Densho Digital Archive - Yo Shibuya Interview (denshovh-syo-01-0009)

<Begin Segment 9>

RP: Tell us about the high school band. Who, who had that band?

YS: Lou Frizzell. Lou Frizzell. You've heard of him? Yeah.

RP: Yeah for many, for many Nisei kids he was a very special person.

YS: Yeah, yeah.

RP: How about you? What did you...

YS: Yeah, yeah.

RP: How did he impact your life?

YS: Well, he was a good, 'cause he was the head of the music department in, in high school. And, well, we learned a lot to play it right. And then, well, if we didn't play it right he would tell us so. Good discipline or whatever. So, well anyway, we got good habits anyway from him. But he passed at such a young age, you know, it was a shame. Real talented man.

RP: Now, as a member of the high school band, what did you perform for? Public events?

YS: For what?

RP: What type of events did you perform for?

YS: Oh, he had a musical that he wrote and, and composed all the music and he arranged all of it for the band. And then of course the choir or, he would arrange all of that. And many times, sometimes we would, we would, in the play that he wrote, the musical play that he wrote, of course we accompanied the program with the whatever, with what was going on.

RP: Yeah, how did you feel about Lou's arrangements?

YS: Whose arrangements?

RP: Lou's arrangements?

YS: All right, all right.

RP: Better than the other guy?

YS: Yeah. [Laughs] You know it's funny, I still, we still play some of his charts though, that Mason, Jack Mason. Yeah, you can't get rid of it.

RP: So the high school band, did you have a similar makeup as to the Jive Bombers? It was a larger band or how did it differ from the Jive Bombers?

YS: I don't know whether we had some strings in it. I think there's a picture in the album. 'Cause I can't remember. I can't remember. See high school band, I don't think Yoshitaro was, was playing with us. I think it was Rabbit, Gordon, and myself, just the three of us. Then Bruce Kaji, Trucko... and there was another player, George Nishi was his name. I used to call him Ziggy, Ziggy Nishi, you know that Ziggy album? Ziggy. And, and there was another kid, I can't remember his name, he always was a trumpet player but he was much younger, younger fellow. And then of course Roy on trombone. I think he'd already graduated high school when he was in camp. And I don't think he didn't play with us I don't believe. But I think the other fellow, remember I said played baritone, I think he played.

RP: Did you, did you perform for free or did you charge for your...

YS: Well in camp you mean?

RP: Yes.

YS: For free I think. 'Cause I don't ever remember gettin' paid.

RP: Volunteering your services.

YS: Yeah.

RP: Did you ever play for a Terminal Island...

YS: For, you mean for their group?

RP: Yes.

YS: Probably did, you know because they would throw dances, whatever club they had from that Terminal Island group. Let's see, I was trying to figure out the names of the clubs. They had the called the, I think the San Pedro Yogores. And then they had another one, it was with the younger, younger fellows... I can't remember.

RP: Those guys had a, well, whether it was deserved or not, a reputation in camp as a tough bunch.

YS: Yeah, yeah.

RP: How did you see them?

YS: Yeah, they were a... well yogore is a Japanese name that means "dirty." Yogore means scroungy or whatever. [Laughs] And, no, yeah, I guess I mostly just stayed away from 'em or didn't, I really didn't have too much to do with them, you know. 'Cause they were a little older than me. Yeah, they were just a little bit older. And they had a baseball team and they were in the age group was the next one above us. So, but they would, they would get into trouble, though. They would cause a lot of trouble. Fights and whatever.

RP: So, did you, well, for want of a better term, did you have any groupies that followed your band around?

YS: No, no.

RP: No girls that kind of hung out and...

YS: No, no, no.

RP: Did being in a band... I just kind of wanted to see what, how you were, what was your personality like before you joined a band and did it change? Did you become more social as a result of the band?

YS: No, no, not really, it didn't. Well, it didn't change me at all. But I don't think so. I didn't notice any of the other fellows changing.

RP: So how important was playing music in a place like Manzanar for you?

YS: Well, it was just fun. It was fun playing. And, of course it was, you know, it felt good that we accomplished something. That we formed a band in camp. And that's about it really. And I was sort of glad that I was able to do that 'cause I would listen to all this stuff, the music, and I felt good that at least I could do something like it.

RP: So I imagine early on you were learning how to sight read?

YS: Yeah. Yeah, that's one thing, I would say I'm a good sight reader. 'Cause when I was back there, of course, I joined a union back there, and when a band would come through, through town and they'd needed a man, they go to the union and they say so and so or... they'd call you and you'd go play the gig and you sit right in. And you had, you sight read the whole gig is what you did. And to me it was fun. It was a, it was a challenge really. I want to get this thing right, you know, in the back of your mind. In fact, I like to sight read, personally myself. Of course, you have your screw-ups, but... but I say you get it ninety percent of the time you get it right.

RP: How about your, do you recall, you can tell us a little bit about what, what your brother and sister did in camp, as well as your mother? And what was camp...

YS: Well, yeah, my mother didn't work in camp. And, let's see, my brother... while in camp you really didn't have to work if you didn't want to or if there wasn't a job available, you did what you wanted to do or whatever. Whatever job I get, you went to the mess hall and ate. Well, let's see, my sister did pick up the mandolin. She started that and I don't know whether my, oh yeah, my brother played... there was, there was a group called the shakuhachi, you know that, it's a bamboo Japanese instrument that you blow into it and, yeah, he joined that group and he was learning how to play that.