Lemmy The Lip
Lemmy The Lip
By: Stephen Tully
When I was a student at Northern Kentucky University pursuing my undergraduate degree in history I signed up for a Historical Biography class because I figured it would be an easy A. The reading load was minimal and there were no exams but we were required to write a ten page research paper on an historical figure of our choosing. I decided I would write about a jazz musician because they seem to lead fairly colorful lives. I chose an obscure trombonist who played in a traveling Swing band back in the 1930s named Lemuel Meiske, or "Lemmy the Lip." He had grown up in a backwater town in Arkansas and received his first trombone at the age of eight when his mother, a gifted athlete, won it at a local tether-ball tournament. Lemuel was a musical autodidact, learning to play by sitting in with traveling bands who visited the local tavern. By the age of ten he had started his own band called "The Hornswogglers." They were an instant hit so his father, Panama Meiske, a part time preacher and struggling circus promoter, took the group on the road. Lemmy was such a gifted prodigy on his instrument that his signature solo number, "Flight of the Bumblebee," by the Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, left folks dumbstruck. There was ever a rumor that Panama had struck a deal with the devil to purchase his son's unearthly talent. Panama denied this vehemently saying, "I could never get him to sign the papers." However, Lemmy was not universally loved. He had a nasty temper and often cursed loudly at patrons who weren't paying close enough attention to his performances. That's how he earned his nickname, "Lemmy the Lip." When he turned eighteen Lemmy ran away to Chicago and joined a swing band called "The Meter Readers." His career was cut short when he suffered a fatal aneurism on stage while furiously yelling at a group of jitterbuggers who refused to stop dancing. Panama sued the nightclub and won a modest settlement which he used to launch a successful political career.