The History of the Six Shooter Band

Jan 28: Seth’s First Practice

Seth comes over as the band sets up their equipment. We get a chance to talk a bit. Seth was really busy during the holiday season and hasn’t really had a chance to learn any of the songs. Eventually, we all get set up. We plug in and turn on.

As we start to do Doomis Walker, Seth asks if we can work out the vocal harmonies first. As we do this Seth slips into his “Choir Director” mode as we sing virtually occopella. It sounds cool. No, it sounds really cool. As we giggle at how cool we sound Kevin blurts out, “The guy acts like a choir director.” Seth then fills in the mystery by informing us that indeed HE IS A CHOIR DIRECTOR.

Yes, the newest member of Six Shooter is a multi-talented dude. He sings like an angel, plays guitar, harmonica, and totally KICKS ASS on the keyboards. Boners are rampant. If there was any doubt before, there is none now. It’s totally official. WE ARE THE SHIT.

Seth jams along with the band. We work on some vocals. There is such a difference between two and three part harmony. It is so cool, it is hard to put into words. The band picks a few songs they want to work on. John books a gig at the Tangled Spur for February 8 (Dave’s birthday). There is also a chance to play there on the 15th. The money from this gig will go to pay for a snake (should run around 300 bucks). Watch out world - Here comes Six Shooter -cocked and loaded!

Feb. 8: Seth’s First Live Appearance

Six Shooter takes the stage at the Tangled Spur (704 4th St. S.W.) on a special night. Dave has secured a new snake that passes everyone’s inspection. Dave has bought a hat for the gig (and another new shirt). It’s also Dave’s birthday. It’s also some girl named Tracy’s birthday. The band surprises Dave with a rendition of “Happy Birthday” and a giant cookie that says “Happy Birthday Dave.” Dave has distributed flyers that read, “Come out and celebrate Dave’s birthday and see if the old man can still jam.” He now feels a little pressure to really do something special.

The band is pumped to showcase their new keyboardists. While it was in the mid 40’s all week, the weather has turned to the traditional snow and cold. The band has learned three new songs with Seth. These are Desperado, The Dance and Little Rock. The band has been focusing on vocals these past practices. The three part harmonies give Dave goose-bumps. It’s so cool.

The band makes it through their first set, and everything seems to be going OK. The bar starts to fill up. Some Graphic people show up (Jeff Aul, Jeff Fritchley and Megan Benten). The second set features Seth. Dave explains how he’s always wanted a keyboardist that he could simply say, “Take it.” They launch into Doomis Walker. At the end, Dave looks over and says “Take it Seth!” Seth takes it, and kicks it’s ass. You couldn’t have asked for a better first impression.

Meanwhile, the band has become brain dead in some aspects. Dave starts off Watermelon Crawl on the wrong fret. Kevin is forgetting lyrics left and right. Dave’s not sure when or what to sing for back-up vocals. John has been involved in a lot of activity getting ready to move. He’s been approved for his new house. However, his lack of practice time shows. Just about the time Dave really gets pissed at John’s mistakes, he is informed that John’s problem is that the battery is going dead in his bass (OOPS!). Lee is stuck with the job of trying to keep up with a lot of improvisation on the stage. The band does their traditional speeding up of slow songs. This is something that needs addressed at practice There are couples on the dance floor as the band closes the set with “Fast as You.” Dave passes on venturing on to the floor as he is afraid he will be pelted with a drunken jitterbugger.

The band embarrasses Dave with an interesting version of Happy Birthday. They also sing to “Tracy.” Tracy has a group of people with her celebrating her birthday. The third set has the band doing the hot or cold routine. Musically we are either kicking ass or screwing up horribly. The good news is the crowd is just soaking us up. We’re having a lot of fun with Seth. The harmonies are sounding good. Seth finishes up his appearance with The Dance. It sounds so cool. Kevin nails the harmonies on “Little Rock” (an extremely high part). Kevin leans over to Dave and announces “I shot my wad.” However, his voice is fine for the evening. Seth gets a round of applause as he exits off the stage. The band finishes up the third set. The crowd continues to filter in. For a small bar, it’s pretty packed. Their are plenty of people behind the bar (where the band can’t see).

The band launches into their fourth set to a crowd full of tipsy patrons. The band is having a lot of fun, and the crowd is too. As Kevin puts it, “That was one of the best “Yee-Haws” we’ve ever heard. Meanwhile sitting on a bar stool Seth is approached by a drunken middle-aged wench we ...

