This year’s Highland Park High School Golden Caber Awards will be held at the Texas Theater in Oak Cliff this Saturday from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. These awards, under the direction of Kelly Snowden, recognize the best of the school’s video production classes. It is their version of the Oscars.

   This year’s ceremony will also celebrate the 25th anniversary of the school’s Yearbook Video. All former “YBV” students and other television students from the past 25 years are invited to attend and see what the current students are creating and how impressively the TV program has grown. These alums will be honored at the awards program. The faculty creator of the YBV, Steve Wilkes, who was involved with the first 15 years of production from 1987 to 2002, will host a reception for the alums in the theater’s lounge area after the Caber Awards.

   One example of this student/alumni synergy is the location of the awards. A former HPHS television student who studied under Wilkes is Eric Steele, a partner in Aviation Cinemas, Inc., the holding company for the historic Texas Theater. Three weeks ago Steele was profiled in The Dallas Morning News as a Renaissance man who is an actor, writer, director, producer, entrepreneur and businessman who devises social media strategies for clients. He and his partners now have the Texas Theater active seven days a weeks and making a profit.  

   The television production classes at Highland Park, under Mrs. Snowden’s direction, include Audio and Video Production for first-year students and Advanced Broadcast Journalism for advanced students, who produce the yearbook video, a DVD of school events which is a supplement to the traditional yearbook. This collaboration, initiated several years ago by then-advisor Barry Preston, puts the YBV in most students' hands.

    “During the Caber Awards, students will be recognized for their productions, and in an Oscar-style presentation, a winner in each category will be announced, and the winning entry will be featured on the big screen,” said Mrs. Snowden. “This year we will recognize alumni both for their work on the yearbook video and for laying the foundation for HPHS’s successful video program. As the video program expands to cover more school events – this year students are producing live web broadcasts of all HP baseball games – our goal is to encourage increased alumni involvement.”

   Wilkes recalls the original days of producing the YBV in 1987, when a dozen students shot video of the entire school year and edited it down to a 60-minute video. The original promotional poster featured student actor Richard Means, who was recruited from Linda Raya’s theater class.

   “The first nine years we produced the YBV the students did it out of love and received no school credit,” recalled Wilkes. “They donated many after-school hours to work on it. Not just hours or days, they put in WEEKS of intense work for the sake of the video.”

   I hope a lot of HPHS video production class alums will make it to the Cabers on Saturday. They probably still view themselves as cutting edge, but they will be honored as pioneers. I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces when they see what high school kids are capable of producing these days. 

   That’ll make a good video.

                    

   Kirk Dooley is a University Park writer. He can be reached at kirk@texmexbook.com. 

   Is there anything better than winning a state championship?   

   Yes. Winning two.

   The Highland Park lacrosse program came away with two state titles this weekend in Georgetown. The Division I team beat St. Mark’s 5-4 to win it’s sixth state championship in the past nine years while the Division II team won its state title beating Klein, 8-7.

   The DI Scots did it the hard way. After 12 games they were 7-5 and controlled their own destiny for a playoff spot but lost their final two regular season games, finishing 7-7. Coppell had to beat Southlake Carroll for the Scots to land the sixth (and final) playoff spot and that happened.

   “Before our first playoff game against ESD, I told our players that they weren’t going to get many second chances in life, but they had one that day,” said Highland Park coach Derek Thomson, who has coached at HP since 1993. The Scots, who had lost five regular season games by one goal each, battled through the playoffs winning four games by one goal each. Every team they played was ranked ahead of them and/or had defeated them during the season. After ESD fell, The Woodlands, Austin High and Jesuit went down, each game a nail-biter. Jesuit was ranked number one in the state and had defeated the Scots 16-7 earlier but the Scots got revenge with a 5-4 win over the Rangers in the semifinals.

   That set up the state title game against St. Mark’s. Three of the last four state championships have been between these two.

   “There is quite a bit of mutual respect between these two programs,” said Thomson. “We know each other well and there are no surprises when we play. It’s all about execution.” Thomson, who has been at Highland Park for nine years, coached at St. Mark’s the previous eight.

   The Scots scored twice in the first minute and a half, and held a 3-2 lead at halftime. St. Mark’s peppered the goal with 17 shots in the final quarter, scoring on two of them, but the Scots held on to win, 5-4.

   “Nobody gave these guys a chance,” said Thomson. “They did it the hard way, beating the top four teams in Texas in the playoffs to win it all. I think they learned a life lesson about perseverance that will stay with them throughout their lives.”

