The Bakersfield, California music scene in the ‘60s was quite varied. From country & western to surf and good old rock ‘n’ roll, Bakersfield offered its citizens a wide array of music for their particular tastes. Gary Paxton and Kenny Johnson were major figures in and around Bakersfield, and Richard Childers was there to share in their experiences. As saxophonist for The Rockets and other local groups, Childers was a key component in many of the area’s earliest recordings. In addition to performing on songs by The Rockets (or Kenny & The Sultans and Kenny & The Ho-Daddies…read on), Childers often backed other artists. When The Beatles hit, he briefly joined a band named The Ugly Ones and also later worked more closely with Johnson. Although no longer musically active, Childers’ recollections offer some fascinating information on a little documented time in Bakersfield’s musical evolution.
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An Interview With Richard Childers
60sgaragebands.com (60s): How did you first get interested in music?
Richard Childers (RC): Maybe by birth! That is, being a Southerner and from Oklahoma. I admit to the corny, hackneyed, and overused expressions represented by a great many musicians from the South, yet I must align myself with them, giving credit to the Sunday and Wednesday Baptist Church hymns each week, and listening to the Grand Ole Opry Saturday nights with my grandpa and grandma.
I was born in Konawa, Oklahoma in January of 1943. During the '40s and into the '50s, we 'watched' the radio! That radio was probably my first best friend. I spent a lot of time with it, looking and listening. There wasn’t anything to see like with television as I'd find out in a few years; but I was so impressed with sounds coming out of a little box-like contraption plugged into the wall! Mercy!
The radio even brought me to know The Lone Ranger and others, with all their catchy musical accompaniments; many very good memories for me originated with the radio. Of course I had 'real' friends and from music to serials we all lived and loved radio, though not all with the same passion. When television appeared, it became another companion. And even today I claim remote control!
After moving to Bakersfield (Oildale), California, I had access to a piano and could pick out melodies. I was introduced to the 'recorder' when I started the fourth grade at Beardsley School in Oildale and, as with the piano, I played recorder by ear. The recorder is a flute-like instrument that was used by my music teacher to determine degree of talent and/or actual interest in music, a precurser to playing other instruments. Mr. Eldon Miller was my music teacher.
By fifth grade I had decided I wanted to play alto sax in Beginner's Band. There was this friend by the name of David Pearson who played saxophone in the high school band. My mom worked in his dad's mom-n-pop market in Oildale. I held him in high esteem and wanted to try to emulate him. To my surprise I found I carried a trait with me, that of playing even saxophone by ear.
My music instructor at Beardsley in the 1950s provided quite similar substance as Mr. Holland's Opus was eventually to deliver over the big screen in the '90s, as I found out much later in life. It so happened that Eldon Miller's son, Ray, and I became best friends throughout his life. After graduation from high school, and some college, he chose law enforcement as a profession and worked for the CHP for sixteen years. He was tragically injured in an untimely on-duty accident, and after a period of hospitalization died from injuries sustained in that accident.
So Eldon Miller was my teacher at Beardsley in my fifth grade of school where I was first tried and tested with the alto saxophone. To his consternation, as he was trying to teach all of us students to read and play by music, my thoughts were contrary to his in that it was much easier for me to play by ear. Oh, my! One short story to illustrate this point: He had already gotten his desires across and Mr. Miller was making sure we band members had memorized the march music we were going to perform in an upcoming parade. When he was checking me out, I played the song for him--up to a point, that is! Mr. Miller said, "No, that part is wrong." Well, I made the mistake of asking him to hum it for me. So, the cat was out of the bag!
But, if it hadn't been for Mr. Miller scolding and lecturing about the necessity to play by music, I doubt I would have made it out of his class, or ever understood his reasoning. He was a great music and band teacher, a good friend, and he affected me in much the same way as the students in the movie as a result of Mr. Holland's approach to them.
By the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades, my interest - as with the populace - turned to rock 'n' roll, R&B, "race music," i.e., Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, "Frog Man" Henry...and then there was Elvis! By this time from before leaving the 8th, and entering the 9th grade, and throughout that year, David Pearson was playing in a great rock 'n' roll band, Rick Lee & The Barons. With David Pearson still affecting my music decisions, my goal was to play in a rock band.
