I am sure you all know that I am not really a fan of country music. Oh, sure, I got sucked into the genre living in Charlottesville. (Thank you, Bellamy Brothers, for my theme song- “He’s an old hippy and don’t know what to do….”)
But, living in Twangville, I knew (as did Mike McGinnis) that, as Jaycees, if we wanted to perpetuate our dream, Camp Virginia Jaycee, a place where the mentally retarded child could have a FREE two-week (at least) camp experience – with or without our parents, it was going to take a sh..load of bucks. We Jaycees had been selling apple butter forever to buy the grounds and get it started. But, it needed an oomph- a big infusion of cash to bring the camp to the next level.
So, we endeavored to rent U Hall (that was the predecessor for the John Paul Jones Arena, where UVa played basketball) to offer a Country and Western Concert.
And, back than ‘Hee Haw’ was a big hit. Not necessarily on live television. While it was Roy Clark’s vision of “Laugh In” for country and western fans, the network TV moguls killed it after 2 years. (About the same time those folks killed the moderate hit ‘Green Acres’ in what was called the ‘rural purge’.) No, instead, ‘Hee Haw’ continued to appear on a slew of ‘also-run’ stations, some late at night, some during prime time. And, the reruns lasted forever. Living in Charlottesville meant ‘Hee Haw’ appeared on a slew of the ‘local’ channels. (Local meant Charlottesville, Richmond, Lynchburg, and Harrisonburg. Almost all on UHF.- If you don’t know what that means, look it up in the history books.)
Back then, Roy Clark lived in rural Virginia. (He was a Virginia native.) Which was about as much as we knew about any C&W stars when Mike and I began planning this concert. We reached out to Roy Clark and with a little pushing, he agreed to be our headliner. His fee would be $ 50K. A lot of money back in the late 1970s, but we thought we’d do OK, given the fame of ‘Hee Haw’ in ‘our parts’.
But, then, the demands began flooding in. What food he wanted. What his dressing room needed to have. And, then, the pièce de résistance- he wanted a helicopter to pick him up in bumf..k Southern Virginia and take him to the concert. (Thankfully, my friend Wendell came through for us, at a reasonable price.)
And, finally, after all the planning, all the deal making, the printing of our posters and tickets, but most importantly almost selling out UHall, it was show time.
Mike and I were excited, but disappointed how little we’s actually clear after all that work. But, we didn’t have time to wallow- we had a show to put on.
To be honest, I don’t think Mike or I got to hear more than 60 seconds of music. We were running around everywhere, making sure this was here, that was there, that the University was happy, etc.
But, when the concert was over, Roy Clark realized that it really was just us kids (late 20s) pulling this off. And, we were not trying to make money for ourselves or even taking a salary from the proceeds- we were doing this only to raise funds for Camp Virginia Jaycee.
Roy turned over his entire fee to the cause. (That also meant he paid his band out of his own pocket.) That simple act still brings tears to my eyes.
Roy Clark, a pain in our asses, but a hell of a mentsch.
His memory always brings a smile to my face.
Roy Clark died on the ides of November at the age of 85.
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Well I’m a country girl and lived on country music! How I remember watching Hee Haw! How awesome for Roy to do that!!
You bet, Martha!
Oh wow, what an incredible thing for him to do! I’m actually not a country fan (not much country music culture made it to Australia from the States) but I’ll Youtube some of his music. RIP.
The clip I shared was his playing classical guitar, not C&W. He was a virtuoso, who happened to play the music that reminded him of his youth.
That’s a beautiful story and kudos to you and your fellow Jaycees – and Roy Clark. Yes, celebrities can step up and do wonderful things – for my area it was Maureen McGovern in 2011, when portions of my neighborhood and other areas in the Triple Cities of New York State were impacted by flooding. Not my type of music, but I want to give a shout out to her and another “Thank you”. Maybe I should dust off that post, and rerun it one of these days.
Alana recently posted..Polio and the President
Our chapter, the Charlotesville-Albemarle Jaycees, has won acclaim as the best one in the state- and in the US. They were a bunch of great folks trying to make their community better- and to have a hell of a good time doing so.Glad to hear about Maureen McGovern; I liked her stuff!
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