07.20.10 - 09.18.10
- 08.07.10 - 08.28.10
- 07.14.11 - 07.16.11
- 08.06.11 - 12.02.11
- 12.03.11
December 3, 2011
- Opening for Bret Michaels!
Welcome to White Creek News! The Swiftel Center
welcomed Bret Michaels
with special guests Warrant and White Creek to Brookings, SD on
Saturday December
3rd. This was a pretty interesting gig for us because we hadn’t
opened for a rock show
before. However, the promoter for Bret Michaels and Warrant wanted
a local band that
could play some variety but they hired us because we are mostly
country. Now, with
that, you can’t just classify White Creek as country because
we put our own kind of twist
on songs to give it the drive we are looking for but yet keep
the integrity of the music so
we “treat the music right” as Garth Brooks would say.
Plus, we perform everything from
Merle Haggard to AC/DC and Three Doors Down.
I will have to admit that I felt a little nervous about the entire
deal and I think to an
extent we all might have been just a bit nervous that the crowd
coming to see the rock
show may not get into what we threw out there but that was definitely
not the case and it
all turned out to be fine in the end. Our tunes went over very
well. I guess thinking
about it a bit more, usually the country acts draw the larger
crowds at SC so what was I
thinking? Of course the crowd got into White Creek just like they
did at the Nitty Gritty
Dirt Band show and all of the Winstock Festival Shows that we’ve
opened for. Holy
schnike, just looking back, we have opened for and shared stages,
played along side of
some of the music worlds best musicians in our careers. We may
not have the large
recording contracts or the tour bus to travel the country but
we definitely can look back
with pride and say we’ve performed (and even out performed
at times) some of the best!
It seems like all the times for this event were hosed up from
the beginning and
no-one could get them right. This event was put together at the
lat minute with the
promoters contacting Jenny at the SC after Thanksgiving sometime.
Jenny called me
and I gave her T’s new contact info. Then, after that, the
promoter went directly through
T-man to line up the event. For practice, we were first going
to get together at SS’s
place on Friday night. G force had lined all that up but turned
out SS (Sound Stud….)
had a function with Larson’s to attend so he couldn’t
make the practice. I found that out
from Rockin’ Rod. So, we thought about Rod’s on Friday
night but then we’d have to
haul lots of stuff. Dave had all this stuff set up in his studio
so we ended up practicing
before the gig which worked out really good. I didn’t have
to set up drums! J We
finalized a set list and went from there. It turns out the gig
was sort of short and we
didn’t get through all our songs. Unfortunately we didn’t
get to Mustang Sally. Rockin’
Rod does such an awesome job on this song. We should have moved
it up on the list.
This meant that Rod didn’t sing other than harmonies but
he sure played an AWESOME
guitar! These guitar players in these other bands have NOTHING
on Rod!
We departed after a brief meet and jam session. T went into town
to get a
growth removed from his head. You might call it a “hair
cut”. I had to shower and such
but I made it out to the center by say 4:10ish. I unloaded the
DW’s and got started
assembling them back stage. Warrant was still sound checking at
this point. Bret had
already done their part. Their stuff was to the back of the stage
and Warrant’s was in
front of that. Then, we set up at the very front of the stage.
That way, you can peel it off
like layers when one band is finished; you just roll into the
next one.
Anyway, I’m setting up my drums and Rob from Baseline,
the company doing the
sound came by and noticed the heads on the DW’s. He had
mentioned he had an
almost new set of heads that he would give me. He stated that
he had been working
with Warrant for over 10 years and had changed many heads out.
So, I said “go ahead,
have at it”! Rob had those heads changed in no time and
was tuning them back up
when it came time to go up on stage to set up. I think another
tech named Jeff came
over to help tune the final drum. Those two guys had the DW’s
sounding pretty good by
the time they were done. I need to stop and buy a drum head for
my snare now as they
didn’t have one for that. Pretty cool, my drums have heads
that Warrant used on his
Pearl set.
Sound checks went pretty well. It seems like it always does with
the larger
sound companies. It’s what they do for a living and they
are VERY good at it. I had 4
quite large side fill speakers just to my right and there’s
no way I wasn’t hearing those
babies!
