~ continued ~

Off to the USA

The lure of the States was calling me and in the end it was too much for my brain to handle.

By 1981 I had quit my job, got a six month visa, sold everything and moved to the United States to a place in Denver, Colorado—a basement of a house of a guy I had met on my travels who said I could stay at his pad as long as I maintained the house, a pretty fair deal.

Markrid was upset by this move and came over to try to stay with me. She had relatives and could have gotten residency very easily but again, idiot that I was, I said no. I wanted to go it alone and had to end the relationship. To this day I feel it was regrettably a big mistake. I felt at that time I had to be able to move fast and travel unburdened to find what I was looking for...whatever that was!

Denver Colorado in 1981 was a booming oil town: there were lots of country bands and live music was everywhere, largely due to the "Urban Cowboy" craze that was in full swing at that time. My first thoughts were to get a job. I began exploring the possibilities of me working for an ad agency but on a 6 month visa, that was out of the question.

I found a vintage left-hand Telecaster bass in Wedgles pawn shop on Broadway in Denver, in mint condition, and I bought a Peavey bass mp. I would try my luck on the thriving country music scene. I had been in Denver a good couple of months and nothing was happening, the words of the Regulars’ drummer, Andy "arsehole supreme" Walton back in London, were ringing in my ears "You’ll be back within 6 months with your tail between your legs."

I decided to make another round of the music stores and look for something yet again...the owner of one of the guitar shops told me a Western Swing band were looking for a bass player, their name was "Rage Of The Sage." They were a very talented bunch, the guitar player Bob was really a jazz freak/Joe Pass type genius and the steel player Jim Stahlhut had a penchant for playing John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" on steel guitar! The break tune was "Cherokee" done Charlie Parker style. I managed a few gigs with them, and they were my first American gigs. I remember we played Dillon and Granby Colorado, which were mountain gigs, and a couple of other places.

I was delighted to be playing and I liked the material, which was Bob Wills/Asleep At The Wheel styled stuff with some nice R&B overtones to the music. I found out soon after I joined that the band had cancelled work in Wyoming and had basically split up. So I was back to square one!

Shortly after this, I met a guy called Brett, who sang and played guitar. We assembled a trio and rented a trailer for the gear, along with a drummer (who was really the bass player in a band called "Oak Creek" who had a cancellation that weekend) and we were off on a three nighter in Twin Forks, Colorado.

It went well and led to me meeting drummer John Homerski who suggested we get a permanent project together. He sent for his old army buddy from Pennsylvania, Jeff Michel, on guitar, as we just could not find a dedicated proficient country guitarist locally. Within weeks we had a string of gigs booked and were up and running. This band was called "Payday"—we were a real hot little trio. We all sang and did three-part harmonies; we rehearsed hard to get a big sound. John was an expert booker and I learned a few things from him about "how to do it."

Payday, my first real US Band Country all the way. The real stuff: Hank Sr, Merle, Waylon and Willie.

We had all the work we could handle but I was getting worried as my 6 month visa was getting close to expiring and I would soon have to make the decision on either going back to UK to get a renewal or becoming illegal and trapped in the USA pretty much without being able to return to visit my Mum in the UK. Once your visa runs out, they don’t let you back in if you venture out of the country. Our next gig was in Wheatland, Wyoming—a large country dance–hall on the edge of town.

I ran into a buxom gal called "Sheri" and we hit it off immediately; she was divorced and had a cute young son, "Chad." Very soon we struck up a relationship and she offered me legality by saying she was willing to marry me in order that I could stay in the USA as a permanent resident, also she offered with an option for me to go my own way any time I wanted to should it not work out.

This was all very sudden but after a few days thinking about it I decided to get legal and see how things turned out with this remarkably honest and genuine woman.

Norman Petty

We incorporated our first few days together as man and wife with a band trip down to Portales, New Mexico; a town virtually next door to Clovis. Clovis, as any Rock 'n' Roll fan knows is the place where Buddy Holly recorded most of his hits back in the 50s, under the supervision/production of Norman Petty.

