I get a lot of "last minute" gigs in January including two weekends at Bahama Breeze and an EXCELLENT private party.  It turned out to be an excellent start to the next century!

In hindsight, I wish I'd never made contact with him.  Four years later he would wind up a worthless crystal meth junkie who stole $1000 worth of lights from me, got me fired from my Blues Saloon gig, then repeatedly burglarized my house until I finally video taped him and had him arrested.

The band played our first show at Bennigan's on St. Patrick's Day.  It was a great start as everyone really responded well to the music.  We are very encouraged about the future!  I've got more gigs on the calendar for the band and I can't wait to get out and play them!

My buddy Craig Wetz, who still plays for "The Push", did a couple of gigs with us and that was a reunion of "Allies".  Craig, Rodney, & I started that band in October of 1987.  It was really fun to play with him again, too bad he's in another band :)

Bahama Breeze is still an excellent solo gig.  It has been a year now since I started playing there and the venue, staff, & entire business is a joy to work for.  I am very thankful for that gig!

SLBand also helped open a new club in Bricktown called "The Blue Duck Saloon".  It was an excellent first night and we have lots of gigs on the calendar for August and September now!!

Between the "Island Groove" at Bahama Breeze, the Classic Rock and New Rock in The Scott Lowber Band, and the Blues on Sundays, I am really enjoying the wide variety of music that I am playing right now.

The band is really doing great and we have added a couple of new clubs to our rotation.  Our mailing list is getting really large and it is reflected by all the familiar faces we see at our different gigs.  We feel really lucky to have a loyal group of fans coming out to all of our shows!

Also in January "The Blues Saloon" (formerly "Danny's Blues Saloon") made some changes to their Sunday band.  Craig & I had been playing as hired fill-ins for the house band "Anything Goes" since early summer.

They basically removed "Anything Goes" and hired Craig, Rodney, & I, along with our buddy Kenny Clampitt on keys & harmonica and TJ Austin on guitar to play the jam every Sunday.

We hire a forth person to play with us every week and it is always fun!  Among the guests we regularly have on stage are:

Tim Newcombe - Guitar, Sax, & Vocals
Smokey Hondolero - Saxophone
Kenny Clampitt - Keys & Harmonica (from the Sunday band)
TJ Austin - Guitar & Vocals (from the Sunday band)
Bob "Spacedog" Moore - Bass & Vocals
Chris Ellerd - Guitar, Bass, & Vocals
Steve Paul - Guitar & Vocals
Jackie Haney - Guitar & Vocals
Chebon Tiger - Guitar & Vocals
Brad Binge - Guitar, Keys, Bass, Drums, & Vocals

....and lots more who I only know by first names...
 

We also start another summer of gigs at Carlotta's on Lake Texoma, one of our favorite gigs!  Summer looks bright!!

This month marks my three year anniversary at Bahama Breeze.  I'm still very grateful for that gig!

Oh well, that's show biz!  Time to get the promo together and knock on some doors again!  I play my last gig there on Dec. 27.

I have been in the studio a lot this month.  Good original material is coming out of it.  It has been a really fun experience.  Terry "Big Daddy" McCann is producing.

"Big Daddy" invited me out to come sit in with his band on NYE.  I thought I'd be playing at Bahama Breeze that night (Wednesday) so I didn't have a gig.  It was a great time and I got to play with Mike Sommers (bass) and James Keys (drums), two of my favorite local musicians.

The band also started playing again at Carlotta's Cantina on Lake Texoma.  It was great to get back down there again and what a wild couple of weekends we had!! What a great summer gig, we are so lucky to have it!!

On this Austin trip I met (for the first time) and was able to spend a couple of days with, my mother, 1/2 brother, and 1/2 sister that are all from Austin (sis is in Dallas now).  It was a great trip all around and will certainly stand out as a huge moment in my life.

Just when I think I'm finally rid of Rodney and his B.S, he steals $1,000 worth of lights from me.  I guess you gotta feed that meth habit somehow.  Craig and I are both glad to be rid of him.  It's a shame when someone you care about turns into a totally worthless lump of flesh.  The worthless lump of flesh kept breaking in my house and robbing me after this, I finally had him arrested after catching him in the act on video.  You can see the videos here:

Part One:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5OXmhVKw1I

Part Two:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF9RgfRg6

I meet Tony (guitar) and Bob (drums) Gorley and agree to play some shows with them at The Windjammer Club in OKC.  It never develops into anything but we have a good time for a couple of weeks.  They are good players, who knows what the future holds...

