The Second Lone Star Cowboys band played in Kingsville and area towns. Pictured in 1966 from left are Lonnie Huffman, steel guitar; Smiling Red Faqure, Bud Whittington, lead singer; Chuck Wood with his 1950s-style Ludwig Drums; and Max Moses, bass guitar. All the band members were in the Navy except Faqure and Whittington. I was on our computer one day and just for fun, I typed in Kingsville and Music and an article came up that was written in the Kingsville Record and Bishop News about Joe Quintanilla, the musician, and Eddie Garcia’s name was also mentioned.

I remembered our youthful friendship and the experiences we shared when I was a sailor stationed at NAS Kingsville. I contacted the Kingsville Record and thanks to the reporter, Gloria Bigger-Cantu, who through contacts with her friends, found Eddie’s phone number and address. After talking to Gloria, I decided to share my youthful experiences while I was stationed as a sailor in Kingsville.

Charles E. Wood as a young sailor. It was in June of 1964 that I received orders to go to the Naval Air Station in Kingsville. Prior to that, I had joined the Navy in February of 1960 in my hometown of Bremerton, Washington. I was assigned to be an aviation storekeeper.

In my first two years, I changed rates three different times. In 1964, I was 24 years old, venturing to the small city of Kingsville in the Lone Star State.

As a child, I grew up in the country where my parents purchased 14 acres of forest and with my brother Ray, we lived in a two-story log house. Our parents had a love of music and my Dad would bring home musicians. We always had live music either inside or outside in the front yard. One group had the most impact on my brother and me. They were called “Arkie Shibley and The Mountain Dew Boys.” My brother, Ray, picked up a guitar at the age of six and by the age of ten, was a young super star. I learned a few years later, how to play a rhythm steel guitar. In 1954, along with my neighbor, Norm, who played fiddle, we formed a band called “The Rhythm Rockets,” a Rock A Billy group. Within a couple of years, we had a hot Rock ‘N Roll Band. By then I was playing drums and Norm was now playing Rhythm/Guitar. We stayed together as a group until 1959 when my brother, Ray, went on tour in the Far East and I joined the Navy the next year.

Betty’s Lounge was a popular hangout for sailors in the sixties. Located at 401 E. Henrietta, it has housed many businesses. I graduated from Central Kitsap High School in 1959.

My Dad had been a sailor in the 1920s and 1930s and I always knew that I would join the Navy, too, some day. My first four years in the Navy, I played many

styles of music, but my first love was Rock ‘N Roll, such as Elvis and Little Richard.

When I hit the town of Kingsville, it seemed very different to me: hot, flat and no shade. But one thing I learned was that there was music in this town and lots of it.

The first night I got into town, I stopped in a bar called Hoggieland, which was located at 6th, and Corral.

That was where I met Tony Joe White, who came out with a top hit called “Polk Salad Annie.” He was working with a bass player named Robert McGuffie, but had no drummer. After listening for a while, I knew that my style of drumming would fit with their music.

I introduced myself and told them I was a drummer, with my Fifties Ludwig set out in my car. They went out and helped me bring in the drums.

I set up and this was the beginning of four years of music in Kingsville. I worked with Tony for about a month and we were booked at Frenchies Beachcomber, on Padre Island. But the hours of being a musician and my duties in the Navy became too much and I quit.

Two months later, I met a young high school bass player by the name of Jimmy Nix. His parents owned a dairy at the south end of town. Jim worked in a band called “The Fabulous Torkey’s” with the lead by Johnny Miller and rhythm guitar by Dennis Breining.

Somehow I became a member of the band as a drummer. We worked on Padre Island at the Tropics. But in a very short period of time, the band started to play the new Beatles sound, which was not what I wanted. Six months later, I made the big mistake of buying beer for the band and I was fired.

Later I felt bad over my actions, but at the age of 24, I didn’t think of the consequences. Over the years, I have been able to keep in touch with him, but only occasionally.

I started to look for a band that was more in my age bracket. One night in early 1965, I was in the Acey Duesy Club and a country group by the name of “The Lone Star Cowboys” was playing.

At break time I went up and introduced myself and asked if they knew of any bands around that needed a drummer. As it turned out, the band’s drummer was being transferred and they could use one.

Now this was not what I had been looking for, but a job is a job.

An E-5 did not make a lot of money so I decided that going back to my roots, which had been country music, could not hurt.

The band consisted of four sailors and one civilian by the name of Bud Whittington, a Kingsville native, who was a mailman working in Bishop.

He was one of the finest lead singers I ever had the pleasure of working with.

He still plays at the Robstown Community Hall and we have kept in touch all these years.

During the year and a half I worked with the band, we played gigs from Corpus Christi to Alice, as well as playing at all the clubs on the base at Kingsville.

With guest singers such as Vernon F. Milam, a Kingsville native, it made it hard to leave.

But I met a black group with players named Little Lester, Donna Ray and King Herb.

At that time not many groups mixed their players racially. But the band loved my funky boogaloo beat. We worked at the Playboy Lounge (the former Hoggieland) which was owned by Bill Moore. I also played at the House of the Rising Sun. Go-Go girls worked on the stage with us at both places. How much fun it would be to play one more gig with them. Donna Ray passed away as a result of an accident; King Herb lives in Corpus Christi and Little Lester is in Austin, according to Jimmy Nix.

