April 21, 2007

FINALLY we have uploaded the newest photos from the Gin Palace Jesters two week west coast run and the webmaster has to say the number of photos given was overwhelming. They have been pared down to a barely managable volume of 66 photos in conjunction with the great American highway Route 66 from which the band began and ended upon and crossed over numerous times. We encourage you to check them out by going here.

Thanks to Nico Druyf of Long Distance - Radio Hoorn - Netherlands - for giving us some radio spins.

Long Distance is a weekly roots radio show for Radio Hoorn.

Every Friday between 20.00 – 21.00 (2.00-3.00 p.m US central time

A mighty big THANKS to all the folks who came out to see us on our trip out to the west coast and south west. We had a great time driving like maniacs and stumbling bleary eyed from one gig to the next. We thank all the promoters, bands, club owners and gracious people we met along the way and we sure do hope to do it again real soon. We took a lot of photographs and promise to get some posted here real soon. The Gin Palace Jesters also thank Jake Erwin for filling in on bass for us. Jake was great, drove more than his share of highway, was involved in every pack and helped with coordinating everything. Go see Jake gig with Wayne Hancock folks because Jake is the real deal. We also thank Perry LaFine in Phoenix, Arizona for playing some drums as a Jester again. It was only one gig but what a gig it was! Great job Perry! We miss you.

We are home again in Chicago resting and we hope to finish mixing our CD real soon. See ya around the bend folks.

We have some BIG news that we have been "lacksidaisy" in posting here for a few weeks as things have been hectic as we prepare to embark on our big trip out of the frozen Chicago cold ( -7 F with a -40 F windchill factor last week folks! BRRR....) and head west towards California and down into warmer places like Arizona and Texas (click here for tour dates). Back in December when we decided to go on our tour, everybody was gung ho and ready for the most part. Unfortunately for the Gin Palace Jesters, fate had OTHER ideas! Upright Bassist Casey Stockdon's day time employers business was bought outright by some other EVIL CORPORATE OVERLORDS and they threated to fire the Ol' Barefoot Boy if he left with us for two weeks of music/ sun/ driving and sleeping in seedy motels. Being a Gin Palace Jester doesn't pay the rent so much so he had to succumb to their selfish demands to have money to keep a place to sleep that wasn't in the -7 winter's cold. Unfortunately Casey will not be joining us on this two week tour. We were naturally DEVASTATED at this horrible news.

Things were scary for a few days and the tour was in DANGER of being CANCELLED! Lucky for the Gin Palace Jesters, Dave remembered a conversation he had with his old friend Jake Erwin 7 years earlier. Jake told Dave, "If you EVER need a bass player give me a call. Here's my number."

7 years later Dave used that number to track down Jake in Dallas, Texas and his number was STILL GOOD! So without further delay, we are happy to report that Jake Erwin, celebrated upright bassist for the remarkable Western Swing trio HOT CLUB OF COWTOWN and currently playing upright bull fiddle for Master of Hillbilly Swing-WAYNE HANCOCK will be jumping in the van with us to spend two weeks on the road as a Gin Palace Jester. Those in the know will come out just to see such a great bassist in action. We are really looking forward to gigging with Jake and we thank him for consenting to go. We also publicly thank Wayne "The Train" Hancock for finding a sub for Jake in his one conflicting gig so Jake could go. It is mighty right to have friends in this world ain't it?!!! We will pick up with Casey Stockdon upon our return from the road.

Here's some pictures of Jake Erwin and him playing a hot jazz number with Whit and Elana in Hot Club of Cowtown below

See you on the road folks. Be sure to check the tour schedule and listen to a brand new recording by the Gin Palace Jesters at our myspace page. This is an early teaser track entitled "Roadhouse Riot" which will be released on our new full lenght CD when we have it all done. We just thought since it's been so long since we've released any new music you all might want to hear something new and rest assured we'll be playing this one out on the road.

We have posted some new photos of the group at work and at play as we promised we would. Click HERE to go there.

Doggone that death wearing nothing but a sithe and a cape on the billboard in the field near the big ol highway! Damn...lost another one! Bye Del Reeves. R.I.P.

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-reeves3jan03,1,1760489.story?coll=la-news-obituaries&ctrack=1&cset=true

We have posted new show dates that include a fun gig here in our homebase of Chicago with the amusing hillbilly stylings of the Hackensaw Boys at the House of Blues Chicago and there are TOUR DATES for an adventurous west coast run that will take us through Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, California, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri. Don't miss us in your town, who knows when we'll be back? Click HERE for show dates.

