ATTENTION CLUBOWNERS!

This was something I found very much to the point and something that should be shouted out very loud!

Dear Bar/Club/Venue owner,
It is NOT the job of the band you hire to bring in your clientele. It is our job to entertain your clientele and make them wish to stay all night long, reveling whilst buying your food and drinks and swelling the coffers of your fine establishment.
I am so tired of hearing "how many people can you bring in?" The answer is "who knows?". If you hire the Rolling Fucking Stones, and don't promote it, how many of their buddies are going to just happen to fly in from London and New York because they had nothing better to do than to come and hang out with Mick and Keith? Atlanta is a big place, so if I'm playing 40 miles from my area, I can't really expect many of my local fans to drive across town. What have YOU done to inform people in your locality, and who are perhaps familiar with your venue, that you hired a great band that they should come in this Saturday to see and hear them?
It is a grave mistake to hire cheap "garage" bands who are still developing their "talent", but have lots of friends and little girl friends who think it is SO FREAKIN' COOL that their buddies are in a band and will come see them anywhere they go. Yeah, you might get 20 of their friends in for a night, but any regulars you might want to keep will bail after their first out of tune, poorly executed and WAY too loud musical "expression". Are their 20 friends going to be there next weekend when another band plays? No chance.
If you have decided to buy a club and wish to make an income, then you should wisely promote your establishment through advertising, and do everything you can to develop a reputation as having great live music, if that's what you want your location to be known for.
If you want to run a sports bar-great! Buy lots of flatscreens and have team nights, special sports themed events, etc. All the sports fans in your area will come in and have a great time, and will look forward to coming back, dragging along buddies from their place of work and from their neighborhood with them. You don't need a band.
If you'd like to run a restaurant-wonderful! Hire talented kitchen staff and focus on providing great food and atmosphere. You'll get plenty of return business and your satisfied diners will tell all their friends and family about you. You don't need a band.
But if you've decided that you want to run a club where people come to party, dance and listen to great live music, then you'd better get the "live music" part right. Carefully screen and hire GOOD, PROFESSIONAL bands at a fair price, and the folks who wander in (remember, it's not the band's job to bring a built in audience) will have a great time listening to entertaining live music. They will tell their friends about the great band that played at the "XYZ Club" last Saturday, and when you, Mr. Venue Owner, put out some advertising, they'll spot that and think they'd like to go back and have a good time again this Saturday as well. But you'd better have a decent band lined up, or it will be the LAST time they ever come back.
There are many notable clubs around town that are well reputed for providing consistently good music. Any given music lover in their vicinity doesn't need to check to see who's playing; they know that whoever the band is, they'll be GOOD. The music lover will simply hop in their car and go. And, assuming that the band IS good, the music lover will stay all evening, contributing handsomely to the venue owner's retirement fund and pledging to be back the following weekend to do more of the same. Oh, and these clubs ADVERTISE...
If you are a new establishment, then I'm sure that you want to do everything you can to capture and keep a well heeled clientele. Hiring lousy bands because they promise to bring in 20 of their friends is a very short sighted approach. Particularly when their friends all spend a whopping $8.00 each all night. The folks in your area that you'd be better off cultivating might just walk in to check out the "new place", be assaulted by the yowling, out of tune "band" on stage and not only will they hastily depart, they will quickly tell all of their friends about the "new place" and how badly it sucks! Definitely not the most desirable word of mouth promoting.
So, in summary: if you want to run a "music joint" then hire good bands, advertise that you hire good bands, pay the good bands well so that they will want to come back, and lo and behold, pretty soon you'll be on the map as a GREAT music venue.
Oh, and one more thing if I may..."tabs" in lieu of decent pay don't mean jack shit. Your generous "$50.00" bar tab sets you back $7.00 or less. Also: if the band you are considering gets excited about $50.00 worth of "free booze", you are headed for possible trouble my friend. Just give me the $50.00 cash and I'll pay for my own Diet Cokes, thank you verymuch, and as a bonus to you, I won't get drunk on my "tab" and try to dry hump the doorman's girlfriend on stage during the 3rd set.
Thank you for you kind attention, and I'll be stepping down from my soapbox now...

