The Night Shift

[pro70z28]

Great story WC. One of these days you'll problee' have roadies to haul that stuff to gigs. Keep keepin' on..........

[draglist]

Jimmy sure does love the scene... what a great guy. bp

[WildcatOne]

The benefit is today. We play at 6PM. I could probably copy and paste a story from a previous Club 21 post to describe what went down this weekend in Galveston. We played there Friday and Saturday nights. Friday was the slowest night I ever saw there...bad weather...not very many folks showed up...but last night it was back to business as usual. Packed house, totally crazy crowd (mostly female), Girls Gone Wild, Live. Total chaos in the crowd. Baseline fun. We can't believe what we see...

When I was just out of high school in 1967, I worked on the beach in Galveston, renting floats and umbrellas...my stand was set up next to a nightclub on the sand called the Bamboo Hut. A band called The Boogie Kings would come in and play there on weekends, and I remember thinking what a thrill it would be to play in a band like that. I hadn't started playing guitar yet, but I knew music from my years of piano and theory training, and I knew when I heard these guys play that I was listening to the greatest white soul band ever. A few years later, they became Edgar Winter's White Trash and had their big time boogie, then they came back and continued what they were doing, and they've been at it all these years since. Yesterday, the founder of The Boogie Kings, Doug Ardoin, called me. They're following the Pee Wee Bowen Band at the benefit today, and Doug has had a few things happen that have him under the weather lately. He asked me if he has to take a breather while they play if I'd step up and fill in for him. I said it would be an honor, and of course, I'd be delighted to play as needed. This is a dream I had 43 years ago before I ever had any inkling to play music in a band on whatever instrument. Today if needed, I will fill in for the founder and leader of The Boogie Kings. My main focus is on delivering a top-flight performance with Pee Wee. This will be an important step for our band in its current lineup...we're gaining momentum and popularity that we didn't expect. Word has come in that we're being touted coast-to-coast as one of the best soul bands in the South right now. That's not hype, it's happening. Pee Wee has been flooded with calls from all over the country. Today I'm going to walk through a dream I had when I was a kid on the beach in Galveston. Pee Wee pulled me aside last night and told me to just be myself and play and it'll all be fine. He has never given me one word of bad advice, so I'm going to do just that...if they need me to. Gotta run. Life is good. WC1
http://www.boogiekings.com/
"Live At The Bamboo Hut"...I worked right next to that deal...

[Rapid Randy Baker]

Wow, now that is cool news WC!! Go get them buddy

[jim sanders]

looking foward to the report !!

[pro70z28]

Cool Deal WC Living a dream.....

[draglist]

That's fantastic, Cat. Congratulations. bp

[WildcatOne]

These came in from Jim Shortt today...the Pee Wee Bowen Band played a set for the ages at this benefit. We rocked the house down. We're all very proud of not just being invited, but that we went up there and played our very best. The Boogie Kings didn't need me, Doug was fine, and I was glad about that. I got to hang out with him and the band and they were all super nice folks. Frankly, after the Pee Wee Bowen set, I was pretty exhausted...we put out maximum energy for an hour, after playing 2 Club 21 gigs the previous 2 nights...spent a good deal of time hanging out with Lynn Raggio of Shakedown, Tommy Dardar, various Boogie Kings and Richard and Lanis from the Whiskey Saints...great to see my old band buddies and get caught up on what's been happening...anyway, here's me onstage at the Cock-Eyed Seagull yesterday evening at the Charlie Greenway benefit. $4,630 was raised for Charlie's family. Life is good. WC1