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Rockin’ at the Chop Shop (continued)
Deborah said, “If it wasn’t for the music, I would have never have found this place.” Ted, her son, had actually planned to get a haircut but since he was unfamiliar with the Marion area, he wasn’t sure where to go. Inside the Chop Shop, they found rock-n-roll barber, Randy Hill, jamming with Bob Fester, a regular customer and lead guitar player for retro rockers, the “Epics.” Randy put down his upright bass, seated Ted in the barber’s chair, and went right to work. Fester continued to play as Randy cut Ted’s hair.
In addition to his daytime gig as a barber, Hill also plays acoustic bass for the “Whistle Pigs,” a blue grass quartet fronted by “Banjo Joe” McCamish. But Randy is best known for his work with “Skinny Jim and the Number Nine Black Tops.” Skinny Jim Rotramel (guitar) and Shaun Hopkins (drums) are the other members of the high octane rockabilly trio which boasts one of the largest fan followings in all of Southern Illinois.
Recently Skinny Jim and the Number Nines, put their super-charged rock sound on a slick CD entitled, “Horsepower! Horsepower!” The CD was produced by Rick Miller, front man for cult legend, “Southern Culture on the Skids.” The second cut on “Horsepower,” is a hard rocker entitled, “Chop Shop.” The tune is autobiographical because after the Shop’s regular business hours, the Number Nines use the barber shop as a rehearsal hall.
Skinny Jim and the Number Nine Blacktops have toured all over the Midwest and eastern seaboard, and recently they have been booked to perform in Spring 2009 at a rockabilly festival in Germany.
The gig is part of a European tour which also includes dates in Spain and Finland. The Number Nine Blacktops frequently play at Black Diamond Harley Davidson near the Illinois Centre Mall in Marion. They also perform at John Brown’s on the Tower Square Plaza, downtown; and both the Number Nines and Whistle Pigs can be found at Hangar Nine and PK’s on the Carbondale strip. Both groups have enjoyed success outside of Southern Illinois as well. After the rocker-barber cut Ted’s hair, he invited them down to the Makanda Vulture Fest, to hear the Whistle Pigs play. The Pigs have lately become quite popular in the Memphis, Tennessee, area.
Randy’s interest in music led him to the world of barbering when he met a young barber at a punk rock concert in St. Louis. It was a St. Louis area barber who encouraged Randy to “check out” barber school. He recalls being in awe of the young man’s spiked hair. “His hair blew me away,” Hill confessed. He said he had never known that there was such a thing as barber school, “I always just figured you learned from some barber who was already cutting hair.”
Later, while getting his own hair cut at Lon’s Barber Shop in West Frankfort, owner Lon Clutts also encouraged Randy to give barber college a try.
Randy has owned The Chop Shop for six years now and says, “I wouldn’t want to do anything else.” He says that his Grandpa Hill bought the Shop for him, after he completed barber school. He said that his Grandpa’s getting the Shop for him was a way to give him a head start in the business.
Randy says that his favorite part of barbering is chatting with his regular customers. “I enjoy hearing their old-school stories about Marion. It is really a lot of fun.” He also likes the stress-free environment and describes his Chop Shop as “a man’s club, where guys can just come in and hang out and shoot the bull.” Hill always promises his customers that, “Your haircut will last ‘til your next haircut.”
When asked what he likes least about his job, he replied, “There’s really nothing I hate about my job, I enjoy being busy” which is easy to see as he happily tends to his clientele.
The Chop Shop is located at 414 N. Market St. in Marion, next to Adam’s Shoe Store. The Chop Shop is open from 8:30a.m. to 5p.m. Monday thru Saturday.
Haircuts are $10; beard trims are $5
Get yourself a Hot lather shave for $20.
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