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FLITZ PICKLEROY- UNDER CONSTRUCTION
A Band Is Born
These are the chronicles of the most famous'est of bands in the midwest, certainly in Yaggy. A life too brief. On one amazing night a legend was made, kinda. Life before the band was passe, afterward, passe again, but during their existence there was a pretty good time to be had. What follows is the accounting of the Good Luck dance in Irving, KS, sometime before 1950 although that part is sketchy. Site of a severe and crop ruining drought in 1860, devastating grasshopper invasion in 1866 and repeated in 1875, then TWO tornado visits in 1879, and finally a once in a century town destroying flood in 1903, the dance had been dreamed up by the local Ancillary Auxiliary Adjunct Reserve to reinvigorate once proud and gleeful spirits. No band had ever played for the dance until Flitz and the Ruffians did, so it was a really big deal. Until then music had been provided by a nervous couple of residents drawn by lottery each year, using an old concertina and a pair of juice harps found along the road near Blue Rapids by a town resident out scouring for walnuts one da. It's unknown if the concertina ever produced sound or not.
Flitz had put out the word he was forming a band and looking for work, and would travel and play for transportation expenses (gas for a 1938 international truck they would use), a hot meal (anything would work as long as there was cornbread and pie - whatever was in season would work) and a dollar per band member. The Irving town council's secretary, also the local butcher, seamstress and post mistress, saw a flyer come through the mail and the rest was destiny. The Ruffians had a gig.
Keep scrolling down for The Good Luck gig retelling, info on Pout Whitfield's barn (site of the gig), band member bios, a listing of band awards, milestones and assorted credits, descriptions of band member's gear (all musicians like to read that stuff), and finally a section on where they all ended up after Flitz and The Ruffians were no more . . . or maybe they still are!
The Band
Flitz
"Cryin'" Shallot Leeks
Booger Burns
Founder, Leader, Vocals, Guitar
Booger Burns
"Cryin'" Shallot Leeks
Booger Burns
Mandolin, Vocals
"Cryin'" Shallot Leeks
"Cryin'" Shallot Leeks
"Cryin'" Shallot Leeks
Fiddle
Milborne Flay
"Greaser" Ham Bone
Milborne Flay
Fiddle
Mable Flood
"Greaser" Ham Bone
Milborne Flay
Bull Fiddle, Vocals
"Greaser" Ham Bone
"Greaser" Ham Bone
"Greaser" Ham Bone
Dobro
Penelope Polthaus
Penelope Polthaus
Penelope Polthaus
Refreshments, Emotional Support
Newt Rattlebum
Penelope Polthaus
Penelope Polthaus
Banjo, Boots
Hack Sawtooth
Penelope Polthaus
Hack Sawtooth
Wheeler, Security
Gear -
Flitz
Flitz plays a Martin D-18, 1939 model, old Black Diamond medium gauge strings, the older the better. Uses a Hamilton spring type capo when he needs one, and prefers an old D'Andrea pick that looks like a crayon mosaic.
Mable
A 1939 Kay bass is Mable's bass of choice. It's blonde, a model 89. She uses a bow she got from a man that reportedly played with the Quinn, SD orchestra. Unverifiable at this time, it may or may not be true.
Booger
Booger's mandolin of choice is a 19ss Army-Navy or A-40, noone really knows for sure and he ain't sayin'. Has a worn but attractive two-tone sunburst finish. LaBella medium gauge strings, and a piece of hickory is his pick. Works for him.
Shallot
Stainer fiddles have been around a long time, and have been copied for about as long. Shallot's is a 1902 near as he knows, dark brown finish, got from Sears Roebuck mail order, with whatever bow they had at the time that came with it. He uses Rough Neopolitan strings and a piece of amber he found hanging off a tree for his rosin.
Milborne
Coincidentally, Milborne's fiddle is also a Stainer fiddle, circa 1904, and darned near a match for Shallot's. They could be twins. He has no memory of how or when he got it or just won't say, and has no desire to care about the details of a bow or strings. They are what came with the fiddle when it came to him. He uses Shallot's rosin.
Newt
A really fine specimen of a Gibson Banjo RB-xx flathead banjo (tension rod adustments are on the top of the tone ring) is Newt's pride and joy and it's never far from him. Gretsch strings, a plastic thumbpick of unknown origin, and old fingerpicks fashioned from thimbles are what he uses to get his sound. Had some nice brass ones once but lost them one night at practice while on break. Likes an old belt for a strap.
Greaser
Greaser played a 1933 model 45 Dobro made by the Dopyera Brothers, spruce top with two screened soundholes, uses a nice set of old brass fingerpicks he found one night at practice while on break, and made up his own set of strings out of a box of string sets he found out behind a bankrupt store one afternoon while in Peobody, KS. Said he fought off a whole family of raccoons to get to them, who were rummaging through the goods to see what treasures they could find.
And After . . .
There isn't much information available at this point on the whereas' and whereabouts of the band members but we'll relate here what is known.
Booger Burns went on to perfect his soon to be regionally cherished Biggie Burger Burns and moved way up north to the Taylor Rapids area in Washington Township, Nemaha County, KS. He never really got over his break with friendship with Flitz, but he and Mable Floyd, now Burns, settled in to family life, raising 3 beautiful children, daughter Sugar, and boys Rug and Side. None of the three had a musical lick in their bodies, but Booger and Mable found they had quite a local following as a mandolin and bull fiddle duo, providing music and buns for area weddings, funerals, anniversaries, bizarres and other assorted occasions. Their specialty was folk music from the old country, and they knew the music from central kansas better than most.
Shallot Leeks returned to his
Milborne Flay hit the road immediately after the dance was over, and it's not known whether he was on his way to something, or fleeing from something, perhaps still. The life of a former Wyoming xxxx isn't something most want to know any part of. It was rumored he caught a coach headed East and took his fiddle with him, and Shallot's rosin too. There's a pile of fiddle contests back East and Shallot thinks Milborne had a brother out there named Butternut who built rockin' chairs and such out of cottonwood, imported from back around Vermillion, KS, harvested somewhere close to where the Black Vermillion and Big Blue Rivers meet out South of Blue Rapids, and milled in Vliets, KS at the old Sap Family Sawmill.
Newt Rattlebum
Greaser Ham Bone
Flitz Pickleroy still lives in the minds of the hopeful, providing the reward dreaming should to all who allow themselves. The foothills outside Yaggy sing like Meadowlarks after a spring shower in the evening, and most believe that's Flitz enjoying an impromptu visit with the Ruffians, working on new tunes for the next time out, keeping the music alive. He's seen in town once in awhile coming in for some pork salt, grits a cold Old Speckled Hen. Nobody did it like Flitz, and likely nobody ever will. Martin D-18 in hand, a voice like no other.
