more chronological disorder

L to R: Dennis Goodwin; Randy Ross; Doug Duffey- opening for Ted Nugent at American Legion Field, Monroe, LA 1972

Dennis Goodwin straightened me out on the era of "Starlett Ferrari & The Main Drag"- August to late November, 1972 - 4 months that have and "will live in infamy.... "

[c]2010 DOUG DUFFEY

chronological disorder

have been trying to get back to doing this band x band site in chronological order- but have so much on my plate at the moment- and so many files in disorder- that it is taking more time than i'd expected.

i began the "doug duffey/street level/ new orleans" band page a while back, but have recently found more fotos, artwork, fliers and have been scanning them. have also been busy transferring live performances of the band in 1988 [recorded on 2 track stereo cassette tapes] to digital- editing them for a soon to be released "je ne sais quoi" 'album'-or 3- thinking digital download only.

i've been through a lot of musical phases in the 45+ years of my professional musician/artist life. i think all those phases are important, and have brought me to where i am today. i also think it is rather impossible to separate them. even though my current status is "blues/soul/rock"- there has also been a lot of funk and techno and various experimental periods at times.

most of my writers tapes contain extremely genre jumping material; usually very personal and not meant for mass consumption. this band by band site should explain some of that. but as time goes on, i realize i need to put everything [of good enough sound quality] OUT to the globe, as i have always wanted to. technology has finally made that possible.

all the various projects will slowly be added to and released on cdbaby.com under my name.

[c]2009 DOUG DUFFEY

my face space book

i have quit blogging mainly because of facebook and myspace... which take up too much time! needless to say i have neglected this blog and my others... and even updating my website because of FB and MS

check my cds here

[c]2009 doug duffey

champagne- doug duffey & the distracters- the next

champagne:[original members-when i joined]
doug duffey- vocals
bryan armer- guitar/vocals
gene thompson- bass/vocals
gary acklen- keys/vocals
john brown- drums

in monroe, i began working with/ fronting a band called Champagne, which had been around a while and was a successful partyand club band. we worked the louisiana and mississippi club and college circuits. we did almost 90% covers- all the top 40 hits- which was not really what i wanted to do musically...but it was a good band...

we recorded several of my songs at jy studios, which i unfortunately shelved until i could get enough for a complete lp. but, that never happened for various reasons. [but those tracks may get digitized and re-surface online soon]

i eventually left Champagne, taking some of the band with me, and started 'doug duffey and the distracters" - a more rock/new wave oriented band.distractors: [1st version]
doug duffey- vocals
bryan armer- guitar/vocals
larry allen- bass
randy ross- drums

oddly enough, the band eventually changed back to most of the original champagne members. and the spelling of the name changed too...

doug duffey- vocals
bryan armer- guitar/vocals
albert moore- bass
ricky andrews- keys
john brown- drums

other members:
george phillips- keys
paul torbert- guitar

when the eventual demise of DD&TD came, i began 'doug duffey and the next' [since it was 'the next' band] - we were more of a punk/jam/improvisational band, and dabbled in funk, reggae and ska [we were even doing classic rock songs in reggae/ska style]- as well as R&B and rock... and total chaos most of the time.

doug duffey & the next:
doug duffey- vocals/keys
bill dunn- vocals/sax/flute
peter harmon- guitar/vocals
mike starns- bass
george phillips-keys
brent adams- drums

[c]2009 doug duffey

razin' cain [new orleans- late 70s]

razin cain:
doug duffey [vocal/keyboards]
billy gregory [vocal/guitar]
ricky cortes[bass]
jay gernsbacher [drums]

later additional member: harold kelt- keyboards
i left Hollywood and went back to New Orleans around 1976. i hooked up with Billy Gregory [former guitarist of "it's a beautiful day"] and we put razin' cain together. we started out doing the late night shift at 'the absinthe bar' on bourbon street- playing 12-4AM, but moved around town, playing Jimmy's, the Dream Palace, Rosie's, some wild bars in Metairie and Uptown.

this was the first band i'd been in that did 100% original music! i wrote 90% of it, Billy wrote the rest. we were the "enfants terrible " of the french quarter, and a force to be reckoned with. we did high energy funky rock music. we did pretty wild shows, and had a very loyal following. at Deja Vu where we were practically the house band- they even named 'our' [basically my] drink [brandy & peppermint schnapps] after us.

we were being courted by record labels. we did a 6 or 7song band demo at ronnie cole's. Billy ended up going to france working with jacques higelin, then to Milan working with Andy J Forest- and the band- which was supposed to follow- was put on hold... two songs from the sessions wound up on billy's "it's a bluesy day" solo lp. [appaloosa records] songs: "didn't we ramble didn't we roll' [written by me] and "time and money" [written by me and billy]- with me doing the vocals.

we got some great live recordings at Rosie's [a great,but now defunct new orleans club] - and while on the road. have a particularly raucous recording live in Destin.

in 1977 i got a call from george clinton to go to detroit and begin work on my album, which he was going to produce. he flew me up and we recorded several music tracks which i either wrote [which later became "silly millameter" ] or co-wrote [which later became: "one nation under a groove"!]. i am not listed on the alums credits for One Nation-although the music writing sessions consisted of me, gary shider and junie morrison- and i DO i have the daily session cassettes as proof! george and his various children 'supposedly' co-wrote the lyrics to both "songs" later.

although 'one nation' became not only Funkadelic's biggest hit [and has been sampled to death by damned near every rap from 'de la soul' onward- especially the middle section which i wrote!] and 'silly millameter' appeared on george's "you should nuf bit fish" - i never saw anything from either.

