A Tribute to Buzz Gamble


	A Tribute to the Hi-Desert’s Legendary Johnnie “Buzz” Gamble (1946-2004) (From the February/March 2005 issue of The Sun Runner)


	Buzz Lived the Blues by Judy Wishart

Buzz lived the blues, and sang them like no other, true and from the heart. He hailed from Thalia, Texas—West Texas, my friends—and he had been in four prisons there as well as six in California.

Buzz lived in Pioneertown, CA, for 26 years and was the court jester of Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace. His jokes were bad, but we all loved to hear him tell them.

It is said that Johnny Paycheck (“Take This Job and Shove It”) penned a song about Buzz, “The Great Donut Robbery,” chronicling the story of Buzz going to prison in Salinas, CA, for five years for stealing 169 dozen (yes, dozen) donuts. I sat down with Buzz shortly before he was called into that great blues band in the sky and asked him, “Why 169 dozen?” What was he going to do with all the donuts? He said he didn’t know, that he had done it in a blackout and woke up in his car the next morning and said to himself, “Hell, it smells like donuts in here.” I bet it did.

Buzz was the heart and soul of the legendary Daily Blues, a staple at Pappy & Harriet’s, as is his mom, Miss Alice, who still rolls silverware in napkins nightly and is another story all by herself. I visited her shortly after Buzz passed and she said, “ If he was here right now I would kick his butt.” Buzz and his mom had their differences, but when I took that last photo of them you could see deep down inside they truly loved each other.

The last time I saw Buzz I handed him a bunch of copies of “Cheap Tequila,” the CD he recorded in 2004 with Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde. I had never seen Buzz so happy or proud. He sold a copy while I stood there, and he bought me a drink. Buzz’s voice is amazing on the CD; they are available at Rock It Man in Yucca Valley and also from CD Baby online.

Following are a few quotes from some people who knew him well.

•“In memory of Buzz Gamble, who finally earned his get out of jail free card, Nov. 23, 2004. Bad jokes, Jack Daniels, white cowboy boots and the blues forever.”
–Johnette Napolitano, Concrete Blonde

•It’s funny… every morning for the last year and a half, I would go to work at Pappy’s and wish that I was alone, just for an hour, not much to ask, so I could get some work done. JUST AN HOUR!!! Never happened. Buzz would be sitting there waiting for me. He’d say in his whisky-soaked voice with that reptile smile of his, “Hey baby, what’s up?” I would sigh and reply “Hey, Buzzy.” Then I would let him suffer a bit before I’d say, “Want a drink?” Buzz would say, “Didn’t come here to F****N pray, darling,” and I would laugh.

Same thing every day for a year and a half. Except today … I got my wish. I was all by myself, and you know what? Being alone really sucked. Buzz looked out for me, I felt safe with him around, but at the same time he drove me crazy. I missed him…we all miss him.
–Robyn Celia, co-owner Pappy & Harriets

•I remember how happy Buzz was when I put his picture in The Sun Runner in one of my columns. He would always say, “Hey, Darlin’, when you gonna put my picture in there?” When I did, he just beamed. I can still feel him there when I walk into Pappy’s. He always made me laugh. I, too, will miss his reptilian smile, bad jokes and blues.
–Judy Wishart

Life is not a journey to the grave, with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body. But rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming “Wow what a ride.”

And I am sure it was.… -

Judy Wishart of Yucca Valley is music reporter for The Sun Runner and a friend and fan of Buzz Gamble.


	Buzz Gamble and the Daily Blues “Truth in the Blues” by Rojer Arnold

The first time I heard Buzz Gamble sing was with a band of some of my oldest friends. After he got down from the stage I told him, “Man, do I have a song for you.”

Fast-forward ten years…

I was hanging out at Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace when a local songwriter came up to me and asked when I was going to put out that record I’d been working on. Though I’d written most of the tunes for it, I didn’t have any idea where to record locally.

He directed me to Desert Sky Studios in Joshua Tree. I started some pre-production on the rock-flavored songs, but my love for the blues had been coming through my most recent musings.

That’s when I remembered that song and started reworking it. I just thought of how Buzz could sing it. It came together quickly, and when I asked Buzz if he was up for it he said, “Sure as shit!”

That song was “Truth in the Blues,” and we both knew we had created something hot.

Every night was magic, every night was different.

Smokin’ Joe Perriera called me about two months later, asking if we could put together a fun group to just play during the week, as he was the house bass player at Pappy and Harriet’s on the weekends. Joe had been a big influence on my playing and I jumped at the chance.

John Herzog, who was in the Palace Players with Joe, agreed to be our drummer. I then asked Buzz to front the band (not realizing that he only knew about eight songs). He definitely liked the idea.

Clive Wright, who has that great English blues sound and owns Desert Sky Studios, seemed the perfect fit for lead guitar. That band became Buzz Gamble and the Daily Blues.

Our first gig was on a Thursday night in a little bar in Yucca Valley that no longer exists. We rocked!