I really loved music and wanted to be around it whenever I could. I played at jam sessions in garages and in church basements. My objective was to get good enough to get some jobs. I thought at the time this would be good practice. While these garage and basement band members didn't all have the same objective, Jim Fowler became CEO and founder of Nashville West; Dick Marple, another of these early garage and basement crews, played around town and was with The Rockets occasionally. But the bands didn't get anywhere.
The Rockets band was formed approximately one year before my joining it. It had had, at one time or another, about four sax players before I became a member. Now it was a matter of trying out.
Danny Ellison, a guitar player, contacted me to try out for a band called The Everglades. We did but neither of us were impressed with this band. So when Danny said he knew of a band across town, The Rockets, that needed rhythm guitar and a saxophone, the next day we headed across town, tried out, and we both made it, and that's how it happened!
Another reason for my interest in being in a rock 'n' roll band was girls. Seems like it wasn't until 11th and 12th grades that I accomplished my goals, all of them at the time!
In high school it was a fact of life that jocks got all the pretty girls. I didn't play football, but I knew where to find the girls. Once I got into The Rockets band I found out, to my delight, pretty girls liked musicians too. What a blast to compete on a level playing field!
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60s: You were a member of a singular group that recorded using three names: Kenny and The Sultans, Kenny and The Ho-Daddies, and The Rockets. Was it an actual performing band, or more of a studio group?
RC: The singular group that recorded did use the three names finally settling on Kenny and The Ho-Daddies. It stuck because of the success of 'Surf Dance.' It was a performing band. I don't consider us to have been a studio band.
'With Vigor,' a song recorded by The Sultans died with John Kennedy in November, 1963. Kenny Johnson mimicked the voice of Kennedy on this record and when Kennedy was shot, the deejays refused to play the song. This was a GarLlo 45, with flipside 'The Wipeout.' This was the only activity as far as the name The Sultans was concerned.
60s: Where did you typically perform?
RC: Performance venues were pretty consistent and not necessarily limited to high school dances, large dance halls, The Barn, Harmony Gardens, National Guard Armory, and The Albert S. Goode Auditorium, all in Bakersfield. And there was The Peppermint Lounge in Fresno; coast cities of Arroyo Grande and Pismo Beach, Taft and in just about every community in and around Kern County, and also Lake Ming.
To elaborate on this, I've got some extensive notes here about situations that occurred in the various venues. I don't want to be presumptive and at the same time I don't want to leave anything out that you might feel is important. So here's some anecdotal happenings that have come to mind:
Maybe the reason Kenny hired me is because there were no other sax players trying out for the job! I admit I was really no good. I hadn't been associated with good bands and I wasn't the talented sax player one would expect. Good wasn't a prerequisite. There was always a chance to get better with practice and more play. I goofed up a number of times. Kenny would help me a lot, practice helped me a lot, and in the long run I did turn out to be good, in fact really good. It was a learning experience and I certainly did my share of learning while Kenny did his share of teaching. If it were today trying out with the lack of experience I had then, I know I would never get hired. In this day and age, it seems as if you have to know everything before even being considered.
About three weeks into my being hired by The Rockets we were asked to play for the battle of the bands, probably a one-time occurrence at Harmony Gardens. So we played in the battle and garnered third place. Harmony Gardens is where we met Howie Wines.
And it gets better...even though there was an immediate downside. Eventually, however, the downside turned around. Wines signed us up as an intermission band at Harmony Gardens. We played there for about three months with, at the time, the best rock 'n' roll bands in Bakersfield: Rick Lee and The Barons, Gaylads, Jolly Jody and The Go-Daddies, The Rebels, and The Royal Impalas (name change to The Frogmen for 'Underwater').
The downside I mentioned was that Howie said he couldn't pay us because we weren't union. Kenny and the rest of us felt promotion of the band was important enough to go ahead and take the gig for no pay. As it turned out, it wasn't all in vain. We got good press and more gigs as a result of giving up pay for what became a short time.
At this time we were more or less forced to join the union in order to play Harmony Gardens and other union hall venues. The Musicians Union was very strong and most if not all venues were union, except for high school dances and the like. So we continued to play Harmony Gardens with pay. It became one of the many union venues we played, and I'll get into that later on.
