Walk Softly and Carry a Big Fish Shtick
Once again, I’m a happy girl, with some lip-rippin’ food and cool sounds to boot.
It’s time for the fifth annual Big Fish Shtick!
On Sunday afternoon, Oct. 23, from noon until 7 p.m. at the Triangle Lounge in Wilmington, N.C., it’s Jim Quick’s Big Fish Shtick. And our boy knows how to party! There will be four bands this year – JQ & Coastline, the Castaways, 40 East and Band of Oz, plus deejay Joey Warren, who always puts the fun in fundraiser.
Ticket donations are $25 each for this event and all proceeds go to United Cerebral Palsy of Wilmington (www.ucp.org). So be sweet. Open up your hearts and your pocketbooks.
Come hungry kids, cause you be eatin’ all day. Jones Fish Camp will be on hand with fish and fixin’s. Boom Boom’s BBQ will be front and center. Plus you’ll have fried shrimp and Captain Crain’s World Famous Shrimp Stew. Think I’m gonna faint!
The music don’t get no stronger … Jim Quick & Coastline, where swamp funk meets smart. Quick is a lyrical Energizer bunny with soul.
Wilmington-based 40 East is a new band for me, one I can’t wait to hear. From what I’ve listened to on the web, they’re kind of crossover country pop with a little R&B thrown in for good measure.
The Castaways are one of those beach bands who like to mix it up. You can expect to hear their signature beach tunes along with some great soul sounds and some killer rock and roll. If we’re lucky, lead vocalist Karen Clayton will treat us to her version of “I (Who Have Nothing),” originally released by Ben E. King back in 1963. Goose bump time!
Last but not least, Band of Oz, frat band turned pro, and one of the most sought-after beach bands on the scene. These guys have been winning awards and hearts for years.
As with any fundraise worth its salt, the Big Fish Shtick will have auctions, raffles, door prizes and more.For any of you extra generous folks, sponsorship packages are still available at $250, $500 and $1,000 levels. Go to the website for details (www.bigfishshtick.com).
Road Trip With Coastline!
The multi-talented Jim Quick during his live DVD recording at Papa Mojos Roadhouse.
Papa Mojo’s Roadhouse in Durham, N.C. was the place to be last Sunday night when Jim Quick & Coastline took the stage to record their first ever DVD.The cozy little club slash restaurant was packed with friends and fans hungry to hear their favorite band cookin’ up a hot, soulful concoction of classic Coastline and some tasty new material.
Once everyone had their drinks and Papa Mojo’s signature lip-rippin’ Cajun offerings – and the Tarheels had succumbed to the Wildcats – deejay Joey Warren introduced the band. From there it was more than three hours of rock and soul, swamp funk blues and just enough country thrown in to explain Quick’s choice of shirts.
They rocked from the onset with “Down South,” the title track from Quick’s latest album, produced by Nashville honcho Gary Nicholson, who was also the songwriter/co-songwriter for this and every other tune on the disc.
With lyrics like this, you could almost swear Quick wrote it hisself:
I met a runway model in New York City
Said she love to hear me talk
I said that suits me fine I’m from Carolina
And I’ll say anything to watch you walk
And, by the time, Quick got to singing about skinny dipping in the Waccamaw River by the light of the Tar Heel Moon, the crowd was singing along like a roomful o’ Coastline Crazies.
“Late At Night” from the Contents Under Pressure CD (Ripete/1998) was next, another big hit with the crowd.
Of course, we don’t know what’s going to make the cut to the final DVD, but they rocked out one hit after another, including (from the band’s Sneakin’ Out Back CD (Landslide/2007) “Mississippi Mud,” “Callin’, ”and the Cape Fear’s best one-night stand song, “A Little Bit of Money.”
“We basically wanted to do this DVD for the fans,” Quick told me. “They’ve been asking for years, so we wanted to give them their favorites along with some of the newer stuff.”
Other tunes included Albert Rogers taking lead vocals on “It’s Gonna Rain” and Glen Tippett on “The Hardest Thing I Ever Do.” Coastline has become a vocal powerhouse.
