I just noticed the calendar on the main website has not turned over to the new year for whatever reason. So, I thought I should tip you off as to who is coming in this week for a Tuesday through Sunday run: Chad Bradford and the Damn Band.
As some of you know, Chad was the opening band for Billy Currington when we had Billy down here for three nights this past April.
And if you remember, Chad's band of aces, The Damn Band, were Billy Currington's stage band too . . . that's how good the musicianship is when Chad brings a band to town. (See the Billy Currington video on this blog down a bit further. That's Chad's band playing behind Billy Currington at that huge Mallory Square show).
I don't know what Chad is up to at the moment as his website is being re-constructed. However, Chad's myspace.com page seems to be okay, so here's the link for you who've never seen or heard Chad and his band Be sure to listen to some of his song samples on myspace, many of which we play all the time at Cowboy Bill's and Cowboy Bill's reloaded:
Scarekrow News
I talked to Bo Allen today. Scarekrow is playing up in frigid Minnesota at the moment, and they are ready for a trip to Key West soon. The big news is Bo and the boys are going back into the studio with a five star producer, a guy who has worked with Michael McDonald (Doobie Brothers), Rascal Flatts, and so on.
Bo is telling me he's got a new song written which both he and Kevin Rawlings (lead guitarist for Scarekrow) are hot to record. It's called "Tired of Being Gone" and I can't wait to hear them do it live on our stage when they get here.
Bo's excitement was palpable over the phone and we discussed how the band has made giant steps recently. Scarekrow is one of the most organized bands behind the scenes when it comes to promotion, accounting, traveling, etc., and to watch these guys get even more pumped about their music, well, I'll just say, I'm putting my money on these guys breaking Nationally sometime soon.
At this point in my young Cowboy Bill's career, I can think of a half-dozen bands who've got self-written material that you keep requesting in our DJ Booth, and all it takes is to get some of this music played on national radio stations before one of these bands make it to the big time.
So, I'm watching what Scarekrow is doing, very closely. I think this new album they are going to work on (I won't discuss the cost, but it's a healthy, big hunk of change to work with this all-star producer) and knowing how great the songs are off their eponymous CD "Scarekrow" (some of which will be recut for this first big time studio production) , I know that Bo, Kevin and the rest of the guys in Scarekrow are more than ready to put a Top Ten song out there on Radio. Again, all they need is airplay. And I think these boys have got their shit together (excuse my French).
When I think of all the great singers who've hit our stage this past year such as Kyle Jennings, Chad Bradford, Chas Blakemore, Bo Allen, JT Curtis, Craig Boyd and so on, I think about how much of a toll road travel takes out of a guy who has to leave a gig up North after more than an hour of packing, then driving 20 hours to Key West, arriving a few hours before the first show, and then jumping on stage to give their all.
There are many a nights where I've worked all day and I come in to Cowboy Bill's out of gas, I mean, below "E", and suddenly one of these great bands I'm referring to above kicks into gear and takes me to another place where there's laughter and energy in abundance.
I'm a DJ, but I tell you, folks, there ain't nothing like a crack band playing live music, especially a band which has written some great songs and mixes them in with some old standard country songs. At Cowboy Bill's, we have excellent bands and singers in abundance. Your support of them is most important to their careers and to their shows.
I know we have a load of Chad Bradford and Scarekrow fans in Key West. So you better drop in this week for Chad, and prepare for Scarekrow in late January.
Never been a better time to book a room in Key West in the past 10 years!
For you out of towners here's a tip: Key West is going through a Tourist Recession, i.e., when it comes to American visitors. Because there was so much overbuilding recently of condotels during the Housing Bubble, and because so many rooms which were being renovated and off the books last year are open for season this year, we now have bidding wars for lower and lower room rates.
Here's an example: the Santa Maria luxury condotel, when it first opened (and out of season at that) had rooms going for $440 a night. Last week, during season, you could get these same top end rooms for $245 a night. Tonight, the average price is back up to $334 a night. Prices rise and fall with demand.
Now, if you check the follwoing website daily . . . hotels.com . . . you'll see room rates fluctuate as vacancies make hotel managers sweat and they'll do anything to fill those rooms; hence, when fewer people book, more hotels go online and play low bid war games.
To give you guys a feel for how crazy low the prices have become I am typing in the same parameters for a one week stay in Key West.
I told the hotels.com shopper bot that I want to arrive tomorrow, Monday, and stay Monday through Sunday.
I wanted a one bedroom for two adults.
Okay, here's the link, and please notice how many rooms can be had right now, today, at less than $200.00 per night. Ready?
To do this on your own, go to hotels.com. Then type in Key West's zip code. Then type in when you'd think about coming down. Then watch the hotel rates materialize right before your eyes with eye popping discounts I haven't seen since the mid-1990s.
There are many rooms at many different hotels and guest houses for less than $200 a night now, something which many unemployed Realtors thought would never ever happen again in their lifetimes down here.
One more tip: after you see what the hotels are asking in their bidding wars on hotels.com, you could then go to priceline.com and bid those prices even further down to where your pocketbook can afford a vacation. This will take a little more of your time, but then again, there are rooms open all over town . . . in season . . . and hotels do not want to have vacancies.
So, if you live in Miami or Naples or Tampa, and you love Chad Bradford, make a weekend of it next weekend or this coming week. Play hooky from work. Go to hotel.com today and find rooms that cost 50% less than they did just a year ago. And by the way, these prices don't even include the extra discounts you might get with an AARP card or other discounts you might get with AAA or American Express.
Come on down. The weather is gorgeous (I got my sliding doors open with a fan on the porch pushing fresh night air into the condo), the fishing is outstanding, and at Cowboy Bill's, we're locked and loaded with great talent on stage and with great staff behind our bars, on the floor and at our doors.
Get here soon, we'll make sure you have another great time at Cowboy Bill's.
Rowdy, over and out
p.s. For some reason, the formatting of paragraphs is not working correctly tonight via blogger, my hosted blog location. I apologize for the no breaks between paragraphs here at the end, but the message contained within is too important to not pass on tonight.
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