| Garth Brooks surprises audience, appears under name of
Yukon Jack
By Eric Butler
Globe-News Correspondent
CLOVIS, N.M. - On Jan. 27, 1993, a brand new episode of the
ABC television show "The Wonder Years" told the
fictional story of an appearance by the Rolling Stones in
a roadside bar and the efforts of the characters to get to
the rumored concert.
On that very night, country singer Garth Brooks - at the
height of his popularity - was giving Clovis a real-life version
of just such a far-out tale by playing in a nightclub called
the Clovis City Limits.
It was 10 years ago today that Garth, under the guise of
an act called Yukon Jack, unexpectedly stopped in Clovis on
his way to Los Angeles for appearances on "The Tonight
Show" and at the Super Bowl to sing the national anthem.
"Ten years. It's hard to believe it's been 10 years
already. It seems like it was just the other day I was pulling
into the City Limits to see what was going on," said
Bryan Daniels, who worked at Clovis radio station KKYC-FM
at the time.
Daniels had naturally become familiar with the advertisements
for a "one-time only" appearance by Yukon Jack,
a name derived from Garth's hometown of Yukon, Okla. But he
was still in the dark as to who or what Yukon Jack was.
"That night, I decided to swing by and got to the front
door. All the girls at the Clovis City Limits were freaking
out, saying, 'You're not going to believe who's inside.' I
just kind of chuckled and said, 'Who?' I peeked around the
corner and, sure enough, Yukon Jack was Garth Brooks,"
said Daniels, who now owns a rock station, WIVI-FM, in the
Virgin Islands.
Why Brooks played in Clovis to begin with has mostly gone
down to legend because the owner of the bar at the time, Bill
Smith, has since passed away.
Smith is no longer around to confirm that the date was a
favor by a promoter who owed him one: one that Smith, not
knowing the true identity of Yukon Jack, originally rejected
until the promoter promised to cover the $1,000 fee if he
wasn't satisfied.
However, some of the other tales surrounding the appearance
can still be backed up.
For instance, most agree that an original gathering of about
100 people or less swelled to about 1,000 within a couple
of hours after Brooks took the stage.
And, although not every member of the audience immediately
rushed to the one phone in the bar when Brooks started performing,
many did, according to Daniels.
"I'd say that, at any given moment, there were 20 to
30 people in line for the phone," Daniels said.
The next evening, Garth Brooks recounted the appearance to
Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show" as Clovis residents
- the ones who were lucky enough to see his concert for the
$3 cover charge - told the tale themselves.
Compared to his lavish shows at large stadium venues, this
performance was a rather simple affair for Brooks - the very
reason, also according to legend, he decided to do the date.
"Basically, it looked like a local band up playing.
There were no stage decorations, just Garth and his band members
on the small stage. If you weren't a country music fan and
didn't know who Garth Brooks was, you'd think it was just
a local act," Daniels said. "But, at that time,
it was about darn-near impossible not to know who Garth Brooks
was."
"That was at the peak of country music, stronger than
it had ever been and Garth Brooks was the king of that heap,"
Daniels said
|
