From “The Human Condition: A User’s Manual,” by Arnold Kunst
27 August
Back in the 60’s I was in a Kingston-Trio type folk trio –
we called ourselves “The Troubadors,” and we competed for Sonoma State University’s
“Campus Talent ’65.” I played my guitar like a wooden Indian but had a pleasant
tenor voice and did killer arrangements; the other guy had a croaky bass voice
and couldn’t arrange himself out of a paper bag but whaled on a twelve-string;
the girl couldn't hardly play her guitar and had a watery, nothing voice but
was drop-dead gorgeous. In other words, we were nicely balanced. In addition we
were color-coordinated: the other guy and I wore black shoes and socks, black
slacks and matching two-tone green pin-striped shirts, and the girl wore black
tights and shoes and a similar two-tone pin-striped dress – we LOOKED like The
Real Thing which, I suppose, helped us come across like The Real Thing.
Finally,
as it happened we actually got a paid gig [our one and only]
for the night just before the competition - provide 30 minutes’ entertainment
on a Friday night for a Church Altar Society at a nearby motel for which we
received the princely sum of $5.00 each plus a free dinner. We figured that
worked out to about $.06 per hour. In other words we were right at the boil for
the competition the very next night. Hey, would you believe, we won first
place!!
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