The End

I wanted to let my friends know that my time drumming with Smokin Joe Kubek Band has come to an end.

A year and a half ago i was given this opportunity through a few miraculous events. I dropped what i was doing and hit the road. My time was well spent. I am a much better drummer/person.

We found a great drummer to take my place. Her name is Ms Morgan and she lives in Dallas. wwwmyspace.com/txdrummergirl I wish her and the band all the best.

I will miss the road and all the great music. i will miss the band and all the great fans. It was the greatest year and a half in my life. I hope i get the chance to make music with them again some day. Thanks to all the fans that made me feel welcome along the way. Fell free to keep in touch.

I am excited about spending more time at home with my beloved Ruby. I am diligently working at my construction company as we struggle in the harsh economy. I am working hard with my local band "Road Dogs". we have 9 gigs booked in the coming months and i am working on keeping us hopping.

35 states, 6 countrys and 150 gigs or so......

I learned a ton in my time with SJK. Most importantly I truly learned a lot about myself.

Thanks to everyone that helped me live a dream. This was a privilege that i was so freely given.

Peace.

Dave K

www.davekdrums.com

Metro Fountain Blues Festival, San Jose State, CA

Backstage with my buddy Jimmie B from Austin. Jimmie is Sonny Landreth's tour manager. We met years ago when i helped Doyle Bramhall on tour. We have kept in touch and I ran into him in New Orleans at Jazz Fest when we were both there helping Doyle again. Great to see you Jimmie. I hope to see him again when Sonny plays at Anthology in San Diego at the end of the month.

Our Green room was in this very cool old house adjacent to the stage on the campus grounds.

This is my view of the 7000 some odd people that were jammed into the central court of the San Jose campus.


This was the 3rd time SJK Band has played at this festival and my first time. We were treated like royalty the entire time. We were greeted in the parking lot by volunteers to help us with our gear and escort us to the green room. The room was stocked with fresh fruit, wonderful cheese and other goodies. Joe and Bnois did a radio interview while I got ready. We had Back line for this event so i only had to use my pedal, snare and cymbals. The show went great and the crowd really seemed to did it. I could not see very far back but it appeared they were grooving. It seemed to go way to fast and then it was over. I really dig doing these huge shows. I watched Sonny Landreth before we left. We saw Koko Taylor getting out of a limo as we left. Robert Cray played after Koko. We could not catch them cause we had to drive strait to Montery to perform on the radio and Internet at Mike Nesmith's Video Ranch Studio.

Bolder Station Casino, Las Vegas NV

Marquee inside the Bolder Station Casino In Las Vegas.
Me on stage signing an autograph on Blood Brothers after the show.

Our head of security, Scottie. He co-wrote 2 of the songs on Blood Brothers
My set list, pocket watch and my picture of Ruby. Her picture gets displayed on every gig.

Well we drove from Dallas to Las Vegas in 2 long days. We had a water pump go out on the morning of day 2. We limped to Bills Radiator in Gallup NM. Nice guys and they managed to get us back on the road by 6:30 PM. I drove us to Las Vegas over the Hoover Dam and arrived at 2:00AM. I slept good. The next day we loaded in to the Casino and had a great dinner in the Buffet. Joe's friend Scottie and his mom Terry met us at the club (they live there) and helped us out a bunch. I have never played in Las Vegas and it was exciting for me. The stage was big and well equipped with great sound guys to help. The room was large and filled up fast. Bolder Station has a national blues act every Thursday night for free. I had a great time and met some cool people. I feel funny sometimes when i meet people that have been following the band for years and tell me about the other drummers. I feel lie a newcomer (i am). We went to Burger King inside the casino after the show and had lots of laughs. I did loose $15 in the casino... Surprise, huh? The next morning i enjoyed the comped buffet again and we hit the road for LA.

Fiesta Heritatage Blues, San Antonio TX

Smokin Joes office. Joint Juice, 800mg Advil, slide bar and guitar.

I got to San Antonio in time for a little rest. Our show was the next night. It felt great to sleep, sleep, sleep. Our show was at the same Venue we played at for the NA convention. This show had back line so set up was a breeze. The rest of the band drove down from Dallas. The show went well except for when I started the wrong song. Oh my God I was mortified. The Blues Society treated us well and the folks dug what we did. We got done at 8:00 PM and drove back to Dallas that night.

Blood Brother's released next week.

SJK overdubbing acoustic guitar in the studio.

The album cover art.

Bruce Iglauer and myself at the console during the Blood Brothers sessions.

