| Author | Message | ||
     Awprior  |
Jim, You suck. Can't wait to ride again. | ||
| Dbird29 |
OK Court. I'm listening to Mr. Castro right now. That iTunes store is a dangerous thing! Sounds great. Thanks for the recommend. DBird | ||
| Court |
>>>Mar 4 Fri Vacaville, CA The Opera House Awesome....start getting a group together and I am thinking I can make it worth your time. Plan on riding there AND arriving a tad early.  | ||
| Firemanjim  |
Copy that.Hope to have my Buell fired up this week. | ||
| Firemanjim |
Well got my tickets,a whopping 25.00 apiece.Working in a frenzy to get bike together.Keep finding little bits and pieces that come up missing.Can't find the that neat little bit the clutch cable attaches to inside the case,battery is AWOL, and so on---- | ||
| Bluzm2  |
FMJ, Tommy is going to be in Minneapolis on March 25th!!!! Just checked the cover charge. $15 in advance, $17 at the door! Wow! Finally picked up the new CD yesterday, good stuff! I'm going to see if Ican get a bunch of Buellers together to attend the show. Wha Wooo! Brad | ||
| Firemanjim |
Getting ready to head out the door to see Tommy Castro at the Opera House here in Vacaville.Rained all day so I took the bike apart to do some repairs and wouldn't ya know it the sun is coming out now.Oh well,just have to drive to enjoy the music.Will post report tomorrow from work. | ||
| Firemanjim |
Well,boys and girls,if he comes to a venue near to you--go see this guy.He flat out can play a guitar.Tons of energy in this band.Gotta love the small venue gigs.At intermission, as I was heading across lobby, I see Tommy Castro out here chatting with the crowd.I introduced myself and got the reply"Ah,your one of the Buell crowd,that Court is kinda crazy.When is Erik gonna play with me?"Too cool!! | ||
| Court |
Wait? He called me crazy and Erik cool? You must have misheard or it's a typo. Court P.S. - is that some kinda live show or what? | ||
| Josh_ |
Hmmm.... St.Louis Mar30th So which of his CDs do I need? (I was thinking the last 2 plus the DVD) | ||
| Djkaplan |
I just scored FRONT ROW tickets to BB King at the Civic Center in Columbus, Georgia. I saw him last year at a smaller venue and his show is absolutely great. The warmest tone I've ever heard. The man is a legend in the truest sense of the word. | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Josh, Right As Rain is good. | ||
| Court |
Flight leaves in 24 hours. . . I am totally cranked up and ready to rock! Brad...we'll expect the Friday night report posted EARLY tomorrow. I'll visit with you later today. Court Axe packed and ready CRAZY?....he really said I was craxy? | ||
| Reinhart |
Court... Your Mo..ah your Auntie sent me a picture of you as a toddler. She said to post it and to let his people know that "Court is not Krazy he has always been a little more Special than others"  | ||
| Road_thing |
Reinhart--you know her too? Small world, ain't it?  rt | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Where to start..... OK, If Tommy is coming anywhere near you, if you don't check him out, you are a complete fool! What a show... It is VERY rare to see a performer that so obviously loves what he does AND is so damn good. Just a plain awsome show. Those of you going to the show tonight are in for a REAL treat. I can't say enough good things about the performance these guys put on. You can listen all you want to CD's but until you hear it live, you haven't really heard them. This band is so tight you can't believe it's four guys with an occasional 2nd guitar on a couple of tunes. The warm up group was Danial "Slick" Ballinger. This is a 20 year old who just started playing when he was 15. He had the joint jumping after the first tune! He has a very unique style, kind of Mississipppi delta blues on steroids. His trio is just flat plain fun to listen to. He doesn't even have a CD out yet, it's coming later this summer. You are going to be hearing from this young man for some time to come. He's going places. And he's a very nice person to boot! Here's a picture of "Slick" and his harp player Terry “Harmonica” Bean. They just plain kick •••. I didn't get a picture of the drummer, Kenney Kimbrough (legendary Junior Kimbrough’s son)  Here's a couple shots of Tommy and the band   I mentioned they had a 2nd guitar on a couple of tunes. One of the guys in the crew helps out on a couple of songs. But tonight was eral special as there was a ringer in the house. None other than Bernard Allison!   Here's one more shot of Tommy doing what he does so very well.  And yes, I really was there!  Needless to say, it was a great evening of real live genuine good old American Blues! It doesn't get any better than that. (Except maybe at the show tonight!) I'm going to finish my beer and go to bed.... I'm plum worn out! Brad | ||
