Saturday, July 13, 2013

Stage Banter : Jim "Dandy" Mangrum




Awwwwwright we gonna do one more tune right heah!
        We gonna wind it so far up it's gonna take us all sun up to unwiiiind
                                                         -Jim "Dandy" Mangrum,
                                                             Black Oak Arkansas


In May of 1973 there were two million reasons why Atco Records thought radio stations should play the new Black Oak Arkansas single "Hot And Nasty" b/w "Hot Rod". That's how many people the hillbilly-embracing Southern Rock band attracted to more than 125 concerts they'd played since the previous May. The new singles came off of their Gold album Raunch 'N'Roll Live, recorded at the Paramount Theater in Seattle.

Gawd, it's laughably awful now but back then front man Jim "Dandy" Mangrum was a sex symbol. Fans loved the long-haired, shirtless carnival barker who made hilarious little speeches between lewd songs overflowing with sexual innuendo.

Well, he wasn't really a carnival barker . But you can be sure every carnival barker since 1973 has imitated Mangrum's growling stage banter. Hell, half the people you hear holding a live mic at any event in the rural South sound like Mangrum .



The Black Oak Arkansas run ended in 1977. The following year another front man with long flowing blond hair, sideburns, spangles and an aversion to shirts growled into the microphone in front of stadiums full of fans.

His name was David Lee Roth.

As a bonus:
Mangrum shows off his tour bus "Cli-Ty" which , when the AC isn't running, can sometimes get a little warm. Mangrum points out "When we had that thang painted black, it was hotter than a woman's you-know-what."

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