The Wiley Kats-Rumors 4/16/16

There are some days that I think I can do this, there are others that I don't think I want to play anymore.  Sunday falls into the latter.

I may have too much sunshine when I went out trail walking at the Nature Center.  Playing phone tag with Ben and Tim about practicing at some point and finding that we can't seem to be on the same page together, and I blame myself most of the time due to indifference and working evenings and trying to balance this band, along with The Townedgers, Record World blog, and record collecting.  And basically trying to soul search at the same time.  There was a reason why I didn't venture into playing in other bands once Paraphernalia went by the wayside, with the only interest of playing a jam session from time to time.  There was side projects along the way, The Routers in the early 90s, I/O with my best friend Russ in 2009 and subbing for drummers at forgotten venues along the way.   But I did miss jamming with musicians and so I returned back last year.   And then meeting with Tim Wiley off and on, not thinking of getting into something like a power trio such as The Wiley Kats.

Make no mistake Tim is a very crafty guitarist, he's good at what he does.  When he's done with the Popcorn jam, he's off to Cooters to jam with Dan Hartman and Mike Williams.  On Tuesday Night, he's hitting Parlor City with Dan Johnson and company and sometimes Wednesday Night frequents Checker's for the acoustic jam.   I work nights and really haven't shown much interest to hit every jam session in town, Wrigleyville, when I could do it, Parlor City not much so.  I hoped someday to perform Spoonful with Bob Dorr and Dan Johnson but I come to find that it gets bumped lower on the bucket list of things to do each week.   The more I continue to do The Wiley Kats thing, the more I'm opted to just go back being with The Townedgers and just do my own thing.  The Townedgers are a better fit for myself since I have hardly time to dedicate myself to the cause that is The Wiley Kats.

Ben Bernard is another great bass player that I have enjoyed the time of being with, and we discussed different songs to do to relieve Wiley of trying to sing every song that is thought of.  And we made plans to do something to get together but something falls through, or plans already made fall on deaf ears.  Tim is an very impulsive person, last week he ended up calling me three times after the Rumors jam after I told him I wasn't going home, had to do errands and grab a bite to eat.  Half the time, I'm trying to calm him down about Ben's behavior and the other band he was in.  The other half Tim mentions about getting kudos from the likes of Dennis McMurrin and Dan Johnson and a few other hardcore blues musicians in town.  Or his role in the Kirkwood jazz band.  To which I continue to remind him that I may not be able to continue down this blues road, that I am a hobbyist among the professionals out there and I'm not that keen on doing shuffle beat songs through the whole night.  And that texas shuffle beat has always been my Achilles heel and I never did like playing La Grange all that much.  I'm a straight ahead rock and roller, not a blues drummer along the likes of Jon Wilson or Rob Haskins, or Cody Collings.  I still remind Tim to keep an open mind and keep on jamming with more folks out there, and other drummers.   I'm there to provide a beat and encouragement, but I'm becoming a bit more discouraged as time goes on.

Nevertheless I wasn't in the best frame of mind going to the Popcorn Jam.  Ben had plans already in place, so Tim Duffy was drafted into playing bass.  Tim Duffy has been a mainstay on the CR music scene but he's finally making good on his promise to move to Georgia next month and we'll give him a nice sendoff.   The Lab Rats was the main band, which meant Terry McDowell had his drum set up there and I could do a few things with his set rather than the electric drums of Kim Bean.  We did seven songs that lasted about 25 minutes, mostly Stevie Ray Vaughn stuff and four of the songs were Texas Shuffle songs  So Excited, La Grange, Pride And Joy and Cold Shot, the latter song, I played a much faster beat.  Wiley did a fine job of Scuttlebuttin, and So Excited but then we went into shuffle song number 2 La Grange.  A short version of Red House Blues and then I suggested Crossroads, something with a straight beat before concluding the whole thing with Cold Shot and Pride And Joy.  Bart Carfizzi came up to play keyboards on Red House, Cold Shot and Pride And Joy.  To with that, I relinquished the drum throne to Dana (Rocky) Smith (no relation to me), Wiley went off to Cooters, and that was it.  Terry provided support, even though I didn't do that great of a job on drums, he kept my spirits up by saying I did pretty good and we both got a good chuckle out of Dana's drum boastings, the man can hit those cymbals very hard.  Terry, the pro that he is, did add a few exclamation points double bass drum beats and we all concluded the jam with a version of Hush, to which I did share the stage with Tommy Bruner for a rare chance, although I was singing backing vocals.  I know Bart wanted to do that song for a while now and I think we made him happy in the end.

But for myself, the jam really didn't feel like fun, it felt like work and not in a good way.  The obvious reason why I retired from band playing.  It starts out fun and then all of a sudden it goes into some sort of music that I'm not that interested in playing.  There was a inner tension when we all on stage.  Certainly there'd be something that rile Tim off, usually Duffy threw a different chord in the song or Bart rearranging the song differently.  Perhaps me messing up a beat or going too fast on Cold Shot.  I don't think Wiley made many friends when he went out the door after we finished up but I knew that Tim always did that, he never stuck around for the end of the Popcorn Jam and I can't blame him.  But I'm more comfortable at Rumors and I never set foot in Cooters, that'd be a whole different atmosphere.  And if I'm not at ease in any place, I usually not go, although I'm sure Dan Hartman and Mike Williams wouldn't mind me coming down there.

And so it goes.  The only recourse is try to get more interested into something that I'm becoming bored with and not being a good fit.  Ben has a couple weeks off and hopefully we can make arrangements  to practice and keep the hours we agreed upon. But I'm beginning to wonder if Wiley is living more of a fantasy of us becoming music superstars in a dying market in his own mind (I heard it all before, quit your job, make big bucks playing live 250 dollars split three ways, recording contract, playing bars etc etc).  The key remains Ben being a part of this band, we lose him, we lose practice space, an extra drum set to practice on.  I think it's essential to keep him, plus he is a good bass player.  Plus, I don't know the bar scene, nor anybody associated with the local bars to score gigs.  I also come to conclude that I'm not gonna be hosting any popcorn jams in the near future.  I don't think Wiley will be either.

So I'll spend the week pondering how to my enthusiasm back into this power trio blues band.  Tim Wiley makes a great Wiley Kat, but not a Townedger.

In the end, this photo of Wiley pretty much sums up the month long tenure of being part of his band.  Donno how Kevin managed to get this photo but damn he caught a moment of time.  

Songs:
Scuttlebuttin
So Excited
La Grange
Crossroads
Redhouse Blues
Cold Shot
Pride And Joy

Lineup:
Tim Wiley-Guitar, vocals
Tim Duffy-Bass, vocals
R.S.-Drums
Bart Carfizzi-Keyboards (Redhouse Blues, Cold Shot, Pride And Joy)