TricksBlog - April 2011

Apr 22 & 23 - Sue's Sidetrack Bar - Easter Weekend

Rick & Krys played Friday night - acoustic style. We had just a handful of people there. But it was a blast. We always love bringing our unplugged rockin' Rick & Krys show to the Sidetrack. We love that place. Part of the adventure is that we are constantly adding new classics and deep cuts to our acoustic repertoire. Our most recent add-ons are the Beatles' "Two Of Us", Paul Simon's "I Am A Rock", Stevie Nicks & Tom Petty's "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around", The Who's "Behind Blue Eyes", Eva Cassidy's version of Cindy Lauper's "Time After Time", The Refreshments "Banditos", and Led Zep "Stairway To Heaven" ... all acoustic ... The Real Deal.
Tricks had a great Saturday night at the Sidetrack, with lots of the regular Sidetrack crowd, as well some new faces. Sue brought in some extra people with her "Easter Weekend Celebration". She had a drawing for a huge Easter basket, which was won by our old friend Bob Lynsey. Bob said he was gonna give it to the grankids and let them fight over it. On Saturday Sue also had an "Adult Easter Egg Hunt". With lots of drink, candy, and adult toys inside the plastic Easter eggs that were scattered outside on the picnic patio.
Thanks to Sue and all the Sidetrack staff. We love you guys. See you on Taco Monday! Thanks to our friends and fans who came out to the sticks to see Tricks at the Tracks...
^Fri|Sat

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Apr 24 - Tricks First Show at Gun Lake Casino - Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday was Tricks premiere at the new Gun Lake Casino - see their website. We had quite a large group of local fans and friends turn out to show those Casino people how we like to rock in Allegan County. There were pros and cons about the Casino show, but the cons were just small things, while the pros were all fantastic and fun.
The pros were the big party crowd; the Casino is like a big festival crowd, where eveyone is getting away from it all and having a great time. The Casino staff was super friendly, from the Valets who helped us lug our gear in and out, to the bartender girls who had to put up with us blasting into their space (I asked about that, and they said we were about average volume), to the security guys and Jason the Casino sound man.
The cons were that the stage is very small and not carpetted, the room sounds like a big pole-barn, no dance floor, and the band is behind the bar and above the dish-washer (so it's humid and warm up there). The Casino gave us 3 pages of rules, including rules about dress, drinking, gambling, stage manners, sound guidelines, break times, and the only one that broke my heart; "absolutely no taking pictures of patrons". So, no cool pictures of the Casino, just some shots of the band doing our thing onstage. I guess you'll just have to come out and see everything for yourself when we're back at the Casino on July 10 - another Sunday gig, but it's a fun way to end the weekend, rather than sitting at home watching Nightline.
Thanks to everyone who came to raise a ruckus at the Casino with Tricks. We appreciate you! Thanks to the amazing Casino staff who get paid to be friendly to patrons, - huge kudos for the positive and just plain "nice" attitude you showed to the Tricks band while we were barging into your space. We really appreciate that. What a nice surprise. Thanks to sound guy Jason for all the great help setting up, and for working with Dave Lopez our sound guy - everyone said the mix was great, even though it has to be "not too loud" because of Casino rules. Thanks to Curt Wiser for booking us.
Last, but not least, thanks to the Gun Lake Tribe council for bringing this great entertainment venue to Allegan County and Western Michigan. Most area businesses have benefitted from traffic that the Casino has brought to the area, even local bars and restaurants who are getting the overflow crowd from the Casino. We wish you all the best.
^{Sunday Casino}

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Apr 15 & 16 - Sue's Sidetrack Bar - Tricks back at the Tracks

