CHAPTER 6
G.G. AND JERRY

    Before I get into GG and Jerry, I would like to make this comment.  The late Norris Badeaux was playing magnificent horn in the mid-sixties. Bado was loved, respected and revered by musicians everywhere.  I remember musicians at Lake Tahoe and Reno paying us nightly visits.  As soon as their gigs were finished for the night, they would come and listen to Bado play his soul.  They would applaud and cheer for Bado every time he'd play a solo.  Bado was a kind and gentle friend and a loving husband and father.  I think John Coltrane would have admired this man.  His genius will always be a legacy to the Boogie Kings, and he will never be forgotten by his adoring fans and family.  We lost Bado in 1985 in an automobile accident.  Rest in peace, my brother.  Your influence on the horn is admired by all musicians.
    I knew that we needed to play in Houston and New Orleans because these cities were major markets.  One gig in Houston was worth ten gigs in the sticks.  So I just drove to Houston with Abigail to find this club that someone had told me was a hot location.  I had no idea where it was.  We drove around Houston for a while getting lost and finally got a motel room.  Unbelievably, when I walked out of the room to check out, I looked across the street and there was the club!  I went over that afternoon to speak to the owner, but he wouldn't give us a date.  I called my friend Leo O'Neil and he told me to go to Van's Ballroom and talk to Van Bevill.  I spoke to Van, and he knew of us, but he said that he had a house band and the only night he had open was a Monday night.  The worst night of the week.  He said that we could play the next Monday for the door if we wanted to.  I agreed to it because I had to get my foot in the door in Houston.  Much to our surprise, we packed that club with over a thousand people and kept that job for years.  
      One night I struck up a conversation with a stranger at the bar. After a brief  with this guy, he asked me where we were getting our weed.  I told him that we didn't buy it, but occasionally our friends would turn us on.  He told me that he drove through Lake Charles every week and that he'd be glad to deliver some ten dollar bags to us when we were in need.  I asked him to brings ten bags to me the next time he came through.  I had not smoked too much at this time, preferring to rely on pills and booze.   I had to keep this from Cathie, who had just become pregnant.   The next week, he brought the ten bags and I gave everybody one and kept one for myself. This was at a rehearsal at the Big Oaks Club.  I didn't know what was in the weed, but it kicked our asses like nobody's business. We played that night and the first set went OK, but all of the tunes seemed too slow and too long.  Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the break came.  We couldn't wait to get out to our cars and fire up our pipes. We got so messed up on that Mexican pot that we couldn't slap our ass with both hands.  My mouth was so dry I couldn't spit!  I went back into the club and as I walked to the stage two or three people asked me what was wrong with my eyes. When I looked in the mirror of the cigarette machine, I realized my eyes were droopy and bloodshot.  From that day on, I wore dark glasses on stage. I made it to the stage and tapped on the microphone with my zippo. This was my signal to the band that the break was over. The only problem with that was that none of the guys were in the club. The only ones in the club were GG and Jerry.  Neither one of them was using the weed.  They stuck to their booze.  The band was still outside after the break was over.  I panicked and went outside and rounded them up.  I really had to coax Bryan, as he was paranoid to the max and he really wanted to stay in the car.  We finally made it to the stage and got everything cranked up again.  It was real shaky, but the crowd never noticed. On about the third song, we heard these god-awful sounds coming from the keyboard.  It was horrible!  When I looked up at Bryan to see what the problem was, I saw that he had passed out and was resting his head on the keys. This cracked us up so bad and we laughed so hard that we could not continue the song.
    G.G. Shinn and Jerry Count  Jackson were at their peak and were performing brilliantly, as always.  Jerry was beginning to have a problem with alcohol, but we were getting so stoned that we didn't mind his drinking.  I had a rule in the band about getting too drunk to perform.  It would cost a player his whole night's pay if I caught them.  I remember Jerry being carried off stage only once, but he could drink a tank truck dry and one would never realize that he was looped.  We were playing regularly at the Big Oak Club in Vinton where we had standing room only crowds.