| Court |
Most excellent.....tonight in Chicago is gonna ROCK! | ||
| Josh_ |
Happy Birthday Tommy!! | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Josh, Tommy is a "Tax" baby. | ||
| 1313 |
Happy Birthday Jack-son, Sorry I am not able to make it, but if my transmission repairs are effective I will see you at Homecoming! 1313 | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Come on Court! We need a report!!! Brad | ||
| Josh_ |
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| Josh_ |
Brad - the TC website listed Fri and Sat nights as surprise birthday parties for Tommy. Turns out he was to get a cake on Sat but his manager was delayed and the bakery was closed. | ||
| Josh_ |
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| Josh_ |
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| Reinhart |
A gaint thanks to everyone. It was one of 'The Best' Birthday celebrations I have ever had. The Tommy Castro Band does kick 'A'and Slick Balinger was excellent.  | ||
| Josh_ |
Brad - that was Blind Mississippi Morris, not Terry "Harmonica" Bean. Happy Birthday Jack. | ||
| Court |
GRATITUDE Among the Buell "days to remember" over the year there have been some great ones...this one may have taken the cake. The event started as a birthday party for Jack Reinhart and, seemingly finding it's own direction, soul and power, turned into a "family" evening of long time Buellers settling in for no reason but to enjoy friendship and each others company. Erik and family had already scheduled a family spring break vacation which was decalendarized in favor of an evening in West Dundee, IL at the historic Clearwater Theatre. Vickie and I flew in to Chicago and headed straight to the venue to check things out. My first impression was that you could literally spit from one side of the place to another; 200 folks would have the place jam packed. As the hour grew near, Vick and I met up with Jack and Colleen Reinhart and Buell designer Bob Ramirez and headed to the Clearwater. The ensuring hour was like a "who's who" of the long time Buell faithful as Kimmy, her Beau and his son arrived. Next it was Kemp with wife Laurie and Kurt from R&D fabrication. Locked in the assembled minds were all things secret in the world of Buell....safely secured for the evening to take time, be thankful, enjoy each others company and, well....simple gratitude. Times and tide have been good to us. Josh and Mariabelen, along with their friend, joked with Vickie and I. It had been only a couple weeks ago since they sat in our kitchen, eating homemade Italian food and we share tales of the fun times we've had together. Mariabelen turned over her unused NYC Subway cards to me, ostensibly to induce me to surrender the bottle of wine left at my house for Henrik. No sooner had I sat down than Erik, along with his wife, 2 sons and daughter arrived. If you wanted to talk motorcycles it'd have to wait, we were there for music. And....music we got. Kicking off the evening was Daniel "Slick" Ballinger. This kid, he's 20 years old, is not only a spectacular musician but one damned nice person. Other than continuing to call me "Mr. Canfield, Sir" which had the effect of making me feel like I should be selecting a "pre-arrangment plan", he was all business. When Slick hit the stage, he was accompanied by two musicians, Blind Mississippi Morris and a drummer who's name escapes me (Josh fill this in)who magnified his talent. Say what you will, but there is nothing quite as powerfully "the blues" as a blind aging black Mississippi Harmonica player to make the blues cry. Thumbs down to the club for playing the overtime session of the Fighting Illini on the big screen during an inspired performance. Slick, in addition, to his musical skills moves in a fashion that would make Jacko, in his finest hour, envious. Slick, AKA the Kenetic Kid, was all over the place, at one time walking out the stage door and down a hall to appear next to a table in the audience. His feet were as fast as his fingers. Watch this name, folks. By 10:00PM the crowd was stoked and Tommy Castro knew it. He was talking about having met Brad Johnson and the great time they'd had the night prior. Jokes were exchanged about if we'd known Brad was a horn player, we'd have had him on the bus. Tommy Castro is amazing. Let me say that