Pork and his son Harley
I met Pork sometime in the early ‘70’s. Whenever I wasn’t gigging, I’d go where Pork and his band was working to hear ‘em play. Around the summer of 1982, Pork asked me to join the band. The band consisted of Rick Wass (aka Ricky Rocket and his ratchet socket) on Bass Guitar, Steve (skidmark) Kelton on Drums and Vocals, Chuck (Chucky Babe) Dragoo on Keyboards and me (Tim Wallis better known at that time as Dumptruck Wallis) on guitar, fiddle and vocals. Roy Patrick was our first keyboard player, but left after a few months. Pork had a nickname for everyone. Pork’s real name was Jerry Armstrong. Up to the time he died, I never once called him Jerry. Pork wasn’t the easiest guy to work for, but I always respected him for his talents. I have hundreds of crazy, but yet true, stories I could tell about working with Pork and the rest of the band and I’m sure they could too. In my opinion, there has never been and probably never be a better bar band entertainer. For those of us that knew and worked with him knows that he was a real pro.
We used to play every Sunday and Monday nights at a club called the Library Lounge in Decatur, IL. The Library was always packed on those nights and was always a good time. We prided ourselves on being the hardest drinking band in the Midwest. So, you never knew what Pork or the rest of the band was going to say or do. We were working 6 nights a week in those days playing the toughest knife and gun clubs we could book in. Pork’s on stage performance fit well in those type of places.
Around the spring of 1986, Rick Wass, Steve Kelton and I left Pork and went off on our own as Thin Ice. There were no hard feelings with Pork when we left. Like most bands, there comes a time you just want to try something different. In fact, it was Pork that help produce our “Thin Ice breaking through” tape. Throughout the years and up until his death, I worked with Pork many times. We’d get together at a jam session, benefit or when he needed a guitar player for a night or two.
Pork and I even teamed up in 1993 to start a Guitar slash Airbrush store in Clinton, Il. We had the store for a year and a half before we closed up shop. Neither one of us was cut out for retail. When I started WKRP.FM Internet Radio, Pork had his own show on the Station. He was always quick witted, funny and very entertaining.
The week he passed away, Pork was scheduled to be a guest on my TV show (Pickin’ on the Prairie). I tried calling him that Saturday morning to schedule a time to be at the studio, but instead found out he had just passed away. I’ll always regret that we didn’t have him on sooner. We had scheduled a time a couple of months before that, but had to reschedule. Without a doubt, he would have been great.
Recently, a guy approached me at a gig and told me that he hadn’t heard or seen me play guitar since December 16 of 1985. He then handed me a cassette tape and said he had recorded the last night he seen us. Us being Pork and the Havana Ducks. When I got home I listened to the tape. It brought back a lot of good memories. The quality of the recording is what you’d expect from a recorder sat on a table in the crowd and in front of the stage, so you won’t hear a studio quality sound, Some of the songs on the tape, for whatever reason, have tape warble, stop before the end of the song, hissy or sound out of phase. But, it sure sounds good to hear Pork and my former band mates play together.
Songs are in MP3 format. Right click and save to play.
RECORDED December 16, 1985
1. Operator (always the 1st song of the night)
2. Horses Ass (tender love ballad)
3. Good Hearted Woman (another tender love ballad)
4. The Drummer calls her darling (We all did at the time)
5. 6 Days on the road (DWI I’m sure)
6. Bring your sweet lovin’ (White guys singin’ the blues?)
7. Honky Tonk Blues (Reality song)
8. Rock me to Reality (Flower of the hour and you’ve got the power)
9. Sing me back home (Merle would have shot us)
10. Tennessee Whiskey (True Story)
11. Whiskey River (Another true story)
12. Ride the train (Fiddle is WAY out of tune!)
13. Happy Birthday (why? It was on the tape that’s why)
14. Ragged but Right (Tim singing)
15. Always on my mind (Tim singing)
16. Rollin in my sweet baby’s arms (Tim singing)
17. Dreams of a Dreamer (Tim singing)