A great venue at the Party Center in Bakersfield brought 1,000 inside and 1,000 waiting outside. And we were one of six bands on the bill. This was December 31st, 1961. I can remember this date because I had been to Oklahoma to visit family and promote 'Surf Dance' on KOMA Radio in Oklahoma City, a 50,000 watt station covering five states. I dropped 100 copies of this record at a record store for the benefit of the deejay playing our records. In spite of it being winter, the teenagers bought all the copies and the deejay wanted more. I had made several calls to Lloyd Johnson to have him send more records and at first he said, "okay," but did not send any and eventually he said there were none available. Since I couldn't get more records from California and therefore, no more sales in Oklahoma, the deejay threatened to quit airing the song after about a week. I did supply the record store with the balance of records I had with me and, as I recall, they kept it on air for the rest of the Christmas vacation time. If the record had continued to play on KOMA Radio, it would have broken nationwide. In hindsight, I really don't understand why I would have been told at this time that Indigo had gone bankrupt. But this is the story as I remember it. It could have been that I didn't get the news about the record company until I got back to Bakersfield.
There was a talent show on KBAK TV, probably in 1961, hosted by Roy Gordon who said he was affiliated with Ted Mack's Amateur Hour. The winner was to get a trip to Disneyland and an audition for The Amateur Hour. We won the competition. Roy Gordon left town. We didn't go to Disneyland. We didn't get an audition for Ted Mack's Amateur Hour. By the way, I had to borrow Eldon Miller's sax for this show because the neck broke off mine. End of story.
Also in 1961 a Kern County version of Dick Clark's American Bandstand, called Top Ten Platter Den, hosted by Don Rodewald, was a weekly Saturday feature on Channel 10, KERO TV. Other bands of the region were also featured. The show ran maybe a couple of years or more, if my recollection is correct. We weren't featured every week, but it was excellent exposure and a heck of a lot of fun.
Another local band--it could have been The Classics--asked me to appear with them on the show one Saturday and, as a favor I did. This happened to be the band Danny Ellison joined after leaving The Rockets. Kenny Johnson and a couple of other members of our band saw the show at home on television. After that appearance they were at the studio door, jumping up and down, cussing mad at me wondering if I had quit The Rockets and joined The Classics. Danny and I explained the situation to them and as it turned out all was forgiven and it was a short lived "mad."
As a promotion for our records, and those of The Classicals and Doris Webb, we did a television performance in San Jose, and the same night played a dance in that city. All of us rode up and back in Lloyd's Johnson's camper. Quite a ride as I remember.
60s: Who were the members that comprised Kenny and The Sultans, Kenny and The Ho-Daddies, and The Rockets?
RC: Kenny Johnson (lead guitar, songwriter, band leader, Big Kahuna); Jim Bernard (rhythm guitar); Jim Long (drums); Bob McDonald (bass guitar); and Richard Childers (Tenor saxophone and Baritone saxophone on 'Surf Dance.'
This is how that happened: Danny Ellison, who hadn't been in The Rockets long enough to have been considered a member, quit the band in February of 1961 as he got tired of playing for nothing. In fact, he actually played with The Rockets for such a short time that he wasn't in the photog of band members. After Ellison quit, Jimmy Bernard was then rhythm guitar and shortly thereafter Bob McDonald was bass guitar. And there was, of course, Kenny Johnson; Jim Long as drummer, and me. These are the original members, the ones in the picture, as best as I can remember them to be. When Jim Long quit, probably sometime in late 1962, and I don't know why, Ed Helton became our drummer. Other members at various times were Dick Marple, fill in on guitar and bass, and Dave Matheny, bass guitar, later a fighter pilot, POW, Vietnam. It gets sticky for me here because there were a lot of changes.
60s: Several songs recorded by your band have been reissued on a surf music CD compilation. Did you consider yourselves a surf band, or did you also perform other musical styles?
RC: Okay. We did not consider ourselves a surf band; that was Gary Paxton's innovation or invention, whatever you want to call it. It was his idea to change the name of the band, apparently to keep up with the times. I would have been satisfied with The Rockets, because that's what most people knew us by, how we got our gigs, press, and all the good stuff that went with belonging to an established band.
Paxton said, "There's a group (Dick Dale and The Del Tones) over on the coast playing what they call surf music. Let's beat them to the punch and get something on record before they do." Hence, Kenny wrote 'Surf Dance' which was listed in Billboard Magazine two weeks before Dick Dale's 'Misirlou' was listed. This was considered the birth of surf music. As it turned out, the Beach Boys' 'Surfin Safari' put surf music on the map.
We did vocals and instrumentals that had been recorded and released by names like Buddy Holly, The Champs, The Ventures, Bill Black Combo, Ray Stevens, Elvis Presley, Ace Cannon, and various other artists.
