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Feature
Articles -
The Fabulous Boogie Kings |
Introduction |
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There was a major change in the Boogie Kings band in the '60s that was to have an effect on the future of the band forever. Some key moves were made then that propelled what was already a super group into a zone of musical excellence that the music industry has rarely ever witnessed. Here is how the change came about. I was playing with a "weekend warriors" type of band making ten bucks a gig, and working a very boring day gig for seventy-five bucks a week. I was already twenty-six years old and I was sure that my dreams of being a rock star had all but vanished. One day my good friend, Dan Silas (a bari sax player) stopped by my office and told me that he was going to Lake Charles to audition for the Boogie Kings. He told me that they were re-organizing and looking for horn players and singers, and asked me if I would like to tag along. At that moment, my whole outlook in life changed. My chops were great, and I was about as ready as a musician could be to take on a new challenge. There was no doubt in my mind that I could get the job as lead trumpet player. The band was working a gig at the Bamboo Club in Lake Charles, so Dan and I went and sat in and we both got hired that night. The band was so popular at that time that half of the players decided to quit and stay in college, and the other half decided to re-organize. Clint West eventually became the leader, the position that I really wanted. From the first day, I realized that this was going to be a very great band, but they had no direction, no organization, no promo, and very little of anything else except talent. I made it my goal to get Clint's job and drive this band to the very top. Whatever the top was. This was to happen about a year later, when I took over the band and Clint left. My first move was to hire GG Shinn and Jerry "Count Jackson" Lacroix. My next move was to get this band into the studio and record a hit album. Little did we know at the time that we recorded the first album that it would become an all-time classic that would sell for generations to come. My next move was to dress up the band and make a show out of it. I convinced the guys that we needed seven different tuxedos, one for every night of the week. I told them that we needed to crack the two major markets of Houston and New Orleans before we could even dream about the pie in the sky. I didn't know a soul in Houston or New Orleans, but that didn't stop me. I drove to Houston and found the biggest club I could which was Van's Ballroom. When I walked in, I asked for the owner, who just happened to be the person that I asked the question to. I said, "I'm Ned Theall with the Boogie Kings and I want to book my band in your club. Van said, "I've heard of you guys, but I'm booked six nights a week." So I said, "Well, there are seven nights in a week." Van replied, "Well, Ned, Monday nights are all that is open and to be perfectly frank with you, no one can draw a crowd in Houston on a Monday night." I told Van that I'd take anything that I could get and I booked us on a Monday night. To make a long story short, we drew over a thousand people on the first Monday that we played, and Monday night gigs became the best night of the week for Van. God was with us once again. I then went to New Orleans to the Sands nightclub with the same pitch. The first person I met in the Sands was Jim Stewart, New Orleans's top DJ. What luck, would wonders never cease? Jim sponsored us at the Sands every Wednesday night and we drew such huge crowds that they had to enlarge the club three times. We were truly blessed at that time for some reason. Then, by some odd quirk of fate, I went to Shreveport to listen to a drummer that we were looking at to replace Clint West and stumbled into a booking agent from Nevada who had heard rave reviews about the band. He offered to book us sight unseen in Reno and Lake Tahoe. I, of course, thought that he was full of it, but I humored him nonetheless. To my stark amazement, I received contracts in the mail two weeks later from Reno with confirmed bookings. We were on a roll that wouldn't quit. In the next three years, we were to play in Hollywood, Vegas, San Francisco and Lake Tahoe again. We would go on tour out west and come home to Cajun country bigger heroes than when we had left. We did two more albums, but still could not come up with that hit record. The greatest gig that we ever played was in Hollywood. We were invited to play a concert for the "Hullabaloo" people. There were some great bands at the auditorium, including the Righteous Brothers, who were big fans of ours. We had been told that California fans only got off to fast music, and we had dropped all of our dramatic, slow, soulful tunes. We got on stage, played three songs and bombed. I called Duane over and whispered in is ear, "Get down and dirty!" So we played the slowest, most soulful tune that we had in the book. You could have heard a pin drop in that jampacked auditorium. I looked at Duane as he was singing and we both shrugged our shoulders as if to say, "What does it take?" When we finished getting as bluesy as a band could get, the whole place stood up and cheered for what seemed a good five minutes. Great Scott, we had done it again! Every song we played after that was cheered enthusiastically by that huge crowd of California kids. After the gig, the Righteous Brothers came up and hugged us and congratulated us. Oh what a night! We were all living the life that we had always dreamed of and it looked like there was no end in sight. Rock 'n' roll, sex and drugs, day after day, night after night. We couldn't wait to wake up in the morning, knowing that there would be a new adventure each and every day. By this time, most of the guys in the band were smoking herb and the incentive was beginning to wane. And then it happened. Two nights before we left Vegas for the last time, I was notified that there would be a band meeting after the gig. It was at this gig that I was notified that the band had decided to become a co-op band with no leader. I was shocked and deeply hurt to be taken down after I had busted my ass for so many years, but I had to accept my fate. I asked the guys one by one to give me a reason why, after such a string of success that I was being taken down, and one by one, I didn't get an answer. When I came to the last guy, he looked me dead in the eye and said, "It's because you're an asshole!" I must say that remark cracked me up and put me on the floor in a fit of laughter. I stood up, brushed myself off, and replied, "Gary, I'm glad you said that because that is the only reason I could accept!" And with that, I walked out of the meeting, and formed another band the very next day. I ended up taking with me the nuts of the Boogie Kings band, including the three lead singers, Duane Yates, Gary Walker, and Linda Clark); and the lead sax player, Jon Smith. I also hired Bobby Rameriz, an ace young monster drummer. We had a very successful run for two years and gave the Boogie Kings a run for their money, but in the year of 1968, both groups had to disband because of the new style of Beatles type music. It would never be the same again. Part 2 of 4 Parts
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