The Steel Guitar Forum

Gold Range Hotel bar in Yellowknife NWT Canada. Jam packed every night with drunk Eskimos, gold miners, hookers and other odd people. It got so insane one night that I got off the stage and went around the bar with my video camera filming all the action. Quite a place and it is known all over the Northwest Territories.

Used to be in a band that played for the dances after the rodeos. Out in the parking lot, this guy is keeping his girlfriends car keys, cuz she's drunk. She's had enough of it, and wacks him in the head with a beer bottle. The cops intervene, and while they are sorting it out,some good ol boy almost runs them over doing donuts. They get him stopped, but he jumps out of the car and runs into the dance, where they tackle him right in front of me playing the steel.He's screaming about police brutality while we are playing "Hiway Patrol" by Junior Brown.

Cleveland, Ohio, way back in the 60's. A place called "The Nut House". Was a known punch palace, with electric door locks so the bartenders can lock patrons inbetween 2 sets of doors in the entrance. Parts of the bar had metal inlays, and the bartenders would give change that a coin had a small wire connected to give the guy at the bar a shock when he picked it up. The booths had air holes in the seats, so when a sweetie sat down, they pressed a valve and air would blast up right on their bottoms. most times the air was a direct hit. Worked great in the summer. The rest rooms were in the basement, and in front of the ladies room, stood a cigar store indian, and had a erect part of his body attached, with a very sensitive micro switch. If a lady touched it, upstairs bells and whistles, would go off. Across from the booths, they had what was called the grand stand. Had about 4 rows of benches, with a 2x6 across the front of them, for setting your drinks on. From there you could see all over the booths, bar, and dance floor. Sometimes you had to duck, when objects started flying. Sometimes even high heeled shoes. The city finally closed them down. I wasn't playing steel then, and would have never taken one in that place, including my D28. Just used a J45.

This may not have been the weirdest place,but the weirdest show I ever played was in a soccer stadium in Tegucigalpa,Honduras w/ AC power that would fluctuate 10 or so volts either side of 110.Your amp would go from mud one minute to screaming highs the next. Our Peterson strobe tuner refused to work(it just rolled back & forth as the voltage went up & down) Then,to top it all off,about 30 minutes into the show a Federale told the bandleader "there's been a bomb threat,shut it down".(this was 1980 & there was a civil war in El Salvador,about 50 m. away) It was announced to the crowd & there ensued a rush for the exits & we had to leave our gear onstage & hustle out of the stadium.Needless to say we never finished the show. Of course the bomb threat was a hoax!

It would have to be a nudist colony and then the Lesbian bar in North Hollywood.

Just weird.

Dick, you're picking on me cause like showing off that fancy Yugo. Snob. You think people who shop at WalMart are snobs. Hope your Multi-Chord is holdin up.

The 37th annual Striptease Convention. The woman with the red hair is Tempest Storm and this is the only pic I can post here.



And I've posted this, before. I played in the "orchestra" for the Burning Man Opera.

I was a new steel player looking for someone to work with. I'd talked to a fellow on and off for about 5 months that wanted me to come down and sit it. Finally, he called and said he a show that he wanted me at for a small venue. I got directions, got there early and set up. Nobody else did. They wanted me to play solo..... at their previous steel player's wake.

The only song I'd been working on for the last month: Gene Watson's Farewell Party.

You all did some interesting gigs not that I envy you. I played in Baltinore back in the 70's at the Civic Center. The Beetles played there some time before that. They could say they played where I played! But at the end of the gig, I went out the side door to load up and bullet winged right past me. A guy was shooting at a guy that just ran past me. The police were there in less than 5 minutes with K-9's. They got it dun (done). A close call for me. Dick, I was too young to die.

Quesney, I played Winnapeg, Canada. Beautilful country, but the drunks can be intimidating. When I first played on Exchange street in Ft Worth in 82, I noticed the ambulance always follwed the police car when they came to break up a fight. Those were the days! But I had fun a pickin and grinin. The bassman said the band gave me a green card since I was a yankee from Pa.

Robert Seymour, I'm curious what was the strangest place for you?