Page 18 - Been There… Done That!

Gary Graham
step-dad Carney and my mother. The bar had jukeboxes, pinball machines and pool tables. The vendors had routes where they placed the various vending machines and took a percentage of the proceeds. The Casablanca later would be the place we got our music business start.
Behind the Casablanca was a boat dock with a fishing boat I could use. Most people can’t imagine how much trouble a kid can get into with a fishing boat. Spring Break Senior trips would be my first problem as the girls always wanted to go out on the lake and sunbathe. I was going on fifteen and my mother was not very happy to see her son riding around with girls in skimpy bikinis in the fishing boat. During Spring Break the boat was grounded. Oh, well, it was fun while it lasted.
When I started to make my way into show business, no one ever asked, what was my inspiration to pursue a career in the music industry? After I was successful, that was the first thing everyone wanted to know. What inspired you to do what you’re doing? My answer was, when I was very young, about nine years old, my mother got tickets to the J Bar H Rodeo in Camdenton, Missouri. Camdenton was a town about twenty miles from Lake Ozark, Missouri. I was in awe of the cowboys and when intermission came there was a music show featuring Hank Snow. I had heard of him, but seeing him after his presentation, signing autographs and pictures, is a memory I have never forgotten. But what stood out was the crowd of people (mostly women) lined up like he was Jesus. That blew me away and like any other human, I thought how cool it
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