CELLAR FOLKS OBITUARIES

OBITUARIES BACK to CELLARHOME	There are too many no longer with us. If you have cellarfolk obits, you can send them here: arvel@arvel.com ALSO NEED PHOTOS - ANYWHERE YOU DON'T SEE ONE.
Johnny Carroll The man whose far-seeing vision of an ideal enterainment format resulted in the fifteen year existence of the most imitated night club in the world. From 1955 through 1959, before the Cellar, Johnny Carroll recorded several top-10 hits on the Decca record label, was the starring male lead in the 1956 R&R movie "Rock, Baby Rock It" and played U.S. concert tours with Gene Vincent. He then was musical director for the Cellar from 1959-1974, during which time he also served in the Naval reserve and received a pilot license. In his last twenty years of life Johnny Carroll returned to his rockabilly roots and HEADLINED 11 successful concert tours of England and the European continent. Of all Cellar entertainers, only George Carlin and ZZ Top can claim more entertainment success than the rightfully legendary Johnny Carroll.	Arthur Leslie "Tudy" Taddi the musician's musician. I met Tudy on the first night he was in Fort Worth, in 1962. He was a good friend and as multi-talented as any musician ever was. We hope to see his like again. ...ArvEL Jr. Stricklin
Pat Kirkwood Majority Owner and sometimes manager of the entire chain of Cellar nightclubs. Though a very genuine and thoughtful person at heart, Pat Kirk wood could be tough as nails and mean as the devil if given offense. Son of notorious Fort Worth gambler W.C. "Pappy" Kirkwood, Pat drove a race car named "#13" in the earliest days of NASCAR and later became a licensed pilot, owned his own airplane and, in later years, is rumored to have flown undercover missions in Mexico for the DEA. Following the Cellar days, Pat Kirkwood became a real estate broker, lived in Granbury, Texas and is survived by his wife, Kerry and son, Cody. Doc Nottingham - ANOTHER GOOD FRIEND GONE	CHUCK EVANS - The one and only. Chuck's good humor and good personality will be sorely missed. A good man and true, Chuck is a perfect example of a tough man who didn't need to act tough. There was no act with Chuck. He was one of the friendliest men I ever knew, but if tough was needed, Chuck was there like a bear. He rode for the brand.
	ROCKY HILL John Rockford Hill - Dec. 1, 1946 - April 10, 2009. A great guitarist and a Cellar classic, survived by his wife, Joy, and his brother, Dusty Hill of ZZ Top. John Rockford Hill was born Dec.
	Don Armstrong Good friend for many years.
Garland Tiger Native American musician, played tenor sax until his horn was stolen, then he taught himself guitar and quickly became the hottest jazz guitarist around, but he preferred the Cellar and he preferred playing bass because, he said, "nobody would tell me to turn it down."	Adrian Watts: Johnny Carroll's main drummer in the Cellar, Adrian was also, along with Johnny Carroll, a manager and part owner of the Houston Cellar in 1973-74. Adrian had retired to a place on lake Whitney with no phone. Adrian was an amateur radio operator and used radio communications only. Death was from natural causes; date currently unknown.
Leo Stinchfield, aka Uncle Leo A burly and tough but gentle, good-hearted man who was one of the Cellar's earliest regulars and bouncers. Leo's specialty was spotting trouble and stopping it before it got started. He stayed with the Cellar until his health failed him and he died in the mid-90's in Fort Worth.	Chester Freeman Originally a big band jazz drummer in California, Chester played for years with Ray Sharpe in Fort Worth and came to the Cellar in 1964 where he played with ArvEL & the Knightbeats. Chester died in FW in the early 80's.