again, because you think I mean he's "just" a great musician. Tommy Castro is amazing. Great muscians, particularly guitar players, are a dime a dozen here in New York City. To do what Tommy Castro does you have to START by being an incredible guitar player. Castro is on par with Eric Clapton as a player. Don't take my word, see what Carlos Santana and B. B. King have said about him. Castro starts with music and leverages his down home personality to assume full control of any venue. Seated in the back of a room, watching this guy, you feel like you are bonded, like he's an old friend telling your story with a Strat. Tonight was special and Tommy knew it. Buell folks around the country have adopted him. The affinity was natural. He's as passionate about what he does and we are about what we do. We were there in number as were his managers family who live in the area. The stage was set to to "Rock and Load". 3 measures into the opening tune, they were in the aisles and dancing in front of the stage as Commander Castro did his magic. About an hour into the set he stopped and shared a few words that kinda tied the evening together. He spoke of live music, taking time to enjoy life, go out on a Saturday night and to put the waiting e-mails, buzzing Blackberry's and endless techno tasks behind. At that moment, I mentally summed the collective "e-mails waiting" quotient for those assembled. We were of one mind, "they'd be there later". It was obvious the group agreed "who wants a world of only DJ's in clubs?". That being said, we continued. Before long, I got the call to come backstage, having no idea what to expect. Tommy came out of the lights to ask me "is Erik here?" I was tasked with getting Mr. Shyness to the stage. I made the mistake of getting him there about 3 minutes early and had to listen to him drivel about "No way I'm going to play" and "it's really tough to play that clean". I told him "you aren't being graded, just have fun. That's the only reason we're here". Against his own will, but with the full support of the crowd, Erik took the stage with a loaner Strat. Hiding in the stacks he gained momentum until the lights hit him, Castro threw him the bridge and Erik COOKED! Folks, myself among their number, were duly impressed. As the tune ended, Castro walked to the mic, turned, looked at Erik and asked "where the hell do you find the damn time to play guitar like that?". Another hours worth of music and the evening drew to a close. Erik and I had a laugh about how we'd made it to 2:00AM but his kids were showing signs of being asleep by the time they hit the car for the long ride home. It was, quite simply, as evening of gratitude. Reliability, speed and TPS resets never came up. More likely topics were that the assembled group represented something well over a century of not only making motorcycles together, but being friends. As I drifted in and out of sleep on a flight to New York City today, I was reminded of the simple, powerful pleasure of friendship. Nothing is more important. All "things" evolve, they come and go. There may be no finer medium than music to serve as a catalyst for friendship. But, I'm sure when I awake tomorrow and see that CityX, I'll remember how much it means to have my motorcycles built by my friends. In closing I owe a special greeting to some special people. Walking around last night I saw several Buell shirts on folks I didn't recognize. Not wanting to intrude on folks' evening, I didn't bug them and only found out this morning that there were several local Buell folks who had read about the event on Badweb and showed up for the good time. To those folks, a warm thank you for being part part of a very special evening. Gratitude. Being thankful for the important things. Quietly and reverently remembering that all we have done and will do is rooted in the gift of "each other". Josh and Jack have the picture thing well in hand.....I'll leave that to them. Happy Birthday, Jack. Peace, Court | ||
| Josh_ |
insert:> Brad had it: Kenney Kimbrough (legendary Junior Kimbrough’s son) Sites: Slick Blind Mississippi Morris Tommy Castro Band Randy (TCBs bass player) | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Wheew! I thought I blew it for a second! I was pretty sure I remembered his name but I did check it on Slick's web site. However, it was very early(late?) when I posted. Court, you summed it up much better than I. I'm still working on the word smith thing. Everyone, If Tommy is anywhere close you MUST go see him. He and his band mates are the real deal. Brad |
