The Night Shift

[WildcatOne]

This has been a tough couple of days. I got up at 4:30 Friday morning, went in to work early, worked all day double-speed, got it all done, jumped in Ludwig and drove 40 miles down to Kemah in bumper-to-bumper rush hour traffic with no AC or fan at 95 degrees heat...got there, took a stand-up bath in the men's room, shaved, popped a Ginseng pill, and went up and played the gig...outside...till 11PM. Got home at 1:30, crashed, got up at 5:30 and went in and worked till 2PM. Came home, took a shower, jumped in Ludwig and drove down to Texas City at the convention center, 55 miles, but this time it was cooler, it was cloudy and raining a little here and there. Played the gig last night indoors with great air conditioning to a couple of thousand people who were there for the Shrimp Boil. Great Shrimp, but very hot and spicy...Pee Wee's played this gig every year for the last 21 years. Got home at midnight and hit the sack at 1AM. I had a benefit today to play with the Wildcats in Bacliff, which is between Kemah and Texas City on the East shore of Galveston Bay, but I just called Shorttsy and backed out. I've never done that, but for goodness' sakes, enough is enough. The Wildcats were cool with it and so was Shorttsy. I make the flyers for these events, I have to send a couple of emails today to some people who have been in touch with me offering me to play in their bands and I'm going to respectfully decline. I got an offer to play with the Zach Tate Band I think on keyboards but he might have been wanting me to play guitar, also Janet Z and Tommie Lee Bradley sent me an offer to play a gig with them...these are extremely lucrative and prestigious offers and I am honored to be considered for them. All of those people including myself have CDs out and get gigs every week around town to play for their audiences that come to hear their stuff, ya know. It's not just a club gig where nobody knows the band and comes up and demands for them to play something they don't know that the guy wants to hear from a jukebox he heard last week or something. It's the artist they come to hear, it's a different kind of gig. Pee Wee has the same deal. But here's my deal. I joined Pee Wee and made a committment to him and his schedule, and that is PLENTY good, more than enough to keep me as busy as I should be. I absolutely have to narrow down the window of opportunity that I'm in. I will play guitar with Pee Wee Bowen and that's it. At home, I'm developing a studio that will be running a ProTools system and that'll take care of my interest in songwriting and recording. The other night, Pee Wee got tired, and he turned to me and said "Do an uptempo number." I said uh...he said "Just make something up, man. Do it." and he walked off. I have a lot of original material, so I decided to do "Blue Solo II" from a late 90s Citykings live set. We did it, straight down the line and it was good. I later thought that the next time I'll do "Tired Of Puttin' Up With You" from our first demo in '91. It's a straight-ahead R&B vamp that has a groove from Hell and lyrical irony, but I didn't think of it just at that moment. Last night Pee Wee pulled me aside and told me he wants me to sing more. Lots more. Give him a rest, and he confided to me that everybody including him digs the heck out of my voice, which coming from Pee Wee Bowen was a compliment...I said I'll work up more tunes and bring 'em to the next rehearsal and he said great, please do that. Pee Wee is not a vocal hog, not by any means. He not only wants but needs me to step up and give him a rest and he's behind me to do it...this is the perfect gig for me. I'm having a great time, but I'm going to just stick to playing in one band. The rest of the world'll have to take care of their business and just know I love 'em but I'm already into a thing I am happy with. Gotta run, taking Nick to Guitar Center in a while. Cheers, WC1

[pro70z28]

Sounds like your doin' the right thing WC. Burnin' the candle at both ends has a way of catching up with you after awhile.

[jim sanders]

great read again WC.... TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF !!

[draglist]

Wow, Cat, you have it going on. Backing up Pee Wee is the best deal though. What a great place to be... man, take it easy, though... bp

[WildcatOne]

Thanks, and you're all right...one guy playing in one band...what a concept! That DragList sticker gets a lot of looks. Folks ask me about it a lot, and I tell 'em check it out, it's the real deal. Stats and stories from day one up to now with 10,000 links, etc...last night in Texas City, I felt loose and cool. That air conditioned convention center was nice, man. If they had put us out in the Pavilion, we'd have passed out. But folks had fun with us, and we played our best for them. This was a pretty good 2 nights, I made $215 for both nights, it's all in cash, up-front and in full, every time. The private gigs are coming up and they're going to pay much more from what Pee Wee told me last night, plus we got 3 more private gigs booked from folks coming up and asking about our availability. We're moving towards an all-private party circuit, but Pee Wee wants to keep us out there in a few clubs here and there to keep our exposure going...that's where he meets folks that want us for their private parties (except for Astronauts <g>) plus the band has fans who come out in groups to see us once a month or so and they are loyal and well-off, they plan a Pee Wee Bowen gig in advance and they show up and consistently pack the joints we play...anyway, Herby the trombone player is going to have to take some time off. He's sick. He has diabetes real bad, he's 71 now, and he's got pneumonia from having gotten sick in San Antone 3 weeks ago. He's had to sit in a chair onstage and he hasn't had the energy to carry his stuff so me and Clem the sax player help him out with that. He thanked me for telling him what was wrong with his car. He had been having stability problems while driving, the car was pulling to one side and wobbling. I told him to take it to a place with a rack and a wheel alignment guy because it sounded to me like he'd run over a brick or something that might have damaged a tire and thrown the front end out of alignment. Turned out to be exactly what had happened. The inside of his right front tire had a chunk torn out of it where he'd hit a brick and it sent the wheel out of alignment. It was a nasty hit, but he got it fixed, and he was telling me he owed me a debt of gratitude. I couldn't have fixed it, but I knew that's what the problem was, like any of us would, but he said he asked me because I'm with DragList! Life is good. There are peripheral stories attached to this experience, ya know, but I pretty much stick to the meat and potatoes of the whole trip. Thanks again, WC1

[draglist]

I don't wanna jinx this thing but Pee Wee ain't gonna be fronting this thing forever. I'll be he's got his eye on you as a likely fill in... One of these days, I can see "The Pee Wee Bowen Band Featuring John Bockelman"... or something. Keep on keeping on, Cat. You've got that ball of yarn cornered now... bp

[WildcatOne]

I hadn't really considered any of that, BP, but who knows? I'm right in the middle of the band, age-wise. I'll be 58 in 3 weeks. Herby's 71, Pee Wee's 64, Loren's 63, Clem's 62, Jeff's 48, Ron's 49, and Rick's 51. Winston sent me this great picture of Mikey asleep and holding his Telecaster. I made a Blue Agave (Mike's band) flyer out of it...Mikey has been the guitar tech at Rockin' Robin for the last 11 years. He set up the deal with Bart over there for me to get my Fender Twin Reverb amp when my old one was stolen last year. He was the bass player for Shakedown; he is a notorious Rock n' Roll warrior...he's been out there for decades doing it...lead guitar for Tarantula, one of Houston's best metal bands...Myrna Sanders Band...many others...but it was him who kept pulling me aside and telling me to get out of the rut I was in and move up the ladder out there, get me a gig as a performer on guitar in a great band where I belong. His words...He rejoiced when I landed the gig with Pee Wee. He told me it's what I should be doing. Mikey was the drummer for the Wildcats for a year as well. He told me it was from that gig that he was preaching to me. I thank Mikey every day for pushing me like he did. He'll love this. He'll use it to advertise Blue Agave. Cheers, WC1

[jim sanders]

[draglist]

I love it. Looks great. bp

[greenracing]

cool flyer Cat