Spotlight Interview #24- Fun_PairTX

[fun_pairTX]

What areas does you band travel to for gigs?

We currently pretty much cover the southwest pretty much due to time constraints although we will be branching out further in 2005. We have already been offered and accepted a slot in the Beruit Blues/Jazz Festival in Lebanon. Our biker club base is expanding as well and we expect to get to more of the bigger bike runs next year as well. The last couple of months of the year are pretty much our Charity Season where we play a LOT of Toy Rides for bike clubs. The generosity of the biker community is amazing.

What is the most interesting place you have traveled to with the band?

Probably Wynoka, Oklahoma. Annually they have a snake hunt where live rattlers are wielded by intoxicated bikers. It is to say the least "interesting".
I have also spent a fair bit of time in the Caribbean where I had a chance to mix blues with more local music such as Soca, Reggae, and Toomba.

What kind of music do you listen to at home?

Pretty much anything but Country, I have absolutely no feel for it whatsoever. I never really even heard Country until I was thirty. Mrs Fun's taste runs along similar lines. We listen to a lot of the more obscure blues guys and women as well.

How often do you swing?

It averages out to once a month or so, our time constraints being what they are we feel that it is pretty good.

How do you normally meet playmates?

Either through SLS, we have had really excellent luck there, or personal introduction by other playmates. We prefer to play in larger groups, 3 to 6 couples when possible, the majority of our meetings are with "regulars". We also tend to go to on premise clubs in the same group as well.

What's your favorite color?

Blue, all different shades of blue, but blue nonetheless.

Describe the ideal vacation.

We like extremes, quiet days and crazy nights, I love to sail. We are both fishing fanatics. Barb loves to dance

Where would you like to travel to that you have not yet visited?

Mrs Fun wants to see Honolulu where she was born, and I want to get to the Azores where both grandfathers came from. My favorite places to go are places the predominant language is NOT English. I like to see how well I can adapt. So far I have managed to make a complete fool of myself in French, Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish. It was a GREAT time.

[mrs good times]

In Reno this week is an event called Street Vibrations. It has grown considerably in the past few years and we are getting more and more bikes. Have you heard of it and would you consider traveling this far for a gig? I enjoy blues very much and would like to hear your band.

[wrnakedru]

You've lived in places with a much different climate than Texas has - obviously you prefer the warmer latitudes and attitudes. You've also held jobs of a much different sort than what you do now; how did the whole idea/plan of a band come about? How long has the band been together? You built one of your guitars (maybe more?) - ever build instuments for others? Who are the "idols" that inspired you to want to play? How did you learn - are you self taught, or did you take lessons at some point? I would say of course, you read music - but I've learned that not all musicians do. Do you?

Hubby and I have enjoyed your band in a variety of venues. One in particular seemed like a "tough" crowd, attention-wise - there was a lot going on there! What's the most unusual thing that has occurred when the band was performing somewhere? [panties on the stage? room keys thrown from willing ladies?] Have you and Mrs. Fun ever happened into a playtime situation as a result of the band appearing somewhere?

What are each of y'all's favorite books, movies, and television shows - - if you have time to fit any of these into your busy lives!

What's your "if I won the lottery" dream? How would you spend it - and how would your lives change ..... okay, let's call it one of the big lottery pots ... not the weekly shot at 2 or 3 mil, let's say it was 25 mil. (Don't forget your friends and fans, now! )

You and Mrs. Fun are both so outgoing and friendly - you obviously enjoy your life together. Have each of you always been this way - or did finding one another bring you both to it? (but don't try to sell us on the "I was shy as a child and rarely spoke in front of peers" stuff )

WR

[fun_pairTX]

Originally Posted by mrs good times

In Reno this week is an event called Street Vibrations. It has grown considerably in the past few years and we are getting more and more bikes. Have you heard of it and would you consider traveling this far for a gig? I enjoy blues very much and would like to hear your band.

Street Vibrations is a great gig. We would love to be in Reno this time next year. I know the contact people are chasing it. We could raise some hell in Reno ).

[fun_pairTX]

You've lived in places with a much different climate than Texas has - obviously you prefer the warmer latitudes and attitudes. You've also held jobs of a much different sort than what you do now; how did the whole idea/plan of a band come about? How long has the band been together? You built one of your guitars (maybe more?) - ever build instuments for others? Who are the "idols" that inspired you to want to play? How did you learn - are you self taught, or did you take lessons at some point? I would say of course, you read music - but I've learned that not all musicians do. Do you?

