Rumors-Anita's Birthday Bash

Songs:

Mustang Sally

Brown Eye Girl

Margaritaville 

Feel Like Making Love

Can't Get Enough

Love The One You're With

Russ-Gracklin-Lead vocals (the first five)

Mike Clair-Guitar

Morris-Guitar

Tommy Bruner-Guitar

Jeff Taylor-Keyboard and Lead Vocal on Love The One You're With

Billy Bourbon did vocals on Feel Like Making Love and Love The One You With (i think) 

Layne Goldsberry-Bass

R.Smith-Drums

Second Set:

Johnny B Goode

The Fireman

Bad Boy (Blues in A) 

You Can Leave Your Hat On.

Jeff Taylor-Keyboards and lead vocal on Bad Boy and You Can Leave Your Hat On

Dan Hartman-Guitar and lead vocal on J B Goode

Mike Clair-Guitar and vocals

Barb Farnstrom-Bass on  JBG, Fireman, and BB, Lead Vocal on The Fireman 

Tim Canfield-Bass on You Can Leave Your Hat On

Morris-Guitar

Tommy Bruner-Guitar on Leave Your Hat On

R.Smith-Drums

Terry McDowell Host

(Mike Dyer took this photo) 

Anita Skelton happy birthday!

(Tami Minnick took the photo of Bear, Billy Bourbon,Layne, Tommy, Crabby, Keys)

That rare Sunday at Rumors where there were no drummers there except for me, tho I did leave around 7 after the second set so that Terry can get back to work.

Bear always has a smile for the faithful, and Billy is getting better at taking pictures.

Morris and me,  Guess the ole stone face is cracking up a smile.

Whisky Jo's-Tiffany Our Favorite Drummer

Songs:

Turn The Page

Up On Cripple Creek

The Midnight Special

Honky Tonk Woman 

Green River

Suzie Q

Billy Bourbon-Guitar and vocals

Tommy Bruner-Lead Guitar

Ed English-Bass

Donna Jo-Percussion

Terry McDowell-Host

Brett Johnson and Freddy Jones-Harmonica

R. Smith-Drums

Tiffany Malanaphy, our favorite drummer from La Crosse, made the trip to play drums for most of the evening.   Tom Berdo bought some old scratchy Forty Fives for me.  Sad to say, all of the 45's seen better days and I couldn't use them. 

The Cubs stunk up the tube.  And I got to jam with Ed English on bass.  Damn he makes this so much fun when he is at a jam.

Kristopher hasn't been back since getting ignored by the waitress a couple weeks ago and I'm surprised that Kimberly was a no show but maybe she is back to reset the No Limit Band.

Nobody bothered to take any photos of Tiffany playing.  So Ole Stone Face added a random photo from the Homestead gig with No Limit Band.  More forthcoming when the situation arrives 

Technical notes:

Terry's cymbal lineup include 2 Paiste Rude Thin Crashes (17 and 18 inch), a 22 Z Ride, a 10 inch A Splash and Z hats.  For this lineup, I tend to use both Rudes as rides sometimes while the Z ride is a modified Earth Ride, great for the ping ride, but not for crashing.   

Artisan: Thank You For Staying Around....

....and now I will drive away the rest of y'all with my music.

Songs:

Sweet Melissa

In The Wind Tonight

Willin'

Satin Sheets

Driving At Night/

For What Its Worth

Wang Dang Doodle

Cinnamon Girl

Jim Jacobmeyer provided the photos. 

I am so glad that I can support the local acts and make time for them to go see them.  It's a fucking shame that when I get to play, they're out the door.

So anyway, I followed the Hip Hop dude again for the second straight time.  And played a rare version of Sweet Melissa, which was thought up after a woman named Melissa did her songs  (she'll be playing the Iowa State Fair at 10 AM next Wednesday if anybody is interested). 

A wandering mind had me singing Driving At Night and moved it into a faster than usual For What Its Worth and somebody requested Wang Dang Doodle so I did that.  Last request was Cinnamon Girl over Logic and Lies.   Larry, concluded the soloists set with his originals which was part Christian and part Contemporary.  I think he did the best of the stuff that I heard.

There was a jam at the end but I was not feeling up to it and left.  I did enough damage for one night. 

