Buddy Deane - 9/27/03 Salute

Salute to Buddy Deane
an eye-witness report from Gil Osenburg

Friday, October 10, 2003 9:44 AM

Hey Everybody! Us Baltomorons had great weather last weekend! A little bit of rain on Saturday and on Sunday - instead of trees, branches and limbs - Fall fell! May be the same this weekend?

We're almost back to normal after "Izzy" laid one on us! Unfortunately, some of our waterside chums got hit pretty hard and will be some time getting all back together and in order. We wish them and their families Godspeed on this endeavor!

As recently mentioned, Miss Kimmy and I gathered up some "dust" and "bopped "out to Damonium for the Buddy Dean Reunion ! We got there early - about 6:30 - so we could watch them set up the hall. Plenty of sound apparatus - "Rolling Stone" sized speakers, special lights and elevated stands for the MPT camera crews. Slide shows projected onto the walls showing pictures of all the "Committee Members", Buddy Dean and numerous guest stars that visited the shows during its run on Channel 13. Also shown were "shots" of the subsequent get togethers and mini reunions those on the show attended over the years.

At 7 pm, when it was supposed to start, there's no band on the stage and only about 300 or so folks milling around, Kimmy looks me in the eyebulb and sez "are you sure we're at the right place and on the right day?" Suffering, at times, from minor cognitive impairment, I squeaked out - "yes, I'm positive", but deep inside - I wasn't so sure! I knew there was going to be a Senior Citizen Expo scheduled at the Fairgrounds some time soon and after looking around a bit and seeing all the comb-overs, color washes, folks on canes, walkers, wheel chairs, and not to mention a bunch of lovely unisex beer bellies, I was starting to get some nervous doubts! The thought of another "rabbit chop" to the voice box was giving me the "willies" - I could feel my throat trying to squeeze shut. The effects of the last chop were just about gone - a little choking sometime when conversing but I could handle it!

As it turned out, the "reunion" was supposed to start at 8:PM - and I did have a tiny "MCI" - but, with my trusty Jack Purcell's on, I was able to safely stay out of arms shot until all those on the right time came "buzzing " in and we started meeting up with some old friends. Besides, I forgot Kimmy had on her "reunion" ensemble and wasn't about to leave until we "lapped" the hall a dozen times or so!

Kimmy, as usual, was resplendent! Her Combat Boots were shined to a sparkling high gloss - "spit polished" - as we used to say in the Corps! I put some good time into these babies and did a nice job on them! The Mrs. had on her "Oyster" colored poly-ester bells, complete with full length down the side seam zippers - these are the "special ones" she usually wears to the Bowling League on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nites, with a matching sleeveless chiffon blouse with ruffles down the front. Even though it might have been a bit "nippy" for a sleeveless blouse,she had to wear a sleeveless so she could show off her latest tattoo!

Every holiday season Kimmy and her four sisters get "Holiday Tattoos" - it's a long standing family tradition that goes back a couple of generations. Word has it that Grandy Pappy has a sprig of mistletoe tattooed somewhere - don't know where - but at family get togethers he gets a lot of winks and waves from all the old aunts ! Skipping the family tradition this year and foregoing the regular wreathes and xmas trees, all the sisters got the Thanksgiving treatment. Kimmy got a very colorful 3" high turkey tattooed on topside of her left hand, extraordinarily handsome, especially since her pet nick name for me - "Hey You" - in Technicolor - is right underneath it ! One of my early Xmas presents! Hey, so I'm lucky!

At 8 Pm, the place got "fired up !" The disk jockey started spinning some "oldies but goldies" and immediately, the dance floor filled up with couples spinning around like whirling dervishes. The dance floor was crowded all night, couples in coordinated outfits did routines in perfect step, snapping their fingers, twirling around, "walking" side by side - the music was moving some bones long forgotten!

It was almost like a religious revival - canes, walkers and wheel chairs musta been piled up in a corner somewhere, everybody was on the dance floor, hands raised and praising that "ole devil" "Rock and Roll " ! I spied around the hall looking for where the de- fibralitors were located but could only spot the 1/2 gallons of "rocket fuel " on the tables !

Having attended numerous functions while here on Terra Firma, its always been a given that the dance floor would stay empty until about halfway thru the evening, or until everybody got a little oiled, semi-paralyzed and a mite dis-inhibited! Not this gang - it was like Seabiscuit hearing the bell! Everybody was up and dancing when the first number played until "The Party's Over" was played at nights end!

The MC for the evening was Bob Mathers - Buddy Dean's old friend and cohort. He was dressed in a Tux and it was a genuine pleasure to see him "work", he was a "dynamo" - on stage for the entire evening. He had major league fun this evening - Ole Bob was singing to the choir!

Along with introducing the records being played, he would tell us a little history about the groups, when they were on the show, how their song did on the "charts" and what the group were doing today. Also he told us stories about The Committee and their relationship with Buddy Dean, where some of them are today and what's going on in their lives.

Our own Lafayette's along with Tommy Vann, The Pixies Three and Ronnie Dove -- all sang their big hits for us. The Lafayette's did their 3 best sellers and Frank Bonnirego gave us a backgrounder on how their group got together and what it took to write the songs the New York record promoters wanted them to do so they could hit the "Big Time!" Frank and the Band have great stage presence, our Towson guys did Great! Not old - just gold!

Tommy Vann also gave a brief history about how Buddy Dean was instrumental in the early days of R + R, Tommy looked trim and fit and is - like Frank - very "smooth" - on stage ! Tommy Vann and the Echo's signature arrangement was and is, an up tempo version of "Hey You " which he did for us! This was like a sedative for our gang, all just listened and swayed with the music.You could almost hear everybody's memory vaults clicking open. As the song went on, the smiles got brighter and the arm around squeezes got tighter - no problems with age related memory loss on this night!

Buddy Dean was instrumental in helping launch the "Pixies Three" - a group of Pennsylvania Gals - ( just over the line, off I-83 ) - who started singing together at the local record hops, held in the towns fire halls. When they heard about the reunion, there way no way they were gonna miss it! They told the story of how, one night, at one of Buddy's hops, somewhere in PA, the gals asked if they could sing a couple of songs for him and could he get them a recording contract?

"Ole" Buddy said he couldn't get them a record contract but he'd help them out as much as he could! He did - and they've been singing and recording together ever since that night in ' 62! This group was great- I might get this name of this song wrong but I'll give it a shot - "Glenwood 5412" - was one of their biggies and when they sang it, just about everybody in the hall sang along and snapped their fingers! If they were going to appear somewhere in the Balto area, I'd put them on my calendar!

Ronnie Dove sang a number of his songs - "Hey You" ( again! ) - being the most memorable! He was a headliner in Las Vegas for a number of years and a good friend of Buddy Dean's. He also shared with us his memories about the early days of R + R and The Dean Influence on it. Ronnie, a little older than most of our gang, looked and sounded great ! My guess is that he's been a performer for almost 50 years!

Kimmy and I had a wonderful time and would go again if they have another "Dean Reunion!" It was a kind of "Celebration" - about Buddy Dean, Rock and Roll - and where we were about 50 years ago ! Everybody felt good riding home on this nite, the same way as after "The Last Dance - Part I!" It was almost like a religious event - let's pray for another one!