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By the time Bongo Joe arrived in San Antonio, around the time of HemisFair, he’d been a musician for decades, initially as a pianist and then as a drummer.

Known almost exclusively by his nickname, Bongo Joe became part of San Antonio’s rich tapestry of interesting people as he spent years downtown, playing percussion on a set of 55-gallon oil drums strapped to a motorbike.

Born in Florida, George Coleman was orphaned as a child and moved to Detroit to live with extended family. His music career began there, and he became a notable musician, but the stories about his life and times — chronicled in old newspaper stories — are nearly over the top. (He once shot a heckler with a .44-caliber handgun, gave chase to a fleeing criminal and won the right to stay in a ramshackle cabin when the rest surrounding it were demolished.)

Jim Cullum Jr., a local jazz musician, knew Bongo Joe better than most.

“He was a rhythm man. He had a great sense of rhythm,” Cullum said in a recent interview. “He could have been a real good drummer.”

Apparently, that was Bongo Joe’s plan, according to old newspaper stories. He’d set his sights on joining a band but could never scrape together enough money to buy a set of actual drums. So he took to beating on oil barrels instead.

“He would make a show out of taking out a hammer and banging on the steel barrel like he was tuning it,” Cullum recalled. “But it was a show.”

Bongo Joe played around Texas, in Mexico and in New Orleans. When he was younger, he also played in Detroit. According to his biography on the website of the Texas State Historical Association, Bongo Joe even played with Sammy Davis Jr.

“Bongo Joe was invited to participate in the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival nine times. There he played piano once with Dizzy Gillespie. In 1976 he played on a 10-city tour as part of Gerald Ford's presidential campaign,” says the biography posted on the historical association’s website. “In 1991 he appeared on three television programs called ‘Almost Live from the Liberty Bar’ that aired on the San Antonio PBS affiliate KLRN. His performances stopped in the early 1990s, when he was diagnosed with diabetes and kidney disease. He died in San Antonio on Dec. 19, 1999.”

When Bongo Joe first arrived in San Antonio — attracted to play to the crowds around HemisFair — Cullum’s father, also a musician, befriended and jammed with him, Cullum Jr. recalled.

“My father would go up there and play the clarinet with him,” he said. “Sometimes, the three of us would play.”

That generally happened after the Cullums played their gig at the Landing, their jazz club on the River Walk, he said.

Bongo Joe tended to start playing around 9:30 p.m., and he’d wrap up around 2 a.m., Cullum said.

While the historical association and Cullum focused on the musical side of Bongo Joe, San Antonio’s newspapers chronicled the twists and turns of the performer’s life here.

Newspaper clippings from the 1970s and ’80s portrayed a colorful character who played his steel drums while wearing a red velvet fez hat. He’d strap a microphone to his shirt and whistle as he played. But he was in the newspaper for more than his musical talents.

In the spring of 1978, Bongo Joe did a bit more than just play his downtown shows. An April 1, 1978, article, “Bongo Joe apprehends suspect in strange way,” explains that Bongo Joe helped in the arrest of an alleged shoplifter.

According to the story, the suspect stole some jewelry and sunglasses and then threatened a store worker with a knife. As the suspect fled, he ran past Bongo Joe, who pulled up on his mo-ped next to a patrol car and asked the officer why that man had run past him. The cops told Bongo Joe the man was a suspect in a robbery.

“With that information, Joe moved up alongside the breathless suspect and asked if he could give him a ride. The breathless person nodded ‘yes’ and he, too, climbed on the bike,” the story said. “Joe said he told the man he looked like he needed a cup of coffee and would buy him one.”

The story continues, saying that patrol officers pulled up next to the bike and inquired if everything was OK. Joe apparently gave the officers a wink.

“Finally, at Fourth Street and Broadway, Joe ploughed to a halt and got off the sagging mo-ped,” the story said. “The trailing officers immediately closed in and apprehended the suspect as he tried to get away.”

Later that night, Bongo Joe was back at his spot near Alamo and Commerce streets, banging on his drums.

In the early 1980s, Bongo Joe had a bit of a housing crisis. He was living in the 12th Street Courts near the San Antonio Museum of Art. The museum had announced it was tearing down the vast majority of the housing structures along the river but had promised that Bongo Joe could stay in the one that wouldn’t be demolished. Then, it appeared that he wouldn’t be able to because the tenants who were there rescinded their offer to move.

Bongo Joe threatened to permanently relocate to Corpus Christi because of the situation, causing a stir among local leaders who saw him as a special part of downtown nightlife. Ultimately, though, the San Antonio Museum Association relocated Bongo Joe to a small cabin near SAMA.

“Well, it looks like I’ll be staying around,” he told a local newspaper reporter in a May 1982 article.

Other newspaper stories tell of Bongo Joe offering $100 — everything in his savings account — for the return of his stolen mo-ped, drums and P.A. system. He later found his things floating in the San Antonio River.

Then, in the mid-1980s, Bongo Joe found himself on the wrong side of the law after he shot a heckler at point-blank range with a .44-caliber handgun. In April 1983, Bongo Joe was playing to a crowd of about 30 people, including the heckler.

According to a police sergeant quoted in a newspaper article about the incident, the heckler “made a threatening motion which Joe interpreted as an attack,” the story said.

The victim apparently walked to the nearby McDonald’s after he was shot and was then transferred to Medical Center Hospital and was treated for a bullet wound to the chest, the story said.

Bongo Joe was jailed overnight on a third-degree felony charge and then was released on his own recognizance, according to one newspaper article. Another report said someone posted a $5,000 bond for him.

The victim, Manuel Rubio, argued at the time that Bongo Joe should be banned from San Antonio.

“If he shoots customers, he’s not doing a good job of representing San Antonio,” Rubio said in an April 14, 1983, article. “And with Fiesta just around the corner, anyone with that kind of temper doesn’t belong anywhere on the streets.”

Ultimately, Bongo Joe received five years’ probation for the incident.

He continued to play on San Antonio’s downtown streets into the early 1990s. He died in 1999 after a diagnosis of diabetes and kidney disease.

jbaugh@express-news.net | Twitter: @jbaugh

COMING FRIDAY: Remembering an early Baptist Settlement.

After 10 years covering City Hall for the San Antonio Express-News, Baugh moved into the environment beat in February 2019.

A native of the Alamo City, Baugh was hired as a suburban-cities reporter at his hometown newspaper in 2006.

He began his newspaper career at the Denton Record-Chronicle while working on a master's degree in journalism at the University of North Texas and later covered Texas A&M University for The Eagle in College Station. He's covered various facets of government and politics ever since.

Baugh has previously written about public housing, county government and transportation for the Express-News.