• Location: Everywhere
• it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

Hosting Pacific Street Blues on SUnday, December 19 at 9AM CT

I'll be guest hosting one segment of Rick Galusha's Pacific Street Blues program on 89.7 The River in Omaha, NE on Sunday, December 19 at 9AM CT. Pacfific Street Blues won the Keeping The Blues Alive Award in Memphis last January during the International Blues Competition. I had the pleasure of hosting while on the road a number of years back, and to get the chance again is a real honor.

http://www.facebook.com/l/59976S_pUg4IosU24xlWKL3SUpQ;www.897theriver.com%20

2010 Nearing Year End

It's been a busy year with the great opportunity of writing, producing, and shooting online guitar instruction videos for Freeguitarvideos.com. I've enjoyed the experience immensley, especially with the release of my new guitar instruction book & DVD combo specializing in Piedmont Blues. We do have a special holiday price on that, so send an email to roger@hurricanewilson.com if you would be interested in checking it out.

The upcoming Thanksgiving holiday will have me performing my annual coffeehouse concert at Charles & Myrtle's Coffeehouse in Chattanooga, TN. Of course, as in all of the other shows for the last year and a half, we will be recording that night and will have CD's available on the spot. The next night will take me to the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville for the Sunday Night Writer's Night. It is an honor to have been accepted into this lineup. The Bluebird is the top songwriter showcase in Nashville, and to be there is very important step in anybody's career. The night consists of 8 to 10 songwriters performing 3 songs, and then the evening is highlighted by an established hit songwriter. I always stay the whole night. While in Nashville, I will be going into the studio at Pitch Perfect Recording to start work on the video for my song, Shame On You Delta. It will further continue my ongoing displeasure with Delta Airlines. Of course, I will be recording a new song about the legendary Andy Rooney, and one on my good friend and award winning BBQ man, Sam Huff, called Sam The Bar B Que Man.

On December 3, I will begin my duo tour with Willie "Big Eyes" Smith for some dates in Chillicothe, IL., Coshocton, OH, Chambersburg, PA., and Hanover, PA. This is our third tour together, and it is the real Blues simplified. Check the schedule at www.hurricanewilson.com for more information.

The coolest thing happening now is the estalishing of my own online radio station, Hurricane Wilson Radio. It is set up under the auspices of Indie Mad MP3 Radio. To listen, go to http://tinyurl.com/2aobmss. You can be come a member, and become a member you should at http://www.indiemadmp3.com. It is truly digital music for a digital world.

I wish you the best for a Happy Thanksgiving holiday. As 2010 comes to a close, there is truly much to be thankful for.

Until next time,

Roger

Another Victory For Musicians

I just appeared in court today in Macon, Georgia in a suit against the club, Rivalry's, for not honoring their booking commitment back in June. We won the judgement! This is truly another victory for musicians everywhere, and my second legal victory. There are many clubowners that I have worked for many years and who are good long time friends. This in no way reflects on them, but only on the ones that fall in the scumbag category!

October, 2010 As Fall Sets In

Well, September went out in style after a great tour to the Sacramento area and some gigs with Dave Channell's Fire & Wheels Band. Then back to Atlanta for some home time. I've been doing quite a bit of renovations to my house that I've been in for 25 years. It's great to travel and play music, but home is like vacation. At this writing, I just landed in Key West, FL. for 5 gigs, 4 at Sloppy Joe's, and 1 at The Green Parrot. I always seem to fell like I'm coming home when I'm here, so that must mean I'm at home everywhere. October looks to be a good month as fall sets in, with some other gigs at home as well, and usually proves to be good inspirationally for writing and such. There are new songs on the horizon, and some recently written that are currently being uploaded to be available for download. Be sure to check out http://www.hurricanewilson.com/music.htm
I'm quite excited about the new material going up, which is kind of a blend of Blues & Americana. One new song that I am excited about is one I just wrote for BBQ1 owner Sam Huff. I play for him at his Marietta, Georgia restaurant, and always have a great time. He has been cooking award winning bar-b que for quite some time. The new song is cazlled, Sam The Bar B Que Man. Already, singles are available from the live performances there. If you are interested in a copy, send an email to roger@hurricanewilson.com. Also, more guitar lessons are going up regularly. You can check those out at http://tinyurl.com/hurricanewilsonguitar Presented by Watch & Learn.
Until next time! Roger

Roger "Hurricane" Wilson Live 2010 CD's Available - Check Out The List Here

Now for some exciting news. Our label, Bluestorm Records has a great new concept we have been working on. It is the ability to record our shows and sell CD's of all of our shows at all of our shows. Those same shows are also available later on CD. The response and success of this has been overwhelming and positive, since folks seem to enjoy taking a CD home with them from a show they were a part of. Our list of 2010 shows is listed below. We are compiling the last half of 2009, when we started this undertaking of recording and logging all of our shows, band electric cand solo acoustic. That list will be available soon. The price is also less than regular CD's, and Bluestorm records pays the postage. Please check out the list below, and Thank You for being with us.

