Whiskey Haulers: News

June 20, 2006 is the birthdate of the Whiskey Haulers!

Modesto Blues Festival is in the books and what a time we had! The Haulers and Blue Haven brought a bucket of Northern Nevada blues down to the Central Valley and spread it around with style!

The festival was held in beautiful Graceada Park in downtown Modesto. The temperature was tickling triple digits but the blues fans were out. Special thanks to all of you who made the trip down to see us and hang out. We really appreciate all of our friends and sharing this experience with you was the highlight of our trip!

Here's how it all went down:

Joe, Nick, and Brad went down to scout the place out Friday and ended up hitting the town a bit to calm the nerves. Geno arrived about noon on Saturday, just in time to hit the pool at the hotel with the gang. Friends arrived throughout the early afternoon and the party was on!

We checked out Rhythm deluxe and DJ Slate, a couple of fine local bands. Next up was Rene Solis and the Guitar Extravaganza featuring Laura Chavez and Johnny Cat. We didn't see too much as we were preparing to go on stage but let me tell you they were great. Check any of them out if you have a chance!

The Haulers and Blue Haven set up together, and before we knew it, the show was on! We played a short but solid set and had people dancing and shakin' in their seats. We ended with Velvet Elvis and had the crowd dancing, laughing, and singing along. Special thanks to the sound crew as the mix was absolutely killer! Before we knew it, our show was over and we could relax and listen to Blue Haven.

Blue Haven came out and blew the crowd away. Mike, Rich, Funky, and Pat put on the best Haven show I have ever seen and really had the place rockin'. Mike's tone on the harp was amazing and Rich really laid down some serious licks on the guitar! Funky's bass was bumping and the Rev's drumwork was tight! Blue Haven's show really defined them as a professional-level blues band! They would make most headliners nervous with such a strong set.......

Not these headliners!

The Mofo Party Band, just back from their latest European tour, took off like a rocket and never looked back! From Fresno, this was practically a home town crowd and John Clifton had them in the palm of his hand. I won't go into too much detail (Check out my previous posts about Mofo shows!) but Nick shot a bunch of video that should make it to Mofo's site and YouTube. Check it out!

The post-festival party and jam was just as fun as the show. It was held at a courtyard bar close to the show. When we arrived, the Mofo's were on stage and the place was going crazy! Shortly after we arrived, they turned the stage over to the Haulers and we closed the night with some rippin' dance numbers. Thanks to Rich, the house guitar player, and some guy on harmonica for sittin' in. When we finished, there was nothing but smiles all around!

That's what the blues is all about!

Join Angel Kiss Foundation on June 21, 2008 for our Annual Whitewater Raft & Music Festival at Wingfield Park in Downtown Reno from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The park is free and open to the public so don’t miss a thing!

Music
A fantastic variety of bands will be playing all day long. First to take the sage is Kate Cotter, followed by Smokin Joe Banana, Whiskey Haulers, Jason King Band, The Bad Neighbors and Drinking with Clowns. Each band will have CD’s available for purchase during the event.

Rafting
Participants enter a two and a half mile long river race in eight different categories from serious racing to most creative floating device, best dressed crew and the corporate challenge.

Entry fee is $30 for the first person and $15 for each additional team member with up to seven people in a team. Registration begins at 9 a.m. with shuttle service to Crissy Caughlin Park where the race officially begins at noon.

You may register on-line by using the link below, or download a registration form to fax or mail in.

Food & Beverages
Enjoy morning treats including coffee provide by Blind Dog Coffee Roasters,BBQ provided by Vista Grille, micro brews provided by Great Basin Brewery andice cream treats! Each vendor generously donates all proceeds to Angel Kiss Foundation.

Garden of Hope
Tour our “ Garden of Hope” featuring unique flowers created by local children and artists. With each flower purchase you will receive raffle tickets. Over eighteen one-of-a-kind gift packages are available to select from. Each item is generously donated by local merchants.

http://angelkissfoundation.org/Home/Special-Events.html

Thanks to everyone for showin' up and making it a wild night at the Washoe! It was a non-stop party Virginia City Style. We had bootlegger's, bikers, cowboys, tourists, Clampers, Marines, hippies, a wedding party, and even Nick's sister and her crazy friends tearing up the dancefloor all night long! We finally shut 'er down only because Cliff (the owner) had to get up first thing in the morning to watch his son in a motorcycle race. His plan didn't work out because by the time the joint cooled down and everyone went home, he figured it was just easier to just stay up all night long!

Special thanks to our good friend Mike Thompson from Blue Haven for sitting in on the harp. Mike played dirty, he played mean, he played low and he played clean. He fits right in with the haulers!

Big props out to R. Brad for lighting up the lead guitar despite being sicker than a dog and not eating for a day or two. He got stronger as the night went on despite arriving 5 minutes before showtime looking ill. I guess John Lee Hooker was right........Blues is the Healer!

