Rocky Benton Passed Today

Rocky Benton passed away this morning. It was a shock. I first met Rocky in 1981 here in Corpus Christi and over the years I knew him as a great guy with a great sense of humour. He will be greatly missed.
The blind, black harmonica player was a great singer as well as a great harp player. Rocky was the real deal. I think he was the most well known and liked local musician of any I have known.
May he rest in peace.

Corey Jackson Passes Away


Last week Corey Jackson died. Corey was a nice guy and he was a real guitar talent. He was only 25 years old.
It is always sad to see friends and loved ones die.
Musicians seem to die off at a faster rate than many others, if you like some of your local musicans let them know it. Give them encouragement because they help to enrich peoples' lives.
Travel well Corey.

Carl Lewis Died Yesterday


Yesterday came the news that local Juvenile Court Judge Carl Lewis had died of a heart attack. This was shocking news.
Carl was a good judge in a difficult job and he handled it very well.
I knew him in quite a different light. He was also a blues man, a singer and a harp player. He and his band, Carl Lewis and the Dead Beats, have entertained around here for years. Accompanied by lawyer buddies David Bright and Tyner Little on guitars, they were always crowd favorites.
Carl had a fabulous voice and probably would have had a future in the music business should he have dropped his day job!
Condolences to his family and his many friends and to all he had offered a helping hand or who loved his music. Rest in peace.

Drywall Dave Schlabach Passes



I just found out today that one of my best friends died yesterday. Dave Schlabach, who I always called Cheecho, but was more well known as Dry Wall Dave, died in Panama of a heart attack.
Dave and I played music together, surfed together and many other things together for many years and many of my best memories have him in 'em!
He was like a brother and I miss him. Travel well brother!

Rest In Peace Big Daddy

Yesterday I received some sad news. My old friend Gary Ingber, "Big Daddy," passed away this past Saturday in his home of Cocoa Beach, Florida.
Gary was a great guy, loved to play and he was a hell of a guitarist! I loved to play with him and always hoped we would do it again some day. Maybe in the next life...

Freddy Fender Passes
Freddy Fender passed away yesterday. He had been suffering from lung cancer and oher afflictions.
He was a tremendous figure locally and internationally.
He was a multi Grammy winner and had a string of country hits.
Once known as "The Bee Bop Kid" he come out of San Benito in the Rio Grande Valley along the Texas-Mexico border. Freddy Fender had a string of hits and a legion of fans.
May he rest in peace.




In this pic Freddy stands in front of my old Merc Bobcat with my guitar.

Workingman’s Dead: A Review
By Dicky Neely
Note: I recently purchased a CD version of this classic rock album on Ebay. I have bought a lot of music there and they asked me to write a customer review. The following is the piece I sent them.

Released by Warner Brothers Records in June of 1970, Workingman’s Dead was the fifth Grateful Dead album.
It marked a bit of a change of direction for the iconic Bay Area jam band. This eight cut album was more of a studio product with arrangements closely akin to pop, rock and country songs.
It worked well. For the sake of disclosure, I am not a Dead Head. I liked them but this is the only Dead album I ever owned, and is my favorite Dead work.
It may not have the spontaneous energy of most of their albums but the songs are good and one, “Casey Jones,” is my all time favorite Dead song.
Jerry Garcia had this to say about Working Man’s Dead:
"Workingman's Dead was our first true studio album, insofar as we went in there to say 'These are the limitations of the studio for us as performers; let's play inside those limitations.' That is we decided to play more or less straight-ahead songs and not get hung up with effects and weirdness. For me, the models were music that I'd liked before that was basically simply constructed but terribly effective - like the old Buck Owens records from Bakersfield. Those records were basic rock & roll: nice, raw, simple, straight-ahead music, with good vocals and substantial instrumentation but nothing flashy. Workingman's Dead was our attempt to say, 'We can play this kind of music - we can play music that's heartland music. It's something we do as well as we do anything.' "
Cuts: Uncle John’s Band, High Time, Dire Wolf, New Speedway Boogie, Cumberland Blues, Black Peter, Easy Wind, Casey Jones
The Dead were a cultural phenomenon. They developed a huge following of ‘Dead Heads’ and toured continuously during their heyday. Their shows often would go on for hours and their fans, which included a mix ranging from bikers, hippies, blue collar workers, Yuppies and others never seemed to get enough.

Workingman’s Dead;
Jerry Garcia - lead guitar, pedal steel guitar, vocals
Bob Weir - guitar, vocals
Phil Lesh - bass, vocals
Pigpen (Ron McKernan) - keyboards, vocals
Bill Kreutzmann - drums
Mickey Hart - drums
David Nelson - acoustic guitar on Cumberland Blues