Post by Tony B. on Jul 26, 2007 0:30:52 GMT -5
Just wanted to tell my family here that our band THE OUTFIT did a show at LaGrange KY Prison this last weekend. Here was my take on the event .
*Gary Allen our drummer from CDB wrote almost the same exact thing. Check out the new issue on Aug 1st which will have both summaries...with better editing. lol
Four am. The Alarm!!! I really didn't want to hear that go off this morning. Six egg whites and 2 bagels and my strong iced tea and I'm off to CJ and Gary's house to catch the 4 hour ride to LaGrange Ky for our first prison gig.
The 4 of us CJ ,Gary, myself and Marcy (who is our main band supporter!!! She helps us out so much, don't know what our band would do without her) piled into the pu like a sardine can to head over to the gas station and get a can of fix a flat. It worked. Yea!! Road triiiiip.
We met up with our bandmate guitarist/singer Mike McCillwain at Franklin Ky so I could ride with him so we could all spread out.
Hmmmmm putting a Marshall stack and head and 2 guitars in a Mini Cooper ....just call me the contortionist.
Those Coopers cruise at a easy 100 mph and ya can't even tell it. Sure glad all those cops had people already pulled over. Man they are everywhere.
The arrival! I really thought this was a minimum security place but after driving along side the rows and rows of razor wire the more it made me think what are we getting into. I sho don't wanna see maximum.
Security checks and gate openings and closings were exactly like the movies. Clank! Slam! Clank! No cameras or phones. It would've been great to document this whole day!!!
CJ our band leader was pulling the uhaul trailer through those gates . The gaurds were betting he couldn't do it. Ha!!! One try and he got through the maze of 90 degree turns. Truly amazing to watch.
There was a strange eerie quietness through the complex . All the buildings are painted white inside and out. Each building is identified with big numbers and letters. We drive 100 yds down a corridor to the gym. Again that eerie quietness ,nothing but radio chatter from guards in the towers with more razor wire around everything. I kept thinking hmmmm .... "Brubaker".
We load into the gym and start setting up . We set up some more and a little more and we keep plugging things together.
The inmates are let in while we are still setting up and we get our mic check in. Theres a few hoops and hollers from the guys as they rustle around for a good place to sit.
We started our set with La Grange from ZZ Top...what else could it be. lol We continue to rock out on some classic tunes. They ate it up. We did too. The applause was astounding. While we played they really didn't scream or yell or anything...they just stared with wide eyes and big smiles and some sang along. We could see a few feet a patting and some thumbs in the air. Come to find out they were under order not to get out of hand. So they could only let it out during the applause.
Walter Jowers also threw in "Jail House Rock" and "I Fought the Law" just to make to make them feel at home.
The Toluenes -Jamon and Dan part of the Outfit played with us and went through their original set to a loud thundering applause.
Out of the straight 1 1/2 hours of tunes we played , "Simple Man" and "Can't Ya See" had the biggest yells from those 120 inmates. We had 4 Skynyrd songs picked for them and they loved all the Skynyrd we could jam on. They loved Bad Company and the Doobies tunes also.
I must say that after we had to stop at 3:20 when time was up and they were marched out for head count ,that's when it hit me that this was not just a gig. This was a show. This was something special. It was a concert. This was 10 times better than being in a bar with a bunch of drunks who will never remember who you were the next day.
These guys will remember what we did for them and there's a reason why. They worked and made things for for weeks for their arts and crafts fair to get money so they could have entertainment. Well they got it brother!!!! We kicked ass!! We gave them a show.
I will say that this was one of the all time top music experiences of this bass players life, and life changing, as well.
As we loaded up the U-Haul trailer and said our goodbyes and thanks to Karen [Rec. Director Karen Heath] (who said she loved the show), CJ proceeded to navigate back through the gates like the pro he is. Then the thought hit me, I'm sure it did everyone else also, that we get to leave this place and go down the street to Cracker Barrel for supper while these gates slam… locking those guys in there.
I know that you will say that they belong in there. Well yeah, probably so. Those tv shows will not give you the feeling of what its like to go in there, though. It's totally different to be there. There is a vibe when you get in there. There's a lot of emotions going on. We were given a real life perspective that day. I don't care how old you are you never stop learning lessons.
Riding down the freeway, watching the sun set over those beautiful Kentucky farmland hills with grazing cattle, my thoughts went back a few miles to the razor wire and enclosed block buildings and ya gotta say to yourself, “Thank you Lord, it sure is good to have our freedom.”
