A Tribute to John Bean
(The REAL story of the REAL Leroy Mercer)
(aka: The REAL Story of the REAL Lee Roy Mercer)
See my tribute and purchase a CD to support it at: http://www.drwebman.com/leroymercer
John Bean
1951-1984
(the REAL, the one, the only true Leroy Mercer)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WANTED Lost Episodes:
Here are three I can think of (if they are legit)
Testimony Time
C&C part 2
Bill Frazier of Frazier's Carpet Mill ("It's a ruuuu-guh!")
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I put this website together to "set the record" straight.
I want to praise John Bean as the genius behind "Leroy Mercer"
and complain about "Roy D. Mercer" and the "Jerky Boys". (and now "Lee Roy
Mercer"?)
I believe John Bean preceded them by many years, his calls were real and the
similarities are unmistakable.
I've heard that "Roy D. Mercer" is/are/may be Oklahoma's shock jocks
who appear to have almost plagiarized one of John Bean's aliases, Lee Roy
Mercer.
And, the Jerky Boys were just damn-yankee (we don't capitalize yankee down
South!), carpetbagger, wannabe's.
The late John Bean
Here's the skinny, my opinion:
1. John Bean (Johnny to those who knew him) was a real person! When he was only
19 year old, around 1970, he was diagnosed with cancer and was given radiation
treatments. He got better and everyone thought he was cured. But, about 10 years
later he got sick again and his family believe he was over-radiated during his
treatments, damaging his heart and lungs. He was given only weeks to live, but
he lived three (3) more years. During this time he was usually stuck at home,
bored. He made music, but he also made prank phone calls to people. (Lucky for
us all he taped them.) His calls were real and the people he called were real.
(In some of his calls, John called himself Sid Arnwine, Raleigh Arnwine, Roy
Morgan, Leroy Mercer / Lee Roy Mercer and others. But, Leroy Morgan was the name
that seemed to stick in the mind of those who heard his tapes before they knew
who he was.)
Not only were these calls hilariously funny, it was amazing that he was so quick
with comebacks (and he never cracked up to give his pranks away). Fortunately,
someone heard these tapes John left and made a copy. This guy copied them for
someone, they made copies, they made copies, etc....... until they were all over
the country. The sound quality was terrible because they had been copied so many
times, but they were funny as hell! (My dad, a deacon who never curses, couldn't
help but laugh at the tape.) It was like a secret society. You'd say "HUH-UH?"
to a friend and they'd laugh.
(Sorta like "CAN YOU HEAR ME ALRIGHT? TEST, TEST" Lester Roadhog Moran, but
that's another story.)
Some of John Bean's recordings:
Eddie's Auto ("It's
an Oilllllll Filter")
C&C Auto (Rim)
Thom McCann's ("They's
supposed to be damn gooduns.")
357 Shells (The only time someone turned it around on John.)
Lt. Gentry (He served under Gen. Lee!?!?!?)
Mrs. Galyon
Plots
Pigs
Ikey (He and a friend were drunk and trying to find a friend's place in
Atlanta)
Tennessee (Touching song written by Johnny. You can hear how weak he is
getting when he sings.)
I Hate Atlanta (Song written as a result of the "IKEY" trip, I guess.)
|
|