Anybody know that guy?

I saw this on the front page of the Spokesman Review...

Eastern Washington University is moving ahead with efforts to shift its Spokane programs to the Riverpoint campus it shares with Washington State University.

The school has received state approval – awaiting the governor's signature – to sell its downtown center and put the proceeds toward a new facility. EWU is stepping up efforts to find a buyer and considering options at the Riverpoint campus, spokesman David Rey said.

"We're working with WSU to figure out a location and some of the other details," he said.

First time I've made the front page after over a year of doing my EWU gig... Or is it? Hmmmm... Maybe during the Ward Churchill fiasco...

Spokesman Review

Requiem for a Buckaroo

From the TWANG! archives -- for Buck... R.I.P.

TWANG! : Hardwired for Honky Tonk
By David Rey

It took me about 27 years to get down with Buck Owens and his Buckaroos.It’s been four years now since Buck first lit up my stereo with “Heartaches by the Number,” a tune off his 1961 record “Buck Owens Sings Harlan Howard.”

Since then, the raw and rollicking country made by Buck and his band inhabits my house, my car and my office on a daily basis – “freight train” sound, Buck called it.

While I’ve delved deep into 1960’s country music over the past five years, I haven’t found anyone that sends the shock into my system that I get when Buck’s voice and Don Rich’s silver-sparkle Telecaster break out a tune.

Makes me feel like I’ve been listening to them all my life.
Makes me feel like I’m where I’m supposed to be.
Makes me tingle.

Apparently, I’m hardwired for heartache and honky-tonk. And now I know how I got that way – the revelation came out of a visit from my mother.

My mom still remembers me as I was 15 years ago, when I lived at home and listened to whatever poisons the radio was peddling. She also hadn’t seen me play an electric guitar before.

So, with Mom relaxing on the couch, I plugged in the Telecaster and broke into “Buckaroo” – the national anthem of Twangland. After stumbling through that because I was nervous, I decided to take it easier.

After finishing off Buck’s 1963 smash hit, “Act Naturally,” I stopped, expecting my mother to give me that parental nod of approval despite my somewhat ramshackle performance. Instead, I got…“I saw Buck Owens in Spokane when I was a teen-ager – Buck Owens and his Buckaroos,”

I got that same warm fuzzy feeling I got when Mom made everything better when I was a kid.

Shortly thereafter, that feeling was replaced by amazement. My mother equates country music with Reba McEntire, Faith Hill and Trisha Yearwood – what the heck was she doing at a Buck Owens concert?

Then it was revealed to me why those Buck Owens tunes felt like I’d heard them a million times, the first time I heard them. My grandmother, whom I spent mornings and afternoons with as a small child, was a huge Buck Owens and the Buckaroos fan.

Those days of the radio droning on and on came to mind – but all I recall is “Like A Rhinestone Cowboy.” But, in between Glen Campbell and Tammy Wynette songs, I was getting a heavy dose of Buck. My adult explorations awakened the music locked away for years in my memory.

My grandmother’s devotion to Buck and the boys was such that when she found out they were playing in Spokane while in the city shopping with my grandfather and mother, there was no question they wouldn’t be making the 90-mile trip home without getting some live “Love’s Gonna Live Here” and “Tiger by the Tail.”

So my mother spent an evening with the Buckaroos. She saw Don Rich, my Telecaster idol. She heard bassist Doyle Holley joking around with Buck. She witnessed Willie Cantu’s rebellious country drumming. She was soothed by the smooth sliding pedal steel of Tom Brumley.

I can see it when I close my eyes, passed on through genetic memory and on the radio waves secretly stuck in my mind in my grandmother’s living room over 25 years ago.