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There is no mention of this page anywhere on our web-site, somehow you have found the link and stumbled in here. You can hang around and read my rantings, or you can just hit the back button and get out here before I bore you to tears! Keep Twangin' Clay  Boy time really flies when you're having fun! Tis' been awhile since I ventured in here... I was just thinking about the Stacie Tutt Memorial Benefit that we played a few weeks ago. I saw alot of people giving of their time and money to pull this off. It was held at a guy named Daniel Medders place out in the Leonard area. I ain't seen that guy since he hung out with my brother-in-law back in the early ninties. We met a ton of nice folks and saw some that I haven't seen in years. We watched some great bands play. I can't remember them all but I did see Last train south (great band and nice guys). Saw my old buddies J.D. Cobb & Jay Johnson (both great bands and fellers) My new buddy Steve Ferguson (great band and a really cool guy) Ryan Tutt who's a great singer and a helluva nice guy. I could go on for days, but what I want to mention here is... They raised about $9,000.00ish for the family of Stacie Tutt, and showed the kind of love that the bible talks about. They did this all while partying, acting like rednecks, drinking beer, and not pretending they were perfect people. When you think about what Jesus say's we are supposed to do for others... And when I think about what I witnessed that day, I can't help but think in a way "I Saw God Today!"  10-10-07
Wow, I looked in here for the first time in, well, a long time. I guess I need to dust off my keyboard and proliferate a little (aka spread some B.S.). I've found myself in a strange place lately... I realized that I have lived so far over forty years on this planet. I would have bet, in my younger days, that I would have never lived past my thirties. Guess alot of people understand exactly what I'm speaking of. Then one day you wake up and you look in the mirror, and you see yourself as not so young and hot anymore. Still feel twenty, ok twenty-five. Anyway, you start to think about taking better care of yourself. I have always enjoyed good health. It was just my dumb luck I guess, because I have never gone out of my way to eat right, sleep right, exercise, take care of myself. In the past year, my Dad has retired from our family business, which leaves me with ALL of the stress of keeping a good sized business going and thriving. In trying to deal with said "stress", I've discovered exercise. Yes, I've been running everyday, and you're not going to believe this... IT'S FUN! I've gotten to where I really look forward to my daily run. So far I've participated in two 5K runs in the past few weeks. (5K = 3.1 miles) The first one in Addison (Oktoberfest 5K) I ran in 26:14, then the second one (Audie Murphy Hero Run 5K) I ran in 23:33. It appears that I'm getting faster. It also appears that I'm getting stronger, and a little thinner. One thing is evident, I FEEL EXCELLENT!!! I've got a bit of advice for anyone who's life is so boring that they've found themselves reading this drivel. Go to the top right corner of your screen and start hitting the X's, Turn off your computer, Go outside and start just walking - You can come back in, sign back on your computer, hire my band and thank me later. Wow, has it been a while since I ventured in here or what? I got no great news to share or profound speaches to share. Just thought I'd spend a minute and compose a line or two. 2006 was a great year! We (Randy, Lori, Dan, Basel & I) decided that we would play together, and have fun. Mission accomplished! We only play 26 shows a year, that works out to every other weekend. We only play parties, dances, weddings, etc... Bars & Clubs were not on our list of gigs to get. Nothing against playing the bars, we just don't like playing past midnight, we don't like dealing with management (we like working for the customer), and we don't like ourselves and our gear smelling like a thousand stale ciggs at the end of the night. The concern was that without clubs, you can't stay busy. Well we're living proof that yes you can. For the past 2 1/2 years we've played weddings from someones backyard to the 48th floor of Thanksgiving tower. We've played private parties in the huge Hella Shrine Temple hall to pasture parties on a trailer. We've played theaters, street dances, campgrounds, proms, county fairs, and even the State Fair of Texas. You can have the ladder of success, climb yourself silly! As for me and mine, we'll take the low road and Love every minute of it! Hey "City People" this one is for you! We "Country People" know how much you love Independance Day. We know you love to take your kiddo's out to pop their fireworks. We understand that you live in a cramped and crowded little world where your houses are on top of each other, and you can't even (legally) step out on your front yard and take a leak. We totally understand that you have what you call "city government officials" who want to protect you from yourselves, and make rules that will not allow you to bring fireworks into your own home. We don't really care that you want to load up your smog infested family, and bring them out to the country and pop some good old firecrackers. As long as you are careful not to burn up a hardworking farmer's year of hard labor, or a cattleman's future winter bovine feed. That's a field of wheat, corn, milo, or hay - for those of you who are hopelessly citified! We really don't care! The ONLY problem Myself, and Other Country Folk have with YOU is simply this... Pick Up Your Crap And Take It With You When You Go Home!!!!!! Quit leaving your used up fireworks, trash, beer cans & bottles, and other assorted city crap behind when you leave. You keep trashing our fields and country roads, and before long one of two things will happen. (1) We will start running your sorry asses out of our space, or (2) Our country fields and roads will be so littered up with your "too lazy to pick up after yourself" crap, that it will only be fit for sorry little city dwellers like YOU!!! Class Dismissed! I'm about to take a "bitchin' trip"... I've played in bands since I was about 15 years old. Of course I paid my dues and played in crappy ones for years before I actually got into some good ones. I played some cool places and (as bad as I hate to admit it) made some pretty good money. I hate to admit it because that good money is not in my pocket. I don't know where it went? But that's whole nuther blog page. Back to the reason for this particular post. Almost every show you play, someone comes up and tells you about how they (or someone they are with) play this or they sing there. All of these wonderful musical stories of who they know and where they perform, and the great things they do. Which usually translates to the fact that they sing karaoke at some local bar every week. They would love to sing or play one with the band. If they are so great, why aren't they working tonight instead of here listening to me??? {do you see where we are headed yet?