    One night I got a phone call from Old Man Stewart, who owned the Palomino CLub, which was across the street from the Big Oaks.  He offered us more money than Mr. Hebert was paying us.  I gave Mr. Hebert a chance to match the price and he, of course, refused.  We decided to play across the street for more money. That is, I decided, as I was getting the authority that I needed to make decisions without taking a vote.  The whole crowd came across the street with us, and shortly, a bidding war erupted, a war in which we were the benefactors.   We were doing so well at the Palomino Club that Old Man Stewart wanted us to play on Thursday nights, also.  We were game to try it out, although, week nights in that area were usually very weak.  We  played the very next Thursday and guess what?  Nobody showed up but the band.  This was something that had never happened to the Boogie Kings.  Having two great vocalists like GG and Jerry gave us a little too much confidence.  As I was standing at the front door of the Palomino CLub, Old Man Stewart uttered his classic line to me.  He said, "Ned, don't worry, they won't all be winners." This great piece of advice has stuck with me through my entire career.
    The two years that we had GG and Jerry as a team molded the sound and style of the band as we totally broke away from the old sound of the late fifties and early sixties.  These two guys were so strong, that many of our fans think that this was the "original" Boogie Kings.  They made such a huge impact on our success that it simply can't be measured.  There has never been two singers that worked together as well as GG and Jerry.  The odd thing about them is their contrasting styles.  GG has this sweet, pure, smooth voice with a dramatic high register, and Jerry has a rough, get down and dirty, soulful voice.  But the two of them together would make the most beautiful blend of rhythm & blues music that the Boogie Kings have ever had.  The band was very comfortable and secure as long as they were fronting it.
    The Bob Dee Agency in Reno, Nevada  booked a gig for us at Lake Tahoe in May of 1966.  This was to be the last major appearance of the GG and Jerry team. We looked and sounded good on this gig. The show was as tight as a drum.   It was an unusual situation at Tahoe.  The casino would convert the restaurant into a Go-Go room dance club, and we would perform from midnight to six a.m. every night.   We liked the time slot because, all of the other entertainers would come into hear us after their show would be over. I was so proud of the guys. We looked good and sounded good.  RCA Records signed us to do a couple of demos, which we did, but nothing ever came of it.  Our friends, The Righteous Brothers (Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield) were doing a show at Harrah's with Jack Benny.  After their twelve o'clock show, they would come over to our room, along with Louis Prima and his group.  They loved to sit in with us, and we were honored to have them.  Louis Prima had been my early idol for as long as I could remember, and it was great to finally get to meet this man.  We had met the guys in Prima's band when we pulled off the all night fiasco in Reno the year before.  The Righteous Brothers really were in awe of GG and Jerry.  We were all very young at the time.  Bill and Bobby have made many public comments about the talent of these two guys.  I second that emotion.  Personally, I have never worked with two geniuses like GG and Jerry, except for the two years that they were in the band.  It was great for them to help to kick off our comeback in 1991.  Night after night, we were blessed to share the stage with them.  I can remember many a night where the tears were falling from my eyes as I realized that I may never again have such a great band.
    I really loved being at Lake Tahoe. A beautiful blue water lake, a mile high in the mountains. I hope to be able to afford to retire there one day.  Cathie was pregnant, and I wasn't having much sex, so I picked up this real fine woman one night and got a room and did a number all night long.  When I woke up sober the next day, that gorgeous woman had turned into a homely skag and I got my ass out of that room as quickly as possible.  It's amazing what makeup mixed with booze does to a man's eyes.!   That was the first time I did Cathie wrong, something I thought I would never do. This was to be my last year with her.  We got married that September, had a baby in November    ( a lovely daughter named Kimberli) and Cathie left me in December. She had found two lids of grass and decided to hide them from me.  The baby had really messed with her mind and the grass sort of sealed the deal.  I had to tear the whole apartment up looking for that weed, and by the time I found it, Cathie and the baby were long gone.
