The Night Shift

[WildcatOne]

Last night Shakedown played at Katie's down in Bacliff. We hadn't been there since September, for Mikey's first gig with the band. The later it got, the more people showed up. By the time we hit the last set, there was over a hundred people in there and they were raising hell. Half of the crowd were musicians from Lynn's circle...he's been going out there on Thursday nights jamming and all. Also, on the way to work yesterday morning, I was listening to KACC radio (Alvin Community College's station...Nolan Ryan is a native Alvinian. He still lives there) and the lady came on and she said "I want everybody to know that the best band in town is playing at Katie's tonight..." I said "WE'RE playing at Katie's tonight..." She said "SHAKEDOWN, baby. Brandi, Lynn, Johnny, Willie and Mikey. They knock out the best classic rock and blues you ever heard. Don't miss it. Tonight, at Katies in Bacliff!" I said, I have a feeling this is going to be a good gig...the factor of all those musicians being there didn't really help us because they all sat in once they heard our show...dudes were singing over Brandi's lead vocals and they were going off into percussion support land which removed the sublety and dynamics in Willie's drumming style. But what it turned out to be was a big party...Katie made money...the plentiful amount of women got up and danced the night away...we're back there May 19th...we got in the regular rotation with the big-name local acts that play there. We let 'em jam with us while we did our stuff and they felt right at thome, but Willie told me on the way back that he wasn't pleased at all with all that...he wants Shakedown to just work out and do what we do by ourselves...I have to agree with what he was saying, but...BUT...we also let 'em all know that we can play with anybody on any song and it sounds pretty damn good, so bring it on...Lynn is crafting a future for us by doing what he's doing and I'm cool with that...this weekend I'm designing a new Citykings business card. Bill's going to have 'em printed up. We now have over a thousand dollars in CD sales in the bank so we're going to put a promo pack together and shop it around some agencies and clubs that cater to original music and make those cards. Shakedown'll work every night if Brandi'd let us...cover band doing mainstream rock and blues; a kind of superband made up of 4 veterans and a singer with the face of an angel, the body of Aphrodite and a voice and stage presentation that provokes impure thoughts and starts butts shaking. But the Citykings...they rock, but they also shake your mind some. Finding gigs for that band ain't as easy as answering the phone like it is for Shakedown. But we're gonna keep at it...just got back from Willowbend with Randolph. My buddy Be Like Bob's mom has a house project that she contracted to Randolph's company through me. Looks like we'll have about a 9 or 10-day deal going over there starting Tuesday. Rand also hired my son Kyle to help on this one. It's a major redo involving removing tons of junk from the back of the house where a warehouse full of stuff has accumulated, doing the remodel thing, then moving the stuff back in, in some semblance of order. We're going to have to build a temporary storage facility to put all that stuff in until the work is done on the inside of the area, then either finish that or tear it down once the stuff can go back in...kind of a strange place, but Bob's mom is a nice lady and she fell for Randolph right off the bat. He is a charming guy and he knows how to get things done, and they agreed on a price immediately, so it's all good. I helped Rand get that gig with my connection to Be Like Bob, and he thanked me before we left and went on with our weekends. I'm off tonight and tomorrow night. I'm getting caught up on my graphics (BluesHound from KPFT Pacifica Radio and his wife, done in WC portrait style, Change the phone number on Randolph's business logo that I made last month, finish Bill's business card artwork, do the Citykings' business card, etc...) I also was contacted by College of the Mainland with my schedule for the next 6 months. My course in songwriting begins April 26th and will run through May 30. The Blues Guitar class was a tremendous success and I am hoping I get to do another one, but they lined me up for an 11-14-year-old beginning guitar class this summer (I also recieved 4 requests for private lessons connected to this class so far) and next year they want me to give a Blues keyboard class...I'm planning to have a guest show up for each class of the songwriting course. Bill, Willie, Lynn and Joe, Lanis, Dave Freeman, and maybe Thaddeus, but I haven't decided if I will call Thad...he's a little heavy on the "I know so much it'd make your head spin" thing, and he doesn't know me at all...in other words, Thaddeus is in love with Thaddeus and he's all about Thaddeus and he is going to teach me because I need to learn how Thaddeus is such a great songsmith...that's his favor to me, see...so he commanded me to call him to come in and save my course for me with his expertise...with all respects to Thaddeus, I don't go around flashing my original material to everybody who doesn't even want to know about it, ya see...but I covered his action 30 years ago...I just don't have a AAAA+ personality...heck, in fact, I don't have much of a personality in person, and I've worked hard to come out of my shell in the last year or so. I went on a diet and lost 12 pounds in the last 2 months and I plan to lose 12 more. I grew my hair out long. I put more excitement into my stage act. But like I say, I'm still me...I don't think I need Thaddeus to come in and change my course for me over there. I'm working on themes for each week that will apply to songwriting and the methods that are available...long story, but it's more fun and more challenging than playing a gig, that's for sure. Well, I gotta run. Not sure if I can go to the drag races this coming up weekend. Money is very tight around here and if I did go, all I could do would be to pay the gate, period...that's good enough, though, isn't it? Guess I'll figure out a way to get in. I usually go Friday and watch the evening session, plus everybody races twice on Friday...Cheers, WC1

[jim sanders]

DID YOU SAY SOMETHING WC ??

[draglist]

Yeah, come on, John, how about sharing for a change?

Thanks for keeping us up to date on your activities... great, great stuff. bp

[jim sanders]

great stuff CAT.....maybe when you get a minute, help me with this question.. Im watching the snow delayed stock kar race and there is a company called free credit report dot com sponsoring a car and has tv commercials... where do they get their money

[WildcatOne]

Now I'm embarrassed...I didn't realize that post was so big...I guess I just got to rambling and ended up going over everything. Well, the Free Credit Report.com car is at least a tax write-off for those guys...they got a lot of sponsorships we ain't never dreamed of goin' on over there, don't they...
Cheers, WC1

[draglist]

You never have to apologize about the size of your posts! They are great to read. I'm listening to the City Kings right now and I'm reminded how GREAT it is! bp

[WildcatOne]

Thanks, BP! For the first time in my life, I'm doing what I like to do, what I want to do, and what I do best...I may not be getting rich at it, but I've got it going on and I'm sure not faking it in any of these projects. I have never been this happy. I guess that's why I blabbed! Wait'll you hear "Apple Of My Eye" a la CK...Randolph is the new Barry White, Prince and Isaac Hayes all rolled into one...Cheers, WC1

[draglist]

I was thinking the same thing about Randolph... I think the part on Walking All Alone when he breaks into the song is one of the finest moments on the album. bp

[WildcatOne]

I did 4 versions of a new business card for the Citykings. This one is my favorite. Also did one for WSRJ Music, which I will send to Bill tonight. Cheers, WC1
http://community.webshots.com/myphotos? ... ity=hCvvhI

[Rapid Randy Baker]

As always WC,, Very Cool!!