Treadmills & Hamsters

The day started well enough, Thursday, October 11th that is. All packed and ready for our trip to Turtle Lake, WI and a good time at the St. Croix Casino. Little did I know that instead of being in the van all day heading to the show I would instead be on the phone all day sitting in a transmission shop! Ah, life on the road, even for "America's Most Exciting Show Band" can sometimes have its potholes LOL.

Between Noon and 6 PM I thought I had either the transmission fixed, an alternate mode of transportation or some other miracle in the works. But, alas, by 6 PM there were no more options and only the smell of defeat...or was that ourfeet? Either way I felt like I had been in the Boston Marathon but was on a tread mill instead of actually making any ground. I will never buy my kids another hamster and make him run on that damn wheel ever again!

Thanks & Renewal

Thanks for the emails and cards received for Bill and his family. The entire band, along with many past Allnighters, friends and family were in attendance at the funeral home. The family had many stories to share of their Mother and the thoughts of the grandchildren and GREATgrandchildren :-) reminded everyone of the renewal of life.

87. Eighty-seven. Now that's a life, baby! We'll all hope to be as lucky as she was to live it and her family was to enjoy her presence. If you would like to send an email or card of condolence you can write to bill@rickkandtheallnighters.com or Bill Stockwell, c/o Rick K. & The Allnighters, P.O. Box 1593, Morgantown, WV 26507-1593. Thanks again.

Fun & Sadness

Wow! What a weekend in Ocean City. Huge crowds, beautiful weather (except for a single rain shower) and we saw many of our new Ocean City friends mixed with an unusually high number of West Virginians who made the trip for a last summer fling. It was great seeing Fairmont, WV friends Mike & Beth DeMary, Janice Snider of Kingwood, WV, Dee Lee of Morgantown, WV and many more I haven't gotten to see for too long. The weekend was highlighted by a fun, post show, band dinner at our favorite O.C. restaurant, Embers, on Coastal Highway. I think it' s one of the best we have run across in all of our travels.

However, the weekend still created feelings of emptyness as I was unable to share it with Bill, my bass player and one of my closest friends for over 20 years. Bill was with his Mother who passed away Sunday, September 23 at the age of 87. I have known Bill through many years of good times and bad for both of us. The marriage of his three daughters, the birth of his grandchildren, the time of his Father's passing a few years ago and now this weekend's heartbreak. I only hope that I get to enjoy my parents for that length of time (and make it there myself :-) but no length of time feels like enough when their gone. It hurts me to know he and his family are sad this weekend.

Hot Rods in Cumberland, MD

Headed back to the Allegheny Co. Fairgrounds tomorrow for a fun day with hot rods from the Western Maryland Street Rod Association. Can't take my '65 Galaxy because I blew a radiator hose today but there will be plenty to see & hear. Show starts at 8 PM. Have a great Labor Day weekend!

Road Warriors

Rhode Island was beautiful as was the Westin Hotel we played in. The corporate function went very well and we have since signed to perform for them again in South Carolina at Christmas time.

500 miles later following the RI show we found ourselves in Cumberland, MD by 10am to jam at the Allegheny County Fair.

A mere 300 miles later that night we woke up Thursday morning in Mineral Wells, WV for the Interstate Fair.

Rain chased us most of the week but I am happy to report we got ALL of the shows in without a single wash out!

Pipestem (WV) State Park tomorrow & Beckley, WV on Sunday. 19 of the last 21 days we will have performed. We earn our name Allnighters.

As the Jimmy Buffet song says, "Come Monday" it will be all right - 5 days of much deserved R&R before heading to Cottageville, OH. Roll on 18 wheeler roll on...
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Rhode Island Newbie

We have added a new state to our performance map...Rhode Island. Just arrived & will hit the sack for some zzzs before load in tomorrow. More later.
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What A Party!

Headed to Pt. Pleasant, WV today for the Regatta tonight.

Enjoyed a terrific 4th of July with the fine people of Alderson, WV. What a fireworks display! Many of the ground level light displays are custom made by residents of the area. There was a touching tribute to the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre. Big crowd, big show, big fun. Thanks to Mark and all the fine people in Alderson.

From there we headed to Rainelle, WV for an all-class reunion of the high school. I don't think I've seen a more enthusiastic crowd anywhere in the country. I can't imagine what they must have been like during their high school days in the 50's and 60's! That must have been one rockin' town. Thanks to Andy and all the reunion committee for the terrific hospitality. You will have surely spoiled us.

We hope to see everyone from the Alderson and Rainelle area again soon at the State Fair of West Virginia August 13-19.

Time to hit the road. Re "gatta" go now.

Happy 4th of July - Remember...

Received this Pearl Harbor information from a good friend. Made me remember several other terrific pics sent to me by fans recently and I thought this would be the perfect time to share them with you. We're getting ready to start a run of 11 straight shows and 16 out 19 between now and July 23.

