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CHAPTER
14
CHASING THE 50TH It was 1994. In eleven years, if we could make it, the band would have performed for 50 years. This has never been done. Rene' and I were trying very hard to book the band in the casinos, which had popped up all over Louisiana and Mississippi. We finally got the casino door opened by booking a two week engagement at the Ameristar Casino in Vicksburg, Mississippi. I thought that the band would go over real big on the casino circuit, but I had a lot to learn. The problem was that our band was too loud and bodacious for the casino customers. In a casino, the band is not the center of attention unless they are in a separate lounge. We had to play behind the bar and in the open casino. Our music disturbed the old folks quite a bit, and they were only too eager to complain. The entertainment director made us play so soft, that we were not effective at all. The wanted us to be part of the scenery and not to stand out. We were not accustomed to being handcuffed like this. But the money was good, the food was good the hotel rooms were nice. I tried as hard as I could to make the band conform to the conditions, but it was impossible to convince ten Cajuns to play at a casino volume level. They still wanted to blast out, and eventually the sound would get out of control. The sound man got so frustrated that he would turn all of the microphones off and leave the board when we were playing. We were doing five shows a night, and it didn't take very long for us to begin to disintegrate. Disagreements turned into arguments. Arguments evolved into fights. I wondered if we should pursue the casino circuit or go back to the bawdy night clubs. We played a Boogie Kings reunion at Shep's Club in Mansura that was quite successful in 1994. At the intermission, a young 17 year old boy came up to me and introduced himself as Jamie Dea. He told me that he knew G.G. Shinn and that it was his intention to get a job singing with the Boogie Kings. Thinking that he was just another brash young kid that thought that he could sing, I told him to make a tape and send it to me. A few days later, I received the tape and put it in a drawer with no intention of listening to another bad tape. Quite by accident one day, I was playing some tapes and I gave it a listen. It was rough and crude, but Jamie's talent shined through like a beacon. I said to my wife, "This kid has potential!" I called Jamie and invited him to sit in with us at an upcoming Grant Street Dance Hall event. He came and sang a couple of songs with the band and really impressed me. Shortly after that, I hired Jamie, and he performed with the band for the next four years. He left the band and recorded a CD under the name of "Parker James" which is his stage name now. Seldom does a young player have the right feel and style for rhythm ‘n blues music, but Parker has it down pat. I wish him much success in all of his endeavors and he will always be welcome on a Boogie Kings stage. After we made a few casino appearances, we began to develop a new following. The word got around that we were a good band, and we began to prospect other casinos. My friend, Cal Arnold, had given me a tip about a man named Marsh Edelstein from Minnesota. He was the booking agent for all of the Grand Casinos in Louisiana and Mississippi. Five casinos, to be exact. Rene' kept urging me to contact Mr. Edelstein, but I told her that he would never pay our price. I had spoken to some of the bands that were working the Grand circuit, and according to them the pay was lousy. Well, Rene' called him one day and he was very interested in booking us. She handed me the telephone, and I very reluctantly spoke to the man. I knew that he would not pay my price, but I was not at all afraid to quote it to him. Marsh was a very nice gentleman, telling me right off the bat to call him "Marsh." He said that he had heard of us and was very anxious to have us play continuously in all five of the Grand Casinos. He asked what it would take for us to contract some jobs. I didn't think he would negotiate the price, so I nailed him right between the eyes with a price that was more than I really expected to get. As I thought, he hit the ceiling! He said that he had never paid a lounge act that much money. So I thanked him for speaking to me, and I hung up the phone. Fifteen minutes later, he called me back, and offered a little more money. I told him that his offer was an insult, and I couldn't consider it, and I hung up the phone once again. I told Rene' that it was a nice try, but Marsh would never meet our terms. Wrong! Fifteen minutes later, the phone rang again, and I booked $100,000.00 worth of contracts in one shot. God is good. God is great. This was the beginning of a long term friendship and a very profitable one. I am very grateful to this wonderful man for giving us this wonderful opportunity. Marsh, I'll never forget you, my brother. In December of 1995, I stopped the show, and Rene' and I got married on the bandstand at the Grand Casino. It was a beautiful wedding. Daniel Lacombe was the Justice Of The Peace. A very talented kid named Travis Thibodaux, and his dad, Gary Thibodaux performed a song called "The Wedding Song". It was a beautiful song and it was they performed it flawlessly. Travis also composed that song. It was a memorable event. We played the casinos very successfully for the next five years. Several players came and went in the group, but basically it was Jon Smith and Duane Yates that helped the group more than anyone else. We were playing the casinos about 36 weeks out of every year and making good money. It got to be very tough