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Dr. Juice

 

Dr. Juice I Finally got together with a couple of other former band mates, Greg Milton (guitar) and Jerry Whitfield (bass).  They introduced me to Bill Medina (drums) and Dr. Juice was born.  I had a lot of fun singing in this band...we certainly played a lot, mostly classic rock stuff, ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Judas Priest and the like. We did a pretty good version of Riding the Storm Out by REO Speedwagon. There was no pressure, we knew we weren't going to be rock stars. We were just having fun. Well, Bill started canceling practice for personal reasons and Greg finally got the idea to replace him with Mike Kennedy
. Mike had been around the Amarillo music scene for some time, playing in rival bands such as "Watcher" and "Maxxis". He stepped right in and we never missed a beat. I had been back in Amarillo for almost a year and a half and was starting to long a little for the big city. Wendy and I decided to move to Dallas, but I had time for one last gig. Some people were putting together a benefit concert for the Amarillo Zoo. We were eager to do it because it was at the biggest venue in Amarillo...The Amarillo Civic Center Coliseum. At last...a coliseum gig!!! Not that we would fill it up (or even come close)...but still...it was the biggest stage in town and we even were mentioned in the radio spots. It wasn't crowded, and it had a really boomy sound, but it was a lot of fun. It was a fitting finale to my Amarillo music career. Below is a video of few songs from the show. Its camcorder footage, but it was one hell of a night. A few weeks later, I was back on the road again to Big D, where I was ready to begin my musical career anew.

 

 

Once I got back to Dallas, it took me a little while to find my direction. I tried jamming with Todd Geisler and some of the old crowd from Agent Agressor, but it just wasn't the same. And there was some tension when I brought Wendy over. Todd's wife Lisa was good friends with my ex-wife Eva, so Wendy got a chilly reception. I never really understood just why that was, because Wendy deserved more of a chance from them. If they were truly my friends, they would have made Wendy feel welcome. I was really dissapointed, I haven't seen or spoken to them since. As I write this, nearly fourteen years have passed, much has happened I'd like to see them again someday. Oh well...

My old drummer Jimmy Young talked me into playing bass in a project he was in with Miles Cohen, who was semi-famous locally. He had actually done a couple of albums on Columbia records in the late 70's. His original stuff sounded a little like Asia. Kinda Pop sounding with lots of keyboards. I came across a tape and listened to it the other day. Pretty cheesy by todays standards. I write this without any fear of hurting his feelings, because I really don't care if it does. Miles and I did not exactly part on the best of terms. We had been practicing dilligently and making good progress, I thought so anyway. One day Miles called me all excited about a deal that was going down and that I should get a passport because we were going to play a concert in Germany. Pretty exciting stuff. But then he would call me and say he wasn't going to make it to practice. This went on for a while and I found out that they were auditioning bass players. I was furious. I confronted him with it and it almost came to blows. He had been chipping in for P.A. equipment that I had bought and had put in about $100 over several weeks. I took the equipment and told him that the $100 was a liars fee. If they weren't happy with my bass work, they should have told me. Nobody likes to be lied to and strung along. I was really dissapointed in Jimmy as well, because he went along with it. We had been friends for years and then this. The last I heard from Miles, he would call me up and threaten me on the answering machine, but if I answered, he would hang up. Oh well...live and learn.