I don't know if anyone will remember this most unusual happening that took place sometime in the late 1950's in Monticello, Arkansas. Although I don't remember any special occasion, all the school is there, waiting to hear a small country and western band perform in the local high school gymnasium.

In those days the gym was located between the grammar school buildings on the east and the junior high school building on the west. The two-story red brick high school building was located nearby on the north with other miscellaneous buildings scattered about on the west side of town.

The gym, built several years before was constructed in the style of the day with steep wood bleachers that creaked with your every move and a small elevated stage area at the east end of a highly buffed hardwood floor. A basketball goal majestically hung at each end of the court leaving no doubt as to the purpose for the man made arena.

That day, the old building is bursting at the seams. There is not a crack to be seen in the row after row of anxious faces where you could place another single child. Teachers, faculty and a few staff members occupy several brown metal folding chairs, arranged at the east end of the hardwood floor.

Near the outside entrance between the stands and the stage, Mr. Ross, the superintendent of schools, stood with his arms folded, patiently waiting his turn to introduce the band and explain the purpose for everyone being there. Meanwhile, piece by piece, the band members set up their equipment under the east basketball goal, properly arranging the instruments and cables so that so that they are orderly and convenient.

The band leader, a very good looking tall individual wearing a white cowboy hat and sporting a wonderful dark tan, would seem to be every girl's dream. He smiles broadly as the stands erupt into a loud roar as each member of his group is recognized.

Once his supporting cast is introduced, the leader takes his turn and steps forward. He removes his hat and bows to the anxious throng of fans in the traditional cowboy manner, revealing a neatly trimmed but almost completely bald head.

In an instant the moment is changed. The audience is hushed and stunned. But just as quickly the singer whirls and sails his white sombrero through the nearby basketball goal and retrieves it on the first try. A trick obviously meant to take an over anxious audience's mind off his shinning pate and put it on his music, a part of him that also shined.

As he returned the hat to his head and struck a chord on his guitar, the band is again greeted by a loud uproar with everyone standing and clapping to show their approval for the band being there.

I'm sure we had a wonderful time listening to the events that followed, but what I remember most was the instantaneous change in tempo from the roaring applause to dead silence, just for a moment as the overhead lights bounced off the smartly dressed cowboy's head into our eyes and into our minds.