In other news getting 6 people to take to the road in a tour van is no small task but we are up for the challenge. Unfortunately our drummer Rick Murawski cannot make this trip but we have secured the talents of former Gin Palace Jester Mike Medina to come with us. Mike Medina started in as a Jester back in 2002 on rhythm guitar and moved to the drum kit and appears on our debut CD playing both and also adding many a fine harmony vocal. Mike has been drumming with Chris "Sugarballs" Sprague in his 18 Wheelers band and also plays in numerous other eclectic projects including playing vibes in a Cuban Jazz combo. We'll continue to gig with Rick until we leave and pick up with him upon our return.

Mike Medina returns!

Happy NEW Year! OK ok ok...now that the bugs are getting worked out in computer land, we promise to have some new photos up here in the next few days, an updated gig page along with tour dates for a late February and early March run out through the United States west and southwest hitting Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, California, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri. We will also be reporting on the progress of our newest CD project and all that business. Sorry for all the trouble but a little ol' hillbilly band like ours doesn't have millions of dollars to throw at a problem, we gotta roll up our sleeves and do the dirty work ourselves. Most of you folks know what we are talking about. Check back in a few days.

Say hi to us over at http://www.myspace.com/ginpalacejesters which is the only message board we have since the spammers killed our old message board.

It's been a LONG while since any news has made it to this webpage. We apologize but due to a fatal computer hard drive death, all access to this web page was LOST and the webmaster had no way of connecting to update. A new computer was purchased and new software, etc. Anyway...WE ARE BACK ON THE AIR!

Meet our drummer Rick Murawski as there is a nice writeup on him concerning his Environmental Protection Agency activities in Wisconsin and a nice Gin Palace Jesters' mention as well. You have to scroll down to page 6 to find Rick. Click HERE or copy paste the address below into your address bar.

http://www.epa.gov/Region5/sites/foxriver/pdf/foxrivercurrent_final_novdec2005.pdf

We've finally posted some NEW PICS of the band at Cantigney park bandshell.

We've been informed of a video of the Gin Palace Jesters performing the original western swingin' "Lover Not A Fighter" from their Green Bay Festival appearance in 2005 at You Tube. Click here to go check it out.

Maybe we can imbed?

Dang...where HAS this summer gone to? It's nearly half over and we haven't posted any news in a while. For that we apologize. We have been gigging like crazy (with many members of the organization being in multiple bands to pay the bills) and writing new tunes and working on arrangements for our upcoming CD. As you know we did the old shuffle-roo with the steel man Gabe joining up and the addition of the lovely red head gal Fiddlin' Katie and they have endured trial by fire in a Gin Palace Jesters' uniform. We recently got back into the studio to continue working on our second CD and the only real "news" to report is we have been doing all the unglamorous hard work necessary to ensure our live shows and recordings are as top notch as we can make them. We are just keepin' on keepin' on.

New pictures are on their way we promise. We have to wade through alot of stuff and the webmasters' scanner died and a replacement wasn't free! They are on their way.

Say hi to us over at http://www.myspace.com/ginpalacejesters which is the only message board we have since the spammers killed our old message board.

We lost another one: Listen you people...be careful on the highways! We will miss you Billy but you will live on forever in Country Carnival re-runs.

FT. DEPOSIT, Ala. - Billy Walker, the Grand Ole Opry legend whose hits included "Charlie's Shoes" and "Cross the Brazos at Waco," died in a wreck along an Alabama interstate on Sunday. He was 77. Killed in the wreck were Bettie Walker, 61; and Charles Lilly Jr. 44, both of Hendersonville, Tenn., and Daniel Patton Sr., 40, of Hermitage, Tenn. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060522/ap_en_mu/obit_walker_9

My space is taking OVER THE WORLD. But hey...it's a great place to meet folks without getting 10 zillion spam emails (like our old message board) and WE have joined the party. Visit us at My Space by going to the following: http://www.myspace.com/ginpalacejesters

Lot's of news to report, the good, the bad and the ugly.

First...Bad News. Sometimes playing music is a bit like running a baseball team with trades, contract negotiations and waivers and a triple AAA farm system and this is no exception. So here it is...Our loveable cuddly huggable pedal steel man of 3 years and writer of sad songs Buddy Carter is leaving the Gin Palace Jesters. Buddy is a heck of a score and is an in demand player and has been so busy gigging with other acts including Tin Horse that we've had to amicably part ways. Buddy has been a Cousin to everybody and we are going to miss Cousin Buddy and wish him the best of luck in his endeavors. Thanks for the memories Buddy especially seeing you eat Indian food in Germany...priceless!

