew funny songs, Calypso – Kingston Trio- Pat Boone- Elvis, Once he reached a baritone, he realized it sounds similar to, A guitar, He got a guitar around 15 years old, Acoustic guitar, When learning, you have a death grip on the strings, He got blisters that were bleeding, He got a good guitar book, but then he got a Gibson, February of his junior year in high school, He saw the Everly brothers perform, They used their thumbs, so he started to do that, The Catalina’s, Larry- Daryl Rose F 1 Guitar, Party Party, Splish Splash, Abilene, His dad asked “how would yall like to move to Texas”, Roy Rogers, Tom Mix, Tim McCoy, Alan Rocky Lane, Sky King- listened to him religiously, B.B Gun, 9 years old, He was allowed to walk two blocks down the street, and get on the, Bus, to downtown Abilene, Movies and dime stores by him self, He was the ring leader around his friends- New Orleans, Friends, Larry, About 16 years old, Calypso, Terry Gilkinson- All day all night Marianna, One of his first records- 78’s, Paper with Pens, Uncle McCoy- Bing Crosby persona, Roommate with Burl Adams in college, Walt Disney Movie- Bobby Driscall, So Dear to My Heart, Bongo Drums, Baritone Ukulele, Regular Ukulele, In the students train car, Playing and singing, Trying to imitate Harry Barafonne, He would strum the Uke, until someone showed him, How to pick it, The adults wanted them to play for them, Tony Bell, Bob Smith, All of a sudden they are getting money, They made a lot of money that trip
Tape 1, Side 2:
Older guys, Formed one or two bands, Lincoln Middle School, It was the old high school in Abilene, Disc Jockey, For the Texas Tech station, He would play anything and everything, KTXT, Talent Show, At the high school, The winner got a prize of about 50 bucks, They ended up winning, They did not have a P.A system, They were a paid, award winning group, Slim Willie, Drove all over Texas promoting himself, David Box, Cinda Taylor, “The love left behind”, Song Writing, No kisses tonight, Dow wrote this song, Hyphen – John Hyphen, Max Poland- got the radio station to play Dow’s song
Tape 2, Side 1:
Different Lifestyle, Always had an interest to draw, Found out that he could draw little funny pictures, Always liked comic strips, Bobby Johnson- class clown, They would occasionally draw/ play together, Kellogg’s Cereal, Contest, Won a 50 dollar savings bond for the contest, He cashed it in, and bought two rings with it, James Avery rings
Tape 2, Side 2:
James Avery, The ring he has is now discontinued, Makes the ring rare and valuable, Disney, Loved how they drew cartoon, Theater, Mom was concerned that he was going to quit school, Went to Texas Tech to be an engineer, Back then architecture was part of the college of engineering, He chose architecture, because it included art classes, After college, military obligation, Vietnam, He chose the Air Force, Graduated in 1965, 6 year tour in Air Force, Denver 3 years, Ended up in Alaska for 3 years instead of having to, Go to Vietnam, Working at the Architecture firm was as bad as the military
Tape 3, Side 1:
Music at Texas Tech, Jim Carney, Mike Bartlet, Charlie Hatchet, Dow Patterson, The Road Runners, The New Blue Grass Quartet, Pete Reynolds- upright bass, Red Apple Juice, Banjo-, Bill Shultz- Guitar, Dow, Very Kingston Trio, The Texas Travelers- ABC Rodeo
Tape 3, Side 2:
Texas Travelers, Freshman year- Rushed, blew it off, Quit playing the spring of ’61, Rushed again, David and Rolland, Rolland was never a student at Tech, Dow lived in Gordon (Tech dorm)
Tape 4, Side 1:
only 0:02 minutes long, no valuable information on it
Tape 4, Side 2:
Ben Hall, Thirty five dollars an hour, Bring your own guys, Get charged for the tape, Quarter inch tape, 15 inches per second, Not professional, Slim Willie drove from Abilene to help
Tape 5, Side 1:
Recordings, Folk music, His mom got rid of his superhero stuff, This is the end of October 15th
Access Information
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Transcript: No transcript available
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