Weekend Of Rawk N Blues With Blues Rox and No Limits Band

It's been a very busy week for me, so I really didn't get down to write out the notes of both shows.  For the past few months Blues Rox has been working on getting a gig at the Wasserbaum Waterpark and Resort Center outside of Williamsburg. 

(Brian Bries photo credit-The Wasserbaum stage)

For days on end I have heard about how great this place was for music and fun.  Strange to find myself coming into this place from highway 151 and seeing them doing some sort of construction work around the place.   I got there way earlier before the rest of the guys did, so I got myself checked in and got my room and then try to find a place to eat.  Only place I could find was Pino's Sicilian Pizzeria, to which I got a medium pizza and forgot to pay the man.  Pizza was so so but I went back for a malt later on.  That was better.

If nothing else I didn't think much of the waterpark, it was geared for kids anyway and I forgot to bring swimming trunks but that would have been fun anyway.  Russ's motel room had no AC so he left, but mine worked fine. I slept in 62 degrees and a cool room and it was paid for by performing.

Blues Rox played fairly well, tho lack of a crowd bothered me once again.  They had a sound guy and for 15 minutes I was pounding on the snare and floor tom to have him get the readings.  He threw his hands up in the air when I changed over to Hot Rods for a song so I went back to regular sticks.   We threw in two ZZ Top songs (Tush, Sharp Dressed Man), I did an extended drum solo that wowed the band and the two people out in the crowd and perhaps an overindulgent Free Bird, complete with Kris playing the finale lead for about five minutes.  For an encore, it was Purple Rain, the first time Blues Rox ever played it and a medley of ROCK In the USA that lead into Cherry Cherry and What I Like About You.    I don't think we will be back there to play again, we didn't draw enough people to attend, but then again most of my so called facebook friends showed up as empty seats (they opted to wait a day and go see Last Call Band), but the owner paid us well and I got a free room for the night.  I think it worked out well for me. 

Julie and Dave played in my neck of the woods at Stone City and had a decent night.   Tuesday, they sat down with Mike McMenus at Artisan Sanctuary and put together a nice 13 song album of their favorite songs to play.  I think this shows that Julie is a fine singer.   But then she raked me over the coals about me playing the Cabin Jam two weeks from today.  They scored a gig with The Chrome Horse on that Saturday as well, but the Cabin Jam was on my gig list for the past half year.  I'll try to support her shows as much as I can, but the last couple gigs she's had, I have mine to do.

For No Limit Band, Kimberly has had this band going for over a year and can't keep a lineup down to do a gig.  She had friends that run the Koru Aronia Berry Farm, just outside of Homestead, which is about 8 miles from the Waterpark.  It is a very picturesque looking place with the highlight an animal farm to which Billy Goats laid on a trampoline.   And was in view of the stage.  When Kimberly needed some people to help her get this band going (she almost said the hell with it and disband), I told her that I would be happy to fill in.   We never did practice, the regular bass player Bill  hit his head in a fall and had to go the hospital overnight, but he never did show up, but David knew a guy Perry.  Stacia Riccio had played a few times with Kimberly, but she gotten Craig Erickson to come and sit in.  It was a make shift lineup, we barely knew the songs and the arrangements, but the weather wasn't looking too promising, but the skies cleared off and we played from 1 to 4.

Odd thing about this was that time flew by.  Sure, there were some missteps and Stacia might have some trouble remembering some of the riffs but she held her own and Craig got to do some of his fiery blues guitar leads he is famous for.  The surprise of the day was Layla, to which we did the Derek And Dominoes version and both of them really played it fine. 

The fact of the matter is that Kimberly has the vocals to make the songs rock out and she has fun playing on stage with everybody.  She does one of the more louder vocals, she's certainly not shy to belt them out.  She's a good singer, but in my profession I am here to help out on the drums or try to make sense of the songs played.    With her band No Limit, she does have collective bunch of folk that do lay it down and make her sound good in the process.  With the situation with Bill Stephenson up in the air, I have no idea what the future holds.  I did have fun helping her out when things looked as if it was going to be canceled.   Stacia did get Craig to help out.  Which is cool, jamming along side one of the best in the CR area.

(David and Perry)

Robby Haskill came out to support  He could have come up and played a couple songs.  I'd let him.

Patrick Lower helped out with expert sound. 