ROGER “HURRICANE” WILSON
Available Live CD’s Recorded in 2010
Check it out! Maybe you were there!

ELECTRIC SET (with band)

1/9/10 – Scooter’s - Kennesaw, GA
1/28/10 – Chief’s – Greenville, SC
1/29/10 – Chief’s – Greenville, SC
1/30/10 – Scooter’s – Kennesaw, GA
2/13/10 – Scooter’s – Kennesaw, GA
2/25/10 – Chris’s Club – Vallejo, CA
2/26/10 – Tradewinds – Cotati, CA
2/27/10 – Tattoos & Blues - Santa Rosa, CA
3/1/10 – Tradewinds – Cotati, CA
3/13/10 – Frog’s Blues – Hawthorne, FL
3/20/10 – Scooter’s – Kennesaw, GA
4/17/10 – Rivalry’s – Macon, GA
4/24/10 – Scooter’s – Kennesaw, GA
4/25/10 – Taste of Marietta – Marietta, GA
5/1/10 – Darwin’s – Marietta, GA
5/8/10 – Smoke On The Lake – Acw2orth, GA
5/15/10 – Scooter’s – Kennesaw, GA
5/21/10 – Sport Zone – Coshocton, OH
5/22/10 – Brews Too – Granville, OH
5/27/10 –Chief’s – Greenville, SC
5/28/10 – Chief’s – Greenville, SC
6/11/10 – Scooter’s Kennesaw, GA
6/12/10 - Big City Deli – Kennesaw, GA
7/9/10 – Blues in The District - Quincy, IL *
7/10/10 – River Beach Pub – Chillicothe, IL
7/13/10 – Blind Willie’s, Atlanta, GA
7/16/10 – Scooter’s – Kennesaw, GA
7/17/10 – Harbor Club – Greensboro, GA *
7/21/10 – Smoken Joe’s – Boston, MA
7/23/10 – Inn On The Blues – York Beach, ME
7/25/10 – McSeagull’s – Boothbay Harbor, ME
7/26/10 – Time Out Pub – Rockland, ME *
8/6/10 – River Beach Pub – Chillicothe, IL *
8/7/10 – Jellystone Park Preserve – Amboy, IL *
8/9/10 – The Alamo – Springfield, IL
8/10/10 – Slippery Noodle Inn - Indianapolis, IN *
8/11/10 – Brackins Blues Bar – Maryville, TN
8/13/10 – Scooter’s – Kennesaw, GA
8/14/10 – Carolina Landing – Fair Play, SC
8/17/10 – Blind Willie’s – Atlanta, GA
8/20/10 – Pigs & Peaches – Kennesaw, GA *
8/21/10 – Pigs & Peaches – Kennesaw, GA *
9/4/10 – Timothy Lake Presreve – E. Stroudsburg, PA
9/8/10 – Kclinger’s Tavern – Hanover, PA
9/17/10 – Scooter’s – Kennesaw, GA
9/22/10 – Folsom Hotel – Folsom, CA (with Fire & Wheels)
9/23/10 – San Juan Club – Sacramento, CA (with Fire & Wheels)

ACOUSTIC SET (solo)