Feb. 13: Concerns Over Lee

Well, it appears that Lee has taken his phone off the hook. Last Tuesday John could not make practice (due to house stuff). Lee wanted to practice on Friday, but due to Valentine’s Day, we practiced on Thursday. Lee never called at 6:30 His phone was busy the whole evening. This combined with the lack of meter on slow songs made for a kind of “Down on Lee” night. John, Kevin and Maria were pissed that he apparently blew off practice. He appeared bored on Tuesday when basically Kevin, Dave and Seth worked on vocals. It is brought up that Linda was kind of pissed that we gave Chuck $50 to run the sound at the Red Dog. Kevin states that he is not looking to fire Lee, but that we should talk to him. The point is made that Kevin helps pimp the band, John and Kevin work on the equipment, and Dave makes posters for the group, and Lee has no “Extracurricular” activities -or even attempts to help with setting up. He never even inquires.

February 15: Back at The Spur

Another fun evening at the Tangled Spur. Seth has spent all day practicing and is going to attempt to play on every song. As usual, the Canton area gets hit with another two inches of snow. The bar is cold, and will stay cold for most of the evening. The band wives are wearing layers of clothes to the bars now.

While setting up the band encounters aloud buzzing noise from the sound system. The band troubleshoots for approximately 30 minutes. Trying different cords and outlets the band is able to pretty much eliminate the buzz, but cuts it very close to starting time. Lots of tweaking to the monitors and main sound.

The night went off pretty much without a hitch. John is kicking himself at the end of the night. Due to his busy schedule, he admits his lack of practicing is becoming embarrassing on stage. Seth made it through the evening. If Kevin flubbed any words, it wasn’t apparent. Dave had tried a configuration with his amplifier that destroyed the sound the first set. His guitar was too distorted. He went back to his tried and true pedal board and everyone agreed it sounded better.

Dave surprises Kevin at the beginning of the second set by having the crowd sing happy birthday to Kevin.

The band performs Where am I Gonna live. The whole evening has needed a “Spark.” Kevin has everyone keep play “G” as he prods people to come up on stage to sing along. Suddenly a whole group of “manly men” rush the stage. It was a nice boost to the show.

Seth is now using an amp on stage, and it’s a nice touch as we can now hear what he is playing. The band has added a new ballad Whenever You Come Around which Seth sings. Most of the ballads with reworked vocals are sounding really good. Seth liked So Help Me Girl in particular.

Glenn the bar owner wants us to play every week in March (We were previously booked for one week in March). The band is in the middle of playing three weeks in a row. This means after the Red Dog next week, we will get a one week break, and then four weeks straight. Dave is hesitant. He says it’s fine with him if we take a break in April. Seth is ready willing and able. He has a two word plan: let’s go. Lee is all for it, as is John. It is a fun time. So the decision is made, and we will be playing every week in March at the Tangled Spur. The good news is this will be an extra $200 for each member ($50 X 4 weeks). However, if we have the opportunity to book other gigs, we are now tied in to the Tangled Spur.

At this point, the band is looking forward to the Red Dog next week. We will get to initiate the new (now paid for) snake. John is going to check on the preamp/effects unit that myseteriously has never showed up at Gatuso’s music. The band will practice at the Red Dog this week as Dave will be going to a Metallica concert on Tuesday. This could be interesting with new tunes. We hope to add Baby Likes to Rock and Be My Baby Tonight.

February 22-23: The Red Dog - Did you Say $350?

The band sets up Thursday in a slightly warmer Red Dog. The weather is getting warmer. It’s been in the 40s. John is really getting sick, and looks like cold death on a stick. The band is making great time setting up, and then runs into a grounding problem with the monitor amp that causes us to spend an hour troubleshooting a buzz sound (again!).

Friday goes OK. The sounds is a little different. The monitors are pretty much non-existent (sound familiar?) Background vocals are a little to low. Due to the low monitor volume, the stage volume is real low, and much of Seth and Dave is trampled by the drums (no volume control on those babies!). Dave and Seth try not to trample on each other, but are having a hard time trying to let the other be heard. Thanks to the weather, it’s a pretty good crowd for a Friday. There is some dude running around being your typical “just got our of prison” drunken fool. Dave’s batteries are low, as are John’s, and ...

