Old stuff...or "the story so-far..."

2008-02-27T11:57:00.001-08:00

This is kind of an archive of stuff removed from my website: http://www.kenatkins.com

December 26, 07
Second time this year I've updated the site! Maybe a New Years resolution is due here...
Had a good year (07) with the Honky Tonk Kind. The Biggies this year had to be the success of the Blue Collar Happy Hour and the gigs with James Hand last Summer. I did six gigs with James Hand - provided stage and sound equipment as well as various incarnations of the Honky Tonk Kind opening the shows. For the sake of history it went like this: The first night we opened the show at Johnny D's in Boston. We played without drums - not the most comfortable arrangement for us but we managed. Next night @ the Iron Horse in North Hampton Mass. I just supplied equipment and trucking services - got to sit back and enjoy a good dinner and show. Next night we had the whole band and the Blue Collar crowd down at Banks St. in New London - fantastic night of honky tonk music. Couple nights later we trucked it up to Troy NY at the Ale House. It was Paul Davis and I along with Preston Frantz - another great night. Couple nights later Paul & I hauled it down to Richmond, VA to open the show and supplied the PA too! That was a long night, pulled out of Richmond about midnight and rolled into home about 10am! James invited me up on stage to do a couple songs with his band @ the Hill Country Barbeque in NYC on the last night of the tour (Aug 4th). It was a great experience hangin' with James and his band - lots of real good music. I'm really looking forward to his next CD - he's working on it now with Ray Benson and Lloyd Maines producing again. Having heard some of the new material, it's gonna be great.

The Blue Collar Happy Hour thing we started in Feb 07 is running smoothly... early gigs are the way to go! If you wanna see the Honky Tonk Kind we are playing first Friday each month 6pm - 8pm at the Bank Street Cafe in New London.

Twang On!
- Ken "The Honky Tonk Kind" Atkins

July 22, 07 My, how time flys - here it is, high Summer. We've been keeping plenty busy. Played last night at Ocean Beach Park in New London with Preston's Hellbent & Heartbreakin'. It was a great night! Since our bassist SJ Williams up and moved to Austin TX we have a new bass player -To (pron. Toe) Benoit. He's sounding really good. His first gig with us was last week at the Sailfest in New London, gonna work out just fine.... Got a boatload of new gigs, see above... If you wanna see us, do it soon - we're taking the month of September off and will return to our regularly scheduled Blue Collar Happy Hour "once a month" routine in October.

Mar 31, 07 Next gig for us folks is April 6th Happy Friday, I mean Good Friday, at the Blue Collar Happy Hour @ the Bank Street Cafe. Should have couple new songs ready to go. Got a new secret weapon that was about 15 years in the making - thanks to my wife Christine and The Guitar Mechanic - Ken Nash...

Feb 22, 07 Next Blue Collar Happy Hour gig for us will be March 2nd at the Bank Street Cafe, and folks let me tell ya - we can't wait. We had a great time last month. Got a couple more new songs for this gig too. If you notice, below I've added "Twang Links". These links represent what I consider to be definitive twang landmarks. And, just part of my own personal mission of "spreading the word" so-to-speak on all things twang.

Feb 10, 07: Well the Blue Collar Happy Hour shows are a happenin' thing! The first shows have had great attendance and really been fun. KA&THK will return to Bank Street on March 2 for another Blue Collar Happy Hour. We've added some new songs to our sets - Originals "If I Turn Back Now", "She's Not Coming Back", and another Del Reeves tune "Girl On The Billboard". Got a couple more newun's for March 2nd too. New photos from the first happy hour show will arrive here soon.

