General Music Chat

Things just got crazy...

Got an email from an old friend in Texas last week, rhythm guitar and keyboards in the band I played for 10 years ago. Our old band leader has cancer, they've put him through all the usual non-effective nonsense - surgery (lost an ear) chemo, you name it, they've almost succeeded in killing him.

So the guys got together and set up a benefit show for him this Sunday and called me to play guitar. Haven't seen these guys in 10 years and will have no chance to practice because...

A band here called me a few days ago to do a blues festival, turns out it's going to be Saturday afternoon, 2:45 PM so I'll have to pack up and run like hell to Lufkin to make it Sunday for the benefit AND still get a little sleep...I'll be doing both shows without a chance to practice with either band, but the guys in Lufkin are old bandmates and I'm sure we can pull it off without any trouble, except for all the harmonies...we're all 3 singers and do loads of harmonies.

GEORGE - Where are ya? Working this weekend? Might be able to stop along the way and meet again if you can get loose, and if you feel like a 2 hour drive, you can come see us Sunday evening. That'll mean skipping church, if that's not too much for you...hehe...I'll probably be driving back Monday morning.

Sounds great man! Make sure and wear one of them hats you wear all the time, no practice, no sweat for you man!

My only problem is deciding which hats to bring...But you can bet I'll be showing off a couple of crazy hats, that's for sure.

I'm looking forward to it, should be fun.

Hey Billy.
Great to hear from you.

BZ weekend here too got a gig Saturday morning in Marshall at 04:00 so I'll be out all night Friday.
Wife scheduled family portraits for Saturday morning as well.
Hope she has tooth picks or just take my picture in a box like the old west because I'll be dead. LOL

Sunday may be open ( I'll have to speak to Jeanette )... been so focused on Saturdays goings on I almost forgot Sunday exists.
Shoot me some info about the gig ( time place ETC )

And if all else fails ... break a leg bro!

P.S. I'm now full time employed with the hospital in Tyler.
Monday though Friday 06:45 - 15:30 plus every eighth weekend.
My days of being a kept man are faded into black.

George - Don't have details on time yet, it will be in Lufkin Sunday evening, at a place that used to be the Silver Dollar club. Can't remember the new name.

I'll be heading back here Monday morning, Saturday while I"m on the road I won't have time and you'll be dead so that's a no go...Hey wanna loan me that box? I'll probably need one too after this weekend...

Best wishes with your gig Billy !

Well, got back Monday night about dark, still a bit ragged out but it was a good weekend.

Played the Delta Festival here Saturday at 3PM with a local band, everybody we talked to said we were the best band all day. I just met these guys an hour before we played...they hired me full time soon as we got off stage. So I'm now their regular lead guitar player. Pretty loud but it sounded good out front.

Then drove to Texas, played the benefit gig Sunday, they had me onstage more than anybody else in the place. Several bands played, I sat in with most of them, our band played twice. Haven't seen each other in 9 years and still sounded great, except that my voice wouldn't hold up. 2 or 3 guys kept stopping me every time I walked across the room and telling me I and our band kicked ass. (I try not to pay too much attention to that, usually they're too drunk to know the difference) I know the band sounded good, I have ears, but I'm not sure I'm as good as they seem to think I am...

Also put together a jam session at the end of the night with a guitar played I hadn't met, probably a better player than I am, we did about a dozen blues tunes and it was a great jam session. He did some killer picking, I tried to stick to as melodic and tasteful as I could, he went for a more clean and trebly sound, I pulled out the Cort and set the Super Reverb for as fat and ballsy as I could get it...boy did it ever work well. One of the guys in our old band stayed for 3 or 4 tunes and told me it was awesome, he thinks I blew the guy away, I think we both did some excellent picking. I really enjoyed listening to this guy though, he's done a lot of professional gigs and is quite good and blending in for rhythm parts and standing out on leads. We even managed to pull off some harmony feedback on the last note of one song, he was grinning ear to ear.

Overall, a great night, I loved it, the guy who put the whole thing together (also a very good guitar player) told me a half dozen times I need to move back there, told me I'd have a band waiting. I'd love to but will have to see what happens here, the band I just joined is planning on playing casinos and festivals, might be worth sticking around for a while.

George, I wish you could have made it, I think you would have enjoyed it, and probably would have been able to play a little too.

I got a kick out of one guy, I knew the song his band was playing, used a little sign language and he motioned me to come play some. So I finished out the song with them, put the guitar down (strat) and walked offstage. Just about to step down the steps when he said "Oh no, you come back here". He never let me get offstage till they were through...we talked for a bit, turns out he considered me one of the best guitar players in the place, and really liked it when I got onstage with them. I thought he was one of the best other than the last jam session...that guy was just a monster player.

That's the way the whole night went, I couldn't get onstage and do just one song, except for once when I threw some sax in at one point. Our band (Quarter Moon) was the highlight of the night, everybody was waiting for us, most of them had seen us 10 years ago, and I don't think anybody left the building until we had played at least once. That was really cool...even rusty as we were, we got a very good reception.

They also auctioned off a bunch of stuff, raised $2600 for our old band leader, who has been fighting cancer and is in really bad shape, doctors are killing him with chemotherapy. That was really sad to see...he's in a wheelchair, barely able to talk, got tired and had to go lay down after a couple of hours...

Sounds like you had a great weekend Billy, and congratulations on the band hiring you.
That's pretty special right there.

I'd loved to hear you guys ... buy I got no business on stage with that level of players ... yet ...
But I'm learning pretty fast for an old fart.

Didn't get any shots of us onstage, but here's one I took after the second set. I'm the one on the left, Shane in center (guitar and vocals) Alan on right (bass and vocals).

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Love the tie man ...

Thanks. I had to do it, that was the band that got the crazy hats started, and I always tried to find the wildest ties I could find. We always wore the black and white outfits, I tried to make mine...not ordinary...