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michael berry

L

little bird

Guest
Michael Berry is becoming a honky tonk impressario?

Soliciting listeners for free labor for the build out of the venue?

Booking unknown and low cost acts who have no idea what the letters AFofM means?

Sounds like a recipe for success!
 
Surely you jest. I'm assuming you are being sarcastic, because that's the only way to look at this "item."

Michael Berry is Houston's poster child for all overbearing, self absorbed, egomaniac, self appointed hacks who think they know everything. I've lived in Houston a long time, and I can testify that countless over-inflated poo-bahs like Berry have come and gone over the years. Sadly, it's taking longer than usual for Berry to make his exit.

I can't wait for the day we all wake up and find out he's not on the air anymore. Local radio's average IQ will go up at least 50 points. It'll be like a mighty rush of fresh air.
 
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I am not kidding in the least. The name of the establishment is, "The Redneck Country Club." Well, I was kidding in the last line...
 
I don't think Berry will succeed with this venture, because a vast majority of entertainment startups like that fail within five years.

At the same however, I'm not faulting him for hoping to to use unknown low cost acts. There are a lot of very talented singers and groups out there who are unknown and low cost, all struggling to get "the big break" and succeed. Sadly the road to entertainment success is littered with the corpses of those singers and groups.
 
With all due respect to my redneck relatives and friends, and I am proud to be one myself, I don't think Berry is going to like the kind of people his establishment will attract. It won't be REAL rednecks.

Real rednecks say grace before meals, yes ma'am and no ma'am where appropriate, take their hats off indoors, open doors for ladies and treat the entertainers with respect.

Berry is going to attract every foul mouth snuff dippin' beer swillin' Bubba with a 4-wheel drive within 50 miles -- the kind who shoots the juke box when he doesn't like what it's playing. The kind that gets drunk, heckles the entertainers, and talk so loud nobody can hear the live music coming from the stage.

My son-in-law used to be in a country band, and he told me dealing with people like that was one of the things that drove him to get out of it and find a real job. I'll bet a six pack of your favorite that this will be the kind of people Berry's Redneck Country Club will attract.
 
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While Gilley's wasn't a members-only club; they booked a lot of little-known acts that eventually became famous. A lot of groups and singers were discovered in some of those smaller clubs. Made the clubs famous in the process.
 
Gilley's, originally, was known as Shelley's. Sherwood Cryer, re-opened the club with Mickey Gilley as his partner. The club was remodeled and reopened in 1971 with the Gilley's name. Entertainers like Willie Nelson, Charlie Daniels, Crystal Gayle, Hank Williams, Jr., Jerry Lee Lewis, George Jones, Johnny Lee, Conway Twitty, Keith Whitley and many more performed there. Those cats were already big in country music when they appeared there. 1070 KENR broadcasted 'live' from Gilley's every Saturday night. When KENR abandoned the country format for the "Radio Magazine" format in 1982, the show emerged at KILT-610, 6 nights a week at 11PM.
 
I'm not sure which "Gilley's" doomaflotchy went to, but the Gilley's I went to in its heyday had a steady parade of top shelf country singers and musicians. Everybody who was anybody in country music performed at Gilley's. A lot of famous country entertainers who just happened to be in town would go to Gilley's even if they weren't on the bill.

One of my favorite Gilley's memories was the night back in the 70s when fiddlers Chubby Wise and Howdy Forrrester were both there, but not to perform. Anybody's list of the best Blue Grass fiddlers has to start with Wise and Forrester, tied for number one. Nobody was better than those two. Gilley brought them up on the stage to do some impromptu fiddling with his band and they brought the house down.
 
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