08.24.2013 - Cowtown Bowling Palace - Fort Worth, TX

Well, hello strangers!

While it's only been a month, it seems like we haven't played live in a year. Luckily, we're about to get more active again here in another month. So, we're using the down time to work on some new aspects to the live show, setting up the next album, etc. I promise we have been working and will be working, just not on a stage as much until Fall kicks in. Stay tuned for a bunch of dates going up on our calendar in the next week.

So, about last night... The night was a big one for us in several ways. First off, it was our first show ever with live drums. Our normal setup is that the main drums (kick/snare/hats) run from my keyboard and Cisco plays hand percussion along with it. Now, Cisco is playing full kit and, for the time being, I've take the auxiliary percussion back to the keyboards. I'm proud to say that Cisco is doing a great job on the kit. We use a great deal of sequencing - you've heard the songs, there's a lot going on from the keyboard (and if you don't know - aside from the guitars, our album was all done with keyboards). Anyway, running the sequencer requires me to set the timing. It's kind of reverse from what a drummer is used to. In their world, they're setting the tempo, not following it. So, when bands like us go and do this, it takes a lot of focus and concentration to lock in that groove and hold things together. That's why I've always admired Roger Taylor from Duran Duran. Even back in the early days, before the high tech click track systems, he did just as we're doing, same method, and he did a great job at it. On our side, I'm happy to say that Cisco and the rest of us pulled it off!

Speaking of "the rest of us." There's more of "us" now! Last night was also our first show with Brian Barton on bass. It was kind of weird, for me, to look over to my left and see someone there. The past year, I've had Heath to my right and no one to my left. At one point during the set, I looked over and almost spooked myself when I saw someone there. Cracked me up and I think I got lost in the song we were playing. Oh well, shit happens. I give Brian credit - I think he had about 2 weeks, something like that, to try and get familiar with our show... a three hour show. That's a lot to cram in during a short period of time. Again, like Cisco, he pulled it off. Anyway, it was fun having him there and I look forward to future shows. 

And future shows... I think the key word I said in that last sentence above was "fun." This new formation of the band has been fun for Heath and I. Really fun. I think Cisco and Brian are feeling it, too. We're all seeming to click and over time, as we tighten things up and get more comfortable with each other, I think our show is going to crank the fun factor to eleven. 

Now, back to this specific place... It's an interesting concept that I was drawn to early in 2013. I saw an ad that this bowling alley was having live music. I knew that I, as a customer, would be into attending something like that. So, I gave the contact info to our agent and told her I wanted Sand Dollar Rodeo to play there. As a performer, it's an odd gig. No one really watches you like a regular concert, they bowl and listen. So, there's no fancy stage or blinky lights (on us anyways - they do kill the lights and get the disco bowling thing going on the lanes). But, it's nice when you get a compliment because it means someone really listened to you. I much prefer that to a bar gig where you're a jukebox designed to sell booze. Then, when the booze sells, the drunks start making requests of crap that you'd never play. I'll take the bowling alley over that any day. That's how I got started playing the breweries. It was something different that I thought would be a nice change for the listener, rather than having to go see us at a club. Now if I can just find a roller skating rink with bar service... well, I guess that could be a little dangerous. Maybe we'll stick with the bowling alley. 

So, that was last night. We'll be doing it again on Friday, September 13th. If you're in Fort Worth and want a fun night (that doesn't cost a fortune), come on down to Cowtown Bowling Palace. We'll see you there! I'll leave you with a few pictures that Brian's wife, Carrie, took last night .

Stay gold,
RH

Sand Dollar Rodeo v 4.0

   

07.19.2013 - Hollywood & Vine - Glen Rose, TX

Really not a lot to write about this one. We really like playing outside at Hollywood & Vine, awesome patio. The place, as a whole (with emphasis on the patio) has more personality than a lot of the places we play. If I lived in Glen Rose, I would probably be a regular customer. Anyway, this time the rain left us alone and it was good, hot and humid. At the end of the night, all of my clothes were soaking wet!

The show went fine. Well, aside from Mr. Frazier getting a splinter from the wood stage on his magic finger, the show went fine. We've been tweaking the set list, how it flows and all, and it appears to have been a positive change - a lot of nice words from people in the crowd. Had a few free beers sent our way, saw a CD being sold, had some folks dancing, etc. This morning I see we've received several new Facebook "likes" from people in the Glen Rose area as well (Thank You!).

It was a good time and I really hope to be able to get back on the outdoor stage once more before it cools off this Fall. They have live music year round, but we're kinda loud for where they have the indoor bands play :)

Thanks, again, to everyone that came out and to Wanda at Hollywood & Vine for having us again.

Stay gold,
RH

07.13.2013 - Community Beer Company - Dallas, TX

Another fun one for the Sand Dollar Rodeo show archive! As many of you know, we’ve been exploring playing brewery tours and played our first one a few weeks ago. It went well and this show went even better. However, it was a very different vibe from the previous brewery.

Community Beer Company is very much about… creating a community. I was surprised to show up and see, in addition to beer being setup, there were local artists setting up displays, food vendors, etc. It was almost like a mini festival. Oh, and there was a dog adoption event as well, I believe. I was never able to get the time to make over to where the main dog area, but there were a lot of them! Anyway, the vibe was right.

