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Agriculture, skepticism, politics

Pearl Grey

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McKee just made my day. He came to our show last night in JC. We’re sitting in our neighboring offices here at Chivalrous Productions headquarters. I’m playing (what else?) the Great Divide on my computer. He heard it and asked, “is this you, Aaron?” Of course it isn’t, but the moral of the story is that he thought that this live recording of Mr. Devil on the Great Divide’s Absolutely Live: Volume 1 could have been a recording of us from last night. Were we that good? Do I sound that much like McClure when I have the band behind me? I hope so.

Thanks to everyone who braved the elements last night. We had a blast. I’ve added the pictures from the show.

Looking forward to our back-to-back shows in Colby on the 20th and 21st. We’ll be swinging for the bleachers this time around. Then it’s back home(?) to The Page in Hays on the 28th for an official “we’re your hometown band from Hays and we’re gonna blow you away” Ellis County debut.


“Aaron Traffas and Pearl Grey featuring Jimmy Billinger, Johnny Lapka, Mike Kisner and Doc Nelson”

From 20040207 Big Dogg’s, posted by Aaron Traffas on 4/26/2008 (26 items)

Pearl Grey
Aaron Traffas
Jimmy Billinger
Mike Kisner, Jimmy Billinger


Jim Billinger, Aaron Traffas, Doc Nelson
Mike Kisner, Jimmy Billinger
Aaron
Aaron and Doc Nelson


Aaron Traffas
Jimmy Billinger and Mike Kisner
Doc Nelson
Aaron and Doc Nelson


Mike Kisner and Jim Billinger
Mike Kisner
Doc Nelson
Doc Nelson


Johnny Lapka
Mike Kisner, Jimmy Billinger, Johnny Lapka, Aaron Traffas, Doc Nelson
Mike Kisner, Jimmy Billinger, Johnny Lapka, Aaron Traffas, Doc Nelson
Mike, Jim, John, Aaron


Mike Kizzz Kisner
Doc Nelson
Johnny Lapka
Doc Nelson


Mike Kisner
Johnny Lapka


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Pete Gile Band debut

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I saw Pete and his band play the [Brass] Rail on Friday night. Not a bad show. I got there at 11:30 after practicing with 3/4 of Pearl Grey and the place was pretty full. They were surprisingly good, backing Pete’s performance solidly. The thing that mainly surprised me was that there was no snake or sound man. The sound was run from the stage, leaving more area for patrons.

Thanks fellas for getting me up for “Boys from OK”.

It was quite an entertaining night and I look forward to the next time our schedules don’t conflict and I can go watch them again.

See everyone at Junction City tonight.

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Fired again

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You know, I thought she ran out of excuses. I thought anything she could come up with I could shoot down with my logical bullet. I never expected the reason to be that she didn’t like me.

Batflaps?

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Holy bat flaps, grandma. Much has been happening during the last couple of weeks.

We’ve updated the website!

We’ve added new songs!

But who cares?

WE’VE ADDED NEW PEOPLE!!!

Doc Nelson has 27 years of experience. He spent many years in Nashville doing studio work. He also spent a lot of time touring nationally as both a guitarist and bassist, and he’s strong on keyboards as well. His connections and experience in both Nashville and the Texas and Oklahoma music scenes will give us the foothold for which we’ve been looking. Now living in Grantville, he’s looking forward to playing with us as much as he can.

Mike Kisner provides a smooth bluesy complement to Aaron and Doc, while still feeling completely at home doing it Red-Dirt style. Still relatively new to country, we can be sure that he will only get better and better as time goes by. Mike is a lifetime musician. While he was in the military, he and his band played classic rock and blues for Italians in the heart of Italy, and were very successful doing so. He jumped immediately at the chance to play Red Dirt country, and has now made a long-term commitment to both the music style and Pearl Grey. According to Jim, he went cowboy boot shopping last night.

These guys are good. We’re very fortunate to have them on board. You’d better make some serious plans to come to Big Dogg’s in Junction City on Saturday. It’s going to be a hell of a show.

Also, if you get a chance, head to the Brass Rail on Friday night to see the debut of the Jared “Pete” Gile Band. I know I’m going to be there.

Be sure and head back to the Manhattan area on Saturday for the Junction City show.

Did I mention that you should come to the show at Big Dogg’s in Junction City?

In case you didn’t bother to check, the address for the Junction City show is 1001 E 6th St. by the Super 8 Hotel in Junction City, KS.

See you in Junction City.

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Stats come back up

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After two months of declining web hits, probably due to my lack of writing often, we’re coming back up. With the new band members, bigger future bookings and the new band log, we should see some major increases in traffic. Shouldn’t take long to surpass the August and September statistics.

20040203

Rock and roll

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For those of you who either live under a rock or are trained so well as to come directly to this log, we’ve added not one but two other members to the band. Doc and Mike, glad to have ye. Oh, and by the way, these guys are good. Better make plans for JC this Saturdee.

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KAA

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I’m sitting here at soundman Chris Deines’s apartment in Topeka. I’m getting ready for another long day of the Kansas Auctioneer’s Convention in Kansas City at the Mariott. I had high hopes of making it to Tonganoxie to Trevor’s show tonight, but after getting out of KC at 10:00pm, I just didn’t have it in me. I was pretty tired as well from working the auction. All the best auctioneers in the state of Kansas at a benefit concert and who gets to work the damn thing? Me. Talk about intimidation…but not really, though. I’m pretty sure that when it comes to procedure and ringing, we’re about as good as they come. I was proud and honored to represent my company and myself at the convention.

It’s 12:30 now and I have to get up at 6:30 to make tomorrow’s starting lectures. I do, however, look forward to Sunday. I have high hopes concerning my meeting with Doc Nelson. We’re planning on him playing with us at our Junction City show on the 7th. In true Pearl Grey style, he’ll be coming on board without a practice. We had so much luck christening Johnny that way that we feel it works pretty well with seasoned musicians, which Doc seems to be. I think that’s about enough for tonight.

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When it rains it pours

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So we go from not having clue no. 1 on where to find a lead guitarist to having 3 solid, promising leads. I spoke with Doc Nelson from Topeka on the phone about an hour ago. Turns out he’s played for 27 years and has some pretty cool Nashville stories. Seemed like the nicest guy in the world to me on the phone.

Jim just got a call from a Michael from the Hays area who played to Jim over the phone. Jim said he was good. Jim told him what we play and he said Michael started downloading it while he was talking to Jim. He called Jim back 30 minutes later and said “Dude, Chris Knight is awesome. Is there a way you could get me a list that I could start working on for tomorrow?”

I told Jim, “when it rains, it pours.” Jim said, “Let us build an ark.”

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Practice

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I hit the Hays area for a practice last night. I thought it was productive. We auditioned a lead player. John, I think, was his name. He was good but unexperienced. We’ll see what he can do and what the others we have lined up can do.

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