   Thomson is a financial advisor for Evos Financial when he’s not coaching lacrosse. He and his wife, Leah, have two children (Connor, two and a half, and Megan, seven months) who rarely see their dad during lacrosse season when he works 90-hour weeks between both jobs. But Thomson held his son Connor in the post-game celebration photos and it was hard to tell which one was more proud.

   And also keeping it in the family, Thomson’s brother, Ross, is the Scots’ Division II head coach. 

   There are now more than 500 HP kids playing lacrosse on first through eighth grade teams, with more than 50 coaches helping them develop. This year the top 7/8 team made it to the state finals and the top 5/6 team won state. And Thomson thinks the current Highland Park freshman class could prove to be the best class ever.

   As they say, tradition never graduates. And as the Scots lacrosse teams proved in Georgetown, neither does perseverance.               

                      

   Kirk Dooley is a University Park writer. He can be reached at kirk@texmexbook.com. 

   I felt like I had a little Bob Time on Sunday.

   Bob Time? It’s an affectionate term created by Bob Shaw’s sons as quality time spent with their dad and it was picked up by a few hundred of Bob’s closest friends.

   I enjoyed some great Bob Time as I represented the youth ministry of my church, Christ the King, as we developed plans for building a new parish community center. Bob was the architect who walked us through the process. It was enjoyable working with a friend, and impressive watching how good he was at his profession.

   As president of F&S Partners, Bob had overseen many major projects involving churches, libraries and recreation centers. He was a delight to work with, as the folks at University Park Methodist, Highland Park Presbyterian, Preston Road Church of Christ, Northway Christian and Park Cities Presbyterian will attest.

   In June of 2009, F&S merged with SmithGroup, the oldest architectural and engineering firm in the U.S. and Bob became the local office director and member of the SmithGroup board.

   Bob enjoyed speaking at career days and at science fairs when asked by local school officials and he had a great rapport with students. A year and a half ago I had the opportunity to introduce Bob as a featured speaker at the Highland Park High School Science Fair. I knew he was sick but the students never suspected. He came across as a popular college professor, full of spirit and humor. He had the gift of connecting with kids.

   Six weeks later, on Dec. 2, Bob died of pancreatic cancer. 

   Bob Time came to an end for his wife Ann and sons Bobby, John, Will and Peter, as well as Bob’s friends in the Salesmanship Club, his KA fraternity brothers from the University of Texas, his neighborhood pals from University Park Elementary, his four brothers (Steve, David, Allan and Bill) and so many other friends and family members.

   His memorial service at Highland Park Presbyterian Church was attended by more people than any service in the history of the church, which for several years was the largest Presbyterian church in the world.

   “Bob was good at being kind to everyone,” said Ann, a vice president at Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty, “and he touched people in a real way. He loved what he did for a living and his heart was in every project. I know he enjoyed working with Monsignor Zimmerman at Christ the King and they developed a good friendship.”

   And so on Sunday there was Msgr. Zimmerman at the dedication of the impressive new 38,5000 square-foot community center, standing proudly on the stage with Bishop Kevin Farrell, who blessed the building. Hundreds of parishioners gathered for the grand opening, including Tom Merkel, the chairman of the board of the Catholic Foundation. He got on the microphone and asked everyone to give Msgr. Zimmerman a round of applause for his leadership. It was a long, emotional standing ovation. I stood on the second-floor jogging track overlooking the crowd and applauded proudly. I was also clapping for my buddy Bob Shaw, the architect of the stunning Romanesque building. I wish Bob could have been there to enjoy the fruits of his labor, but he wasn’t.

   However, I could feel his presence so I enjoyed some spiritual Bob Time.           

                      

   Kirk Dooley is a University Park writer. He can be reached at kirk@texmexbook.com. 

   Two former Navy Seals, Clint Bruce and Stephen Holley, are setting out to bring America together to recapture the true meaning of Memorial Day. They have each lost friends in combat and they are passionate about keeping their friends' memories alive, and even more passionate about having us contemplate why they died.

   They made the ultimate sacrifice for us. For our freedom. For what America stands for.

   With a small army of key volunteers (led by Jim Archer, Reena Morris, Scott Rohrman and event planner Rebecca Harsila) and local sponsors, Carry the Load will begin on Sunday, May 27 at 3:30 p.m. at Reverchon Park and end on Memorial Day 20 hours and 12 minutes later. Participants will walk the Katie Trail for the entire 20 hours individually or as part of a relay team ... or for any shorter distance.

