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Faded Scenes and M-14's
Mike Bradbury
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The Other Side………Part II

Posted Wednesday, January 4, 2012, at 8:05 AM

 

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Home from Italy in the summer of '76, I hooked up at Mountain Home with my old buddy Don Dixon, now stationed here too.....who I used to pick with, when we were at McChord AFB, Washington in the early 70's.  By THIS time, Jim "Scrubby" Birchfield had built his restaurant just outside the main gate, and we'd go out there and help "torture the customers", as he liked to say.

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We formed an instrumental duet, called ourselves the "Prairie Dogs" and played out there on many a Saturday night.

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My folks lived in Oregon, and whenever I'd get a chance to get out of here for a few days, Dad & I would always get together and "jam" a bit.  He had this old fiddle that I never DID learn to play! (I'd "dabbled" with the banjo too (see early "Scrubby" picture above), but eventually just stuck to the guitar.

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Shortly after I got back from Lakenheath England in '82, I played a few gigs (as off-time allowed), with Charlie Cablin, Nancy Stelting, Don Wood and Duane Cantey.

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I'd get up to Boise occasionally and pick a little with my old friend Frank Morrison............, and after I got back from Korea and retired in '88, I did most of my pickin' out at Scrubbys, doing the "dinner shows" on Saturday nights.

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My good friend "Uncle Irv" Levine (retired Air Force pilot and now retired veterinarian) has always been one of my favorite people to play music with, he sings and yodels, and ALSO joined us for those "dinner shows" out there!

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We did an interesting show in August of '86 (a couple of years before I retired from active duty).  Butch Otter was running for Lt. Governor and had come to Mountain Home to campaign a bit, but found time to come out to Scrubby's to play & sing in one of our dinner shows.

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Butch is surprisingly GOOD.  Plays pretty well and has a great voice.  Phil Batt (who would eventually be our governor) was there too with his clarinet, and HE was good as well.  Yeah, this wasn't our "normal" dinner show, but it WAS fun & entertaining!

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Yeah.....when you walked into Scrubby's, the only thing you knew for SURE, was that the food would be great........but ya' never knew what was coming otherwise!

After Jim Birchfield's passing in 1992, things were never the same out there and the restaurant eventually closed.  It's been a "ghost town" out there ever since, but of all the clubs and dance halls I've ever played in, those Saturday nights out there will always be special to me.

(Part III to come)

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  • This is even better

    -- Posted by KH Gal on Wed, Jan 4, 2012, at 10:14 AM

  • That was the place to go :) His son was a friend of one of my boys and my friend Nellie worked out there for years.

    -- Posted by MsMarylin on Wed, Jan 4, 2012, at 10:55 AM

  • Steve

    -- Posted by MsMarylin on Wed, Jan 4, 2012, at 2:14 PM

  • Oh yeah, Don,Scrubby, Irv, Duane, what a crew! Hard to remember when Scrubby had so few patches on the wall. He had one of the best collections of patches and pictures I know of. Wonder what ever happened to all that stuff? Nobody could match scrubbies after his passing. Wonder how the new Spankys will be? Happy new year to you!!!

    -- Posted by goatbeard on Thu, Jan 5, 2012, at 7:17 AM

  • Nancy is my sister-in-law and she still can knock out a tune!!

    -- Posted by Brenda Fincher Publisher MHNews on Thu, Jan 5, 2012, at 9:03 AM
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    Again, Loved this!

    Those were fun times, I remember my folks taking me out there.... and being all amazed

    -- Posted by jessiemiller on Mon, Jan 9, 2012, at 8:54 AM
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