SACKBUT: I got kind of frustrated with that
fucking Ira. I never seriously expected the
Captain Sackbut Show to come off, but we
took some wonderful pictures and that fucker
never even developed them. Incredible pic-
tures, with Buzz standing there holding a musi-
cal note, made of cardboard, coming out of
my mouth, and me holding a record player,
with the plug coming out of the hole in my
knee, and me holding my finger on the rec-
ord, like it was the needle.

BUMPPO: Now, that’s the kind of shit we
need to illustrate this book.

SACKBUT: Well, that’s why I got so angry
at Ira. I could have cared less whether there
was ever a Captain Sackbut Show, but I
really wanted to make those pilot tapes. It
would be a wonderful thing to have, to look at,
10 years from today, 20 years from today. . . .

Did the Cretin tell you how we figured out

It was in Omaha, Nebraska, and I was with
Russ Carlisle; we played at Peony Park. And
the Cretin was with a fucking circus band.
And there were midgets and all that.

And Harry Pendleton, who was that crazy
drummer with Russ Carlisle; that mother-fuck-
er had long hair way before any of the hippies.
That day we were in Omaha, our entertain-
ment for the afternoon was to first go to a
hardware store, where Harry walked in there
and said he wanted to buy a hammer. And

And the counter had just brown paper on
it. And Harry pulled a pencil out of his pocket
and drew a little circle on the counter. And he
reached in the bin and took the hammers, one
by one, to take a whack at the little circle.
And if he hit the circle, he’d say, “That’s a
good one,” and toss it in one pile; and if he
missed the circle, he’d say, “That’s no good,”
and toss it in the other pile.

In the meantime the clerk stood there look-

And Harry finally got down to where he
finally decided one hammer was the best one
of all, and he bought the hammer! And walk-
ed out of the store.

ESME: How big was the circle?

SACKBUT: We spent a half-hour in that
store.

The next thing we did was to go into a gro-
cery store, and Harry bought a package of
those plastic baggies – fairly large ones – and

She said, “Well, I don t remember your
asking for it to go, sir,” and he said, “Well,
I did!”

Then he said, “Well, look; I’ll tell you what
I’m going to do. I’ll just drink some of it here,
and I’ll take the rest of it with me anyway.”

She said, “OK, I’ll get you a paper cup.”
He said, “Hell, I don’t need a paper cup,”

ELLA: Did he stick the straw in his pocket?

SACKBUT: Well, one of the things we did
was to go into a fucking department store –
this was around Easter – and we bought a
dozen baby chickens, dyed different colors,
and we went into the hotel. And there was a
circus checked into the hotel at the same time
we were, OK?

So we took the baby chicks and left a
couple of them off on each floor. And then
we sat down in the lobby, and, sure enough,

So I told this story to the Cretin one time,
and the Cretin said, “Jesus Christ, I think I
was there!”

It was the Rome Hotel – the Rome Hotel in
Omaha, Nebraska. The Cretin said, “I think I
was in that hotel then, because I was playing
with a fucking circus there then!”

ELLA: The Peabody Hotel, in Memphis, had
some ducks, or swans, swimming in the foun-
tain.

ELLA: No, he didn’t piss in the fountain. It
was some kind of a plant pot.

BUMPPO: At the Peabody.

ELLA: At the Peabody, at about 6 or 7 in
the morning, just about the time the musicians
were getting ready to get on the buses. . . .