Jim Quick & Coastline record their live DVD at Papa Mojos Roadhouse in Durham, N.C. Sunday, March 27, 2011. (Deejay Joey Warren introduces them)
I’ve always considered Coastline one of the most innovative, talented bands in the area, but ever since Jim Quick cut Down South, it seems that, as a band, they’ve gotten even tighter. Casey Meyer’s guitar playing has become more aggressive, The harmonies are smooth and confident, and Quick’s vocals just keep getting stronger.
The second set opened with more classic Coastline, “Sweat,” and also included a killer’ version of the honky tonk tune, “What’s Wrong With You?” from the self-titled King Tyrone & the Graveyard Ramblers (KHP/2008) CD. For anyone new to the world of Jim Quick, King Tyrone is his alter ego who doesn’t get to leave the swamp all that often. We’re never sure what he’s going to do.
“The Tiki Bar Is Open,” the once obscure John Hiatt song that’s become signature Coastline, featured especially sweet slide guitar work from Casey.
The show was almost over by the time we finally got to hear “Mama’s Drinking Liquor Again,” the infamous tune originally recorded on the King Tyrone CD.
Encore performances were “Take It All” from Coastline Band Live Bait 2 featuring Jim on keyboard and then a no-holds-barred performance of “Strongest Weakness,” a rocker penned by Gary Nicholson and Bekka Bramlett.
The show was a blast, and Papa Mojos was the perfect spot for it – a cozy intimate venue with cajun art all over the place and friendly
Albert Rogers brings soulful vocals and a driving bass to the band.
efficient servers always on the ready. Randall Bramblett Band was there the night before, and owner Mel Melton and his Wicked Mojos band often provide the entertainment. Definitely worth a road trip!
I was able to talk to Jim a few days after the recording. I wanted to know what’s in store for him and the band.
“Well, you know I have this Sony deal now,” he said. “It’s with Red, Sony’s artist development and distribution leg. They’re handling digital distribution for “Down South” and “No Good Place To Cry” from the new CD. Hit Brothers Records is the label. May 17 is the release date for Down South (the physical CD) throughout the southeastern U.S. in Wal-Mart and other media outlets.”
Music City Media will be generating publicity for Jim and the band, and Jerry Duncan Promotions will handle radio play. Not easy to pigeonhole, Quick says they’re treating him as sort of “soulful country.”
A music video is also in the works for Jim Quick & Coastline. Recording takes place later this month, so stay tuned for more about that. Look for a new website design to be unveiled shortly, too.
“I really hope everyone got the Coastline vibe,” Jim says as he brings the conversation back to the DVD. “I’m excited. I liked the atmosphere. We turned Papa Mojo’s into a little studio. So people there got an idea of what it’s like to be in a band and recording.
“My guys are not just great live, but they’re stupid killer studio musicians.
“I think this DVD is as close as you’ll get to taking Coastline home with you.”
Wait for it folks, here’s the pitch.
“And I think everyone should have Coastline Crazies DVD parties!” Quick adds, laughing his head off.
The DVD, which will be called Jim Quick & Coastline Live At Papa Mojo’s Roadhouse, will be out before summer and priced at $25.
Jim Quick & Coastline are made up of the multi-talented Jim Quick on lead vocals and some time keys, guitar and horn; Glenn Tippett on sax, keyboard and vocals; Casey Meyer on guitar; Albert Rogers on electric bass and vocals; and Sam Bryant on drums. Live sound engineers are Ken “K-Dogg” Holland and Eddie Cogle.
Are You Ready For Quick’s Shtick Thing?
Mark your calendars for Oct. 24 because it’s time for the fourth annual Big Fish Shtick, Jim Quick’s close-to-the-heart fundraiser for United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) of Wilmington. Once again, it’s being held in the back lot of the Triangle Lounge in Wilmington.
The fun starts at 1 p.m. and will keep going until about 7 o’clock. Your $20 donation will net you a pile o’ free grub: fish and fixin’ from Jones Fish Camp, plus Boom Boom’s BBQ, fried shrimp, steamed oysters and what else, oh, Captain Crain’s World Famous Shrimp Stew! A full cash bar will be available to help you wash down the super eats.