Everyone made it through checks pretty easily and we were ready
to jam out. Since my
bride was probably at church, I ran to Mac and Don’s steak
house (Ok, McDonald’s) to
grab a bite to eat. I brought it back and parked out back by the
tour buses but felt guilty
that I hadn’t thought about getting something for the security
guy by the gate. He would
have been sitting there for quite a while but then thought they
probably had their breaks
worked out. I had other stuff to think about…
The band met Chris Kodiak from B93.7 radio who announced White
Creek. He
did a really great job since he really didn’t know much
about us prior to this point. As I
said, our gig went really good. We tore down in record time. The
techs got the mics off
of the drums and the set went off stage in units. It took a bit
to pack it up but thankfully
Lucky Leroy helped out with that part. It’s pretty cool
to see what’s going on back stage
and to be able to just walk through pretty much wherever you want
to as long as you
leave the big time entertainers alone you’re pretty much
good. Most of the time your
expected to keep your distance but every now and then you’ll
get some entertainers that
will mingle with you a little. That part is very cool. Most are
just down to earth people
out making a living just like you and I. They put their pants
on the same way you do.
After pack up, Rockin’ Rod, T and I went out front by the
beer stand. It was cool
walking through the crowd and people recognizing us as we went.
After a brief stop
here, my bride had found me so we went back to our seats and watched
the rest of the
show. It was pretty awesome. I only saw a few songs from Warrant.
Their last
was “Cherry Pie” which was a huge hit. Bret also put
on a VERY good show. Very
upbeat and he was beaming with energy. One of his guitar players
had a pretty serious
break (or two) in his leg less than a week ago but he came out
on crutches and did the
show anyway. He rocked it out. Way to hang tough soldier!
This edition’s Thanks! goes out to Bret Michaels, Warrant,
their promoters, their
crews and the sound technicians for having White Creek as your
guests. Thanks also to
SC Promotions Director Jenny, SC Mgr Tom, and Ops Mgr Scott for
all your assistance.
You and your teams ALWAYS consistently run a class operation at
SC. Thanks Bret for
your 25 years of entertainment! Special thanks to Levi Ford and
Leroy Trenary for all of
your assistance. You guys ROCK.
“Country or Rock… Jam it out… enjoy the ride…”
December 4, 2011
P
_______________________________________
December 2, 2011
Welcome to White Creek News! All we needed was
some sauce on 11-12-11
because we had ‘em packed in like sardines at the New Horizon
Bar on Main Street of
Lake Preston, SD. Some folks came specifically to see White Creek
and some came
with the Verhey/Hunt wedding party. Well now, I guess they came
to see us too. The
ones who weren’t there to see us were probably converted
by the end of the night
anyway!
At any rate, it was a fine looking wedding party and they liked
to shake that thing
if you know what I mean. The bride had a stunning white dress
and the groom was in a
respectable serviceman uniform and I’m not talking your
local fix it / repair service man
either. Thank God for the people who keep our nation free.
I’ll have to admit that I slacked on my duties getting names
etc for this gig. I’m thinking
I’d better revitalize my part of the newsletter! I think
the names were Bobbi and Cody
and I apologize if that’s not correct. I suppose we’ll
need to buy a new camera too. Two
pictures: batteries dead. Yep, that works.
Since G-Force, brother G, G man, Bass man EXTRAORDINAIRE…
ok you got
the picture, had the van at his house, I stopped by to pick it
up and make sure we had
gas, oil and all that good little insignificant stuff. Holy POOP
that white van looked Black
from sitting in the alley. Since the weather was cooperating,
I drove home and put a
sponge to it. Hell, that wouldn’t even take the stuff off!
I ended up using a SCRUB
brush! I reckon about 3 hours later I had the van and trailer
clean. Oh well, I wasn’t
about to show up on a couples special day in a van that looked
like we just pulled it out
of the junkyard!
It was pretty cool to have our normal crew on stage. We had MR.
