Updated December 2010
The Deuces Wild (who became the Deuce Is Wilde) performed “You’re All Around Me” with footage from the Catacombs and Love Street in a short 1968 film directed by Charles Burwell, titled Deuce Is Wild.
From people’s comments it seems the band included these members:
Charles Webb – lead guitar
Paul Viviano – rhythm guitar
Harold Bailey – keyboards
Gordon Barnette – bass guitar
Rick Slaydon – drums
One early member of the Deuces Wild was Clark Clem, who also played guitar in the Chancellors Ltd. Charles Burwell contacted me to say that Clark Clem recently told him he’d left the band a year before the film was made.
In December, 2010 James Donnelly, who was in Jim Henley & the Thymes, wrote to me about the band:
I always knew them as the Deuces Wild. I went to high school and played in the HS band with two of the members, drummer Ricky Slayden and bassist Gordon ‘Boo Boo’ Barnett. They also had an guitarist named Charlie Webb. Also Harold Baily (keyboards), I think he left the group in ’68 or ’69 and moved to Las Vegas to become a blackjack dealer! Lost track of them years and years ago, although I know the Gordon passed away in the 70’s.
The Deuces were one of the best cover bands around, and covered everybody from James Brown to Paul Revere and the Raiders to the Music Machine. They played the Catacombs on a regular basis. Boo Boo was the comedian of the group, and the bass he played was almost as big as he was, Ricky was one of the best drummers I ever played with.
Margaret Jackson Graeff commented below with information I’ll repeat here:
The Deuces Wild changed their name to the Deuce Is Wilde around 1967. The rhythm guitar player in the picture, who is also doing vocals, is Paul Viviano. The bass player in the photo is Gordon Barnette. Contrary to what was said previously, Gordon did not die in the 1970s. He died in April, 1992. In the early 1970s, their roadie, Howard Lehman died. He lived down the street from Gordon when they were in their teens. I think that is where the confusion is. I knew the Deuces very well.
Charles Webb was their lead guitar player, but left the band when he was a freshman at Rice University. He now has a PhD and is a professor at California State University at Long Beach. He also goes by the name Charles Harper Webb and is a published author. Charles also played in the Houston based band, Saturnalia. Rick Slaydon played drums. Rick also played drums for the Houston-based band, The Starvation Army Band. James Lucas was the lead singer. Harold Bailey was the keyboard player. Paul Viviano, in 1969, formed the band ICE, with Stacy Sutherland, of the 13th Floor Elevators.
Thanks to Charles Burwell for info on Deuce Is Wild and the frame image from the film, and to James Donnelly for the info about the group.