    Right after Cathie split, G.G. gave me his notice. He wanted to start his own group.  I tried very hard to convince him that he was making a mistake, but I knew deep down in my heart that better things were in his future.  An artist with the talent of a GG Shinn does not  need to share the money twelve ways.  My heart skipped a beat as I pondered the future without one of my top guns.   I hated to lose him, but I wished him well.
    Enter Duane Yates.  Duane was on the golf course in Alexandria when he got my call.  We flew him into Houston to make a gig with us at the Bamboo Hut in Galveston   As fate would have it, Duane got laryngitis after the first job.   I was really hoping that GG's exit would go unnoticed, but it was not to be that way.  As we made the rounds of our regular clubs, every single club owner advised me to get rid of Duane Yates.   They didn't realize that he had simply lost his voice temporarily.  Even though Duane struggled with the laryngitis for a couple of weeks and little by little, his voice finally came back.  I stuck with him. I knew he was one of the greats and time would prove me right.  After a trying six weeks, that great big soulful voice popped in and the crowds that were disappointed with Duane were now applauding him.
    Of course, as long as I had the great performer, Jerry Lacroix, I knew that everything would be OK.  Jerry really came through for the band as Duane was nursing his throat.  Jerry could always turn a crowd on anytime that he felt like it.  He has that amazing ability to mesmerize an audience, and God, is he blessed with talent and soul.
      I was at the top of my game in 1966. I had control of a great band, money was flowing, and opportunity abounded. We were poised for success.  We invested a great deal of money on wardrobe when I became leader. We finally had a different color tux for every night of the week. We really looked sharp. Everyone was following the dress code and the band was developing a sense of pride and self-esteem. We had a different outfit for every night of the week.  We were buying tailor made sharkskin suits from Duke the Tailor in Houston.  Old Man Duke loved the band and he went out of his way to make us the sharpest suits in the business.  The show was as tight and as well rehearsed as it could be. The guys seemed to be happy.
     We decided to record a new album, now that we had captured New Orleans and Houston. It was recorded at Sam Montel's One Track Studio in Baton Rouge. We really did not know about multi-track recording studios at the time. The entire Blue-Eyed Soul album was recorded in one afternoon in Baton Rouge. It took us only five hours. The best thing about that album is that it gave me the opportunity to get my original song, "The Philly Walk" on an album. It was later to be released as a single.  When the "Philly Walk" was released, we got a hit pick in billboard and Cash Box magazine, the two leading music publications of that year.  After that, we got hit picks from virtually all of the major rock stations in the East.  Everyone thought that my song would be a chart buster.  That is, everyone except me. I had a funny feeling that something would screw up. My feelings were validated soon afterwards.  It happened this way. Aaron Neville had just released "Tell It Like It Is."  It was a smash.  So much so, that the distributors on the East Coast ran out of single records and they were looking at a three week waiting period from the manufacturer. When Sam and Stan Lewis found out this information, they saw a way to make some quick record sales. Our version of "Tell It Like It Is" was on the flip side of "The Philly Walk."   It was an exact copy of Aaron Neville's version.  In a slick move, Stan Lewis contacted all of his connections, and had them push the flip side of the record. The "Philly Walk" died a slow death after that and we'll never know how many records we sold because we have never been paid.  
    Jim Stewart, top jock in New Orleans, was sponsoring us at the Sands, a hot local club. The "Philly Walk" was on the charts and the band was flying high. We were smoking weed quite heavily at this particular time. The female action in New Orleans was rivaled only by the bikini clad women at the Bamboo Hut in Galveston. We were so popular that we had to be very careful, at least, those who were married.
      Buddy King, one of Lousiana's top disc jockeys, was working many of our gigs. Buddy loved to MC for us. Anyone with the initials B.K. is always welcome on my stage.   The R & B movement of the sixties was in full swing in 1966 and there were many great artists and bands in the South Louisiana area.