Mike Smith
(Heavy on the Mister) on vocals and electric guitar in the corner
stage right. Next to him
was the low noter, bass playin, sandwich eatin’ electrician
- G force on skin... I mean
Bass guitar. Then, sitting directly behind the post… and
the DW drums… and the shiny
Zjildian cymbals… was yours truly. Up front of me to the
right would be the Travster… T-
man. Right off to the right of T was Rockin’ Rod Ward on
electric lead and vocals. Rod
was NOT having fun with his temporary amp that night. It was giving
him some fits and
he threatened a couple times to go back to an acoustic and play
it Buck Owens style but
we got though it in good shape regardless of the problems. Back
by the dividing wall
between the two rooms was the Sound Stud David Ford. Sure is good
to have Dave
helping out back there. It’s truly amazing what this guy
can get out of those speakers!
Also back helping out for the night was LUCKY Leroy. Good to have
you back around
buddy! And, we can’t forget about SS Jr… otherwise
known as Levi. Sure do
appreciate these guys being there to grab whatever might be needed,
mics, cords,
women… whoa hold on there!
Dancers all night… loved that part. I went to the trailer
after the gig to pack the
stuff in there (seems I’m good at that…) and in the
mean time, my leather jacket got
locked inside the back door since I didn’t know they were
closing it. Well… CRAP! It’s
pretty darn chilly without a jacket on a SD November night. Thanks
Stacey for stopping
by and picking that up for me and sending it with T to the Castlewood
gig. Hey, that’s a
great segway… The next gig we played was on November 19th.
That one was easy to
remember because it was a birthday party gig. There were probably
two or three people
that were celebrating birthdays at this party. One was the son
of our good friends Lynn
and Sandy Hoitsma. The Hoitsma’s had another friend celebrating
as well. Also
celebrating that night was T-man’s dad otherwise known as
“Papa Joe”. Trav’s other
brother but not from another mother Joey celebrates his birthday
on this day as well but
he didn’t make it to the gig. Finally, one other birthday
is my daughter, the skater girl,
Haley Bug. Haley and her mother and sister were off to New Ulm,
MN for a figure
skating competition where Haley raked in 5 trophies. Congrats
kiddo!! Graceful and
elegant all captured by my photographer girl, Colie Kid. The trip
to CWD was interesting
because we were driving into a “driving” snow out
of the north. We headed up old 77
and picked up SS, Rockin’ Rod, and T-man at the Ford residence.
Well, we headed
straight north across Hwy 28. I had never gone that way before
but I heard from the
back of the van that we could connect with the highway going into
Castlewood. Hah, I
succeeded in pert near getting lost until SS broke out the GPS
on his phone and we
ducked and weaved back to Castlewood. Hey, we were only 5 minutes
late and I blame
that on some of the other guys not getting to Dave’s on
time!!
We still had more than ample time to get set up and even relaxed
some before the gig
started. The gig went great, had a great crowd, we even played
extra for our friends and
loyal fans.
Oh yea, I just remembered something else about the Preston gig.
So we get
everything packed up and were heading south on main street. T
is behind us in his truck
and the rest of us are in the van. I’m not sure if T noticed
earlier or not but we have no
trailer tail lights. I turn east on SD Hwy 14 and notice that
there’s a cop just pulling in to
join the BS session with the OTHER TWO cops in a little side lot.
T calls my cell to tell
me I have no tail lights! LUCKILY the cops must have been deep
in the stories because
none of them noticed that I didn’t have tail lights. Whew!
I never got picket up by the
fuzz… T had gone straight across and went out of town the
other direction and didn’t
follow me out. Turns out it was the plug. We spent over $100 on
a new plug,
receptacle, bulbs etc and labor for the guy to fix them. THEN,
I drove the van home
from about 8 blocks, still good. The next day I go to get the
oil changed in the van. Still
ok. I hop into the van later in the day and drove it around the
block to get closer to my
driveway (there’s a big-ass construction trailer parked
there that I couldn’t see around) to
load some drums and stuff, the cord comes unplugged, drags on
the pavement and
breaks. For the love of… Turns out the cord was too short
and when you turn a corner
the right direction, it pulls the plug out of the receptacle.
Nice.
Well, best wrap this thing up. The band is opening for Brett Michaels
and
Warrant at the Swiftel Center on December 3rd so come jam out
with us if you’re in the
neighborhood! It will be a ROCKIN’ Good TIME!!