Darrell "Hatchet" Welch A fine drummer from Morgan City, La., Hatchet played in the Dallas Cellar with Texas Wildlife and in Houston with Toby Gwynn and others. Outside the Cellar, Hatchet went to Los Angeles with Delbert McClinton and played the original recording sessions for McClinton's first LP, "Genuine Cowhide", and later played in Austin with Lou Ann Barton and others. Hatchet died in a car wreck on the way home from a gig in Louisiana in the 70's. ____________________________________________________________________ TOBIAS WOOD HENDERSON (TOBY) Toby had a great blues voice and led a band called Childhood's End in the Houston Cellar in 1967. He later moved to Los Angeles where he lived, played, wrote and recorded several good blues records until his untimely death in August, 2009.	George Coleman Died late 80's, in his 60's A talented piano player, singer and drummer, Mr. Coleman was well known along the Texas coast as "Bongo Joe" where he was a street performer in the spring and summer months. From 1960 through 1964 he performed during winter months in the Fort Worth Cellar where he was dubbed "King George Cannibal Jones" by Pat Kirkwood. Though George could play a standard drumset very well, in his act he played one or two 55-gallon oil drums, tuned with a tire hammer and a crowbar. As he played he would whistle and interject bits of sage wisdom. After 1964, George moved to San Antonio, Texas, establishing himself as a street performer there. On Pearl Harbor Day, 1968, Chris Strachwitz brought portable recording gear to George's street location and an LP titled "George Coleman - Bongo Joe" resulted and was subsequently released on the Arhoolie record label. (ST1040) At the Cellar, sometimes George would sit at the piano alone and play and sing wonderful old blues songs, all in the key of F#. He was a good friend. Johnny Carroll and myself saw him in San Antonio in the mid 80's and he was as George as ever. George was a unique human being and he is missed. We shall not see his like again. ...ArvEL Jr.. Stricklin
Jerry Lynn Williams, 57; Wrote Hit Songs for Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, B.B. King From a Times Staff Writer Jerry Lynn Williams, the little-known writer of such songs as Eric Clapton's "Running on Faith," Bonnie Raitt's "Real Man" and B.B. King's "Standing on the Edge of Love," has died. He was 57. Williams died Nov. 25 of kidney and liver failure on St. Martin in the French West Indies, where he had lived for the last two years, said his son, Chebon Williams of Malibu. A familiar name only in the music industry, Williams was probably the most successful unknown songwriter in rock and rhythm and blues. In 1989, five of his songs — "Pretending," "Anything for Your Love," "Running on Faith," "No Alibis" and "Breaking Point" — were included on Clapton's "Journeyman" album. The same year, his "Real Man" and "I Will Not Be Denied" were on Raitt's "Nick of Time," which won three Grammy Awards. Williams also contributed five songs to King's 1992 album, "King of the Blues," and wrote Clint Black's "The Hard Way" and Delbert McClinton's signature song, "Givin' It Up for Your Love." He helped Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan write the song "Tick Tock." Williams made four blues-rock albums of his own, but none of them sold well. Born in Dallas, he grew up in Fort Worth and learned music in church. A pastor's wife taught him to play piano, but at the age of 11, he got his first guitar and focused on playing like Jimmy Reed. By 14, Williams had dropped out of school and was working Texas roadhouses with his own band, the Epics. He toured with Little Richard's band until authorities discovered Williams' age and sent him home. A maverick, Williams spent nearly four decades bouncing between Los Angeles, where he wrote, recorded and performed, and Texas and Oklahoma, where he ranched. On one drive west, he stopped to look at the Grand Canyon and was inspired to write "Standing on the Edge of Love." The songwriter was recommended to Clapton in 1984 when the singer needed material for what is regarded as his comeback album, "Behind the Sun." Williams wrote the album's "See What Love Can Do," "Something's Happening" and "Forever Man." Williams was the father of Chris Williams, the Backbone69 rock band leader and songwriter who died in 2001 at the age of 31 when the car he was driving plunged off a Malibu cliff. The senior Williams was estranged from his family, according to his son, Chebon. Information on other survivors was unavailable. __________ I personally enjoyed a solid week of listening to Jerry and his band in 1970 at the upstairs Fort Worth Cellar ---ArvEL	Dave (Weinstein) Kenlo Drummer and lead vocalist for the Cellar band "Time Machine", Dave Kenlo is survived by wife Shari and two sons.
FLETCHER HURST v Fletcher was born on August 16, 1949 in a little town near Kerrville and grew up in Kerrville as the oldest of 4 children until he moved to Buckner Children's Home with his mother, sister and two brothers. He says he thought his name was Damnit Fletcher until he was 11. While at Buckner Fletcher got a barber's license and an FCC license, and he worked at the barber shop and at the campus radio station, KNER-FM. After Buckner, he worked as a carpenter in Dallas, and then moved to Houston where he studied real estate and then worked as a plumber. He got his Master Plumber's License in the early 80's and worked on the Alaska pipeline and monitored pipe inspection in Houston. He loved the guitar and took lessons from Milton Hopkins, Lightning Hopkins cousin. He once said that "playing guitar an hour a day makes up for the other 23 hours that suck." Fletcher was a voracious reader and wrote a list of Fletcherisms before he died. He said that everything he says he heard from Richard Nixon in a vision. He came down with colon cancer in 2002 and died from renal failure and organ shutdown on Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 2006.	GATE never worked at the Cellar but He sure deserves to be remembered for the 50 years of fine blues recordings that he left us.
	Bob Crump Died of throat cancer about 1988. Bob was manager of the Houston Cellar from its opening until a couple of years later when he and Kirkwood had a falling-out over Bob's compensation as manager. Bob was a good friend and a good manager and one of the toughest men I've ever known. One night in the Houston Cellar, I saw Bob struck across the head from behind with a full bottle of whiskey. Bob fell to his knees and then, with one ear almost cut off and dangling by a shred, Bob turned on the Burly hard-hat worker who had hit him and literally THREW the man through the street door, knocking him senseless in the process, then proceeded to do the same with the guy's two buddies who also wanted to fight! I never knew Bob to start a fight, but he sure could END one in a hurry.






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