After that, with very few lineup changes, we ended up playing for five years, missing only 10 Thursday nights!

Pappy and Harriet’s

We played in Twentynine Palms where we couldn’t attract a crowd, then moved over to the Joshua Tree Saloon with some success.

But it wasn’t until we came back to Pioneertown that we caught fire and felt at home. A lot of those nights got recorded, and we’re hoping to release some of those performances in the future.

Thank God for Harriet Allen for keeping us on, because the first month or so we played to candles. Then slowly we started attracting a crowd, and they were receptive. I’ll never ever forget those days!

I was writing songs just for Buzz to sing, and they worked. We even wrote one together, “It All Comes Down to the Blues.”

Some of those songs were recorded in August 2002 and will be released on the CD Last Motel, No Vacancy on Joshua Tree Records soon.

The joke in the band was that we toured from Twentynine Palms to Pioneertown. Nothing lasts forever, but it was great. Buzz and I didn’t always see eye to eye, though it was never because of the music.

Rest in Peace Johnny Merle. -

Rojer Arnold of Pioneertown is a rock and blues guitarist, singer/songwriter, lead in The Rojer Arnold Band, and co-founder of the group Buzz Gamble and the Daily Blues.


		Buzz Gamble’s Boots by Shawn Mafia

	I really think it was the white boots that started everything in motion. Strange how one can pick up on something as seemingly unimportant as a man’s footwear. I was sitting in Pappy & Harriet’s about a month or so prior to his passing and Buzz walked past our table. Our group made whole-hearted attempts at “hellos” and “how ya’ doings,” but Buzz didn’t seem to hear. He stumbled past in an almost delirious, daydream like stupor making his way over to the bar. The same thing happened when he walked past us to leave about an hour later. But this time I noticed those damn boots! He was sporting a pair of near knee-high, ivory white cowboy shit-kickers with jet black heals. I had seen the same boots on an old black and white photo of a Burlesque dancer standing in the middle of the Mojave Desert wearing fish net stockings with those white boots on. Strange correlations erupting through the dust driven fog of Pioneertown’s main street, as the whiskey sunk its fangs in deeper and the six shooters fired off in the distance. As Buzz walked out I thought to myself, “Damn fine footwear!” But what the hell did you expect? The man, after all, was a blues legend. So, on a frigid Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving, when I made the left hand turn onto Minna Gombell Lane and headed for the flashing lights, I still wasn’t sure if it was Buzz or not. I had wrestled with the idea all the way up Pioneertown Road. The first-call information I had gotten, when I arrived at the funeral home, had the deceased as a one “Johnnie Gamble.” Maybe it isn’t him, I thought to myself. But how many people have the last name Gamble? I imagined the perfect roll of the dice as the last of your rent money lay prostrate on some craps table in a smoky downtown Las Vegas casino at 4 a.m., and pulled the van past the sheriff’s car. The deputy escorted my partner and me, along with our gurney, over to a small vehicle with the driver’s side door slung open. It was parked in the mud of somebody’s driveway. The evening was very dark. The mud was ankle deep. It had snowed very hard a few days prior. There was still snow on the ground turning into ice cold slush. I was twisted with anxiety, waiting to solve the identity mystery of the man I would be taking out of here. The man half slumped in the mud and half hugging the car seat. The deputy shined her flashlight onto the body covered almost entirely by a muddy white sheet. Only one leg stuck out, half bent and stiff. “Shine your light down there,” I said to the deputy. She did. There it was. One blue jean clad leg sporting a near knee high, ivory white cowboy shit-kicker with a muddy jet black heal. “Do you know what that is?” I exclaimed, pointing in disbelief. “Yeah. A leg?” “No, that’s one of the boots of Buzz Gamble!” “I guess he was some kind of vagrant or something,” said the deputy looking over the information on her clipboard. “Vagrant? Hardly the whole story! This man was a blues legend! He sang ’em as hard as he lived ’em,” I said, feeling crestfallen. “Oh. Those really are nice boots he’s got on.” “Sure are,” I said. “And we’ll be hard pressed to find another man to fill ’em.”- Shawn Mafia is a singer/songwriter and film noir rock performer, whose other job is working for Wiefels & Son Funeral Directors. He was on duty the night Buzz died, November 23, 2004, and was called to transport his friend’s body.




	Shawn Mafia with Buzz Gamble’s boots at the Pappy & Harriet’s memorial night for Buzz.


	Copyright ©1999-2008 The Sun Runner, The Magazine of California Desert Life & Culture 6847 Adobe Road, 29 Palms, CA 92277, USA Webmaster: Steve Brown

Copyright ©1999-2008 The Sun Runner, The Magazine of California Desert Life & Culture6847 Adobe Road, 29 Palms, CA 92277, USAWebmaster: Steve Brown

Copyright ©1999-2008 The Sun Runner, The Magazine of California Desert Life & Culture
6847 Adobe Road, 29 Palms, CA 92277, USA
Webmaster: Steve Brown