This edition’s Thanks! goes out to the newlyweds with the
great taste in music
that hired us for their gig, the birthday boys and their families
for their great tastes in
music and for Bret’s promoters for bringing in the White
Creek Guns for the show and for
having those other guys close for us. Thanks also to Jenny H for
hooking us up with
some tickets for spouses etc. That was much appreciated.
Happy Birthday Haley!! J
In memory of Donna Patrick…“I miss you sis….
RIP.”
December 2, 2011
P
***************************
Update 08.06.11 - Nitty Gritty
Dirt Band!
Welcome to White Creek News! If any of you have
ever heard the song “Fishin’ in the dark”, then
you’ve heard the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. It was a very exciting
honor for the White Creek Band to open for NGDB at the Swiftel
Center in Brookings, SD last night. We knew almost ALL of their
tunes and many of them are on our set list when we go out to entertain
so it was a thrill to meet them and actually get to open for them.
(Or, they closed for us, however you want to look at it! J)
3M (Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing) has a plant in Brookings
that celebrated it’s 40th anniversary this weekend. There
were plant tours and many other events and games etc for the kids
at the Swiftel Center throughout the day. 3M brought in the Dirt
Band to entertain it’s employees and the band got the call
to be the opening act
NGDB is made up of Jeff Hanna on lead vocals & lead guitar.
Bob Carpenter played fiddle, banjo & what appeared to be a
lap steal. John McEuen played keyboards. Jimmie Fadden played
drums & harmonica at the same time. Yes, at the same time!
Load in was at 4:30 so I got to work right away at putting pieces
together back stage so my set could go up sort of in units as
NGBD was sound checking when we got there. We pulled our tour
bus (ok, Stud Dodge van and trailer) up next to theirs out back.
Once I had everything set up the first time, it was a matter of
waiting until their sound check was done, then we could take the
stage, set up, and run through our check. The team did a great
job with the sound and this was probably about the fastest my
set went into place on a stage since it went in units instead
of pieces.
The show wasn’t a sell out but then it was a private party
so it wasn’t exactly expected to be however the parking
lot was FULL! It was a good crowd and even NGDB commented on that
part. Bob was hilarious on stage!
Our crew was made up of Travis (T-Man) on lead vocals and acoustic
guitar, Brian (G) Graslie on Bass and vocals, me making noise
on the drums, Rockin’ Rod Ward on lead guitar and vocals,
Dave Ford on the keyboards and Mike Smith on electric rhythm and
vocals. Helping us out with load in and out were Dave’s
son Levi and G’s friend Toby (with the cool Germany accent)
and a couple of stage hands Scott and R….rrrr rats, it starts
with R… Ryan (I think!).
This edition’s Thanks! goes out to Jenny at the Swiftel
Center for giving us the call about the opening opportunity, to
Scott, operations director for your help and guidance, to Tom
for approving the act and the rest of the SC crew for the awesome
job that you always do during the many very cool events held at
your venue. Even the accountants are pretty cool!! Thanks also
to the NGDB for allowing us to be part of your show, you guys
are truly amazing performers and some of the nicest folks we’ve
met along our musical careers. If you didn’t see this one,
catch a Dirt Band show when you can, it was awesome.
“You and me goin fishin’ in the dark…lyin’
on our backs and countin the stars…”
August 6, 2011-08-07
P
Update 07.16.11
Welcome to White Creek News! “Well they
call me the fireman, that’s my name…. I’ll be
the one hosin’ down the town if you see any flames…
Well everybody like to have what I got, two dames on my arms that
are smokin’ hot, I’m the fireman… that’s
my name… Hmmm… songwriting… nothin’ to
it!!
At ANY rate, the band entertained in the South Dakota city of
Lake Preston last Saturday night August 16th for the Lake Preston
Fireman’s Street Dance. At first, there were way more firemen
than party going fans but could you blame ANYONE for not wanting
to be in the scorching heat? It was probably in the vicinity of
95 degrees and it felt A LOT hotter than that out in the middle
of main street setting up the band equipment! I think we sweated
out a few gallons of Budweiser that night folks, no doubt! You
gotta love Bud don’t you? Especially since they are one
of our sponsors!! Drink up but drink responsibly! As T-man says,
“I got no more time for funerals.”
