RUSTY BURNS
POINT BLANK’S LEAD GUITARIST TALKS ABOUT TEXAS, TOURING WITH ZZ TOP, AND HIS FAITH IN GOD
By Michael R. Shipp
Recently I visited the new Barton Coliseum Hall of Fame Exhibit at the Arkansas State Fair. It’s an awesome dis- play of con- cert posters, photos, ticket stubs and newspaper accounts of the many
great concerts that shook the asbestos from the rafters of that old build- ing.
Something tells me that
no architect ever dreamed this building would host so many huge artists during the hey day of arena rock back when the blue- prints for the building were being conceived. The wonderful display of hippie-era memo- ries is the dream of my good friend, Kenneth King. Kenneth is a documentary film maker and music historian who was around for all of these great concerts in Barton Coliseum for five decades, including shows by everyone from AC/DC to ZZ Top.
The icing on the cake was a sold-out 1972 show by the Elvis Presley, which I was able to attend with my little sister as our birthday present. I can remember the chills I felt as if it was yesterday, and the camera flashes
exploding as “the King” took the stage. It was cool factor like I’d never before seen. As I walked along the halls of the display, I ran into my friends from Texas, Point Blank (PB). I explained to my little kiddos in tow, Peyton, 8, and
Presley, 6, how Rusty Burns was a good friend of mine.
My memo- ry drifted to the first time I saw this powerful
Texas Boogie band as they opened a show for my other good
Texan pals, ZZ Top. With Point Blank, you could see this band was a well oiled machine, with great songs, unbelievable twin guitars, and a wall of Marshall amps that really grabbed my attention. Before long, I owned that first Point Blank LP. The bad-ass tone from the band during that show, and the many to follow, certainly notched a place in my old one-track mind, where so many good memories are stored.
Fast forward to about 2003, when I con- nected with Rusty Burns, the great southpaw co-founder of PB. When not touring with PB, he fronts some great blues and roots acts in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Watching him perform recently at the Dallas Guitar Show
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