Perry was an exception bass player.  He helped me out when I couldn't figure out some of the songs played, but like myself, this was the first time we all got together.  Given the situation, I think we did pretty damn good.

Photos from the Homestead Gig are by David Kirzan and Kimberly. 

Technical bullshit:

For the gigs, I used  Zildjian cymbals.

Blues Rox

19' Arumnd Ride used as a ride

20' A  Sizzle/Crash as a Crash

18 K Dark Session Crash

16 S Trash Crash

For the No Limit gig

The Armund Ride was used as a crash

the Sizzle/Crash was used as a ride

14' K Dark Crash replaces the S Trash Crash

18' K Dark Session Crash.

14 inch A Quik Beat High Hats for both gigs. 

This lineup worked better for the No Limit gig.  Being outdoors these cymbals blended in with the guitars and bass.  It used to be that I was a bash and crasher but as time and age progressed onward, 

my style has changed to a more finesse style with a more lighter set of drumsticks used.  The Trash Crash is for more louder and harder rock and roll, but when used for Blues Rox, it sounded more in tune with a china sound.   future shows I may take the Oriental Crash Of Doom for Blues Rox.

The No Limit Band was a fill in at the last moment, Terry McDowell has been the go to drummer if and when they play but Terry had other commitments (Rumors)  and the lineup with Bonnie Harrison and Mike Williams didn't pan out.   But Kimberly and David had connections with Koru Berry Farm, plus I was available to do the gig.  If things fall into place, I would help out if Kimberly can't find anybody, just like this gig.  And having Craig Erickson on stage is a major big deal to me.  If Kimberly host a Checker's Jam, I may bring a snare on stage if asked.  But a full drum set will not be cost effective.  Unless I get to have a couple bucks thrown in for good measure.  

Rumors-Last Dance With Meinfield

Songs:

The Weight

Breakdown/

Mary Jane's Last Dance

It's Too Late

Against The Wind/

Still The Same

With

Greg Mein-Vocals and guitar

Brenda Hoskins-Mein-Piano and keyboards

Morris-guitar

Mark Awad-Bass

Donna Jo-Percssion

Terry McDowell, Jeff Taylor  and Tim Canfield-Hosts

Billy Bourbon took the photos. Even when not playing he was behind the scenes in pic taking. 

Ole Stone Face-Drums

It's been a rocking weekend with Friday Night gig in Williamsburg with Blues Rox and today's gig with Kat Blue (Kimberly Kirzan) and the No Limit Band, more about those shows in the next installment.

Kimberly and David were at the Chrome Horse watching the Retro Rockets and somehow, Patrick Lower, our sound guy was there too,  So I followed Kimberly and David to Rumors, where Kimberly was spared of me on drums (D J Hovenstot got the nod), but I managed to score the last set with Greg and Brenda, the couple known as Meinfield and we did a six song segment that doesn't really do much justice, we usually are pretty tight with the arrangements, but perhaps a bit of too much drink and not familiar with Jeff Taylor's keyboard.   Greg n Brenda added a Tom Petty n Bob Segar medley that threw me off on the latter, took me about four bars to figure it was Still The Same.  Usually Mark Awad catches on, but he was lost on those songs, I don't think he ever heard It's Too Late.   I don't think The Meins knew that they were going to play, so they had to make with the instruments provided. 

I always wanted to play The Weight one more time with Greg n Brenda and got that wish.  By then Kimberly and David were long gone, going home probably wore out from all the playing and singing that she did today.  Perhaps somewhere down the line, maybe I'll take up the Mein's offer and jam with them if and when I make it out to Nevada.    It may be a while tho. 

(last three photos are from Tami Mannick)

Whisky Jo's-Where Is My Band?

Songs:

Born On The Bayou

Gold Dust Woman

You Don't Know How It Feels

Long Time Gone

In The Midnight Hour

Night Moves

Crosscut Saw

Wildwood Weed

Dee Vieman-Lead Vocal (Born on the bayou, Gold Dust Woman)

Billy Bourbon-Bass and lead vocal, guitar on Night Moves, Crosscut Saw, Wildwood Weed)

Tommy Bruner-Guitar and lead vocal on Long Time Gone

Freddy Jones-Harmonica

Mark Awad-Bass (Night Moves, Crosscut Saw, Wildwood Weed)

Terry McDowell-host

R. Smith-Drums

First time I have jammed with Dee since the days of Bird and Rumors and she did the two best known songs.  She later returned for her version of Bobby McGee.