Thanks for hangin' out with us at Third Street for our show and then supporting the blues at the Mofo Party Band Show.

If you haven't heard, the Mofo Party Band show was a great party and a cool way to say thanks to Greg Shanklin, local blues icon and the proprietor of the Third Street Blues Bar. Greg has decided to sell the bar and move on to new adventures.....

The Whiskey Haulers would like to thank Greg for all the hard work over the years creating the finest blues club in Reno. He has also been a big supporter of the Whiskey Haulers since we started on this musical adventure. We've had lots of fun playing and hanging out at the club and wish Greg all the best.

We are hopefull that the new owners run the joint with the same class and enthusiasm for live music!

Thanks to everyone who came up to the Washoe Club to see us on the 8th. It was a great party!

If you missed it, don't miss the Whiskey Haulers live at Third Street Blues this Friday night! We are laying it down funkier than ever so bring your dancin' shoes!

See you there!

Happy New Year from the Whiskey Haulers! We have a couple of new gigs lined up at our favorite local clubs and are putting in new songs to keep it fresh.

Special Thanks to Bob and Rae in Virginia City for hosting the Haulers, Blue Haven, and the Mofo's for a delicious BBQ before the Mofo Party Band show at the Washoe Club last December. Bob and Rae pulled out all the stops! The pork ribs were my favorite as well as the good company!

I think just about everyone made it up to the show as the place was really jumpin! Bill Clifton surprised me by handing me his guitar in the middle of the crowd during his solo. I just about had a heart attack but had a great time playing with the crowd going wild all around me. Definitely one of the highlights of my career! Joe, Nick, myself and Funky, Rich, and Mike from Blue Haven all got up on stage at the end of the show for an all-star jam. For those of you who left early, I gotta tell you it was smokin!

I hear the Mofo's are coming back to Third Street Blues in March so keep your calendar open!

Joe and I were in Texas for Christmas and caught the legendary Pine Top Perkins (Muddy Waters Band) at Antone's (SRV, T-Birds) in Austin. What a show! Pinetop in 94 years old and was signing his latest CD before the show. The band warmed up the crowd and then Pinetop walked slowly up on stage and took his place at the piano. He signaled the band and then jumped into a 90 minute set with all the energy and enthusiasm of a 20 year old! He was absolutely remarkable, singing and playing boogie piano like I have never heard before. It was a great night of blues in a great town! We also caught a local Dallas band playing at the Hole-in-the-Wall. A tiny joint that reminded me of Abby's..... Shoulder to shoulder dancing and good burgers to boot.

In January, Judy and I took a road trip to San Fran with our good friends Mike (Blue Haven) and Kim to see Ron Hacker and the Hacksaws at the Saloon. The Saloon is the oldest bar in San Francisco and has live music every night. The Hack is a local legend and his show is something to see. He played some mean slide on an acoustic guitar from 1930 with a pickup duck taped across the sound hole. His wicked tone and aggressive playing style had the place going crazy. Mike happened to have a harmonica in his pocket and Hacker invited him up to jam for a couple of tunes. Mike played great as expected and won the approval of Hacker as well as the locals! It was quite an honor, as Hacker is not known for inviting anyone up on stage with him! We are trying to bring him up to Reno for a show in the near future.

Brad spent some time in Brasil with his wife Paula and returned with a brand new energy and some say a slight Latin feel to some of his leads. He is ready to rock, Santana style!

Nick has been busy tuning his drums and is learning to play the harmonica. As soon as he is ready, we're going to bring him up front for a song to showcase his talents on the harp and Joe's talents on the drums. Nick has this to say..."It may be awhile!"

Come on up to the Washoe Club this weekend and party with us. We have lots of stories and I'm sure you all do too. Like any old friends, we have some Catchin' Up to do!

Geno

I think it was the summer of 1990, I was a bright young college kid just getting ready for the long drive back to Michigan for fall semester. I had a good job bustin’ rocks at All-Lite Aggregate in Lockwood and had a wad of money just burning a hole in my pocket. I wanted a guitar! I only had one problem....... I didn’t know anything about guitars.

I called up my buddy Jason (King) Roxas because he was the only one I knew that was into the music scene and he agreed to meet me down at Bizarre Guitar on a Saturday afternoon. We looked at a bunch of guitars and I decided on a white Squire Stratocaster and a Peavey Audition 110 amp. The amp was 20 watts through a generic 10-inch speaker and had a clean channel and a distorted channel that really cranked. 100 percent solid state rock ‘n roll joy!

