Short Change Band - Last Weekend of September, 2010

Well hello to you all, I have much to tell you, so let's get right to it.

Friday night we were at Davy's in downtown Chenango Forks. It was our first show we played in a couple weeks so we needed to get the cobwebs out. By the second set we were rolling once again. We had guest vocalist “Pretty Patty Patterson Moat” come up and take the stage for a couple of great tunes and we even had Richie from the infamous “Jason Wicks Band” come up and play a few tunes on the skins. Richie, you smoked - nice job! Other guest appearances were by none other than our own Andrea and Cindy {sure to cause an early snowstorm there}

All in all it was a good show Friday night, and once again the bar was packed at 1pm. I'm still trying to figure this out - everyone must just stop here for "one more" before they get home. Yeah that's it...

Sunday’s show was a benefit for a friend of ours “Louis” who is having some serious health issues. We were glad we could help out. he event was held up to the Honky Tonk Saloon in Sherburne, NY and was hosted by some old friends of ours the “Sundown Band”.

Along with the performances from the Short Change Band and the Sundown Band were some relatively new comers “Shawn and Hailey”. Now if you haven't seen this band you are in for quite the treat. The entire band is made up of High School kids. And the enthusiasm they put forth is just priceless. The Bass player is 13 and his guitar is as big as he is. The drummer “Cody” is 13 as well and plays like a trooper and between these two guys they give the rest of the band the opportunity to play mandolins and 12 sting acoustic guitar as well and some nice vocals. Great job Shawn and Hailey! I can't wait to see where these guys are in ten years.

It is so memorable to see these young kids following the footsteps of the older bands and putting their own touch of magic along the way. Keep up the good work guys.

And Sundown, Rick French - thanks for coming up and jammin' with us a bit and running some great sound for us while we took the stage. My only regret of the day was not being able to watch Sundown perform. (being close to 50 miles from home on a Sunday night put a damper on that) [Next Time] And Finally, the owner of the Honky Tonk “Brenda”, thanks for treating us like kings the day of the benefit. We'll be back.

We hope to see you all up to the Central Hotel on Saturday Evening, it’s been quite some time since the Hotel, so we will play with a vengeance for sure! There could even be a guest appearance by none other than the “Cardboard Cutouts” themselves. We'll see..

Come see a good show and cheer them on.

Be well, Be good, and be safe,
Mikee^Dee

The Short Change Band last full week of September, 2010

This week’s shows: Friday Night 9/24/10 - Davy's Last Chance Saloon in downtown Chenango Forks at 9:00pm. Saturday - No Shows. Sunday 9/26/10 - The Honky Tonk Saloon in Sherburne, NY (Abate Party open to the public from 2pm- 5pm. We hope to set you all this weekend at one or both of our shows. Both shows are on Rt. 12 (or just off it) ... amazing huh?

On to last Friday’s road trip to Atlantic City with Cadillac Chris. The Frump himself and our road crew -On Tap - Billy Idol live at the House of Blues. [See Dinner picture at Hooters]
Let me say this: “ if you ever travel to New Jersey, at least on the pay roads, the new one dollar bill is now the 10 dollar bill. A Whopper lunch is $10. A Car Valet is $10. A slice of pizza and a coke is $10. A glass of Jack (a bargain) at $9.75. That sets the table so to speak for Jersey.

So we arrive at the Tropicana Hotel and they bang us an additional $50 for a cot bed for 2 nights. Nice huh? Not to let the high price of American living diminish our MoJo (Gasoline on the other hand was a mere $2.34 a gallon) Figure that one out...

Anyway Friday night at the House of Blues was the place to be at 9pm as Billy Idol took the stage. The house was packed to the gills (standing room only) for all. Now I'm not a lover of General Admission shows but watching Billy Idol’s performance for the next 90 minutes was worth the sore feet.

The light show was awesome and the sound was good, but a bit loud. His band smoked too! They were all very accomplished musicians. His lead player “Steve” has been with him since the early days, and he just smoked that Blonde Les Paul.

After ninety minutes of “Flesh for Fantasy”, “Dancin' with myself” and some new selections, two of which were acoustic guitar selections that Billy played himself. He finished up with “White Wedding” a selection that Billy himself played a Strat on. No bad man - not bad. And then the last encore took us home with “Rebel Yell”. Wow, here's a guy in his 50's that when he ripped off his shirt was cut to the nines, with six pack abs and all. You go Billy! If you ever get a chance to see the boy, he's still got it all.

This girl standing next to me was saying it was the biggest crowd she has ever seen at a House of Blues show and she was a local, so she should know. Wow two record attendance setting concerts in a month. Cool huh?

Then on to Saturday, it was Steven B. Cook's Big Birthday Party. I felt bad being 400 miles away from home as I really wanted to be a part of the “Cookster’s” 60th bash. Well much like the weeks earlier show, I mentioned that of a Short Change Band reunion, and this was even a step closer to that rendition with Phil and Donnie playing too. Not to mention Johnny from the old “Harmony Road” days! The music played and Whiskey flowed. Damn I hate missing parties like that...