August 2nd: Cappy’s Pub Night 1

August 2nd has finally arrived. To add to the excitement of the day, John rips off half his fingernail on his right-hand pointer finger when the handle of his tool case breaks. John says it should be O.K. because there is so much pain his finger is numb. Dave has a sore shoulder from setting up the night before. Kevin’s back is improving daily but will be wearing the brace on stage tonight. With this in mind, we think of changing our name to Sicks Shooter. The band is excited.

Dave has a big banner made in the Graphic Enterprises copy center and later adds foil to the letters. It looks pretty cool. The band tacks this to the stage.

Kevin is approached by “Mike the DJ” who asks when the band is starting tonight. He inquires to see if we’re going on 10:00 normal time or “bar time” (which is about 20 minutes fast). Mike DJ’s from 9:30 until 10:00. It’s time. The band takes the stage. Dave wonders into his corner and says a quick prayer. A calm mind will help focus on the task at hand (Kicking Ass). Kevin looks at the band and announces, “here we go” and the band launches into Honkey Tonk Attitude.

Much like the December 22 VFW appearance, the first set is used to get the sound set. Chuck is doing his best to feed John with information, and actually helping tune the knobs. While Chuck is not a musician, he listens to music most of the day. By the end of the first set, except for Dave’s guitar being too soft, the sound is set.

A large Graphic crowd has shown up including: Jeff Aul, Trisha Berger, Bob and Lori Corrigan, Karen Sarvis, April Long, Kim Allen, Jeff Johns, Kristy Yeager, and Jim Lowder. While this is great, it did add a certain amount of pressure to make a good first impression. With this in mind, Dave is glad his guitar wasn’t quite loud enough as he pulled off one of the worst performances to date. What guitar work he could remember his fingers wouldn’t play, and he seemed to being drawing a few too many blanks on stage. This is especially noticeable on Burn that Bridge. Luckily, the band seems to be developing a skill at covering up each other’s mistakes Set one consisted of:

SET ONE

1. HONKY TONK ATTITUDE

2. BIG OL’ TRUCK

3. DUMMAS WALKER

4. THINKIN PROBLEM

5. LIFESTYLES OF THE NOT SO RICH AND FAMOUS

6. TWO OF A KIND

7. AINT NOTHIN’ WRONG WITH THE RADIO

8. BURN THAT BRIDGE

9. PICK UP MAN

10. TRASHY WOMEN

11. WHISKEY AINT WORKIN’

12. TEXAS TORNADO

13. MERCURY BLUES

14. STICKS AND STONES

15. BORN TO BOOGIE

16. MARRIED TO A WAITRESS

.

Set one showed the rustiness of Six Shooter. The in-between song banter was rough around the edges. Dave (feeling silly) announces to the crowd “Everybody have fun tonight- Everybody WANG CHUNG TONIGHT.” While it got the laugh he was looking for, it also left many persons asking, “Whaaa???”.

Set two found a band whose nerves had settled, a guitar player pissed at his performance and determined to redeem himself (he had to play good now, we had turned up his guitar). The boys saddled up and launched into 3rd Rock from the Sun. The rest of the set included:

1. 3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN

2. WATERMELON CRAWL

3. I LIKE IT I LOVE IT

4. BEER N BONES

5. GOD BLESS TEXAS

6. AINT MUCH FUN SINCE I QUIT DRINKIN

7. HERE’S A QUARTER

8. SO HELP ME GIRL

9. WHAT MIGHT’VE BEEN

10. WALK SOFTLY

11. BUBBA HYDE

12. ROCK MY WORLD

13. SHE’S GOT THE RHYTHM

14. THE RACE IS ON

15. GRUNDY COUNTY AUCTION

Again, the band’s beginning are a little shaky. However, Kevin has loosened up, and now is getting the crowd completely involved, as he elicits “YEE-HAWS” from the crowd. Except for a near fatal beginning of Bubba Hyde that was just pure ugly, the band is hitting their stride, and firing on all cylinders. The monitor mix is missing, but luckily everything out front sounds good (even if we can’t hear what’s going on on stage). Dave knocks a ceiling tile with his guitar as he struts out to the front of the stage during “Walk Softly.”

