Lamar Webster's Story
Recollections of a Young Funkster! (Part 1)
Man! I don't know where to begin. First of all I have been sleeping on this
link to the Shout Out. Just now read it today. 2nd I just read all of the
entries here, and started smiling at some of them. First of all this book is
gonna start getting hit hard soon.
I grew up with my first band, when I was in the summer of 1966. John
Fredrick's on sax, Corny Woodall on guitar, Mark Adam Woods, Jr. on drums, and
myself on bass. We used to practice on John's back porch in the day time. Mrs.
Fredrick's was cool to let us get our groove on. I took Steve Neal's place on
bass. Steve had challenged me and Corny one day to pick any 45 record from his
collection, and he could play it. He said that is a good way to practice and
learn all styles, which I ended up doing.
Corny (who goes by North Woodall now) took me over to Leroy "Sugarfoot"
Bonner's home on Burleigh Ave. one day to borrow a guitar pick. All I remember
is that when he came down the stairs, he had two pairs of all type of shoes on
both sides of the winding stairs. I mean gators, Stetsons, boots, of all kinds
and colors. I was like man, this is what a musician can do, buy expensive
leather shoes! LOL!
And of course I guess the Show Wagon in the Summer parks was my first hint of
being on stage. Man I remember when the Ohio Players played at Westwood Park
on one and they did Ball of Confusion by the Temptations, man did they hook it
up, Ohio Style! Although there were a lot of bands back in the day, The
Continentals, Shades of Brown, Overnight Lo!, Mr. G & The Sidewinders, Lil
Roger & The Human Body, it was the Ohio Players who got Dayton put on the map
for FUNK! for me.
My recollections part 2
Now we go to 1967-1968 my 8th grade at Roth HS. And I saw Dean Hummings (with the Scott brothers on guitars) play SummerTime and Hip Hugger by Booker T. & The MG's at the Fine Arts talent show. And that was it. I knew I was gonna be playing music then. Man was it a cool scene back then. Everyone was so competitive and good. I played again with Corny in a band to start the Delvons, but all the schools were jamming so tuff. Roosevelt, Dunbar, Roth, Fairview, Col. White, we all had talent shows and all of the bands went there to show there stuff. Roth had so many musicians who were bad ass cats. Delbert Taylor, Cedell & Sam Carter, Dana Meyers, Lloyd Rock Jones, Bruce Napier, Curtis Hooks, Marvin Craig, Otis & Arthur Stokes, Larry Hines, are just a few of the names who went on to record with Slave, Platypus, Ohio Players, Lakeside, and Sun. And there was a ton of bassists just at my school Roth. But it was a really cool time to be a musician then. Competitive but fun at the same time.
My recollections Part 3
And I missed some other young cats from Roth HS. Danny Webster
(no relation to me, Mark Adams, Mark Hicks went on to start Slave. Tim Abrams
(spell name check) went on to record with New Horizons. Steve Arrington went
to Col. White but grew up with me at 1st Dayton Little League, I remember when
he used to practice on a stack of magazines. Tony Allen, Keith Patton, and
John Tinsley had the Over The Hill Gang, Corny and Ron Parker had RoundTrip
Ticket, there was so many groups and bands. Teddy Dunn had Soul Experience and
I ended up playing with them in 1973. Then in 1975 I started Cypress with
Kevin Hurt, Delbert Jones, my brother Dallas Webster, and Cheryl Rutledge on
keys. That band led to Record Player forming in 1976, until we moved to Cali
in 1983. Places we all went too jam and see others work at included Club
Ebony, Astro House, Rhino Club, Miracle Lane Shopping center, Silver Foxx,
Palladium, Spunky's, to name a few.
Lamar Webster <Lamar@tdubs.com>
Los Angeles, CA USA - Friday, February 14, 2003 at 14:40:24 (CST)
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