Charlie O's Tales From the Road

Cotee River Music Fest coming up

Administrator — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 18:28:01 +0000

Can’t wait for the Cotee River Music fest in New Port Richey Florida, we kick off Sunday May11th (Mothers Day) at noon. It is a great venue to play at, right on the river in New Port Richey, so bring out the whole family and come on out fo A GREAT MOTHERS DAY SHOW!

Thanks Oldsmar!

Administrator — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 18:24:35 +0000

We would like to give a big Thanks to the city of Oldsmar Florida for welcoming us with open arms for there Oldsmar Days Music Festival! We had a Great Crowd and everyone associated with the Festival was first class. We look forward to seeing everyone again next year as we have already been ask to play. See you at the festival next year!

Back to Mississippi

Administrator — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 18:34:34 +0000

Just got back from our Mississippi Holiday Trip! Man we had a blast, got to see some old friends and party with some new ones also. Played in Hattiesburg Mississippi Friday night at the Just One More Blues Bar with a new friend that goes by 601 Blues and had a great time playing mostly original songs, then on Saturday I had the pleasure of sitting in with the Mississippi Houserockers at their gig in Jackson Mississippi. It sure was great to see them again and get to play some real blues! Everybody up there was so nice and we had some real Southern Hospitality. Sure can’t wait to get up their again soon, as the more time I spend up there the more I miss it, gotta get home someday for good. There are pics of the trip in the photo gallery link on the home page, check them out if you get a chance.

What a Summer it was!

Administrator — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 16:09:45 +0000

Well now that’s it’s November I’ve been thinking back to the last year and what a great year it has been for me. Getting to work with the kind of talent I have been able to is truly a blessing for me! To be surrounded by all my friends down here in the music scene is truly remarkable, the kind of talent that is right here in the Tampa Bay area is amazing. As I look back I remember seeing the maturity of a couple of young Lady Singers named Shevonne and Nalanie Rothrock who are both huge talents and a couple of the people I am lucky enough to work with. Shevonne is only 16 and I have watched her develop her talent this past year, she has a great future ahead of her, and Nalanie who has been singing with me since she was 13 years old has now matured into a fine young woman in College who is back in town for awhile and has been back out singing with us lately, what a powerful and beautiful voice she has and to have been able to watch her progress over the years has been quite remarkable. I got a chance last week to feature them both at one show and it was quite a night! Also some of the great shows we had over the Summer ( Summer Bluesfest, House of Blues, etc, etc.) some great music there. I have also had the pleasure of working with Lester Freeman the past few months filling in with his band while his guitar player has been ill. Lester is a great guy to work with and a great human being to boot, it has been my pleasure to work with him and all the super talented musicians in his band! And as always all the guys and gals I have the pleasure of working with in The Houserocker band has truly made for a great Summer! There are alot of shows coming up on the schedule for the Holidays, please try to get out and check out the shows and see for yourself what I am talking about, come on out and be a part of it, you never know what your going to see at the shows and there all different and we really do appreciate the support! See you out there!

Sean Carney Band pays a visit!

Administrator — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:38:44 +0000

Last Saturday night the Sean Carney Band came rolling through Tampa Fl. Sean and his band won the IBC Competition in Memphis this year and are out on tour now and are grtting ready to head over to Europe for a few weeks and then The Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise. So things are really happening for Sean and I couldn’t be happier for him. He is such a nice guy and a hard worker and deserves all the recognition he is finally getting! If you get a chance check him out if he comes to your area! I got a chance to sit in and play with him when he was here, and here are a couple pics from that night.

A Sunday at The Hard Rock

Administrator — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 14:30:07 +0000

We had a great gig yesterday at The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa Fl. First of all The Hard Rock is First Class everything! Plus all the Vintage Guitars and Gold Records etc. that they have hanging around the place really make for a cool enviroment to play in. When you play there they give you these badges to wear which give you access to the Employee section of the Hotel. They even have their own cafeteria where you just swipe your badge to get in and you get your choice of some really good food and some Killer Deserts. It is also nice that they have their own changing rooms so you can change your clothes when your done playing. The crowd was great and the tip jar was well fed, we were also given $80. in coupons to play the slot machines in the casino, Tammy ended up winning $130. and we still have a $20. coupon for next time left over. All in all a great day and I have a New Favorite Gig! Can’t wait til next month to do it again.

