"THE SKYLARKSHISTORY"
By Gene Markley 
Around 1974, two of the early settlers in Lago Vista got together to play a sing-a-long benefit for the fledgling LV volunteer fire department. One was a retired commercial roofer from Michigan who had obtained a degree from UT and started touring the country with UT buddies in a band called “Ben Young And His Young Ideas In Music”. Ben was a terrific reed man specializing in clarinet and he sang a little, too. Ben kept his band going on the hotel circuit throughout the central USA, from the north to the south for over 20 years until WWII took 6 or 7 of his instrumentalists in one fell swoop. That’s when he ‘hung ‘em up” and bought a roofing business in Michigan. Ben passed away in 1994 but his wife, Roxy, is still a beloved resident of our fair city. Ben’s band was at least semi-big-name on the circuit. Tex Beneke played with his band for several years Glenn Miller personally talked Ben into selling Tex’s contract to him while they were playing a major hotel in Detroit. The other guy was a retired Lt. Col. In the Air Force officially in charge of purchasing. Unofficially, he played his way through the service at home and abroad as a great dance band pianist even though he could hardly read a note of music! He had more music in his head and fingers than the rest of us put together. George Porter is still one of the most popular persons in Lago Vista having just turned 88 in January of 2000. His wife, Louise, keeps the home fires burning at The Island. Ken Gerard of Ken and Helen’s restaurant on 183, where the Hill Country Ministries now resides, became the first drummer. Because the group played so many benefits for the LV fire department, Ann Murrow of Lago Vista Real Estate coined the name Firehouse Five minus 2, taken from the famous west coast Dixieland band of some 50 years ago. The group stayed this number for quite a while though the drummer changed from Ken to Dr. Ed Fish, a podiatrist from the Austin/Cedar Park area who was a member of our golf clubs. Early in 1984, Matt Langendorf joined the group with his clarinet and saxes. Matt was an electronics expert holding quite a few patents in his company. He once rigged a Tenor sax to play by only fingering the keys (no blowing). Now they became known as the Firehouse 5 minus 1, but again they needed a new drummer. Matt introduced John Christian, a retired law enforcement officer in Texas. Shortly thereafter Gene Markley joined the group as a trumpeter and is still playing and heading up the band. Gene was retired Human Relations manager for Dow Chemical. Paul Brunst, a retired salesman, joined the group in 1988 or 89 on guitar. In the early 90’s the Rev. David Sinclair played trombone, and his wife, Sarah, played piano when George couldn’t be there. Both stayed only a short time. Charlie Fischer then joined the band on trombone and stayed with them until about 1994. This was also when Paul Brunst and his wife Ann moved to Dallas. Ken Wickham, a PhD electrical engineer, has played a fantastic stand-up bass off and on since the middle 80’s. Jim Anderson retired from American National Insurance Company in Galveston, moved to Lago Vista, and toward the end of 1994, joined the band as lead tenor and is still a mainstay of the group. A California trumpeter, John Carlin joined the group in the mi 90’s for a couple of years and during that period the group usually played with 6 or 7 pieces. They finally decided to handle the varying number of players by calling the group The Firehouse Five +/-. They were interviewed while playing as featured band at the now defunct Sunset Grill on the other side of the lake and were asked: “ Why the +/-?.” The answer was: “ at our age, on any given Saturday night we don’t who is going to be in the hospital.” Ray Logan, retired Air Force, became the drummer in about 1990, and remained that position until early 1999. He was replaced by their current drummer, Geoff Johnston, an Englishman, living in Burnet. George Reaves their current bass man is a school teacher in Burnet. Three of the current players are from Marble Falls. Ken Carpenter, (age 81 plays Alto Sax and Soprano Sax. His wife, Helen, (age?- she’s a woman), with a masters degree in piano performance, is the current piano player. Chuck DeShong, a retired PhD English professor from Oklahoma is the trombonist. The latest new member is a bass saxophonist. He is Preston Lamp, a retired Chemical Engineer, who spent 25 years with a petroleum company in Saudi Arabia. While there, he acquired and became proficient on all the single reed instruments.( editor’s note: Since this article was written Preston has “unretired” and gone back to Saudi Arabia and is playing a band there.) There have been a myriad of other fine musicians who have played briefly or as subs in the group. Two names should be mentioned here. Both are from the Marble Falls area and played with the band for a little over a year. Don Gaston (now deceased) played Tuba and Chet Pringle was on the clarinet. Together they contributed greatly to the library both in quantity and variety of tunes. The group originally played mostly for benefits for the fire department and others in the Lago Vista area. As the playing quality improved and a musical variety developed, the band started playing for many dances and private parties in Lago Vista and a wide area outside of LV. The band is proud of the recognition it has received from the community. During Rusty Allen’s tenure as mayor of Lago Vista, Firehouse 5+- day was declared by proclamation. On July 4,1996, the band received the “Unsung Hero Award” and on April 29, 1998 it received a certificate of appreciation from the Lago Vista Lions Club. At one time everyone lived in LV. Now only two of the group are LV residents’ Jim Anderson and Gene Markley. The band would like to have more members from LV but they either don’t exist on won’t come forth. In the early days, nearly all of the music was memorized and improvised. The type of music played was primarily jazz from Dixieland. As the personnel changed, so did the type of music played. Today, most of the is printed and there is an infinitely wider variety of music styles and rhythms. The band is currently contemplating another name change to try to erase the stigma of “ playing only Dixieland jazz”. No matter what happens, the band is dedicated to continue entertaining as long as each member can still play and as long as good new members can be located to replace those who depart for one reason or another.
THE NEXT PART IS AN UPDATE WRITTEN A COUPLE OF YEARS AFTER THE ABOVE. On Wednesday, 9/20/00, the name was officially changed to “THE SKYLARKS” by vote of the members. They had been considering different names for over a year. Many were felt good but with no universal agreement. Finally, The Skylarks was agreed on and it hadn’t even been on the list until that day. The group has continued to function with only one member leaving since the name change. It now plays with basically a 7 member roster concentrating on variety dance music while maintaining a strong interest in the Dixieland style It is interesting that immediately after the name change, the band was hired on several occasions to play strictly Dixie. The feedback is that the band continues to improve. One person said it is “a good band that just gets better and better.”
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