So in closing, the one thing you need to know is no grass ever grows under any of our feet. We live every minute to the fullest, the way life is meant to be.

Be good, be well, and see you all soon,

Mikee^Dee

Short Change Band - Beginning of September, 2010

Well hello to you all, the week is rapidly passing us by, and probably by now you have also noticed the days are getting shorter and the sunrises are becoming later as well. It’s a sure sign that fall is upon us. Next Thursday (for all of you calendar watchers) is the first official day of fall. We've had temperatures up to the ranch this week in the upper 30's - oh boy.

Anyway, this will be a pretty light passage this week as we really don't have much to report on. We are an interesting group. K.W. just assumes he’ll brew beer on his day off, DD went to see his Miami Dolphins play a live game in Buffalo, and myself - I'm heading off to see Billy Idol with Cadillac Chris and his road crew this weekend. But more of that later...

The only Show we had last week was at Jonathan’s in Endwell. It was a semi-acoustic show with some electric. The show was anything less than "inspirational". Let me say this “we play to the crowd and we live for our crowds”. I think many people these days just go to clubs to drink, play lotto, or watch sports. Gone are the days of “Dance and Hoopla”. It's a bit sad to say the least, but these days playing clubs are not like they were ten or twenty years ago. Maybe you need a good full moon or something these days to go out and raise some hell. I just haven't figured it out just yet.

Enough said, this weekend we are off as K.W. and DD help Steve Cook celebrate his birthday, and like I mentioned earlier - a group of us are heading down to the “House of Blues” to go see the infamous Billy Idol. This will be his last stop as he finishes up from a worldwide tour. The House of Blues in Atlantic City is a small venue that boasts a seating capacity of about 1200 people. I find that hard to believe as the size of the hall is a bit deceiving. They do have two levels and two bars located right inside the hall, if you don't mind laying out a five spot or better for a domestic beer, you're good to go.

So that about sums this week’s installment - oh if you see Ms. Cindy this week make sure you wish her a very Happy Birthday. As I'm sure she would like that!

Be well, be good, and if you do something just a wee-bit illegal - don't you get caught!

Love ya’s,

Mikee^Dee

Short Change Band - Labor Day Weekend

Well hello once again to you all. What a weekend it was. We have so much to cover, so let's move right into it. Labor Day weekend was going to be a busy weekend with three shows and all for us. To make a long story short, the first two were cancelled leaving us with just one show for the whole weekend.

Now any other band would have been crying in their tears, but not us, we are a creative bunch and here's how it all panned out.

First, Friday’s show up to the Public House was cancelled as the owner who booked the show earlier in the year failed to let the band know what was going on when he sold the place to new owners. Poor excuse there but hey, you learn through your mistakes.

The pig roast scheduled for Saturday was cancelled due to a marriage breakup. Hey we all have been there before and Saturday’s weather for an outdoor show would have been a challenge once that front came through that afternoon. So what did we do you might ask?

Friday night we did a Mets game doubleheader no less up in Bingo town. The Mets got their asses kicked both games but the Fireworks were priceless.

Saturday morning we scheduled a SCB golf outing that took us from the golf course after completing 9 holes, right on down to the Central Hotel for an afternoon of beverage sampling. We did save a bit of sanity for that evening as we all gathered once again up to Applebee's for a band type dinner. See we make the best of any sour event. It's how we roll. Don't get mad and have more fun is our philosophy!

Special event deposits for our shows will be in the 2011 budget, you can count on that one. Oh and then we also found out this weekend that we did not get chosen for the head act up to BowBell's sportsman's club event next July. We thought after they finally fired Ellen and the boys that we would be the next up, but it didn't happen. But hey we went through this same thing with a club up in Endwell last year too. We are a very resilient group of lads and ya know other venues will come our way. You just gotta rethink your approach just in case they ever do call you, then it's on our' terms. That works for me.

Anyways, on to our Premiere Show at the Central. The tailgate party up to the ranch began at 2pm. Little did we know that the Short Change Band was going to playing a revival show that day. Yes, you heard it correctly – Revival, and it was featuring Steven B. Cook himself.
Gosh it's been probably fifteen years (at least) since Steve sat in and we couldn't wait for the magic to begin. And what a show it was, complete a with a whole bus load of Stinky Boys, fresh up from Susquehanna PA. We love these guys (and girls) as they always add a party flavor to everywhere they go. Thanks again guys for supporting the SCB! We enjoy the friendship and brotherhood. Great vocals too. I can still hear "Takin care of Business” in the back of my head!
And then about five hours (after it all began) it was over.

We would like to thank Steven B. for coming down and making a bit of magic with band. It’s been a long time bro... Don't make a stranger out of yourself cause we missed ya. Also I'm sure DD will be posting some great pictures from the evening as well on our website.

Nice job as always K.W. and D.D. as we smoked Sunday’s show!

And finally this week’s show. We have one show this Friday night at Jonathan's in Endwell NY. The show time is 9pm. We’ll see you there on Friday.

Have a great week and remember the kids are all back in school so drive carefully,

Mikee^^Dee