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Date Posted: 07:15:15 02/05/09 Thu
Author: Jackson Hart (Ol' Rocker)
Author Host/IP: 202.78.103.82
Subject: Meeting Stan Lark

I'm a singer/guitarist/bassist myself, and I worked in San Francisco's Beau Brummels ("Laugh Laugh", "Just A Little") spanning 17 years, beginning 31 years ago.

In the early '90s I had a bar gig in Reno, Nevada, at a joint called the "R Bar" (this band included 2 other members who also played extensively in The Brummels).

This tall, lanky, dark-haired fellow wandered in the door, watched us for awhile, and then approached us on our break.

He told us he was a bass player and enjoyed our music. It seems he was in Nevada to pursue some kind of job in the oil business East of Reno somewhere (my memory is cloudy about the nature of the job he spoke of).

He introduced himself as Stan, and also told us some fellow who ran those "Superstar Tribute" mimic shows was speaking lightly to him about appearing as Johnny Cash! He looked enough like him to appear as Johnny, that much was certain. Somehow our musical histories came up in the conversation, and we found out we had the pleasure of being in the presence of Stan Lark, the original bassist for The Fireballs! I was thrilled beyond words, and asked him a million questions about their history, and he answered everything graciously.

I remember asking, in particular, why "Sugar Shack" came out as "Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs", while "Bottle Of Wine" was simply "The Fireballs", when it was clear that Jimmy Gilmer's voice was on the record (of course, their first chart successes came before Gilmer joined the band). He said it was something that Norman Petty liked to do - he would like to release things as "Buddy Holly", "Buddy Holly & The Crickets", and simply "The Crickets", for example.

He was retired from "The Fireballs", and said being on the road was hard work - he was a bit weary of it. He also said the band was going to be touring in Asia, but he didn't want to do it very much, at that time.

Stan got up on stage and played-&-sang with us for a set, one of the biggest thrills of my musical lifetime. I'll always remember what a soft-spoken, nice guy he was that night.

I'd always wondered what happened to him. Thanks to the advent of the internet, I found that he did, indeed, return to his rightful spot in The Fireballs some time after I met him.

I see that there is a benefit, featuring The Fireballs, scheduled in February 2009, and the venue listed is Lark's Lube, etc...

Of course, I'm wondering if that is Stan's place, and if he's still active in the band.

If you see him, tell him Jackson says "Hi", and "Keep Rockin", from The Philippines (where I've been living for the last 12 years). It was an honor to meet, and play some music, with Mr. Stan Lark!...............Jackson Hart

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