This particular guitar was one of those experimental guitars that Fender was putting out in the 1980’s. The neck was narrower and the scale length slightly shorter than full size. It didn’t have a pickguard and had three toggle switches instead of the normal 5-way pickup selection switch. It had a humbucker and two single coil pickups and you could use the switches to turn them on in any combination you wanted. The neck was really beautiful maple that had tiger stripes when the light hit it right. It had a glossy finish and a dark brown streak on the back of the headstock that gave it some character. The rosewood fretboard and very well constructed with frets that were trimmed and filed as smooth as any custom shop axe. The headstock was painted black and it had knurled black metal knobs. To a 19 year-old college kid with no musical background, this guitar was the bomb! I still have never seen one quite like it.

That guitar made it with me through college in Michigan, moves to Reno, Denver, down to Tucson, and then back to Reno. Without ever having a lesson, I learned how to play Wish You Were Here, Long Haired Country Boy, All along the Watchtower, Jimi’s Star Spangled Banner (kind of), Folsom Prison Blues, Life by the Drop, and a whole lot of other songs I have forgotten and occasionally remember and play again. I’ve played with many good friends and drank lots of beer with that guitar. I’ve put it in the closet for years at a time while my life was taking unexpected turns and twists. I’ve dropped it, sat on it, dinged it, scratched it, and fallen asleep on the couch with it many, many times after playing until the early morning hours.

After a couple years of sitting in the closet while I was sorting life out, the guitar was reborn when I moved back to Reno and took a job working with R. Brad Peters and Marty Ugalde. Marty had drums and would jam with Brad in the basement after work every now and then. I dug out my guitar and my amp and sat in one day after work. Soon we were playing a couple of times a week and the Longhauler’s Band was born! I knew that my little guitar and amp had taken me as far as they could. I needed a high-end rig to play the parties and whiskey bar gigs that we were lining up. So my little guitar and amp were put away once again to make room for the American Deluxe, the Hot Rod, and the Super!

Well, I guess there is an end to every story. A friend of mine at work has a 19-year old son who just got a new bass guitar. She knew that I played guitar and asked me if I knew of where she could get an inexpensive guitar and amp so they could jam together.

Just so happens that I knew of a little guitar that had been waiting patiently for a new home................


Geno

Come on out to Third Street Blues this Friday night to celebrate Geno's birthday! He's aging like a fine bottle of wine, smooth and mellow, never sour!

We haven't played at Third Street in about 6 months so we will be ready to put on a great show. We have added a couple of new tunes and swapped our set list around a bit just to keep it fresh.

Another thing you can do while checking out the 'Haulers is get with Judy to set up rooms and a general party plan for the MOFO Party Band show at the Washoe Club on December 14th. It is going to be the show of the season and should not be missed. If you haven't seen them, check out our website for a review of our April show with those guys as well as a link to their website.

If you dig that old style blues like we do, you won't want to miss this show. They are as fun a band as you will ever see!

Lot's of people have contacted me about getting rooms in Virginia City. I don't know if the Sugarloaf is still open (I heard it wasn't). We have shared rooms at the Ramada before which makes it afforable. If anyone has suggestions, email me and I will send them around.

Join us down on Third Street on Sunday, December 9th for a benefit show for Terrapin Road Bassist Michael Ray who is recovering from a near-fatal health crisis. Join the Haulers and all your other favorite local blues musicians for a night of fun, food, and great jammin' to raise money for Michael's medical expenses.

Thanks everyone for hangin' with us at the Washoe Club in Virginia City. We had a great time and the energy was electric. I have not heard such crowd participation on Velvet Elvis is a long time.

Special thanks to Michael Thompson for sitting in on Harp for a set. He's a real pro and added to the sound of the band.

We had so much fun we ended up sitting around at the bar after packing up our gear. Cliff and Jennifer told us all about the history of the Washoe Club including showing us the bullet holes in the ceiling and big mirror behind the bar. We were so engrossed in the stories and so pumped after the show that we lost track of time. I finally looked at my watch and it was 4:30! Luckily, we had a room for the night but, let me tell you, the drive home the next day was pure hell!

For those of you who have not been out in a while....

There is sump'n brewing down at 3rd Street Blues on Thursday nights. Greg has hired the Blue Haven band to run the weekly blues jam and it is a hit! The bar is comfortably full and hoppin' for a Thursday night. Rich does a great job of lining up groups of players so that everyone gets a chance to shine and the music quality is often (not always) very good.

It's a laid back atmosphere and a lot of fun. If anyone plays an instrument and loves the blues, come on down and sit in and hang out with other musicians that have lots in common.

If you aren't a player, come on down and dance to the best blues you can find in Reno on a Thursday Night.

Check out the new Music section for a couple of original tunes and a video from our last gig at the Washoe Club.

Check back often as we will be adding more pictures, music and videos soon including a separate folder of high resolution professional pictures by Josh!