The Payday band were booked for a couple of weeks in the Portales gig and Sheri and I scouted out Clovis and found the studio where this historical stuff took place. I was surprised to see the original sign still on the studio and we took photographs. Sheri had to get back to work, so after she left for Wyoming, I went back to Clovis to track down Norman Petty.

Main Street in Clovis had an old cinema/movie house frontage, with the words "Church Meetings Every Wednesday" on the awning, a window near the old box office said "Norman Petty Productions" and next to it, a door with a bell which I boldly rang. A moment later a grey haired Norman opened the door. I said I was from England and playing around the area. Without hesitation he let me in and we shook hands; within moments he ushered me into his office.

Here I am about to hang with one of the rock pioneers. Behind this door was Norman Petty, the man who recorded Buddy Holly, The Crickets, The Fireballs, String-a-Longs and others.

"Welcome to my mortgage mountain" he said cheerfully, "Let me show you around." The Church notice on the frontage of the building was clearly camouflage for what I was about to see. Inside the cinema was a state of the art recording studio sound stage, the seating area had beautiful red upholstered cinema seats and upstairs in the old film/projection area was a control room resembling the best that "Star Wars" had to offer; all top of the line stuff. Flanking the control room, acoustic custom built separation booths were up there too! During the tour of the building, he said Paul McCartney was here about a month ago and no one in town even knew. I found out later that McCartney owns all the publishing to Buddy’s catalogue; maybe the deal was done right here? Linda Ronstadt was just here last week too!

Back in the office we chatted while he listened to my demos that I had recorded in the UK; my first songwriting attempts. I expected him to be dismissive about them but he let me down easy—very diplomatic! We chatted about the recent Gary Busey movie "The Buddy Holly Story" and he said he did not like it one bit. Hollywood had again distorted the facts but I guess he did not tell me at the time that Buddy only went out on that last tour because he needed the money that Norman was withholding from him to the tune of about $100,000!

I spent about 3 hours with Norman and it was truly a memorable experience. He gave me his business card and I had it in my file for many years but somehow it went astray and of course Norman and his wife Vi Petty who played keyboards on Buddy’s records, notably "Everyday" and "Rave On" are both now deceased.

After our Clovis gig, it was decided by John our bandleader to add a fourth piece to the trio—a guy who played steel, fiddle and guitar, all badly! On top of that he was a pain in the ass and Jeff and I did not like him; or the fact that we were sacrificing our money to pay for this extra guy.

Driving through Lubbock Texas on the way to yet another gig, we drop in to the cemetery, to say hi to Buddy Holly at 6 am in the morning! Jeff thought I was crazy. But he admitted he dug it!

 

Now a duo We became Dave And Jeff and embarked on a 7 month tour. Of the South, and Southwest.

Jeff and I decided to split and we bought a PA system and a drum machine. Now we were a duo; hooking up with an agent, we found ourselves out on the road for a 7 month stint, 6 nights a week all over the South, and Southwest United States playing all the Waylon, Willie and Merle tunes you would ever want to hear at Holiday Inns and Best Western Hotels in places like Lake Jackson, Texas; Grant’s New Mexico Gallup, Albuquerque and Sedona, Arizona.

We spent 5 weeks in Guymon, Oklahoma and also a pretty good stay in Flagstaff, Arizona at the Little America Hotel, where we ran into Chevy Chase. Jeff tried to get him to sing with us but he declined! It got to the point where Jeff and I were leading separate lives and we decided we needed a break. He went back to Pennsylvania never to return though we are still in touch at holiday times occasionally. I split back to Wheatland, Wyoming, and after a short holiday in Wyoming and South Dakota sightseeing, we considered a move to Nashville.

Pat McInerney, drummer with Limey in the UK, had been there for several years as a part of Don Williams' band and we decided to visit not only to see the sights but to see if it would be for us.

