Yes, we are finally bringing this to a close. The pressure you people put on me. Geez...
Shortly after starting my career with Incredible Universe (and actually getting paid to DJ, as well as learning my karaoke hosting skills), I found out that my mom was taking a job in Dallas. After doing a bunch of math, I realized that I could not sustain life on my own in South Florida, so I decided to move to Dallas myself. I finished out the lease on the apartment that we were living in (moving on New Year's Eve sucks, by the way), spent a month living with the family of one of my church kids (shout out to the Parades, whom I believe are in Tennessee now), and then drove from Fort Lauderdale to Dallas with my buddy Jim Wolter (anybody know what's up with THIS guy?). We took about three days, with stops in Fort Meyers (visited the South Florida United Methodist Church camp), Tampa (to see my grandparents), and Louisiana (coudn't drive any further), arriving in Dallas four days after the Super Bowl.
Incredible Universe was gracious enough to transfer me, so I started work within a few days. I was also fortunate enough to meet the GREAT Buck Cueni-Smith, who let me work with him with the Walnut Hill United Methodist Church youth program, and also helped me out by lending me sound equipment to get my mobile DJ service up and running. During my time with Incredible Universe, I met the Futrell family, whom would play a HUGE role in my life, and continues to be very close to my heart to this day. Rick & his wife, Trinity, were even gracious enough to let me live with them for about six months before I could get my own place after my mom bought a house and wanted me out on my own.
I was able to get out on my own, after leaving Incredible Universe in the spring of 1996, but still kept on doing DJ work under Bamm-Bamm Productions (so the name remained). The work was there, but not steady, so I got a day job working for PageMart, where I would make a lot more friends whom I still have today (and Rick worked there, too). I ended up working at their corporate office, which was great, but the money wasn't exactly what I needed, as I had to buy a new car.
So, I picked up a second job at a local Blockbuster Video store, and wound up being a part-time manager there, which paid my car payments. There, I met Adam Kennedy, another friend to this day. While there, I got a call one day from Rick's sister, Lisa, telling me about a place they go to on Tuesday nights to do karaoke, which is something I had not been involved with on a regular basis in about 2 years.
This place was called... Sports City Cafe.
So, one night I went there, and the atmosphere was electric. I wound up being a regular fairly quickly and having a blast. One night, I was actually running a bit late working at the video store, and Lisa said she would just sign me up for a song, so I could have my place in line. Up to this point, I had just put "Rob E." on the slips.
That night, she actually put, "Bamm-Bamm".
And the name returns again. Greg, the host, would only refer to me that way from that point on.
A few weeks later, I asked a PageMart friend of mine, John "Doc" Howser, to meet me at Sports City Cafe. Doc and I had lunch just about every day (along with our friend - AND NEWLYWED - Jeff Smith), and he asked me who did the show. I told him, and his reaction was, "NO WAY! He's the lead singer in my band!" Aaaaaand... Kevin Bacon.
Doc met me there that night, and when Greg saw him, his eyes bugged out of his head. Once that connection was established, it was just a couple of months later when Greg asked me if I wanted to do the show there. Shortly after, I quit the video store and started doing two nights a week for Bravo Productions as "Bamm-Bamm" at Sports City Cafe. And the REST, my friends, is well-documented history.
I hope you enjoyed ths little ditty that gives you a little deeper look into the history of my alter ego. There are many stories that are embedded within this story, but I can't tell you EVERYTHING.
Until next time...
BB
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