TRANSCRIPT

JL - 'Big' John 'T-Bone' Little, interviewee / LR - Lyn Royce, interviewer

LR: You said, they said, 'None other than "T Bone".'

JL: Oh that, that...

LR: How did you wind up with that name?

JL: [Laughs] This is crazy. Well, see when I was growing up, between working at the Niagara Dry Beverages, then we, uh... There was this guy up the road from us, Johnny Richard... he had a, had a, he was peddling ice? So, I was work, still goin' to public school and so he said 'Look,' he says, 'I'll give you a job.' It was only what, made about what, 50 cents an hour, something like that, I was glad to get it, 'cause 50 cents an hour, wow! You know, after a day, it was pretty good, you know? So we'd maybe make $5 for the day but, hey, was nice something, you know if you had spending money, that kind of stuff. But back in those days you could go to a show for 10 cents, and, you know; 25 cents for a pop and a popcorn, it was really great. But today, whoa! Its $20 dollars and you ain't, you ain't got nothing! So, anyways, so, so this 1 day... every dinner hour... we used to go down and, uh... there's a place on, uh, what was it... not Ferry Street, but just past, Senator Street? Centre Street? you know? And there's a place, a restaurant, and they had... advertising t-bone steaks, $1.50. So we was, 'Holy smoke, this is something, so let's try it!' So we had like, was a t-bone steak, you know, t-bone? And, it was a thin one, but it was nice. For $1.50. And so I always... every dinner I'd go and have a t-bone steak and, and for dessert I'd have 2 jelly donuts we'd buy, [indecipherable] you know. So I did this every day. So one day, Clarence Arstone [sp?], my next door neighbour, him and I were loading the truck with ice, and, uh, I don't know what happened, but he, he hollered out 'T-bone!' like that and I looked around, you know, see what... you know, like this, lookin' around, see if somebody was...I was lookin for a sign t-bone and 3 little kids went by and they 'Look, look!' and they start laughing. And I said 'Where? Where's T-bone?' And these kids... Clarence says 'I was just thinking about that name - T-bone, T-bone - you know, thinking about them steaks.' And these 3 little kids had it. So the next day I go to school. And I go to school and I walked in and the kid says 'What's your name?' I says, 'John Little.' 'Oh no; no. Your name is T-bone.' And it stuck; it went through the fool school like wildflower [sic]... you know. So I... and then, I hooked up, so I got nicknamed, so well hey, I might as well see if I can use it. So I used for my synonym [sic] for singing. So when I was singing, all those big [indecipherable - dates?] in town used to say here comes T-Bone. I formed a band at that time called T-Bone and the Texans, 'cause we were all over 6 feet. We had those big, black, high hats; it was a novelty, eh? And we dressed the part back in those days. That was before Charlie Pride was ever heard about [laughter]. And so I went, we went and did shows all over, Willoughby, Welland, St Kitts [St Catharines, Ontario], uh, oh, Niagara-on-the-Lake, everywhere, we would play just everywhere. We got a pretty good reputation - we were making no money, but we... sometimes we'd work a night, if we made $12 each; that was big money back in those days, you know. But it was good, it was fun. And then I remember, I remember the last time I was workin' in the, at the Willoughby Dance Hall, in, in just above Chippewa, and, uh, Elvis Presley come on the scene, he was start doin' rock and roll then. But the other, the guys I had with me didn't want, they said, 'Ah, that's not goin' to last,' you know, I says, 'Wait a minute, guys...' So I took the bass player aside and the drummer aside and I said, another, another guitar player, so I said 'We better learn this stuff,' I said, 'because I think it's gonna stick.' And the other guys, 'Naw, we're not goin't'...' So I said, 'Okay.' So fine, they, they went and formed another group. I said, 'Okay, fine.' So we, the four of us stuck together. And we started playin' rock and roll along with the country, you know.

LR: Yes

JL: And, uh, that was before country swing came along, all that kind of stuff, 'cause it had that beat, so we start doin' it and the kids start comin' to dances. They'd be saying, 'Oh yeah, this group is playin' all the stuff you guys like,' you know. 'N they said, 'Well, Mom, next time you go, we're gonna go to your dance.' 'Naw, you wouldn't like it.' 'Oh yeah Mom, we're gonna go.' So they'd come and we did the older stuff and then the kids wanted to dance, so we started playin' the rock and roll. And we started packin... we were drawin them all over for the crowd... we were gettin' all kinds of work and the other guys weren't getting work because they wouldn't play that stuff. And to this day, you know, you gotta keep up with the times, if you don't, well, you just fall by the wayside.