It was fun visiting the Country Music Hall Of Fame and especially the old Ryman Auditorium, to stand where Hank Sr., and all the other country music legends had once stood, but in the end we felt it was not for us. I played a couple of solo gigs up in South Dakota as "Dave Andrew" (my middle name) which did not pan out quite the way I wanted them to, so Sheri, Chad and I left Wyoming and moved to Denver and rented a house. I found myself "between engagements" and Sheri went to work for a glass company in the administration offices.

A new experience and I become "The Captain"

One day while flipping the radio dial in the car, I came across an AM station playing jazz, and a little blues; very unusual for Denver. I listened hard; the station was KJJZ AM 1390.

Next thing I knew I was in the office—a trailer house converted into an office right next to the radio mast. I walked into the owner’s office and said "I think I would be good on your radio station."

He asked "Have you ever had any experience in broadcasting?"

I was honest and told him "no."

He replied ‘Well, I like your voice (English accent)—you start tomorrow."

My wage was $850 a month—not bad for 1982—and now I was in radio. Next day I went on the air. I juggled with 2 turntables (all LPs back then) and learned real fast how to cue up tracks and within the first break, the station had many calls—all positive—I was in!

I was the morning man, 6 am till 10 am, then on Saturdays I did a blues show. My boss said "Play what you like, there’s the library, you seem to know a lot about the blues"—an understatement, I feel.

Before long, The Captain’s Red Hot Blues Show was racking up Arbitron ratings. My boss, Denny, had nicknamed me the "Captain" as it sounded English (to him).

While Dj'ing at KJJZ Radio I interview my hero Mose Allison. What a thrill!

I relished my blues shows and got many, many calls while I was on the air, I had advertisers calling to request time on my show, so I was selling a little advertising too! The show was approaching cult status locally, and back then there was little or no blues on the radio or to be seen live in Denver. My birthday was rapidly approaching; I had an idea. Straight Johnsons was a club advertising blues shows on my show, they had successfully brought in The Legendary Blues Band (Muddy Waters' band) for a first shot at featuring some true name acts.

Denny Sheneman was the owner of the club; I approached him about forming a special band to celebrate my birthday, in conjunction with the Red Hot Blues Radio Show. He agreed.

I mentioned on-air what was going down and I was looking for players. Trombonist JD Kelly called and said he had a complete band, with horns, waiting and ready to go.

I checked em' out; "they will do," I thought. The only thing was, we had two bass players—me and this amazing character called "Ludwig," who sported a large waxed moustache.

I decided to retain Mr. Ludwig on bass and fake it on guitar with the three chords and two Chuck Berry licks that I knew. I was now a lead guitarist and a bandleader of a 7 piece blues band!

On the evening Of June 13th (my birthday gig night) I arrived early at the club and took a nap in the basement. One by one the band members arrived with all their stage gear—we had decided to dress the part as well as play the music, so we were togged up to the max.

I sleepily went upstairs to the club and my jaw dropped, the place was packed with folks waiting to see this "Captain" guy, and there were lines down the street! My show had a bigger audience than I bargained for! My boss Denny had declined my suggestion that we put up the radio station banner behind the band to promote said radio station. Denny’s secretary, Susan called him up "You’d better get down here and bring that banner—the place is packed!"

As soon as we hit the stage the energy was electric. Our first gig could not have gone better! I decided to keep this band intact and before you know it, we were gigging 7 nights a week, all over the front range with our new manager, Brad Miller, taking care of our business and our bookings (while also stealing agency commissions to pay for his drug habit). We had a great agent; Paige Fraley, but after Brad Miller suddenly left town we found he had not paid Paige and we owed thousands in back commission.

This was resolved by gigging harder and paying double commission till we were all squared away. The press were our best friend at this point; we were everywhere. The Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post did regular features on us and the weekly Westword Magazine gave updates on the "Captain's" activities in most every issue. Eventually, I could not get to work at 6 am to be on–air in the morning as I was finishing gigs and driving back from 6-nighter mountain jobs every night and getting about 45 minutes sleep before going on the radio each weekday.

The gigs were flying in; we cut back to 6 members and we were packing them in everywhere we went. My boss at the radio station had become very hostile since the band's success and he was very patronizing  and intolerable to work for.