Tricks always feels the love at Sue's Sidetrack. These people really know how to rock. And they like it loud and hard. This is the only place where we get cheers when Steve & Dave are doing a soundcheck on the drums. We had small crowds on both Friday and Saturday, but I don't think we could have had more fun.
Friday was the Rick & Krys show. Acoustic Style classic rock, folk, and blues. We had quite the reunion of our Irons Fan Club. Rick's friend Kim showed up with 3 of her girlfriends, the same people who are part of the gang that shows up to drink and dance around the campfire at our annual "Phelpstock" bash up in the Irons backwoods. Krystal's friend Tara also showed up with her friend Angie, celebrating Tara's birthday. Tara is the actual host of Phelpstock. So, it was like one big happy family of "Up North" party girls. Very fun time drinking and dancing and hanging out.
On Saturday, we had a 50th b-day party for Leslie. And those girls were there until closing time. Die-hard party girls. I'm impressed. We also had a handful of Tricks friends to keep us company, dancing the night away with the Tricks tunes. The band was very tight. We really are getting those 66 songs nice and tight with Ozzy the new bass player. It really feels good.
Thanks to our Sidetrack bartenders, wait-staff, and cooks. We love you guys a lot. Thanks so much to Sue for keepin' on keepin' on. Lots of upcoming events worth checking out at the Sidetrack. Next weekend, Easter weekend, with Tricks onstage, there will be some charity drawings, along with an "adult" easter egg hunt that should be very interesting, and maybe x-rated. See you there!
Thanks to Roger for the usual help. Thanks to our friends who showed up (you know who you are). Thanks to Leslie for bringing your special birthday party to the Sidetrack.
^Fri|Sat

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Apr 8 & 9 - Corner Lounge = Fun Times

Nicer weather this weekend, maybe too nice. It was perfect for backyard campfires. Tricks ramped it up to the next level this weekend at Hilliards. No big crowds to brag about, but still plenty of fun party people meeting up at the Corner to eat, drink, dance, and party with Tricks.
Not too many Tricks regulars on Friday night. We mostly had fun with some people who were hanging out after dinner. That was very fun. It's a bit of a challenge when you know that people are getting their first taste of Tricks. We tend to get a bit too cautious in our playing. Still, we loosened up after a while, and everyone had a blast.
Saturday's crowd had a lot of Tricks regulars. So, in the true "Saturday Night Blow-Out" tradition, we threw away the net and went out on the limb. Krys brought a nice "rent-a-crowd" bunch of friends from Allegan to drink and dance with us. Rob said it all when he said; "Party Time again". We all had great time rocking out at the Corner.
On Saturday we did a little celebrating for Ozzy's birthday. Sad to say, we couldn't get him drunk because he didn't have a Designated Driver. Dang! Ozzy does such a good job on all these new songs; it would be interesting to see how he does when he's had a few too many. It would be nice to have the chance to give him a bit of crap - he's much too well-behaved, so far.
Tricks would like to thank everyone who came out to hang and bang with us this weekend. Like we always say, "we're not looking for a quantity crowd, we're looking for a quality crowd". That Hilliards Corner Lounge is a big ol' barn that's not easy to fill up with people. We are all glowing with a happy feeling from two nights of quality party-people. Thanks to all of Krystal's friends for travelling over to Hilliards to dance with Tricks. We give you your work-out for the week. We're here to help you lose that "winter flab", and have fun doing it - "Rocker-size". Thanks to Roger for helping with cameras and everything else. Thanks to Eric the owner and the great staff at Hilliards Corners. You guys put on a good party. See ya again soon!
^Fri|Sat

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Apr 1 & 2 - Meet-up at the Corner -

Tricks kept warm and cozy at the Hilliards Corner Lounge, during a cold and wet weekend. Like usual, we ran into lots of old Tricks fans from way back. This bar has been the scene of many a great Tricks party in decades past, and we've also had many Tricks parties in the fields and barns around Hilliards, Hopkins, and Dorr area. So, whenever we play at Hilliards Corners, we get the inevitable reunions with old rockers from way back. "Remember that one party"? Sure, we remember. It's all in the Tricks history pages.
On Friday, we had a mostly quiet night, with a small chit-chat crowd and very few dancers. Boo hoo! Everyone was content to sit there and watch us do all the work. But, Tricks had a great time, and I think some of our jams were in the "best ever" category. During last set, we had a "hit & run" from Brooke's 21st birthday party and her busload of girlfriends - someone counted 35 girls. They all had one quick drink, one quick dance, and they were off again. One of the girls said, "do you believe that we got kicked out of two bars in Grand Rapids?". Yes, we believe it. Many of those girls won't remember stopping at Hilliards, they were having so much "fun". But, we have some evidence in our photos from Friday.
On Saturday, we had a really good Tricks crowd, with dancers and everything. That's better!
The most notable thing from this weekend in Hilliards was the warm welcome for Ozzy, our new bass player. He made connections with several of our regular Tricks fans and friends. I heard a few different people saying things like "welcome to the family" and "what a great job you're doing". Everyone is impressed by Ozzy's finger-thumping bass style. Keep up the good work, Ozzy, and maybe we'll take you off probation in a few months or so.
We appreciate our Tricks friends who came out to party with us this weekend. Thanks to Roger for everything. Thanks to Eric the owner and thanks to the staff at the Corners. Great job! We appreciate your hard work.
^Fri|Sat

