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with some druggie jokes at the end, but it was not a glorious experience. To show you how long ago that was, this was the first casino to open in Atlantic City and it was gangbusters. People were lined up around the block to play blackjack at tables with a 25 dollar minimum. Big bucks in those days.
Later I opened for Mel Tillis at Harrah's in Atlantic City and when I got there one of the stagehands warned me that the sound was weird and I wouldn't hear the audience. Every comedian who worked there thought they were bombing, but they weren't. They just couldn't hear the laughs. Luckily I'd played a couple of fairgrounds and could adjust.
Mel Tillis was a country singer famous for his stuttering problem. When he sang you wouldn't know it, but when he talked he stuttered and he made light of it. Like all country acts he had a tour bus, and on the side was painted M-m-m-m-Mel T-t-t-t-t-Tillis. I loved that. I usually hung out with the musicians and roadies and I got to know the driver of the bus, who was a good guy. One day I walked out of the casino and he was there with the bus.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"To the drugstore. I need toothpaste."
"Hop in," he said, "I'll take you".
Weird. Riding a luxury tour bus three blocks to buy toothpaste. Life is fun. I liked country acts and opened for a bunch of them. They all seemed down
to earth and most of them had played a lot of tough bars before they hit the big time. We're talking bars with chicken wire in front of the stage so they wouldn't get hit by flying beer bottles. I'd forgotten how many country people I'd worked with but now their names come back to me, Crystal Gayle, Loretta Lynn, Mickey Gilley, Ronnie Milsap, Ray Stevens, Mel Tillis...I'm sure there were more and I'm sure I'll think of them at 4 a.m. tonight. That's how my memory works. All of them were good to work with.
The best opening act line I ever heard was Jerry Van Dyke walking on stage and saying, "I can't tell you how happy I am to be in front of a thousand people who came to see someone else".
This morning I had breakfast with Jintana and Kadjang and then took another walk through town. I have to do this more often. I love walking and exploring places and Chiangmai is both lively and ever-changing. I remember long ago going back to see my brother in Eugene, Oregon, and walking around downtown thinking it was incredibly boring. No street vendors, no tuk tuks, no pedicabs, no sidewalk restaurants and cafes. Nobody was walking! Another time Jintana and I went to a mall in the states and it felt like a mausoleum. Thai malls always have shows going on with loudspeakers blaring and lots of people because on a summer day in Thailand everyone flocks to anyplace that's air-conditioned. Thai malls are alive. U.S. malls are dying.