I got my last paycheck, cashed it, then left the airwaves…but not forever. Twenty-three years later I would be back on the radio!

The next three years were a haze of craziness.

The Captain’s Red Hot Blues Band were to get really popular in the ski areas of Colorado.

On any given night, say at the Red Lion in Vale, you would see celebrities like Tom Cruise hanging out. One night I got off stage, a blonde guy with long hair and a beard in a Southern accent said "Ya’ll sounding good up there. I’m Greg." It was Greg Allman shaking my hand.

The classic line-up.

One night Jorma Kaukonen of Hot Tuna & Jefferson Airplane/Starship fame got up to jam with us. Someone had provided a guitar and an amp. He was pretty well high on the booze. He said to me, "What shall we do?"

I said, "How about, 'I Wish You Would'? " (from one of the Hot Tuna albums).

He said, "You sing it." So I did.

The Captain gets down on guitar.

Dan Fogelberg & Joe Vitale, the drummer, & Kenny Passarelli, bass, kept showing up everywhere we played. Fogelberg insisted on playing "Crossroads" with us on his Les Paul. Fogelberg doing "Crossroads"? It sounded pretty darn good! My bass player needed some time off, so I asked Kenny Passarelli to stand in with us for a week. (He was Crosby Stills & Nash, Elton John’s & Joe Walsh’s bass player at that time.) He said, "I’ll do it," but insisted on playing upright bass. Kenny is about 5’1” tall. It was quite a site to see him banging on this huge bass. He worked for our pay scale and did the whole week. We had a ball!

One night, I noticed a guy in line at the door of Linden’s club in Fort Collins. The doorman said no one can come in, we’re full. It was Leon Redbone with his huge nose pressed against the glass waiting to get in. The doorman, of course, did not know who he was.

Albert King was also at Linden’s one night, checking out the band. He was, of course, dressed to the nines in a light blue, shark skin suit, with the signature pipe sticking out of his mouth. He said, "Ya’ll sound great, but you need to slow it down."

We picked up a new manager, Charlie Dee, a full blooded Native American with a gammy leg (he claimed a bull fell on him). He was an ex-Marine and on his first night with the band beat up 3 college kids in the parking lot who made the bad judgment of trying to touch his pigtails!

Captain and the Red Hot Blues band back Bo Diddley Blue Note Boulder June 1985.

We backed Solomon Burke, Bo Diddley (on several occasions), Rufus Thomas, opened for Dr. John, Albert Collins, Koko Taylor, Big Twist And The Mellow Fellows, and many other name blues acts of the day.

By now the party lifestyle and the overall success of this band had spawned an elevation of egos which were beginning to take it’s toll. JD was vying for leadership of the band; I decided to draw an imaginary line in the hotel room "Alamo style" on the floor at the Copper Mountain resort to get it settled once and for all.

"Those who want to go with JD stay on this side those with me cross over"—all but the drummer sided with me. I replaced the drummer and JD and Paul Benkelman (a.k.a. "Mandrake") came in on trumpet and keyboards. Charlie Dee was long gone and we were a nice stripped down 5-piece, now named "The Captain And The Red Hot Flames" (after James Brown’s group).

The music was a lot funkier than the blues band but we still constantly "tore it up" on an even higher level than before. We released a red vinyl EP, Can Your Monkey Do The Dog, followed by a live cassette-only release, Housewreckin Live (cassettes sold pretty good on gigs).

Visit back to England 1984 to see my mum. I would see her for the last time in 1986. On a not too pleasant a visit...by the time we had made-up, and I had planned to visit again in 1988, she passed 2 weeks before my trip. This picture taken in 1984 in WEM, Shropshire at her house...a brief break from the hectic pace of gigging with The Red Hot Blues Band.

And Rufus Thomas too. June 1985.

Wacky Flyer to have fun with. We gave these out by the thousand! It seemed to work!

We were voted "Best Blues Band In Denver 1985" by Westword

I was presented with this Pink Turban by writer exrtaordinaire Robin Schotzinoff of Westword. Photo at the old Mercury Cafe on Washington St.