Wow Mrs WR here comes my biography LOL. I have played in many bands over the years (since the 60's), the latest incarnation will be three next spring. Bands aren't really planned, they just happen. (Except for concept bands on TV). I love to play because it gives me an emotional release that is otherwise unobtainable. I grew up listening to BB and Albert King, and Jimi Hendrix who just threw me into a warp the first time I ever heard him. Luckily I was able to catch him live wile he was still with us. Coincidentally last Saturday (Sept 18th) was the 34th anniversary of his death. Hard to believe he has been gone that long. I was self taught and I still like to think that I learn something new every day. I can read charts and Nashville Notation (the good ol boys have their own system). Reading charts is essentially useless anymore unless you are in New York City playing jazz. Everybody in the band can read charts, but as the band grows together swifter and more concise methods of communication develop. I have made 6 of my 10 guitars and most of my own amplifiers as well.

Every crowd is different and they are prone to different antics. Some are self absorbed and others live off the general vibe that develops. If we went to play in a stuffy uptown club somewhere say the "Cafe Snooty", we would probably just wind up getting arrested. Some people just need to join hands and attempt to contact the living.
I have had live rattlers thrown onstage (it wasn't a critic. I was playing a snake hunt). We have had Harleys ridden through the club. I was once playing in a place ( a REAL DIVE) where a wife came in, saw her hubby acting up with two women and shot him dead on the spot. She then put the gun on the table and drank the rest of his beer while she waited for the Sheriff.
Once in Nashville a lovely, but intoxicated Real Estate Broker climbed up on the stage and humped my leg like a cocker spaniel LOL. I'm really glad I did not have her head the next day.
Swing opportunities do arise from time to time, however, I usually lose about 10 pounds in a performance, I am a little too pooped to pop. All the groupie stories you hear involve guys in their 20's and LOTS and LOTS of cocaine.

We both love to read Thrillers. TV to us is just something that supplies noise while we think or talk about something else. Movies are much more serious. Barbara loves horror flicks, well I do too. I have a major addiction to Alfred Hitchcock's work. At one time I had all 58 of his movies (you won't find the total listed this way because he made two movies twice). Stanley Kubrick is another of my favorite directors. I have a true love of Black & White and oppose colorization, (thank the Lord that trend appears to have died). Black and White was an art form unto itself that due to its own limitations forced extra creative effort out of directors to make the film outstanding. My movie choices tend towards the comedic, I never pass on the Marx Brothers, WC Fields, Mae West (one of the hottest and most intelligent women of the century), Peter Sellers, Mel Brooks or Gene Wilder and last but not least Monty Python.

Wow my lottery dream...... after seeing to the education of the kids and setting up some kind of a family trust, I would give a donation to the Blues Heaven Foundation, they locate the graves of bluesmen and women that died penniless and give them a proper headstone. I would donate a fair sum to an alcohol rehab center, they saved my life many years ago and I still owe them (not monetarily, but morally). I'd also like to start a foundation that could seek out the people that slip through the cracks in the system. There are a lot of them out there that need help and they have no resources. Lastly Barb and I would like a sailboat, nothing ostentatiouos, large enough to live on part of the year, but small enough to handle by ourselves.

Mrs WRNaked, i WAS very quiet as a child, definitely too circumspect for my own good. I came out of after I went off to school (boarding school at 11). Mrs Fun married the first time at a very young age and was stifled for twenty years. My previous marriages were controlling in nature. The only time I could be myself was when I was performing. When Barb and I met, it was "Katie bar the door". Neither of us wants any remaining vestiges of our former relationships, so we are like a couple of middle aged, (well me at least), kids having a ball. We both love to meet people of any sort. I will admit that I do have a particular soft spot for really grouchy old codger types. There is so much to learn from them once you get through the shell.

[EvilMJ]

Everytime I see your avitar I have to laugh. My brother in law hates the stuffed animals that my sister keeps on the bed, so to annoy her he puts them in sexual positions. Every time I visit them it's fun to see what he does to them next!

Okay, hello from the north. ...what's it like in texas, I have never been there and can only dream it's a lot warmer than up here, with more snakes.

[fun_pairTX]

Hey MJ,

Texas is beautiful, low 80's temperature today. I was in Halifax many years ago and loved it as well as everywhere else I visited up there. It is true we do have more snakes, but there are places with a LOT more than we have here so it is not too bad. I was once married to a Canadian gal (evil redhead #3), who told me that the Nova Scotians are the Texans of Canada, whatever that was supposed to mean. We also share a penchant for Mae West. What a brilliant, and talented woman she was as well as a real piece of work. She made many inroads in the entertainment business that still haven't been matched.

