It Could Only Happen To A Musician- The Legend of DC

man scratching head with question clipart

man scratching head with question clipart

DC (name omitted for obvious reasons) was a real person and I will not divulge his real name. Any musician from the early days (1960’s to the present) performing in Dallas will know who I am describing and it is with great respect to him that I share these stories. Some I have heard and some I had experienced. I hope you find these life experiences as entertaining as we in the area found them.

DC- is the only person in history to be held up over the phone.

This story was told to me by a great trumpet player (GG- name omitted for obvious reasons, again) at the time, playing in Dallas, Texas and I have no reason to question his truthfulness concerning this story. Mr. DC ran a music store in the Dallas area and one day GG decided to play a joke on him. GG entered a phone booth across the street from DC’s music store and was positioned so that he could see him at the counter. GG called the store and when DC answered the phone, GG very loudly shouted into his receiver, “THIS IS A STICK UP, PUT UP YOUR HANDS”!  DC put down the phone and shot both hands to the ceiling.

DC was given a ticket while towing a truck.

DC received a call from his son who reported that the company truck had just broken down and asked if he would come out and help tow it to a service station. DC got into his car and drove to where his son had left it on the shoulder of the road. When DC got there, his son was not in site so he got out, tied the tow rope to the back of his car and the other end to the front bumper of the truck, then he took off to find a service station. Back and forth the truck weaved down the road with no one in the front seat of the truck. Eventually the two vehicles came to a hill with a stop sign at the bottom. As DC eased to a stop at the sign, the truck crashed into the rear of his car. When the patrolman wrote out a ticket for the accident, DC argued, “Why am I getting the ticket, the truck ran into me”.

DC arrived at the job in time to play the last fifteen minutes.

I am telling this story first hand for I w there. Some of the players from Dallas were asked to play a one night stand with the Billy Williams Band in Little Rock Arkansas. DC was to join us at the gig but when the band began to play, he was not in sight. The second hour rolled around and still no DC. Suddenly the door flew open to the back of the stage and in walked DC. He sat down and began to tell us that he had been stuck in a ditch on 12th St. in town and had just been pulled out. After playing the last fifteen minutes of the job, he turned to me and said, “Boy I’m sure glad I sold my property on 12th St. in Dallas last year”, and we all shook our heads.

DC read about himself one day.

A musician with the initials MH was collecting these stories and one night while on the road with DC, the notebook which contained all of these stories was sitting on the night stand in their room. DC saw the collection and began reading them, chuckling to himself. MH saw him reading the stories and didn’t know what to do. Eventually DC laid the collection back down on the night stand and said “Boy, is that guy stupid or what”?

I have searched the internet to see if the DC stories have ever been published but have not been successful in locating them. If anyone has more information on this collection, please let me know. It might have the title of D’isims.

Bruce was a member of the faculty at the University of Northern Iowa, School of Music in Cedar Falls from 1969 until his retirement in 1999. He has performed with many well-known entertainers such as Bob Hope, Jim Nabors, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Anita Bryant, Carman Cavalara, Victor Borgie, the Four Freshman, Blackstone the Magician, Bobby Vinton and John Davidson.