Blood Brothers, the new album from The Smokin Joe Kubek Band featuring Bnois King will be released Tuesday March 4th. This is our first album on Alligator Records. I suggested the title "Used Pizza" but it did not stick. The album can be pre-purchased at www.alligator.com/. I am very excited as this is the first real album i have ever drummed on. The album was produced by SJK and co-produced by Bruce Iglauer, Alligator Records owner.I dug working with Bruce and it was cool to get to know this Blues Icon (photo above at console). It was recorded at Audio Dallas by Paul Osborn. Paul is a drummer and he helped me feel comfortable and he knew how to get the sounds we wanted on the drums. I am looking forward to hearing it played on the radio. A friend Nadja called me yesterday to tell me she was listening to it on the radio. I was surprised because i was told it would not be played till the release date. This is another dream come true for me. I need some new dreams....fast. We will have a CD release party in Dallas on March 7th and in Ft Worth on March 8th. We will have a busy April and may touring to support the album. Check our site for a date near you. Big thanks to Joe and Bnois for including me in this project. We will see you all at the Blues foundation Awards and the Grammies..... Hey, new dreams already.

1st Intternational Costa Rica Blues Festival

That's right... Blues in Costa Rica. We just got back and had the honor of headlining their first Blues Festival. The citizens "Ticos" of this counrty are really friendly and i met a slew of Americans that live there. We were taken care of VERY well by the promoters, Moe (above on TV with Joe & Bnois) and Darin (above, always in black with his "daughter" Twiggy). Our security staff was headed up by Roy (tough guy with beer above) and his able bodied motorcycle club. Our TV host was a hoot!!! (above with headband). The opening bands way exceeded my expectations, many musicians being in there teens. One standout Blues Teen was Jose Ramirez, whos band rocked and we had the honor of having him sit in with us (above with Bnois looking on). His family was there and there were all very nice. Moe's band was one of the hifghlights and Moe sat in with us also. I met a dude from Austin that was on the bill with us. His name is Robbie Clark and he lives down there. He called me up to sit in with him on 2 songs and we had a blast (above with me and his bass player). Our set was a blast. The crowd was ready and we gave it to them. The energy was incredible and the language was no barrier. Blues is blues and they tottaly got it. The security had to keep them off the stage. It was a great age mix of spectaters also. The venue was very cool with a great view down to the city lights below. It is a Cuban Club with a great party area and a pool. The bands were on 2 stages, one insude and the main stage outside. They fed us some very interesting Cuban food for lunch. The hotel we stayed at was right in the heart of the city of San Jose. This is a huge city with nearly 2 million people living in this "Central Valley". That is almost 2/3 of the people in the nation living there. It is certainly bustling. Prostitution and gambling is legal theer and there was very nice brothel right next to our hotel. I did get some pricing info but did not go sample the product. There are some interesting non specific gender ones on the street corners also. The people are very willing to help and are very friendly. I took a great tour and met some very cool people including Monica from Bogata and Lisa and Laura from the US. We saw a coffee plantation, an active volcano, a private park with animals and waterfalls and we took a boat ride through the rain forest. We saw a bunch of animals along the way. I can not wait to go back.

The Legendary Rhytm and Blues Cruise

WOW... Where do i start? Roger Naber is a genius? I have been on the cruise as a fan 4 times and this was my first time as an artist. Both are great. Those that have been keeping up know i met Smokin Joe as a result of the October 08, Pacific Coast LRBC, shortly after becoming his drummer. To return to the cruise as an artist is a dream come true (a common theme around here). My wife, Ruby and I have made friends all over the country from the cruises and this time convinced 2 couples from San Diego to come along, Bill and Dyana and Kieth and Bonnie and they had a blast. First i need to tell you that there is a large group of recovering addicts/alcoholics that stick together and have meetings daily. As a recovering addict i can't tell you how helpful this is when you are amongst 1800 party animals (one person was trying to pour it down my neck..haha see photo above). I have been clean and sober for over 21 years and intend on staying that way. Thanks too all my homies that helped on this trip (and for coming to our shows night after night). The ship sailed from Ft Lauderdale and went to Puerto Rico, St Croix, and St Kitts. In case the 70 shows on the ship were not enough there was a blues festival on St Croix. Smokin Joe went and sat in with Coco Montoya. Coco then called Tommy Castro, Ronnie Baker Brooks and Shameka Coleland up. What a thrill for all in attendance. Shout out to Tim and Jennifer from KC and our favorite third wheel Alan D from Colorado. We performed 4 times and i jammed at the all night pro jam almost every night. I think playing on the pool deck for the first time was my favorite. The show in the Vista lounge was different as Joe invited Jimmy Thackery, Tommy Castro and Deanna Bogart to play with us. It was very special. I had a great time having Ruby at all our shows. She is so supportive and i love her so. I also marched in the Mardi Gras parade dressed as Elvis playing my snare. I placed in the top 5 in the Mardi Gras competition. The food was insane and never ending.