   Last year was the event’s first and 400 people participated. This year at least 2,000 are anticipated. 

   “We’re giving people the opportunity to push themselves further than they thought they could,” said Bruce, president of Trident Response Group, a crisis prevention security firm. “We have to exceed ourselves. Carrying the load can mean strapping on a backpack or holding a picture of someone you have loved or just carrying a memory in your mind. Most of us are carrying the load to honor and thank members of our military, law enforcement, firefighters and their families for the sacrifices they’ve made for us.”

   Walkers can walk or run as long or as little as they choose. Pushing themselves like the service members they honor, participants will be blessed to carry more than they have to for longer than they think they can. There is no fee but participants are encouraged to make a donation to help the wounded and the families of the fallen. Donations of $100 or more will earn an event T-shirt, race bib, complimentary meals and VIP parking. For registration and sponsorship information, go to www.carrytheload.org/dallas.

   Funds raised will directly benefit four local foundation partners – Tip of the Spear, Heroes on the Water, Assist the Officer Foundation of the Dallas Police Dept. and Friends of Dallas Fire-Rescue.

   You almost have to be a Navy Seal or other military veteran to understand the concept of walking up to 20 hours to carry the memory of lost comrades, but this event has the potential to be a major national initiative that touches the pulse of the American people and brings back the true meaning of Memorial Day. With shorter goals (one, five or 10 miles?) – and with groups of Dallasites forming relay teams to walk the entire 20 hours – Carry the Load should attract a large, passionate crowd.

   A national Carry the Load relay will start at West Point, New York on May 1 for a 1,700-mile trek (broken up into 350 five-mile segments) which will finish in Dallas as the local event begins.

   Bruce wants people to think about two questions. “Who carried you this far?” and “Who are you carrying?”

   Holley, who is with the Dallas real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle, wants people on Memorial Day to take 20 seconds or 20 minutes or even 20 hours to acknowledge the people who paid the ultimate sacrifice for them. “There are rows and rows of people in cemeteries who thought this country is worth dying for,” said Holley.

   “Let’s prove it.”        

                      

   Kirk Dooley is a University Park writer. He can be reached at kirk@texmexbook.com. 

   Anybody have eight decades worth of birthday candles to spare? 

   The Catholic Campus Ministry at Southern Methodist University could use them for its 80th anniversary celebration next Friday, April 27. The group will gather at the Umphrey Lee Center on campus for a dinner and program, featuring keynote speaker Bishop Michael Duca of the Diocese of Shreveport.

   Bishop Duca was a popular Dallas priest before his move to Louisiana, and he still has many friends and followers on this side of the Sabine. For ticket information on the CCM event, contact Carmen Glenn at 214-987-0044 or cglenn@smu.edu. Proceeds from the event will help fund future programs such as retreats, social justice, Sunday suppers, speakers, tutoring and soccer clinics for low-income Dallas students, liturgical and music ministry and more. 

   Back in the early days of SMU all students were required to attend compulsory chapel services and complete a bible course, regardless of their denomination. (The university had been founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church South, a rather confusing name which was better known as the Southern Methodist Church. The northern and southern branches were reunited in 1939.) In1932 a group of 40 SMU students who were Catholic formed a group called the Newman Club, named for Cardinal Newman and dedicated to the principles he taught and practiced. They attended mass at Holy Trinity Catholic Church and met in people’s homes for fellowship and social activities.

   After World War II the Newman Club became known as St. Mary’s Club, and under the leadership of Father Joseph Riley it grew to over 100 members. In 1954 it was reinstated as the Newman Club and it continued to grow, with financial support from two nearby churches, Holy Trinity and Christ the King. In 1985 a young Father Michael Duca was appointed part-time chaplain. A small bungalow at the corner of University and Airline was leased for him and that became the group’s meeting place. He envisioned a permanent home for the Catholic Campus Ministry, with a chapel for the Holy Eucharist. An initiative called “Now Is The Time” took 18 months to raise the funds to build the Neuhoff Catholic Center, which was dedicated in 1996.

   Deacon Bronson Havard was chaplain from 2002 until he retired in 2008, and that’s when Father Tony Lackland (a 1993 graduate of SMU) took over as chaplain of the ministry.

   Today, with a pastoral staff of half a dozen and 23 members of the board of trustees, SMU’s Catholic Campus Ministry serves the largest religious denomination on campus, with Catholics making up more tan 25 percent of the SMU student body.

