Interviewer:
When you had the late night show, give me an idea when that was, what year.
Thomas:
Yeah, I used to have a late night show from midnight to 4, sometimes midnight to 3 according how they felt during that week. And the name of my show, you know everybody had a theme song back in those days, you, you'd always identify the disk jockey by his theme song and mine was "Hoot and Holler", a song done by a Terry, something Terry, ah, oh golly I can't think of the two people but they were musicians…
Interviewer:
Start again.
Thomas:
Some years ago I had a just a show at night called Hoot and Holler, Sonny Magee, Sonny Terry and Brownie Magee, I apologize and that was a thing where all the disc jockeys, all the black disc jockeys anyway had, had a theme song and mine was "Hoot and Holler". And I'd come on like, I'm young, I'm loose, I'm full of juice, I got the goose so what's the use. We're feeling gay though we ain't got a dollar, Rufus is here, so hoot and holler and then Brown and all of them would come through with that, with that thing called "Hoot and Holler" and I was on the radio. And during the time that I was on the radio, white kids used to call me all the time, how about us coming up sitting with you and watch you do your show? Hey, don't bother me none, come on. These were all basically college kids, so I let them come on. And not only did I do it like that on my radio show, I used to take white kids down on Beal Street when they used to have midnight rambles where whites came on Thursday nights, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday we went but on Thursday night was a special night for whites. And I'd take the kids, but I'd take them down there any time because they'd go with me, no fear, no nothing, just having fun and that's what it was all about. And then during the stage shows they used to be presented on stage at the Palace Theater during that time. So I've been doing that all the time. And I was a, not only that, I was the first black jock to play Elvis until the PD told me to stop playing Elvis, until, we were doing a show at Ellis Auditorium, George Cline brought Elvis back stage and they were going to put Elvis up front in this show. I said, don't you do that, if you do the show is over but they put him close to the end and we were wearing Indian costumes, I had a great big hat and then feathers and the like. So I took Elvis by his hand, led him on stage and he did that willow with that leg two or three times and it was over and the show was really over and the people, these were black people, his first all black show, they stormed that place trying to get to Elvis. And the next day I started back to playing Elvis and we been playing Elvis ever since. See there's no one, ah, individual who can think for a group of people. There's one man who just happened to be white thinking that black folks didn't like Elvis and he was so wrong. People like music and if it's good it makes no difference who's doing it, black, blue, green even plaid if it's like that. And I love good music and Elvis was doing good music for me at that time. He was doing blues, rhythm and blues because that was his beginning.