Updates from Bobby
March 15, 2015
The passed 2 days have been very sad for me. 2 days ago, I found out that my friend, Jimmy Greenspoon, the keyboardist for "Three Dog Night", had passed away. We were friends for so many years. We were writing some songs together, and I always thought he was such a fantastic keyboard player and song writer. That was some really bad news for me. However, today I found out that Mike Porcaro had passed away too, and that made me terribly sad. I had not visited Mile for about 3 years, because I didn't want to disturb him while he was experiencing such a malicious disease like ALS. The first person that I ever saw with this disease was my Daughter's Great-Grand-Mother, who had ALS for 23 years. I felt so sorry for Mike and his wonderful Family about this problem. Mike was one of the nicest people, and such a great Musician that I knew. I have a photo a friend of mine took while we were in Tokyo, Japan, just before Mike had to go home, and not travel around the world for so many months. Leland Sklar came and played the 2nd half of the "Falling In Between" Tour for Mike. Even though Leland is such a fantastic Musician and a wonderful person, a lot of the Fans were really posting that they were missing Mike onstage. It was very sad to know that Mike would be suffering for so many years. Just before he went home, this Photo was taken in Tokyo. I like to see this smile on Mike's face in this Photo.....Bobby
Click picture to enlarge!
February 9, 2015
I was just telling someone from Louisiana about a Band I played with from when I was about 15 years old, until I was almost 23. The name of that Band was: "The Blues Kings Band" that I was playing with at most of the Clubs in Louisiana on the Texas Border. My oldest Brother, Ralph, was playing keyboard and singing with The Blues Kingswhile I was about 8 years old, and I occasionally went and played 2 or 3 songs with them, when Ralph would let me. Then, when he quit the Band, I joind them and played keyboard and sang about 5 songs each Concert. When I was about 16, the Lead Singer quit the Band, and the 5 piece horn section came to my Hammond B-3 Organ, and put all of the Lyrics on the keyboard, and told me I was now the singer. I was singing a 4 hour set each time we played, but that was a bit too much. When I started Collage, I found two Black twins who I thought were amongst the best singers I had ever hears, and I hired them to sing with me in this band. I was with them for about 9 years, and that was so much fun. After them, I was with "The Champaign Brothers Band" from Houston, Texas. They were so great. Remember "The Texas Pelican Club"? I loved playing in Louisiana right on the Texas Border, because the Drinking age in Texas was 21 years old, and in Louisiana it was only 18 years old. That made it look like fleas coming across the Border into Louisiana every weekend. That's why those 5000 seater Clubs were all over the place there. Actually, I thought that 5000 people was a normal crowd then. That really made it incredible to be playing all of those Clubs then. I played with The Boogie Kings for a little while too. There were so many fantastic Bands and great Musicians down there in that area. A friend of mine sent me a photo he took of "The Blues Kings Band" while I was singing with them. I think it was taken about 1967. I'll post that photo here now. I was 19, but almost 20 years old. That's me on the left side in the white jacket.............Bobby
Click picture to enlarge!
February 2, 2015
Yesterday, and today I was in the studio recording some extra Vocal Parts on 5 of the songs on my new Solo CD. These extra Vocal Parts have made the songs much better, and I had so much fun putting new things on those songs.
I'll be playing a Concert with Steve Augeri (who sang with "Journey" for a while) in The Dominican Republic on February 5th. I leave tomorrow (February 4th), and I'll be home on the 6th. Then, I'll go back into the Studio and sing the Lead Vocal on a new Song that will be on my new Solo CD. When I first heard this new Song, I thought it was really good, and now I want to do a Lead Vocal on it, so we can have it on the Solo CD. My Co-Writer, John Zaika, will be working on Mixing & Mastering the Solo CD while I'm out on the Road Touring a lot. When I get a chance to hear the Mixes, I'll let him know if I am ready to release that CD. We are planning to make my new Solo CD the first release on the new Record Label John and I have created. You may already know this, but I tried to think of a name of our Label for about 7 days. One morning when I woke up, I had a dream that night which handed me the name we chose for our Label. As soon as I woke up, that dream I had let me think of a great name for the Label. It's called "Future Memories Music". We don't have a name for the Solo CD yet, but soon we will. I can't wait to release this CD when it's totally finished.
By the way, this Record Label that was created by 2 Musicians, and will be run by 2 Musicians, absolutely FOR Musicians, will be very good for any Musicians who want to be on the Label. John and Me will never take any money from anyone on the Label. Plus, if anyone signs a 3 to 5 year Contract with us, and they want to leave the Label anytime after signing in, I'll just hand them their Contract and let them put it in our shredder. Also, if they want to check their Books for sales, they will never have to make a 6 week appointment to come and look at their Books. Anyone on our Label can just come in and I'll let them copy their Books anytime they wish. Most Labels require their Artists to make a 6 week appointment before they can see their Books. That gives those Labels plenty of time to make a 2nd set of Books to hide anything they stole from the Artists.This will never happen on our Label. I refuse to treat any Musician like a Prisoner, or steal any money from them. I'm a Musician, and I want to treat all Musicians the way I want to be treated.
I hope all of you (my Friends), are doing very well, and keep doing everything that brings Happiness into your lives. I love all of you, and I'll be back to you as soon as I can......................Bobby