   “This is an important ministry,” said Fr. Lackland. “For 80 years it has been where faith and reason have come together in an academic setting. This month we celebrate our past as we look to the future. Monies raised at our celebration will help insure that our programs will continue to flourish as we move forward.”

   Final question to ponder: How many altar servers will it take to light 80 candles?       

                      

   Kirk Dooley is a University Park writer. He can be reached at kirk@texmexbook.com. 

   Last Thursday was a beautiful day and there was no school so I took four guys from my church youth group to lunch at the Katy Trail Ice House. We sat outside and enjoyed our burgers under the shade trees.

   But things kept falling out of the trees and hitting me on the head. Then one landed on the table and it was not an acorn but a piece of ice. There was ice falling from the trees!

   I looked around and saw a guy sitting a few tables away ready to launch another round of ice at me. I would have felt more comfortable had I recognized the guy. He was bald with gray hair on the sides, a gray goatee and round tortoise shell glasses. He looked like a cross between Dan Plumlee and John Crow Miller, which in itself is a scary thought.

   The guy smiled and came my way. I met him and his buddy halfway. “Kirk, you probably don’t recognize me,” he said. “It’s Philip Chalk.”  

    Once I visualized him with dark hair and a clean-shaven face, I quickly recognized him. His mischievous eyes hadn’t changed since he moved to Washington, D.C. about 15 years ago.

   Philip introduced me to his pal, Houston Holmes. I introduced them to my guys. Houston told me that he read my column and that he had just downloaded Lawrence Puckett’s music. I said, “That’s pretty quick considering my column on him comes out tomorrow.”

   My blog was already getting zapped throughout the United States by HP classmates who had an affinity for Puckett, the popular former chemistry teacher who was recently diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis. 

   I first met Philip Chalk when he was in high school and I was just out of college. He was one of the most creative guys I had ever met, and now some 30 years later I still feel the same way. I pulled him in to help with the launching of “Park Cities People” in September of 1981. On the front page of the premiere issue, he was included in the original staff photo, wrote a story about the Highland Park School District being named one of the nation’s Top 10 by “Money” magazine and had a drawing of football coach Frank Bevers that to me remains one of the best illustrations I’ve ever seen in the publication.

   He was then off to Stanford where he graduated, quickly followed by Master’s degrees from the University of Chicago and Oxford University. Today he is in Washington, D.C. with his wife and three kids. He is the design director for “The Weekly Standard”, a neoconservative opinion magazine founded by William Kristol and Fred Barnes.       

   Philip was in town to see his parents and to catch a couple of Texas Rangers games. We met for breakfast Easter morning at Bubba’s in Snider Plaza and sat there for three hours catching up on the last decade. When was the last time I had a three-hour breakfast?

   As I  drove away I felt great about catching up with my old friend. But I lamented the fact that I probably wouldn't see him again for another decade or so. 

   Unless, of course, I get hit by another piece of ice before then.

                      

   Kirk Dooley is a University Park writer. He can be reached at kirk@texmexbook.com. 

   A large group of Highland Park High School alums are lighting up phone lines, accessing the postal service and rolling through cyberspace to help their beloved former teacher, Lawrence Puckett.

   All they are asking of their classmates, friends, family and fellow Dallasites is to buy some of Puckett’s original music. He’s got 13 songs available in a downloadable album called “Evolution Blues” which is available for $9.99 through CDBaby.com.

   Puckett, who goes by Larry, taught Chemistry at Highland Park for 30 years, from 1975 through 2004. He also coached HP’s state champion UIL science team and was the sponsor of the guitar club. After retiring, he taught part time at Brookhaven College. But he had to give up that gig when he was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis, an autoimmune neuromuscular disease.

   “It has been a little crazy,” he admitted. “It has been a little tough.”

    Back in the ‘60s Puckett was a published BMI music writer who wrote several popular songs including “You Ain’t Tuff” (co-written with Knox Henderson). Recorded by Puckett at the legendary Robin Hood Studio in Tyler, Texas and then covered by Joe Stampley and the Uniques, it was one of the earliest songs of the punk rock genre. It sold more than a quarter million 45s and was a number one song on the KLIF Top Ten. “You Ain’t Tuff” came out in 1965 when Puckett was teaching biology at Marshall High School, where he was (and still is) treated like a rock star. 

   While teaching at Highland Park, Puckett was a part of a musical trio that included Jerry Smith and Steve Wilkes. The Highland Trio was a popular group that performed at HP football banquets for more than 20 years. Puckett is now compiling a collection of the HP football songs they sang over the years. He hopes to have it ready later this year. It will include a new song he wrote about Matthew Stafford and Bobby Layne.

