Jeff’s Blog

Monday night and I need to get this done before kickoff….Anyway, quite the weekend at the Owls as we had good turnouts both nights. I can’t say enough about the work that went in to the stage setup – a big thanks to Bob and Tim for the decorations. Bob even went out and got a drum set that had skeletons all over it, and a giant skull on the bass drum. Probably not a set you’d use everywhere, but very cool. With all the lights, skulls, pumpkins, tombstones, spiders, rats, bats, flames and smoke – it looked like an Alice Cooper stage! A decent turnout for the costume contest with Ken (Elvis) Fraser taking home the bronze. Of course, the band was in costume as well – I hope there’ll be pics up soon. A few “couples” themes with myself as a doctor and Holly as a sexy nurse. Matt and Stacy did the Uncle Sam costumes – would that be sexy Aunt Samantha?? Bob’s costume was the most elaborate as a giant bat, complete with face paint, giant wings, and skeleton hands. Jason came as Clark Kent with the Superman shirt underneath – even had the front curl. Cyndi pulled off an ’80s Pat Benatar, which made “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” quite authentic. Add to that Matt’s famous “Monster Mash” and Tim’s Halloween break music and it was quite the night. I will say that this band goes all out on Halloween and if you were there, you know what I mean. A funny moment – at the end of the night, I was in the men’s room at the same time as “the wolfman” who took top prize. He looked over at me and said, “I think they gave the prize to the right guy. I’ve just about given all the money back.” Made me chuckle. Holly’s son, Chris, and fiancee, Christina, drove from Milwaukee just to be there – of course, so did Holly and I…Next week, it’s back to the Countryside for a two-nighter. No costumes or skulls, but it should be a good time. Stop out and say hello. See you there! Go Pack!!!

Pre-Halloween weekend but a few costumes were out. On the last post I discussed our rock / country approach. So, we did a fair amount of country songs in the first set, still mixed with the rock, but more country. On the first break I had a girl come up to me and say that we played too much country and that if we didn’t start playing some rock, she and her friends were going to leave. Of course, nobody likes ultimatums, but you have to be professional about these things. We reassured her that there was more rock coming up and she wound up staying and, even line danced to “Boot Scootin’ Boogie”. I had to tease her a little about that. Anyway, midway through “the famous third set”, which is all pretty much rock, some guy comes up saying he heard we played country and wanted us to start doing more country songs. Now I’ve heard it said that there is no secret to success, but there is for failure – try to please everybody. It’s also said that opposites attract – maybe I should have introduced these two. On Saturday, I made it a point to mix it up more in the first set, which seemed to work better. I’d still like to point out that we play our country songs with a rock sound. We’re more of rock band that does some country rather than the other way around. Jason debuted a new song, “All My Friends Say” which got a good response, and Matt did his famous “Monster Mash” which is a real treat. All in all a fun time and thanks to all who stopped out. Next weekend it’s back to the Owl’s for Halloween. It’s always a good time there and hopefully Holly will be out on Saturday, so be sure to say hi. We’ll see you at the Owl’s!

Just one night at the Countryside this week, and was birthday night for Nina and Earl, who were both there. We had a pretty good crowd to start things out and there was dancing on the first song. Things stayed busy until the break after the 2nd set and then it thinned out a little. But we appreciate all who stuck around and made it a fun night just the same. I’ve used the phrase “famous 3rd set” due to the tradition at Tremors. Tremors typically starts a little slow and then builds up to a peak about the 3rd set. We purposely put a lot of our strongest dancing songs in this set for that reason. This battle plan didn’t quite work at the Countryside so I may have to draw up some new plans. If you’ve seen the band, you know we mix modern country with classic rock. Depending on the place or situation, we can lean more one way. For example, we play more rock at Tremors and a little more country at the Owl’s club. On Friday, the Countryside was closer to an early Owl’s club crowd. This confuses some people (especially us) and of course, everybody has their personal opinion as to what they’d like to hear, but the combination overall seems to work. We play our country songs with a “rock edge” that makes the sound blend well with the rock material. For example, we don’t have a steel guitar or fiddle in the band, so I typically cover these parts with a distorted (rock) guitar sound. And speaking of Tremors, we’re back there this next weekend.
On Saturday, we had a practice and learned “All My Friends Say” which will debut at Tremors – now if we can just remember it for a week! I’d also like to say a big thanks to Matt and Bryan Meyer for helping me fix one of the hinges on the old (for sale) trailer. If I doesn’t sell it, we’ll have to make it one of the displays in the Rainbow Bridge Historical Museum – right next to the old equipment, articles, posters, and life size cutouts of all the former members….still have to talk to Bryan about donating one of the barns – and it’ll give me something to do in my retirement years. Anyway, stop out to Tremors this weekend and say hello. See you there!

Two one-nighters – makes for a long weekend. Good night at the Countryside. Nina, Bonnie, Laura, Earl, Dorothy, Laurie, Stacy and Kami to name a few. Earl Young’s Bday is today, Monday. Earl has been following the band almost as long as Nina (who’s also having a Bday this month). Earl used to manage the Hoffman House, moved over to the Left Guard (Alfrescos), and even had his own place for a while. We’re talking the early 80s but he may have been around before that. He was out Saturday night too and we want to wish him a good one. We had a good crowd at JDs in Beloit. There was a class reunion (‘77) and a wedding party there along with a few of our loyal fans. The down side was the fight at the end of the night. Let me say that this is a nice place and they treat us well. We’ve see our share of fights and they can happen anywhere. Point is that this is not “one of those kind of places” and I would encourage anyone to see us there. Ken and Dawn were out for while Sat. too. Haven’t seen them in a while. Band news is our new trailer thanks to Bryan Meyer. We have to mention Meyer’s Market everywhere now, but it was a nice thing to do as our old one was filled to the brim. I have a trailer for sale now….FYI. Next week it’s a return to the Countryside on Friday for a one-nighter. We have a new song on the docket and plan on practicing Saturday. I pretty much have it down so it’ll be safe to go to the blues jam on Wednesday. Stop out to the Countryside, say hello and wish a good one to Earl and Nina. See you there!

Not on schedules but next Friday, Oct. 5th, we’ll be at the Countryside – Hwy 59 north of Milton. On Saturday, the 6th, we’re back to JD’s Prime Spot in Beloit. This is just down the road from the Beloit Holiday Inn on Gardner St. I wanted to get that info out right away as I just found out myself! Anyway, good times at the Owl’s club. What seems to be a trend – Friday was okay and Saturday was good. Thanks to everybody who came out this weekend. Saturday was birthday party night for Dawn (not Ken’s Dawn) who brought out quite the group. I think they stayed most of the night too. Speaking of Ken, I hear it was a birthday for him too last week. He and Dawn spent the weekend up north I believe. Happy Bday to Eklevnis and we hope he’s out again soon. Okay, it’s story time: When I first met Ken, he introduced himself as Elvis. I really thought this was his name as no one told me otherwise. On his next birthday, a mutual friend told me his real name. Not being able to decide what to call him, I mixed the names Elvis and Ken together and wrote “Eklevnis” on his card – and it seems to have stuck.
Another “cheat sheet” written last week so it’ll be new song time again soon. On Friday night, I was thinking about when to call “Online” – was worried about remembering the words, and wound up starting “Livin’ in Fast Forward” in the wrong spot…a moment of over think…it happens. And one more time – Friday at the Countryside and Saturday in Beloit. See you there!
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