I can not wait to be invited back. Thanks to everyone!

The Back Room, Boca Raton

The Back Room is a happening little club. The energy is always intense. The crowd danced and throbbed all night. Thanks! Above are a few of our younger fans. I don't remember their names but it was great to talk to them after. They were with their dad who i have seen here before. Thanks for coming. The staff is always great to us here including the pizza party after the show. Gotta love pizza at 2:00AM. This was sort of a send off for the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise. Many cruises were in attendance including Ilene the cocktail waitress. Thanks also to my childhood buddy Brian A who picked me up and brought a herd of friends and got me a ride to the hotel in Lauderdale to meet my wife. Thanks man. Hope to be back soon.

New Years Eve.......Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise

I am in Dallas right now and we leave for Florida tomorrow morning. We did a show here

on New Years Eve and then i went home to san diego for week. The new Years Eve show was at a club called Pearl. I had a great time the bar was packed and the crowd was really into it. New Years Eve is really the best party night of the year isn't it. I met some new fans Joel and Gigi from Arlington and plenty of the faithful Dallas fans. I felt like the band was on fire and it was a gas to be on stage again. I caught a flight back to Cali early the next morning. I had a great day with my wife Ruby. We have one show in Boca Raton this week and the we get on the blues cruise. I have been looking forward to this for a while. Getting paid to play music in the Caribbean in the winter.... ah huh. Someone has to do it. Check out http://www.bluescruise.com/ for details. It was because of the cruises Ruby and i went on that o got this great job with Smokin Joe. Talk to you soon.....

Year End...recap

Happy Holidays to all my friends and family. Above is a photo we used to send to all our K-Co Construction Company clients. Left to right is my daughter Dalen, my stepson Chad, me, my wife Ruby and my sister Janet. First let me say i do not like the way i look in an elf had and neither did Chad. Second i want to thank these people because they have been impacted the most with me being gone drumming for Smokin' Joe for the last year. They all have been supportive and i love them dearly for that.

This year working with Joe has been nothing like i imagined and an incredible journey. I did not understand how much work is involved getting to and from the gigs, loading in and out. Naturally i only focused on the "glamorous" part the performing. I am used to it ALL now and am totally OK with it. I actually like the long drives and dig looking out the window at our fabulous country going by. I have found that the high of performing carrys me through the work of traveling. The weird thing is i miss being home when i am on the road and i miss the road when i am home. I am truly living in two different worlds and they both are great. I realized all the jobs i have had in my life have highs and lows.

It has been an honor and a privilege to work with this great band and i hope to never forget that. I don't think i can say that any of the gigs stunk at all. They were all great in their own way. Some of the high lights were... My first gig with them in Santa Monica, City Collage in San Diego,Knuckleheads in Kansas City, North American Blues fest in Rockland Maine, Thunderbay Blues feat in Canada, King Biscit Fest in Helena Arkansas, The NA convention in San Antonio, JJ's in Dallas. I could go on forever. Lets not forget 9 dates in 10 day all over Italy. I will never, ever forget the rush of the show we did in Palermo Sicily... WOW. I also had the privilege to work on the new songs and ultimately record the new album. That had been on my dream list for years. The ne album comes out in March and i am looking forward to hearing it on the radio and touring behind it.

I am also looking forward to playing on the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise this January. Ruby and i will have a blast i am sure. I will get to hook up with all the friends we have met in the 4 other cruises we have gone on. I have met people all over the country this year that will be on the cruise also. It will be a thrill to be returning to the cruise as an artist this time.

I an off to Dallas for new years Eve then back to San Diego for a week then off to Florida and the Caribean. I know it a rough job but someone has to do it. Keep in touch, huh.

I want to also thank my wife Ruby for her never ending support of my musical dreams. You are the greatest and I am THE LUCKIEST MAN ALIVE.