It wasn't long before Doris Webb came into the picture and sang at some of the dances we played. A publisher heard Doris and offered her a recording contract with The Rockets behind her. Somehow our publisher Chris Christenson gave away more than 100% of the publishing on the record so in order to keep from losing money he wouldn't put the song out. So 'Baby Doll' and 'Don't You Know' were never released from that session. My records show it was on the 17th day of May, 1961 that an agreement was instituted on my behalf by my mom and step-dad with Kenny Johnson as The Rockets Band and his dad Lloyd E. Johnson as his legal agent, for the selections 'Baby Doll' and 'Don't You Know,' for royalties. I was eighteen at the time but the contract shows my mom and step-dad to be legal guardian or representative. There were other contracts and I think I might have most of them--I'm not sure just now but anyway I'm getting off track a bit. I'll have to look around to see if I can locate them. Anyway, our records include:
*Doris Webb records on Starburst w/backup by The Rockets on ‘I Was The Lonely One’ and ‘Don't You Know’; arranged by Jimmy Haskell (Rick Nelson's producer and musical director or whatever); Llo-Dan-Twist Music; conducted by J York and produced by Frank McKelvey;
*‘Wipeout’ and ‘With Vigor’ on Garllo Records; Llo-Dan Productions and Garpax Music (BMI);
*‘Countdown’ and ‘Warrior’ on Freedom Seven; Maverick, Chris & GeNor Music (BMI);
*‘Surf Dance’ and ‘Goofy Guitar’ on Indigo; Garpax Music, Chris Music (Chris Christensen)
*‘The Camel’ by The Classicals w/The Rockets as backup band; ‘Help Me’ (same) / excellent black group/ Prudential Records; Maverick, GeNor and Chris Music (BMI) written by Clevon Nichols.
All these were done in the early ‘60s. Except as noted, Kenny Johnson wrote lyrics and music. Llo was Kenny Johnson's dad, Lloyd Johnson and Dan was Dan Gates.
We also backed The Revlons on some tunes that weren't released; a later Revlons line-up did some tunes Kenny was involved in that were released.
An interesting aside is that Mark Lindsey, of Paul Revere and The Raiders, played bongo/coffee cans. He was on 'Surf Dance' with The Ho-Daddies (because he was hanging around with Paxton and he was there at the time). I've forgotten whose idea the coffee cans were, probably Paxton, and they ran that through a echo chamber to get the effect. Paxton actually played keyboard on 'Surf Dance' and also on 'With Vigor' which he added later, after the session.
We had no bongos or keyboard in live performances, so we played without the fancy stuff. When our records (especially 'Surf Dance') were released in '61 and we made the charts locally and regionally, our "stock went up" and we played larger venues.
60s: What other recordings were you involved with that weren't reissued on the surf CD?
RC: A jingle is probably on master tape somewhere in Bakersfield: "For service that's finer, call Liner. Liner Pest Control." We also did a jingle for a radio station in Arizona but I don't remember the jingle or the station, probably through Dan Gates.
We also recorded 'Help Me' and 'The Camel' by The Classicals; 'Don't You Know' and 'I Was The Lonely One' by Doris Webb. The Doris Webb songs were written by Kenny Johnson, with backup by The Rockets.
60s: Which of the other Bakersfield musical groups do you especially recall?
RC: Special mention has to go to Rick Lee and The Barons, 1958 - 1961. To my way of thinking, they were the best performing rock band from the Bakersfield, Kern County area.
I do know Rick Lee was lead guitar and vocalist; David Pearson played Tenor sax; Jim Burris played Baritone sax, Randy Curley played bass and I don't recall who played rhythm guitar or drums. I don't think they recorded very much. However, I do know they played backup on at least one record by The Paradons i.e., 'Diamonds and Pearls' and its flipside.
60s: Did you ever directly work with Gary Paxton? What are your recollections of him?
RC: Gary Paxton put together some big venue shows (5,000 plus) and Kenny and The Ho-Daddies performed with these big names: Beach Boys, Everly Brothers, The Coasters, The Shirelles, Bobby "Boris" Picket ('Monster Mash'), Jan & Dean, Eddie Hodges (1961, 'Knock on Your Door'), Johnny Crawford (of The Rifleman fame), Bobby Rydel, Bobby Day ('Rockin Robin'), Bobby Bare ('Detroit City'), Chris Montez (1962, 'Let's Dance'), Larry Verne ('Please Mr. Custer)', and The Hollywood Argyles ('Alley Oop,' written by Dallas Frazier).
