Tuesday, March 24, 2020

March 4th - Carpetbaggers DAVE, George, Laurence and Bill at Hurricane Grill and Wings - Sue and Wayne were in some bad weather coming back from NC so Laurence said he would be happy to come down and join us. Bill Mullen plays the sax, also showed up, and what a night we had.  I was still not feeling up to par but everyone joined in to help out. What a blast! See you next week!

March 5th, Carpetbaggers DAVE, Tony, George, Sue and Frankie at Corner Bar - The place was packed! Never a dull moment on Thursdays at the Corner Bar!

March 6th, 7th and 8th, DAVE at Aunt Kate's - The first two days the weather was just to windy and cold so I set up inside. I was sorry not to be out on the porch for the annual fishing tournament Randy puts on. That is something I always look forward to. I did get my shirt though. Hopefully Sunday will be better weather. Sunday was a little overcast but turned out to be a nice day. I really enjoyed the weekend, see you back here on March 27th! Thanks Brian, Dave, Tina and staff!

March 9th, Retrophonics Studios - I  worked with Jim and Sue on "Old Broken Hearts", "Miss Me But Let Me Go", "Confederate Lament" and "Nothin' At All". Next week I will go in and make templates for "I'm Back Again", "Telephone Lightning", "The Desert", "Oh Shenandoah" and "Mrs. Robinson"

March 10th , I'm OFF today - Theresa and I went downtown to find a print for Lou and Diane of "The Nights Of Light" and had lunch at the Columbia.

March 11th, Carpetbaggers DAVE, George and Sue at Hurricane Grill and Wings - Things are a little scary with this virus going around but it didn't seem to slow the crowd down. The place was packed. Thanks Abe and staff you guys are the best! See you next week with Brady Green!

March 12th, Carpetbaggers DAVE, Frankie, Sue and Tony at Corner Bar - We had a great night! We missed George he will be taking some time off. Brady Green will be joining us now on some gigs. See you on March 16th for Songwriter's Night at the Corner Bar 7 to 9pm!

March 13th, 14th and 15th, DAVE at The Big Deck - Another great weekend at The Big Deck. We missed Darlene though. This is such a great gig, there are so many great folks there. See you the 10th, 11th and 12th of April.

I have cancelled my sessions with Jim @ Retrophonics Studio until this virus has passed. I pray everyone will be alright and can our lives going back to normal. Thanks fo letting me live my dream! Stop texting, start talking! Don't liter! Smile it could brighten everyones day, even your own! Early detection can save your life! Talk about the good things going on around you, there are enough people talking about the bad! Keepin' It Real! -David

see you down the road!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
check out my upcoming performances here:
http://davidwattbesley.blogspot.com/p/schedule_31.html


February 24th, Retrophonic's Studio - I worked with George and Jim on some guitar  and lap steel parts on "Don't Ever Let It Get You Down" for the The Big Lonesome CD and two new songs that George and I wrote for my new solo CD #4 "I'm Back Again".

February 25th - I went by George's this morning and finished up "Telephone Lightning" a song George, Sue and I wrote. Also"The Desert" and song my grandson Braylen named and George and I wrote. Later we went and had dinner with Laurence and Barbara at Playa Chac Mool near the beach. We had a great time, it was nice to catch up with our friends.

February 26th,  Carpetbaggers DAVE, George and Sue at Hurricane Grill and Wings - It was a little rainy out so we set up inside under the tent. I had a blast! We did two new songs George and I wrote, "Telephone Lighting" and "The Desert". Sue helped on one of them and both went over well. Jim DeVito stopped by and dropped off a couple of the mixes for Sue. She will be in Retrophonics Studio in two weeks to cut her parts on six new tunes for my new CD "I'm Back Again".

February 27th, Carpetbaggers DAVE, Sue, George, Tony and Frankie at the Corner Bar - Always a great time on Thursdays. Looking forward to my trip to the west coast!

February 28th thru March 3rd, Orange, California - Jim Grimes took us to the airport.We flew with Delta and everything went great! We arrived at John Wayne Airport on time and didn't have any problems until we went to get our carry on bags that we checked at the gate in Jacksonville. I know what your thinking, they did arrive but could not reach us because the carousel had stopped working. We were delayed about 30 minutes until they figured out how to turn it back on. Beside that, it was a great flight over. After getting our luggage in the car we drove to a mexican restaurant that Lou and Diane liked. We went for a walk in downtown Disneyland that evening.  Lou got busted for trying to hide his pocket knife in the woods, he surrendered it without a fight. I think he said it was his favorite blue one. The last time I was at Disneyland was in the early 70's.
They knew it had been a long day for us, so after Disney we called it, and went back to their place for a nice dinner outside under the pergola in their beautiful back yard and discussed our itinerary that Lou had worked up for the next few days.

