{"id":3557,"date":"2025-06-06T21:24:17","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T21:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=3557"},"modified":"2025-06-06T21:27:18","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T21:27:18","slug":"ftv-knockdown-gigs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=3557","title":{"rendered":"FTV: Knockdown Gigs"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the Vaults:\u00a0 Knockdown Gigs<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When my high school band, The Twig, broke up the summer after graduation, I made the conscious decision to not get into another band until after my freshman year at Northern Michigan University.\u00a0 After working at the Huron Mountain Club in the summer of 1971, I knew working there the next summer would complicate booking band jobs.\u00a0 The plan changed in the second semester when I happened to see a card on a campus bulletin board that said, \u201cKeyboard player seeking band members.\u201d\u00a0 I called the number and arranged to have a little introductory jam in our basement across the street from the NMU campus.\u00a0 I can\u2019t even remember the guy\u2019s name, but we got together a couple of times, once with a guitar player who wasn\u2019t ready to be in a band experience-wise.\u00a0 About the time I thought, \u201cThis isn\u2019t going anywhere,\u201d the keyboard guy called and said, \u201cI found a band that needs a drummer and a keyboard player.\u00a0 They are coming over tomorrow to audition us.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It turned out, the three guys who came over were all stationed at K.I.Sawyer Air Force Base.\u00a0 They were gigging under the name Cloudy & Cool and I never did think to ask what happened to their drummer.\u00a0 We played some tunes and they even helped the keyboard guy hump his stuff outside before they came back in to get their equipment.\u00a0 Ray, the guitar player and leader, said, \u201cLook, we don\u2019t need a keyboard player, we need a drummer.\u00a0 I work with that guy\u2019s mother at K.I. Sawyer and she mentioned her son and a drummer were trying to start a band. \u00a0 If you want the job, it is yours and I will just tell his mother it didn\u2019t work out.\u201d\u00a0 I felt a little guilty about this turn of events, but not guilty enough to not choose an established band over starting one from scratch.\u00a0 I never did see the keyboard guy again which was good and bad.\u00a0 Good because I didn\u2019t have to explain how I got into the band he brought over to my house and he didn\u2019t.\u00a0 The bad? \u00a0 He had borrowed my George Harrison <\/span>All Things Must Pass<\/span><\/i> songbook, which I never got back.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Cloudy & Cool had a couple of regular gigs they did.\u00a0 Ray was an Air Force Sargent so they had a standing three night gig every month at the base NCO club.\u00a0 The other was at a dive bar in Negaunee that only paid $20 per man a night (the going Musician Union\u2019s rate started at $25 per man, but they were not a Union band (yet)).\u00a0 As soon as we started filling up our weekends, we<\/span><\/p>\n

played one last Saturday night at the dive bar and toasted this drab place good bye with a few too many beers.\u00a0 This marked the first and last time I actually got drunk playing a gig.\u00a0 Even though we knew we were never coming back to this dive again, my sense of professionalism said, \u201cNever do that again.\u201d\u00a0 The other guys had played there enough, they were glad to see it in the rearview mirror (which gives you a good idea what a dive it was).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The three guys in the Air Force were not allowed to join the Musician\u2019s Union so Ray asked me if I would be willing to do the band bookings.\u00a0 As a dues paying member of the AFM Local 218, I could pay the fees needed to book jobs and it opened the way for us to get even more gigs.\u00a0 A lot of places would not book a band unless they were in the Union so I registered the band and quickly went from being the new drummer to the booker and calendar keeper.\u00a0 God bless my dear mother because she ended up taking a lot of my messages when people started calling about hiring us.\u00a0 I typed up a three month calendar that I hung by the phone so mom saved me a lot of call backs just by looking at the entries and telling callers, \u201cNo, I am sorry, that weekend is booked.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Even with her playing gatekeeper, I had a few people call back and offer more money to dump a gig so we could play at their wedding or what-not.\u00a0 I would always use the same tactic to let these people down gently by saying, \u201cIf we took more money from someone else and dumped your event, how would you feel about it?