   Puckett and his wife, Myra, live in a townhouse just north of the Park Cities, but may move to Tyler to work at the recording studio again and keep writing music with Robin Hood Brians.

   One of the largest supporters of Myasthenia Gravis research is the Muscular Dystrophy Association, so Puckett will give a percentage of his CDBaby.com music sales to MDA. 

   His original music is really quite good. He calls it “a hybrid style of flamenco, blues, country and rock with a political and sometimes scientific twist, as the title song ‘Evolution Blues’ implies.” The music reflects Puckett’s songwriting from 1965 through 2010. 

   He was loved by thousands of students during his three decades at Highland Park and now he could use a hand. Go online and buy his music. I think it'll be the best $10 investment you'll ever make.   

                     

   Kirk Dooley is a University Park writer. He can be reached at kirk@texmexbook.com. 

   Michael Rejebian, a 1977 graduate of Highland Park High School, earned a journalism degree from the University of Mississippi and has worked as a journalist in Texas and in Mississippi ever since. Over the past 18 years he has seen, smelled, researched and written about the underbelly of politics in America. Today he is political insider, marketing his knowledge and experience. He is currently the director communications and political advisor for the mayor of Jackson as well as a political advisor for the attorney general of Mississippi.

   Rejebian is a partner in the political research firm of Huffman and Rejebian. He and his partner, Alan Huffman, have just written a book called “We’re With Nobody”, published by HarperCollins. and it is getting great reviews across the nation.

   For almost two decades, Rejebian and Huffman have been researching candidates and uncovering their buried truths. In politics, finding dirt on your opponent is a multimillion-dollar business called opposition  research – “oppo” to political insiders – and “We’re With Nobody” offers full disclosure of this process.

   Sebastian Junger, who wrote “The Perfect Storm”, said that after reading “We’re With Nobody” politics will never be the same for him. “It is phenomenal,” said Junger. “The book floored me. I could not stop reading about the strange, dark world that helps determine who we elect and who sinks back into the muck.”

   Uncovering truths is what Rejebian and Huffman do. Whether you are a presidential appointee or a local school board hopeful, if oppos are hired to look into your past, they will uncover the buried truths that you’d prefer to remain quiet. 

   Just ask John Edwards.

   “Our job requires us to be objective, regardless of who we are researching,” said Rejebian. “We typically research both our candidate and the opponent with equal fervor, so we end up seeing everybody naked, for better or for worse. In bringing the opposition research process to light, we hope our book will encourage voters to consider the source of their information they will use to choose who will lead them.”

   “Businessweek”  recently reviewed the book and said “...a clean memoir of a filthy business is a welcome perspective shift: It illuminates without slaking our blood thirst. The authors contribute something more valuable by exposing the mechanics behind their profession. Voters who read this compelling book may be less likely to vote under the influence of the kind of dirt Huffman and Rejebian spent their entire careers digging up.”

   While Rejebian is on the other side of the Big River digging up dirt on candidates, his brother David is back home carrying on the family business with Rejebian and Son Oriental Rugs in Snider Plaza. Their grandfather, V.Y. Rejebian, opened the business in May of 1934 in the downtown Titche’s store and his son, Myron, continued the family legacy.

   Michael was never interested in the family business because searching for political dirt has always been his passion and everyone in Dallas knows that there is no dirt in Rejebian rugs.

                     

   Kirk Dooley is a University Park writer. He can be reached at kirk@texmexbook.com. 

   This year they’ll get it.

   The chairs of this year’s auction – Blanca Applewhite, Randi Eiland, Jackie Tilden and Tracy Wallingford – have asked “Mr. Jimmy” to come back and sing at this year’s auction, “Jazz Fest 2012”, which will be held at the new Dallas Country Club on Saturday, March 31. Thompson will sing four songs with the featured jazz band, the Marc Toussaint Combo.

   Thompson has been a powerful gospel singer for decades, fronting a spiritual 12-person band of family members called – appropriately enough – Thompson United Gospel Singers. He is one of 10 siblings so there’s plenty of talented brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews to form a solid band.

   Applewhite asked Thompson if he would go hear Toussaint’s band and meet him so they could work out Thompson’s four songs. On Thursday, Feb. 16, Thompson and his wife, Velma, went to hear the band, which was playing at the Mansion on Turtle Creek.

