Theodora Johnson

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The In Between. circa 1973. Left to right: Martin
Strickland, Victor Franklin, Charles Robinson, and Janet
Ferguson. Photo credit: 1973 Mulerider yearbook.
Hanging out with the
In Between
Riding on the coat tails of the 1960s, one of the
greatest decades of music and start-up bands, the early
1970s was the prime time for a group of college
students to start a band of their own.
In 1972, a group of young music students started a
band called the In Between on the campus of Southern
State College (now South Arkansas University) in
Magnolia, Arkansas, a small town in southwest part of
the state on Highway 82 between El Dorado and Texarkana, Arkansas. The racial-gender diverse group
was made up of six men and one young woman, all of whom were music majors: Earl Wayne Gill, vocals
and keyboard; Robert Wiley, drums; Tommy Wiley, lead guitar; Martin Strick Strickland, saxophone;
Charles Robinson, lead vocals; Victor Stick Franklin, bass; and Janet Jake Ferguson, lead vocals.
I met Janet, Victor, Earl Wayne, and Martin in the fall of 1972 when we were freshmen at Southern State
College. Each one of these soon-to-be band members had exceptional musical talents; in fact, they were
all recipients of music scholarships. Gill, Ferguson, and Robinson sang in the concert choir while
Franklin, Wiley, Robinson, and Strickland played in the colleges marching band; in fact, Franklin played
trumpet in that band, but taught himself to play the bass after the In Between was formed. The soon-to-be
members found that in spite of their scholarships, they still needed additional funds to cover college costs
and were seeking ways to do it; so, one evening after band practice, the guys sat in the student union to
relax and started a discussion about an abstract painting titled The In Between. During the discussion the
band founder Robert Wiley suggested they combine their musical talents and start a band to make the

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Photo is courtesy of Janet Ferguson Casey.
extra money for school expenses. They all decided that it would be worth a try and the band was born.
They named it after the painting they had been discussingThe In Between.
My first memory of the band performing was the night they played in the campus talent show in which
they won first place. I was amazed that they sounded as polished as
any of the top-40 groups we were listening to on the radio. The
singers sang in perfect harmony, the music was sharp and had the
funky beat of the times. It was awesome, especially because these
were people I knew! People I attended school with! It wasnt long
before their sound made them extremely popular in the region. The
demand to perform at various events and venues grew during the spring of 1973, so they went on the
road. I and a group of friends followed them. By the summer of that year, they were getting bookings for
everything from dances at dives to proms and beautician balls, and we supported them. During this time I
developed a crush on one of the members and that gave me even more incentive to go. If the band went to
Camden, we went to Camden; if they were booked in El Dorado, we went to El Dorado. If they went to
Texarkana, so did we. Some of the places where they played were in some of the seedier parts of the
towns, but that did not deter us from hanging with the band. One of the songs they performed, a cover of
the Sly and the Family Stone hit Hot Fun in the Summer Time, accurately sums up that summer. Fueled
by McDonalds fries and cherry Sprites from Sonic, we rode with the band and had a blast! One funny, or
not, story occurred that summer as a result of my following the band. I had met a guy, but I wasnt as
interested in dating him as he was apparently interested in dating me. He wanted to go out one weekend,
but I slipped off to Texarkana with a group of friends to hear the In Between play at a ball there. Imagine
my surprise when I saw him walk through the doors of the hall and proceed to come ask me to dance. I
was TOO embarrassed! My friends and my crush teased me about that incident for days. The band even
threatened to stop me from traveling with them, but that was useless; I continued to go. We had a glorious
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time and incurred some long time memorieswell, in my mind. The group stayed together, performed,
and continued to grow in popularity until we left school.
In the spring of 1976 we all graduated from Southern State and left to pursue careers, marry, and raise
families. I left Arkansas and moved to Flint, Michigan, my hometown, to start my teaching career. I got
married, started a family, and soon lost contact with my college friends. After spending fourteen years in
the North, my first husband and I parted ways, and I moved back to Arkansas with my three daughters to
seek the solace of my family and to get my life back on track. I settled in Little Rock and worked as a
sales rep at the Arkansas Gazette until it closed, and then went back to teaching English and journalism.
Three years later I met and married my current husband. He has not met any of the band members, but he
has heard the stories about our escapades. Thankfully, he is a good-natured guy who also went to college
and had a few adventures himself.
In the span of these many years and experiences, I have only seen two of the seven members of the
bandJanet in 1999, at a sorority reunion at SAU and Martin in 1991 at the barber school in Little Rock
where I got my hair cut. He recognized me immediately, and we had a chance to catch up on what was
going on with some of the guys. After I stopped going to the school, Martin and I lost contact again.
However, thanks to Facebook, I have linked up with and have restored a continuous line of
communication with three of themJanet, Victor, and Charles. Recently, I connected with all of them
except the Wiley brothers (I was told that Robert is deceased, and I never really knew Tommy) to work
on a project about the group. Even though the performers are years and miles apart, they all have similar
memories yet different views of the events as well as the high and low points of their time together.
