<Begin Segment 18>

RP: Well, let's talk about music in camp, since we have some musicians here right with us today. Kiyo, how did the Sierra Stars group get going?

KT: Sierra Stars?

NN: That Western...

RP: That you played accordion for?

KT: Yeah. I really don't recall. All I know is just someone...

AF: Right there. He might know, huh? [Referring to someone off camera.] Did you start it?

Off camera voice: No. Bill Wakatsuki started that.

RP: Oh, Bill did?

AF: Oh, Bill.

Off camera voice: Bill was a... was he an instructor up at the music center? I know he used to sing and he played the trumpet.

NN: Oh, he was in the Jive Bombers, too.

AF: Yeah.

RP: The trumpet section.

Off camera voice: He formed the, actually formed the group, got the group together.

AF: I see.

RP: Who else was in the group besides you and Bill?

AF: Right here. [Pointing to someone off camera.]

RP: For the Sierra Stars.

AF: Oh, the Sierra Stars? Who else? Was Trucko in there?

KT: Trucko Kusaba.

AF: Kusaba.

KT: Played the trumpet.

AF: Oh, he played the trumpet?

NN: What about that bass player?

AF: Bill...

KT: Joe...

Off camera voice: Are you talking about members of the...

RP: Sierra Stars.

Off camera voice: We had...

KT: The bass player.

AF: Do you remember Joe?

Off camera voice: They had Sato.

AF: Willie Sato's brother.

Off camera voice: He was the one that went on to... Gordon Sato.

RP: Yeah, these were the members of the Jive Bombers?

AF: Yes.

Off camera voice: And then we had...

AF: Gordon Sato, he was in Miyo's grade.

Off camera voice: Yoshido Shibuya.

AF: Shibuya, oh.

Off camera voice: We called him Washington. He wound up in Venice now, south towards San Diego.

AF: Oh, really?

NN: Oh, is that right?

Off camera voice: And also Murakami. He went to Saint Olaf's College and became an instructor in music there.

KT: Is that right?

Off camera voice: He was an older fellow. I don't know, he used to play saxophone solos at some of our [inaudible] And I guess on the trumpet side, they had Yato, I don't know, later on, he came on, Nob Yato.

AF: Nob Yato, do you remember him?

KT: No, I don't remember him.

Off camera voice: Trucko Kusaba.

AF: Yeah, I remember Trucko.

Off camera voice: And then we had a pianist.

RP: Oh, she was a piano player?

Off camera voice: Oh, yes, she was a piano player.

RP: Oh, for the Jive Bombers?

AF: Accordion, she played the accordion.

RP: So did you bring an accordion into the camp?

AF: Well, it was supposed to be mine. Mother wanted me to play the accordion. But then she found that I had to learn piano first, so I started to take the piano when the war started, and so she took over the accordion.

KT: That was sent to us.

RP: It was shipped to you?

KT: It was someone that came from the outside that came to visit brought it in.

AF: She was playing piano.

KT: I can't remember exactly how that was brought in.

Off camera voice: Joe Sakai was playing the bass.

AF: Oh, yeah, that's right.

Off camera voice: And then we had a drummer, I forgot his name, Honda? From Block 21.

KT: Gee, Bruce, how do you remember all that?

Off camera voice: I know. Flashes.

RP: Flashes.

KP: So, we're talking about two bands here, the Sierra Stars...

RP: And the Jive Bombers.

KP: And the Jive Bombers.

RP: The Sierra Stars were kind of a country western group.

AF: Uh-huh, started out with the Sierra Stars, huh?

KT: Gee, I don't remember the Sierra Stars.

NN: It didn't last very long.

KT: Well, it was all sort of the same players anyway.

AF: Yeah, exactly the same players.

KP: So what kind of music did you play? What songs? Do you remember any songs you played?

Off camera voice: Yeah, we played Glenn Miller's...

KT: "In the Mood."

Off camera voice: "Little Brown Jug."

KT: Jimmy Dorsey songs.

Off camera voice: We used to buy the music compositions from this southern California music store down in Los Angeles, and it had the complete music for the band. The exact copy of what the orchestras used to play. You play "Moonlight Serenade," it's just like Glenn Miller's.

RP: So you would play in the mess halls sometimes, before the auditorium was built?

NN: I recall an outdoor stage, do you remember?

KT: Yeah, outdoor stage.

AF: Yeah, it started out outdoor, I think.

Off camera voice: And the mess halls weren't that big.

RP: The band could take up half the mess hall.

Off camera voice: Oh, yeah. But I remember the dances we used to have. We'd have to clear out the whole mess hall and put all the tables to the side.

KT: To the side.

Off camera voice: Uh-huh, and then clear the center for dancing. Then we'd have to push this thing to slide, so you could slide and dance, because the floors would get sticky.

RP: Oh, so what would you put down?

Off camera voice: Well...

NN: It was a powder-like, but --

Off camera voice: It was some kind of a... looked like snowflakes, throw it out. It would become slippery. Otherwise, you couldn't dance.

RP: Well, that's something we'll have to consider when we restore the mess hall.

Off camera voice: Spangles, that's what they called it.

AF: Oh, that's right.

NN: That's right.

RP: It's coming back, Bruce.

Off camera voice: And then for us, we had records that we brought home. And Zune Okimoto had a big collection of records. And so before the dance, we would have to decide what records we would play and what sequence. And the last dance was the longest playing record. [Laughs]

NN: Was that "Dream"?

AF: Yeah, "Dream."

KT: It would just go on and on and on.

Off camera voice: I think it was "Without a Song."

AF: Oh, "Without a Song"?

Off camera voice: The longest playing record. That's the one you wanted to dance with your favorite gal.

KT: That's right, I remember those.

Off camera voice: We used to have some traditional records with the Manza-Knights. We have that, we had, like, the girls, the popular girls in camp.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.