Rick Lamb
Rick Lamb
Bass Guitar, Trombone, Vocals
Ok, let's get this out of the way.
On the left is me as I looked in Legion. I don't know who that is on the right.
I remember with great fondness the Legion years, 1972-75.
I still think of Bryan, Steve, Chris, Thane and Pat as brothers.
Bryan and I met in 7th grade at John Marshall Junior High. The year was 1963. A couple years later Bryan was in my first band, a Tijuana Brass/Dixieland combo called The Dimensions.
Bryan played drums and I played trombone. We wore powder blue dinner jackets on our first (only?) gig. It was at an American Legion hall.
We were about 14 when Steve and I met in Boy Scouts. Steve invited me over to his house to see his band's equipment. We jammed a bit with me on drums and Steve said I was better than his drummer, Jim. Poor Jim. He must have been awful. I remember being impressed with Steve's playing and with his Gretsch Country Gentleman electric guitar. Ooooh!
Chris and I met when he, Steve House and I took a music theory class from our local jazz guru, Bob Austin. I was 15, Chris was 14. I liked Chris right away. He always made us laugh. Chris, Steve (on sax) and I were a tight horn section in several bands.
I think I met Thane in band class at North High about that same time. Even then, Wild Thane had a quiet sense of humor that could just lay you out.
I didn't meet Pat until he joined Legion in 1974, but he's the kind of guy you feel like you've known forever.
This is me in my earlier cowboy period, not to be confused with my current cowboy period.
After The Dimensions, I played bass guitar and sang in The Fables with Jim Hill, Steve House, Brad Barrett and Ronnie Lawrence. Jim could drive, so we all rode in his '55 Buick. We did some silly things. We're lucky we didn't get hurt...or arrested. That was 1966-67
The Bishops
Our music and wardrobe changed a considerably in 1968 with The Bishops. Snazzy, eh?
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The small print on our tricked-out 48-passenger bus boldly proclaimed
"Wichita's Finest Show Band."
Next for me came The Family Circle with Steve, Chris, Thane, Steve House, Terry Hacker and Dick Parsley. Good band and one very cool photo which you can see elsewhere on this site. We lasted about four months. I was attending Wichita State.
Then Chris and I got the call to join Bryan and Doug Terbush in Mini-Max at the Camelot Club. Doug and Bryan were a superb duo and they challenged Chris and me to go to the next level...and to stay awake in class the next day!
The Board of Regents at The Stage Door Inn in early 1972.
L-R: Bryan Hill, Greg Tripple, Richard Lamb, Chris Church, Brad Barrett, Ron Hamilton and Gary Hamlin. Steve House often sat in on sax and flute. Steve Downey took over on guitar near the end when Gary decided to devote all his energy to running the club.
The Stage Door was one of the hottest college bars in town when we played there.
Legion and the Casino were the best of all, though. Our last set usually rocked loud and hard. Bryan played bass on some of those tunes, so I'd take his spot at the Hammond B3. I still get excited when I see a B3. How weird is that?
In case you're wondering, the outfit came from Beutell's on 21st Street.
Slipping and sliding through a solo in 1973
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I can't believe I was ever this thin!
Legion at the Casino Club in 1974, before the stage was remodeled.
Could be an ad for Peavey amps!
Legion had the extreme good fortune to have free use of a 16-track recording studio, Biondi Sound. Thanks, Dave!
I spent a lot of time there and got hooked on the whole production process.
I moved to Phoenix in 1975 and started my own place, Lambchops Studios, in 1977. We bought a building in 1992 and that's when this photo was taken. Even then, we weren't using the reel to reel machines you see. Everything was done on the computer.
Beth Zehr, Steve holding Rick's 1st born son, Todd, and Thane
Below left is me with my lovely wife, Diana. Other shots are me with Leslie Nielsen, Hugh Downs and Tanya Tucker. It doesn't happen every day, but we do occasionally work with stars. Lambchops does primarily voice-over recording.
:-( Oops... missing pictures :-(
I played in a couple duos after I moved to Phoenix, then took 19 years off from playing live. In 2002, I started up again with Jay Casmirri.
We were The Blenderz.
I mentioned my current cowboy period. I've always loved horses, but it wasn't until middle age that I actually did anything about it. In 1997, we started The Horse Show with Rick Lamb, and in 1999, The Horse Show Minute. These are nationally syndicated radio shows. We've won five awards and are on about 100 stations now. Each year, I appear at quite a few horse events around the country, sometimes emceeing and sometimes doing my show. My first book, "The Revolution in Horsemanship," published in 2004. Diana and I have three horses of our own now on our "ranchito" in Phoenix.