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TI: Okay, so now we go from that kind of environment to Poston, and you were talking about how it was dusty, and what were some of the other things you can remember when you first got to Poston?

FH: Remember having to get straw and a bag, and we had to put the straw in the bag and that was our mattress, and we had cots to start with. And they said never put your shoes on the ground because of the scorpions, would go crawling into your shoe, so that's one thing we learned, turn your shoe upside down when you... and the scorpions were around, and wherever there was some moisture you would see them congregate, so they said be careful and watch where you put your hand when you're gonna lean on something because there might be a scorpion there.

TI: Now, did you ever hear of anyone getting stung by a scorpion?

FH: Oh yeah. Yeah.

TI: And what, I mean, how, how bad was it to get stung?

FH: Like a bad bee bite or a hornet sting or something.

TI: And tell me about your room. So here you went from a place where you had your own separate bedroom and, in some cases, bathroom, so what were your living accommodations at Poston?

FH: Well, we had, like ours, we had four beds in one. My uncle stayed with us, my youngest uncle, so there were four of us in one section.

TI: Now why would your younger uncle stay with you? So this was, like, (Ray)?

FH: Well, the other ones were married and he was alone. He was the only one that wasn't married, so he came with my dad.

TI: Okay. Oh, so this was your uncle on your father's side?

FH: Uh-huh.

TI: I see. Okay. So four beds... what did you do when you were in Poston, what kind of activities to, to, during the day, what would be your typical day at Poston?

FH: Would go see somebody, go visit. But we'd go to school. We had, we started a band in (camp), a dance band, so we rehearsed on that. And that was about our activity, unless you played baseball or something else.

TI: So tell me about the band. What, was the name of the band? Did you have a name?

FH: I think, I almost forgot what it was, the Melodiers or something like that. I remember, I don't remember the name for sure.

TI: And tell me what kind of music you played.

FH: Dance, dance band music, the stuff in the '40s, music in the '40s.

TI: So like swing?

FH: I guess sort of swing.

TI: And so when you went to Poston, did you bring a saxophone?

FH: Yes. I could, that I carried. That was my piece of luggage.

TI: And tell me about some of the other players in the band. I mean, what were some of the other instruments that they played?

FH: They had trumpet, trombone, couple, some other saxophones, then this one girl came out and played piano. And I don't know where they got the drum set from, because that's hard to carry. I think they had some stuff around somewhere.

TI: So it's interesting to me that earlier you talked about how you moved around a lot in schools, but it was always, I guess in some ways, comforting that you could always join the orchestra. Your music was that place where you could connect. And it seems like in the same way, when you were moved to Poston you had your music again.

FH: Yeah, it helped connect, bring people together and you got to meet other people, and you got to know them pretty well.

TI: Now, how were the others in terms of musicians? I mean, you had played all the way, for a long time. Were the others pretty good also, or what would you say?

FH: They weren't too bad. No, they weren't, the ones that we had were pretty good. We didn't have an awful lot, but we had some. There was one time we were gonna go to Gila and play, but then they had something happen, some illness took over, something, and we were, we couldn't go for the band. But I went because my grandfather, I think he died in camp, I think, and so we went there for, to Gila. But the band couldn't go.

TI: Before, I want to ask more about going to Gila for you, but I wanted to kind of ask more about the band first, so who would you play for? I mean, you had practice.

FH: You played for the block parties and stuff like that, entertainment, had entertainment something, anyway. We would play.

TI: And so when you say block parties, so you would go to different blocks?

FH: In our blocks, no, in our block.

TI: Okay, so were all the musicians from your block?

FH: Yes. It wasn't a camp wide group, but I think we were the only ones in camp.

TI: And so, I would think because, live music, that you guys would be in demand, that other, other people would hear about it and want to...

FH: Well, most of the time the dances were all records, so they didn't need a band. Besides, they couldn't, they'd have to pay. We didn't, in our case they wouldn't have paid.

TI: [Laughs] Yeah, you guys would've come cheap because you had nowhere else to go.

FH: Yeah, that's true.

TI: So you never played for any other blocks?

FH: We didn't go to another camp and play at all.

TI: Now, when you played at your block, did other teenagers come from other blocks just to listen to you guys?

FH: Possibly. Possibly. But, because it was up on a stage and people'd just pull up their chairs and listen, but it was all sorts of entertainment, singers and different things.

TI: And would you guys ever play at dances, where you'd just play and people would dance?

FH: No, we never go that far because, they would, but I left camp relatively early.

TI: Okay.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.