The plan was that we wanted to get to Preston early so we would
have time to set up, get a good sound check in and have some time
to relax and grab some grub. Well, most of us got there on time
but the firemen were all staying cool inside and were grabbing
beverages. So, after T-man stirred ‘em up a bit, they came
out and started setting up the stages. Holy smokes, the locals
get annoyed when they have to go a block or two out of their way
to get to a business downtown. Holy crap, it’s not like
we sent you on a 40 mile detour! Relax!! I thought one ol’
boy was going to have a conniption fit. What you don’t’
have to put up with in the life of a rock star!
Our first dancer came out on the first song and he stayed there
most of the first two sets. I believe his name was Brock and he
had some pretty “special” moves. He pretty much took
command of the dance floor (otherwise known as the street) but
that’s ok because all of the other people were busy taking
on the liquid courage and hanging in the shade of main street
over by the bar. Eventually, we got a crowd to come join us. Man
that’s taxing trying to entertain and figure out what people
want to hear to get them fired up especially when it’s so
damn hot outside. Rather have that than cold though.
This editions Thanks! goes out to the Lake Preston Firemen for
hiring us to entertain for your event. We had a great time once
we got the folks out in front and having a good time. We also
bestow our thanks upon our loyal fans that come to see us at so
many different venues from places like Watertown, Brookings, Castlewood,
White, Toronto, Arlington and many other surrounding towns. You
folks make the party and we greatly appreciate you!! Up next;
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band closes for White Creek!!
“Remember, if you’re stupid before you start drinking,
beer cannot help you.”
July 16, 2011
P
Update 07/14/11
Welcome to White Creek News! Hello All. This is
a special “non-gig” edition of
the newsletter. I am writing this edition in honor of a great
friend to many-many people
but especially to the members of the band. Some of you may have
heard that we lost a
great friend on June 1, 2011. Kevin “Radar” Lehmann
has been called home by his
maker. Of course, there are many people out there who simply knew
him as Radar and
didn’t even know his first and sometimes his last name.
Just knowing Radar as Radar
was enough for most folks because he was just that sort of guy
who made you
comfortable around him.
Radar was a very caring individual who would stop what he was
doing and help
anyone out who needed it. His community and our world were definitely
better off for
having Radar as a part of it.
I believe the first place that we met Radar was at the Hillside
Resort on Lake
Madison. Mike & Jodi Anderson own the hillside and the band
entertained at their grand
opening event many years ago. Radar is Jodi’s brother and
just like I said previously,
Radar was there to help his sister and brother-in-law out with
the event. For most
people, the first time you met Radar, you liked him from the get
go. I probably can’t say
that to be true for 100% of the people but it would have been
damn close and for those
who may not have liked him, well… I won’t go there.
The band members were no different in the thought that we liked
Radar right
away. Back then, the members were different from what we have
now. It was Joey
(Joe-Joe Blandino), Travis (T-man), and Dan Denison (Dan’l
D), Brian Graslie (G, G-
Force, G Man) and of course the other Dan, me. (“P”).
It turns out that this original
group of guys would be honored to be Radar’s pallbearers.
The band entertained pretty close to monthly at the Hillside Resort.
We became
good friends with the crew there. We pulled in some pretty good
crowds for Mike & Jodi
and Radar was almost always there to help.
Over the years, that friendship grew. The Denison’s usually
head out west every
year to hunt deer. Radar and his son Patrick became a part of
that trip just like the rest
of the “family.” I was also honored to be a part of
that family and have some pretty
great memories of Radar on those hunting trips. This is no different
for any of the guys
(or S.O.B.’s as Radar might say…) in the hunting party.
Most recently I remember Radar helping set up and tear down drums
and other
equipment at Winstock where the band entertained on the emerging
artist stage last
year and also in the huge beer tent to kick off Saturday’s
events at the music festival.
There again, always there to help and usually with a smile or
a joke. Thanks Radar.
We’re all going to miss you very much.
Now and then someone touches your life. Don’t take that
for granted.
