[Dixielandjazz] Re: Strange Gig

[Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis]

That brings up another funny story.  A good friend of mine "Larry" played 
with me in the AF band. (Music content)  It seems that his room mate and he 
saw the Johnny Carson show the night that one of these guys came on and 
offered to ordain anyone who wrote him and he would do it free for a limited 
amount of time.  I had gone to grade school through high school with Norman. 
Well Larry and "Norman" sent their names into this guy and got their 
ordination papers.  Larry and I thought it was a great joke until "Norman" 
showed up to marry my wife's brother and his girlfriend.  It seems that the 
ordination was perfectly legal in Missouri.  Norman now teaches in a local 
College (diploma mill/trade school) and has a Doctorate (????).  I don't 
know if he still marries people.

Due to the ability of almost anything calling themselves a school, religion 
or church to get a charter in Missouri they are legal.  The State has to 
recognize the diplomas if they are Chartered in Missouri.  There was an 
outfit here in St. Louis for awhile that called themselves "The College 
without Walls".   Fortunately most people are honest.  The great thing about 
music and musicians is that degrees really don't count when you pick up a 
horn.
Larry
St. Louis
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bob Loomis" <miltloomis at yahoo.com>
To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Friday, August 04, 2006 2:56 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Re: Strange Gig


>   In 1966 after years of not playing, I dipped
> my toes back into the waters of music, playing
> electric bass very briefly with a local outfit,
> the Bonifistachio Street Blues Band. I was so
> green I didn't even know what a blues bass line
> was!
>   We played a wedding at which the bride and
> groom and most of their local friends were
> hippies. The groom's family was from the SF Bay
> Area, so they knew what the deal was, but the
> bride's family and some of her friends were from
> the Midwest. I think the latter were somewhat
> flabbergasted by the scene:
>   The Church of Universal Life minister (you got
> ordained for $5 by mail) was in coveralls and
> many at the wedding were in typical hippie garb
> and hair. The minister smoked funny cigarets with
> some of his pals before the service and when it
> began, he simply said "Well, Judy and Bill have
> decided to get married and there's not much we
> can add to that, so I now pronounce them man and
> wife!"
>   With that our band broke into "Red House
> Blues" to the stunned amazement of many. We
> played a set of blues and that was it ... we had
> an eight piece band crammed into a tiny gazebo
> and trying to avoid knocking each other around
> ...
>   I've played some strange gigs (one of them a
> grand opening for a Jack In the Box restaurant),
> but I think that one was the strangest, all in
> all.
>
> Bob Loomis
> Concord CA
>
>
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