The Night Shift... Continues!

[jim sanders]

WC... got a question.. how many Four Lifetimes CD's do you have in stock? Brother John has an outlet to market the movie.. thinking about a buy this get this deal....

[WildcatOne]

Uh...I think we still have a bunch, Doc...let me know...

I just got back online thanks to my wife's efforts today in dealing with the good people in New Delhi, who reset my modem Friday and decided to also delete my password. I went around and around with them until I was ready to explode. She had fun with them, and that's good, because I was about to rip 'em a new...you know what...they've been "updating", "testing" and "improving" my internet stuff for a couple of months and every time they do it, it screws something up that worked fine before they did it. Having your internet go down is somewhat like having a 3-day power outage or having your air conditioning system go on the fritz on the hottest day of the year (which all of the above has happened here at one time or another). It SUCKS and you're not only having to deal with folks that don't understand your problem (because they created it), you're having to deal with geeks on the other side of the world who don't speak or understand English very well.

Enough of that. On to the Night Shift. We played 3 shows last weekend, Friday night at T-Bone Tom's in Kemah. It was hot, humid, with no wind and we were all plastered with sweat by the time we'd played 15 minutes. Still, we held the crowd until 11. Some girls got up in front of us and did "The Alligator" during "Shout"...there was another wall of females in front of us all night at this show...mission accomplished. A guy named Doug has been showing up at almost all of our public gigs and he's filming us...making live DVDs of the Pee Wee Bowen Band. He gave me one the other night but I haven't gotten a chance to see it yet. Saturday afternoon from 2-5, we played at the Haak Winery in Santa Fe. We may have been hot, but at least we were miserable. However, we got paid well...then Saturday night, we played from 7-11 at Bella Vita, a gated community in Pearland. Very high-class gig, with a big stage and awesome air conditioning...after tips, we each made just under 400 bucks for those 3 gigs. Sunday, me and Debby took my Dad and stepmom to tour an assisted living facility up North of town in The Woodlands, near where my stepsister lives. My Dad isn't really into it (he'd just as soon stay at home in Galveston), but he'll go along with the deal so my stepmom can be near her daughter. He said why not go to a place halfway between us and my stepsister...that'd be OK with me, but this was a nice place, they'll be giving up their freedom for the most part, but folks will be checking in on them. We had to put them in wheelchairs to take the tour, as neither of them can get around much at all anymore...my Dad argued against that, but he went ahead and did it...it's an ambiguous and difficult situation for all concerned...back to the band...Next weekend, we're playing the Alvin Chamber of Commerce annual Sock Hop Friday at the Rotary Pavilion, Saturday we're playing the Texas City Annual Shrimp Boil at the Nessler Center in TC, then Sunday we'll be back at the Haak Winery for their annual Labor Day Picnic. I don't know about you folks, but we need every penny I make and then some...still, Life is good. Cheers, WC1

[draglist]

Thanks for the update, John. Best of luck with your parents. I called American Express the other day and got a nice African American girl on the line. I about fell to the floor in thanks. There is no earthy reason why they can't take a depressed town like Detroit or Cleveland or any of another hundreds rust belt towns and set up call centers, etc., instead of moving them overseas. bp

[jim sanders]

glad to see ya back WC... John the Plumber and I look foward to the DVD of your new group

[WildcatOne]

