The Night Shift

[jim sanders]

yep great report WC... I remember going from disco to the Urban Cowboy days a whole new wardobe .... never mastered the 2-step though.. did meet a lot of gals and got lost many times in the early am trying to find my way home

[WildcatOne]

I'm watching "Austin City Limits" on PBS. Well, actually it's on the little TV next to my workstation in my "shrine to bad taste". They have 2 bands playing one set each. They suck. Off-key singing, negative stage presence, lousy, boring, unimaginative material, rudimentary musicianship...same old woe-is-me lyrics...it's crap. They're in need of baths, shaves, decent clothes, a stint in rehab, some music lessons would definitely help, and more diversified influences other than aping Dave Matthews on his worst night would improve their show. There are hundreds of dancing, adoring fans out in front of them, digging the excremental trash being shoved in their faces. I mean, it's great that they made it to ACL, but crap is crap, no matter how much you try to polish it up. I just don't understand any of it anymore. It makes no sense at all to me. Think I'll call it a night. Cheers, WC1

[jim sanders]

I know what you mean WC !! last night i was flipping channels and on our local country music/ dance club they were all line dancing to a chick's song with the tag line something about "asses and elbows " ?? can't imaging Kitty Wells or even Barbara Mandell singing a song like that on the Grand O'l Opry

[WildcatOne]

The big thing they have going for them is they're young. Young is good. Young sells, young is everything. If you're young, you get on TV. Even PBS has that formula. I tellya, I've never heard worse material. ACL makes you play live, they played live, and they stunk the place up like a giant porta-can. One guy, the keyboardist for the opening act, had the Holy Ghost and he was down with it, playing like a pro and doing his best to make it all sound good, but the rest of the band including the buzz-cut frontman playing formulaic barre chords on his cheap guitar and singing a half-note flat (his purposely-torn and stained faded brown t-shirt and ragged jeans added an extra-special vibe to his charisma), were burned-out and brother-in-lawing their ham-fisted way through an embarrassing set of stupid songs...he's the man...Yay! Rah rah rah! Sis-boom-bah! Party dance party dance party dance. I was sitting here motionless, unblinking, silent, watching it. I'm not saying I did any better with the bands I played in last year doing "classic" covers, but that show represented current trends, the latest big thing? It was depressing to watch. It was depressing to think about how successful these guys are based on what they do, and how good they do it? Well, as Chuck Berry said..."...'C'est La Vie' say the old folks...goes to show you never can tell..." Cheers, WC1

[Gator]

Thank God for concert & Club promoters,etc. who still book TALENT...I agree John..some of this crap IS crap pure unadulterated CRAP....

Rock on LEVON!

[Gator]

Hey, gang, you can see the history of our pal at John's WildCatScratch.com site... I just uploaded a profile of his musical history.

http://www.wildcatscratch.com

Click the PROFILE button. bp

[WildcatOne]

I think it was this weekend, 3 years ago, when Draglist did "Blues For Becky" here in Houston. Time flies...WC1

[draglist]

GREAT weekend! bp

[pro70z28]

Cool

[WildcatOne]

I think it's time for me to get a couple of tons of things off my mind. The other night I was talking to Rodger, he was the original drummer for the Wildcats and we've stayed close after he moved to Austin and formed a heavy metal band with John Paul Dutton called Zenith (on myspace it's called zenithrockstar.com). I gave Rodger an extra PA system I had here that was concert-size, towering columns from the late 70s...2 full A-7s with vents (reflex boxes) for bass, 2 half A-7s for the mids, and 2 full-size horns on top...a BIG system, for which I had absolutely no use, and there he was trying to get it going over there. I also gave him a couple of light racks that went with it. I had 4 boxes with Peavey Scorpions and Allen Bass speakers in them to use for it. He took it home, hooked it up, and it kicks ass. Rodger still has the WildcatOne avatar on his bass drum head and he says it's become a good-luck charm for him. Anyway, lately I've had a non-stop symphonic soundtrack playing in my head. Music I've never heard before that just loops in and out of my consciousness, 24-7. I want to start laying down tracks for this music. I wrote and recorded a concerto (47 minutes) in 1993, and listening to it now, I could improve on some of it if I had a system. I told Rodger I was looking at one of those Tascam digital 8-track studio-in-a-box deals and he cut me off right there. He said "Johnny, you need to get PRO TOOLS, man. That's where it's going to end up, anyway. Why mess with the small stuff? You can do it...just go ahead and start building around that system, man. You'll never have to switch systems again..." I was kind of stunned. I said you're right, Rog. It's been a big thing in my mind ever since that conversation. I went to Rodger's site on myspace, and he's wearing a Citykings T-shirt!!! Rodg is a great guy. We agreed that in April I'll come up to Austin and spend the night and the next day I'll take him and Pam to the IHRA Amalie Texas Nationals in Seguin, just outside of San Antone. He loves the drags, but he's never seen Top Fuel or Funny Car...stockers and modified cars, but he's never witnessed cackle...or ka-boom...I said dude, I'm your man. I've been wanting to go to that meet for the last 3 years and I've wimped out, but this time I'm going and I don't care if it hair-lips every steer in Texas. We'll go to the night of fire...big-time...I can't wait...there are other pressing needs for me to tend to such as braces for Nick's teeth, basic day-to-day expenses and such, but I have something to shoot for. I also have an uncontrollable urge to start my own band. No partnerships, no democracies. My band, with people in it that I pick. But then I step back and go, what am I trying to do, prove something? The home studio would be the best thing for not just me, but my family, who needed me here a lot more than I was over the last few years, particularly 2005 and most of 2006. I vowed that this would not happen again. I got the call to play 8 gigs with Pee Wee Bowen, starting Feb 10 in Galveston for Mardi Gras. I'll play guitar with them on the 10th for $200 and the other gigs will be with me on keyboards for a hundred to a hundred and fifty a night. It's a prestigious gig and it's totally professional. I asked Debby about it and she likes the idea of me playing gigs and making money over what it costs me to do them. The Stumblers from Carthage, Tx, just south of Shreveport called yesterday and they want to schedule a concert in early May and they offered me to play keyboards for them for $150 plus traveling expenses and room and board. I have business in Shreveport that I can deal with while I'm up there, too. The phone never stops ringing. I'm taking the good gigs with the good bands. The Citykings are trying to work up a "club set" and I'm not thrilled, but they are my blood so I'm going along with it. One of these days I'm going to put my paw down and make my own decisions and play my own music...like the music that's playing in my head right now. Rodger was right. I'll do it when I can. Cheers, WC1