Somehow I was able to stay out of trouble with the Navy and still work with many groups as a drummer.

One night comes to mind. In 1966 I had a one-night gig with a group called The Morticians, from Corpus Christi.

On the day of the gig they called Betty at Betty’s Bar and asked her if she knew of any rock drummers.

She gave them my phone number, and I said I would work with them.

I forgot to ask what style of music they played, but I didn’t care as I felt I could play in any group.

As I drove up to the bar, I saw the hearse and wondered who had died.

The band came out of the bar to unload their instruments.

They wore long black coats and stove pipe hats.

I got out of my 1960 Plymouth convertible and started unloading my drums.

We kept glancing at each other, as I was dressed quite differently.

I had on a Stetson hat, boots, well-worn jeans with a big belt buckle and a flashy shirt.

We made quite a contrast with our different styles of dress. But they needed a drummer, so I played.

The band was so loud that the owner of the bar complained. He said if we didn’t quiet down, we wouldn’t get paid.

I never played with them again. It was not my kind of music.

Life was lots of fun as I met many great musicians who lived in Kingsville.

One person in particular brought back many of my memories of playing in bands.

This young man was Eddie Garcia. He was a bass player and also became a close friend.

Eddie was a young man on a mission to become the best of the best. He wanted to leave Kingsville as a star.

He played the bass fiddle and the bass guitar. He practiced everyday without fail.

I enjoyed being around someone who played rock, country, and jazz with the best of them.

He reminded me of my brother, Ray, who, when he was six years old, knew this was what he wanted to do with his life, play guitar and be a musician.

Now at the age of 68, Ray still gets up every morning and practices and writes songs. I wish my brother and Eddie could have met.

Eddie worked with a group of friends like Abel Soto, Jim Martinez and every so often myself.

We mostly played Tex-Mex. Not speaking the language myself, I was nevertheless able to pick up on the songs, as I knew the beginnings and endings.

To this day, I enjoy turning on the radio and listening to Spanish music. We played many parties and dances, but we never got on the Domingo Pena Show, a Sunday morning feature that showcased local talent. They also had a talk show.

Eddie and I would barbecue in back of his parents’ grocery store and enjoy the music on TV.

There is a picture that stays in my mind of Eddie. One night I left a bar at closing and decided to stop and see if Eddie was still up.

As I drove up to the back of the store, I could see a light on in his apartment. I came up to the door, which was open with the screen door in place.

I looked inside, and there was Eddie standing up in the corner holding up his bass fiddle, but he was sound asleep.

This was the Eddie that I shared with hundreds of musicians I have worked with during my life.

Sadly, Eddie is now on the mend from a stroke, and I have only talked to him twice, since Gloria helped me find him.

When I was still in Kingsville, I had an offer to be a drummer with Ray Price (who is in the Country Hall of Fame), but I decided not to take him up on it.

Maybe that was a good choice, as I found out later that his drummers never stayed with him long. But it blew me away to find out that Eddie had worked with him.

Kingsville had a lot of talent back in the 1960s, and a young drummer could learn a lot if he wanted to.

There was one bar that opened before I left Kingsville and a retired Navy chief ran it. He came up with the idea of a large pitcher of Michelob Draft with green olives and called it a Poor Man’s Martini.

Betty’s Bar was a hang out for sailors like me.

They would allow you to write a check for $5.

In exchange, she gave you 25 coupons, each worth 25 cents each good for a draft beer.

It was a loan, as she would hold your check.

On payday, you would go to the bar, and you would give her the money and she would give you back your uncashed check.

Some of the other bars in town had the same arrangement.

This allowed the sailors to keep drinking and keep the bars open.

Kingsville is always in the back of my mind, and I even went back for a visit in 1979.

The old Playboy Lounge was there under a new name and I had a big laugh when I checked out the bathroom and found the sink and toilet were still painted blue.

In 1967, Bill Moore, the owner, talked a bunch of us regulars into painting the bar, and he would supply us with a keg of beer.

In retrospect, it would have been better if he had waited until we had finished before the drinking had started. Some of us got carried away.

Since my job was to do the bathroom, I decided to paint everything with the blue paint, including the fixtures.

When I visited in 1979, the bartender bought me a beer when I told her the story of the blue bathroom.

Betty’s Bar was closed down, but the Mexican Restaurant across the street from it was still open and still served the best food in town.

A couple of the other old bars were still open, but my stomping grounds were mostly gone.

When I got out of the Navy in 1968 I had the idea that I would become rich and famous.

That dream never materialized, even though I worked seven days a week for a year and a half.

Luckily, my Dad talked me into the Naval Reserves. I had the chance to go back on active duty in 1969 and retired in 1981. I retired from playing music three years ago.

My life made a complete circle as I started with the Rhythm Rockets and ended with them.

The band included my brother, Ray and our best friend, Norm.

Ray taught him to play the bass guitar long ago.

I will be 70 this June, and I can honestly say that my time in Kingsville was the best place I was ever stationed.

If anyone remembers me and wishes to contact me, you can call me at (253) 858-6982 or by e-mail at saehild@msn.com.