June 5, 2011
Welcome to White Creek
News! HOLD ON to your hat mister! Me and the
boys entertained on the SE lawn of Four Lakes Supper Club on the
west edge of Lake Preston
last Saturday evening and pert near had to stake everything down
so it wouldn’t blow away. The
Bride and Groom (Will and Courtney) had gotten a very nice sized
tent to set up and luckily there
was a guy there who put a side on the south end of the tent to
hold back some of the wind. Of
course, then it changed directions! It was pretty windy all weekend
come to think of it. I’m
guessing it must have something to do with the storms in the gulf
or something.
We had a nice group of folks attend the wedding celebration in
and around the tent. Of
course just about any time you play a gig, it takes a bit of time
for folks to get some liquid courage
to get out there and shake a leg but we did manage to get them
out there before too long.
Hey, while I’m thinking about it, I saw what seemed to
be a photographer and a few other
folks taking pictures at the event. If you happen to read this
newsletter and get a notion to help us
out, send a few pictures to p@whitecreekband.com that we can post
on the website. The other
option is send them directly to kid@kcountry102.com. I’ll
take a look at our pictures but our
camera is older than dirt and I’m not sure how the pics
will turn out. So, if you have some good
ones, send ‘em our way!
For this gig, I picked up the G man bass player extraordinaire
because I already had the
drums loaded and his place was right on the way. Unfortunately
I had to wait a bit because he
had been fishin’ and when he got back to his place I thought
I heard him say “I got me a marlin!”
So, he spent a little extra time cleaning fish that he caught
in his stud new boat that he bought.
Oh, by the way, the G man has a boat for sale (no, not two different
items… an actual BOAT).
You’ll have to get with him on the details. I usually don’t
get into boats. (And I mean that in more
than one way…) I suppose a stud old boat like the G mans
will probably bring a little extra cash
just because the G man has used it in the past. I wonder if G
has anything published about the
actual events or at least the stories of stuff that has happened
in that thing. Now THAT would
bring some real cash! What’s that? Illustrations?
This edition’s Thanks! goes out to Will & Courtney
for having our band entertain at your
special event. It looked as if most everyone had a great time.
Thanks also for allowing us to
sneak a plate of the delicious food you had prepared. When you
leave in early afternoon to get
everything set up, it is greatly appreciated to get a quick bite
to eat before entertaining.
“Remember there is always more to learn about love.
Keep your mind open, receive Grace from above.”
August 28, 2010
P
Welcome to White Creek News! Holy smokes, can
it be that Lacy is old
enough to be tying the knot already? I guess it’s time for
another Denison family celebration! On
Saturday, August 7th, the band entertained for the wedding celebration
of Lacy Denison and her
new groom Joey. They are a fine looking young couple if I do say
so myself.
T-man piled into the van and picked up G force and myself at my
house so we could load
drums into the trailer and head for Elkton. The event was held
at the Elkton Community center.
Travis, being an uncle to the bride, was asked to sing at the
wedding so he got sort of a free pass
for helping unload and set up stuff. We dropped T off at a place
just a couple miles west of town
where the wedding was held outdoors. There was a bit of wind that
day but that could have been
a blessing. I think it could have been pretty darn hot without
that breeze. In fact, it was damn hot
come to think about it!
We were able to get everything set up at the hall and SS did a
fairly complete sound
check before we had to “skee-dattle” out of there.
SS had put on some miles on Saturday. He
had flown in from New York City that morning for his work. New
York in the morning, keeping
White Creek hooked up for sound in the evening… now that’s
living!
After set up, I hopped in with Rockin Rod and G force rode with
Michael over to Mikes
place in Lake Benton. We hung out at Mike’s Bar and Grill.
Mike put on some steaks and spuds
and MMMM MMM that was tasty. It was pretty fun just telling stories
and hanging out having a
few beers before the gig in Mike’s back yard.
It’s quite amazing how these kids grow up so fast. One day
you are holding a baby in the
hospital and the next their off to college and out on their own.
TJ sprouted up there about as tall
as Trav. It was kind of weird to see Jayden Haise driving the
Durango home too.
Speaking of kids growing up, it was also very nice to see Teresa
and Barry Gordon at the
event as well. We had a pretty good chat while on a couple of
the breaks. Theresa baby sat for
my Colie kid back when Nikki was only a wee little sprout. Hard
to believe she is done with her
first year of college already. I had also worked with Teresa back
in my Pamida days. Holy Cats,
that’s been a while back too!