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TricksBlog - March 2011

Mar 18 & 19 - Wayland Hotel St Patty's Blow-out Weekend - Weekend 3 of 3

Surpringly slight crowd on Friday. Mary Kay even had extra help for the Day-After-St.-Patty's-Day party. But, it seems like everyone came on Thursday, to celebrate the actual St. Patrick's Day. Friday was our slowest night of all 3 weekend; just the opposite of our expectations. That will teach us to have expectations. They had so many people come in Thursday afternoon and evening for Corned-Beef dinner, they actually ran out of Corned Beef by about 7pm Thursday. Anyway, Tricks had a mostly empty bar for the night Friday. It proves the old business adage; as soon as you think you have people figured out, they will show you how wrong you are.
The notable exception on Friday was our nieces and nephews from the Merren clan. We are happy to have Becky visiting from Alaska, home for her baby's baptism and to "meet and greet" the Dutkiewicz and Merren families. So, a bunch of the family came out to the Hotel to party with the Tricks band. And Merrens are no slouches when it comes to partying. We had several dizzy dancing girls out there on the floor, especially later in the night when they made us do a "Blue-Eyed Girl" song. Fun time! The Merren family gathering was enough party to keep us hopping for the whole night.
Notable Tricks dignitary at the Hotel on Friday night - Dale Boysen. Dale is a key alumnus in the "big-picture" Tricks scheme of things. Tricks would not be the band it is without Dale's considerable influence in many areas of our musical craft. See your Tricks History pages from 1981 to 1993 . Although he stopped playing guitar with Tricks in 1993, Dale can't seem to get the Tricks band completely out of his life. He does lots of work with Rick's guitars, including paint jobs, fret jobs, and electronics. And, Steve meets up with Dale at Tom Hudson's Barnfly Recording Studio, to lay down drum tracks on Dale and Tom's original songs.
Saturday was our big Tricks blow-out night - last night of 3 weekends at the Wayland Hotel. "No brakes, no net" as we like to say. Tricks has had 6 great fun nights bringing our new song list out from the darkness of Steve's basement. Lots of musical adventures, mostly positive. Ozzy is really catching onto Tricks and vice-versa. We're glad to have him on board. That low-end "no pick" finger thumping has changed the Tricks sound, and we're having fun working with it.
Saturday was a Tricks crowd. We had family and friends show up from Hudsonville, Dorr, Grandville, Holland, and Allegan. Thanks to everyone for coming out for our blow-out last night here. We love you guys! Thanks especially for Fred and his mighty digital SLR camera. Thanks to the friendly staff at the Hotel for putting up with our Tricks shenanigans for 3 weeks. Thanks loads to Mary Kay for everything you do to keep the Hotel running at such a high quality level. Thanks to Roger for helping out with many small and big chores.
^{Fri| Sat | FredPix}

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Mar 11 & 12 - Wayland Hotel - Weekend of 3
Second Weekend with Ozzy - Surge Forward