The picture above is a memorial painted by Ray Sorenson (pictured) and located in Iowa. Incredible. A talented young man with his heart and mind in the right place. The veterans and current armed service members carry this weight for us daily. Thanks to those that have served for protecting my family and giving me the opportunity to do what I love. I hope to see many of you soon and thank you in person. Happy 4th of July. God Bless America.

"PHOTOS STORED IN AN OLD BROWNIE CAMERA"

"Thought you might find these photos very interesting; what quality from 1941. Pearl Harbor photos found in an old Brownie stored in a foot locker."

"THESE PHOTOS ARE FROM A SAILOR WHO WAS ON THE USS QUAPAW ATF-11O."

"PEARL HARBOR December 7th, 1941"

Freedom isn't free. It remains very expensive. Remember those that pay the price for the rest of us.

Hot Rods & Hershey Bars

Well, our trip to Southern WV was a big hit and the weather, accept for load in - sorry crew :-) was sunny and hot. To say the least, I am a big star....in the frozen food isle anyway LOL!

From there the Rick K. circus headed to Chocolate Town USA, that is, Hershey, PA to be exact. We had a revved up weekend May 19 & 20 with the Good Guys http://www.good-guys.com/news/hotNews.aspx car club and over 1500 of the east coast's coolest rods.

Although there was an 80% chance of rain during the weekend, we never saw a drop until long after we had hit the road Sunday evening. Gee, I guess the sunshine we had must have been that 20% chance! It was great seeing Rockin' Dave Farley, Harry and all our buds with the GoodGuys.

Quite a few friends from Knoebel's Amusement Park and the surrounding areas came out as well and we got to get in an early summer hello to them. Our adopted Pennsylvania parents, Cephas and Janet Stair, made it to the show to be sure and keep Steve in line. Our PA friends also got their first chance to meet the new guitarist Dustin. Of course they could never get a word in edgewise....if you've met Dustin you know how he just won't shut up LOL! Steve thinks he's kinda "lippy" really LOL. I'll try my best over the summer to keep him quit :-O

The Sometimers horn section was in attendance and section leader Bobby Menear, Dave Shultz and Josh Dean added some hot licks appropriate for a weekend of hot rods. Our friend Pat Maynard from Bloomsburg, PA joined the crew for the weekend and gave Pat Dowdy our stage manager a big hand. It was the Pat & Pat show! I wonder if they're related to the famous TV brothers Larry and Larry?

The summer leg of the tour officially starts this week as we start with a swing back home through West Virginia,

*Thursday, May 24 @ 7:30 PM, Three Rivers Festival, Fairmont, WV

*Friday, May 25 @ 9:00 PM, Webster Co. Woodchopping Festival, Webster Springs, WV

*Saturday, May 26 @ 9:00 PM, Elks Lodge, Grafton, WV

then it's off to the Midwest and Great Lakes. Gentlemen start your engines!

Friends In Southern WV

Passing through Charleston, WV to see some great friends in Accoville, WV today. Anna & Nick Ramirez own a Foodland and have an annual weekend bash to celebrate Anna's birthday.



We always enjoy the laid back atmosphere as we get to kick back after the show with a huge cook out and tell stories with the locals.



The sky looks pretty grey. I hope the weather holds out. These are good, hard working people in this region & I always enjoy bringing the show to them. I hope we get to.

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O.C. Awesome!

Man, what a great time we had in Ocean City. Thanks to great weather and thousands of friends we had a beach party Thursday, Friday and Saturday to beat all beach parties. Friday's 3 PM show was highlighted by some of the largest crowds of the festival while Saturday's 10 AM rock n' roll breakfast featured a standing ovation following Unchained Melody. Maybe they were just glad it was over LOL!

Me and the guys had a blast in the Ripley's Believe It or Not http://www.ripleys.com/ museum which was really cool. No, really I mean it! We thought it would be some small rip off location but it was three floors packed with so much stuff we could have spent all day. Saw full size replicas of both the world's tallest (8'10") and heaviest (1,400 lbs.) men. Good thing we didn't get behind either of them at one of the boardwalk buffets!

Special thanks to the great people we work with on the Springfest staff, Dave Travis and his hard working crew, John Duttera's great sound with John Ross, Robert, and Wayne and Spectra Entertainment's Connie Pichot.

Back home to Wild Wonderful West Virginia for a hometown area show on Thursday, May 10 at Middletown Mall, Fairmont, WV at 7:30 PM and then down south with some great friends at the Buffalo Foodland anniversary bash at 1 PM, Saturday, May 12 in Accoville, WV. Both shows are FREE FREE FREE and open to the public.

Greetings from the O.C.

With Iowa and the ghosts of legends past in the rear view mirror, my wife and I arrived a day early (yesterday) in Ocean City, MD for our 3 days of performances at the annual Springfest http://ococean.com/springfest.html.

