Inside this issue: - Kansas City Blues Society

Famous Local Musician
by Ron “Turkey-Bone” Brown
K C B l u e s N e w s
In our search for musicians who have
played with famous people, we found a
local talent with whom you may not be
familiar, drummer, Bill Organ or "Billie
O". Billie said when he was about 5 yrs.
old, he taught himself to play drums by
beating on cardboard boxes. At age 19,
he traded his 1937 Coupe for his first
real set of drums. His first gig paid him
$60 a week and all the beer he could
drink. He began playing with a group
called the "By-Gones" of which Larry
Emmet had joined , a band started by
the bassist from "Larry Emmett & the
Sliders". They were later called the
"Roulettes", then named "Mac Truque"
and later re-named "Atlantic Express".
Bill said they were an Omaha,
Nebraska-based group and they would
commute back and forth between
Omaha and Kansas City. When in
Omaha, a young kid would always show
up where they
were playing
and that kid
was none other
than the late
B u d d y
Miles. Billie O
said, "Buddy
was like one of
my kids. He
was kind of a
roadie for our
band whenever
we played
Billy at Showcase
in Omaha". He told a story of how
Buddy Miles, at age 15, saved his money
and bought a bass drum pedal. He
asked Billie to show him how to play the
drums and invited him and the band to
his house. Buddy asked his parents if he
could have some friends over for a party
and the parents agreed, thinking he'd
have his schoolmates over. To their
surprise, a group of musicians showed
up on their door-steps. The band expected
a large spread of food and libations,
instead, Buddy had made fingersandwiches
and Kool-aid. Billie still
chuckles as he remembers the looks on
the parents' faces. Then in 1964, Billie
O moved to Oakland, where he played
Billy with Bob Carter Trio
weekly in a place called the Showcase
Lounge. There he played with Lou
Rawls, Esther Phillips, Johnny 'Guitar'
Watson and even the Coasters and Ike
and Tina Turner. Billie then joined up
with a group in the late 60’s called "The
Stragglers". They played on the same
stage at the well-known Monterey Jazz
Festival, with the likes of Janis Joplin
and Jimi Hendrix. During this period,
music was in a time of transition,
leaning towards Jazz, music that appealed
to both White and Black audiences.
In the 1970's, Billie decided to
join a band called "American Sound"
who played show-band type music. He
stayed with them for a few years. Then
in 1986, David VanFleet and Bill formed
an 18 piece Blues Band called Full-
Blast. Billie O returned to Kansas City
and got back in touch with his Omaha
friends and Buddy Miles. He was attempting
to start a group to be called
the "K C/Omaha Connection", a group
that would go back and forth between
Kansas City and Omaha and play alternating
week-ends. However, before the
group could get off the ground, Buddy
Miles died and that was to be his last
project. Since then, Billie Organ has
gone out of town to play with other famous
musicians and returned back
home to perform with local artists here
in Kansas City. He can be seen around
town sitting-in at the BB's Lawnside and
even the Phoenix at the historic 18th &
Vine area. As you can tell by his
achievements, Billie O has paid his dues
to play the blues. He attributes Buddy
Miles for straightening out his son from
drugs and alcohol!
New Release: Show of
Strength by Judy Abraham
This afternoon as I was picking up the
mail, this envelope was there which
means one thing, a CD new release. I
was excited as it is always fun to listen
to the new releases but when I opened
this one up and realized it was the last
release from Alligator
Records for Michael “Iron Man” Burkes a
wave of emotions that I wasn’t expecting
rushed over me and it took me several
minutes to be able to move forward.
Michael’s final album “Show of
Strength” (on which he wrote or cowrote
five of the album’s 12 tracks) is a
very special CD indeed. I can tell you
that you will want to add this CD to your
collection of music because it is so
“Michael” and it is very special. Michael
felt very strongly about “Feel Like Going
Home”, Charlie Rich’s moving song
about the end of life, which is even
more significant now with the sudden
passing of Michael.
I am so glad that Bruce Iglauer made
the decision to leave this album as it
was intended, "a living, breathing statement,
sent straight from Michael’s heart
and soul”. Although Michael is not here,
the music he recorded is indeed his
show of his immense strength and spirit.
It will live on, confirming forever his
status as one of the greatest bluesmen
of his generation.”Thank you Michael,
what a wonderful gift to give us at this
time as we continue to miss you dearly.
You were indeed a wonderful giant of
a man. Release date is August 21.
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