Gary was very talented, and he said he was going to make us stars. I met him through Kenny and his dad. He lived with Kenny's family for a time while he was working with us. He and others paid for our studio time. We were a front band for The Hollywood Argyles.
Paxton had at least three gold records before we met him: 'Cherry Pie' by Skip & Flip; 'Honest I Do' by Skip & Flip; and 'Alley Oop' by The Hollywood Argyles. After his conversion to Christianity for a time, Gary was pretty much a regular on the PTL Television Show, with Jim and Tammy Baker. He was writing and producing both country and contemporary gospel music for some time. The April 11, 1989 Globe tabloid published a story about Gary and Tammy. His credibility may have been challenged, but he continued to write and produce both gospel and country.
Like Kenny, he too went to Nashville for an extended time. I wasn't associated with him in any way for many years and I don't have any idea how he decided to promote the Beach Party CD. That would be an interesting story in itself. It always struck me that he was one of those guys who could step in mud and come out clean as a whistle. Of course it didn't happen that way for him, as history confirms.
60s: How did you hook up with Kenny Johnson?
RC: I am a fan and long time friend of Kenny. He is underrated as a songwriter and musician. I thought then and now he should have had more success writing for established artists. But he preferred to do his own thing. The music he recorded and wrote are hits as far as I am concerned.
When we were practicing as one or more of the named Kenny Johnson bands, Kenny used to grab a guitar or the drum sticks (he knew how to play all these instruments) whenever a mistake was made or a tune wasn't exactly as he had arranged it, to point out the way he wanted a particular song played. He would then show whatever band member it was by playing the part. It was another thing when it came to the sax. He didn't know how to play it. But he would reach for my sax only to come to the realization that he would have to "hum it for me." Just like in school with Mr. Miller!
60s: Did you play with any bands after you left The Rockets?
Yes. I have trouble with timelines and dates when things happened, but the band broke up when the members started being drafted, married, etc. Kenny and The Ho-Daddies dissolved by the time I was 21 in 1964. Even after that final curtain, Kenny and I continued to play gigs with country-western bands on Union Avenue and Edison Highway. These were rough places: Fights, shootings, stabbings. Lots of fun! I don't know the names of the bands, or if they even had names. For certain they were not Kenny Johnson bands. For a time we jumped from band to band. We were hired help. A gig for a few bucks and all the beer we could drink. I remember Kenny was probably 20 (1964) when we first started these gigs. Whenever fights would break out and the police were called in, we hid outside until the cops left. We even signed on as a duo, using our own names wherever we played. One place was The Fox Hotel in Taft and we played what we called good music, standards and jazz. We did good as a duo, and we share a friendship that has kept us going in spite of adverse events that took place over the years.
I might add, Kenny started another band after The Ho-Daddies quit playing. That was The Trippers, and it wasn't on the circuit very long. It's the band from which I got "fired." When the genre was "no saxophone," The Trippers took it to heart. The band was also comprised of Don Johnson (Kenny's brother), Bob Hopps and Ed Helton. It was a five-piece until I left but they continued on with four members.
Like, it was Elvis Presley changing the music scene in the '50s, and The Beatles doing the same thing again in the mid-'60s. Up to the time Allen Freed coined the phrase, "rock 'n' roll," it didn't even have a name. And that was the start of the Elvis craze. Boy, did Elvis ever do a job to the music scene. Another "mercy" for his contributions.
Anyway, although I stood on stage looking pretty and holding my sax , that's all I did! On one occasion, I played the recorder for a song. I'll have to admit, it was boring to be a stick figure on a gig. But I figured, "Heck, I'm not going to quit; I'm collecting a pay check." Eventually though, my services weren't needed and I wasn't invited to gigs.
Kenny didn't do an actual firing. I heard on the radio that The Trippers were playing a gig the upcoming weekend. So I called Kenny to ask, "So, we've got a gig this weekend?" It was Kenny's brother Don on the other end of the line and he said, "Well, we do; you don't!" I still give Kenny a bad time about it today because, as far as I'm concerned, he gets the credit for firing me. It was awkward how it happened, but Kenny still deserves the credit and I'm not going to be the one who lets him forget it. He deserves a lot of non-teasing credit too.
