Alvino Ray

Mike Ihde · Post by **Mike Ihde** » 1 Dec 2012 10:18 pm

I was watching an old Batman TV show and thought it was really funny when the bad guy (girl in this case) took out her weapon and said it's her Alvino Raygun. It made Batman, Robin and Batgirl vibrate like crazy and then turned them into life size cardboard cutouts of themselves. Talk about an inside joke. I wonder how many people actually got it.

Jeff Au Hoy · Post by **Jeff Au Hoy** » 2 Dec 2012 4:57 am

Jay Fagerlie · Post by **Jay Fagerlie** » 4 Dec 2012 2:10 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNDFI3gHa3g

Jimmy Douglas · Post by **Jimmy Douglas** » 4 Dec 2012 3:37 pm

Real entertainment

Will Houston · Post by **Will Houston** » 4 Dec 2012 4:40 pm

Beautiful. Nice find Mike and Jay. Good writer, he knew.

Lee Gillespie · Post by **Lee Gillespie** » 4 Dec 2012 5:02 pm

I'd like to tell you about the time I met Mr. Ray at the Steel Guitar Convention before his passing. What a gentleman. we walked around the convention room for about an hour. I told him he insprired me when I seen him at the Hartford Theater in Hartord Conn, when I was about 15 years old. When the curtain opened and he made the talking sound with his steel.... "Its Alvino Ray and his talking guitar..... The hair stood up on the back of my neck. That hooked me. ...
and I've been playing the steel guitar ever since. We talked about his big band days and told me all about arranging etc. At the time he had retired somewhere in Utah... and invited me to stop by if I was ever in the area....What a wonderful memory. Lee

Twayn Williams · Post by **Twayn Williams** » 6 Dec 2012 2:12 pm

I just saw that same episode, crazy man!

Ron Whitfield · Post by **Ron Whitfield** » 6 Dec 2012 2:55 pm

Cool story, Lee, he was an innovator. I got to sit next to him and his wife at one of Jerry Byrd's Ho'olaule'a steel shows. In fact, everybody at our table was highly notable. That's how JB's yearly shows were then, a real event, sadly missing now.

John Mulligan · Post by **John Mulligan** » 6 Dec 2012 3:44 pm

Actually, I think a lot of people would have gotten the joke. Alvino Ray was a staple of television when I was a kid in the early 1960's. I seem to remember he was on Ed Sullivan and Lawrence Welk, and probably other variety shows as well. I knew who Alvino Ray was when I was 7 or 8. Of course, I always liked music. TV variety shows of that era had quite a bit of live music and that was always my favorite part, so I paid attention.

Jeff Au Hoy · Post by **Jeff Au Hoy** » 6 Dec 2012 6:14 pm

Maybe it's a Reygun then.

Wally Pfeifer · Post by **Wally Pfeifer** » 7 Dec 2012 7:42 am

Jeff, I have scanned THE ONION but find nothing that really interests me,--so what are we supposed to be looking for? Were we referred to it because you might have some music available or some info where you might be playing or that you're in the process of recording a new (and first)solo CD. What?

Wally
And by the way,-any plans to record a solo CD???

Wally Pfeifer · Post by **Wally Pfeifer** » 7 Dec 2012 7:51 am

Forgot to mention. I met Alvino at the Aloha International Steel Guitar Convention in Winchester IN about a year before he passed. Amazing. I believe he was in his 90s at the time. I noticed that the bar he used was at least twice as long as the regular sized bars that most of us use now.
Wally

Roger Shackelton · Post by **Roger Shackelton** » 8 Dec 2012 12:18 am

Biography for Alvino Rey

Date of Birth:

1 July 1908, Oakland, California, USA

Date of Death:

24 February 2004, Draper, Utah, USA (pneumonia and congestive heart failure)

Birth Name:

Alvin Henry McBurney

Nickname:

Father of the Pedal Steel Guitar

Spouse:

Luise King

(21 May 1937 - 4 August 1997) (her death)

Trivia:

Popular orchestra conductor of the Alvino Rey Orchestra.

Married to Luise King of the singing King Family Sisters.

Influenced the development of early electric and pedal steel guitars.

Inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame, 1978 (first year).

-----------------------------------------------------

Wally Pfeifer · Post by **Wally Pfeifer** » 8 Dec 2012 6:38 am

Aloha Intl Steel Guitar Convention (Year ?)
Sadly,-everyone in this photo have passed away. And 3-4 in the background have also passed away.
We miss them all.
This is when I met Alvino Rey.
Wally[/img]