Tricks is showing some serious signs of tightness already, and it's only March. We're barely getting started with Ozzy, our new bassist. I could go on and on about the new song list, so maybe I will. Somebody stop me.
Did I mention that I really like the new slow songs? Well, I guess I talked about that in last week's blog, below. Songs like "Roller", "Even It Up", "Walk This Way", and "Play That Funky Music" are examples of songs that can get really "jumbled up" sounding, to put it nicely. But, these songs are surprisingly tight-feeling onstage, at this early juncture. I'm not sure how they sound "out there", but it's surprising to feel that kind of tightness at such an early point of our Tricks Calendar year.
The most difficult songs seem to be the biggest crowd pleasers; "Stairway To Heaven", "Money", "Paradise By The Dashboard", and "Enter Sandman" are songs that we worked many hours on, in the basement this winter. And now all of that hard work is paying off.
Let's talk about the Blues Songs. Krystal does a fantastic job singing her crowd-pleasers "Gimme One Reason" and "Rock Me Right". The more difficult blues songs are working very nicely; Robin Trower's "Too Rolling Stoned" and Tommy Castro's "Suitcase". Very fun guitar songs - lots of work. And then we have the two new additions to our blues category; Bo Diddley's "RoadRunner", (although Tricks does the Aerosmith version), and Joe Satriani's "The Phone Call". Fun, Fun Fun! We hope you blues fans are happy. Tricks tries to make everybody happy all the time - an impossible dream.
Speaking of that, ... Can I say a few words about requests? I try to be nice. It seems like there are two types of people who come up to ask for requests - the type who are very nice and understand that a band can only know a small fraction of the millions of songs out there. Then there are people who want to dominate the band with an avalanche of requests, "do you do any Seger, any Doors, any Hendrix, any John Cougar, any [fill in the blank]? Sometimes not even waiting for an answer. You gotta try to steer the conversation into a polite discussion of what songs we actually do, instead of a one-sided barrage of demands. That's not a comfortable conversation. I feel like a trained monkey. Dude! We know 66 songs right now. We try to pick a nice variety that will satisfy our typical Tricks crowd. When I think of a good "request band" I think of "wedding band", and that's not a band that's gonna rock your world. . . That's all I have to say about that.
Friday we had a packed house for first set, with lots of the typical chit-chat Friday crowd. A good crowd, but by the end of last set, we only had about 10 people left in the place. Saturday's crowd was much more adventurous, hanging and banging with Tricks until the wee hours.
Tricks was celebrating birthdays on Saturday night, with our friends Kim, Sherie, and Roger. I think there were even more birthdays, but no one told me any names. Sorry about that. We got a chance to do our Beatles "Birthday" song for the first time out.
Thanks so much to all of our go-fer helpers, who do us lots of little and big favors, to keep the band chugging along merrily. Thanks to Roger for everything. Thanks to the Hotel wait-staff for keeping the party going. Thanks to Mary Kay for all the hard work, and thanks for having Tricks at your bar. We appreciate all your efforts to juggle a demanding business.
^{Fri| Sat}

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Mar 4 & 5 - Wayland Hotel - Weekend 1 of 3
Premiere weekend with new Tricks bassist, John "Ozzy" Bosscher -
Rick's report on the first night, Friday

Our very first night with Ozzy the new bass player went extremely well.
A few songs songs that are brand new or from the distant past were surprisingly smooth.
(In my experience, everyone concentrates so much on new material, that the bloopers end up being in the more simple songs.)
Pink Floyd "Money" was very very cool, even though I have to strain my brain to sing and play while in an odd time signature (7/4–4/4).
Led Zep "Stairway To Heaven" also went remarkably smooth, even though that song has a lot of subtle parts, and lots of verses 
(I used a cheat-sheet, which is against my religion.)
"Red Neck Woman" by Gretchen Wilson never worked well in the basement, but came together onstage, thankfully.
I told Krys that song was most likely to fail, because it wasn't clicking very well at rehearsals. But, we pulled it off nicely last night. (That song is hard to reproduce as a 3-piece, because the original has piano, electric and acoustic guitars, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, ... busy busy!)
I love that we've brought back Spin Doctors' "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" and "Two Princes" - great songs.
We also did a great job on Funk 49, Roller, "Jealous Again", Collective Soul "Gel", Heart "Even It Up".
And, the biggest "bring back" of all, "Paradise By the Dashboard Light".
We do this little combo where we start with Led Zep "Heartbreaker" and then go right into Aerosmith "Sweet Emotion", and then back into Krys singing the main 2 verses of "Heartbreaker", then back into the end of "Sweet Emotion". To me, that's our coolest new trick, ... and great danceability too.
Sad, we didn't have much crowd last night, everyone is coming tonight, supposedly.
We miss a lot of the Bassbeast songs, but Steve did a very decent job singing "Enter Sandman".
While working on "Sandman", Ozzy pointed out a few things that needed tweaking in our cover version.
So, the song has improved instrumentally.
Krys sings "The Zoo". She does a pretty good job for a chick singing Scorpions. 
No offense intended, girls. Scorpions are a manly-man German band, not easy for a female to recreate.
And, I just love our new slow songs -
"Time After Time", the Ava Cassidy version. Stones "Angie", Marillion "Sugar Mice", 
The Who "Behind Blue Eyes", "Lucky Man", and Metallica "Nothing Else Matters".
Our old slow song selections were getting mighty worn out.
"Stairway To Heaven" is also a good slow dance song, while Rick sings the first 2/3 of the song.
Last night, 3 couples danced slow right through the kick-ass part at the end of "Stairway", which Krys sings very well.
Kinda fun.
Okay, there's my short report. We had a great time breaking in the new man and the new songs.
^{Fri| Sat}