There will be plenty of live entertainment, too. Kicking off the party at 1 p.m. is Southern Ryder. I’m hoping to hear some great fiddle from this southern rockin’ group. Taking the stage about 2 p.m. will be the Tim Clark Band, and whether you want to dance or just groove to the music, you won’t want to miss this show.
Jim Quick & Coastline are bringing their Nashville-ized swamp-funk sound back to the Port City! My guess is we’ll be hearing a lot of how they do it Down South. YAY! Personally, I can’t wait to hear what Casey Meyer does with the new stuff.
Spinning tunes in between shows will be one of my favorite local deejays, Joey Warren, so be sure to tell him I said so!
Don’t forget to bring some extra moola with you, because this is a fundraiser, remember. You need to get you a ticket for the 50/50. Someone’s going to win a pile of money, and if it’s not me, then it might as well be you. So far, items for the raffle and auction include a booze cruise from Pole Position Boat Tours (Must be a real estate guy with a boat); handmade pottery pieces; a gift certificate from Sunset River Marketplace in Calabash (Have you been to this place? It’s wonderful!); a couple of Rickey Godfrey’s new kick-ass blues CDs; one of Babs Ludwick’s hugely popular prints in her Local Watering Hole series; plus, more items are being added every day. And what Big Fish Shtick would be complete without Jim Quick’s own art offering? This is your chance to own a Jim Quick original. Zowee!!
This is going to be a great day, and it’s for a great cause, so I hope you can be there. UCP is one of the largest health nonprofits in the country. Founded over 60 years ago by parents of children with the disease, it has evolved into a committed advocate for folks with disabilities. Their goal is to ensure a life without limits even if you’ve got disabilities. You can see the group’s work everywhere – on the Internet, in the workplace, in classrooms and throughout the local community.
Join me and Jim Quick in supporting this group. You’ll have a rockin’ good time while you do something nice for someone. Don’t forget your lawn chairs!
For tix & info, call 910-799-6253.
Directions to Triangle Lounge:
• From S.C. and southeastern Brunswick County, take 17 N towards Wilmington.
• Once you cross the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge into town (You’ll be on Dawson St.) go straight to Oleander.
• Turn right on Oleander Dr., which you’ll follow for about two and a half miles.
• Turn left on S. College and then take your third right onto Wrightsville Ave. Triangle Lounge (5920 Wrightsville Ave.) will be on your right. There should be plenty of parking in the field up the street.
Jim Quick To Speak On Songwriting At Calabash Gallery August 11
Musician Jim Quick (photo Misty Hudson Photography)
Sunset River Marketplace art gallery in Calabash, N.C. has announced that Wilmington musician, Jim Quick, will present Inside the Song: the Making of Music at its monthly Creative Exchange event on Wednesday, August 11.
Owner Ginny Lassiter said, “We are so excited Jim is coming to the gallery. Jim Quick is legendary in this area for his witty banter and comical onstage antics. But not everyone outside the music business realizes what a serious and skilled songwriter he is.”
Singer/songwriter Jim Quick is the front man for one of the most successful bands in the Cape Fear region and along the Grand Strand: Jim Quick & Coastline. The group plays to packed rooms up and down the east coast. In December of last year, they opened for country duo Montgomery Gentry in Cancun, Mexico. This past April, Jim Quick & Coastline were the opening act for national recording artist Delbert McClinton at the Myrtle Beach House of Blues.
Quick also fronts King Tyrone & the Graveyard Ramblers, which is something of an alter ego for Coastline, although the lines between them are often blurred. Coastline, though not a true beach band, performs more R&B and shag songs. King Tyrone puts out a funkier swamp sound and records some of the more irreverent tunes Jim has written, such as “Mama’s Drinkin’ Liquor Again” and “(I Didn’t Buy This Beer, But I’m) Payin’ the Price,” which the band co-wrote with Ed Carrigan.