The usual “venturing into the crowd” takes place. Kevin sings the slow songs on the dance floor, and Dave runs clear into the pool room during “Bubba Hyde.” Things are going so good Dave forgets his age and decides to relive his high school years as he attempts his first “Knee Slide” in 13 years across the wide open dance floor. Upon hitting the floor Dave’s knees do anything but slide. Much like hitting a brick wall, Dave’s knees come to an absolute stop. Kevin blurts out an “ouch” over the P.A. The momentum from running is now throwing Dave forward. Dave takes a few steps “Walking on his knees” and manages to stand up and jump back on stage. While this was completely planned, it sure appeared as Dave almost fell on his face. Dave is just happy he can still walk (mental note: YOU’RE 31 Y...

October 26: Kevin Keeps his Foot in the Door

Dave goes over to Kevin’s to get his amp for the Southern Heart practice-steal your keyboard player session. In talking with Maria and Kevin, Dave and Kevin voice some items that have been brooding in their minds. Dave hasn’t always been 100% thrilled with the fact that John has never really learned what is on the record (in terms of bass parts). While he has learned enough to stumble through, he’s never learned that extra 15% that can make a difference. Other issues are discussed, and Dave explains how he’s not upset at Kevin, but more the situation. He’s kind of excited about looking at different options. The thought of singing with someone else is still a very foreign idea. Dave realizes that Kevin is part owner of the drum set. Yet another complication to work out. Kevin explains how Tuesday John, Dave and Lee can decide what direction they will take. With John moving, moving practice back to John’s may not be an option. Suddenly the Southern Heart audition takes on a different meaning. Dave is 100% positive John will jump back into bed with Dan and revive their band “The Bends.” “On to a new frontier,” Dave thinks as he walks across Kevin’s front lawn. He embraces the fear of the unknown and decides to make the most out of a depressing situation.

During their discussion, Maria explains that with her current work schedule and band practice, she only sees Kevin one night a week. “AHA!” Dave thinks - the missing objection. Dave pats himself on the back for using his “handling objection” skills.

Later that day................................................

Kevin calls Dave to explain some things. After thinking a few things out, Kevin realizes that it’s not fair just to say “I quit” and bolt out the door. The band has never had a chance to change its ways. Consequently, Kevin wants to sit down with the band and discuss some of the issues that he and Dave had discussed previously in the day. While the band has got along great, played above average, Dave and Kevin realize that communication is really lacking. We need to put ALL of our concerns on the table. We need to polish up on being a band and strengthening the four-way-marriage that is the band.

In a sense, if we addressed all his concerns, Kevin feels the band would fun again. This pretty much shoots the shit out of Dave’s “Handling Objections” theories. Dave kicks himself in the balls and makes a mental note that most salesmen are full of shit.

Dave is relieved and looks forward to the communication challenge of the coming practice on Tuesday.

October 29: Kevin Goes Public

Kevin announces to the band that as of Friday he quit. He has since thought it over and thought it only fair to try to reconcile our differences first. The main problems are:

• Stage volume is too loud and the equipment being unreliable adds to frustrations.

• The amount of negativity that abounds at practice-usually brought about by bashing Graphic Enterprises for 30-40 minutes.

• The lack of practice by all members.

• In general -IT’S NOT FUN

The band admits that some of the song lists should be readjusted to play songs that people can dance to.

It decides that we need to fine-tune our sets, and have songs run into each other. This eliminates the need for “witty banter” in between songs. It also will keep people on the dance floor.

The band decides to set agendas for each practice. By having a set amount of items to practice we can focus on the tasks at hand. By eliminating the bitch session, we can focus on the music. The band also realizes that eventually there may not be a need to practice every week.

John has some ideas on how we can streamline the sound system to make it more portable, and sound better.

The band realizes we need to spend some time “surfing the scene” and see what people are dancing to -instead of what they’re listening to on the radio.

While Kevin and Dave bring all the topics of the previous discussion to the table, John and Dave both choked on bringing up the Kevin has to babysit at the end of the night issue. This while the band repeats how they need to be more honest with each other. Dave feels that Kevin has probably already addressed this issue. In discussing the issue earlier, John swears he heard Maria say “Pay up FUCKERS”... Dave does not remember the “f” word being used.

Basically, the band tries to hold it together to have fun. The band realizes that Kevin plans on leaving and moving to Montana in July/August.

When Dave asks if he should pursue Seth Jenkins (salesmen at work) everyone seems into the idea. Kevin needed some slight persuasion (timing issue). This demonstrates the obvious, with plans of weddings and moves to Montana, Kevin’s long-term commitment (understandably so) is pretty short term. The majority rules and Dave will try to catch Seth at work.

Seth...