} In my forty (yes I said 40) years on Gods green earth, I have never, lest I repeat N-E-V-E-R, gone to see a band and mentioned to them that I play or sing anything. When I go somewhere, and there's a band playing, I go to watch and listen and let them do THEIR job. If I am worth at least my salt, then I sing and play at my gigs. I should be good enough to get my own shows. I should play and sing enough to keep me satisfied. If I can't do that, that's my tough luck, and I should try harder. It's not the responsibility of the band (who worked hard to get that job) to satisfy some need inside of me to get on stage. If I come and watch you perform, I would rather not get up and sing or play with the band. It's my night off! So before we pass the hat, end this sermon and all go to Lubys, let's recap. If you play or sing, go out and do it yourself. Become independant and get your own gigs. It is possible! Just beware when you do, every Tom, Dick and Tuneless Harry will ask you if they can sing with the band. If you let them, and they mess up the song because the words are not there on the screen in front of them, just lean over and say "It's not as easy as it looks is it!" AMEN! You're dismissed... You ever go see a band who's music is great, but personality sucks? It happens to me alot! I rarely get to see a live band. When I do, I consider it a treat! I love the possibility that I might see something new that I've never seen before. Here's what I've seen lately... I walk in, grab a cold beer, and sit down for a good show. The band starts playing, they are in tune, in time, and sound good. There may even be a person or two on the stage that act like they are having fun. Mostly the musicians are statue like. No facial expression at all, nary even a smile. I want to scream "If you don't like it, don't play!". As if that ain't bad enough, they take a break. This apparantly translates to them "let's go sit at a corner table, and avoid these people." At this point I REALLY want to scream "These people are the ONLY reason you get to play here!" I will never, let me repeat "never" be more than a local picker who likes to play on the weekends. But I will always - Always have a blast when I play, and talk to the people who came to hear a band play. I will never be a huge artist, with millions of fans, but I've played many hundreds of gigs, I've sold a thousand t-shirts and caps, and I've sold thousands of CD's. Believe me it's not my beautiful voice, my handsome face, or my awesome guitar skills (all non-existing), that accomplished that. It's simply the fact that I have a total blast when I perform, and I want everyone there to have a blast too. "Folks, don't take yourself too seriously. Sing like nobody's listening, dance like no one's around, and go ahead and fart if you want to. Life is TOO short not to have fun!" I talked to Vern Dailey today. For those of you who don't know Vern, he's a man I met through the dallas songwriters associaion. If you've read the jackets on both of my CD's, you will recognize the name. We have written several songs together. A very talented lyric writer yes, but Vern is so much more than that. He worked with Jerry Haynes aka Mr. Peppermint for entire duration of the Peppermint show. What's Mr. Peppermint? Well I'll tell you. If you were a kid in the late sixties and early seventies, there was not a lot of stuff on TV for kids. The Mr. Peppermint Show was a local kids show that ran for thirty some odd years, and all the kids around here watched it religiously. Yes, I watched it when I was a little boy. Vern was the Director of the show for all those years. He also was part of the show. Mr. Peppermint had a puppet sidekick by the name of Muffin. Muffin was a ... well I'm not sure what he was. He kinda looked like a "country beaver/dog cross", an acted like he was about 5 years old. He talked like his nose was stuffed up. Have you figured it out yet? Vern was Muffin! He told me that his wife made up puppets sometimes, and he would take them to work and use them for the show. When he took Muffin to the show, the response was overwhelming. Muffin was a hit, and has been Verns staple for many many years. My friend Vern's wife passed away a while ago, and Vern told me that it was very lonely around his place. I think about Vern alot, and wish I had more time to hang with him. Back to the reason for this post... I saw Vern on T.V. the other day. Channel 8 Good Morning Texas. Muffin and Mr. Peppermint were being interviewed. Muffin was hilarious! Funny one-liners, and as quick witted as I remember. I called Vern that afternoon to let him know I saw him. We had a great and comical phone visit. I hung up the phone and thought to myself, This great gray haired man will live forever in the hearts of those of us who grew up with a "five year old, stuffed nosed, beaver dog named Muffin". Thanks for everything Vern, my friend! The Clay Potter Band - Fluffin the covers since 1999. What's up with that? Well it's like this... When I decided to start a band, I wanted to play original music, and cover only the songs that I wanted to cover. The covers that we did, I wanted to play in our own way, with our own sound. I will never have the patience to learn every little ditty that comes out of Nashville. I most certainly will NEVER learn them just the way they are on the radio. If that's what you expect to hear when you go see a live band, then save your time and money, close you eyes and listen to the radio. I like to sometimes make a cover song so different from the radio that it would really piss off the original artist if they were to hear it. The best part about it all is that sometimes they really stink - hence the term - "fluffin' the covers". | Return Home | What's Kickin' | Gig Schedule | The Band | On-line Merchandise | Our Buddies | Picture Gallery | Contact Us | Guest Book | |
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