   “We pulled up in my little green Toyota Tercel, looking for a place to park,” Thompson recalled, “and a man came up to my door and said, ‘Welcome to the Mansion, Mr. Thompson.’ How did that guy know my name? He said I didn’t need to park my car; he’d park it for me. That man was so nice! He even opened the door for me and another man opened the door for Velma.

   “We went in and they welcomed us by name and seated us. My wife looked at the menu and whispered that we can’t afford this place. Then a man came up and said, ‘Enjoy your evening, Mr. and Mrs. Thompson. It has been taken care of. And no need to leave a tip. It has been taken care of also.’" 

   The evening was compliments of their friends from the Bradfield PTA. The chef came out with desserts and introduced himself. During a break Thompson met Toussaint and his band members. They had just done a Sam Cooke song called “Change Is Gonna Come” and Thompson said that’s the song he wanted to open with on March 31. The band leader said that he’s sure Thompson could sing it better and the crossing guard replied, “Well, we both know that neither one of us is Sam Cooke.”

   At the Bradfield auction Thompson will sing another Sam Cooke song, “Bring It On Home to Me”, followed by “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “When the Saints Go Marching In.” Those attending the event should prepare to fasten your seat belts.

   Then on Tuesday, April 24, after the kids are safely crossed and in school, a group of Bradfield parents and daily walkers will gather at Mr. Jimmy’s corner at Mockingbird Lane and Douglas Avenue to help him celebrate his 70th birthday. On that morning at that corner you’ll see a lot of love for a special guy.        

                    

   Kirk Dooley is a University Park writer. He can be reached at kirk@texmexbook.com. 

   Beloved Texas singer/songwriter Willis Alan Ramsey blows into town from Colorado Friday night, March 23, to help celebrate the 35th anniversary of Poor David’s Pub. The night will be a reflective homecoming for Ramsey himself. His special guests on stage that night will be his original Highland Park High School singing partner, Brice Beaird, along with Jerry Jackson of Bee’s Knees fame and Ramsey’s wife, Alison Rogers.

   “One of the greatest things about being a musician all these years is the relationships you make within the musical community,” said Ramsey, whose popular 1972 album, "Willis Alan Ramsey", put him on the map and continues to enjoy a large national following. “I have been continually inspired for many years by my peers and their art. And though everyone travels their own separate, unique paths, it is remarkable how these intertwine. So we are all connected and to some extent and gain strength from each other over time.”

   Ramsey met Beaird through the Church of Incarnation youth group 45 years ago. Along with Charlotte Davis, they formed a type of Peter, Paul and Mary folk group. Then Ramsey and Beaird formed a duo that lasted throughout high school. “Brice had started writing music almost as soon as he began playing guitar and was the singular influence in inspiring me to compose my own material,” he recalled.

   Ramsey’s songwriting from his only album has become legendary in music circles. Songs from that album 40 years ago have been recorded by Jimmy Buffett, America, Waylon Jennings, Jerry Jeff Walker, Shawn Colvin, Jimmie Dean Gilmore, Captain & Tennille and others. One song, “Muskrat Love” (written as “Muskrat Candlelight”) was a hit twice in the 1970s, first by America, then by Captain & Tennille.

   In 1991 Ramsey married fellow singer-songwriter Alison Rogers and they now live in Colorado. In 1996 they co-wrote Lyle Lovett’s hit, “That’s Right, You’re Not From Texas.”

   Ramsey fondly recalled his days in HPHS’s Lads and Lassies choir, where he, Beaird and Tom Prejean sang together and performed in the school’s musicals. Prejean began working at KERA and met Jackson, one of the founders of Bee’s Knees which ironically became one of the most popular bands at David Card’s first club, Bo’s Place on Oak Lawn. Jackson ultimately moved to New York City, where became a partner in the Cottonwood Club, a West Village mecca for up-and-coming actors, musicians, etc.

   Ramsey recalled the first time he had ever played music in front of people, back in the mid-’60s. He was in eighth grade and played in a band called the Impalas, along with my brother, Craig Dooley, Stuart King, Preston Wallace and George West. My other brother, Pat, had a well-known high school band, the Twilights, and they were playing at a Highland Park Hi-Lites dance. When they took a break, they let the Impalas play.           

   That was 47 years ago. Next Friday at Poor David’s, Ramsey needs to ask for a show of hands of who was at that Hi-Lites dance from the 1964-’65 school year. I’m willing to bet that there will be a few northeast Texas women in the audience who will remember that night. Ramsey followers are lifers, and they continue to pray that his second album will be coming out soon.

                  

   Kirk Dooley is a University Park writer. He can be reached at kirk@texmexbook.com.