All right. So I opened up a can of worms when I posted about Dallas radio back in the day. Seems friend Scot Duke and I may have habited some of the same haunts. My radio story plus last Friday’s Stevie Ray Vaughn funkishness post prompted this outstanding story from Scot in reply:
Since we are stirring memories of Dallas in the days before LBJ Freeway…when I was eight was when I was introduced to playing guitar by my great-aunt who lived in Oak Cliff. She would play and I would listen then go home and try to remember how her fingers were on the fret board. One summer my parents let me stay with her overnight and during dinner we hear some music coming from outside which was no unusal in Oak Cliff in 1960. The music went on for hours and when we went outside to sit on the back porch and my aunt start playing her blues guitar she stopped and asked me what all the noise was which was to me music. She said, lets go find out who that is. So we let our ears lead up donw the street about four blocks to a house where the music was coming from the garage that had the door closed. It was so load you could hear yourself think…then about that time the music stopped and the door open and there were these three kids, ringing with sweat from being in that garage with the door closed,playing for more than an hour…one of the kids was my age and he comes out with a guitar bigger than him strapped on and it was Stevie…he sat down on the side walk where the wind was so he could cool off and while the others were in the house where the air conditioning was he lit into an instrumental of so old Texas blues…he played it like someone much older than him…now this made my great-aunt very happy so we stayed an listened…then Jimmy comes out and tells him to bring it in since the neighbors are complaining again… That was the only time I got to see Stevie…and every time I went to see my great aunt I would run down there and he would not be there… That’s My Dallas and SRV story for ya… have a great day and keep those blogs about Dallas in OUR day coming.
Dallas skyline from the Trinity River bridge coming from Oak Cliff circa 1950’s
A really great story that points out that not that long ago Dallas was kind of like a small town in big city clothes. It was not uncommon to see folks like SRV and other celebs walking the streets. My Dad had stories of going to Jack Ruby’s club in the 50’s and seeing Bob Wills after a show at the Sportatorium. Former Dallas Texans & Kansas City Chiefs running back Abner Haynes used to buy gas at my Dad’s service station at I-35 & Marsalis in Oak Cliff .
So here’s a shout out to Dallas When It Was Dallas and a call to other Dallas folks to share their memories. Now some of you may not be as old as Scott or Semitough, we’ll take newer vintage stories too. Whether you’ve been here all your life, got here as fast as you could or just drove through on the way somewhere else, share up your Dallas stories too. Let us hear from you.
Leave your stories in the comments and I’ll do a summary when we get some critical mass.
Semitough: Suburban Guerrilla - Random thoughts on life in my own home trailer park 
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