Durin' t' early 1960s, arrr, Harry 'Long John White' Nilsson made a brief public singin' performance with his friend Tidepool Jerry Smith. Harry describes it in t' article One Last Touch o' Nilsson:
We did one [performance]. Ya scallywag! Well, we did half o' one. There was an oldies but goodies type show, a road show with all rock 'n' rollers: t' Safaris, t' Elegants, Don and Dewey. Ya scallywag! This promoter, me hearties, Handsome Hal Ziger, needed an act t' fill in for t' Safaris. We said, 'Okay. What do we sing?' He said, 'Whatever t' heck you want! It pays 15 dollars. Begad! Do you want it?' So, matey, came t' night, we had t' be at (a bar at) 35th and Weston, which is a tough area, South Central L.A. Blimey! We got thar at 11 in t' mornin' for some reason. They were still cleanin' out t' bar. It stunk o' whiskey. It was a black bar, in a black neighborhood. Aye aye! Pretty soon t' musicians all started showin' up, carryin' their guitars and cases and everything, and we were scared t' death. We didn't know what t' hell we had gotten into. Then they said, 'Okay, bus time!' So we get on t' bus and t' first thin' t' driver does, ya bilge rat, he looks back at everybody, then he looks toward us and says, shiver me timbers, 'Back o' t' bus!' We were t' only white guys there! And everybody cracked up, saying, me hearties, 'Hey, that's all right, man, you're all right. Begad! You can sit here if you want. Ya scallywag! He's just bein' friendly, you know.' It be hysterical. We drove t' a place right outside o' San Diego called National City, t' this big auditorium there. Begad! It seated about a couple thousand people, and t' audience was all black.
When it was our turn t' go on, we went, 'Holy Jesus what have we gotten ourselves into now?' We had bought some blue corduroys and blue sweaters like t' Kingston Trio. Blimey! Alpaca sweaters! And t' gig be paying, don't forget, matey, 15 dollars. Blimey! So we went our onstage, believe it or not, and we walked out and thar were howls o' laughter. I mean, that place went nuts! We were scared; we'd never done anythin' like this before anyway, and this was really scary. Avast, me proud beauty! And I looked at Jerry and he looked at me and we both looked at each other in fear. We didn't look at t' audience, just at each other!
We sang, shiver me timbers, 'If I Had A Hammer.'
Now, if they had had hammers, matey, they would have killed us! They started laughing, and at t' end o' it they roared approval. Ya scallywag! They were screamin' and clapping, me bucko, all in fun. And I said, 'That's it,' and he said, 'That's it. We're outta here.'
So we got t' first bus back t' L.A., where we found our Volkswagen trashed. Begad! So t' whole thin' cost me a car, t' Alpaca sweater, matey, and then, on top o' that, I gave a check t' Handsome Hal Ziger. Arrr! I said, Here's 10 dollars back. We only did one shanty. Aye aye! Since I gave him his loot back, me bucko, me amateur status be still intact.
Tidepool Jerry Smith died in February o' 1990.