\u00a0 How long would we get bookings with a reputation for dumping signed contracts?\u201d\u00a0 That usually ended the conversation and even if they went away mad, at least they went away.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With the new start, we decided it was time for a new name.\u00a0 Lee the bass player came up with \u2018The Knockdown Party Band\u2019 which the other three of us agreed to, without \u2018The\u2019 and the \u2018Party Band\u2019 parts.\u00a0 As the summer of 1972 approached, I went to the new kitchen manager at the Huron Mountain Club (Ted had been the head chef the summer before) and told him I would not be able to work there and play band jobs.\u00a0 Ted asked, \u201cWhat if your day off was Saturday?\u201d\u00a0 I said we had an entire summer of jobs mostly on Fridays and Saturdays with a few Thursday, Friday, and Saturday weekends.\u201d\u00a0 Ted thought about it and offered a compromise:\u00a0 \u201cIf you work Thursday and Friday evening shifts until 7 p.m., could you still get to Marquette in time for the band jobs?\u201d\u00a0 I said, \u201cThat could work!\u201d\u00a0 God bless Ted for thinking outside the box.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Thus began my two summers of shuttling back and forth between the HMC north of Big Bay and band jobs all over Marquette County.\u00a0 My dad let me keep the equipment in his truck during the week so I would drive home, swap vehicles, do the gig, swap back, and then drive the 40 miles back to the club.\u00a0 Friday nights I was able to sleep at home and thankfully the Sunday breakfast shift started an hour later than the rest of the week.\u00a0 With a nap or two to compensate for late night drives, I washed dishes by day and played music by night.\u00a0 There were many mornings I would wake up and have to think a minute before I knew where I was.\u00a0 Driving with blaring music, wide open windows, and a lot of caffeine got me through two summers of burning the candle at both ends.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The three night NCO gigs were always fun.\u00a0 Thursday nights were usually slow unless there was a party of some sort going on.\u00a0 The crowd picked up on Friday and Saturday nights and it was great to not have to break down the equipment each night.\u00a0 As the NCO house band, we were booked for a lot of holiday parties.\u00a0 Ray lived on base so those were the only dates I didn\u2019t line up.\u00a0 He would call me to get them on the calendar and I would send the contracts to the NCO Club manager to be signed.\u00a0 New Year\u2019s Eve was always a great gig at Sawyer because they hired two bands.\u00a0 The first one played from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. and we came on at 11 p.m. and played until 3 a.m.\u00a0 NYE was also a double pay night so we picked up $100 each for our part of the show.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The first year we did NYE, the other band had come in from Wisconsin.\u00a0 They were a pretty good band but were a little shocked when they found out what NYE Union wages were in Michigan.\u00a0 Our opening song at the NCO Club was always <\/span>My Girl<\/span><\/i> by the Temptations.\u00a0 The other band had loaded their equipment and were standing by the door when we started our set.\u00a0 As Lee played the familiar \u2018Da dum-dum, Da dum-dum\u2019 opening bass line, we got a standing ovation from the packed house.\u00a0 I made eye contact with the other band\u2019s drummer and gave him a little shoulder shrug.\u00a0 He shook his head in disbelief and they departed for wherever they were going to spend the night, no doubt wondering why we got such a reaction.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We had almost the same scenario for NYE the next year.\u00a0 A different band opened the evening and they did a fine job.\u00a0 We came on and did <\/span>My Girl<\/span><\/i> and we watched their expression change when we again got a standing ovation.\u00a0 The twist in this gig came right after we did the midnight countdown.\u00a0 The manager came over and said, \u201cThe bathroom sewer is backing up so we have to close.\u00a0 Here is your check, pack up and go home.\u201d\u00a0 We sat down at our corner table to have a beer before packing up.\u00a0 Ray started playing his acoustic guitar so we had a little sing along going until the manager came back and said, \u201cYou have to stop.\u00a0 No one is leaving because they think you are going to start playing again.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We packed up and instead of playing until 3 a.m., we went home.\u00a0 By 2:30 a.m., I was in Marquette at the Sambo\u2019s Restaurant having breakfast.\u00a0 The waitress asked, \u201cWhy aren\u2019t you at a party?\u201d so I told her about our aborted gig.\u00a0 She bought my breakfast and gave me a handful of free coffee tokens.