Paul Butterfield

One wintry day in the mid-80s, probably '86, I got a call from one of the guys (Keith Murdoch) from a local band called "The Rockin’ Rudolphs." They were a Santa-themed band and formed only to play national holidays.

They had a Christmas record out with a variety of artists contributing tracks.

Paul Butterfield

Paul Butterfield was featured on the album doing "Merry Christmas Baby," the old Charles Brown classic. The man behind this was Lon Van Eaton, whose claim to fame was having 2 records released on the Beatles' Apple label years before. Van Eaton was bringing in Butterfield for a couple of shows, would I be into augmenting some of my players with 2 of the Rudolphs guys to back him up? Yes!

I was very enthused. We rehearsed for about a week; a list of Butterfields tunes was given to us and I remember driving every day through snow and ice to get to the rehearsal place.

Finally the big day arrived and we assembled at Boulder's Coast—a real nice big room off Baseline Road in Boulder (it is now a fitness center I believe).

Enter Paul Butterfield who clasped a large tumbler of brandy in his hand, and staggered onstage to do the soundcheck.

He immediately fired Mark Bliesener, the drummer. Mark was the guy we had counted on to do all the count-ins and cues for the show.

As Mark packed up his kit, Butterfield wandered off stage and I went over to Van Eaton to tell him to get Butterfield to stop drinking and ask him where are we going to find a drummer?

People were beginning to arrive for the show. The next thing I know Butterfield walked up to me and got in my face.

"I hear you say that I’m DRUNK?"

I took a step back. I said "Well?"

"YOU COCKSUCKER" said ol’ Butters.

I turned to the stage, got up there, and told my guys to pack up—we were gone.

It was quite a sight to see the band leaving the venue as people were arriving for a show. I heard later that they sent down to the local music store and the staff had formed some kind of band to back him; it was a disaster.

Three months later, Butterfield was dead. At that time I thought there was something wrong with him, his complexion was kind of olive green. It was no surprise that he passed soon after. I heard later that after he lost his wife and was having a hard time coping with it, that is when his deterioration began to set in.

He is still a hero and I still listen to his wonderful stuff to this day. He had a real unique approach to the harp. I learned recently from another harp player more knowledgeable than I, that he was originally a flautist, which may account for his way of phrasing things and his fat tone.

In 1988, Sheri and I had split up; my Mother suddenly passed about two weeks before I was due to visit her, which resulted in a 4 day whistle stop visit to UK for the funeral. There were some more personnel problems mounting in the band.

This was a very sad time for me indeed but I felt that my Mum would want the show to go on. I experimented with all sizes of line–ups; at one point we toured the midwest as a 6 piece, a two guitar line–up: myself and Kelvin Daley along with Larry Lorraine on bass, Travis Lorraine on drums and Washboard Chaz, with Sonny Gunn on sax, the only survivor from the Red Hot Blues Band. A definite New Orleans feel had crept into the band and I decided to pare it down to a 4 piece. We released one more 45 as "The Captain And The Red Hot Flames," a Tony Joe White tune "Garter Belt" and a Rockin Sydney tune "They Call Me Rockin."

The Alleygators

I changed the name yet again to just "Captain" for awhile; it appeared the name Captain was played out. Utilizing the Louisiana feel that has developed, I came up with the name the "Alleygators." It seemed to do the trick. We were just making a name as the Alleygators when on a night off, I went to see the Dynatones who were passing through town. The Dynatones were a Warner Bros. recording band and they sounded great. I got to talking to Walter Salwitz, the drummer/bandleader and mentioned we were playing at Regis College the next afternoon; they all came out to see me. I was offered the job of guitarist with the Dynatones which meant I would have to move to San Francisco. I wasn't too happy the way things were going with the 'Gators and not too happy with my current girlfriend, Alita. I saw this as an opportunity to "Get Out Of Denver" so to speak and elected to move. Alita said "I know things are not great between us, but I want to move to San Francisco too"...so we both went.

My tenure in the Dynatones was brief. Who wants to work for Hitler?