The festival is on the boardwalk and directly beside the beach. The band is arriving shortly but I had a few minutes to drop a line or two. Temps in the 60's today but May winds ocean side will make it feel colder. Partly cloudy today but then nothing but sunshine starting tomorrow and it should be a really fun weekend. Using Bobby Menear and my "Sometimers" horn section this week which will add to the fun on stage. Country star Billy Currington, Davy Jones of the Monkees, and the Grassroots will also be performing this weekend.

Come on, kick off your shoes and hit the beach with us!

Legends In The Balcony

February 1, 1959, Laramar Ballroom, Fort Dodge, Iowa featuring Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens & the Big Bopper.

http://www.iowarocknroll.com/inductee-details.php?id=65



April 28, 2007, Laramar Ballroom, Fort Dodge, Iowa featuring Rick K. & The Allnighters.



How cool is that? Thanks to a reunion of the Derrig family, former owners of the Laramar, called the Twilight during their 12 year tenure, we walked the same halls, and performed on the same stage as the famous music trio of the 1950's.



Buddy, Ritchie, the Bopper and a young Waylon Jennings (in Buddy's back up band) played this ballroom 3 days, yes only 3 days, prior to the trio's untimely demise in a plane crash.



Erie, cool and humbling all at the same time. I have always appreciated history in all forms but obviously music history has a special place in my heart second only to my family. Sadly, few people live life with a true passion and sense of purpose.



Although Buddy, Ritchie and the Bopper were true legends (where I am only one in my own mind LOL) I do believe we shared a passion and drive knowing that this is what we were destined to do. That is what made them play a string of dates in dead of winter. That is what took me 918 miles from home.



Halfway home and I've seen hundreds of miles of corn fields just like the one where their lives ended that snowy night. I'll think of them and their families when I hug my wife and kids tonight.



3 days doing my favorite "day job" - husband and Dad that is, then headed to the O.C., Ocean City, MD, on Thursday. Sun & fun. Passion & purpose.

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MADE IT!

After two hours of the tranny sounding like a raccoon in the kitchen pan cabinet the sound....stopped?! No reason and we didn't stop to look, listen or ask LOL!

Made it into Marquette, IA around 8 AM Central on Saturday morning. We got some sleep and had one of our best Isle of Capri shows EVER! SRO packed houses for both shows and we got to see some old friends we hadn't seen in months. This was one of the first casinos we started playing 6 or 7 years ago and still one of my favorites.

Nice people make life easy. Life is easy here on the Mississippi. Headed to Fort Dodge, IA today to play in a ballroom once played in by Buddy Holly. To say the least, I am NOT flying home.

Iowa Bound....we hope....

Iowa Bound....we hope....

Trying another new feature which allows me to post via email. Even cooler I can do it while traveling thanks to my cool Blackberry phone.

We are between Dayton, OH and Indy, IN right now and the new transmission is making really loud clanging sounds. To late in the evening to stop for repairs or we mihgt miss the show. We have turned the radio up and started driving faster and it has seemed to help LOL! We will make it...I hope.

On a happier note, i just got an email, again while traveling - 8lackberry rocks, from my horn section leader, Bobby Menear, who said he located some hot horn players for the Ocean City shows. If you haven't seen the show with our 3 piece horn section you have a big surprise coming. We will be using horns on about 25 select dates this year. Email me at the website for a list of our dates featuring horns. I'll maybe add them to this site too later.

My turn to drive soon so headed for a nap.

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Profiles and Stuff

I had some time before we depart for Isle of Capri Casino in Marquette, IA - we're waiting on a transmission repair to our conversion van. I've been told you need to do that every half million miles or so LOL! Updated the Profile page today and put some FYI stuff in there. Nothing too exciting, but stuff I like none the less. Maybe you do too?

I am working on the Comment section of the blog next so you can leave messages. I'm going to use the spam setting to help reduce junk mail, so, that means you'll need to take a second to create a Google sign in to be able to comment. I want this to be a site that all ages can come to as I love interacting with the kids at the shows and will encourage families to stay up to date on the latest backstage information.

Soooo, spammers, pervs, haters and generally unhappy people need not apply (comment) because nothing will get posted prior to review. I'm not sure that's the way Mr. Rogers would have put it but you get the point. I'm sure he's in the "neighborhood" but it's too hot today to pull that button down sweater out of the closet and my Scooby Doo house slippers are much more comfortable than lacing up those tennis shoes.

Is that transmission done yet? 804 miles to go today...

Start Up By Trial And Error

Well, I had a few minutes before heading to bed and have been anxious to check out the possibilities of adding a blog to the website. So, thanks to reading a PC World mag while traveling home from Florida on Sunday I ran across an article telling me how easy it was to get started. PCW recommended blogger.com which is run by Google and is free to boot, yeah! I've liked Google's other programs and thought this might be the best place to start. So far it's been one step easier than where I figured I would need to start...by reading a "Bloggers for Dummies" book! So, at least this far I can say thanks to Google for saving me some heavy reading and the cost of the book LOL! Good night.