Page 106 - Been There… Done That!

Gary Graham
was just begging and the soldiers probably killed him. I knew they would because they had the belief that we leave the world as we come into it, without clothes, so I knew what they were going to do to him.
With this going on, I still didn’t lose focus on why I was there. The music was second nature to me and as far as dealing with fear when onstage with superstars over the years, I was used to fear, not the fear of being shot but fear of people’s reaction. Before we came to Vietnam, a couple of groups had been killed, with one girl being shot while onstage. It was a little harsh at times, but once the show started, it had to happen and eventually had to end. We were so familiar with the routine that other things faded into the background. We are talking about a group that really was a well- oiled machine.
And when it came to the audiences, the soldiers were as good as it gets and one way I could always get the crowd going was just to say, “Good afternoon, my name is Gary Graham and I’m from Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri.” They would just go nuts and then I would introduce the group and tell where they were from. It was about making a connection with the soldiers..
One thing that stood out at the shows was prejudice between the black and white soldiers and that bothered me on tour. They would congregate in different areas with the black soldiers gathering right in front of the stage. I would have thought all of them would be just happy to have some entertainment and see somebody from the United States and could have put their attitudes aside for a little
while in respect to the rest of the crowd. 104