Shakers Blog

4 gigs in September

2010-09-23T08:23:00.000-07:00

Seems like a busy month for a bunch of old guys. The new band has been a lot of fun. Matt and Gary add a lot to the band are great guys to play with.

Halloween

2009-10-27T09:49:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody, or at least the 2 of you who read this drivel, Saturday is the Roadhouse for Halloween! Prizes for best costumes and it promises to be a lot of fun. What better way to break up the fall months than to spend some time at the Roadhouse with the Shakers!

October

2009-10-08T08:51:00.001-07:00

Well, Bud's birthday came and went and no one got hurt. We had a good night at the Windbreak and it was nice to see a lot of familiar faces. The following night at NDSU for Spinster Skip was a very good night also. They treated us great and the load in and load out crew were wonderful. If it hadn't been for them, we would still be loading equipment in and out of the elevator. We play the West Fargo VFW on October 16-17. We are looking forward to seeing Richard and the gang. After that, it is the Sandbar on Friday, October 23 and then the Roadhouse on Halloween.

Bud's Birthday

2009-09-17T08:35:00.000-07:00

Hello Shaker fans(both of you). We have a big event coming up. Bud's birthday will be celebrated at the Windbreak on Friday, September 25. Want to know how many rings around the tree for Bud? You will have to ask him. It should be fun and we are only there the one night so we hope you show up. Who knows, we might even make him employee of the week!

It was nice to be back at Hagge's in Mapleton last Saturday. Good to see Gar and the gang and we are looking forward to NY's Eve there.

My biannual blog entry

2009-08-19T11:45:00.000-07:00

Well it has been only 6 months since my last entry so about time to write Shakers stuff again that only my relatives and band members will read. Where do I start?? How about with this past winters vacation when Dave got a tattoo. I think there were a few Dos Equis involved. Check out the picture.

Since then, we have played about 4-5 times a month. The Roadhouse on the 3rd of July was as busy as I ever seen the place and was a great time. It also seems like the last time the temperature was above 68.

Speaking of the Roadhouse, we will be back there on August 29 for our last time at the club this summer. However, make your Halloween plans because that is where we will be on October 31!

Speaking of plans, we are pleased to announce we will be back at Hagge's in Mapleton on September 12 and then again on New Years Eve. It is a great place to bring in the new year!

One other thing to put on your schedule.....Bud's birthday bash will be at the Windbreak on Friday, September 25. We are there only the one night so we hope you will come out and celebrate Bud's big day. Want to guess how old he will be? The winner will get...................absolutely nothing! All I am going to say is that it will be a big one.

I think it is time for my nap now as I think I have expended too many brain cells on this post. Hope to see you soon!

FeBRRRRRRRuary

2009-02-05T08:59:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-11T10:26:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-11T14:18:00.000-08:00

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

2008-10-20T17:28:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-15T12:05:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-07T11:38:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-27T11:10:00.000-07:00

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.

3rd Thursday and Employee of the Week

2008-08-19T10:55:00.000-07:00

In an unprecedented event, the Shakers Employee of the Week is going to be named in advance. For the 2nd consecutive time, Dave Swang is being named Employee of the Week. The reason being he is taking time off from work in order to go live on WDAY on Thursday, August 21 to hype our event at the Fargo Legion that evening. Dave does not normally like doing this type of thing but he is putting the band first. What a trooper! Listen to what Dave has to say at about 2:00 pm on Thursday. That evening we start sometime between 6:00 and 6:30 pm, depending on how long it takes us geezers to set up. We will be playing for about 4 hours so we hope to see you there. The weather is supposed to be in the high 80's so I have a feeling we won't be wearing long sleeve shirts and ties!

Now, back to Dave. Let's rate Dave's on air performance with Al Aamodt on Thursday in the following way.

5 points--WOW, what a great job. He was so entertaining I quit doing everything else just take in his wisdom and wit!

4 points--It seemed Dave had a good grasp of the English language and I was pleasantly surprised at how well he handled himself.

3 points--He didn't make any huge mistakes and I didn't fall asleep during the interview. Maybe he should have told a couple of jokes in order to pep it up a bit.

2 points--Tsk, tsk, tsk. I think he should have thought more about what he was going to say before he started singing "Tiptoe through the Tulips", although it was a dandy version.

1 point--What a stumblebum! I cannot believe that Dave muttered and mumbled so much. Boring, uneventful and as entertaining as a Green Bay Packer girlfriend.

Although all the votes have not been tabulated, Bud Fontes will again finish last in the voting.

The Roadhouse

2008-08-04T09:47:00.000-07:00

Hello to both of you that read this. The Roadhouse was hopping again on Saturday and I made it home before the sun came up. Once again, no one got hurt, Donny's and my back did not go out loading equipment and we even had time to tabulate the votes for "Employee of the week"!

This week's winner goes to...............................David Brian Swang! In a close vote, it was determined that he should win because he soldered a cord to allow us to run the drums through the P.A. system. Seems a week earlier, a big drunk fell on his drums, trying to get us to do a 3rd encore and broke the cord. When these things happen, you normally don't realize the damage until the next time you play. Dave gave up his pre gig nap in order to fix the cord thus putting him over the top in the balloting. Kind of brings a tear to the eye, doesn't it? Once again, Bud Fontes finished last in the voting.

We have 3 weeks off now. The next gig is 3rd Thursday, August 21 outside at the Fargo American Legion. We are hoping the weather is as nice as it has been the last couple of weeks. Hope to see you there.

