OK – Saturday night August 16, Rivers West is in the big middle of Denton’s Annual Elvis Night On The Square, on the courthouse lawn, 6:30 prompt. We are backing a VERY entertaining and talented performer, Mr. Joe Fritz. Because our friend Joe is not an official, credentialed, sanctioned, card-carrying Elvis Tribute Artist recognized by Elvis Presley Enterprises dot com incorporated, Rivers West has become the official headliner for the evening, and we have learned to live with this responsibility. So…
Eagles, and Elvis? They both start with an “E”….
Eagles, and Elvis? Was Elvis even still ALIVE when the Eagles hit it big? Someone will check on that…
Eagles, and Elvis? The King probably was a big hero of the Eagles… Elvis was EVERYBODY’s hero!
Eagles, and Elvis? There’s a big Eagles concert coming up at the American Airlines Center…
Try as we might, a smooth and clever explanation of how our faux Eagles Concert tribute fits in with Elvis Night is just not forthcoming, so we have to go with the plain old TRUTH!
We gladly agreed to become the TCB Band (and Jordanaires) for the evening – Joe Fritz really is excellent, we love Denton, and this will be a blast. But also, selfishly, we’ve always enjoyed playing on The Square, and since it’s a good bit of effort to set up our equipment – we pressed to play some of OUR music before The King shows up, and we wanted to do something a little different. So, instead of a variety of classic rock, or our Beatle show, or our Beach Boys set – we decided to do an Eagles Concert, and figure out how to rationalize it later! This elusive rationalization never materialized, but we’re doing it anyway! So, come and enjoy…
6:30 pm – EAGLES CONCERT by Rivers West
7:00 pm – ELVIS!
Both concerts are FREE, all Rivers West friends (and Elvis Fans) are welcome, and any voluntary contributions to the Denton Main Street Association are very much appreciated. Bring your chairs and blankets.
Following the concert, you are also welcome to attend a special Luau Dinner (with Elvis Unplugged) and an outdoor screening of the great film Blue Hawaii – advance tickets are $30 each, or $5 for the movie only. Dinner tickets also include special reserved seating for the Lawn Concerts.
You just never know what Rivers West will do next!
All Right! We have a few months time behind us now, including productive weekly rehearsals, and several performances that went very well. We thank John Engel, Mike Lovell and their Spiritual Journeymen group for our very first 2008 gig, and Coach Frank Kudlac, Jeff Bowerman and Margie Williamson of TWU for two return concert appearances at their collegiate gymnastics events. The “new” Rivers West is rocking and rolling, sounds good, and is a blast!
So, we’re very pleased to welcome and announce our new lead guitar man, high harmony singer, and good friend - DAN CLOWER! Dan is an excellent player and a fine singer, he’s been around lots of blocks with his rock and roll bands, and his musical expertise includes a Music degree in Theory-Composition with graduate studies at North Texas. (He actually knows what he’s doing!) Around Denton, he is well known for two decades with The Big Chill. Both Chuck and Mike have known Dan forever, and have enjoyed working with him in a number of musical configurations and events over recent years. So, inviting Dan to join Rivers West was truly an easy decision and a very natural progression. While this should not have been a surprise to us, the spark and new life that Dan has brought to the band has been much more positive than any of us expected – RIVERS WEST WELCOMES DAN CLOWER!
We have retained most of the popular qualities from our first five years – our overall sound, focus on vocals, Texas touch, and much of the classic song list (with fresh new life on lots of the tunes). We are leaning more toward straight-up rock than acoustic musical wallpaper, but still at a pleasing listening level. We have worked several “new to us” songs into our playlist, including the latest Eagles hit “How Long?” – wow, an actual new tune. But the very best thing, we think, is our new Rivers West signature Beatle Concert! We all dig the Fab Four, a big part of our musical DNA, and we’re happy and proud to put forth a full set of the best Beatle songs - it’s a rocking time for both dancers and listeners. Yeah Yeah YEAH!
We hope you can hear us soon. If you can make it to Denton for a couple of hours after work on Thursday April 24th, that’s our next live performance. It’s a business event, but if you ask, we are happy to send you a “Special Guest of Rivers West” email – you will feel and be very welcome, and we hope you will!
Back in October 2002, three good friends – Mike O'Neal, Chuck Carpenter and Charlie Scott – sat down to make some music together, with an idea to hopefully form an acoustic harmony trio. It felt good, it sounded fresh and it was fun. Our dream became to present our music with three part harmony and a distinctive Texas acoustic flavor. We resurrected a name that Chuck and Mike had used just a few times decades earlier, and with Charlie, Rivers West was finally something! We came to describe our music as Texas Acoustic Rock. After many hours of rehearsing, we began searching for performance venues. When we began performing in public, we discovered that people wanted to dance to our music. We expanded our vision to include drums (Steve Cook) and percussion (Art Nanney). It has been our pleasure to play for a wide variety of audiences including playing in front of 10,000 people in large outdoor venues as well as performing in clubs, banquet rooms, back yards and living rooms. We have been fortunate to play many very special gigs, and have been asked back to most all of them. It has been a blast of a journey and we thank everyone who has supported us.
Fast forward to 2008 – Charlie is moving ahead to some different musical adventures. O’Neal and Carpenter (our performing name as a duo even before Rivers West) of course wish Charlie the very best, and decided that the best way to honor our good friend and our treasured partnership of the last five great years is to move ahead and carry on the band named Rivers West. We’re expecting a bend or two in the upcoming path, with maybe a slightly different direction, but we will carry on.
So, Happy Trails to our Compadre Emeritus…