Second...Good News. Never to leave a band he likes in want for a steel man, the very capable, talented and musical possessor of a twin neck Sho-Bud pedal steel guitar, MISTER Gabriel Stutz has stepped out of the dugout and picked up a bat to hit a homerun! ( note: this is baseball lingo for our overseas friends) Gabriel has been making hearts break with his instrument in Chicago based Fulton County Line and has gigged as a Gin Palace Jester before so we leave the steel duties to him with complete confidence. Gabriel is going to play the next long string of shows and we hope he likes it enough to stick around for a while. Either way he'll have stories to tell his Grandkids.

Gabriel Stutz on his double 8 Sho-Bud.

Third...More Good News. Our quest for a permanent fiddle player may have come to an end. Recently Gin Palace Jesters' Ken Mottet and Pennsylvania Dave went to see the legendary Ray Price and his Cherokee Cowboys play music here in Chicago. Afterwords a bunch of folks gathered at a local tavern for a malted beverage and Dave was talking to a nice young couple, Drew and Katie, who also enjoyed the show when the topic turned to Ray's triple fiddles and how good they sounded. At this point Katie offered that she has played for 15 years. No sooner said than done, Katie Schadegg was auditioned and passed with flying colors. She's still getting up to speed on all the tunes but expect her debut sooner than later at a Honkytonk near you! Ken for one is very relieved he no longer will have to shoulder the sole burden of being known as "the sexy one"!

Self described "Hard Headed Gal" - Fiddlin' Katie Schadegg

The Gin Palace Jesters are so very sad to report the news of the death of a HUGE country legend Mr. Buck Owens died at age 76. The inventor of the Bakersfield sound and inspiration to so many musicians including us. You will be missed Buck. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060325/ap_en_tv/obit_owens

For those of you Gin Palace Jesters' fans in the know, you are hep to the fact we have built a silly on stage gag known as the "Honkytonk Legend Go Round," the purpose of which is to add some fun into our shows in an effort to control the rowdy drunken country music fans (of which we so PROUDLY serve!) by making a random game out of shouts of "HEY....PLAY SOME HANK WILLIAMS!!!! ROOOTIE TOOTIE!" and so forth. We break out the Honkytonk Legend Go Round, an audience member spins it and possibly wins beautiful prizes and we play a song by a country music legend. Well....This past weekend, Ken and Dave ran into Ray Price and the Cherokee Cowboys and we got Ray to autograph the Honkytonk Legend Go Round right under his picture and next to Hank Thompson's autograph. Look out Carl Smith, Buck Owens and George Jones...we're a gunnin' for you next! Thanks Drew and Katie for the photo. Thanks Ken and Mary for taking some snap shots. Here they are, Ken and Dave with Ray Price.

Ken and Dave approach Ray in the autograph line... Dave gives Ray the the 15 second explanation of what the hell he is about to sign.

Ray goes at it with out hesitation

Thanks for being a good sport Ray and thanks for all the GREAT music. www.raypricefanclub.net

We will miss Don Knotts so MUCH!

There is an interview posted on this website that Gin Palace Jesters' long legged guitar pickin' man and singer Dave Sisson conducted with Southern and Rocking Magazine mastermind Marc Fenech. Click here to read it.

Happy New Year to you all except the Serbs and the Chinese, your's New Year happens later doesn't it? It's been a while since we've posted any news and you know what??? We never did post any new photos because the webmaster's scanner had a serious malfunction! We hope to have that corrected but this means tossing money at the problem.

The members of the Gin Palace Jesters are all busy musicians but lately not very busy as the Gin Palace Jesters. The fellas have been gigging with other acts on occasion and the band is continuing to work on tracks for a new cd recording which is coming along rather nicely. We are also going through a period of "woodshedding" as it's called in the business. Practice makes perfect and perfection is the goal.

We are working on adding some new photos of the past few shows. It's been a while since we've posted anything new but we are working on it. Check back in a few days.

Welcome our website to all who have arrived to our site from Gapersblock. Howdy! http://www.gapersblock.com/transmission/archives/the_gin_palace_jesters/index.php Thanks ks.

The Gin Palace Jesters have begun recording tracks for a new (our 2nd) CD release. Things are well under way and sounding good. We'd like to publicly thank Mr. Mike Sharp, engineer extraordinaire for his talents, and also send a thank you out to Steve Koch, guitar collecter and disciple of Doc Watson for lending us some fancy guitars to use. Thanks fellas.

The Gin Palace Jesters also need to thank Jimmy Sutton and Deke Dickerson for picking up the uniform shirts Buddy left southern Germany. Thanks for returning those to us and thanks to the promoters for holding on to them for us. Unbelievable!

The Gin Palace Jesters are gearing up to head back into the studio in October to record 8 or so songs for our second release. We have some real fine original tunes we have been playing at our live dances and shows and may dig into the hillbilly hit parade and dig out a classic nugget as well.

