The Night Shift

[WildcatOne]

Doc, see page 49 of this thread...I'm playing my American Fender Telecaster into my mid-70s American Fender Twin Reverb Amp with Peavey Scorpion speakers, onstage with the Wildcats at the Mark Fenton benefit a couple of weeks ago. That's it. I got a Jim Dunlop Cry Baby wah pedal and used it for a couple of weeks so I could funk it up on "Play That Funky Music, White Boy", but it was just too much hassle to set up. Other than that, it's nothing but the Tele and the Twin. Tell JTP I said howdy and rock on! Cheers, WC1

[jim sanders]

THANKS... I'll bee sure JTP SEES THE PAGE

[jim sanders]

Wildcats at the Mark Fenton Benefit, Cock-Eyed Seagull on NASA Rd 1, last Sunday. I think I'm playing the guitar solo on "Let Me In"...Cheers, WC1

[WildcatOne]

[WildcatOne]

Off I go to San Antone...remember the Alamo! (and Buddy Cortines...Cecil Lankford...and Kelly Chadwick...) Life is good! WC1

[draglist]

Have fun, Cat. That's a great town. bp

[WildcatOne]

Thanks, BP...just got back...I rode with Loren the keyboard player. We wore tuxedos and played the gig at the Hyatt Resort on the West side of town, across from Seaworld. It was a high society wedding. Their children are grown adults and they roasted 'em in the speech part of the reception. They're going to Costa Rica for their honeymoon...he tipped us a hundred bucks a man, so we ended up making $450 each tonight. Pee Wee's buddy Dale was there and he sat in on guitar for about half a set and I went out in the crowd and hung out and watched him play. Mainly I was keeping an eye on him to make sure he didn't fiddle with my amp settings. He didn't. After the gig when we were loading up, Pee Wee called me aside. He said "I need to talk to you for a minute. You need to take this constructively..." I was like, uh oh...He said "I had to get you back up there, man. I don't know what Dale was doing, but it was way bad. I've been getting a LOT of positive feedback about having you in the band, I think you and Ron (drums) have made a big difference and we're better now than we've ever been. I hope it was OK that I called you back up when I did." I said no problem, I didn't want to get off stage anyway...then he called all of us together and told us that we have one single club gig coming up after this Friday. Everything else we have booked is private parties, pretty much through the end of 2007...he's been accepting the private party gigs and charging top dollar and people are paying it, and he called the clubs and told 'em and they were all cool with it, if things slow down on the party circuit they'll book us back. But for right now, he told us we'd better call our banks and let them know we're coming. Will miracles never cease? Cheers, WC1

[draglist]

That's fantastic, John! Great deal for all involved. bp

[WildcatOne]

Man...I just got a phone call that blew me away. I rode to last night's gig in San Antone with Loren, the keyboard player. We talked and talked and talked all the way there and back...helped keep us alert on the way home, ya know...we drove all night...I got to bed at the crack of dawn. Anyway, he called to let me know how much he liked a guitar solo I did at the gig. We do a song called "Blues Walk", an instrumental in the key of B-flat (a horn thing...we do a lot of songs in B-Flat, F, C-sharp, keys that are NOT rock 'n roll guitar-player friendly, but I've been working hard on learning how to snap into those keys and do it) and it's what I would call Blues/Jazz...very jazzy with distinctive time-signature changes and upbeat chord progressions on top...drum breaks, off-kilter turnaround; it's all based on instinctive feel...hep-cat daddy-o stuff...a difficult song, to say the least. Last night I got the idea to pull a George Benson-type deal when my solo came up. I played and scat-sang the solo at the same time, and I threw in jazz words (zaboody-doo-wo, yaba-daba-doo, zhang-wop-a-giddyup be-bop-a-mondo, etc..) on the melody. Loren told me he loved it, great job...that made my day. He did not extend the warmest of welcomes to me when I joined the band, and I've worked extra hard to get close to him, earn his respect and be his friend. We are now great buds, and he took the time to pick up the phone and call me to tell me that. Life is so good I can hardly believe it, man. It's like riding a rocket right now. ('Naut Noir, I guess <g>) WC1

[jim sanders]

great reading