The Steel Guitar Forum

NOT me... I can barely say what I want out of my own mouth....

I just let my guitar do the talking...

When I was a kid before TV, the preeminant vent of the day,Edgar Bergan and his dummy Charlie McCarthy had a ventriloquist show on the radio! Even as a kid I got the irony of that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnBgqCAZWaY

Dang, I hadn't looked here in a while, turns out there were a lot of responses, and even a picture of my dobro dummy...

Since I posted this, I had my "ventriloquial debut" at a local comedy night here on the rock...I did ok-made them laugh anyway-fortunately I was on last so everyone had had a few by then. Got some good feedback from a few people who gave some good pointers on technique and delivery.

Now then, speaking of my good buddy Ron Spears-HE is a fabulous vent! I was lucky engouh to have him give me a lesson about 10 years ago. My favorite Ron Spears dummy is a parrot that he puts on his left hand while he plays the fiddle. The effect of the talking parrot perched on the neck of the fiddle singing and talking and whatnot is quite striking!

Here's a little known fact...Ron is also a Duncan YOYO world champion. I swear it's true...I was in a motel in Idaho years ago watching cable TV about 3 o'clock in the morning, and on comes this show about the Duncan YOYO championships, and there was Ron Spears tearing it up on the YOYO. I saw him at a festival soon after that and asked him about it and he promptly produced two YOYO's and did his routine. Very cool...

He's played for some really big names in BG music, like Rhonda Vincent and Doyle Lawson, too. I've never heard him play the steel, but I bet he's a monster...

Thanks for responding to the topic, everybody.
Tab

I was carving along on this fellow and realized what was coming out was a comic book version of myself. My kids said "Dad that is sooooo creepy"...Whaddya think Larry?

This one will have moving eyes, ears, mouth, and either eyebrows or tongue...

Tab

Keep up the good work, I will be in the front row at your first Portland show. Then a west coast tour, oh oh a world tour, will it never end.

Larry Behm

While growing up in Beverly Hills I knew Edgar Bergen's son and I personally met Charlie and Mortimer! I never met Candace though...

Many years now to the present date (not with Candace) I have a Mullen that will arrive soon and unlike Pete Drake's guitar the Mullen will not talk.