It was in late 1985 that I met the general manager of a brand new company, Five Star Rodeo, .another event that would drastically change my life. We he asked me if I'd ever considered playing a rodeo, I was dumbfounded. I was most definitely not a cowboy, I had only seen one rodeo in my life, and could not imagine what 'playing a rodeo' would entail. He explained to me that the larger rodeos were full scale productions, and Five Star would be a major rodeo company, a member of the PRCA (the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association, the major league of pro rodeo). I would be performing much the same function as a circus band, playing all different types of music, a preshow of my own selection, accompanying the rides, backing different 'contract acts,' and in general enhancing the show. I agreed to give it a try, he was good friends with the owners of the bar I was playing and could get me the time off. He spent the next couple weeks working with me, choosing music, telling me what to expect, and in general giving me a crash course in rodeo.
My first rodeo was in Davie Florida, a western town just outside Fort Lauderdale. Instead of the raggedy old pickup trucks and drunk rednecks I expected, I pulled into town to see a vast parking lot of shiny multi-thousand dollar rigs, and professional rodeo cowboys, clean cut, nicely dressed all with a quiet air of professionalism. The cowboys and the contract personnel (the clowns, the acts, anyone who is hired by the rodeo company as part of the show) went out of their way to make me feel at home, and even forgave my wearing my brand new Resistol hat backwards the first performance. I fell in love with the challenge, it was probably the hardest musical job I'd ever tried. I had to watch for any number of cues, from the announcer, the clowns, anticipate the antics of the livestock, and with each new act I would have to learn their production music. It was actually very good money as well, which was most definitely a factor.
Five Star quickly grew into the 2nd or 3rd largest rodeo company in the PRCA (depending on if you were counting the number of rodeos each year, or the number of performances.) I quickly found out that the only way to ensure adequate sound at these events (some drew 10,000 people a performance) was to provide my own, and I branched out into the sound business, contracting at first with only Five Star. The original manager left the company, and I started getting calls from other rodeo companies as well, doing shows across a wide region. A number of the rodeos were held in conjunction with concerts, often I was asked to open for the national acts as well. TNN, (at the time, The Nashville Network,) did a television show , a behind the scenes look at the touring rodeo lifestyle, and I was featured on it. Almost a year later, I was still getting folks from my home town telling me 'hey I saw you on TV." I worked venues from Chicago to Texas on my road trips, and it was comforting to know that anywhere in the country I traveled, I would know somebody.
It soon became evident I was going to have to restructure my lounge career to give me the flexibility to perform at the rodeos. I did not want to go 'full time' on the rodeo trail, but needed the flexibility to take off when the road called. I had been asked by a local Moose lodge to play one night a week for them, I'd always turned them down in the past, but now decided to give it a try. Maybe I could put enough single night gigs together to give me a local base, but still travel. I quickly found out I liked the local fraternal organizations, and more important, they seemed to like me... A typical week now would be me playing 3 single nights (or afternoon gigs), leaving out Thursday night for a 3 to 5 hour drive to a rodeo or bull ride, spending until morning setting up sound, staging and scaffolding, getting a few hours sleep, then performing that night. A day or two later, (depending on how long the show lasts,) I'll tear down at night, drive home, and arrive very tired, but even more fulfilled.
The travel did take a toll. Janet and I divorced, my lifestyle was the main contributing factor. A year later I walked into a place where my former drummer Sam Hart was playing ( he was now doing a keyboard single act,) and took one look at the large brown eyes of a cocktail waitress named Cheryl and asked her to marry me. One year later, she did...
We are still married, we have one child together, a Stevi , a daughter who'se now 16. I adopted her two children by her previous marriage, Kenny and Megan, they have since moved out on their own. . The ever magnificent and always lovely Cheryl somehow managed the incredible feat of going to college while raising 3 kids, received her degree in elementary education, and now teaches 2nd grade.
Since playing my first rodeo, I've branched out a bit. I've produced my own bull riding events, (Bull-Fron-Tation, an event which ran from 1997 to 2001, and ended because I lost my venue.) I run a sound company specializing in sporting events, marketed rodeos for committees, and promoted other events as well. I've produced radio and TV commercials, I even market the PRCA Southeast Circuit Finals and the $100,000 Brighton Field Days Rodeo for the Seminole Tribe Brighton Reservation. I'm still with Five Star Rodeo, I'm privileged to call the president Troy Weekely a friend, and thanks largely to my association with them have performed at the circuit finals 12 times. I was even one of the very few non-PRCA members to have been awarded a circuit finals buckle at the awards banquet in front of several hundred of the top PRCA rodeo folk, an event that moved me tremendously.
I've gone full circle, I have a band that performs a newstalgia music show for community events and fund raisers. I play several house gigs during the week, and perform the newstalgia show either solo or with the band during my non-rodeo weekend nights. I spend a lot of time being grateful for the last 35 years, the over one-third of a century that I've spent in a business that has provided me with much more than just a living, it's blessed me with a life.
My first rodeo was in Davie Florida, a western town just outside Fort Lauderdale. Instead of the raggedy old pickup trucks and drunk rednecks I expected, I pulled into town to see a vast parking lot of shiny multi-thousand dollar rigs, and professional rodeo cowboys, clean cut, nicely dressed all with a quiet air of professionalism. The cowboys and the contract personnel (the clowns, the acts, anyone who is hired by the rodeo company as part of the show) went out of their way to make me feel at home, and even forgave my wearing my brand new Resistol hat backwards the first performance. I fell in love with the challenge, it was probably the hardest musical job I'd ever tried. I had to watch for any number of cues, from the announcer, the clowns, anticipate the antics of the livestock, and with each new act I would have to learn their production music. It was actually very good money as well, which was most definitely a factor.
