Wild Thane
aka TR, aka Wild Thane
Received honors for number of "hours" from North High orchestra director, Bob Hollowell
Played drums with Legion up till February, 1974.
Still happily married to Debbie.
Later joined the Witness Protection Plan and now reportedly goes by the name of Tarbaby73! (It's a long story!)
After 37 years of service, retires from the
Wichita Parks Department
on March 5, 2010!
"Wild Thane..
You make my grass green...
You make everything BLOOMY...
Wild Thane."
Music is in my blood.This is my mom on bass with her brothers on trumpet & trombone. She majored in music and taught music in Bluff City High School. When I was in 5th grade, she insisted I take up an instrument. Next thing I know mom brings home an accordian. I made a quick decision to become a drummer!
I was in school bands, orchestras, marching bands,
& pep band through high school, as were Chris and Rick.
My first rock band was Purple Frail, in the late psychedelic '60's.
Featuring:
Otis Carr as lead singer,
Bill Simon on guitar,
Frank Heagler on bass,
Mike Clark on keyboards, and
Thane Rogers on drums.
What a winning combination. We played a lot of Catholic school dances & did pretty well in all the local "battle of the bands" contests.
I went on to play with some of the best & some of the, well, strangest musicians Wichita had to offer. Family Circle included Steve, Rick, & Chris. Other bands in the early 70's: Rubber Duck, Greg Dunn, Chocolate Snow (guess who was the 'snow'), and Camarada. I played in 2 incarnations of 'Axis'. One was a trio with Steve Downey and Terry Hacker, the other was a 6 or 7 piece horn band. I also played with Steve in two versions of 'Partners in Crime'.
My two brushes with fame were:
1.Family Circle was playing a prom in Syracuse, Kansas. In the middle of nowhere along the Colorado border. While at the dance we got a call from our "agent", who said if we wanted the job, we would be backing Little Eva of 'Locomotion' fame, the next day. We were so excited, we drove all night back to Wichita and without sleep, went over a few songs with Little Eva at Chris's house. Wow Chris, she was actually in your house!! I think some of us did get a short nap in the afternoon before we set up the equipment and played that night. Boy, was that neat!!
2. While with 'Chocolate Snow', I turned down an offer to join the 'Stylistics', an R&B group hitting the charts at the time. They had performed in town that night and then came out to where we were playing. $500 a week and all expenses paid was a darn good offer in 1972. But, what's a guy to do, I was about to finish college and was madly in love with my wife to be - Debbie. I needed stability in my life. Never regreted my choice.
The best memories of all were with Legion. A fantastic group of guys.
It was playing for the pure enjoyment of playing. What fun! What stories!
Close friendships were developed that are still strong today.
AH...THE MEMORIES.....
Bats in the fireplace chimney that flew around inside the club a few times when we were practicing.
Ned the bouncer who was a Golden Gloves boxer. Stopped fights before they started. One punch and they were out cold.
The night when the club was closing and some guy robbed the front bar, ducked out the side door across a highway and railroad tracks. The entire club staff was chasing after him. He wasn't hard to find - all they had to do was follow his tracks in the new snow.
The crazy radio deejay contests while we were on break. Raw egg eating contests, beer drinking contests, live goldfish eating contests - where once we had more contestants than fish ( the fish bowl had been sitting on the B-3 organ for a couple of hours before the contest). Each contestant swallowed his fish, but the last guy had no fish to swallow so he drank all the UGH!! water in the bowl. Without a doubt, he was the winner!
Having to park across the street cause the club was so packed!
'Crazy Bill' who had the band wives & girlfriends hang on to his comb and bottle of Brute cologne while he attacked girls on the dance floor.
The guy who came around making bar bets on eating glass. He could eat light bulbs & amazingly could eat an entire beer glass except for the half inch thick bottom. Wonder if he's still alive.
The Casino Club capacity was between 600 to 700, but on good nights we had over 1,000. Had to duck the fire marshals. There were several rooms, one with a fireplace, two bars, & a pool room. Even a dressing room/lounge for the band connecting to the stage (boy that was nice - complete with normal gross club smell!).
Many times the power went out and suddenly I was the only one playing.
Chris, Steve, Richard, Debbie, Bryan, and Thane at Thane & Debbie's wedding
ANYWAY, FELLOW LEGIONAIRS, FRIENDS & PATRONS, WE HAD A BALL. I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF THE MADNESS.
And I still get asked once and a while, "Hey, weren't you the drummer for Legion?"