The Night Shift

[Rapid Randy Baker]

WC, he will learn what we already knew,,,,You are a special guy who anyone who knows you is the better for it.

[pro70z28]

It's like riding a rocket right now. ('Naut Noir, I guess <g>) WC1

WC remember months ago when we talked about how it takes a rocket 80% of it's fuel to get off the launchin' pad? You've done all the hard work. Looks like yer' headed for orbit now. Cooooool deal

[Billy Mac]

Cat, all I can add to the above few posts is, Hot Damm, I'm proud to know You!!!!

[jim sanders]

hi WC... JTP was here for a while this afternoon... showed him the pic, and read to him outloud the recent posts.. he is having eye surgery this wed. and has been putting drops in his eyes but wanted you to know he is following along through me....

[WildcatOne]

Yikes! I sure hope the eye surg goes OK! Tell JTP howdy and some day we'll meet up and jam!

[WildcatOne]

It's funny...I started to talk about the gig I played Friday night and I had to stop and think for a minute to remember where it was that we played. Bojangles, on NASA Rd 1. Didn't see any astronauts there, but it was a rowdy crowd. There were some drinking ladies there, as I recall. They danced. The crowd was very excited and like I've said before, this music does something to them. Between sets I'd walk out into the crowd with the rest of the band and those ladies grabbed us and rubbed up against us...it felt good...there was this one that...well, I can just say that although I didn't do anything, she got her money's worth. I didn't want to be rude so I stood there and talked to her and her friends while she used me as a dance pole until Pee Wee made the traditional announcement: "SHOWTIME!" Then I went back up onstage. Our trombone player, Herby, is sick right now and we are concerned. He's 71, he has diabetes, and he came down with a touch of pneumonia from having caught a cold in San Antonio last week. He showed up last night but he couldn't get through the first set. We played a sock hop for the HRA (I kept thinking "Where's the 'N' or the 'I' in front?" at the convention center in Texas City. We did 50s and 60s for them, the place was packed with folks that paid $35 each to get in. Our show was delayed an hour and a half because they all wanted to make speeches and do their auction and all this stuff, and they introduced every single mentally handicapped person and told everybody what they do with HRA (Helping Residents Achieve) behind them. Some of them are amazing with what they have done even with their handicap. Degrees, management positions, careers, the whole deal. Just a few years ago those folks would be consigned to living their lives out in a facility (they live at a facility and they're called "residents", hence the HRA) and not ever be given a chance to become productive and fulfilled human beings, but now they have a system that finds potential in these people and gets 'em out there and they work hard. That's more than I can say for some folks I know that have all of their faculties and don't bother to utilize them to their advantage! So we enjoyed the whole deal. The whole place was decorated in 50s kitsch, they had a first-class stage set up for us and we played at a lower volume...it sounded great, too. Our club sets are pretty much full-on and we have crowds that want to be blasted and we do it to them, but this was a gig that required us to play softer and lower and we were looking at each other going...damn! This sounds nice! You could HEAR it...Pee Wee signed another horn player named Rick, I haven't gotten his last name yet, but he can toot and he fits nicely into the mix. I made a lot of money in the last week playing guitar for the Pee Wee Bowen Band. Cash. It isn't always going to be that much, but we have a lot of gigs coming up that are going to pay double and triple scale, with scale being around $100-$110 a man per night. They can't get enough of this band! Pee Wee turned down a gig this afternoon in Galveston that would have paid us each around $150, because it was an outside stage, even with big fans blowing on us and Galveston's typically milder temperatures, it would have been heat-stroke time for us. We thanked him for not booking it. The gig would have been from 4 to 8 down on the Strand. It's just too severe out there right now for us to go outside and do anything, let alone work up a rock 'n roll frenzy in it! It's been a fun ride for sure but there is a limit to what we can do in a heat advisory. Next weekend we'll be playing at Club 21 in Galveston, it's going to be another orgy. It just turns out that this will be the weekend that Debby and I decided to get a room for those 2 nights and make a mini-honeymoon out of that weekend...I told her to prepare herself for what she'll see at Club 21. It gets a little crazy in there...she's never seen the band play and this will be the band at its best, so I'm looking forward to next weekend. Pee Wee said a guy is coming to hear us and negotiate a deal for us to play in Beaumont coming up next month, and it's for big bucks. Should be an interesting couple of nights. Herby is probably going to be back, so we'll be an 8-piece band from then on. Before I forget:

Chaka Khan Wilson called Debby the other day. She's living in Austin, doing fine, her husband is getting out soon, she'll be back in touch.

Dangerous Dalton Dunn has made his first CD. His mom called Debby this morning to make sure they have our address so they can send us one. Some of you folks may remember this kid from "Blues For Becky". He played a set of blues with Benny Braskett's band backing him up. He was barely 13 then. He was the lucky person who won the auction for my mid-70s Gibson SG, the "Six-String Devil". They paid $975 for that guitar. Good Blues for Becky! According to what I heard, he played it on his CD. It was nice of his Mom to call and think of us! I guess Dalton's around 15 by now, and I can't wait to hear this! Cool!

Everybody have a great Sunday. Life is good. WC1

[jim sanders]

great read again WC... i will see to it that brother John reads the post.. he works with men with various problems daily.. i have met most of them here at the 1man house... some of them have a larger zest for life than i do sometimes even while confined to a wheelchair, blind, etc.

[WildcatOne]

Thanks, Doc. Same folks down in Texas City, ya know. I gotta hand it to 'em, they have more obstacles but they are determined and they are amazing people in what they have accomplished. My hat's off to them. I put $ in the tip jar, which goes to the facility. Cute bartenders, too...they weren't residents, they were doing the gig same as we were...Poodle skirts, funny hairdos, Buddy Holly glasses <g>...I just got water. Oh yeah, they fed us, too...Chicken fried steak with cream gravy, green beans, corn, and apple pie for dessert! Will miracles never cease? WC1

[pro70z28]

Sounds like yer' stayin' busy WC. Good to hear Chaka Khan is doin' O.K.