Thinking Back To Dick Bills

Most weekday afternoons in 1963, kids in Albuquerque had three choices for television entertainment. We could watch Uncle Roy on KOAT-7, or Captain Billy on KGGM-13, but most of the time we settled on Dick Bills at the K Circle B Time show on KOB-4. 

We had to be choosy, because our TV would overheat in 20 minutes, so we couldn't watch the entire half hour of any show. Eventually, my grandmother bought a new TV and gave us her old one. We put her big, old TV in the trunk of my dad's 1957 Chevy Belair, but he couldn't close the trunk completely. We got stopped by the police on the drive home - TV thefts were big at the time - and also learned a little lesson on racial profiling. 

Dick Bills achieved a modest fame in Albuquerque. Most folks remember his handsome nephew, though: Glen Campbell, who was part of Dick Bills' band, the Sandia Mountain Boys. Glen Campbell moved to Los Angeles in 1960 and eventually reached the zenith of musical fame.

 

And it's a straight line to this song - one of my favorite pop songs ever!