There is a new cd release by some Chicago based country talent the Long Gone Lonesome Boys worth checking out. The Gin Palace Jesters' own Casey Stockdon played upright bass on every track and "Pennsylvania" Dave Sisson made a brief guitar appearance on one track along with the Hoyle Brothers' Brian Wilke on pedal steel and Lance Helgeson on drums and some fine playing by long time Chicago talent John Rice. We congratulate the Long Gone Lonesome Boys and wish them the best of luck!

Speaking of the Hoyle Brothers, we will be playing a few shows with them in Wisconsin so check the shows page for more info.

Due to excessive spamming on our guestbook, we are thinking of shutting the damn thing down unless someone out there knows how to stop this madness! Email us if you know what we can do, this is beyond our capabilities. We are musicians not technocrats damnit!

We have set up an official Gin Palace Jesters email system to inform folks about what we are doing and when we are doing it. If you want us to send you emails containing news, upcoming show information and amusing tales of our strange activities sign up here.

Here is a link to pictures of the Gin Palace Jesters playing De Kroeg in Geldrop, Holland. http://www.prutten.photosite.com/geldrop/

On this day we remember.

Dear friends...the world we live in is nothing but a big family and we are saddened to hear of the passing of one of our family members and true country music legend, Vassar Clements. His tools were a fiddle and a bow and he can be heard on more legendary recordings than you can imagine. He was unique and talented and a tale of his wacky exploits coincidentally came up in one of our band practice conversations on the very day of his passing. We offer our condolences to the family of Vassar yet rejoice in the music he left behind.

http://vassarclements.com/

Casey Stockdon, upright bassist has made a travel log of the recent tour in Europe which has been published in an online magazine The Week Behind. You may read what he wrote (some conspiracy theorists claim it is a sanitized version!) which is quite humorous and pulls no punches. We hope noone is offended as it was written to ENTERTAIN and not offend. Click here.

Here is a web link to pictures of the Gin Palace Jesters in Spain. http://home.zonnet.nl/johnlucy . We will soon have our photos up on this site. SOON, we promise. Like...one more day maybe.

We welcome any new visitors who have stumbled to this corner of the World Wide Web from our new affiliation with Soundclick We are glad to meet you.

We have begun packing our bags for our trip to Europe. The important news about this is our drummer Rick Murawski has WISELY decided his place is at home right now helping out with them three kiddos including that new born baby and will not be joining us this time. For those of you who have children you understand how rough life can get with babies waking up at all times of the night. We naturally respect this decision and Rick will pick up with us upon our return home. Rick sends his regrets along.

To fill the drumming void while in Europe we have procured the talents of multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, band leader, label mate and friend: Randy Rich. Randy is originally from East Germany (when there was an East Germany) and he will not only be drumming for us while we are in Europe but will also handily act as our translator, driver and tour coordinator while we explore the continent like babes in the woods. We are confident Randy will literally do a bang up job for us.

Dave wants any GPJ fans to know he is packing his football boots (ah that's soccer shoes for you Americans) and hopes to get in a friendly match somewhere for an exercise break from all that sedentary traveling in mechanized contraptions. Click Here for our two week European tour schedule.

There are some new photos of the Gin Palace Jesters at the week long Rockin 50's music festival in Green Bay, Wisconsin including a few of some of the boys meeting Western Swing and Honkytonk legend Hank Thompson. Click Here

The Gin Palace Jesters have been working on a few brand new original songs and will attempt to record a few new tunes while they are in Europe in June.

There are over 40 new photos from the winter of 2005 up on this site including the first glimpses of the "Honkytonk Legend Go Round"

We will soon have an MP3 sound file of Dave and Casey on WLUW.

Thanks to Country Music in Britain for mentioning our little CD contribution to country music history.

Thanks to Ctrl Alt Country for putting us in your top 40 albums in heavy rotation. We are humbled to be recieving airplay among such great artists.

We just got word that Goldie Hill (The Golden Hillbilly) passed away February 24. Our condolences go out to Carl Smith and family. Goldie sure was a beautiful lady.

Thanks to XM Satellite Radio-Channel 12 country music X program for playing some Gin Palace Jesters' music.

There's a slew of last minute changes to our shedule for March around our home base of Chicago. Don't forget to check the upcoming show's page and come see us play.

There is a very nice new review of our cd by the folks at Take Country Back. Thanks!

Our disc was also picked as one of the top 30 new discs by the folks at Milwaukee's WMSE (23rd to be exact). Thanks.

Thanks to Country Baer radio in Germany for giving us some spins.