January
January Group LINKS: Avant Garde Alumni Drumline
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February
February Group LINKS: Avant Garde Alumni Drumline
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March
March Group LINKS: Funk Evolution, Avant Garde Alumni Drumline
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April
April Group LINKS: Funk Evolution
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May
May Group LINKS: Funk Evolution, Avant Garde Alumni Drumline
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June
June Group LINKS: Funk Evolution, Avant Garde Alumni Drumline
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July
July Group LINKS: Funk Evolution, Avant Garde Alumni Drumline
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August
August Group LINKS: Funk Evolution, Avant Garde Alumni Drumline
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September
September Group LINKS: Funk Evolution, Avant Garde Alumni Drumline, Aged In the Hills
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October
October Group LINKS: Funk Evolution, Avant Garde Alumni Drumline
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November
November Group LINKS: Funk Evolution, Avant Garde Alumni Drumline
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December
December Group LINKS: Funk Evolution, Avant Garde Alumni Drumline
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– – 2013 Schedule – –
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—– – 2012 Schedule – –
82 performances between ‘Skeeter Creek’, the Avant Garde Alumni Drumline
and a New Year’s Eve fill-in with ‘Aged In the Hills’!!!
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– – 2011 Schedule – –
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– – 2010 Schedule – –
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– – 2009 Schedule – –
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Spent most of 2009 looking for the right band… obviously, I didn’t find them…
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– – 2008 Schedule – –
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– – 2007 Schedule – –
This year marked my return to full time playing with the Back40 Band in march
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– – ‘Scaled Back’ 2006 Schedule – –
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** A NOTE ABOUT THE SUMMER OF 2006…I was determined to enjoy this summer… more family time, more golf, biking, tennis, etc… Instead, I managed to golf twice and spent the rest of the time (mid-June to mid-September) fighting a battle for a mortgage!! If anyone reading this is considering going through Wells Fargo RUN SCREAMING THE OTHER WAY!!!
They approved me almost immediately then yanked me around for weeks and weeks – only moving on anything when the seller’s attorney pushed for information or action… Then they eventually called (one of the few times they actually contacted me) to say they “couldn’t find a mortgage product that would work for me” – primarily, I’ve come to believe, because they and their attorney are pretty much clueless!!! Several sources have said that my small home loan was too little to merit any real effort and I’ve heard nothing good about them from anyone else I’ve related the whole story to so avoid Wells Fargo at all costs!!
Enter Michael Bates and GMAC Mortgage in Latham, NY (http://www.gmacm.net/ny/albany)…
I’ve had a couple car loans through GMAC and when I started looking for another potential lender I stumbled on GMAC Mortgage. Mr. Bates and company could not have been more helpful, pleasant and encouraging!! They knew just what needed to be done, what questions to ask, what information to get and where to get it!! They got the deal done and my family and I are in our new home!!!
Now to my 2006 gigs…
I’m always grabbing fill-in gigs at the last minute so check back often if you’re interested… and I’m sure my ‘next big thing’ will come along soon enough and I’ll be committed to a project full time again!!
Also, 2006 marked my 8th and last summer with ‘Red River Randy & His Saddle Sores’ at Rydin Hi Ranch Resort on Sherman Lake in Warrensburg, NY…
It’s been a great run but has become ‘a job’ (musicians will know what that means)… starting with the loss of the group’s leader the first week of the summer…
He had been trying to negotiate a little boost in not just ‘The Saddle Sores’ but all of the band’s pay but management insisted on paying the performers the same rate they’ve been getting since the 70’s and refused even gas money as prices went over $3 / gallon (many of the musicians were driving over an hour just to get there). When the owners commented that they ‘could replace every band with a duo and the guests would never know’ that was it for the band leader.
For myself it had as much to do with the beat up dirt road I had to navigate each night up and down the mountain as anything… this past summer was the absolute worst it had been and there seemed to be no effort to maintain it at all so it was taking a toll on everyone’s vehicle – even at very low speeds… So between gas, repairs and an overall lack of enjoyment the time had come to move on…
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– – 2005 Schedule – –
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– – 2004 Schedule – –
This summer was highlighted by the highly anticipated return of ‘Railway’… and my own wedding!!
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– – 2003 Schedule – –
66 gigs in 77 days!!!
(What was I thinking?!?)
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The bulk of my summer was spent with 3 bands…
The band features:
George Schacher – guitars, fiddle, pedal steel, mandolin, harmonica and vocals
Cherry Schacher – bass and vocals
Lorie Green or Nancy McDermott – vocals
and myself on drums and vocals.
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‘The Saddle Sores’ is sort of an all-star band
performing every Tuesday and Wednesday throughout the summer
at Rydin’ Hi Ranch, exit 24 off I-87 in Warrensburg, NY.
The band features:
Randy Rolman – pedal steel and vocals
George Schacher – guitars, fiddle, mandolin and vocals
Don Young – bass, guitar and vocals
myself on drums and vocals
and a number of special guests filling in at various points during the summer.
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‘On Stage Revue’ performs every Sunday and Monday throughout the summer
at Rydin’ Hi Ranch, exit 24 off I-87 in Warrensburg, NY.
The band features:
Troy Phillips – guitar, pedal steel and vocals
Sharron Phillips – bass and vocals
and myself on drums
PLUS in September I joined Railway full time
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What a summer!!
Played with and met some very nice people, did a lot of traveling…
600 – 700 miles on a couple of weekends!!
Quite frankly I just haven’t got around to entering my schedule prior to 2003 (mostly because I didn’t have a website back then) but here’s a brief breakdown of the which groups I was working with when – continuing in reverse chronoligcal order…
2000 – 2002 – I spent summers at Ridin’ Hy Ranch with Red River Randy & His Saddle Sores and filling in with Aged In the Hills, Standing Room Only, Lois & the Kryptonites
1993 – 1999 – I played full time with The Upstarts and In 1998 I took my first full time computer job
1989 – 1994 – I was on the writing and teaching staff of the Capital Brass Sr. Drum & Bugle Corps
1987 – 1989 – Voyager
1985 – 1987 – I was a member of The Main Event – house band at the Tropicana and on the writng and teaching staff of the Vagabonds (Fort Edward, NY) and Freedom Knights (Rutland, VT) Sr. Drum & Bugle Corps and the Avant Garde (Saratoga Springs, NY), Volunteers (Troy, NY) and Golden Marauders (Port Henry, NY) Jr. Drum & Bugle Corps
1982 – 1985 – The Kosek Brothers New Yorkers Orchestra, The Profs of Note and The Capitals Big Bands, Juice & the Jive Tones and Swing Fever, The Carbon-Based Units, The High Rock Drifters, Native Son, Area Code 518
1982 – Doc Scanlon’s Rhythm Boys and The Fabulous Armadillos
1980 – 1981 – Phoenix
1978 – 1980 – my first band – the Dixie Daddies Dandies of Jazz and hired as a special adjunct by the local community college music department, joined the musician’s local and performed with various concert bands and ensembles
1975 – 1978 – various summer stock and dinner theatre productions
For details as well as pictures, audio and video visit my history page – The Long and Winding Road