The Dynatones and my new last name "Booker"

San Francisco was totally different to Denver, the sea air was great but I found it very cramped and expensive to live. The Dynatones schedule was grueling as we criss-crossed the US and Salwitz turned in to a Hitler figure. We played Buddy Guy’s "Legends" in Chicago (Buddy was there watching me at the edge of the stage, oh my God!), Milwaukee Fest with Robert Cray with The Memphis Horns, and the Fabulous Thunderbirds.

I had been known by all up to this point in Denver as "The Captain," but the Dynatones decided that my last name Bowker should be changed to "Booker" as, I guess, it sounded more R&B-ish to them. I went along with it. Hell, they were signed to Warner Bros. I have been David Booker professionally ever since.

After recording several tracks for their new CD, Chopped and Channelled and also several tracks as back up for Sir Mack Rice’s CD Right Now (Mack wrote "Mustang Sally" and "Respect Yourself" plus many others), I was unceremoniously fired.

The Alleygators...again. Snappy Rock ’n’ Roll, with a swamp chomp!

Formed just before I joined the Dynatones, the Alleygators rose from the Swamp again when I returned to Denver for another 7 years. As a duo trio, and a 4-piece band. L-R: Sonny Gunn, sax (last survivor of the Red Hot Blues Band/Flames) and Eugene Smith on cocktail drumset.

I stayed in San Francisco for a few months gigging and scraping a living with pick-up bands on North Beach, mainly led by an amazing character called "Perry Welsh," a former Elvin Bishop sideman. I then decided to move back to Denver. In the 18 months I’ve been away I have driven across nearly every state in North America!

1991 saw me back in Denver, my tiny house on Pearl Street had been rented while I was away and my tenant, of course, has trashed the place. I scrambled 5 grand together and assumed a loan on a house on S. Franklin St. where I will live up until 2003.

I finally evicted said tenant, cleaned up the place and tried another tenant on S. Pearl Street. It worked...for awhile. Back on the music scene I hooked up with Sonny Gunn and decided to give the 'Gators another go, both as a duo and a band when there is a budget for a 4-piece.

We recorded some hot band demos, which got us accepted as semi-finalists in the KLON talent search in Los Angeles. We flew out to LA and came in as runners–up; a guy called Kevin Moore won. He is now known as "Keb Mo." This lead us to release an Alleygators CD, as a duo with guests, called Rockin Rhythm And Blues.

We released it in 1993 and were pretty busy as a guitar/sax duo, with occasional trio/four piece gigs. I coined the phrase "Snappy Rock ’n’ Roll, with a swamp chomp" to describe the 'Gators' music.

I had been dating a girl called Vera since I got back from San Francisco, meeting her through Alita who had elected to stay in San Francisco. We decided to take a vacation down to Memphis, New Orleans and all points in between, including Sun Studios, Graceland and all the spots in the French quarter in New Orleans.

Our relationship, which had been strained to say the least up to this point, was not enhanced by this trip. We were engaged at this point to be married but in one blazing argument in an Indianola, Mississippi hotel room, rings were taken off fingers and thrown around!

There is an existing picture on our trip, of me standing by the graveside of my hero, Sonny Boy Williamson. It shows that I was clearly not a happy camper due to an exchange of words just before the picture was taken! It was that kind of vacation!

Shortly after we got back to Denver, Vera and I parted company. I got an offer to go down to Florida with Sonny as a duo, so we went down for a few weeks in February.

The O.J. Simpson trials were on the telly and it was cold in Florida—even the pelicans were wearing wooly hats! We looked at the weather in Denver, 70 degrees, and laughed at the fact we came to Florida and froze our asses off! We played mainly on Marco Island at the Snook Inn but also did gigs up the West Coast of the state. Back in Denver, I was living quite happily alone for the next two years. As 1995 approached, we decided to do a second CD, with Eugene Smith on Cocktail Kit and Mark Diamond on Upright Bass—mainly original stuff. It was called Mojo Alley after my beloved dog Mojo who I had picked up in California; it turned out great. The best tracks from these two cds are available from this website as Chomp, the Best of The Alleygators.

