The Zig Gazette

Vol. 7 #22

The Zigs’ website is TheZigsBand.com

We are also on MySpace/thezigsband

The Zigs are: Jim Ziegler, Bill Raffensperger,

Frank McPeters, Jim Downing

Saturday: karrie’s Kaboose ~ vinita OK.

Kirk Felton

We heard from Kirk Felton last week. He was the drummer for the Edison Stage Band in High School and played with local groups such as Pot Luck & Beggin’, The Jazz Babies and even briefly with The Sweat Band.

For the last couple of decades he’s been a mastering engineer at Fantasy Records out in Berkley. His list of credits is huge. Google showed 100,000 hits on his name. There are several pages on him at Allmusic.com.

Fantasy bought up a lot of old jazz labels and Kirk turned their catalogs into CDs. If you’re a jazz fan, you probably have something he mastered.

The principles are getting old, the company has been parceled out, and the masters have mostly been reissued. He may be retiring before long. He even has thought about moving back to Tulsa.

Kirk and I shared the most destitute time of our young lives In Tennessee. A band of Tulsans moved to Memphis and then Nashville. We should’ve stayed in Memphis. In Nashville there were no gigs, and no money for gas even to get to a gig. I gave my truck to the band and left. Kirk had his acoustic piano there. I always wondered what happened to it.

“My friend Lanny knew this guy who was working on his first album. The guy let me store it in his garage for a while until I found a buyer. I’d like to meet him and see if he remembers that. His name was Jimmy Buffet.”

Saturday: karrie’s Kaboose ~ vinita OK.

Gazintas

A guy in Jacksonville Florida wrote that he used to hang out with Phil Driscoll and Tulsa County when they played down there. He became pals with guitarist Rick Bielke and would like to drop him a line. Do any of you Ziggaz have an address for Rick?

Flotsam

The Spaulding Park gig was fun and a high profile concert with pro sound and a big outdoor stage. We don’t know whom to thank for that besides Joel Everett. He thinks that Tom Barlow of The Current may have put a bug in his ear, and Rocky Frisco definitely had some positive input: “Book ‘em, Joel.”

Tom said he definitely recommended us for Stampede’s in Cookson, so we extend our appreciation with a laurel and a hearty handshake.

Jimmy Markham sat down in front and enjoyed the show until he decided he wanted to be somewhere cooler, like inside.

We have two Leslies now. One is a midrange rotor box that I salvaged out of an old Thomas organ from Goodwill. It had been in the shed for years and mice ate the speaker. I rebuilt the box and will use it on big gigs, or when we don’t carpool in The Joy Bus.

At Arrowhead, a familiar looking ‘mature’ gentleman extended his hand and said “I think I know you. I’m John Tanner.” We hadn’t seen him in years. His son David was a member of the Zigs when he passed away. John is also Larry Bell’s father-in-law. Interesting family, eh?

Another good bud up at Arrowhead is Gary Dunham, manager of Wholesale Tool just east of 55^th & Mingo. It’s a national company and we recommend them for your tool needs, from tweezers to turret lathes. That’s providing you don’t find them first at our longtime sponsor, Swinney’s Hardware.

It was a sellout crowd at the yacht club; every table was reserved. It was “Member Appreciation Night.” Ok, you have to write your own joke on that one.

Do you have a digital toothbrush? ‘High Definition’ is already being misappropriated for radio. This is only the beginning, we figure. Watch for High Definition Shampoo, Make-up and HD socks.

Zig Book Club

“Blue Devils To Red Dirt: The colors Of Oklahoma Music” is the most excellent book on the history of popular music from our state. John Wooley doesn’t just write about who, what and where but also the how and the why. One thing that he does pick up on quite early in the story is the social connectedness of Okies. There’s a “We’re in this together” spirit that didn’t begin with the Dust Bowl, but was reinforced by it. Many bandleaders in our history split the money evenly with the group. There is more cooperation than competition. Oklahoma is a very musical place.
One comment we dispute is his contention that “Musicians are among the most think-skinned of all artists”. Maybe he doesn’t know that many actors. We’re going to get you for that one, Wooley.

I think we bear up rather well considering all the jokes about us. We often have the responsibility of keeping a room full of drunks happy. What about those writers who are isolated and sit at their little desks pontificating and issuing edicts while typing away, and… uh, well, never mind.

Gazette Special Offer

You Gazette subscribers get a special deal. Come to a Zig gig, mention that you saw this in the Zig Gazette and get a Jukin’ At Joe’s CD for the heavily discounted price of a mere $5. While supplies last. The CD has already gone Zinc!

Saturday: karrie’s Kaboose ~ vinita OK.