During the interviews I learned a great deal of interesting information about the band and the members
that I did not know during our college years, so for the remainder of this narrative, Ill share the
wonderful memories they divulged to me as well as what they are doing now.
Theodora Johnson
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Photo courtesy of Victor
Franklin 2014
Victor currently resides in San Diego, California, with Kimberly his wife of 38 years. He currently
performs in four bands: Chocolate Factory , Willovealot, Theo & Zydeco Patrol, and CJ Hutchins. The
first three bands can be found on You Tube, and, CJ Hutchins is accessible on ITunes. Although we have
not seen each other since we graduated, we found each other on Facebook and
became friends. Except for the silver highlights in his hair, he pretty much looks
like he did at Southern State. I caught up with him via social media and by
phone to gather information for a documentary about the group, and he revealed
the majority of the information to me about the founding of the band. It was
through him that I learned the surprising fact that when he was asked to join the
band, he did not play the bass but taught himself how to play it after he joined
the band. He talked candidly about how they practiced at Roberts house and used Roberts brother
Tommys equipment. He answered my questions about what he thought was the hallmark moment for the
band by telling me that there were two events that he considered the peak moments for the group: number
one was when they won the talent contest on campus; the second was when the band was invited to go
play at his high school in El Dorado, Arkansasone year after he had graduated from there. He was
really proud of the fact that the band played a wide repertoire of music such as jazz, rock, R&B, blues,
and pop which is why he felt the band had the appeal it did for the diverse audiences they performed for.
They not only played the current Top 40 songs of that time, but they also played some of the classics from
the 60s. In the years that have passed, the things he misses most are the people and the fun of the times.
He is not the only one.
Martins memories of the days in the band were similar to the ones Victor told me about. Strick
reflected on how Robert Wiley got the group together. He told me that the band had some brushes with
some famous performers of the time. They played back up for blues singers Geter Davis and Betty
Wright, were invited to travel with Bill Withers, and were offered a chance to tour with the BarKays. We
talked about his highs and lows of the band days. The one low point he shared was about the time the
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band got stiffed by Geter Davis. They drove thirty-two miles to El Dorado to play along with him, did the
show, but they did not get paid. That was a hard lesson to learn. On the brighter side, however, he told me
that playing the gigs with the band not only put money in their pockets, but it also made the musicians
more popular than the football players. For a band student, that was major! He waxed nostalgic as he
talked about life since the band days. He currently works as a barber and plays saxophone in his church,
but said what he misses about those days with the In Between are the notoriety that came from being a
band member, and he misses the other members because they were all close.
Ironically, I caught up with Charles while he was visiting Martin who was recuperating from a recent
medical procedure. Charles, who is currently a secondary music and P.E. teacher in the Houston, Texas
area, did not talk much about the history of the band, but he voiced only fond memories of his time with
the band. His hallmark moment was being asked to perform at the prom in Monticello, Arkansas, a small
town in Southeast Arkansas and not one known for diversity in that era. He said that like the other
members, the main things he misses since the band days are the shows, the bright lights, and performing
on stage. It was great to talk to another voice from the past.
Janet, the female vocalist of the band, had the most poignant perspective of the whole band adventure. As
the only girl in the group, she had a different view. She was a music minor who sang in the concert choir,
but still had to use work study to offset her scholarship money by working as a secretary for ROTC and in
the library. When one of the jobs downsized, she needed money. Thats when she joined the band. She
sees her time as the only female in a group made up primarily of men as the perfect segue that ushered her
into a successful business careeran area that was traditionally a male-dominated field at that time.
Having that time hanging with the guys prepared me, she said. She went on to say that even though she
was alone with the guys, she felt covered and protected as they journeyed across South Arkansas in a
borrowed station wagon that Earl Waynes father let them use.
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Janet ended the conversation by saying she misses being around the good music of the time. She no
longer sings and misses the socialization. She spoke with nostalgic admiration about how the band could
play for any audience, across any demographic. We were just that diverse. When I asked her if she
foresaw a reunion with the band at any point in the future, she answered with a resounding, Nope!
Always look forward; you cant re-create the past.
Gleaning and gathering the information for both the documentary as well as this narrative has been a
poignant journeyto look back on our youth and the good times we shared. It has brought back
memories of a time when the small number of black students at a predominantly white college that
resisted our presence there caused us to form a bond that still holds us together after all these years. It has
brought back memories of the afros, miniskirts, bell bottoms, halter tops, and the four-inch platform shoes
we girls wore. It has brought back memories of that sweet wine made by TJ Swann: Mellow Days and
Easy Nights that we drank under the moonlight. We never got drunk off of it, just goofy and giggly.
The end product of this venture has been renewed connections with faces and voices not seen or heard in
decades. We were reminded of greatness and the good times created by a great band whose melodious
sounds carried us through that time.