Tennessee Mike Hawkins finished his trek of the Appalachian Trail on August 20th. He was kind enough to send along this picture. Not the clean-cut sailor we were used to seeing on stage at Albert Hall, and speaking of the Hall, Mike said to tell everyone at the Albert Hall hello. Congratulations Tennessee.
We get asked this question from time to time. Mike E. suggested the name to James Formica and Mike Hawkins when the band was formed. He said the words were from an Emmy Lou Harris song, although he couldn’t recall the song at the time. A few years later Mike found out that he had misunderstood what Emmy Lou was saying in the song. The song was called “Easy From Now On”. It was written by Sussana Clark (the wife of singer-songwriter Guy Clark) and Carlene Routh. The Lyrics are as follows:
There he goes gone again
Same old storys gotta come to an end
Lovin him was a one way street
But Im gettin off where the crossroads meet
Its a quarter moon in a ten cent town
Time for me to lay my heartaches down
Saturday night gonna make myself a name
Take a month of sundays to try and explain
Its gonna be easy to fill
The heart of a thirsty woman
Harder to kill the ghost of a no good man
And Ill be ridin high in a fandangled sky
Its gonna be easy; its gonna be easy from now on
Raw as whip but clean as a bone
Soft to touch when you take me home
When the mornin comes and its time for me to leave
Dont worry bout me, I got a wild card up my sleeve
Its gonna be easy to fill
The heart of a thirsty woman
Harder to kill the ghost of a no good man
And Ill be ridin high in a fandangled sky
Its gonna be easy, its gonna be easy
Its gonna be easy from now on
So, the truth is Mike mangled fandangled and that’s how we became Fandango Sky.
The set on August 4th was changed to an Infamous Fandango Bros. set as Mike G. and Lisa were called out of town at the last minute. Calling on our good friend John B. Cleveland to fill in on bass, Mike S., Rick, and Mike E. put together a set and had a good time doing it. The highlight of the evening had to be a song that Rick decided to teach the band an hour before we went on. Rick stepped up to do a rendition of Choo-Choo Boogie that won’t be soon forgotten. Mike S. was in form on the banjo, even though his injured finger is still swollen. At rehearsal Thursday night he had to tape his finger pick onto that finger. All in all a good night. We thank John for stepping in and we thank the audience for being appreciative of our efforts.
Saturday August 4th was the day that they had a book signing for the book “People of the Pines” at Albert Hall. The author of the book, Mr. Bob Birdsall was on hand to personally sign the books. Although Mike E. didn’t choose to have Bob sign his copy he did shell out the thirty-five bucks to buy the book as his picture is in it (Mike G. and Lisa are also in the book). To be honest, Mike's picture is very small. In the photo Mike is making sure his picture is actually in the book before giving the money to a smiling Elaine Everett. Mike should have been from Missouri.