Ferguson, Keith Group 2009-05-25
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General Interview Information
Interviewee Name: Keith Ferguson Group
Additional Parties Recorded:
Date: May 25, 2009
Location:
Interviewer: Andy Wilkinson
Length: 02:08:49
Abstract
Background, Crackerjack was recorded in 2004, Audition tape, Charlie Hatchet, Craig Hopkins president of Fan Club, Had recordings of Stevie when he was 16, Played in a band called Blackbird for a year, Changed their name back to crackerjack to make money, Michael was born in San Antonio, Bruce: Meeting Keith, Bruce and Tommy moved to San Francisco to make it big, Robin Cylar, the guitarist they were going to use had unrealistic expectation, Stuck around for 3 days then went back to Dallas, Keith was already in San Francisco, Keith suggested Jessie Taylor, Met Keith at Henry Carr’s apartment, Tracy Nelson’s manager, Keith introduced them all to Jessie, Born in Oak Cliff, Grew up in Dallas, Met Uncle John when he was playing with the Mystics at Lee Park, Excited to meet Uncle John Turner, He was looking for members for a band, Called Bruce to move to California 3 weeks later, Tommy: Meeting Keith, Met Keith in 1968, Was playing with Johnny Winter, Hit it off really quickly, Brought Keith up to New York and Tommy and Keith hung out a lot, Jimmy Hendrix’s girlfriend, Grew up in the panhandle in Dumas, 40 miles North of Amarillo, No black people in town, Police would escort them through, “The good old days”, Last year in high school band was pretty good, Tim Easley the singer and Tommy moved to Dallas in 1966, Went and looked at the music bulletin board that had musicians numbers, Called Uncle John, Hit it off right away, Crackerjack, Jessie, Colorful person, Hopped freight trains to San Francisco, Deaf in one ear, First gig played at the Matrix club in San Francisco, Had Jessie on wrong side of stage with his back facing audience, He couldn’t hear out of that ear so he had turned around, Keith found Jessie for their guitarist, Keith lived out of his bass case, Dallas Venues, The Fog, Fraternity parties, The Cellar, Did not play many clubs, Played a club for about three weeks then they would change venues, 8 hours a night, The Fog, Met Johnny Weather and Stevie Ray, Johnny was albino, Long white hair and a cape, After Crackerjack, Jack Morgan, Uncle John, Keith, Played at the Lamp Light on 6th street in Austin, The Texas Chic’s, Rode city bus to the gigs because Uncle John wouldn’t pick them up, Had to ride with the window up so their hair wouldn’t mess up, Went to Lamp Light every day, Had a kitchen, Hung out, Sometimes would throw them a little food, Mexican record store across the street, Keith, Had an extensive collection of Mexican music, Impact on music, Bruce: How Keith impacted his life, He could play anywhere, He carried himself well, Keith had given Bruce clothes to make him more Rock and Roll, Bruce got his ears pierced because of Keith, Would always get up to go see Keith, Taught Bruce how to eat mayonnaise and jalapeno sandwich, Never heard Keith raise his voice, Playing in San Antonio, Bruce and Jack had to ride a greyhound bus, Keith came to the stage between a guy and Bruce and stared him down until he went away, Michael: meeting Keith, Met Keith at the One night Club, he was playing in the band Storm, Had mutual friends, Marveled at him, Both had sick senses of humor, Met Tommy, Bruce and Uncle John, Bonded and became real good friends, Walking encyclopedia, Misses calling Keith and asking him tricky questions, Michael, Father was in the Military, Lived in Lubbock for 4 years, Moved from Canada to Lubbock, Went to high school in Austin, Went to a private Catholic school in Lubbock, 1995 had a bone infection, Had to go to a specialist in Dallas, Keith, Really great base player, Best band was the thunderbirds, Keith hated to rehearse, Uncle John was the bands opening act, Texas Chic’s, Was a great walker with a long stride, Never drove, Never needed for anything, Kept his passport in his boot, Always walked, had a walking stick, Hated traveling out of town in vehicles, Knowledgeable on knives, Big switchblade sitting on the TV to switch the channels, Gentle person, Died in 1997, Really loved the nature of things, Memories, They would fill their guitars with beer so they wouldn’t get in trouble by the cops, Could get 16 longnecks in a guitar case, A guy was shot in the head after fighting with a Mexican group from the bar, Keith held the guy in his arms until the ambulance came, Keith was in a state of shock, Warehouse district, 3 stories, drugs and alcohol, Cecile and the snakes, Hated riding in the car going to gigs, Every time Keith would wake up, they would be at a McDonald’s, The bus smelled awful, Had to clean the bus on breaks, A lot of people had switchblade from seeing Keith have one, Called Uncle John Red, Bruce threw up on Keith’s front porch and it stained the porch green, Bruce had strep throat and the medicine made him vomit, Strong as novacane, It was so strong they couldn’t talk, Keith had a gecko named tripod, Keith had given his friend a cat named George Jones, Dog belle brought Dave a piece of feces as a gift, Belle saved Ralph from a fire, Monte Rio California, Less than 700 people occupying the city, They would get high and play around, Ed clipped the tree with his car, Ralph was laughing so Ed called his dog and it grabbed Ralph by privates, Keith was calling the city about an abandoned car, Ed shows up drunk in his underwear with a tow truck and drags it down the street. Cops showed up and took it away and Keith says “I love when a plan comes together”, Jack had a heart attack, Another band member committed suicide, Keith died they were getting together a benefit at Antones’s, They wanted to get the crackerjacks together to perform, Mike wouldn’t play because he wanted to be paid, Jessie was hard to get a hold of, Stevie used to call Keith Fada, Stevie’s alter ego was Wadie and Chris was Ed Roy, They called Keith and Luann Muda and Fada, Stevie’s nickname was Skeeter when he was younger, Jimmy would get horribly drunk and Keith would have to take care of him, Jimmy was the bands worst enemy, Keith changed the ways bluesmen dressed, Billy Gibbons and Keith wrote letters to each other in Spanish, 1978 Thunderbirds played at Grown Men, Girls go wild record was about to come out, Blue Monday: The fabulous Thunderbirds, A chicken on the P.A so they played scratch my back, The chicken starts to dance, Bruce moving back to Dallas, Late 70s, Played with Jack Morgan at the time, Uncle John was the drummer, They were called Roscoe but were not making any money so they changed their names to Crackerjack, Reptiles, Geckos, Lizards, South East Asian Gecko’s, (“F*** you”) gecko’s because they made a noise that sounds like the expletive, Keith was in a band called Black Kangaroo, Jimmy the drummer, Bad eye, Watching TV and the lizard had gotten close to Jimmy and it jumps down on the table and shouts (“F*** you”), Little exterminators, Keith released turtles, Loved animals, Loved cats, Tail-less females with male names, Psychedelics, Keith was naturally a psychedelic, Had a great story of him and Tommy on acid, Talking spirituality, Tommy sat at the top writer and typed his name over and over, Lighter drug, Mint cookies with peyote
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