Deep Purple is playing, makes me think back to Billy Ward and his Dominos. It was one of their Hit songs, they played it every set, along with Sixty Minute Man.
I got to know him when he was playing the Golden Hotel in Reno. Had seen the group a number of times, even had my entrance to the room acknowledge with a "Hi Joe" from the stage. I forget how it happened, but we became friends in a way. In those days he was not allowed in the "room" after his show. They had rooms in the hotel, which was rare in those days, so I don't remember how we got together. I guess I invited them out to the apartment for dinner, I did that a lot in those days. Not in a "racist" way, I mentioned that I did a great fried chicken, they acknowledged their fondness for it also, .... "Hey, come out to the house for dinner," they agreed, and that was how it happened.
In those days there were few to none, places we could eat together The New China Club was about it then. Anyway, they came out for dinner, and after that we got together a few times. It was a great ego builder to walk in to their room while they were playing, and they would all stop playing and singing and give me a "Hi Joe." .... great for the ego.
"Sixty Minute Man" was one of their hits, with Bill Brown on the lead. I got to know him rather well, we hit if off. We even corresponded a few times after I left Nevada.
I had a friend, who had a friend. That friend saw Billy's photograph in an entertainment section and she wanted to meat him. He was very good looking. We had to be very careful, I "snuck" them up into the Golden Hotel to his room, they met, and I think, later married. She was white and he was black, and in those days that was a "no no." Jeanette was her name, she had a daughter from a previous marriage, and we talked much about that being a problem for the daughter. Race was a big issue in those days. I heard that they did, in fact, get married, and Jeanette moved to California. She had been a dealer at Harolds Club. Not positive, but that is what I had heard.
The Golden had a "Slot Bar." Slot machines at each stool, under the bar, I forget where the "handle" actually was, perhaps in the front, not sure. It was a great "local" bar, many locals, dealers and entertainers met there. It was not uncommon to be sitting next to a "star" or a celebrity of some kind. The Golden had their own "Chorus line" of young ladies who appeared in their stage show. They headed to the slot bar after changing, that brought in a big crowd. I went in one evening sat down, ordered, and when I glanced to see who I was sitting next to, realized it was John Derek, we chatted for quite a while. He seemed more interested in my being a dealer than I was at his being a movie star, at that time, he mentioned, he was married to Ursula Andress. He later married Bo Derek.
Reno was like that in those days.