I acquired an address in Holland of an agent from drummer Tony Black, and sent over promo and music samples. The agent loved it and set up a tour for me and Sonny as a duo. Almost simultaneously, at this time, I had been I touch with my old pal Rod Mayall, from the Ivan's Meads days, in Manchester, his family were planning a ski trip to Denver, and I invited them to stay with me for the duration of their trip. While over here Rod played a few gigs with us on keyboards, which resulted in myself and Sonny kicking off our first European tour in the UK, playing some reciprocal dates in the Chesterfield/Nottingham area that Rod had set up with his rhythm section, which was augmented by Sonny and myself. After this we flew on to Holland for our first gigs there, overall the tour was a big success, and it was followed by a second tour with Sonny in 1996.

Playing in Holland with Washboard Chaz 1996-7.

The call came in for another trip to Holland, so I took Washboard Chaz with me as a duo; we had a lot of fun. This became the most enjoyable trip of them all, even more so than the next one, which I played with Steve, an American living in Holland—who set up a couple of nice additional band gigs on my fourth and final trip in Dec. 1997.

I had again gotten myself involved with another girlfriend/woman, Julie Reynolds, later she would take me for thousands of dollars in the common law wife trap that I unwittingly let happen to me.

I started to record again and booked four hours at Steve Weist’s studio, with Ben Makinen on percussion. We had been doing some duo gigs and it sounded good; I wanted to capture what we had.

Originally available on cassette only with 12 tunes titled Six Pairs Of Bloomers in 1997 I put this 10 track version out on CD and retitled it O Brother, I'm Here! in 2000.

We set up facing each other and the tape rolled; four hours later we had more than enough tunes—all done live on my acoustic with live vocals, no overdubs except for Steve’s trumpet on one track. Next day we mixed it in another four hours. It first came out on a limited edition cassette, and I still feel that it is the best thing I have ever done. It is now available as O’ Brother I’m Here on CD and I can’t give 'em away! This is a strange business.

Two cool things happened over the '96/'97 period; an Alleygators line–up opened for John Mayall at the Boulder Theatre and the hastily assembled 4-piece wowed the crowd at the Ogden Theatre in Denver when we opened for Los Lobos...quite a memorable night. We got paid $75 for all of us on this one! Round about this time, Steve Weist moved his studio to bigger premises; more recording, a solo CD this time—Take Out Your False Teeth Mama—had a Folksy Americana/acoustic flavor to it and had special guests Mary Flower (dobro) and Charlie Provenza (mandolin), among others. I played kick drum one-man-band style on a few tracks and overall it came out pretty good. While in the middle of the sessions my old pal Ric Adams from Grand Slam and my Muswell Hill London days in UK called me, and said he’s coming over for a holiday. I said "fine, you can mix my album!"

Pictured with John Mayall backstage after we opened for him at the Boulder Theater 1996.

Live Swing/Jump Blues cd 1998

A couple of the tracks on the CD were in the swing mode. The Neo Swing Scene literally exploded within the next few months. I saw a musical similarity to the old Red Hot Blues Band and hastily assembled The Swingtet. I assumed the name "Mr. David Booker And The Swingtet" to give it a more old timey/George Melly feel and the gigs started pouring in. A trend emerged and swing weddings became extremely popular which led to us becoming the darlings of the wedding AND club circuit. I entered one of the most productive and busiest periods of my career thus far. The band was decked out permanently in vintage zoot suit style gear and life was good. We played a concert with the Woody Herman Alumni Orchestra in downtown Denver, and the Blues And Bones Festival in Denver 2 years in a row. We recorded a live CD at Trios Enoteca on the Colorado Sound Mobile in 1998. Cowtown Jive was released in mono after a really bad stereo mix down by the Colorado Sound people, overall not a bad CD, though now long out of print! The Swingtet started gigging all over the place, almost like the old Red Hot Blues Band/Flames days, we opened at the Fox Theater in Boulder for the New Morty Show; a name act from the West Coast. 9th Avenue West was a trendy swing club, and we were featured there often.