[mrs good times]

Hi again Fun Pair,

I was told last night that there were 40,000 registered bikes in town. We went to the club last night and everyone was wearing their biker gear. If you make it next year look us up.

[fun_pairTX]

Absolutely, we try to meet people wherever we go, even if it is just for lunch or drinks. I hate getting stuck in tourist joints, it is always nice to have a native to call to find out where the good food is located.

[wrnakedru]

There seem to be a high number of swingers who own bikes - or bikers who swing - I'm not sure which came first for folks.

All these references to bikers, toy runs, biker gatherings etc. prompts me to ask - do you and Mrs. Fun have a Harley or two in the garage?

Besides her love of dancing, is Mrs. Fun musically inclined herself? Did music play a role in your wooing of Mrs. Fun - i.e. - did you ever serenade her? Have you written anything named for her - or dedicated to her?

Congratualtions on the invitation to the Beruit Blues/Jazz Festival 2005! I'll wager that's the furthest you will have traveled to perform - but if not, what has been? Is there a particular venue [or event] that is your "ultimate"? (the one that, in your mind, would say you've "made it"?)

You mentioned that Mrs. Fun was born in Honolulu. Where do the parents and siblings of each of y'all live?

You are passionate and compassionate souls, with eclectic contributions to becoming who and where you are today. Any one thing in particular that stands out as a "defining moment" for either of you?

[fun_pairTX]

Hey Mrs WR,

Yes there are a lot of bikers who swing and vice versa. Sadly at the moment all we have are four wheeled vehicles that are enclosed. We are looking to have a bike built for us over the winter. Mrs. Fun doesn't play an instrument, but she has one of the best overall spectrums of knowledge of all different genres of music that I have ever seen on a non-musician. She has some rare appreciations. She is the first female I ever met that actually "gets" what the Three Stooges were about.
I haven't written a song for Barb, but my main guitar has been named for her since the beginning. I'll get to writing her song someday, but it will likely be quite different from my band material. Beruit will be the furthest I have travelled to a gig so far. I may get further out there while we are abroad, our kind of electric blues is huge in the former Iron Curtain countries. I wouldn't mind going to play for the troops in Iraq, we have sent dozens and dozens of CD's over there and it has seemed to go over well.
As far as a defining venue to say you have "made it"? Sadly they are all gone. The Fillmores are both gone. I got to play in Manny's Car Wash in NYC before it was gone. The really great places like the Boston Tea Party have been gone for years. I saw the Who there in '69. The truly monster shows like we went to in the 70's are impractical anymore, as the expenses and liabilities have made them impossible to stage. It is a shame really, I used to have so much fun at them.

Mrs Fun was born in Honolulu, her dad was stationed at Pearl Harbor. Her folks are in Southern Illinois and she has a sister in North Carolina. My folks retired to Arizona, I have no other family other than my daughters.

As far as defining moments go we will have to dwell on that one a bit, but we eill get back to you.

[JustAskJulie]

Do you guys go to the movies much? Or do you prefer to watch movies at home?
What is/are your favorite movie(s)?

[fun_pairTX]

We have never been to the movies. Mrs Fun doesn't like movie theaters, how the world might be different if Mrs Lincoln didn't like them either. We have an extensive DVD and VHS collection as well as a Netflix subscription so we do get a good vairety of films. our favorites ? Hmmmmm.....Here you go;

Dr. Strangelove (How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb)

Nell

North by Northwest, Psycho, The Birds, Rear Window, (Hitchcock's Pinnacle Films)

The List of Adrian Messenger (how can you not like a movie where the cast is in disguise till the end.

Silence of the Lambs

Duck Soup, A Day at the Races, Animal Crackers (Marx Brothers triumphs)

She Done Him Wrong and My Little Chickadee (Mae West at her racous best, Wrong was Cary Grant's first US made film)

Guilty Pleasures: Her: anything by Stephen King. Him: anything with Jackie Chan. (I think he admires a guy his age that can bend LOL).

[EvilMJ]

You are right about Mae West..she was a writer ahead of her time! (damned censors).

Sounds like you two are a very busy couple between work and your band. What do you like to do in your free time (if applicable )

I'm not sure about the Nova Scotians being the Texans of Canada either...we are generally a friendly laid back bunch maybe there is a compairson there.

[fun_pairTX]

Not only a writer and actress, but a successful producer and director of her own broadway shows before she made the jump to Hollywood and fulfilling those same roles in the movies. Yes to the censors too, I imagine she really lit up the Hayes Office.

In our free time we like to fish and take our grand daughter (age 2) places. We love to seek out great resturants that are off the beaten path as well. I used to play golf, but I haven't managed to get out and do so in almost 20 years.