“All the money we made went into the band, with just a little bit left over to eat. “We all moved into one house and started sharing expenses,” says Rickie Lee. Jim Dandy in 1975 (Image credit: Jack Mitchell / Getty Images)Ĭrime didn’t pay, so the Knowbody Else was forced to do things the hard way. We got caught for it and had to give that back – and buy a new one to boot.” “Our parents were all poor, so we couldn’t afford that stuff ourselves, and they had this old PA system that wasn’t being used at all, so we went there in the winter time and snatched that critter. “We broke into the high school and stole some speakers and the power amp,” Their first obstacle was a lack of proper gear. In 1965, Jim and Rickie Lee found some other brave souls to form a psychedelic rock band called the Knowbody Else. “We just naturally bonded and watched each other’s back,” says Jim, “And we’ve been together ever since.” I just wanted his job, whatever it was.”īoth men had their own bands, until one day when Jim pointed out that they were the only worthwhile components of either group. I didn’t want to be no rock star, when I was young I didn’t even know what that was. He was having cosmic fun, and I wanted to do it, too.
“When I saw Elvis on Ed Sullivan, I knew he was having more fun than any other human being up there. Jim Dandy, well, he already knew what he wanted to do. Influenced by The Beatles and The Byrds, Rickie Lee took up the guitar. “The population of Black Oak is 282 people, and it never changes, Rickie Lee adds, “Because every time a baby is born, the father leaves town.” “My mom and dad are still alive and they still live there, on Main Street, right across the street from the post office,” Jim beams. Jim had to attend high school in Monette because Black Oak was – and is – too small for a high school of its own. Rickie Lee lived in neighbouring Monette, two miles from the tiny town of Black Oak, Arkansas. But wait – what of the scurrilous rumours that Jim Dandy and the former US president smoked marijuana together? “See, I was friends with Bill Clinton since before he was the Attorney General, back when he was mayor of Hope, Arkansas,” says Jim Dandy, by way of introduction. They may not have their private compound in the Ozarks or an army of roadies anymore, but integrity, spirit, and gumption – that, they’ve still got plenty of. In their 40-plus years in rock’n’roll, Jim Dandy and his league of gentlemen in Black Oak Arkansas have gone from teenage outlaw hippies to authentic rock gods with gold records and stadium tours, with every rags to riches variant in-between. Still clutching his bullet-proof washboard, still clad in white leather and with flowing blond mane, the man who invented southern rock in the very southern state of Arkansas back in 1965 has weathered every bad season, overcome every obstacle, and bested every cheating ratfink and politician that has crawled his way. Jim ‘Dandy’ Mangrum is the last of the rock’n’roll superheroes.
0 kommentar(er)