Jim Quick has been named CBMA Entertainer of the Year seven times and Songwriter of the Year twice, as well as receiving five Song of the Year awards. The band has won Group of the Year five times, in addition to earning several other honors.
Live At HOTO’s is the band’s just-released CD, which was recorded at Harold’s On the Ocean in the Cherry Grove section of North Myrtle Beach, S.C. earlier this year. Quick also has a solo CD being produced by Nashville songwriter/producer Gary Nicholson. A release date has not been scheduled.
About his songwriting, Quick says, “I can remember making up songs when I was a little kid, maybe three years old. But I was probably about nine when I started messing around with my dad’s guitar. I was much more prolific in high school, using the keyboard. I went through a stage of just making it rhyme.
“I think I was 19 when it changed. John Hiatt flipped the switch for me. I got it. I understood that you have this whole world that you create.”
According to Quick, he plans to explain his songwriting from the inside out, “where I get everything from, how deep I have to put myself in the type of music … how to convey the meaning … taking it and putting it together.”
Since opening in 2002, Sunset River Marketplace has become an active supporter of performing, literary and visual arts in the area. The gallery hosted Brunswick Arts Council’s Evening of Miniature Masterpieces fundraiser multiple times and is a 2010 Silver Sponsor for the Friday evening Summer Concert Series at Ocean Isle Beach.
Creative Exchange is an interactive community event held at Sunset River Marketplace. The gallery is located at 10283 Beach Drive SW (Hwy. 179) in Calabash, N.C. Jim Quick’s songwriting presentation takes place from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. There is a $5 fee and, due to limited seating, reservations are required. This event is expected to fill up quickly, so get your spot early.
For more information, call 910-575-5999. If you’d like to be notified about upcoming Creative Exchange, Coffee With the Authors or other gallery events, send an email tolassiter@sunsetrivermarketplace.com. Gallery news is also posted on the website:www.sunsetrivermarketplace.com.
Quick! King Tyrone’s Heading To Papa’s Pizza!
Woooo-ey! Lock up your silver and hide all the women and children and good-lookin’ dogs. Lord of the swamp, King Tyrone and his randy Graveyard Ramblers are blowing into town on July 22 for a romp through Papa’s Pizza Wings & Things.
Dickie and Dianne Spencer, owners of the otherwise reputable restaurant on the road to Calabash, are already gearing up for the assault. They’ve moved the dining booths out of the back room and added more chairs and standing room for the rowdy group that’s expected to show up for the spectacle.
For the uninitiated, this bawdy blues driven group is rooted in rockabilly and laced with Southern soul, but other than that they defy description except to say that their outrageousness is only exceeded by their dead-on lyrical lampoons and musical muscle.
Leaving the alliteration behind, head swampmeister, King Tyrone aka Jim Quick, is one of the best songwriters around these parts and he’s put together a strong group of players made up of Quick on lead vocals and keys, Casey Meyer playing guitar, Albert Rogers on bass guitar and vocals and Sam Bryant on the drumkit.
Jim Quick aka King Tyrone
Quick says he named the Wilmington, N.C.-based group, which he formed in 2006, after King Floyd, one of his mother’s favorite soul singers and Tyrone Davis, his daddy’s favorite “I thought King Tyrone sounded cooler than Floyd Davis … ha!” he tells me. “The Ramblers part came from Delbert’s [McClinton] constant reference to the late model AMC car where the front seats lay back to meet the back to make a bed. The Graveyard part came from our first gig at Halloween of 2006, just to add a spooky flavor!
“We caught on very quickly locally and then we started having requests for the band’s CDs at shows. We were mostly improv, ad libs and jams with the exception of some very rare covers like “Little Head” from John Hiatt and “Same Kinda Crazy As Me” from Delbert Mclinton and stuff like “The Bug” from Dire Staits. So it was off to the back of my brain to start writing originals. Lo and behold I came up with a collection of hybrid tunes. Cultivated from numerous southern genres like jazz, blues, soul, country and southern rock I created the debut offering on KHP [record label] from the self titled CD.”