I bought a tenor sax and started playing sax again on a couple of tunes, during each set with the other sax man. Due to work being so plentiful, I found I had a budget to start advertising in glossy wedding magazines, like Modern Bride, which brought in more business.

Suddenly the infamous and fabulous 9th Avenue West closed and re–opened as a Salsa disco but the swing trend showed no signs of slowing down, especially on the wedding and corporate scene. There were one or two setbacks; Snakebone Martin proved totally unreliable due to a drug habit, and I decided to play bass and pare down to a 4-piece—tenor sax, piano, bass (me) and drums; we recorded a neat little CD called Now Booking.

I managed to play guitar on three cuts, and we released it. I started playing upright bass and doubling on bass guitar, but a lot of folks told me to go back on guitar. The sax player was drinking so heavily that he could not play the heads, so I found another upright player and got back on guitar again.

My main income now was corporate stuff and weddings and my life with the aforementioned Julie Reynolds was not working out.

I had made the bad decision to let her move in my house with her teenage daughters and it was not a happy arrangement after a couple of years. I felt I had to get her out of my life. Our lifestyle included us not talking for up to 20 days at a time and it was a tough existence.

About this time I met a swing dancer, Danielle, and it was obvious we've both had experiences with the wrong partners. After getting to know her just a little bit, I fell madly for this beautiful woman. I finally got down to the nitty gritty with the Reynolds and, of course, it was deemed I was in a common law marriage situation, according to Colorado Law. I had never heard of this, did we have this in England? In order to get this over with, I had to cough up the dough, $27,500 (plus $10,000 for a lawyer) and pay up as if we had been really married, though not before a couple of days in jail (me) and lots of lying (her) to the police, plus at least two temporary restraining orders against me going into my own house. That’s American justice folks! It was a bitter blow, especially as she had asked me to let HER move in my house with HER kids as HER landlord was doubling HER rent. Boy, have we heard that one before or what?! But this was not the last time I was to be taken for a sap; read on.

The swing scene at this time was getting quieter, although the Mercury Café in Denver—a bastion of freedom of expression, art, poetry, and music—was still doing two nights a week of swing with a DJ on Tuesdays and live bands on Sundays (thankfully I’m still on the roster in 2008). I watched closely as the swing trend declined and I decided it was time to do more variety stuff again, along with the swing stuff, and this proved to be a good move.

The world was shaken by the attacks on the New York Twin Towers and since then the whole scene has been affected. Gone is the corporate scene and the big budget weddings are non-existent right now. I am back in the clubs and restaurant scene again doing solo, duo and trio gigs; occasionally there is a budget for a 4-piece, but it is definitely a mix and match situation with personnel these days.

Without getting too political, a 5th year war in Iraq has not helped the nation’s economy and while we continue this expensive government decision, the arts and music are suffering.

Danielle and I had our first daughter Athena 7 years ago and our second, Jasmine, 5 years ago. We have been married for 7 years as of 2008 and been together for almost 8 years. Like I said I was hoping that this would be a "They Lived Happily Ever" after ending but not for David Bowker. Like I previously mentioned, I have been taken for a sap once again.

Thank God for my ability to improvise both in music and in life.

In October 2007 I had the honor of being chosen to do a week of Blues in Schools in the Denver area, with visiting presenter, world famous harmonica player and blues lecturer Billy Branch. We became firm friends.

Playing with Dan Treanor has always been fun. Now I'm incorporating him on more and more gigs, we have formed a partnership, and having a great time playing music together.

David Booker and Dan Treanor 2008.

As we get into 2008 I record this CD with Dan Treanor. A World/African approach to the blues.

A special thank you to webmaster Paul Mlynarz of ManchesterBeat.com for inspiring so many Manchester musicians to get off their duffs and tell their story. The text of this article originally appeared on the Manchesterbeat web site. Paul can be contacted at paul@eastgippsland.com Most of the materials here are from my personal archive, but I would like to thank everyone who contributed, and submitted essential tidbits to further enhance this story. David Bowker