Five Star quickly grew into the 2nd or 3rd largest rodeo company in the PRCA (depending on if you were counting the number of rodeos each year, or the number of performances.) I quickly found out that the only way to ensure adequate sound at these events (some drew 10,000 people a performance) was to provide my own, and I branched out into the sound business, contracting at first with only Five Star. The original manager left the company, and I started getting calls from other rodeo companies as well, doing shows across a wide region. A number of the rodeos were held in conjunction with concerts, often I was asked to open for the national acts as well. TNN, (at the time, The Nashville Network,) did a television show , a behind the scenes look at the touring rodeo lifestyle, and I was featured on it. Almost a year later, I was still getting folks from my home town telling me 'hey I saw you on TV." I worked venues from Chicago to Texas on my road trips, and it was comforting to know that anywhere in the country I traveled, I would know somebody.
It soon became evident I was going to have to restructure my lounge career to give me the flexibility to perform at the rodeos. I did not want to go 'full time' on the rodeo trail, but needed the flexibility to take off when the road called. I had been asked by a local Moose lodge to play one night a week for them, I'd always turned them down in the past, but now decided to give it a try. Maybe I could put enough single night gigs together to give me a local base, but still travel. I quickly found out I liked the local fraternal organizations, and more important, they seemed to like me... A typical week now would be me playing 3 single nights (or afternoon gigs), leaving out Thursday night for a 3 to 5 hour drive to a rodeo or bull ride, spending until morning setting up sound, staging and scaffolding, getting a few hours sleep, then performing that night. A day or two later, (depending on how long the show lasts,) I'll tear down at night, drive home, and arrive very tired, but even more fulfilled.
The travel did take a toll. Janet and I divorced, my lifestyle was the main contributing factor. A year later I walked into a place where my former drummer Sam Hart was playing ( he was now doing a keyboard single act,) and took one look at the large brown eyes of a cocktail waitress named Cheryl and asked her to marry me. One year later, she did...
We are still married, we have one child together, a Stevi , a daughter who'se now 16. I adopted her two children by her previous marriage, Kenny and Megan, they have since moved out on their own. . The ever magnificent and always lovely Cheryl somehow managed the incredible feat of going to college while raising 3 kids, received her degree in elementary education, and now teaches 2nd grade.
Since playing my first rodeo, I've branched out a bit. I've produced my own bull riding events, (Bull-Fron-Tation, an event which ran from 1997 to 2001, and ended because I lost my venue.) I run a sound company specializing in sporting events, marketed rodeos for committees, and promoted other events as well. I've produced radio and TV commercials, I even market the PRCA Southeast Circuit Finals and the $100,000 Brighton Field Days Rodeo for the Seminole Tribe Brighton Reservation. I'm still with Five Star Rodeo, I'm privileged to call the president Troy Weekely a friend, and thanks largely to my association with them have performed at the circuit finals 12 times. I was even one of the very few non-PRCA members to have been awarded a circuit finals buckle at the awards banquet in front of several hundred of the top PRCA rodeo folk, an event that moved me tremendously.
I've gone full circle, I have a band that performs a newstalgia music show for community events and fund raisers. I play several house gigs during the week, and perform the newstalgia show either solo or with the band during my non-rodeo weekend nights. I spend a lot of time being grateful for the last 35 years, the over one-third of a century that I've spent in a business that has provided me with much more than just a living, it's blessed me with a life.
My new family moved to Sebring first. While we were waiting for the purchase of a house to come through, she and the kids moved into her parents, my in-laws (some very nice folks.) I had 3 weeks to go left on my gig in Jacksonville, so I did what any normal newlywed would do. I commuted. Daily. 5 hours EACH way. I would get off at the bar at 1:30 am, be driving by 1:33 or so, arrive in Sebring about 6:30 am, get to sleep by 7:30 or 8:00 am, wake at 1:00 pm leave by 3:00, and be in Jacksonville in plenty of time for my 9:00 pm start. Gee ain't new love grand. Or something...
I had been playing a club in Sebring occasionally, the same one I met Janet at, the owners made me an offer for a house gig. It was radically less than I was used to, but still a decent living, and, face it, I was saving quite a bit on gas (even then, that 10 hours of daily driving in a full size Dodge Tradesman Van cost a little bit of change). The place was a little rough, but, I liked it. I could play anything, any volume, the crowds loved it.. The owners even went so far as to finance a 45 record (remember 45 rpm records?), 'Drunks Against Mad Mothers'/'the Watering Hole Song,' (long out of print). The record got a lot of jukebox play, some country disco play regionally, and my mother bought 2 copies. I did get to take a few breaks from my house gig, the most memorable one was when I played a club on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. The club was called the Bridge, it was situated on a pier overlooking Charlotte Amalie Harbour. It saddens me to find out the recent hurricanes there destroyed the club.
I had been playing a club in Sebring occasionally, the same one I met Janet at, the owners made me an offer for a house gig. It was radically less than I was used to, but still a decent living, and, face it, I was saving quite a bit on gas (even then, that 10 hours of daily driving in a full size Dodge Tradesman Van cost a little bit of change). The place was a little rough, but, I liked it. I could play anything, any volume, the crowds loved it.. The owners even went so far as to finance a 45 record (remember 45 rpm records?), 'Drunks Against Mad Mothers'/'the Watering Hole Song,' (long out of print). The record got a lot of jukebox play, some country disco play regionally, and my mother bought 2 copies. I did get to take a few breaks from my house gig, the most memorable one was when I played a club on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. The club was called the Bridge, it was situated on a pier overlooking Charlotte Amalie Harbour. It saddens me to find out the recent hurricanes there destroyed the club.
Hokay, You're just about done...
Might as well stick it out now.
Might as well stick it out now.
