Well, let's see - after thirty years kicking around as a drummer and
now 10 years as a folkie - yeah, I've got a few.

When I first came to Texas I got a gig drumming for a lady who put a band together with hopes of conquering Nashville; it was never going to happen, but hey, it was a gig I needed. As so many of them are, she had an agent who was a slimy dog, greedy a__hole of a human being and he stuck it to us big time.

The lady was an "o.k" singer but didn't know much about the business,
booking, running a band, etc. At any rate the SOB agent booked us in a popular country bar out in Lubbock - not bad, huh? Well, I had
misgivings at the outset about going to play a country bar out in
Lubbock. Why? Well, we were from Dallas and it was a hefty drive
for a pretty slim fee; and - we were not a country band - period.

I was assured by our lovely leader that we would be fine because the
"agent" told her that the club owner told him that they wanted a mix
of country music and disco-pop and we would be just perfect! I had
had my voicing of objections but was obligated to make the trip out
to Lubbock.

What happened you ask? Well, we played two sets and the owner came
up and said we were through; yes, through, because we were most
"perfectly" unsuited for the job. This was simply a red-neck bar in Lubbock, Texas in 1977 and they wanted Merle Haggard (I love Merle, by the way)with an occassional "pop" or disco song thrown in for variation. Well we were a "pop-disco" band whose entire country repertoire was two or three Kenny Rogers songs, one Dolly Parton
song and a Patsy Cline thrown in for good measure. I could have
killed the agent - and maybe her too for being so nieve.

Needless to say, we lost money on the gig, but the nice part was
the freezing dog I met on the trip back to the motel room. He was
shivering (it was February and very cold) so I invited him into my
room to get out of the cold. He slept under the bed and in the morning I went to the motel restaurant to get a take-out breakfast
with extra bacon and toast for the dog. Well, he got the extra
bacon and toast along with my bacon and toast, my eggs and my hash
browns, too. About twenty minutes later two band members called me
to meet them for breakfast at the restaurant. When the waitress
took my order she shook her head and said, "Eat much?" Cheers.