I get to play on the Zoo Amphitheater Stage opening up for Foghat, War, & Joan Jett!  Unfortunately this pisses off the queen of The Blues Saloon and I get fired from that gig.  Oh well, that's show biz, I'm glad to be out of there.  I was underpaid anyway ;)

At this show I reacquainted with Craig Starnes, a guitarist and programmer who shows me a new guitar he is working on called "The Fretlight".  He recruits me to do some programming and it is good side money to have right now.  Check the guitar out at the web site http://www.fretlight.com

We also play at Remington Park for the first time and it goes really well!

I also get a gig hosting a weekly acoustic jam at Bora Bora Classic Rock Cafe on Tuesdays.  Its a very fun gig and I get to work every Tuesday with my friend Barbara (of "Barbara & Jeff" former bartenders at Blues Saloon).

I've used a lot of players during the course of the band and called in quite a few of them lately including drummers Mike McCraw, Jeff Wesner, Tim Stanford & Wayne Duncan.  My friends Craig Wetz or Mike Mays have played all the shows on bass.

I play quite a few solo shows including Some Beaches in Maysville and The Main Street Bar & Grill in Cordell (my Dad's bar!).  I play a private party solo for New Year's Eve.

"Rock & Roll Night" Wednesday at The Landing Zone comes to an end.  I'm sad about it because I loved playing there with Bob & Tony Gorley, especially after we added Craig. :(  I'll stay in touch with them, those guys are too good to lose contact with!

The Fretlight guitar has really taken off since Christmas.  I am getting a lot of songs to program and so I decide to take a little time away from gigging to concentrate on turning out songs for the Fretlight.  I really believe in the future of this company and I am proud to be a part of the team!

I'll still play a couple of times a month but I'm just not going to be calling all over trying to book myself solid six nights a week.

I've had a lot of off weekends the last month or so.  It feels weird to be off on the weekend!  I guess I'm a full time Fretlight programmer now!  The future looks bright but the present is still kinda dim ;)   A few last minute gigs really help this month!!

I get a call from an old friend Dennis Smith, who I played with briefly in 1983 in the garage band Sabotage.  His band (Dirty Money) needed a drummer for the coming weekend to play at the Buffalo Run Casino in Miami.  They had just bought a brand new set of Yamaha DTXtreme IIS electronic drums.  They were AWESOME to play!!!  I had a great time playing drums that weekend and am booked to do some more shows with them in the coming months.  It's cool to keep the drum chops up!!

I start playing every Tuesday night at Lumpy's of OKC doing an acoustic jam night, like I did at Classic Rock Cafe.  I love that place and have been playing there since my days in The Push.  It's a great sounding room and the staff treats me great.

I get off to a strong start and I'm optimistic about the future there. I think I can turn it into a great Tuesday night event!

The Scott Lowber Band has been rehearsing and I've got quite a few band gigs coming up.  I hired Jeff Hanes, who I used to play with in Suspect, to play drums for me.  Jeff sings and plays great  The new lineup is now:

The Scott Lowber Band:

Mike Macy, from The Push, calls me and offers me a couple of gigs filling-in for him with The Push at The Alley Club.  I played with The Push for about five years so that was a lot of fun!  The shows went really well and we all enjoyed playing together again.

Jeff had some conflicts with several upcoming gigs so I got Ron Morrow from The Push to fill in for those gigs.  It worked out nicely using those two for all the shows.  There were also two shows that Mike Mays had a conflict with and Chris Ellerd filled in on bass for him.

I continue to pinch myself to see if this is real... I'm lucky to have these excellent musicians to play with.

Part One:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5OXmhVKw1I

Part Two:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF9RgfRg6

Now that I'm settled in I plan to concentrate on booking more shows.  Future looks bright! (have I typed that already?)

The Scott Lowber Band:

We've played at a couple of new places and I've got more gigs on the horizon.   After a year of just "letting the clubs call me", I'm motivated to go knock on some doors and book some shows again!  I'm really liking how we sound! :D

I'm still doing Fretlight programming.  I haven't got rich at it yet but it sure HELPS WITH THE BILLS!!!  I'm a lucky guy!

The Scott Lowber Band:

The band plays two weekends on and two off.  Then I get a call from old friend Charles Eddy asking if I could take a two week fill-in gig with a Country/Southern Rock band named Coupe DeVille.

Coupe DeVille:

I sold my first CD this month!  I had a batch printed for my gig at the annual Cordell Pumpkin Festival and sold about 12 CDs during my gig.  It is really nice to make the extra money at a gig and it gives me a great feeling to know that people enjoyed my music enough to want to take it home with them...  Really a great feeling!!

Coupe DeVille has a lot of great gigs lined up for the year and I am enjoying someone else doing the most of the booking for a change :)  Gives me a chance to just concentrate on booking the solo show and playing music.  Well, and programming Fretlight songs!