The caller ID showed a Knox County government number when my phone rang last Monday morning, so I figured the call was going to be something that would put me to work.

I was pleasantly surprised when the voice on the other end turned out to be that of Bradley Reeves of the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound (TAMIS). It’s always something good when Bradley calls, because he’s doing remarkable work down there in the bowels of the East Tennessee History Center where he and his wife, Louisa Trott, are preserving ephemeral pieces of our regional history and discovering forgotten gems.

So I knew it was going to be good. Maybe some heretofore-unknown Cas Walker stuff? Some old newsreel nobody knew existed?
John Bean circa 1971, with his niece Rachael Schafer standing on a chair and his sister Jeanette behind him, giving him an extra set of arms. Photo by Albert Bean
John Bean circa 1971, with his niece Rachael Schafer standing on a chair and his sister Jeanette behind him, giving him an extra set of arms. Photo by Albert Bean

But when he said he suspected that he’d found a brand new John Bean tape, it almost blew me out of my chair.

After all, my brother died 31 years ago, long before his crazy prank calls and off-kilter humor made him the Whupass Man – AKA LeRoy Mercer, the Rev. Raleigh Arnwine, Charlie Strawfields and Bill Morgan from just this side of Maynardville and the guy who bought the bad oil filter from Eddie Harvey and the bad boots from Thom McCan.

Yeah, that guy. The one who wrote a love song to his home state called “Tennessee,” that, as sung by Con Hunley, joined the list of state songs four years ago.

Bradley recently acquired a trove of audio and video recordings from another local character, Carl Warner, who worked in radio, TV and print media for about 20 years, beginning in the mid-sixties, and is moving to California to live with his son. He was a reporter at Channel 10 and served as editor of Cas Walker’s “Watchdog.” He ran unsuccessfully for state senate against Victor Ashe in 1978 and challenged incumbent Ashe to a fistfight.

When asked if he remembers Warner, Ashe said, “How could I forget him? He slugged me.”

Among Warner’s stuff were tapes from his WETE radio show, “On the Line with Carl Warner,” and on one tape, his guest was the Tennessee Playgirl, a hooker who catered to truck drivers. One of the last callers was a trucker whom Bradley thought sounded a lot like John.

He invited me to come over and give it a listen. I brought John’s friend Jerry “Woody” Hutson (memorialized on the “Plots” tape as “the one who knows about buying things”) for backup and we sat on the couch in the Reeves’ wood paneled den while Bradley fast-forwarded the tape until he got to Jess Montgomery, who said he drove a Peterbilt and believed that prostitutes ought to be government subsidized.

I looked at Woody and Woody looked at me.

It was John, like he’s never been gone.

Bradley’s going to listen to more tapes to see if John called Warner again (a likely prospect, since John tended to revisit his victims), and on Thursday night at 10 p.m., he’ll trot out what he finds on his WDVX radio show, East Tennessee Quiver, 102.9 FM.

Woody will be in the studio with him and I’ll be home, sitting by the radio laughing and crying and listening and thanking Bradley for bringing John back one more time.

(link...)

youtube.com/watch?​v=fLBGpbSSC3g