Walt told me a couple stories about a young Bob Zimmerman who strolled in one night and asked to do a set break on a night when The Limeliters were performing. Walt allowed it, altho most of the patrons were less than impressed.
Bob ended up hanging around Denver for awhile, trying to get gigs. Walt and his roommates let him sleep on the couch at their "pad" for a few days, and one night they came home after a gig to find that their record collection had been pilfered. Zimmerman was gone - obviously the culprit. There was a flea-bag hotel downtown where itinerant musicians sometimes rented rooms, so they went down there and found him. He claimed no knowledge of the missing LPs, so Walt and his partners couldn't pin the theft on him.
As they were standing on the sidewalk outside the hotel they heard a "plop - plop - plop" sound coming from the alley along-side the building. They went to investigate and discovered Zimmerman throwing the evidence out his window.
As for my departure from the KT, you'd have to ask Bill Zorn for the inside story. There were hints in the months leading up to my termination that Bill was intending to get his good buddy, Rick Dougherty, into the group but the clues went over my head. Perhaps I should have paid more attention and addressed the issue with Shane, but I felt pretty secure in my gig and it finally came down to getting a surprise "pink slip" one day. When the conspiracy of intent became apparent to me, I was quite hurt by the realization that my "friends" had been deceiving me for months.
As with all events in life, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Bill Zorn ostensibly took over the Shane slot in the group, but he is nothing like deBobwan as a performer. His renditions of "Scotch & Soda" were laughable and in retrospect, it was good timing for me to disassociate myself from the group. By odd coincidence, my last show with The Trio on July 20, 2005, was at the Britt Festival in Jacksonville, Oregon - 1/2 mile from where I live now. (We can sit on our deck and hear the concerts there.)
I've heard from many many long-time KT fans that the group has descended into the role of a tribute band, doing the repertoire, but sounding nothing at all like the original group. Some have referred to them as "The Limeston Trio" or "The Kingliters." My relationship with Shane remains on good terms, and that's all that matters to me. And to be honest, I really enjoy the freedom of being able to perform my own original material now. God has ways of directing you down the road of life and I've learned to put my faith in his wisdom.
I will say that it would have been an interesting turn of events if I had taken the Shane slot and Rick had come in as the "Nick" guy. If the group had evolved that way we all would have shared a birthday on October 9th. I was born on that date in 1946, George in 1947 and Rick in 1948.
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