Sunday Bluesfest Report

Administrator — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 17:16:13 +0000

I think everyone had a real good time at the Bluesfest last Sunday at Skippers. Kelly Dees put on a great show as did The Walker Smith Group it was my pleasure to share the stage with them. My band The Houserockers did a great job, we pulled out a few like Slide in My pocket that we haven’t done in a while. People really seemed to like the music, and what was so great about it was that the people had come to see Kelly, Walker, and us play, not just sitting through the show being polite waiting on the main national act to come out, they had come out to see us this evening. And what a good crowd about 250 people at the Skipperdome on a Sunday evening enjoying the music. We were called back for an encore, and after the show people were coming up saying how much they liked the show, getting pics and autographs from me and buying our CD’s and our new Trouble in the Southland T-Shirts to take home with them. All in all a great night, I was so happy everyone really liked our style of Delta Southern Blues. And a big Thanks to Lester Freeman for coming out and singing his hit he had back in 1967 with the Soul Brothers Six “Some Kind of Wonderful” with us that evening, he really had the crowd in the palm of his hand, a great showman, Thanks Again Lester. Also Thanks to Miss Nalanie Rothrock for coming in from Gainesville to do “Up to Memphis” with us, it was awesome, along with Shevonne who teamed up with Lester on “Proud Mary” to end the show. Hope to see everyone out there at the shows!

Exciting Bluesfest this Sunday July 15th

Administrator — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 14:39:39 +0000

Man am I excited about the show this Sunday at Skippers Smokehouse in Tampa Fl. It is a show with The Walker Smith Group, Kelly Dees and our full Houserocker Band! What a triple bill! I’m a big fan of Walker and can’t wait to see Kelly live and in person. We will have the full band there that evening and a load of special guests so make plans to attend this awesome show at Skippers. The show runs from 5:00 p.m. till around 9:00 p.m. we go on around 6:30 so don’t miss this it should one of the best shows of the year, and where all excited to be a part of it. So get your butts of the couch and come on out and enjoy a great evening of music this Sunday the 15th at Skippers Smokekehous in Tampa!

A Hot and Frustrating 4th of July Week

Administrator — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 14:25:39 +0000

Man am I glad last week is over! Talk about screwed up schedules! First of all I think most everyone must have left Tampa on vacation or something. The crowd at Thursday nights jam at Barnacles was smaller than usual on the poarch and inside the restaraunt it was pretty dead. Usually it’s standing room only for the jam and the inside is always full still the music sounded great just not many jammers. I received a call while I was there from one of the managers saying that he had double booked the next night and forgot to tell me, Steve Arvery was coming in from Chicago to play that night while he was in the area. I called my partner Ed Wright and let him know we weren’t playing that next night and that they had accidentaly double booked with Steve, now Ed knows Steve and was O.K. with this (a little dissapointed because of loosing the pay but he ws OK). Later on that evening the manager that now handles the porch bookings came up to me wanting to know if I could find him someone for Saturday as he had someone cancel on him. I had taken Saturday off that week and told him I would cover for him as I wasn’t planning on playing that night. I called Kimo one of my partners, dragged him and his family in from the beach where they were staying to do the show with me. As i’m riding home on Thursday my phone rings it is another venue calling me in a panic about Saturday night also, I would have rather played at his place but told him I had just booked the night a few minutes ago as was sorry but I couldn’t call them up and cancel, he understood. So Saturday afternoon as I’m starting to unload the equipment a freind of mine Eric comes up to me and says Hi, whats going on, I told him what had happened and that I was doing the manager a favor and covering for someone who cancelled out on him. He then proceeded to tell me that he was booked that night and had been for a few weeks! We went in to see the manager who now handles the bookings and sure enough he had screwed up and double booked that day, it was the next Saturday that he needed someone! I let Eric have the gig since it wasn’t his fault and had to go out and tell my partner Kimo (who had come in from vacation on the beach to do the show with me) what was going on. He was very disappointed to say the least, I called the other venue that needed someone and he had already booked that night. So that was the 2nd gig lost at the last minute that week. Again someone else screwing up schedules, so that sucked! Next up last weekend was a Sunday show at Peggy’s Corral in Palmetto Fl. for a big Sunday Biker event. It was our fist time playing there and it was Hot as Hell! Middle of the Summer outside in Fla. what was I thinking when I booked this gig! The gig went great and the band played Awesome! It was packed out ( this was where everyone must have gone for the weekend) and everyone loved the band. All the vendors set up were giving us free stuff and telling us that we were the Best Band that they had ever heard there. The crowd loved the show, we met some of the nicest people there and besides nearly passing out from the heat it was a great show, one of our best! So we finish the show pack up all the equipment and get ready to leave, the heat was really brutal and I thought I was going down for awhile when packing up the stuff. So we get it all packed up and I go in to get paid and guess what the pay is $100. less than what was agreed on. Now the owner that booked me was not there as she was recovering from some type of surgery I was told so there was no one to talk to about the shorted pay. I was so beat I took what they gave me and left.I have a message into the owner to call me we’ll see what happens, hopefully it was just a mistake as we would like to play there again when it’s cooler. So I lost 2 gigs this weekend thanks to managers screwing things up and was shorted money on our Sunday gig. Ah, the life of a musician sometimes can be very frustrating sometimes, Thank God for the music and my freinds who play with me as they make it all worthwhile. Oh well today starts a brand new week see you at the shows (if some manager doesn’t screw things up!).

Charlie

Questions for the Band!

Administrator — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 10:57:41 +0000

Heres where you can ask questions for the Band. Just click on the comments button and ask away, chances are you will get a reply back from one of our band members.