Carl's Scrapbook: My 80s Bands: Southern Honey #4 (1982)

Southern Honey version 3

Probably the most stable of the Southern Honey incarnations was version #4, that existed from late May until the first of November 1982. When Duke Burr left to play for Reba McIntire, Joe Spann took over the job of lead guitar, even though he had never played electric lead guitar before. But, as is the case with most good banjo players who have converted to lead guitar, Joe turned out to be a natural, having the finger dexterity to do complex picking techniques.

Joe's first job (ever) playing lead guitar was on May 29th, 1982 at the Zellwood Sweet Corn Festival in Zellwood, Florida. It was a memorable job on several levels. Other than it being Joe's debut on lead, it was extremely hot - even for Central Florida. Joni was a small woman and expended a huge amount of energy playing the drums. She collapsed from the heat after the first set and we had to rub down her arms with ice to bring her back around. The PA system amplifiers had to also be packed with bagged ice in order to keep them operating. Mel Chambers (my cousin) was our sound man at that time and how he managed to keep the water out of those amps is still a mystery. But the crowd was big and friendly and we managed to get through the day. There exists photos, audio and video of that days performances, some of which is included here (see below).

Another thing about Joe, is the ledger he kept for income tax purposes. Much better records than we ever kept. This makes it possible to list just about every job we ever played.

 SOUTHERN HONEY #4 DATE BOOK - 1982

 

• May 29 - Zellwood Sweet Corn Festival

Click Here for a RealVideo excerpt from the Zellwood show. The audio is fairly good but the video is terrible. It's still worth a look. (Broadband recommended)

• Jun 5-11 - Last gig at the Hartridge. Venue closed - end of an era.
• Jun 25 - Lions Club - Lake Alfred
• Jun 28 - Taped "Sunshine Music Hall" at Channel 24 WMFE-TV Orlando
Len Walls and Mel Chambers were driving the equipment truck and got hung up at a toll booth in Orlando when they did'nt have a quarter between them for the toll - the toll people really wanted that quarter....Bad!!

• Jul 2-3 - Lake Placid (Florida) Holiday Inn (One of the better lounge venues - they really liked us in Lake Placid and we always drew a good crowd)
• Jul 4  - Company party at Mulberry
• Jul 10 - "The Saloon" at River Ranch Resort
• Jul 12 - "The Longhorn", Ramada Inn, Orange Blossom Trail, Orlando
• Jul 13 - Business trip to Nashville (returned on 16th)
• Jul 16 - "The Saloon" at River Ranch - Nancy actually falls asleep (twice) on stage from exhaustion, while playing the bass.
• Jul 23 - Lake Placid Holiday Inn
• July 26-31 - "The Longhorn", Ramada Inn (Orlando)(see ad at left) (audio)

• Aug 7 - "The Saloon" at River Ranch
• Aug 8 - "The Longhorn", Ramada Inn (Orlando)
• Aug 9 - "Images", State Road 50, Orlando
• Aug 20 - Lake Placid Holiday Inn
• Aug 21 - "The Saloon" at River Ranch
• Aug 22 - "The Longhorn", Ramada Inn (Orlando)
• Aug 23 - "Images", State Road 50, Orlando

• Sep 3-4 - Lake Placid Holiday Inn
• Sept 11 - "The Saloon" at River Ranch
Carl's Gibson J-50 destroyed on trip home in the equipment truck when an amp head falls on it and smashes the top.
• Sept 19 -Auburndale Speedway Show - Probably Carl's first gig with his new Takamine acoustic.
• Sep 23-26 - Kennilworth Hotel, Sebring - a really old but cool "Hotel California" lookin' place - We played in the ballroom - the manager and entire staff were gay and lesbian.
• Sep 30-Oct 2 - Kennilworth Hotel, Sebring - Rained real hard at load out.

• Oct 23 - Lake Placid Holiday Inn
Oct 28 - Ledger article [click here]
• Oct 29 - Walesfest - Lake Wales
• Oct 30 - "Close Enough To Perfect" goes #1 on Billboard
Terri Gibbs and Southern Honey• Oct 31 - Auburndale Speedway Show w/ Terri Gibbs who had recently had a #1 hit with "Somebody's Knockin'".(See photo right) Cindy Cromeans last job with Southern Honey. Terri was impressed that we had a female rhythm section and asked the girls to come on her bus so she could talk to them. Unfortunately Cindy had already left the venue.

Nov 11 - Auburndale Star newspaper interview [click here]