2/3/10 – Sloppy Joe’s – Key West, FL
2/4/10 – Sloppy Joe’s – Key West, FL
2/5/10 – Sloppy Joe’s – Key West, FL
2/6/10 – Sloppy Joe’s – Key West, FL
2/16/10 – Gaines Park – Kennesaw, GA
2/19/10 – Daily Grind – Kennesaw, GA
2/20/10 – Sam Huff’s BBQ1 – Marietta, GA
3/6/10 – Peace River – Wauchula, FL
3/7/10 – Aces Lounge – Bradenton, FL
3/9/10 – Tarpon Lodge – Pine Island, FL
3/10/10 – Rainbow RV Park – Frostproof, FL
3/11/10 – Kojak’s – Palmetto, FL
3/19/10 – Daily Grind – Kennesaw, GA
3/26/10 – Rhythm Room – Phoenix, AZ
3/27/10 – Verde Valley Preserve – Cottonwood, AZ
4/3/10 – Sam Huff’s BBQ1 – Marietta, GA
4/10/10 – Orlando Preserve – Clermont, FL
4/13/10 – Aces Lounge – Bradenton, FL
4/15/10 – Kojak’s – Palmetto, GA
4/16/10 – Murphy’s – Clearwater, FL
5/12/10 – Wednesdays in Woodruff – Atlanta, GA
5/13/10 – Gaines Park – Kennesaw, GA
5/14/10 – Sam Huff’s BBQ1 – Marietta, GA
5/19/10 – The Lounge – Cincinnati, OH
5/29/10 – Carolina Landing – Fair Play, SC
5/30/10 – Forest Lake Preserve – Advance, NC
6/5/10 – Sam Huff’s BBQ1 – Marietta, GA
6/9/10 – Natchez Trace – Nashville, TN
7/3/10 – Sam Huff’s BBQ1 – Marietta, GA
7/19/10 – Relax Inn – Chambersburg, PA
7/22/10 – Moody Beach Preserve, Wells, ME
7/24/10 – Strurbridge Preserve – Sturbridge, MA
7/29/10 – Relax Inn – Chambersburg, PA
7/31/10 – Sam Huff’s BBQ1 – Marietta, GA
8/12/10 – Harbor Club – Greensboro, GA
8/30/10 – Relax Inn – Chambersburg, PA
9/2/10 – Kclinger’s Tavern – Hanover, PA
9/5/10 – Timothy Lake South – E Stroudsburg, PA
9/9/10 – Blue Note Grill – Durham, NC
9/10/10 – House On Main – Abingdon, VA
9/11/10 – Sam Huff’s BBQ1 – Marietta, GA;


All CD’s are $10.00 Postage Paid
* Double CD’s are $15.00
To Order:
1) Choose Title(s) Desired
2) Total Up Order ($10.00 for each single CD/ $15.00 for double CD)
3) Send Paypal Payment to roger@hurricanewilson.com
4) Be sure to list each CD desired in your order.

Shame On You Delta Soars To New Heights

The Single by Roger “Hurricane” Wilson That Says It All

The title, "Shame On You Delta!" says it all. This airline has taken passenger abuse and mistreatment to a whole new level. They charge ninety bucks if your bag is one pound over the limit, in addition to charging to check any luggage.They have taken away all amenities except for slinging a few stale peanuts at you. Last fall, one ticket counter hag in Ontario, California actually made me take my computer out of the case, then sent the empty case to Atlanta for no reason. I had to then carry my computer on the plane unprotected. She also did this in front of other passengers. I was livid, and reported it online while on the plane. Funny thing was, I was carrying a shoulder guitar case containing two guitars, but that she said nothing of that. Delta called me in Key West from Atlanta the next morning to find out why they had received this empty computer case. When I told her about the Ontario Crazy Lady, who apparently is named Terry, they said they didn’t understand her actions. They promptly sent the bag to me the next day. When the nice girls on the ramp were shocked at what happened, they just rolled their eyes and said there was no reason for that to have happened. The company did try to make an amend with a voucher, but it doesn’t end there. In Memphis, another little, short, fat man on a power trip saw that the pouch on my roller bag wouldn’t clear the breadbox test contraption that no carry-ons ever fit in. He made me check it (for a charge of course). When I got to the gate, I told the gate guy that the bag I had wasn’t any bigger than all of the ones I was seeing there. Again, he rolled his eyes and said, just get online and complain. I did, and had to fight to get a $25.00 voucher. Big deal! But there is a pattern here… many of the employees realize what is going on! They roll their eyes regularly. If Delta was to total up all of the vouchers they give out for screwing up, maybe they wouldn’t be in position to be filing bankruptcy. So, this song says it all. SHAME ON YOU DELTA!

To listen, go to www.myspace.com/rogerhurricanewilsontheacousticside

To download, go to http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rogerhurricanewilson13

Bluestorm Records

Roger “Hurricane” Wilson

www.hurricanewilson.com