I continued to play saxophone for a number of years for fun, at family reunions, various church events, and jam sessions. Dick Marple is one guy who can remember all this stuff and generally with correct dates as well as names and all. He and I claim a friendship that started in grade school. He commented on the move my wife and I made to Konawa in 2004 saying, "I'll be darned, it's just like the end times. The Jews return to Jerusalem and the Okies return to Oklahoma!" Leave it to Marple.
During a summer vacation in Oklahoma, I got a group together and applied what I had learned from Kenny to book gigs. We played in Konawa, Shawnee, the Oklahoma City area, and a passel of small towns. This lasted for a period of three months. We were a five-piece band, with lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar, drums, and saxophone. It was something I hadn't really planned on, and came up with the idea once I was in Oklahoma while attending a jam session in Shawnee. It was a toss up as to whose idea it was to start a band, but we got good enough to play some gigs, so my training under Kenny came in real handy.
60s: Was this the same Ken Johnson that wrote many great songs for groups such as The Avengers and Limey & The Yanks, and whose son was reportedly in The Fourth Dimension, of the garage rock classic, 'See If I Care'?
RC: About the time I saw him in 1970 or so, he said "I can't understand this music anymore," meaning the hard rock stuff. This was just before he went to Nashville, where he stayed from '83-'88; he played with some well-known bands, including Tommy Overstreet. And he continued to write songs, mostly country at that point.
Kenny does not have a son. I spoke to him and there is a lot of misinformation about him on the Internet. He was a member of The Fourth Dimension and The Chocolate Tunnel, that I know. And he was involved in a studio band with Paxton and so was I; but, I didn't participate in many of those sessions and it was in the late ‘60s. So, as far as him recording with Paxton on the Starburst label, that didn't last for long. By the time The Rockets changed their name to Kenny and The Ho-Daddies, the Starburst label was gone. I don't think it was as late as ‘66 that Starburst made records.
I'm really not in contact with any other former band members, except Kenny Johnson and Dick Marple. I spent time with Marple and spoke briefly with Kenny during my visit to Bakersfield in May of 2009. Dave Pearson is deceased.
60s: Why did you quit playing music in the '60s?
RC: Again, it was the same old story: Day work, draft, marriage, moves. I married in '65, concluded college studies and started on a career in accounting. Money talks, so, I played six nights a week for three or four months with a good band, with a good gig at The Jasmine Tree, playing rock and roll. I don't recall the name of this band.
When music turned to hard rock, The Ugly Ones formed a post-Beatles band and it was our satirical answer to the type of music that was being played. Since I had an office job at the time and had to be clean cut at work, in order to be ugly I wore a mop-type wig to fit in with the rest of the members, all of whom really fit the band's name. Ugly was "in" and so were drugs and all that went with them. I was never a part of the drug scene and was in this band just for the money; it lasted less than a year and became yet another musical experience for me.
I am a dad two times over, eventually divorced, and moved on with my life. I have a daughter, Lynnette, and a son, Jeff. Both are married and live in California. We talk on the phone on a regular basis. My daughter and I are both NASCAR fans so we watch the races together from different states, then talk about them on the phone. Jeff has a day job and is also a musician, a damn good drummer. He has done hip-hop deejay work in San Francisco. We talk music, computers, and my grandson, Ray. Ray is very important in my life and I'd like to spend some prime time with him.
I moved to Salinas, California, working in the accounting field for about twenty years in a day job and also freelancing. In 1979 I got saved and baptized in the Church of Christ in Salinas. My lifestyle was changing and since 1981 I've been a friend of Bill W.
While in Salinas, band life memories came alive again and five of us got together and did some gigs. This was probably the last time I was actively involved in playing in a band. It was a good thing and lasted about a year. I still get my recorder out once in awhile and play for my own edification, my wife, and whoever else might be listening.
When Pat and I got married in 1997, I got a step-daughter, Lujuanna, in the deal. She's a California resident. I continued preparing tax returns for a good client base, and then became an Enrolled Agent to represent clients before the IRS, retiring in '04 after experiencing some health setbacks. Now I spend my time kicking back in the relaxing end of life. My wife and I get involved in projects from which we never seem to see daylight. For instance, we have various writings headed to a printer for publishing. We're also involved in scripture study, our country's beginning and its constitution. We really enjoy each others' company, whether or not we're working on a specific project.
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