Dave K

Hungry Tiger

Hungry Tiger in Manchester CT is great little club. There were SJK fans in the house. I spoke with a woman named Barbara who loves SJK ad will be going on her first Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise this January. the snow on the way down from Maine was incredibly beautiful. The show at the time out Pub in Rockland ME was snowed out but the owner shifted it to the next day and it went very well. Thanks to all the fans that braved the snow to come see us. That is the dancingest club we play at. Thanks again to Sandy and Ted for hosting us at her house in MA, and the Beef Stew was perfect. All our shows in the Northwest were really fun. The crowd at Chan's in Woonsocket RI was incredible. It was Joe's birthday and i had a BLAST. We managed to miss all the ice storms on the way back to Dallas. We took a little different route that paid off. It will be nice to get home to San Diego after all this ice and snow.

North East Tour 12-07

BRRRRRRRRRRRR, Snow wind and rain. I am in Rockland MA. Above is a photo of the van in front of a pile of snow plowed in a Wal Mart parking lot. Our show at the Time Out pub is postponed until tomorrow. The storm is so bad that everything is closed. We are holed up at a nice hotel across the street. The tour so far had us in Angola IN at Skips. This place has major MOJO and i had fun playing there. The next show was at Chans in Woonsocket RI. It was SJK's Birthday. The band was on fire and the house was packed with fans. I spoke with a fan named Steve who is learning to play the drums. He wife Shelly was great also. They stayed for both shows. This was one of my favorite shows in a while. Next was Marlboro MA at Dante's. My childhood friend Joe C and his girlfriend Kelly came. It is great to see friends as i travel around. Another friend from Long Island Ross and Ann came also. Dante's is fun and the food is great. We stayed at Joe and Phylis's friends Sandy and Ted in Fitchburg MA. They are so sweet to put us up and feed us every time we come around. I meet so many great people out here on the road. I miss my home, especially since San Diego is 70and Maine is 30. Actually it is cool to see some snow as long as i don't have to shovel it

West coast tour 10-07

Last month we had the pleasure of touring the West Coast. The list of shows went like this.
Rhythm Room in Phoenix AZ, Cozy's in Sherman Oaks CA, Biscuits and Blues in San Francisco CA, Arcadia Blues Club in Arcadia CA, The Horseman's Club in Sacramento CA, Upstage Club in Port Townsend WA, Jazzbones in Tacoma WA. It was fun for me to play in Phoenix as my friend Steve & Stefinie Dawson cam to see us with thier friends. Steve is a great guy and him and i have always had the same taste in music. In California my wife Ruby and daughter, Dalen came to two shows. At the Cozy's show My friend Ralph A and his family and my sister Janet and her husband Jerry came to see us. I find it harder to play in front of family and friends than in front of thousands of strangers. All the shows were well attended and i had a blast. In Sacramento we did a show with Tommy Castro band. Ruby came to see us and a friend from the Blues Cruise Hiedi Green came. It is always great to see Tommy and his show was a blast. I got to meet Majic Dick from the J. Giels band. I have been a fan since 1972. He remembered the venue in Long Island i used to see them in. Above is a picture of him and i. Alos a photo of my wonderful daughter Dalen with Bnoius and phyllis at the ABC show. I love you Dalen. Also above is a rare photo of SJK playing the Hammond Organ at ABC. I am pictured at the Rythm Room holding my laminated photo of my with that i carry everywhere.

memphis

It was cool to play in Memphis I have driven through many times but never spent time there. I went to Beal Street at night. Not very impressed. To commercial. the best band i saw was a street band. I did enjoy visiting/touring Sun Studios. Wow, that place has mojo. To think of all the artists and songs that were made there.

Kclinger Tavern, Hanover PA

I did not have high expectations for this gig being a week night and being told it was an intimate venue. Joe and the band had played here plenty before. All the touring acts play there also.

We got to load in earlier in the day after a short drive from Carlisle PA. Intimate it is. There is a spot for the band in the main room next to a fireplace. We got set up and checked our sound. We went back to the hotel after a quick trip to the store. We are constantly buying water. It seems we all drink lots of water instead of soda and juice. I grabbed a few other things and then went to the Ice Cream shop next to the hotel. I had been craving ice cream for a few days. It was hot also (95) so it seemed like perfect idea. Wow, this was quite possibly the best soft serve i have ever had. Rita's was the name of the shop and i guess it is a chain. Ahhh, the simple things in life. Speaking of that, a nap after ice cream... perfect! The only problem was the weather was changing fast and a huge thunder storm wit tornado sightings was coming our way. I managed to go to sleep only to wake to the storm over head. We did not get to experience any funnel clouds (good) but we did get hail and rain. We had an early start so we arrived at the club at 7:30 for an 8:00PM start. The parking lot was full and so was the bar. This turned out to be an excellent gig. The people were certainly into what we were doing and many SJK fans had made the pilgrimage. The crowd was totally into it. I had a blast. At the break i went outside to get some air. My drummer friend, Mike N. walked up (photo above). I met Mike on the Blues Cruise in 05. Him and i kept bumping into each other at the pro/am jams. We kept in touch after via e-mail Mike lives in PA and is the drummer for regional act, Nate Myers and the Aces. www.natemyers.com/bios.htm Check them out if you get a chance. It was great to see him and he was very complimentary. Mike told me some of his "Blues" friends were at the Billtown Blues fest and dig it a lot. Some fans helped us load out after we ate. All in all this was a great gig. The next day we drove to the Washington DC area in preparation for our next gig.