May 14, it's a Monday evening show at THE EUGENE O'NEILL THEATER in Waterford. They have a real nice set-up there in the "Barn". I don't believe there's a cover, beer & wine & coffee served. Starts at 7pm, ends by 10pm. This is part of a program to bring in local folks with some local musicians and just enjoy the resources... Buck Owens played Carnegie Hall, KA&THTK play The Eugene O'neill - works for me. We'll be showcasing some new songs and feeling pritty good about ourselves so if you can sneak down there we'd love to see ya!
http://www.oneilltheatercenter.org/

Three days later...
May 17, it's The Third Thursday Streetfest in Willimantic. We have the 6pm - 7:15pm time slot on the downtown stage. This is an monthly event (on the third Thursdays) where they close off Main Street and have like three stages providing various entertainment along with vendors and lots and lots of people - it's been a very good thing. Here's a link providing directions to the "downtown stage" - http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&country=US&popflag=0&latitude=&longitude=&name=&phone=&level=&addtohistory=&cat=&address=720+main+st&city=&state=&zipcode=06226
http://www.pps.org/great_public_spaces/one?public_place_id=729

June 1, Blue Collar Happy Hour! @ Bank Street Cafe, New London - it will be fun.

Here's the thing, these 3 dates are kinda special because, more than likely, they will be the last ones that we'll play with our beloved bass player - SJ. SJ is moving to Austin TX. Can you believe that? We are bummed out but also excited for SJ and her move to - Mecca. We are also pretty darned enthused about going down to Austin and "checkin' on her from time to time. And so, to glean the maximum amount of hype... this will be last time to see the band "as you know it."

Then:
July 6, The first Friday of the month and a new bass player at The Blue Collar Happy Hour. http://www.kenatkins.com/happyhour.htm

July 14th Sailfest Weekend @ The Hygienic Art Park! 4:30 - 9:00 The Honky Tonk Kind will be one of a bunch of "Blue Collar Happy Hour" bands performing live on stage. The Hygienic is located at the corner of Bank Street and Golden Street in New London, CT. Check it out: http://www.hygienic.org/artpark.asp and http://www.sailfest.org/

July 21 Saturday evening @ Ocean Beach Park in New London. Yeah man, outdoor concert on the boardwalk: Ken Atkins & The Honky Tonk Kind splitting the evening with Preston Frantz Hellbent & Heartbreakin'. Starts at 7:30.
http://www.ocean-beach-park.com/

also in July we'll be opening for James Hand @ Bank Street Cafe... more on that later...

August 3rd Blue Collar Happy Hour @ Bank St Cafe, New London, CT - Step inside a dark, cool, a/c'd honky tonk for a cold one and serious twang on this blistering hot afternoon....

August 4 Saturday Morning 10:00am 'til 2:00pm at Ashland Farm in Old Lyme - We'll be there with Dogbite, Paul Brockett and Preston Frantz - this is a sweet gig, big ole open air farmers market on a beautiful farm...

Well folks, that's it for now. I'd say most of these gigs, if not all, are "family friendly" - hope to see you there.

From Xmas 06: Hope all's well for you folks this holiday season. It's been a great year for
The Honky Tonk Kind... Highlights have to include all the great gigs we did
this year @ The Bank Street Cafe with my ole friend Preston and his band Heartbreak
Central, and the gig with the Stumbleweeds, and the gigs w/The Tires @ both New London and
New Haven's Cafe 9. Super cool that we got James Hands up here in September - heckuva show!
We even opened for Big Brother and The Holding Company. Sue's sister Kathy was really
the one who made it all happen - thanks Kathy!

Lookin' forward to 2007 - We think we've been The Honky Tonk Kind for about 10 years now.
Big do-ins this year will be the 6:00 Friday happy hour shows at The Bank Street Cafe in
New London. We will be playing those at least once a month including the first one
Feb 2. Paul Brockett, Heartbreak Central, and Ken Nash's Under The Radar are also joining
the Blue Collar Happy Hour!

Looks like James Hand will be back up here in 07 too. We have some other national
artists in the works for some shows in 07 - more info soon....

Oh yeah - I gotta bunch of new music on the way too! See ya Feb 2!

Twang It Dang It...

Old stuff...or "the story so-far..."