It was a large warehouse, so it was hard to tell exactly how many people were in there. But, I heard from a woman that worked there that this was one of their largest turnouts and she was estimating 300 through the door.

We had to work our sets around two brewery tours. So, we played for an hour, took a beer break during tour #1, then played about 30 minutes, beer break for tour # 2, then played one final song to close out the day. The response from the crowd was really good. I was stopped quite a few times by people saying they enjoyed the music and the staff said they would like to have us back. Another perk, the McKinney Crew showed up - they've been with us since the beginning and it was great to see their faces - thanks for coming on down to the hip side of 75 :)  Needless to say, we had a lot of fun and will go back, for sure! 

My beer pick of the day: Witbier. 

Next stop... back to Glen Rose for round 3 or 4. Talk to you then!

Stay gold,

RH

06.29.2013 - FireWheel Brewing Company - Rowlett, TX

What a pleasant afternoon! This "show" was a test for us. There's a growing trend around here of having live music during brewery tours. Well, it's no secret that we like beer. But, we just wanted to dip our toes in and see what it was all about. So, that's just what we did. 

I have attended beer festivals for several years now and, with the growing live music / beer scene combo, I started taking notes of the locals a few festivals ago. After attending North Texas Beer Festival, I figured that I would only contact breweries whose beer I enjoyed so that, if the gig sucked, at least the beer would be good. 

One of the first I contacted was FireWheel in Rowlett. I liked their beer, I liked their shirts. I could clearly tell that someone had a good sense of humor. Well, low and behold, Brad (owner) responded to me directly and said to come on down. 

Fast forward to Saturday. We showed up a little before 11am to setup and people were already started to trickle into the area. We pulled around back to the beer garden (aka back parking lot) and started doing our thing. It was already getting hot. I think it is was right about 100 degrees at its peak. Luckily, thanks to a city ordinance, we didn't overheat. You see, the way their licensing sits at the brewery, you can not have live music for more than 10 consecutive minutes. In other words, we were instructed to play 10 minutes, then take a few minutes off and have a beer. Then, play ten more minutes and repeat. The area they were pouring beer was air conditioned. I think that, if we had stayed on stage out there all day without breaking like that, we would have passed out from the sun. 

With the stopping and starting, there really wasn't much of a flow to our performance. As I recall, about midway, I gave a printout of our set list to a few friends and just asked them what they wanted to hear. It was incredibly laid back, really nice and relaxed. Totally not like a normal concert environment. We drank beer and interacted with the audience like we're usually not able to. Oh, and did I tell you that we drank some beer? They had all sorts of tasty FireWheel brews on tap for us... including a new Peach test brew which was great. My other favorites of the day were the Coffee Porter and the Albino Pumpkin (best pumpkin I have ever tried - and I have tried quite a few). Really nice, drinkable beers, all 3. Actually, I heard from others that the other flavors were really good, too. Those 3 were just really exceptional, to me. 

In the end, I would love to play there again. That's just what it was, "playing." We brought people up and showed them how stuff worked, talked about whatever, played with the FireWheel dogs and just had a plain ol' good time. Brad and co's hospitality was excellent. Oh, yeah, and there was a Cajun food truck, too! Can't beat The Lab for Cajun food truck-ism. Beer, music, Cajun food, dogs and a bright sunny day. It was nice. 

Be sure to check FireWheel over on FacePlace at http://www.facebook.com/FireWheelBrew and tell them Roy and Sand Dollar Rodeo sent you! 

My new FireWheel shirt!

06.22.2013 - Cowtown Bowling Palace - Fort Worth, TX

Bowling For Furniture!

Ok, so we weren’t bowling for furniture. Really, we weren’t bowling at all. But, we did have a nice time while everyone else did their thing.

Early in the year, I had seen an ad in one of the local entertainment rags for “Bowling with the Bands” at a place called Cowtown Bowling Palace in Fort Worth. You know me, I’m always interested in playing different places. So, I gathered and sent the info over to our booking agent. That brings us to last night...

It was a unique setup. They have split lanes, as in there are lanes on each side of the building. So, rather than having us set up out there on the lanes, they put us in the middle facing the bar so we could be seen and heard equally from both sides of the alley. We setup, do our sound check and then they kill the lane lights and fire up the blinky lights. If you’ve never been to “disco bowling” or whatever they want to call it at your local place, it’s kind of fun. Just imagine a dance club with bowling balls. It kept me entertained.

The show, itself, was challenging at first (for a couple reasons). First off, I had the bright idea to go to a Cheap Trick concert night before, get up early the next morning and go to Best Little Brewfest In Texas (aka beer fest @ Texas Motor Speedway), then make my way to the show after a couple hours of attempted napping and sing until 1am. I was a little tired. Luckily, energy shot kicked in after a few songs and that was no longer an issue. I won’t do that again prior to playing. Well, at least not until I have a few extra roadies.

