Native sons

  Bakersfield has a love-hate relationship with it's native sons.  You can still see old photos of Frank Gifford at Dewar's Ice Cream Parlor, across the street from Bakersfield High School, the alma mater of Frank Gifford, Liza Reed and Emily Reed.  Other than the infrequent photo, though, there isn't much mention of Frank.  I think when he cheated on Kathy Lee he lost a lot of home town support.  After all, we ARE in the Bible Belt of California.

KORN, the heavy-metal band, started in Bakersfield and features boys from here.  I don't have much to say about KORN except that I met one of them at Aubrey's dance recital a few years ago.  He was polite and heavily tattooed.  He has since left the band and become a Bakersfield Born Again Christian.  (There's something in the water, I think.)

Two of the biggest names to come out of Bakersfield are both country music legends.  Buck Owens wasn't born here, but came here as a child and grew up north of the river in the part of town known as Oildale.  Buck stayed here and built several businesses that employ a lot of people.  He could be seen regularly at the Seven Oaks golf course and was a big supporter of Cal State Bakersfield.  Buck's passing a few years ago was met locally with true sorrow.  His mausoleum can be visited at Green Lawn Cemetery not far from Bill's office.

Several years ago, Buck built the Crystal Palace here in town.  It's a great restaurant, a country music museum and an entertainment venue.  Over the years, we saw Buck and the Buckaroos play there more times than I can count.  We saw Dwight Yoakum there several times as well and others that I can't even remember now.  In recognition for his many contributions to the city, the street that runs in front of the Crystal Palace was renamed Buck Owens Boulevard.

This is a very long introduction for the topic I am working my way around to...Merle Haggard.  The Hag was born and raised in Bakersfield.   When he was nine, his father died and Merle started down a path of petty crime.  As a young man, he robbed a Bakersfield tavern and was sentenced to three years in San Quentin.  Upon release, he returned home to Bakersfield and, along with Buck and many others, developed what came to be known as "The Bakersfield Sound."  He developed a large hometown fan base which was willing to overlook his departures from the straight and narrow, but stealing Buck's wife, Bonnie Owens, put him on shaky ground.

As both Merle and Buck became country superstars, their paths diverged.  Merle eventually moved to the Lake Tahoe area, while Buck continued to base out of Bakersfield.  They didn't speak to each other for decades (that whole Bonnie Owens thing).  It took Dwight Yoakum to bring them together on the same stage to kiss and make up, so to speak.  (By this time they were both divorced from Bonnie.)   We were there for the reunion show...a great moment in country music history.

When Merle found out that Buck had a street named after him, he wrote (from Tahoe) to the editor of the local paper, suggesting that he, too, should have a street named after him.  Letters  poured into the newspaper with suggestions.  The most popular idea was renaming Lerdo Highway, location of the county lockup where Merle had spent a fair amount of time.  Ultimately, city fathers renamed a stretched of the highway which runs in front of the airport "Merle Haggard Drive."  The local opinion is that it is a subtle dig at the fact that Merle left town and never looked back.

Not being from here, we never carried any "Merle baggage."  Bill has always been a big fan, especially of the old songs; "Kern River,"  "Mama Tried" and "Hungry Eyes" are among his favorites.  So, knowing of his admiration for the man, Carl and Heather gave us tickets for Christmas to see Merle Haggard and the Strangers last night at the Crystal Palace (on Buck Owens Blvd.--kind of ironic, huh?)  It was a wonderful and generous gift.  We had great seats in the row of tables closest to the stage.  We were a little apprehensive beforehand.  The man IS 73 years old and has been known in the past to tip back a few.  Also, he recently had throat surgery (in Bakersfield) to remove some polyps.  Could he still sing? 

The answer is a resounding YES!  He is low-keyed and sharp-witted.  He sounded great and is, in fact, releasing a new single in March, "Pretty When It's New," which he sang for us.  Apparently, he has been forgiven.   The sold-out crowd went wild when he said, "It's great to be back home in Bakersfield."

Thank you, Carl and Heather!  All of the kids get high marks for creative gift-giving this Christmas.  (I know that ONE of us is somewhat difficult to buy for.)