The second day I got up early and went with Lou to check out his place of business and the beach closest to his house. When we got back we loaded up the girls and took a ride north to that same beach and then down the coast to Newport Beach. What a wonderful day, we saw some of the coast and took a boat ride seeing all the homes of some of the famous people that lived or once lived on little man made islands.
We also saw some sea lions hangin' out on a marker bouy as we motored a little bit into the Pacific. We had dinner at Ruby's and then went back to Lou and Diane's and watched old video's of The North Star Band and a group Lou played in when he got to California, 30 some years ago.

The 3rd day I got up with Lou for coffee and to look at some videos of everyone we know.
We went to Hollywood later and had In and Out burgers for lunch. I took a picture of us with the sign. We drove all around the area, saw a lot of homeless people everywhere we went it's sad. We saw the Queen Mary, the hills, the valley, the mountains, we went everywhere. Lou cooked us a great steak dinner when we got home. Then we watched "Nacho Libre" with Jack Black.  It was a hoot.

The 4th day I beat Lou to the coffee. This was a great trip I hate for it to end.
We had breakfast at Watson's a famous site, where some of the movie "That Thing You Do!" with Tom Hank was shot. We headed for the airport, said our goodbyes got through security, on the plane to Atlanta then to Jacksonville. Jim Grimes, our friend was waiting for us and took us on home. I hate flying but I would make that trip again in a heartbeat.
Lou and Dave at Laguna Beach
Lou and Diane were the best hosts ever and I wish they weren't so far away because I really enjoy their company. I think we might be back there again in the near future and then on to Hawaii if Theresa gets her way!

I was really worried about the long flight and found out it wasn't all that bad. It was so good to see my ole bandmate Lou and his wife Diane. Thanks for letting me live my dream! Stop texting, start talking! Don't liter! Smile it could brighten everyone's day, even your own! Early detection can save your life! Talk about the good things that are going on around you, there's enough people talking about the bad! Keepin' it Real! -David

see you down the road!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
check out my upcoming performances here:
http://davidwattbesley.blogspot.com/p/schedule_31.html

Thursday, March 5, 2020

February 17th, Retrophonics Studios I worked with George and Jim on my new solo CD. We did tracks on "Confederate Lament" and "Dust them Blinds". This makes 5 tracks we have started.

February 17th, Songwriter's Night - Bob and I were joined by Dave Rudolf and Mark Evans. We had a nice evening of original music Dave and Mark always bring it. See you next month on March 16th!

February 19th, Hurricane Grill and Wings - Carpetbaggers DAVE, George and Sue - We had a nice evening out on the sidewalk. Full house! Bill Mullen joined us for most of the evening on sax.

February 20th, Bagan and Company - Dan and I worked on the flash drive package for "Don't Stare At The Sun".

February 20th, Carpetbaggers DAVE, Tony, Sue, Frankie and George at the Corner Bar - Another full house! What a night! It is sure a pleasure to hang out and play music with this group of players.

February 21st, Carpetbaggers DAVE and Sue at Tides Oyster Co - We had a great night! This is one of the best crowds we play for overall, everyone really seems to be listening to our music. It's special. See you next month on March 20th.

February 22nd, Carpetbaggers DAVE and Sue at  Zaharias - Cancelled due to weather, it was just to damn cold!

February 23rd, Carpetbaggers DAVE, George and Sue at Creekside -We played as long as we could. It was cold! I still enjoy playing with these two great players no matter what the weather!

Looking forward to being in the the studio this week with Jim DeVito. George will be putting down some guitar and lap steel tracks on "Dust them Blinds"and "Confederate Lament". These are two tunes that George and I wrote that I'm putting on my 4th solo CD called "I'm Back Again". Also a slide solo on "Don't Ever Let It Get You Down" a song by The Big Lonesome written by Chris McVey and I. Thanks for letting me live my dream! Stop texting, start talking! Don't liter! Smile it could brighten everyone's day, even your own! Early detection can save your life! Talk about the good things that are going on with you, some people have the bad covered pretty good. Keepin' it Real! -David

see you down the road!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
check out my upcoming performances here:
http://davidwattbesley.blogspot.com/p/schedule_31.html