I’ve already mention that Roy, Jim and I had grown up singing together. We even formed a folk trio while attending WSU and won the campus-wide talent show. While I reported to active duty in 1969, Roy and Jim continued their education at WSU, and after they graduated in 1972, they moved to Enid, OK to explore putting together a band. When Teri Sue and I were shopping to buy a home, one of the requirements was the living room had to be big enough to accommodate all the band equipment. We put shows together and tried them out at the local Holiday Inn lounge in Enid. The response was good enough that I left the Air Force and my flying career in June 1974 to be in a band with my brothers.
Just as I was leaving the Air Force Teri Sue and I found out we were pregnant. We wanted to travel as a family so we bought a 34’ El Dorado Fifth Wheel to live in and a 1974 Ford SuperCab to pull it with. Teri Sue saw a different Ob/Gyn every six weeks in a different state and never had a baby shower, although she did get a baby blanket from one of the waitresses. Teri Sue never complained; she is an amazing woman! Wyatt was due the end of January 1975 so we booked into the Shady Lady Lounge in Yakima for two weeks before and after the due date. Donna Lee and Grace “Mema” Adams flew up for the birth and stayed in another trailer in the RV park. Their pipes froze and they didn’t have water. When Teri Sue began labor (a week late, setting Wyatt’s life pattern forever) I kept urging her to hurry up because I had to be on stage that evening. I made it on time, but not sure she’s ever forgiven me for the extra encouragement. A week after Wyatt was born, I left Wyatt, Teri Sue and her mom and grandma in Yakima while the band headed to Ontario OR to play at the Eastside Cafe, a very popular Chinese restaurant owned by the seven Sugai brothers who built a lounge adjacent to the restaurant so people could wait for dinner.
The Eli Victor Show, named after my dad, started touring in 1974. We put out two albums and had a television special (we’re listed in the TV Guide!), and played to numerous standing-room-only crowds. Our unique format was well-received: four separate shows featuring different musical styles, costumes, and lots of audience involvement. Starting as a trio, we expanded to include keyboards (Keith Day), drums (Bruce somebody), and sound and light techs (Geoff Blechschmidt and Wayne Pittman). We successfully auditioned to headline at the MGM Grand in Reno in Summer 1979, but in February 1979 our manager informed us he had no bookings after an April engagement at the Walla Walla Elks Club, so we made the decision to leave the road in April, believing we were “that close” to our big break. I made it back to Borger just in time for the birth of Kevin Scott Draggoo on April 20, 1979.
Nowadays, when I listen to our albums and live shows on cassettes that Mom recorded in the various clubs, I am struck by our harmonies and stage presence, certainly, but no one would ever accuse us of being studio musicians. Our best music was acoustic and vocal but we had fun with all the shows. We were not good instrumentalists (except for Jim who excelled on the electric bass, and Roy and Jim were pretty good finger-pickers) but we were great entertainers, always engaging our audiences by doing our homework on the towns we played and bringing local flavor to the stage. I think we would have done well in Las Vegas or Reno or the casino circuit, but we weren’t doing the kind of thing that would play to arenas.
Sometimes I get asked if I ever regretted the decision to leave my regular commission and flying career in the Air Force. The answer is always No; I would have always regretted not giving EVS a try and wondering what might have happened. It was not an easy life; Teri Sue and I supplemented our income by thinning apples, and I repaired apple bins for a local packing shed whenever we were in Chelan. We gleaned potatoes from a nearby field when we were in Pasco WA. When our special was aired on television, I was working at a migrant children’s daycare center in Lakeside in Chelan.
I have to tell this one story. Teri Sue was maybe 8 months pregnant and thought she’d like to get her hair streaked just for a change. One of the club waitresses said she’d do it cheap. That afternoon Jim and Roy found me in the club rehearsing and said I’d better get upstairs, Teri Sue was crying, something had gone wrong. When I got into our hotel room, she was sitting on the bed facing the window and sobbing; her hair looked like a pile of yellow straw piled on top of her head. She looked like a pregnant prostitute (though I didn’t tell her that!). It turned out the waitress/hairdresser had totally messed up the process, had used too much chemical on her hair leaving it dry and brittle (and yellow) and had left about an inch of dark roots. In one of the wisest decisions I ever made, we went to a professional salon and spent the money to get a new “do” – her hair was cut very short and the yellow tips were calmed down so her hair looked like it had frosted highlights. It was very cute and I had earned some major husband points.