The Night Shift

[jim sanders]

WOW... another great read John, funny stuff and not so funny stuff and sad stuff all in one post.. not sure how to reply..

[WildcatOne]

It's all good, Doc and Wheelz, thanks...what I am finding out is that the Toyota dealers have the best prices on used Chevy Uplanders, the Chevy dealer out here in Sugar Land's site said "call for price" and when I went over there they don't have the prices shown on the window...which means...you call the guy and as soon as he finds out who you are, he types your name into a database, finds out where you live, where you work, what your credit rating is, and he calculates a price based on your personal data within less than a minute while he strings you along in the conversation instead of having it posted on the window sticker...I did not see the car I was interested in from the internet at the dealership and after talking to Debby about it, decided I don't want to do business with a dealer who doesn't tell you the price FIRST...plus, I'll pay cash. It should significantly reduce the price of the car by as much as half, or I'm not inerested, either. If I'm wrong about that, somebody please correct me before I make a fool out of myself with these Toyota guys I'm going to buy a Chevy minivan from...Ludwig still runs, I will be putting power steering fluid in him and drive him until I get the deal I want. But this is the project we need, with my wife's full support, thank God...Cheers, WC1

[jim sanders]

John check your local Craigslist.com.. click on cars and trucks then dot that says by owner.... these days there are a bunch of distressed folks looking to bail out of nice stuff.... jeeez if i had a bankroll i could have scored a small fleet of nice stuff here this weekend....

[jim sanders]

John check your local Craigslist.com.. click on cars and trucks then dot that says by owner.... these days there are a bunch of distressed folks looking to bail out of nice stuff.... jeeez if i had a bankroll i could have scored a small fleet of nice stuff here this weekend....

what i meant to add is don't let a used car saleman make his/her next 2 house payments off of your purchase....

[WildcatOne]

Right, Doc...I will do that tonight...and yes, I don't want to pay more than what's fair...and those salesman will stick it to ya if they think they can get away with it...Thanks, WC1

[WildcatOne]

Right now I'm watching PBS. "Stevie Ray Vaughan...Play Hard and Floor It!" Dude was the man...still is...

I had forgotten this, but I just snapped watching Double Trouble play at Montreux that in 1994 I was playing at Rockefeller's with Big City, on bass and slide guitar, opening for Lou Ann Barton, to a standing-room-only crowd and our set went down a storm. I found out not long before we went on that Tommy Shannon from Double Trouble was playing bass for Lou Ann and her guitar player was Derek O'Brien, from Stevie Ray's old band, the Triple Threat Revue, which evolved into the Cobras in the early 80s. Tommy Shannon had always been my favorite bass player. I couldn't believe I was opening for him that night. We got a standing ovation for our set, with Sam Massey on vocals, Frederick Hall on guitar, and Scott Burman (later of the Citykings with me) on drums. The thrill of it all! I walked offstage through the curtain into the dressing room and found myself face-to-face with Tommy Shannon...the crowd was still howling for our band behind me but I reached out and shook his hand and I said "I'm John Bockelman...I just want you to know, man, that I've gotten every record I could find that you played on and studied your style for years. You are the reason I'm here doing this tonight. You are the best I ever heard. It's an honor to meet you..." He was taken aback, he just said "Uh, wow...thanks, man!" And I went on over and popped open a bottle of Perrier and hugged Sam and got paid $20. I had a stroke of Instant Karma. Derek O'Brien came over to me and said "Man. How did you get that TONE on slide??? I've been trying for years to find that tone!" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I said, "Well, I tellya, man. I sat down today for an hour with the amp and I played it and fiddled with it and I set it just like it is...it's a complicated little amp...a Peavey 40-watt screamer...that's a Guild D-45 acoustic guitar tuned to open E with phosphor Bronze medium-gauge strings with a Dean Markley Pro-Mag Gold Edition pickup in the soundhole, and I use a Mighty Mite heavy brass slide on my pinky..." He said "You played all those scales and licks in OPEN E TUNING?" He was even further impressed, and I was just as dumbfounded as Tommy was when I walked up and laid that rap on him...that was an unforgettable night, and I had completely forgotten about it...Tommy borrowed my bass rig for his set with Lou Ann that night. I had a Fender Bassman 100 with an Allen cabinet with 2 15" speakers...it sounded like Tommy Shannon's rig...

The SRV show is mind-blowing. I can't take my eyes off of it...I typed this during the PBS sales pitch...Cheers, WC1
Here I am that night at Rockefeller's, backing up Sam on bass...the slide guitar setup I used that night is behind me. I did "Gimme Back My Wig" by Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers...Cat

[Rapid Randy Baker]

That is cool as heck WC!!

[WildcatOne]

Thanks, fellas...Big City, the Kingfishers before that and the Citykings after that hit the high spots in this town. I'm back out there with Pee Wee Bowen now doing the pro circuit and making more money in the last year than I made in the 30-plus years before this, times two, but back then the music and the shows we played were mostly based on stuff we wrote, and our stage act was what really got us booked into those high-profile gigs. I brought that same style into Pee Wee's band; the exact same stuff, and applied it to the classics that they're doing and it clicked. I've been playing about 110 shows a year for the last 4 years. As of about 5 months ago, I've turned down all other offers and have concentrated on playing with Pee Wee only. This had a lot to do with having a full-time day job that requires me to get up early and be on call to come in when I am needed on weekends...I had to simplify things and stay focused on the two deals I have that I make real money at. I don't need "exposure" gigs anymore and I'm not looking for another gig to stretch out my musical imagination. The only other project I have is Blastula, Nick's band, as equipment and "road" manager, and I'm going to put a studio around them when I have enough dough to pull it off...lots going on still, but not half as much as it used to be when I was being half as productive. I do the math and it all adds up...simple is good. This deal works. My friends have told me to write a book. I tell them go to DragList.com, Dangerous Bill's Cafe Noir, The Night Shift...that's my book. Well, I gotta run. Putting a new air filter in Ludwig today before driving to Galveston later to play a gig on Seawall Boulevard at the Victorian...Pee Wee's high school reunion. Should be a major hoot. Life is good. Thanks again, WC1