The next odd thing was the crowd behavior. It took us a good hour or so to realize that we were not bombing. Umm… people were bowling, it was included with their cover charge - of course they are going to bowl rather than stand in front of band! As the night went on, people stuck around, bought drinks, and we received quite a few compliments. Some really kind words – like the police officer who kept an eye on us during most of show. I thought I must be in trouble for something when he came up to me after we had finished… then he bought a CD. He said that he works this event every weekend and that we were the best sounding band they’d had through there in a long time. He said that they used to have random metal bands, etc. that would run off the crowd. I’m glad to say that we didn’t run anyone off. The guys in charge were very complimentary as well. It was a really pleasant experience once we got used to how it works. So, yeah, mark your calendars… we’ll be back there on August 24^th.

Stay gold,

RH



Blinky Lights at Sound Check



06.15.2013 - Stockyards Stage @ The Coliseum - Fort Worth, TX

One word: Hot. Ok, maybe one more word: Humid. 

I've played outdoors in heat many times, but this was probably one of the more uncomfortable times. Hot, humid and the air wasn't moving. While setting up, I would set something up, stop and have water, set something else up, stop and have water, repeat til done. I'll bet I drank close to a case of water by end of the night. I've played in higher temperatures, even in direct sun, this was just weird. I suppose it could have rained.

Aside from the weather, things went fine. It's an odd feeling, being soundtrack music for the Fort Worth Stockyards experience. The bulk of the crowd is constantly moving up and down the street, slowing down to watch for a song or two, then continuing their tourist agendas. Then, the Coliseum doors open and bam, lots of people appear from nowhere.

The main thing I remember from this one is the heat. I think the heat and the bump on my head from the night before kind of took its toll. Had trouble remembering some of the words and just felt a little off the whole night. Luckily, you can walk around the Stockyards with beer, so I'm pretty sure most of them didn't notice too much. Fingers crossed on that one. 

Anyway, playing the Stockyards was on the Sand Dollar Rodeo bucket list and can now be checked off. We might do it again, just have to see what comes around. I'd also like to play in the station area, out in front of Ernest Tubbs' Record Shop. They have bands out there every once in a while and I think it would be a lot of fun. Actually, that's where I thought we were playing when we were originally booked. I was kind of wrong... but it worked out fine. 

Next weekend, another goofy show that I dug up... I see black lights, ugly shoes, nachos and cheap beer in view for next Saturday night... until then...

Stay gold,

RH

06.14.2013 - Tammy's Hideaway - Burleson, TX

Well, hello strangers! Yes, it's been a while since our last show. But, we have been staying busy... more on that later. 

So, last night Sand Dollar Rodeo made a return visit to Tammy's in Burleson. We weren't originally scheduled to play there. Another band that our booking agent handles (The Rocky Lott Band) had to cancel due to hospitalization of their guitarist, so we filled in for them with only about a days notice.  

The night went fine, very much like we remembered Tammy's having been the last time we played there. A few more people than last time, though. That's always a good thing. 

This place is just an odd, small town bar, with a unique charm. If you've ever been in a VFW lounge, it almost has that same vibe... and, judging by the urinal target pictured below, there are a few Vets that are regulars, employees or something similar. 

Highlights of the night; The guy that kept bringing us beer, then proceeded to set napkins on fire and fall of his bar stool around midnight, and he just layed on the floor for a while. Guess the concrete was cooler than the AC :) We also had a Monkees fan in the house. Kind of cracked me up. I admit it, I am a fan, as well, and while we played Steppin' Stone, we didn't have Last Train To Clarksville ready to go. So, of course, he heckled us (in a good way) most of the night. It was funny. He would ask for the song and I would reply over the mic with lyrics from the song, but as spoken word like I was having a conversation with him, assuring he'd be there by 4:30 cause I'd made his reservation... I think I rattled off several Monkees spoken word monologues in between songs... Girl (Davy Jones vs Marcia Brady), Let's Dance On, I Wanna Be Free, etc. I think I see a Monkees medley in the works for these longer nights.

Lowlights: Heath got his favorite amp back from the repair guy. It died (again) about an hour into the show. So, he ran out and grabbed his little practice amp and it saved the day again. I suppose it would't be right for Heath to show up to a show without a new amp every time, maybe it was a sign. I'm sure he's out shopping as I type this... I kind of liked the big stack he had last week. We'll see what he shows up with tonight - always a surprise! Another odd thing was our setup. Nothing you guys would notice, but, umm... we've been up to something... like adding a new member to the band. Over the past weeks off, we've been auditioning bass players... and we found one! You all will be introduced to Carlos probably in late July. Anyway, we sounded good last night. But, with the new addition, it's a whole other beast. I think Heath and I both were kind of missing what we heard with Carlos last weekend. Soon... very soon! Anyway, I'm off track... oh yeah, I also had a speaker fall on my head. That's going to leave a mark. Ugh. 

In the end, we had a nice time. Music was well received and we got paid. That's about all we can ask for, right? Tonight... we play the Fort Worth Stockyards, outdoors at the legendary Coliseum. Should be a fun night. 

Stay gold,

RH

Hanoi Jane Urinal Target @ Tammy's Hideaway

Goodbye, old amp...