This gig was really a lot of fun. It was a White Creek re-union
of sorts. Joe-Joe Blandino
and Dan’l D joined us on stage for a set or two and the
crowd went wild! It didn’t take too long for
everyone to get into it. The dance floor filled up quickly and
we did a few songs that we hadn’t
done in a while. We still had Rockin’ Rod, the Mike you
like, and SS Dave Ford who did sound
and played some bass on stage. Yep, should have brought the video
camera for this one!
This edition’s Thanks! goes out to Lacey & Joey for
having us entertain for your special
celebration. You know that everyone of us had a blast entertaining
for you and we wish you the
very best in your future as one. I didn’t get to meet Joey’s
parents but I understand that you both
have some pretty awesome role models. I know that I am pretty
lucky to be good friends with
most of the Denison family and that goes back just about as long
as I can remember. Thanks
also to “Brother Bill” for helping with tear down.
Congratulations!!
“Little Girls grow up to be Young Ladies, become Brides,
but remain in Dad’s heart forever.”
August 7, 2010-12-11
P
Welcome to White Creek News!
Ladies and Gentlemen, we now present Mr. & Mrs. Kale
Skogen! I tell you what, that Kale and Ashley make a pretty darn
good looking couple!
The Skogen’s tied the knot last Saturday and the band had
the privilege of entertaining for the celebration
that followed at the Shamrock here in Brookings, SD.
The Skogen family goes back a long ways with the Denison’s
and the Patrick’s. You see the
Denison’s and the Skogen’s are cousins and I think
even the G man is related in there too. Kale’s dad Doug,
his brother Neal and Sister Linda have been friends with my brothers,
sisters and I since about as far back
as I can remember. Doug and Neal used to work for my dad so they
spent a lot of time at our house. They,
as I, got to experience my mother’s great cooking over the
years. When we grew up, we didn’t have a lot but
we never went hungry, even if it was a bowl of chicken noodle
soup and an egg sandwich.
Heck, I can remember when we lived out on the farm when Neal and
Doug came over and hung up
a bucking barrel in the trees out behind the machine shed. One
guy would grab each rope and one guy
would get on and see how long he could ride. That part probably
came from Neal as he was really into the
bull riding but I know a lot of fun was had on that old barrel!
Of course, we have known Kale’s Mom Sandy like forever too.
Cody and Kale came along and I
still remember those little buckaroo’s as babies. How soon
those kids grow up. I can’t say as I know much
about Ashley. I congratulated her and that’s about all I
got to speak with her. So, anyway, it was great to
see everyone back again for the wedding and here’s one more
congratulations to Kale and Ashley!!
************************************************************************************************
The weekend of 9/25/2010 found the band on a journey to “Legendary”
North Dakota for the
wedding of Seth & Chantel. I had my alarm clock set at 4:50
AM so I could get to the G-Force’s place by
5:20. G and I headed for Lake Preston to meet up with the rest
of the guys and head out from there. Our
goal was to be on the highway by 6. We only missed it by 12 minutes.
T-man took the wheel and drove all
the way to Jamestown. We went out west through Huron, then we
headed north on 281. At Jamestown, the
real Rockin’ Rod Ward took over behind the wheel and drove
the rest of the way to Medora, ND. Nine hours
in the van (or any vehicle for that matter) just isn’t a
ton of fun no matter how you slice it. I did bring along a
DVD player so we could watch a movie on the way. We watched “Invincible”
on the way out and “Revenge”
on the way back.
We made our way to Medora which is a small town on the edge of
the ND Badlands. The trip there
wasn’t too scenic until we were about 8 to 10 miles east
of Medora. Then the scenery was great. The
Badlands of North Dakota were very impressive. We stopped at Painted
Canyon overlook on the way back
east.
At the Hall, we met Ben who guided us as to when and where we
could set up etc. He was also the
guy in charge of the tables and seating etc. Anyway, we were also
greeted by Naomi R., mother of the
groom. You know, I don’t think we met a rude person this
entire trip. What a great group of folks out in
Medora. We met some of the friends of the Bride and Groom as well.
