George Gilmore -- Banjo -- Banjos, Buckets and Brass and Dixieland Rascals
George Weber Gilmore, Jr. I have lived in Southeast Missouri all my life. When I was about 10 my Dad gave my Mom a banjo for her birthday. She cherished it. We (my sister and three younger brothers) were admonished don't mess with it and it was placed under my parents bed where it would have gathered dust but for my disobedience. I couldn't wait to get my hands on it when all alone. I bought a book on chords and within a year I was entering talent shows. I soon acquired a 5 string (picking) banjo and started a group called the Folklores. Like the Kingston Trio and other such groups, we sang folk songs (believe it or not, they were actually "in" back in those days!). Many talent shows and civic group performances later, we won the Mid-South State Fair Talent Contest in Memphis, TN, and were invited to the Jackie Gleason Auditorium in Miami Beach, Florida to perform on nationwide television on the Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour (the predecessor to Star Search).
Soon thereafter I graduated from high school in 1965 and moved to Columbia, Missouri, to begin my college career at the University of Missouri. During my sophomore year, about 1967, Sherwood "Shakey" Johnson and his old college friend and business partner Ed Plummer opened a new Shakey's Pizza Parlor in Columbia, Missouri and auditions were being taken for a piano player and banjo player. "Shakey" Johnson had been the original "Shakeys" piano player but with each new parlor that was opened they needed to hire Jazz players. The kind of music they were looking for was not of the Folk/5-- String Type, but I needed a job, so I removed the 5th string, tuned the banjo like a Uke and auditioned with "Five Foot Two" and "Ain't She Sweet", a couple of songs my sister had taught me on her ukelele during the preceding Christmas vacation (she attended the University of Hawaii). Since I was the only person to audition, I got the job, and soon thereafter I acquired a 4 string banjo. Bob Streible (a law student) got the job as piano player. Without him I would have never made it to the second night. Shakey's was fun for students, families, and other would be musicians who felt comfortabtle joining in. AND SO IT BEGAN.
I met University people like Mark Hulse (one of those weird nerdy guys in the Atomic/Physics/Nuclear/God Only Knows Department) and Pete Kersten (like Hulse, another wild and crazy guy, but more distinguished, a Professor of Russian; oh how he had wasted his life!). They had banjos, loved fun/entertaining/being rowdy/beer and wanted play. And play we did. Soon others joined: Larry Graebner, Managing Editor of the Columbia Tribune and he learned to play Tuba; Chuck Harrington, worked with Stephens College, and he learned to play the washboard: Miles Brown, Professor of Forestry at MU and learned the gut-bucket. But for Streible, the rest of us were literally learning as we played. And play we did. And it was loud. And it was fun. And it got good. And people liked it. And so did we! And so Banjo, Buckets and Brass was born!
Around 1968, a new place was about to open, The Village Inn. They were looking for a piano/banjo combo. Streible and I had the market cornered being the only such combo around and so we auditioned, demanded union wages, the right to design our own stage with lighting, sound system, and Old Tyme Silent Movies. And we wanted free beer (and lots of it) for us and the band, BBB, that Streible and I promised would play every Friday and Saturday night...and we got what we demanded. And Banjos, Buckets and Brass got real good.
Now let me put this in perspective. In the late 1960's Mizzou's football team was nationally ranked (top 10) every year, ie, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Dan Devine, etc. In 1969 when Playboy Magazine ranked colleges by which campus consumed the most alcohol per student, they noted that Mizzou was not listed because it was not fair to rank professionals with amateurs. And BBB had a real following, packing in literally 100's every weekend night. Sports Illustrated wrote us up. We also played at other free beer functions, and even some where we had to supply the beer just to get to play. We couldn't get enough of either: Playing music or drinking beer. Oh those were the days my friend!
At the VI the band got better and bigger. And while you can imagine musicians playing the banjo, piano, tuba, trombone (Jeff England, student), trumpet (Jim Roller, student now M.D.), the real deal was the gut bucket and washboard! To this day I am absolutely amazed at what Chuck Harrington could do on a washboard with thimbles on his fingers and a bell/whistle on his board. A real sight/sound to beholden!
Around 1970 or so BBB made an album, sort of to memorialize our friendships, the music, many good times together and enough beer to sink the Titanic. Soon thereafter Streible got the urge to open his own place, the 18th Amendment, and Viet Nam was my next stop unless I could get into grad school. So I took the Law School Admission Test, passed it and soon thereafter moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma and graduated from TU Law School in December, 1972.
When Streible and I left Shakey's, in 1968, Mark Hulse got the banjo job, accompanied initially by Dan Kelly on the piano. Sit-ins soon followed: Eric Roberts on trombone, Doug Chronister on drums, Bill Dineen on trumpet and Larry Garrett on clarinet. Other notables: Andy Wynick, Tom Gassaway, Jim McCormick, Chris Smith, Cathy Pendleton and Mike Thaman. The Shingle Shakers was born.
When I left the VI, Streible opened the 18th Amendment, with Rich Howard on the banjo and the Shingle Shakers moved to the VI (keeping Miles/gut bucket, Chuck/washboard, Larry/Tuba). Hulse (banjo) stayed on at Shakey's joined by his current wife Nora.
So I returned to Sikeston where I have practiced law now for 33 years. Over the years I'd acquired an interest in collecting vintage banjos, went to many conventions, but practiced my banjo skills much less than I would have liked.
Finally, a few years ago, out of the blue, Rich Howard called advising that some members from the old groups from Shakey's, The Village Inn and The 18th Amendment were getting together, sort of a Shingle Shakers and Banjos, Buckets and Brass get together, and could I join in. And I did. And play we did. And it was fun, and has been a blast ever since! AND SO THE SAGA CONTINUES....AND THE BAND JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER! STAY TUNED.......