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TricksBlog - February 2011

Jan & Feb Basement Rehearsals - Work, Work, Work. -

This winter seems extra cold and snowy, compared to the last several Michigan winters. Probably caused by Anthropogenic Global Warming, no doubt. Tricks has to trudge through the snow, sleet, and freezing rain to get to Steve's basement and work on 66 songs with John "Ozzy" Bosscher, the new Tricks bass player.
Here's the Big Song List that we are working on for 2011:

Rick sings 28:
"Kryptonite" by 3 Doors Down, "Locomotive Breath" by Jethro Tull, "Ain't Goin' Down" by Garth Brooks, "Swingtown" by Steve Miller, "Authority Song" by John Cougar, "No Such Thing" by John Mayer, "Two Princes" by Spin Doctors, "My Head's In Mississippi" by ZZ Top, "Cheap Sunglasses" by ZZ Top, "Magic Carpet Ride" by Steppenwolf, "Sweet Emotion" by Aerosmith, "Gimme 3 Steps" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Folsom Prison" by Johnny Cash, "What Would You Say" by Dave Matthews, "Paradise" by Dashboard Light" by Meatloaf, "All Summer Long" by Kid Rock, "Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica, "RoadRunner" by Aerosmith, "Bad Girlfriend" by Theory of a Dead Man, "Suitcase" by Tommy Castro, "The Phone Call" by Joe Satriani, "Hard To Handle" by Black Crowes, "Smoke On The Water" by Deep Purple, "Money" by Pink Floyd, "Angie" by Stones, "Behind Blue Eyes" by Who, "Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong" by Spin Doctors, "Lucky Man" by ELPOur very first night last night with Ozzy the new bass player went extremely well.
A few songs songs that are brand new or from the distant past were surprisingly smooth.
(In my experience, everyone concentrates so much on new material, that the bloopers end up being in the more simple songs.)

Krystal sings 23:
"Funk 49" by James Gang, "Allright Now" by Free, "Hot Blooded" by Foreigner, "30 Days In The Hole" by Humble Pie, "Radar Love" by Golden Earring, "Even It Up" by Heart, "Red Neck Woman" by Gretchen Wilson, "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne, "Everything About You" by Ugly Kid Joe, "Misty Mountain Hop" by Led Zeppelin, "Roller" by April Wine, "I Feel Lucky" by Mary Chapin-Carpenter, "Gimme One Reason" by Tracy Chapman, "Shut Up And Kiss Me" by Mary Chapin-Carpenter, "Stairway To Heaven" by Led Zeppelin, "Sweet Child Of Mine" by G & R, "The Zoo" by Scorpions, "Heartbreaker" by Led Zeppelin, "Rock Me Right" by Susan Tedeschi, "Just What The Doctor Ordered" by "Ted Nugent, "Rock of Ages" by Def Leppard, "Time After Time" by Ava Cassidy, "Sugar Mice" by Marillion

Steve sings 15:
"We're An American Band" by Grand Funk, "Too Rolling Stoned " by Robin Trower, "Jealous Again" by Black Crowes, "La Grange" by ZZ Top, "Everybody Wants You" by Billy Squier, "Gel" by Collective Soul, "Play That Funky Music" by Wild Cherry , "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith, "Copperhead Road" by Steve Earle, "Ah Leah" by Donny Iris, "Life In The Fast Line" by Eagles, "Free For All" by Ted Nugent, "Enter Sandman" by Metallica, "Once Bitten Twice Shy" by Ian Hunter, "Happy Birthday" by Beatles

