It All Happened Here in the '70S

I DOCUMENTARY It all happened here in the ’70s New documentary by former Buddy editor to premiere this month Story and photos by Kirby F. Warnock IN 1976 I SOLD A PHOTOGRAPH OF JERRY KZEW, the IJeff Walker to BUDDY magazine for the princely Vaughan Broth- sum of $7. So began my front row seat to an era ers and Mother I Blues isn’t told, when Dallas rocked. it will be forgot- Because for all of the 1970s, through the ’70s Dallas was the ten, save for a and into the early 80s, Dallas, Third Coast of the music biz, few of us old Texas was THE music center of right behind New York and LA, geezers, sitting the state, but like the Ewings and and it was all because of vinyl. at the bar say- the Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl Dallas had long been a distri- ing, “Remember championships, it is an era that bution hub. There is a reason when.” has passed. that Sears built its huge office I invite you Yet the funny thing is that and warehouse complex here. to come out and there’s no record of it, until now. You can ship things from Dallas see for your- This is part of what inspired by rail or truck to just about selves a history me to write, edit and produce anywhere in Louisiana, New on film of a time the documentary film When Dal- Mexico and Oklahoma. Even when Dallas las Rocked, which has its pre- today, Dallas is promoting its truly rocked. miere at the historic Texas “inland port” (down near And if you Theatre on September 26 at Waxahachie) as a distribution care to honor 7:30 PM. center for everything from toi- one of our I saw so many people, places lets to widgets. and things that, at that moment, But before then, vinyl records hometown he- were commonplac; yet now with were stored, sold and shipped roes, the 19th the passage of time, seem amaz- from huge warehouses in Dallas. Annual Stevie ing. To try and tell of my experi- This all dated back to the Ray Vaughan ences to people who weren’t there early days of records, but ex- Remembrance borders on spinning a tall tale, or ploded with the advent of rock Ride will be held (to them) outright lying. and roll, particularly Elvis Perform at a Freddy King concert in Lee Park in 1980: Stevie Ray Vaughan on October 6th But it was all true, and fortu- Presley. starting at nately I have the photos to Even though Elvis was from station, there was a distribution Vaughan, Vicki Wade, Jon Bugs was gone. During a wake Hooter’s in the West End, then prove it. Memphis, he needed to sell network already set up and ready Dillon, Ira Lipson and a host of held in his memory, the last song moving to Cowboy’s in Arling- So how does a kid from Baylor records in Texas, and the way he to roll out copies of Jethro Tull, others. the band played that night was ton. Johnny Winter and others University get to hang out in Eric did it was to get his songs played Peter Frampton and Led Zeppe- The result is what I hope will Freddy’s instrumental hit, “Hide- are slated to perform. Details may Clapton’s hotel room, have on KLIF, then have his records in lin to the masses of young people be a first shot at saving some of away.” Bugs had told me it was be found at srvrideandconcert.org breakfast with Ian Hunter and the stores via Big State Distribut- ready to buy. the rich musical history that Dal- one of the first songs he learned All proceeds go to the Stevie Ray Mick Ronson, or tip Elvis Costello ing, which was based in Dallas. las enjoys. We will be screening on the guitar. Vaughan Memorial Scholarship off to where Delbert McClinton That put the model in place, so In the beginning it at the historic Texas Theatre in If the story of Freddy King, Fund. ■ will be playing? when KZEW (the Zoo) cranked This all made BUDDY magazine Oak Cliff on September 26 at It was because from the ’50s up the first “underground FM” possible, because we carried ads 7:30 pm. for the record shops, For anyone around in the KZEW, concerts and ’70s, it will be total nostalgia trip “lifestyle accessories.” All (or flashback, however you re- of that record money call it). meant every artist with an For the “millenials” or any- album out had to come one under 30, it will be an eye- and play Dallas. opening music history lesson. It was a very exciting Most young people today be- time for a 24-year-old kid, lieve that Austin has always been and I enjoyed all eight years the music epicenter of Texas, but of it. Yet today I notice that in reality Dallas carried Freddy there is no chronicle of it, King and Willie Nelson on no written history, no KERA’s Sound Stage several years books and no tangible evi- before Austin City Limits ever dence of Dallas’ time as the broadcast its first episode. music center of the south- My film is not a case of whin- west. ing, but a recognition of Dallas’ A year ago, I put to- rightful place in history and the gether a short film (my city’s contributions to Texas daughter called it a music, which are large and nu- PowerPoint presentation) merous. of my photos from BUDDY A prime source of motivation magazine and entered it to finish this thing came from the into the Oak Cliff Film recent deaths of Stoney Burns Festival’s Community and Bugs Henderson. Stoney, Shorts. I called it “When because he started Buddy maga- Dallas Rocked” and the re- zine and gave me my job there; sponse was immediate and and Bugs, because shortly before huge. his death during a phone inter- This led me to produce view he had lamented that there a one-hour documentary was no monument to Freddy on the subject, with inter- King to be found in Dallas, views from the folks I ran Freddy’s hometown. into all the time back in “The House of Blues should the day, such as John Rody, have a statue of Freddy out there,” Looking at copies of Buddy Magazine at Dallas Anatole in 1978: Eric Clapton Angus Wynne, Jimmie said Bugs. A few months later 10 BUDDY SEPTEMBER 2013.

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