Deer Trail Days & Employee of the Week

2008-07-29T09:50:00.001-07:00

Saturday, July 26 was probably the nicest weather we have ever had for a street dance and the audience was great also. Lots of fun, nobody got hurt and all in all, a very enjoyable evening. This Saturday we are at the Roadhouse and it looks like the temperatures should be in the mid 80's, which hopefully, will bring a few of you out to the lakes area.

We have had people ask about new T-shirts, tank tops, etc but we have been way too busy being lazy to do anything like that. Hopefully, by Christmas we will have something. Lets blame it on Dave as he is the artistic one in the band.

The Employee of the week goes to Don Miller for driving Bud home from Deer Creek rather than taking the much shorter route to his lake place. You ask "what does the Employee of the Week get for being so named?" Well, to start with (1) free parking at any participating McDonalds. (2) A free Ron Gardenhire bobblehead with the purchase of a Twins ticket on Ron Gardenhire bobblehead day. And (3)the Sr. Citizen Buffet discount at Dakota Magic Casino on the weekend of September 5-6, which is good because we are playing there that weekend.

Once again, Bud Fontes finished last in the voting.

semi annual blog post

2008-07-25T10:31:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know the last time I entered more drivel on our blog was back in February. First of all, I am not sure anybody reads this stuff and secondly, why would they???

The Readers Digest version of the last 6 months is as follows.

Drive to gig, set up gear, play gig, take down gear, drive home, repeat 24 times. That should bring you up to date.

Our next dates are July 26 in Deer Creek, MN for a street dance and August 2 back at the Roadhouse, which was absolutely crazy on July 3!

If anybody is reading this let me know and I will try to update this more than every 6 months.

Anybody have any songs you want us to learn? Be carefull what you suggest.

By the way, over the last 6 months we did not have an "Employee of the Week". It seems we could not find the ballots. However, Bud Fontes still came in last.

Shakers Employee of the Week

2008-02-05T12:15:00.000-08:00

For the first time, Dave Swang has been named Shakers Employee of the Week. There didn't seem to be any good reason to name him other than the fact that he begged me to be so named. I guess he did get some posters printed so I suppose that is more than the rest of us did. Once again, Bud Fontes came in last when the votes were tallied.

On February 9, we are in Pelican Rapids at the Club for the annual Firemens Dance. The weather is supposed to be about 15 below when we tear down so that should be fun. Dave and I and our wives will be leaving for sunny Mexico the next day so I don't care how cold it is from Feb. 11-Feb 25.

We are pleased to announce that the Windbreak is bringing us in on October 3-4. I know it is early but I am running out of things to say. Also, Dakota Magic is bringing up back on September 26-27. The reason I mention that is a few people asked me when we were coming back in order to reserve rooms. I guess they were sold out when we were there 2 weeks ago.

That's it for now. Time to take a nap and rest up for vacation. Talk to you in 3 weeks.

Shakers Employee of the Week

2008-01-11T12:02:00.000-08:00

Due to the fact we didn't play last week, it was difficult to name the Employee of the Week. We did have one vote to name Janet McEvers of Hawley as the winner because she always knows where we are playing. However, since she is not an official member of the band, We have decided to name myself as the winner because I did book several dates on the band this fall. Once again, Bud Fontes came in last in the final tally.

Our next gig that is open to the public will be Dakota Magic in Hankinson on January 25-26. This is our favorite casino to play and we are looking forward to it. We will be learning some new songs Saturday afternoon while we are there so if you have a certain tune that you think we should do, let me know and I will run it by the other guys.

New Years Eve and Shakers Employee of the Week

2007-12-31T12:42:00.000-08:00

2007 is winding down and we will be at Hagge's in Mapleton on New Years Eve for the 6th year in a row, a fact that we are very appreciative of. Come in early and stay late. We hope to see you there.

For the past week, no member of the Shakers was named "Employee of the Week". It seems nobody did anything worthy of the award. However, once again, Bud Fontes did finish last in the voting for telling people to come out and see us last Saturday at the Fargo American Legion when we were in fact playing a wedding dance at the Fargo Ramada. Speaking of the Legion, we are pleased to announce we will be playing outside the Legion for their 3rd Thursday event in August. Stay tuned for more details.

Don Miller named Shakers Employee of the Week

2007-12-19T09:26:00.000-08:00

In an overwhelming landslide of voting, Donny Miller was named the Shakers Employee of the week ending on December 15. He was granted this award for spending his off day on Sunday, fixing cords and lights and then on Monday bringing a power amp into Marguerites to get fixed. All of this despite having a bad back. It seems the cold weather did not dampen Donny's desire to get the work done. We feel this exemplary effort on his part was above and beyond the call of duty. In his acceptance speech, Donny noted with a tear in his eye, "I would like to thank the rest of my band mates for voting for me and I promise to do everything in my power to show my appreciation and be worthy of this award". We feel he can show his appreciation by setting up and tearing down all of the equipment during the cold weather months. On a side note, Bud Fontes finished last in the balloting.

2007-12-03T13:16:00.000-08:00

On Friday, December 7, we are in Wahpeton for a private party. On Saturday, we are back at one of our favorite places, the Roadhouse in Cormorant for one night. Hopefully, it won't snow and the temperature will be above zero! Is that too much to ask for?

For the 6th consecutive year, we will be playing Hagge's in Mapleton on New Years Eve and we are looking forward to it! It is a great place to bring in the new year and Gar and Bev are going all out to make sure you have a good time. No reservations so come in early and stay late.