after a while because of all of the rules that casinos have. We were much more comfortable playing at night clubs, but we could not turn down all of that casino money. All of a sudden, out of a clear blue sky, Marsh Edelstein called me and informed me that he was resigning from the Grand Casino. He had kept us booked for five years. One by one, we started losing our Grand Casino dates. We managed to keep the Grand Casino in Marksville, LA, only because we were a top draw. Instead of 36 weeks a year, we now only had 6 weeks, and times were beginning to get rough. Rene' and I hung in there as well as we could. As times got worse, I began to drink very much and went back to using drugs. I was getting more and more depressed. In fact, I was losing it. But the band was playing enough for us to survive, so I stuck with it. I don't often speak about religion or politics. Actually, i despise those who use religion as a shield for their misdeeds. Most of my life, I was not into religion much, but that all changed in 2002. I was at one of the low points in my life. I was living in an apartment that my son owned in Abbeville, La, my home town. For some odd reason which I cannot explain, I turned off my TV, all of the lights, closed my curtains, and lit two candles. Then I got on my knees, and began to pray to God. something that I had never done. I was 65 years old. I had been in Alcoholics Annonymous for two years at that time. All of a sudden, my whole body went numb, and the dark room that I was in lit up with a mysterious light that I cannot explain. I lifted my head up and asked God to forgive my sins and take charge of my life. I said, "Lord, I turn my life over to you". I felt a total change come over me, a very uplifting feeling came over my body and an intense desire to go forward with my life and my career, even though things looked very bleak at this time. Since that experience, I can truthfully say that God has surrounded me with some of the most loyal and supportive friends and musicians that I have ever had the pleasure of being with. I learned that my God is a very forgiving God. Turning my life over to him has protected me from harm until this day. God is great. God is love. I consider a relationship between and individual and his Higher Power to be a very necessary part of a person's life. Jon Smith and I formed a production company to manage the band in 1994. I didn't really want to operate as a partnership, but frankly, I was getting burned out. I was now approaching the age of 60 and I was beginning to slow down. The partnership worked very good for several years, even though Jon and I had conflicting personalities. We had some good players in the mid nineties. Our drummer was Harry Ravain, a very accomplished and experienced player. His friend, Robert Wilson was working with us also. Robert is the best bass player that I ever worked with. He knows all the songs and always stays right in the pocket. On keyboards, we had Rick Allen, a jamming player that the audience loved to watch and listen to. The band was sounding very strong, but with the addition of the New Orleans players, I felt that we were leaning towards a kind of a second line sound and drifting away from our roots. One night, at a show at the Grand Casino, I looked back and saw that Harry had removed his coat. It was a policy of the band that we did not break the uniform code, and I told Harry to put his coat back on. That pissed him off and he declared that he would take his coat off any time he felt like it. So we got into it, and I ended up letting him go. Robert hung in for a few months after that, but he eventually left the band. After Harry left the group, we had a rough time finding a drummer that could satisfy us. We hired Tommy Richard in the mid nineties, and he hung in for ten years. Tommy is a wonderful blues player and is a rock solid player with a great attitude. We almost lost him a couple of years ago when he suffered a serious heart attack. But he has rebounded and is playing better than ever. Tommy left the band in 2004 to join the "Cypress Band" with Willie Tee and Warren Storm. Jerry Henderson joined the group shortly after Tommy and stabilized our drummer headaches. Jerry was a wonderful, very stylish player and he added a great deal of class to our sound. Jerry had a great sense of humor, a wonderful attitude and he was perfect for the group. Jerry died in 2007 from cancer and we miss him dearly. Willie Tee had played with us off and on for the past ten years. Willie is a wonderful player and singer and a master of "Swamp Pop" music. Willie currently has 4 CD's on the market. He sounds a lot like Fats Domino on his vocals and plays his saxophone with a unique style, that others cannot duplicate. Willie and his wife, Gloria, came to my aid in 2002 when I was in a very down period of my life. They gave me a place to live, food to eat, and money to help me survive. I will be forever grateful to this couple for what they did for me. Willie and Gloria now have their own band. Nick Farkas, a dear friend from the sixties, and a talented creative player and vocalist has been our steady keyboard player for the last few years. Nick can play any style of music at moment's notice, but he is at his best on a straight blues tune. Nick, also had a serious heart problem, but he was cured with a quadruple bypass. Where would we be without our wonderful doctors? Gerald Romero filled in on bass after Robert left and did a wonderful job for the band. Gerald is a great player and he does some vocalizing on the side. He still works with us from time to time. WE
DID IT !!!!!!!!!!
50 YEAR ANNIVERSARY 1955 - 2005 AN INCREDIBLE ACCOMPLISHMENT  |