\u00a0 I left her a good tip because I didn\u2019t have the heart to tell her we still got paid in full for a whole hour of music.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One of our strangest gigs by far wasn\u2019t a bad job, just an odd \u2018one of a kind thing\u2019 that happened at the NCO club in the middle of the winter.\u00a0 As we were finishing the second set, a group of long haired non-military types came in and pulled up chairs at the corner table next to the stage.\u00a0 We ambled over to have a seat on our break and one of them asked, \u201cWho is in charge of your bookings?\u201d\u00a0 This was not a usual question one fields during a gig, but I dutifully responded, \u201cWell, I guess that would be me.\u201d\u00a0 With a touch of tension in his voice, he asked, \u201cWhat is the idea of jumping our job?\u201d\u00a0 Now I was totally confused.\u00a0 \u201cWhat do you mean, \u2018jumping your job\u2019?\u00a0 We have been here since Thursday so this is the third night of our regularly scheduled weekend at the NCO Club.\u00a0 I have the contract right here if you would like to see it.\u201d\u00a0 The last part was a lie but I figured the club manager would have his copy if I needed to prove it beyond just my word.\u00a0 \u201cBesides, aren\u2019t you getting here a little late for a gig that starts at 9 p.m.?\u00a0 Where are you coming from, anyway?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The guy blinked a couple of times and then explained they had just arrived from DETROIT.\u00a0 He said their manager had not given them the right information on how far north they had to go so that is why they were so late.\u00a0 \u201cWhat kind of directions did he give you?\u201d I asked.\u00a0 He said we were playing at the NCO Club at an Air Force Base near Houghton.\u201d\u00a0 The lightbulb over my head came on and the puzzle was solved.\u00a0 \u201cDo you think he may have said \u2018Houghton Lake\u2019?\u00a0 Wurtsmith AFB in Oscoda is near Houghton Lake.\u00a0 Do you think that is where he booked you?\u201d\u00a0 His face fell and he went to conference with the other three guys in the band.\u00a0 They pulled out their road map and were pointing and gesticulating like mad so I walked over and pointed to Houghton Lake.\u00a0 They pointed at Houghton.\u00a0 I explained they were still 100 miles from there and there were no other Air Force Bases in the U.P. besides K.I. Sawyer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The spokes-guy went to make a phone call.\u00a0 Predictably, he was a bit deflated when he came back.\u00a0 \u201cWhen we get back, we are getting a new manager,\u201d he said rather despondently.\u00a0 \u201cIs there any place nearby where we can get rooms for the night and some food?\u201d\u00a0 We bought them a round of drinks and gave them directions to Marquette.\u00a0 I suppose we could have offered them a chance to play a few tunes just to see if they were any good, but they were in no mood to hang around.\u00a0 To this day I wonder what the discussion with their manager was like when they got home.\u00a0 Things like this would not happen today with GPS.\u00a0 Right?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Knockdown was a busy band.\u00a0 Competition for wedding bands was so fierce in the early 1970s that we even found ourselves booking receptions on Thursdays and Fridays.\u00a0 If you name a community or church hall in Marquette County, I will lay odds we played a gig there.\u00a0 My dad enjoyed me asking, \u201cDo you know where such and such a hall is?\u201d\u00a0 Back in his detective days, he drove to or through every little burg in the U.P. so I never had trouble getting to gigs.\u00a0 St. Joseph\u2019s Hall in Ishpeming and Timms Hall in Negaunee were particularly nice for wedding receptions.\u00a0 They had plenty of space and passable acoustics for large rooms, both keys to making a live band sound good.\u00a0 The Crossroads Bar between Marquette and K.I.Sawyer was okay but after a while, we began turning down bookings there.\u00a0 Many nights at the Crossroads\u00a0 we would get an extra break.\u00a0 When the fists began to fly and the combatants (and most of the crowd) moved the action into the parking lot, we would put down our instruments and get a beer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There were nights when the first set would be painfully slow.\u00a0 Long before the MTV <\/span>Unplugged<\/span><\/i> show debuted, we decided to learn a few acoustic numbers to at least entertain ourselves with when nobody was dancing.\u00a0 With my rudimentary guitar skills letting me come to the stage front, we did spot on versions of some Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young tunes.\u00a0 It was fun and different (but it was a little strange to play <\/span>Ohio<\/span><\/i> at the NCO club).\u00a0 Playing the Christmas party for the staff of the Marquette Montgomery Wards store, it was surprisingly dead.