Congratulations to our very own Nick "Cleanhead" Klaich and his new bride Katie! The two were married in a beautiful ceremony on Mt. Rose. They are going to be in the islands for a couple of weeks so the band is taking a brief break.

The Haulers were all in attendance and particularly well-behaved, I must say. Don't let our respectable behavior fool ya though, we will be back in full force and as rowdy as ever at the Street Vibrations Kickoff Party at Abby's on September 20.

See you there!

Joe and I got some free tickets to the Reno "Blues" Festival last weekend. Mostly R&B acts. Tommy Castro stole the show even though he had strep throat and couldn't hardly sing. He played great and it was good to see him as I haven't seen him in a couple of years.

The turnout was slightly better than in the two previous years and it was more comfortable due to cooler temps and some shade, but the rows and rows of empty chairs, lots of security, and several layers of VIP zones where still there which really ruined the atmosphere.

We had a couple of beers and enjoyed Tommy's show and then bailed early most likely because we were still tired from the all-night party at the Sonora Blues Festival the Saturday before.

I think a couple of the better local bands (Whiskey Haulers!) on a side stage and some regional big-stage bands (MOFO Party Band, Shane Dwight, Kenny Blue Ray, Little Charlie and the Nightcats, Ron Hacker, R.J. Mischo, etc, ect, there are many!......) would fill in the gaps between headliners nicely and bring out more of the local crowd.

I wish the Reno Blues Festival the best of luck in the future and hope it grows bigger and bluesier.

Another weekend off for the Haulers as Nick is busy fightin' fires and rescuing kittens from trees!

Joe and I took the opportunity to head down to Sonora and look for some inspiration at the Sonora Blues Festival. What a time we had!

We rolled in just before the Mofo Party Band went on stage. Midway through the set, John Clifton saw us from the stage and said "The Great Blues Band, the Whiskey Haulers from Reno are here". That was too cool and we had people talking to us all day after that. Those guys are the best! It was great to see them again and they really tore it up and stole the show like they always do.

Other performers included Sonny Landreth, Little Feat, Mick Martin, Shane Dwight, John Nemeth, and Cafe R&B. I was really impressed by Cafe R&B. They are really talented and put on a great show. Bluesier than their name implies. Check them out if you get a chance.

I didn't see anyone I recognized from Reno down there. This is a first class festival that is fairly close to town and in a beautiful location. Next year I am going to round up the troops and get a whole group to go and camp out.

So be ready for next year!

Geno

Thanks for everyone who came out to party with us in Virginia City! We had a hot show on a cool summer night at historic Washoe Club. This was our second show up there and the first one was in the middle of a blizzard last December! We had fun with Cliff, Sherrie, and the whole gang and really soaked up the ambiance of the place.

If you haven't been to a show at the Washoe, you are missing out on a unique experience. The uncrowded atmosphere make it comfortable and fun, the high ceilings make the band sound really good, and the owners, bartenders, and locals are a fun group of characters! There are always folks out on the dancefloor consisting of miners, tourists, bikers, locals, and cowboys all mixed in together! Everyone fits in at the Washoe!

Hope to see you again at the next show and check out the new photos in the Gallery!

Off to Taylorsville this weekend. The best kept secret in the Sierras. This is one fun festival and Kenny Neal is the headliner this year. He is one of my favorites and always puts on a great show! I will give you details when I get back.

Geno

June 20, 2006 may be considered the birthdate of the Whiskey Haulers! On this day, Brad, Geno, Joe & Nick rehearsed for 1 hour, then performed a 3-song set at the Sidelines Bar. The 3 songs were Dallas, Folsom Prison Blues, and Dancing Shoes. Today we're bootleggin' the same blues. Thanks for listening!

Let's have a toast to the next year.

RBrad

The Whiskey Haulers’ June 15, 2007 gig at 3rd Street Blues turned out to be another memorable show. The show was a double bill with Reno’s local Jason King Band – what a great group of guys to hang with! As the story goes, Jason and Geno went to high school together and Jason was with Geno when Geno bought his first guitar.

The Whiskey Haulers started off the show at 8:15PM. Did we forget to say, this was Geno’s bachelor party?! Geno and Judy were getting married the following day. What a lucky guy! In attendance were members from Geno’s family, Judy’s family and some of our closest friends. Another packed barroom!

Besides our usual bootleggin’ blues, the highlight of the Whiskey Haulers’ set was an all-star jam with Jason King (guitar) and Freddie (harmonica). Most memorable was “Big Brown Eyes” dedicated to Judy. During the jam, Geno put down his guitar to dance with the future Mrs. Tortelli while the band was laying down the blues. Geno didn’t miss a beat as he was back on stage to sing the closing verse and chorus!

The Jason King Band closed the night with a fiery 3 hour set of Rock and Blues. Joe played guitar with the Jason King Band on a few tunes because he could hardly stop playing.

RBrad