This was one of the better days of my life.
photo by Marcy Runge
*Right before I submitted this I just heard we got booked for another one in a couple of months. They want us back! Thanks Tamar!!! On with the show!!!!
*Gary Allen our drummer from CDB wrote almost the same exact thing. Check out the new issue on Aug 1st which will have both summaries...with better editing. lol
Four am. The Alarm!!! I really didn't want to hear that go off this morning. Six egg whites and 2 bagels and my strong iced tea and I'm off to CJ and Gary's house to catch the 4 hour ride to LaGrange Ky for our first prison gig.
The 4 of us CJ ,Gary, myself and Marcy (who is our main band supporter!!! She helps us out so much, don't know what our band would do without her) piled into the pu like a sardine can to head over to the gas station and get a can of fix a flat. It worked. Yea!! Road triiiiip.
We met up with our bandmate guitarist/singer Mike McCillwain at Franklin Ky so I could ride with him so we could all spread out.
Hmmmmm putting a Marshall stack and head and 2 guitars in a Mini Cooper ....just call me the contortionist.
Those Coopers cruise at a easy 100 mph and ya can't even tell it. Sure glad all those cops had people already pulled over. Man they are everywhere.
The arrival! I really thought this was a minimum security place but after driving along side the rows and rows of razor wire the more it made me think what are we getting into. I sho don't wanna see maximum.
Security checks and gate openings and closings were exactly like the movies. Clank! Slam! Clank! No cameras or phones. It would've been great to document this whole day!!!
CJ our band leader was pulling the uhaul trailer through those gates . The gaurds were betting he couldn't do it. Ha!!! One try and he got through the maze of 90 degree turns. Truly amazing to watch.
There was a strange eerie quietness through the complex . All the buildings are painted white inside and out. Each building is identified with big numbers and letters. We drive 100 yds down a corridor to the gym. Again that eerie quietness ,nothing but radio chatter from guards in the towers with more razor wire around everything. I kept thinking hmmmm .... "Brubaker".
We load into the gym and start setting up . We set up some more and a little more and we keep plugging things together.
The inmates are let in while we are still setting up and we get our mic check in. Theres a few hoops and hollers from the guys as they rustle around for a good place to sit.
We started our set with La Grange from ZZ Top...what else could it be. lol We continue to rock out on some classic tunes. They ate it up. We did too. The applause was astounding. While we played they really didn't scream or yell or anything...they just stared with wide eyes and big smiles and some sang along. We could see a few feet a patting and some thumbs in the air. Come to find out they were under order not to get out of hand. So they could only let it out during the applause.
Walter Jowers also threw in "Jail House Rock" and "I Fought the Law" just to make to make them feel at home.
The Toluenes -Jamon and Dan part of the Outfit played with us and went through their original set to a loud thundering applause.
Out of the straight 1 1/2 hours of tunes we played , "Simple Man" and "Can't Ya See" had the biggest yells from those 120 inmates. We had 4 Skynyrd songs picked for them and they loved all the Skynyrd we could jam on. They loved Bad Company and the Doobies tunes also.
I must say that after we had to stop at 3:20 when time was up and they were marched out for head count ,that's when it hit me that this was not just a gig. This was a show. This was something special. It was a concert. This was 10 times better than being in a bar with a bunch of drunks who will never remember who you were the next day.
These guys will remember what we did for them and there's a reason why. They worked and made things for for weeks for their arts and crafts fair to get money so they could have entertainment. Well they got it brother!!!! We kicked ass!! We gave them a show.
I will say that this was one of the all time top music experiences of this bass players life, and life changing, as well.
As we loaded up the U-Haul trailer and said our goodbyes and thanks to Karen [Rec. Director Karen Heath] (who said she loved the show), CJ proceeded to navigate back through the gates like the pro he is. Then the thought hit me, I'm sure it did everyone else also, that we get to leave this place and go down the street to Cracker Barrel for supper while these gates slam… locking those guys in there.
I know that you will say that they belong in there. Well yeah, probably so. Those tv shows will not give you the feeling of what its like to go in there, though. It's totally different to be there. There is a vibe when you get in there. There's a lot of emotions going on. We were given a real life perspective that day. I don't care how old you are you never stop learning lessons.
Riding down the freeway, watching the sun set over those beautiful Kentucky farmland hills with grazing cattle, my thoughts went back a few miles to the razor wire and enclosed block buildings and ya gotta say to yourself, “Thank you Lord, it sure is good to have our freedom.”
This was one of the better days of my life.
photo by Marcy Runge
*Right before I submitted this I just heard we got booked for another one in a couple of months. They want us back! Thanks Tamar!!! On with the show!!!!