The ten-track recording, which was released in April 2008, features tight sophisticated song writing throughout. Jim Quick is a high-power entertainer who consistently leaves his audience lusting for more, but for my money, his greatest talent lies in his song writing, which ranges from soulful to clever to heart-wrenching. He’s a master storyteller.
In talking about the CD, he credits his band members for bringing a range of musical tastes and style to the project.
“We travel together and we each bring different musical tastes to the van. It’s really a potpourri of artists like Delbert McClinton, John Hiatt, Jerry Reed, John Prine, Government Mule, Brad Paisley, Chet Atkins, Sam Bush, Keb Mo’, BB King, and so many more that have helped us stay awake and content on the road.
“I would find myself really inundated by different sounds from all these artists flying in my head. Whenever I was alone I would take those inspirations and let them flow almost naturally musically. However, lyrically, I constantly challenged myself to be more creative and clever without seeming cliche or passé and at the same time very easy to comprehend.
“That was the hardest part of the project, however it was a very self-induced learning experience. I have to thank the band for taking mundane simple chord progressions that have been beaten to death through modern music and making them unique and fun to listen to … without losing that familiar edge that forces one to reminisce [about] a different time in music or one’s life.”
As talented as Quick is, he isn’t solely responsible for the success of King Tyrone & the Graveyard Ramblers.
“I really wanted sparse instrumentation, scarce harmonies, and open spaces not only in the songs but in the layers of the over all mix. George Clinton once said funk is the absence of music and my music theory teacher always emphasized that silence was truly golden.
“I really got everything from everyone that I wanted throughout the project. It was hands on for all the musicians when it came to the arrangements. I really wanted a straightforward but laid back pocket on all the rhythm parts from Sam and got that.
Drummer Sam Bryant is known in the music industry as a first-rate blues drummer. Blues Review magazine singled him out as a drummer to watch, “an up and coming drummer.”
According to Jim Quick, “Sam Bryant is simply brilliant … He played with many great international touring artists like Kenny Wayne Shepherd. He’s ridiculously entertaining to watch and brings the musical presentation to another level by making the foundation so very high in technique.
“Albert is so colorful. His voice is unbelievable and his sarcastic sense of humor exudes from this stage setting to create a very personable atmosphere. His bass playing is second to none. It’s a very traditional style. His very simple but unexpected grooves make it so easy to build upon as a unit of musicians. I wanted poppy, upbeat walking bass lines and slinky movements on the longer form back beat jams from Albert.
Quick refers to guitarist Casey Meyer as “the hook.”
Casey is amazing in tune with the sound I am trying to create. I refer to him as “the hook”! He has solely created the calling melody via guitar riff on every single King Tyrone tune. It’s not only amazing because he is so creative, tasteful, and tonality perfect; but he is so young and has so much time to improve on his already great beginnings.”
“As for [Casey’s guitarwork on the CD], it was just rippin’ all the way through. I kinda just let him go. He hears what I want without explanation.”
The folks at Papa’s Pizza in Little River, S.C. are in for a rockin’ stompin’ night of King Tyrone & the Graveyard Ramblers. Dickie and Dianne plan to start the fun early with a “porch party” outside from 5 to 8 p.m. with deejay Joey Warren and special prices on beer and pizza slices. King Tyrone & the Graveyard Ramblers will storm the place beginning at 8 p.m.
I promise you, Papa’s won’t be taking reservations or even call-aheads on this night. So get there when you can, and get ready for a night of swamp funk, courtesy of the King himself.
Papa’s Pizza, Wings & Things is located in the Lowe’s Food shopping plaza on the road to Calabash. For more information, visit the website at http://www.papaspizzawingsandthings.com or call 843-249-3663 in S.C. and 910-575-7900 in N.C.
Note: Yes, this is Jim Quick as in Jim Quick & Coastline, a Wilmington, N.C. rock & soul band with a strong following throughout the South.
This will also be published in Coast Magazine and Alternatives NewsMagazine in Myrtle Beach, issue July 16 -30, 2009, p. 24.
©2009. Dariel Bendin.
DarielB - Flying Under the Radar 
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