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TricksBlog - January 2011

Dec Jan 7 & 8 - Tricks End of an Era - Farewell Bassbeast - at Hilliards -

Friday was mostly a party for the snowmobilers who stopped in by the dozens, to warm up with a drink and a bite to eat at the corner. Rick's son Dan showed up with several of his rocking friends, out on the town with the boys. That was a fun night. They knew it was Bassbeast's final weekend, so they kept up the hooting and hollering and head-banging, all night long.
But then came Saturday. Last gig of our Tricks 2010 "fiscal year". And huge send-off for Dave "Bassbeast" Trierweiler. Words cannot describe the final party for Bassbeast. Dave had friends from North, South, East, and West, all converging on Hilliards Corner Lounge to wish Dave well on his new path of "semi retirement" from the music business. The pictures do a good job of telling the story. We also had birthday parties going on for three girls; Nikki, Debbie, and Alicia. Happy Birthday to you. You girls picked a wild night for your birthday party at the Corner.
Party of the Year, for sure!
We even had a large group of well-wishers from the Sidetrack bar. They wanted to be part of the Bassbeast finale party with Tricks. And we also had a few waitresses from the Wayland Hotel. There were lots of cameras, so I'm sure there will lots of Facebook pages with pictures from last night.
Thanks so much to everyone for coming out and being part of our fond farewell to Dave Bassbeast (and Debbie the BassMistress). Thanks to Roger for the audio and visual recording, running errands, and providing a motor-home break-room in the parking lot. Thanks to Rod Lane for recording video, and for laser lightshow fun. Thanks to Debbie for still pictures. Thanks to Fred for awesome SLR camera work. Thanks to all the birthday parties for bringing your friends to hang and bang with Tricks. Thanks to the snowmobilers for stopping in. Thanks to the Sidetrack and Hotel people who left someone else minding the store, in order to join in the special Tricks night. Thanks to Eric the owner, and your great staff. We know it was a madhouse, but you kept up with the demanding hordes. Thanks to everyone who traveled to Hilliards on slippery roads, all for Bassbeast.
Tons of fun, hugs, and kisses for Bassbeast. The band was hot, the dance-floor was packed with wild girls and guys.
Here's what Bassbeast has to say about it all:
BASSBEAST SPEAKS:
All,
• To my TRICKS extended family:  Thanks so much for an unbelievable ride.  The words come very hard today because I'm very conflicted as you can imagine.  However, I know what I must do and stick to my plan for all the right reasons.
  • To my beautiful Wife:  I am looking forward to spending more quality time together.  Thank you for being there logging the miles with me through blizzards and missing sunsets in order to make it to the gig on time.  You are the best.
• To Steve, I have never played with a Drummer with more chops than you have.  Your drumming is as solid as the man you are I don't know if there is any more that I can say Bro'.  
• To Dave, Always willing to try new things, buy new toys and keep your mind in the game as the unsung "5th Trickster".  I probably should have relayed more of the compliments we always get on the sound but there I go again, taking for granted what is always there.
• To Krys, The life of the party, always up, always adding that spark, always the consumate entertainer with the looks and voice to match.
• To Rick, You are a taskmaster and it's made me a better person for it.  Your work ethic is unmatched, your mind and fingers never rest always searching for perfection.  Unbeleivable musical memory.  I hope you spawn 1000 others through your teaching, West Michigan music would be all the better for it.  Few people can play the many tunes you know and make them their own.  Debbie and I will be enjoying your talents with TRICKS and "Doogie" gigs in the years to come.
• To all the TRICKS fans past and present, you are some of the best fans ever.  Coming from all over in all sorts of weather, your support is what makes TRICKS the great band it is.  After all, what is a band without followers but a bunch of frustrated and unsatisfied musicians!  You have to have a reason to do this and the fans ARE the reason.  Good people = good times = win, win for everybody.  Gonna miss playing for you all, now I get to be a fan as well!!
Love to all and so long!
Bassbeast
^{Fri| Debbie
Sat | FredPix |}

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^{to Late 2010
to Mid 2011}

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