Dateline 26-May-1998: It appears that there will be yet another version of Darrel Young and The Last (?) Stage West performing in the Indianapolis area very soon. After being out of the business for nearly 15 years, Darrel Young and his brother Larry have decided to jump back in.... this time strictly for the fun of it. The band has already started rehearsing, and will consist of Darrel on lead vocals, Larry on electric guitar, Dave Jackson on pedal steel guitar, Larry 'Fat Rat' Ratliff on drums, and Richard "Mark" Holler (that's me) on bass guitar.

(Looks like I may finally have a chance to pull all that high-priced bass equipment out of my closet, and actually start using it for a change!)

25-June-98: We have it on very good authority that Darrel Young & The Last Stage West will make a surprise "debut" appearance at the Randy Sparks Picnic, on July 5th (German Park, Indianapolis IN).

09-Jul-98: Well, we did indeed make our debut at the Randy Sparks Picnic. But only a few days later we had a major setback -- our drummer had a stroke! So, things are pretty much up in the air right now in regard to further developments and appearances. Hang in there, we'll let you know what's going on just as soon as we know.

23-Jul-98: FatRat is recovering nicely from his stoke, thanks to the marvels of modern medicine! Since the doctors got to him in time, they were able to give him a treatment that has allowed him to recover the majority of body functions that the stroke tried to take away from him. Unfortunately, their miracle drugs couldn't make him any prettier, but I suppose we'll just have to learn to live with that.

20-Aug-98: We just hired Dave Anderson to replace FatRat on drums. We've all worked with Dave before in various bands around town, and he's a darned good drummer. We're anxious to get up to speed with him.

And since Rat is able to get around pretty well now, we've hired him as our Sound Engineer. Rat is as good a sound man as he is a drummer, so we still get to keep him around as a part of the group!

12-Nov-98: Well, we've decided that we finally have enough material to be able to go out and put on a full show. So, we're gonna start booking jobs!!! Be sure to check our Dates page frequently for any new additions!

30-Nov-98: We finally got ourselves a trailer to haul our equipment around in! Hauling our gear was getting to be a pretty serious problem for us, because we've accumulated so much stage gear, sound system, lighting, and other equipment, which we have to pack up and transport to each and every show we do. We all want to give a Very Special Thanks to Dick & Janet Poynter of R&R Plumbing for making this happen for us!!!

03-Jun-99: The Rat Is Back! FatRat has mostly recovered from his stroke, and he is now back behind the drums for us now! He'll make is big return debut when we go to Kentucky to play for Darrel's 35th class reunion in a couple of weeks. Bill Newt has been operating a spotlight for us, and he has agreed to take on the full Light/Sound job for us.

12-Sep-99: Nothing much to report lately. We've had a pretty uneventful summer, and we're finding that there just aren't very many places for a country music band to perform in the Indianapolis area. So instead, we spent most of the summer working on a CD project, and getting a few promotional items put together.

19-Dec-99: The R&R Christmas Party was a tremendous success, even better than the previous year. We got to really put all our new PA gear through its paces, and it sounded most excellent! To make things even better, we had 2 special guests with us that night: Bret Raper on fiddle, and John Kaigley on guitar, sax, and vocals. If there was ever a time that I wish we had the capabilities of making live recordings, that would have been it.

24-Feb-00: Not much to report lately, other than we are once again without a drummer. FatRat has left us due to health reasons, so we're back to square one again in that regard. We've talked to a couple of folks about the job, but haven't made any decisions yet. Hopefully, we'll be able to get a few more jobs in 2000!


Sadly, since the band broke up in early 2000, there hasn't been any more news to report.


COPYRIGHT © 1998,99 by RMH Computer Services; All rights reserved.