i stayed in new orleans doing some solo gigs and putting together some "jam bands" that played locally until 1981...thinking razin' cain would get back together... when we didnt, i moved back home to monroe.
[c]2009 doug duffey

barbara porter & little rock- little rock

George Bryan wrote:

LITTLE ROCK: The band was David Bates on drums, Doug Duffey as keys, arranger, and vocals, bass was some child who was green as a pool table and twice as square, and me on guitar. Singer for the shows was Barbara Porter, wife of Jim Porter the manager (and jazz aficionado…one of the best record collections I had ever seen and a genuinely nice and decent human being). Eventually we had Sterling R McBee added to play bass. We worked the Sheraton in Little Rock a lot, and saw a lady who would become Bill Clinton’s mistress….she was in a band that played before us and was the singer. Met and played for Mr. Tyson at his lake house for private parties. We worked the Tracks Inn, and followed people like Tanya Tucker when they came through. We did a trip back east, hit NYC (Doug and I got busted standing on the roof of the Holiday Inn in Jersey). We did the country club circuit in the south and Vegas at the LandMark, and a month in LA at the Ramada Inn at the foot of Beverly Hills, just off Rodeo Drive. Great wilted spinach salads with hot bacon dressing. Lorna and Barbara worked downtown for an Iranian named Tom Massoud. Eventually the band went back to Little Rock, broke up, Doug went to LA, and I quit the music business and went to Florida to live on a beach.

Doug Duffey wrote: years before, when i was back home in monroe- between bands- i played Hammond B3 and sang/opened the show in the 'earl duke 'revue'; which played the local black "chitlin circuit". much later, the horn section [vaughn quimby- sax; gene newman- trumpet] moved to colorado where they hooked up with the band "cotton" [george bryan [guitar], cid cidlick [B3/vocals], and dave trupp [drums]. they called me and asked me to come out and work with them...so i went. it was a serious blues band. we played a lot of funky bars in colorado and nebraska- the high point being when we opened for 'muddy waters' in lincoln, nebraska at the university; which was way cool! the main point of this is that i met my life long friend, guitarist george bryan, in "cotton". [he did the louisiana folklife festival and new orleans jazz festival with me in 2003- we hadn't seen each other in 20 years!].

while in colorado i got a call to go back to little rock and work with an act called "barbara porter and little rock" - i had worked with her before when she was working with tommy riggs- [jim porter- barbara's husband- had been the booking agent for "merging traffic"] -barabara had split from tommy- was forming a new band and this time, also needed a guitarist, so george went back with me. we did more upscale type gigs: country clubs, hotel lounges, the hunt & polo club, the peabody, in memphis -did some east coast shows, the joe franklin show in nyc, and eventually several stints in las vegas.

when barbara wasnt working with us, we played band gigs. we were pretty funky. [we did some great demos at 'soul brothers' studios in little rock!]

we were playing at "tracks inn" in little rock when one of the managers [cholly bassoline] of rare earth, george clinton, parliament funakdelic, bootsy collins [backstage management] came in and caught us. after the gig he said to me "if you ever get to hollywood, look me up"* ... the old "son, i'm gonna make you a star" line.
we wound up working vegas with barbara for a few months, two different times. as fate would have it, after the last period, we went to los angeles, where we played the lounge in the beverly hills ramada inn for a month or so. i made the call* to cholly as soon as i got there; he came to see me with the legendary kathi mcdonald [backing vocalist for leon russell, the stones, etc. who introduced me to 'stingers']- we became fast friends.
i went and met ron strasner and robert mittleman- cholly's partners in backstage management- and coming out of the door of the office as i was going in was bernie worrell, george clinton and some of pfunk! they'd just heard MY demo tapes, and bernie said when we were introduced, "there's the star!"
when we got back to little rock i quit the band, packed my van and moved to hollywood!

[c]2009 doug duffey

Cotton Blues Band

George Bryan wrote: COTTON: I don’t remember the year it started, but I moved to Colorado and was followed shortly thereafter by Dave and Cid. We formed Cotton in Ft. Collins, Colorado and after a few false starts with some folks, got a strong 4 piece together with Gary Reeves on bass, Dave Trupp on drums, Jim Cidlik on organ and vocals, George Bryan on lead, slide and vocals. After an iteration with two drummers and a chick singer, and several 2nd guitarists that didn’t work out and a harp player, we decided we would stick with one guitar and add horns, so we got Vaughn Quimby (sax from Oklahoma) and Gene Newman (trumpet). We were saying we needed another singer and Vaughn said “I know a guy”. The result was Doug Duffey came to join the band, and I met someone who became instantly one of my best friends for life. Until he could get his lady Lorna out to Colorado and get a place, I moved him in with me in my purple house in the foothills. We opened in Lincoln, Nebraska for Muddy Waters and played a lot of venues in Colorado and Nebraska for a while, but eventually drugs blew the band apart. Doug talked to me about going to Arkansas. I had never lived in the South………been enamored of it for years…..and was really tired of snow. I decided to go to Little Rock to join Barbara Porter and Little Rock.
Doug Duffey wrote: i was not doing drugs then; i was channeling bessie smith at the time, thinking i had to drink a water glass full of gin before going onstage...and the whole 5th before the night was finished! we were doing some serious blues. opening for Muddy Waters was a real life experience! seeing him/the band backstage later, smoking and drinking whiskey, and playing poker was a 'kodak moment' stamped n my head. i don't remember a lot; maybe Cid and Trupp should chime in. [c]2009 doug duffey