Thank goodness Gustav decided to visit East of here. There are still several storms being watched in the warm deep water, but this one was one that we all had our eye on. My prayers and hope for a non-disastrous conclusion to this storm go out to our neighbors to the East. Here in the Night Shift, it's been a busy week...6 gigs in 8 days...the 3 we did this weekend were all steady, solid gigs. Our keyboard player, Hank, does shift work and he wasn't able to make it yesterday to the Haak Winery show in Santa Fe. The show there used to run 4 hours, but they shortened it to 2 1/2 because folks were getting drunk and they had a situation where people couldn't walk, let alone drive out of there, so a 2 1/2 hour deal worked great. We were back to a stripped-down lineup for this show, but the band sounded terrific from start to finish. Last week, Hank pulled me aside and he told me that he and Jeff (bass) couldn't hear me on their side of the stage, and would it be OK if I could run a line out of my amp or something over to his amp...I have monitors here, and I decided to bring one of them, run a speaker cord out of my extension speaker jack in the back of my Twin Reverb amp over to it...voila...the entire stage is now full with the sound of my DragList Telecaster...full tone, the whole sound is there now...Jeff gave me the thumbs-up and OK sound after the first song...I was sure glad to see it wasn't another gesture...and Hank told me he loves it...they can hear what I'm doing...my Twin Reverb amp is as powerful as any professional-level guitar amp, but it is extremely directional. When you're right in front of it, it'll part your hair, but step over a few feet in either direction and you can't hear it...so adding the monitor balanced it out so it sounds omni-directional, like a stereo now, as opposed to a singular dimension. Life is good. I used this combination yesterday at the Haak Winery and some folks actually told me "your new keyboard player sounds great!"...and the keyboard player wasn't there...it was just me playing the chords...with Hank, Jeff and the rest of the guys also telling me this sounds great, I told 'em all that I'll be bringing the monitor to every gig from now on. There were some outstanding dance couples there yesterday. They call them "Whip Dancers"...couples who practice and fine-tune their dance moves and bring their routine to band shows and they put on the best stuff they have when we play...I saw 4 couples dancing like pros, and after the show, I went over to one of them and told them how much I appreciated their dancing. It was GREAT to watch this while we played. They were surprised that I talked to them, and the guy and I hung out for a minute and talked. They dig this band, and he said they'll be back...great! I also ran into Donnarie...we go way back...we did the Seabrook Music Festival 8 years ago together and we have worked on several benefits and public functions throughout the years. I haven't seen her around much in the last couple of years because I've been on the road with Pee Wee so much, but she came right up to me and gave me a hug, we got caught up on what we've been doing and she and her husband Mike are still running Cruiser's Ice House up the road from Haak's and they're doing great...Friday night, we played a show way out in the middle of nowhere for the Alvin Chamber of Commerce's annual Sock-Hop, at the Alvin Rotary Pavilion. Nice place, but like I say, so far out in the boondocks, I was surprised to see the place a little more than half-full during peak hours...a smooth gig, they had a hula-hoop contest...the 6-foot-2 girl won...she had a schoolgirl miniskirt, above that was 7 inches of bare, then her cute little top-piece tied in the middle...what a cute girl...she was chewing bubble gum, standing there with her arms folded, doing hula-hoop while we played...she was a good sport. Everybody who entered won, but she stood out...Pee Wee announced that we'll be playing at a benefit in Texas City next Sunday for the family of an 11-year-old boy who was killed on his bicycle last week. His family has no money and they can't afford a funeral for him. When we played Saturday night at the Nessler Center in Texas City for the annual Shrimp Boil (my third in a row with Pee Wee...Debby went with me to this; she wore a cute little pink hat, hung out with the band and met some of the band's regular followers...they all ask me, where's your wife? Well, they met her and she delighted them all with her witty, spontaneous conversations and her natural beauty...I am a very lucky and proud Cat), he told the thousand people who showed up about it. Hopefully they'll all come back. One guy put a hundred-dollar bill in the collection box that got passed around...as you can see, we've been very busy...all over the place. Next weekend, it'll be T-Bone Tom's Friday night, Lone Star (the converted supermarket) Saturday night, and back to the Nessler Center Sunday for the benefit. Hope this helps pass some time before we all tune in later for Indy's eliminations program. Happy Labor Day to all! I'm going to put new license plates, registration sticker, coolant and power steering fluid (Lucas "Stop-Leak") in Ludwig today. Life is good! WC1

[draglist]

Thanks for the update, John. I've said it before -- if I lived in Houston, Id never get anything done for chasing your band around. Good luck to all the folks in the path of Gustov. I'm glad most folks evacuated New Orleans. We drag racing fans will recognize Houma, where the storm is now targeted. That's Candies and Hughes country. bp

[WildcatOne]

Funny you should say that, BP...the Pee Wee Bowen Band has a following. A group of regulars who are at all or almost all of our public gigs. They wear Pee Wee Bowen Band t-shirts, spec shoes, they hang out with us and they dance and dance and dance the whole time we play. I'm getting to know them and hang out with them and they are terrific folks. This is their band...it's the kind of thing they like to do, and we like them just as much. This has so much to do with Pee Wee's standard of excellence as it does with me talking about the adventures and highlights of these shows. Some of the regulars met Debby for the first time last weekend and they were delighted to meet her. She doesn't go to very many of my gigs, but when she does go, she's the sweetheart of the band and she just so gracefully blends in with folks...that's a gift I wish I had...I'm quiet, shy and somewhat withdrawn but lately I just go over and sit with our fans...they start talking and I talk with them and the next thing you know, we're having a conversation...Debby is just charming and chatty by nature and folks just like her...yes, BP, if you were here, you'd be in it with us, I have no doubt. It's the best of times here, man. We'd love to have you. Well, last night I went over Bill's house to get one of my monitors fixed. We visited and got caught up on everything. We decided to let the Citykings' website go. Nobody can afford to keep it going anymore. We owe Rafael $85 for the work he did on it and we decided to close out WSRJ's bank account and pay Rafael what we have in it. We still are keeping in touch and we have tons of t-shirts and CDs, but the band isn't doing anything anymore...we agreed that some day we'll get back together and play, but for now it isn't happening...at least we're all still friends, like brothers. Cheers, WC1

[draglist]

That's great, John. Sorry that the site went away. We can set it back up on a Google blog for free... if you have some of the artwork, etc., we can set it up. Need to have a place to sell those CDs and t-shirts. One of these days, Denise and I are coming down to Houston to catch the band and to go out on the bay with my friend Steve and his girlfriend. We need to do that soon, maybe late next year. bp

[WildcatOne]

I have ALL of it, BP...that's GREAT to hear. I will be in touch about uploading it to that blog site! THANKS for that tip! We look forward to your visit next year...we'll do it up right! Cheers, WC1

[draglist]

Sounds great. We will get that dude up there. bp