The original Western Union
line-up featured Sue-On (drums) and myself
(guitar), along with Barry Forman (bass
and fiddle) and Jake Kroeger (rhythm
guitar). This line-up played a zillion one
nighters and TV shows. It was with this
band that Sue-On and I played the Brandon
pub circuit from 1967-71. Some of these
years coincided with our university stint
... we would play the bars from 9-1 -- an
added duty was to provide background music
for regular intermission appearances of
exotic dancers / strippers who were quite
popular at the time. Then it was home to
prepare for each morning's 8:30 am classes
at the university. A bit of a tough grind
but it was all part of "workin' our way
through college."
Our final year under the Western Union
name, 1974, took us on a tour of
Grandstand shows, performing at State and
County fairs across the US Northwest. We
were hired by Bardine Productions as
Sue-On and the Western Union. Barry
Forman, Sue-On and I worked as a trio and
often hired a local drummer so that Sue-On
could spend part of the show up front to
work the crowd.