\u00a0 We broke out our acoustic schtick until Cita promised she would get them to dance (Cita was the store manager\u2019s wife and my boss when I worked for the Geography Department office at NMU) .\u00a0 The rest of the gig was fine (except for hauling the Hammond B-3 organ down from the second floor when the freight elevator was shut down).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If we thought the NCOs could be wild, they couldn\u2019t hold a candle to the parties we played at the Officer\u2019s Club.\u00a0 They always started with a nice dinner and some easy listening music in the first set, but by the end of the night, they made <\/span>Animal House<\/span><\/i> look tame.\u00a0 I vowed to never drink green beer after one St. Patrick\u2019s Day celebration we played at.\u00a0 I happened to be in the restroom when the young officer who won the green beer chugging contest came in and decorated the walls and floor.\u00a0 I can\u2019t even say if the Irish practice this rite on the day after St. Urho\u2019s Day (and no, Finns do not drink purple beer), but after that party, I swore I never would (and haven\u2019t).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When I joined the band, I believe the keyboard player\u2019s name was Brad.\u00a0 Not long after, he transferred to the AFB in Thule, Greenland.\u00a0 The AF boys always said this is where you got sent if you really goofed up on the job, but if my memory serves me, Brad wanted to go there.\u00a0 We had a high school kid (and Air Force brat) named Nick who filled in for a while.\u00a0 He was followed up by a pre-med student named Dave Waters I met at NMU.\u00a0 Dave was a serious student who would study chemistry during our band breaks.\u00a0 He did become a doctor just like his father.\u00a0 Much later, I met and worked with his brother, former White Pine and Ontonagon science teacher Jim Waters.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Our funniest gig moment happened when a rather short woman who was well \u2018into her cups\u2019 (as the Brits would say) kept tugging on Dave\u2019s pant leg.\u00a0 She really wanted us to play <\/span>Please Release Me <\/span><\/i>and poor Dave was on the closest side of the stage to her table.\u00a0 This went on for most of our third set.\u00a0 In exasperation, Dave finally looked down at her and said, \u201cOkay, okay lady.\u00a0 We will play it, just let go of my dang leg\u201d (although it may have been a little more forceful wording).\u00a0 When we stopped laughing and wiped the tears from our eyes, Ray \u2018the human jukebox\u2019 kicked it off.\u00a0 Ray grew up playing in a C&W band so he knew it well.\u00a0 When Dave inquired why he waited so long to rescue him, Ray laughed and said,\u00a0 \u201cAre you kidding?\u00a0 That was a great floor show – her husband and their table were laughing their butts off watching you trying to politely brush her off.\u201d\u00a0 Dave\u2019s studies would eventually keep him from playing more jobs with us.\u00a0 The story of Rich, or last and longest serving keyboard player, will have to wait for another day.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I played in Knockdown for two full years and we averaged two gigs per week with exactly two weekends missed (both during the Christmas holiday).\u00a0 That meant we played between 170 to 200 band jobs.\u00a0 When we got together, The Twig played and gigged together for a little over three years.\u00a0 We only played about 30 paying jobs in the last year we were together.\u00a0 With this much source material, I no doubt will need to revisit some of the other notable Knockdown adventures in the future.\u00a0 In the meantime, I will let it rest until we catch up with some of the fun we had in band number three, Sledgehammer (which will be our topic in a couple of months).<\/span><\/p>\n

Top Piece Video:\u00a0 Okay,\u00a0My Girl\u00a0<\/em>was an NCO favorite and it is buried in this video, but who could resist the Four Tops and the Temptations on the same stage sharing their hits?\u00a0 Not me!!<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the Vaults:\u00a0 Knockdown Gigs   \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When my high school band, The Twig, broke up the summer after graduation, I made the conscious decision to not get into another band until after my freshman year at Northern Michigan University.\u00a0 After working at the Huron Mountain Club in the summer of 1971, I knew working there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,11,8,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bands-musicians","category-education","category-from-the-vaults","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3557"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3560,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3557\/revisions\/3560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}