FeBRRRRRRRuary

As I write this, it is 5 days until vacation. Drummer Dave and his wife and my wife and I will be traveling to the Caribbean for 15 sunfilled(hopefully) days. The picture is of Dave and myself becoming one with the ocean from last year. We hate cold weather so we are not playing much this winter. The next open to the public gig will be at the Roadhouse on February 28. It is always a fun place for us to play and we hope a lot of you will come out and say hi. The Windbreak is our new Fargo-Moorhead home and we thank Mike and his staff for treating us great 2 weeks ago and we look forward to returning there the weekend of March 13-14.

If there are any songs you would like us to learn, please let us know. Even though we didn't play last weekend, Bud Fontes still finished last in the voting for "Shakers Employee of the week". I am sworn to secrecy as far as the winner goes.

December & Trixie is Shakers Employee of the week

The Roadhouse was hopping last Saturday. Janet McEvers celebrated her 40th birthday and a bunch of her friends were there to join in. Her birthday is not until Christmas Eve so it looks Janet just got an early start.

December looks busy for us as a private party on Friday and again on Monday. The Windbreak is the 19th & 20th and we are looking forward to it.

I have had some people ask if New Years Eve at the Wahpeton Armory for St. Francis Medical Center is open to the public. Yes it is. You can get tickets at the door but they suggest reserving ahead of time. If you are interested, call Becky at 218-643-0410.

The Shakers Employee of the week goes to Trixie, who only performs with the band on a few special occasions, celebrating Janet's birthday at the Roadhouse being one of them. Not sure why we are giving the Trixie, probably because that is the only picture we have of the night. Once again, Bud Fontes finished last in the balloting for breaking his practice CD on the way home from the gig. Turns out he sat on it. Had it less than 6 hours. Practice is tonight so will let you know how that goes.

Hagge's

Saturday, November 15 we will be at Hagge's in Mapleton, ND. It is too late to hope for warm weather so instead we hope we don't get snow, or worse yet, freezing rain. This will be our last appearance there until 2009 so come on out and say hi!

I almost forgot. Donny was once again named Employee of the Week. This time he fixed our light control box. What a glamorous job it is! I thought I should get it for suggesting he fix it but I lost out in the final tally. I would call for a recount but all the judges are tied up with this Coleman/Franken issue.

Shakers Fans of the Week & Employee of the Week

The West Fargo VFW was hopping last weekend and it was nice to see a lot of familiar faces. Special thanks to the "Shakers Girls" who were out in their specially made Shakers T-shirts. Nice touch, pink on black! They sent us the pictures on this post. Also thank you to Derek and Amy Lilly. We played for their wedding dance on October 11 and it was one to remember! Derek and Amy were out both Friday and Saturday at the VFW so counting the week prior to the wedding, where they saw us at the Windbreak, they have now been out to see us 3 weeks in a row. The amazing thing is they are not sick of us yet!

The Shakers Employee of the week was a somewhat bitter battle between Donny and Dave. Donny fixed the light controls on Friday night prior to our performance, which means he went without dinner. That made him look like an easy choice for the revered award but then Dave mentioned he designed and ordered new business cards so the competition heated up. During the debate, hosted by yours truly, it was determined that Dave was supposed to have done the business cards in September, thereby eliminating him from the competition. Bud almost got out of last place this week for mooching 2 pizzas out of the VFW that we ate while loading up but it was not enough to swing the voters.

We have the upcoming weekend off and then we play the Roadhouse on Saturday, November 1 for their Halloween party. It should be a lot of fun! See you there.

November 1 is Halloween party at the Roadhouse!

Due to the fact that there will probably be a section championship football game between Pelican Rapids and Hawley on Friday, October 31, the Roadhouse is having their Halloween party on Saturday, November 1. It seems we draw quite a bit from both locations and I bet both towns will be emptied that night to be at the Fargodome. My son in law, Joel is from Hawley and is a die hard fan. Hawley has won this game 3 years in a row so this might be the year for the Vikings(not the Minnesota Vikings-they have no chance). My challenge for him is that if Pelican wins, he has to wear Pelican Rapids clothing at the Roadhouse and a sign that says Pelican Rapids has a better football team than Hawley. If Hawley wins, I will buy him a beer.

The Shakers were at the Sandbar last Friday and a real fun wedding dance on Saturday at the Fargo Holiday Inn. The band could not agree on who should be named Employee of the Week. I thought it should be me for fixing some lights on Saturday afternoon but Donny thought I was petitioning for the award so the award is vacant this week. However, Bud Fontes did finish last in the balloting once again.

Windbreak & Shakers Employee of the Week

Well, the Windbreak went well and we are going to be back there on December 19-20. I think it is safe to say it will be slightly cooler at that time. Thanks to Mike and the staff for treating us so well and we look forward to going back. It was great to see so many familiar faces, even if we don't know your names, we know your faces!

The Sandbar is coming up this Friday, October 10 and then a wedding on Saturday.

The Shakers Employee of the Week,(drum roll please) goes to Donny Miller. He actually petitioned for it this week. That should be enough to exclude him from the award but he did spend part of Saturday afternoon fixing the equipment trailer by himself so I guess he did more than anybody else this week. The trailer has been steadily falling apart so it was time someone took it upon themselves to do something about it. The prize this week is Super Bowl tickets if the Vikings are in it. If this doesn't happen, Donny will be allowed to drive his truck hauling the band equipment for another year. Either way, he wins!

p.s. Bud Fontes once again finished last in the balloting.

September 27 Shakers Employee of the Week

Yes, I know it has been 4 weeks since I last blogged. However, no one has complained so I have to think no one cares(or possibly even reads this stuff).

We are in the midst of playing a couple of private parties this weekend. In about an hour, we leave for Brainerd. For us, this is a road trip.

Next weekend, October 3 & 4 we will be at the Windbreak in Fargo. This will be our first time playing in the room and we hope ALL of our fans show up. That means Anna and Joel. If we have any other fans, please let us know. This will also be the first time we have played a Fargo club since Mr. G's about 4 years ago. Why has it taken so long you ask? Because we were playing Chumley's in Moorhead about every 6 weeks and that seemed like enough to play the FM area at that time. Unfortunately, the smoking ban, DUI laws, economy and who knows what else has put a crimp on live music in Moorhead.

Bud celebrated his 49th birthday on September 25. However, he was not celebrating when he was back at work at 7:00 am on the 26th. In the balloting for "Shakers Employee of the Week", we discovered there must have been some tampering in the ballot box because Bud had 126 votes, Dave 1, Donny 1 & Steve 1. After all was straightened out, once again Dave Swang was named Employee of the Week. The main reason was that despite working all week at his regular job, he was able to find time to design and print new posters. He calls them the "Retro Look". Take a look and tell us what you think.