I am truly the luckiest man alive.

My Hearts In Texas

Back in Texas. After a week or so at home I am back in Texas. It was great to be home with my sweetie. It was sort of hard to back at work though. Makin music is much more fun. We had a gig in Ft Worth last night at J&J's Blues Bar. I had played there on New Years Eve so i knew what the club was like. We all met at Joe's place at 6:30 to go to the storage facility and head out. Ft Worth is about 30 minutes away...normally. Well a huge storm was bearing down on us. The weather guessers had been prediction thunder, lighting and tornado's. They were right. As we were all climbing in the van after hooking up the trailer the sirens started howling. I have never heard this and it was a bit scary. I later found out the siren means a tornado has touched down nearby. The sky was getting dark. We had decided to head over to the storage a block away and see how it went. At that point Phyllis, (The Voice Of Reason) came out and insisted we get our dumb asses in the house. We did and she was right. Minutes later the sky got darker and darker. We were watching the TV show a satellite image of this huge storm heading right towards us. the lightning and thunder started. Soon the hail came down like golf balls. The power went out n the house and we lit some candles. It dawned on me loading the trailer in this might suck. The images in the house were weird. Strange noises all around including a portable weather radio. I got my lap top out and we looked at a current satellite image. It appeared the worst had passed. Fun's over, back to work. We headed out in the light rain and got the trailer loaded. I drove the van over to Ft Worth. It was quite emotionally taxing as it was still raining and plenty of lightning. A tornado had touched down about 3 miles from the club. I guess a few semi trucks blew over and a store got it's roof ripped off. We arrived safe and loaded in with light rain helping us. The patron started coming in as we set up. We where about 2 hours later than we wanted to get there. Once we launched i totally settled in. We decided to go with the new material on the first set. I felt good about my performance. The place wound up about half full. We were surprised that many people braved the weather. The second set went well also and we had a guest up to sing the last few. The guest vocalist is a very old guy that comes every time Joe is there. It was a cool change of place. After the gig we loaded up and headed back to Dallas. None of us had had dinner so we stoped at Whataburger around 3:00AM and pigged out. The manager guessed we were musicians.. Good guess. We drove back to Dallas and loaded into the storage then to Joe's to unhitch the trailer. Joe then drove me to my suite at Motel 6. I arrived at the room at 4:30 and went to bed at 5:00. A day in the life of a working drummer.

I can tell you i slept really good.

Tonight i went to a few local clubs to check out some music and meet some of the Dallas Blues heads.

and now... Good Night.

New York- Snow

Well we made it to New York safe and sound. I drove a total of 11 hours. I love driving and it relieves boredom. Joe and i talked about a lot of shit in 11 hours. Joe has a permanent seat riding shotgun. Perks of being the bandleader. Originally we planned on stopping at 11:00PM and get a room. We all decided to keep driving to avoid shifting to a different hotel. We checked in to our Utica Ramada hotel at 3:00 AM. I have learned that staying in the same hotel 2 nights in a row is a luxury for touring musicians. I am learning about energy conservation. Every extra move sucks more life out of you. Our show in Utica last night was a blast. This is what adds life back into you. The music to travel ratio is a delicate balance. The house was full and the audience very receptive. The first set was songs we do all the time. The energy was high and the crowd ate it up. The second set we did 13 songs we had never done in public before. These are the songs we are working on for the new album. They where very well received and we where all glad to get this first session behind us. We will be performing them each night if this tour. This is what Smokin Joe calls "Road Testing" the new material. Bnois had commented to the audience how we heard Utica was having a warm spell but we sort of disagreed. It was cold and rainy as we loaded out.
We are 50 miles from New York City. We have a gig tonight in Piermont NY. I am told it is a small but great venue. We have a short drive to Reading PA tomorrow. We are playing a Jazz festival.
I am enjoying my new life on the road but miss my old life. I speak to my wife Ruby twice a day or so. I take the people in my life for granted. I love them dearly. Live life to the fullest today, OK?
Dave K Drums