    Kenny Tibbs and the Jokers were establishing themselves as one of the premier bands in the area. Willie "Tee" Trahan was blasting out the sax solos.  Warren Storm, Skip Stewart and Rod Bernard were doing quite well with their band, "The Shondells." They hung together for a few years and were one of South Louisiana's favorite groups.Bobby "B" and the Rockers were tearing up the crowds with their Rock n' Roil that featured Bobby "Booga" Page, a very popular South Louisiana vocalist, they are still performing today. "The Glades" from Jennings, "The Continentals" from Lafayette, "Nel Nelson and the Sensations", "TK Hulin and The Lonely Nights",Charles Mann" and his group, "Cookie And The Cupcakes", "J.T. Richard and the Blues Kings", "The Raven's from New Iberia", "The Swing Kings from Eunice", "Clint West and the Kings" from Lake Charles, "Li'l Bob" and the Lollipops from Lafayette, "Johnnie Allan" and the Krazy Kats "Bobby Page" and the Riff Raffs are among some of the top groups of the late sixties.  
    Politics in the Boogie Kings was beginning to be a real problem. A clique had formed between Jerry's boys and my boys.  It was like the liberals against the conservatives. When Jerry wanted to punish me for something, he would perform very poorly, or do some shitty bubble gum tunes that would piss me off.  He really knew how to get my goat!   I was so bummed out by the resistance of the clique, that I called a band meeting at the Big Oak after a gig one night In front of the whole band, I told them that I thought it would be in the best interests of the band for us to stop fighting. I asked him point blank what it would take for us to be friends and work together. He looked at me dead in the eye and without any hesitation at all, he replied, "We don't want to be your goddam friend."  There was no way that I could top that remark, but I let it lay, for I could see no advantage to arguing with them. I knew then that if our ship would get real close to Treasure Island, their attitude would change. The more the drugs took hold, the larger the problem became.  I often wondered why they felt this way, but it was definitely a problem. I was not about war, I was about peace.  Jerry was still mad at me because he had to give up the Dominos in head-up competition.  As with Clint and G. G., I did not want to be Jerry's adversary.  By the same token, I knew that we could not succeed with inconsistency in the band. We had too much to lose.
    One night after a gig at the Dome Shadows in Houston, we heard that Otis was in town.  We rushed over to the club, "The Palladium," and walked in.  There must have been three thousand blacks in that huge club.  Otis was at the peak of his popularity. We all had our shiny green sharkskin suits on.  That huge black audience knew who we were and they treated us very graciously, as they always did.  Otis came on stage and the crowd went nuts.  He was loved by everyone.  I never heard so much noise in my life. When Otis finished his fifth song, he started talking on the mike (something he did not do very much ) and all of a sudden a strange hush came over the crowd.  It was so eerie, so quiet you could hear a pin drop. We turned and looked at the entrance and there stood James Brown, the "Godfather" of Soul.  Obviously, the two stars had never met, because Otis was visibly moved.   A dead silence came over the crowd, and with tears rolling down Otis' cheeks, he said, "Thank you James, you honor me my brother."  After about  ten seconds of silence, the audience gave both of them a standing ovation.  I will never forget that moment as long as I live.  Otis, like a cheerleader got the audience chanting "James, James, James." James made his way through the crowd, jumped on stage with Otis and those two men put on a performance that these Boogie Kings were proud to witness (can I get an "Amen!").  There will never be another performance like we were privileged to witness that night.  Now you know why we still include James and Otis in our repertoire, and we always will.  God bless you, Otis my brother, we will carry the torch for you to the next generation.  God Bless your beautiful soul........
Jerry and Duane proved to be strong enough to compensate for the loss of GG.  Our fans stuck with us and we were still rolling on.  But Jerry's friends in the band were going against my allies in the group.  This would all come to a head sooner than I wanted it to.