I’m Dave Keltner, 58 yrs old, married to my high school sweetheart for 35 years, 3 boys, all adults now. Grew up in the Dallas area, currently live in Rowlett, Texas. Got my first guitar for Christmas when I was 12 (still have it), been playing ever since. Got my first real guitar when I was 15, a shiny new cherry sunburst ’76 Gibson Les Paul (just like Jimmy Page), Dad got me a loan from his credit union, which I paid off with my paper route at $50 a month.
I marched into that mecca of Dallas area music stores, Arnold and Morgan Music Co in Garland and plopped down $799 for that LP, Dad was beside himself, he couldn’t believe a guitar could cost that much. Seems like a killer bargain nowadays.
Dallas, then was a happening music scene, every club/bar had a live band and these were all good bands, some very good. We saw Lynx, Lightning, Maple, Blackhorse, and a ton more I can’t remember. It was great , clubs like Bijou, (later Cardi’s), the Agora, Gerties, Mother Blues, Sneaky Petes. I had a lot of fun and made a bunch of friends.
I formed, joined, played in, quit, got kicked out of a bunch of bands, music ranging from Rock to Metal, to Country, it was all great fun. I taught guitar lessons for several years, this was a great study in people and personalities. You would get the 7 year old who doesn’t know which end is which on a guitar to the wanna be metal-god, who has never played before, but wants you to teach him Van Halen first. I sincerely hope that some of those folks are still playing.
For a time there between 1976 and 1981 , I think we saw nearly every concert that came thru Dallas / Fort Worth. It’s easier sometimes to say who I haven’t seen that who I have, from AC/DC , Black Oak Arkansas to ELO, Triumph and Yes and all points in between. I kept almost all my ticket stubs, the prices are amazing to look back on. For instance, Bachman Turner Overdrive opened for Foghat for $6.50, Texxas Jam was $13.75. $7.50 for Thin Lizzy and Kansas.
I was lucky enough to see Gregg Allman and Stevie Ray Vaughn before they left us. Gregg was at The Agora Ballroom with his band, (not the brothers) which included Dangerous Dan Toler, my god what tone that man had.
Stevie was at the dump, well actually the Fire Park Band-shell. I think it cost $10 a ticket, this was right after Texas Flood came out. SRV was needless to say, mind blowing.
I ended up playing and leading our church’s praise / worship band for almost 15 years. Now I am semi-retired after almost 30 years of data processing, my straight gig now is working in the hunting/fishing dept at Academy, stress-free and fun. I play a lot of guitar now, more so than I did in the past. Large amounts of blues floating round the ole Keltner household these days.
If it’s a good note, play it loud! If it’s a bad note, play it louder! But most of all, Make a Joyful NOISE!
dave
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