Bill Sclatter bought the guy from California (Jim Myers) to play drums on his set.  Andy Pasker finished up on drums for tonight.  

Matt Panek was there but didn't play.  Tom Berdo later replaced Freddy on harmonica on the final set.  Brett Johnson did the Midnight Special/Kansas City medley.

Kristopher may have been put off by the lack of service from last week and wasn't there.  Neither was Kimberly who I have been drafted to sit in on the drums 

Rumors-Idol Threats

Songs:

Gold Dust Woman

Dreams

Drift Away

Me N Bobby McGee

Kat Blue-Vocals

Donna Jo-Percussion and vocals

Billy Bourbon-Lead Guitar

Tommy Bruner-Lead Guitar

Ed Butler-Bass

R. Smith-Drums

Terry McDowell and Tim Canfield Hosts

(Mr. Idol via way of Ken Smith) 

Billy Idol was in town tonight so the thought was that there wouldn't be many jammers, but 7 drummers showed up to play (all after six o clock). Last week, Terry seemed to be the only drummer, this week he didn't have to worry about playing.

Prior before the jam I did a New Bo walk about the area and discovered a shaker of salt in the ground. I returned it to the Gaucho table, but somehow it connected with Margaritaville song.  To which Russ Gracklin continued to lament of his lost shaker of salt.  Perhaps I should have taken it to Rumors to present to him.  That would have been a funny.  Guess which song he was playing when I walked into the bart.

Ed Butler did guitar and entertained folk with his songs of oddball. Ode To Billy Joe, Battle Of New Orleans, Stairway to Gilligan's Island and of course his wonderful destruction of Wicked Game. and D'yer Maker, Bob Miller played drums.  Terry gave me the choice to perform with Ed or wait till Kimberly got on stage, but I told him whatever he wanted to do was fine with me.  Kimberly did her songs of note.

The jam went over past eight oclock, what got done in, was a short break that turned into a thirty five minute break.  At that time, we didn't have Rick Wengle, Birthday boy Mike Lint and DJ Hovenstot in the house.  In defense, nobody thought it would get busy, due to Billy Idol being in town.

Herman got to play a while with Randy Swift but he had no swing to his shuffle and got lost in the shuffle on a blues shuffle.  Seems like while the band playing was like from Venus, while his drumming sounded like he was from Uranus.  Bob was like that with the eccentric Ed on guitar and playing Dyer Maker.  Perhaps I should have played instead, but I know if Bob knew the songs he would worked out great too.  It was the third straight week that Ed and I followed each other to the jams in the past three weeks.  Nobody mentioned who was hosting the Stone City open mic, so I went into town instead.  Nothing out of the ordinary on my drum playing, just to the beat and to the point, tho I did messed around with a tom beat to Gold Dust Woman.  There was more tom accents to Gold Dust and Dreams and leaving Tommy Bruner to start the latter song.  If I do the Fleetwood drum roll intro, it throws everybody off a half beat.  

Mike Bear Clair and Renee and family did a four song acoustic set during break number 2.

Kimberley Hovenstot sang Already Gone and amazed people along the way.  I knew she did sing Karaoke from time to time but she did fine.  DJ Hovenstot backed her up on drums with Bear, Mark Awad, Billy Bourbon and Tommy Bruner in tow.

Next week, I take a break from the Rumor's jam and Stone City to help Kat Blue and the No Limits band in Homestead.  Temps will be in the 90s, just like it was in Monticello last weekend.   I will have to break a fan and a couple towels and a couple shirts along the way.  

And shorts.   

As of Monday, the salt shaker was still on the table at Gauchos'

Charles Connor....I never knew who this guy was but he was the drummer on the Specialty Recordings of Little Richard.  I've seen him in the old movies like Don't Knock The Rock, but it is his chugging train beat shuffle that drives Lucille and Good Golly Miss Molly.  He also drummed for Sam Cooke and James Brown, who always seem to get the most funky drummers in his band at some time.  He was a lefty but still a fine drummer who influenced me just like Earl Palmer did.  I need to put him in my top 100 drummers of all time.