Seth went to school down south in
Oklahoma and these guys did the rodeo scene together. Anyway,
we met Gabby & Jared, Jessica and her
cute little girl Jera but we didn’t meet her daddy Jase.
Anyway, good meeting you and chatting in the parking
lot at the hotel. I’m not sure that I held up to your “drummers
get the most wild” statement but we did have a
lot of fun at this gig. It is always great fun when the crowd
dances and is having a good time.
This edition’s Thanks! goes out to Kale & Ashley and
Seth & Chantel for hiring White Creek to
entertain at your wedding celebrations. It was a helluva a ride
to Medora but it was also a helluva good time
too. Oh by the way, there was a gal at the Brookings gig who wanted
some of that shuffle rappy bullshit
music like what that DJ next door was playing. I guess I can follow
in my Dad’s footsteps and just say
this… “You wouldn’t know music if it came up
and bit you in the ass.” Now, just like Forrest Gump would
say… “That’s all I got to say about that…”
PS-don’t order French fries in ND.
“You don’t marry someone you can live with; you marry
someone you cannot live without.”
(thinkexist.com)
September 18th and 25th, 2010
P
Welcome to White Creek
News! “We got a lot of catching up to do…” You
may
have heard this line a time or two when you talk about all school
reunions. It was probably no
different at the Lake Preston All School Reunion which was held
on a farm place just SE of Lake
Preston last Friday night which would be about July 16th. I’d
say there were approximately 300 or
better folks at this reunion. We probably would have had a better
idea just how many had the set
up been a bit different. You see, what they did was set the beer
tables up way back away from
the stage instead of setting them up maybe just off to the side.
By setting the beer back away
from the stage, it kept the crowd back there which makes it very
difficult to “get into” the music
when there are only a few people out dancing and having a good
time. It makes you seem like
you are working your ass off to get people out front but no matter
what you throw out there, there
is little response.
Don’t get me wrong, we do appreciate the opportunity to
perform for you but a few slight
changes would have made a huge difference in crowd participation
and in overall enjoyment of
the event by everyone.
One thing I will have to say for the people who put this together,
they did a great job at
insect / mosquito control. They had a spray unit on the back of
a four wheeler and were going
around occasionally before the gig spraying to keep the bugs down.
THAT was awesome on their
part. There’s been enough of those little x@%&’s
around this year that’s for sure.
Guess what? No vehicle troubles to report this time! I think due
to circumstances, we
had about 4 or 5 different vehicles at the gig. Beings it was
close to Preston, T only had to drive
the van and trailer about a mile and a half which is damn near
crawling distance! Since the Van
and trailer was at T’s, I loaded the DW’s into the
Envoy and then picked up G Force and Deano
and headed for the gig. Mike and his lovely bride Tanya drove
separate as did Rockin’ and SS.
Hey, guess what was really cool? OK, I’ll tell ya….
Rockin’ Rod (The Real Kind) let me
jam a little on his Les Paul and I’m tellin’ ya…
it’s no wonder he gets such sweet sounds out of
that baby. I mean WOW, that thing is SWEET!
Ok, so we get there and get it all set up and run some sound checks.
There’s a few older
folks sitting at the tables and they even dance a little. But
then, there aren’t too many other folks
there yet due to all the junk going on in town. So, we hold off
a bit and start at 9:30. You know
White Creek; we usually end up playing at least a half hour later
anyway. Well, the firemen who
had a hand in this thing as well start getting a little antsy.
Holy smokes boys, we’ve done this
before don’t you think? We’ve never done anyone wrong
yet; don’t reckon we’ll start now.
At any rate, it was really good to see former merchandise manager
and chief security
officer Kevin Curd at the gig. Of course the Kev-dawg is one of
the firemen so yeah, he should be
there! Good to see ya bud. Someday we need to talk about what
keeps making those kids
happen!
This edition’s Thanks! goes out to the Lake Preston firemen
and the reunion committee
who hired the band. We appreciate being able to entertain for
you. Also, thanks to the guys
running that four wheeler with the bug juice on it. It kept them
little worthless _____ from carrying
us away.
“God Bless the reunited and the ones who don’t care
to be.”
July 20, 2010-08-05
P
