San Antonio TX with Bob Spaulding and 3 Balls of Fire
Definitley one of the highlights of our Texas tour was getting to meet Bob Spaulding, also known as the Fifth Venture. Before getting to the VthV story, let me just say that bob is a very nice man, a real Texas gentleman. He watched our sets both night (as did we his), and asked some insightful questions, so I know he was really paying attention. He thought our "Hall of the Mountain King" had "a lot of potential"!. So the abbreviated story goes that Bob was working in L.A. studios and met and impressed the Ventures who were always in need of a replacement guy if Don, Bob, or Nokie was unavailable for a tour. They asked Spaulding to learn all the string parts- rhythm, lead and bass guitars for all Ventures tunes, which he did, making himself invaluable to the Ventures. (Also turns out that when Jono saw the Ventures in the mid 80s in Albuquergue, spaulding was playing with them that night.) Bob did fantastic shows, backed by his son on bass and Mike Vernon on guitar.