A Busy Year Behind and More to Come!

Music, Solo

A busy Autumn and that’s just the way I like it! Sept. 23 Doug James and The Pocket (DJP)  will be sharing some great reworked music from my all time favorite band, LITTLE FEAT! We’ll be doin’ our FALL TILT BOOGIE at Mac’s On Slade, 117 Slade St., in Palatine, IL. from 9p-to whenever we decide to stop or Mac run’s out of Gumbo! Whichever comes first!  http://www.macsonslade

For me, no band before or since had the sense of rhythm and groove, insightfully clever lyrics, strong musicianship,  Live performance and vocal sharpness & ingenuity that Little Feat has displayed from their very beginning. They’re still together today albeit without Lowell George and Richie Hayward, my two favorite members whose passings have not kept this band down!

Growing up diggin’ Fats Domino, Little Richard, Buddy Holly and artists that emanated from the Southland, plus an affection for Dixieland music instilled in me by my Mother who played piano in such bands as well as Big Bands, fueled the funky flame and an overall big sound. She made sure I learned to play piano, had me first singing when I was four, put me in the Community play of  Show Boat, then bought me a coronet at 10. I was always exploring and willin’ to jump into the “party” atmosphere. That became even more evident early on when I heard Sam Cooke & Jackie Wilson. I was dancin’ and singin’ almost all the time. Then when I first heard James Brown and artists on the the Stax/Volt label, it all satisfied something deep within and believe it or not, I’ve pretty much walked around with a smile on my face ever since!

October 7, The Joe Cocker Mad Dogs & Englishmen show I formed 7 years ago now will play in Northbrook, IL in Marcello’s Banquet Room. You must hear Derrick Procell channel Joe Cocker. He is amazing.

The next night October 8th I’ll be singing with Hamburger Dave and the Condiments for a one night stand at Norton’s, 1911 Sheridan Rd. in Highland Park, IL.

 

Welcome Back to THE BUZZ!

The Buzz!

Hey, it’s only been a year! Happy to be back and thrilled to be working again! If you’re new to The BUZZ it’s my way of keeping in touch with the people in my life whom I’ve had the pleasure to work with and friended over 3 decades in Music, Advertising, Broadcasting and Acting.

SEPTEMBER BUZZ

The summer is winding down, but Doug is running full speed ahead!

HOSPITALITY FEST at the Lakeshore Fitness Center provided the opportunity for Doug’s company Pocket Productions to introduce THE SOUNDS OF A GENERATION. Doug’s new musical extravaganza offering different Live Music shows like The Joe Cocker Mad Dog Tribute Band,(a re-enactment of the 1970 Concert at The Fillmore East of The Mad Dogs & Englishmen Tour), The Soul Committee (a Tribute to the Alan Parker film “The Commitments” and his newest show 1967 Summer of Love. Doug met with Event Managers and Planners from Associations, High Tech and Service Industries, and Corporations who hire Entertainment for large Events, Parties and Functions. Check out Doug’s Narrated promo for his Woodstock Review Show    http://kirsten19.wixsite.com/pocket-productions

 

 AUGUST WAS A BUSY MUSIC MONTH! Doug James and The Pocket’s Favorite club to go acoustic has always been FUSION in Kenosha, Wis. A combined Art Gallery and Music venue it also offers Comedy and is with out a doubt the hottest club in a town with a bar on every corner! Which is why they now serve drinks as well as outstanding local, regional and national talent on their stage! Check’em out at www.kenoshafusion.com

A DOUBLE BILL FILLED TO CAPACITY! 210 Restaurant & Music Lounge didn’t even know what hit them, they certainly didn’t expect 400+ to show up for the Joe Cocker Mad Dog Tribute Band and Woodstock Music Fest Redux!! Doug Produced the show, Narrated the 3 hour extravaganza (which he wrote as well) and sang in the CS&N Woodstock performance. Needless to say, it was a good…no it was a GREAT time!

 RUN ON SENTENCE ALERT. Doug hosted the jam at the Wooden Nickel on the 2nd, then flew to Key West for Daughter Bridgets Wedding on the beach, in the heat and humidity then flew back and did a weekend Iowa tour playing at Vaudeville Mews in Des Moines on the 12th and the Adel Sweet Corn Festival on the 13th! (deep breath) But wait there’s more!

COX COMMUNICATIONS “WE ARE FAMOUS” Working as a husband and wife team for an on camera TV campaign Doug and Chicago actress and friend Janice O’Neil did multiple spots for the Home Smart Phone! The agency was Foote Cone & Belding and Doug’s old Taco Bell pal Todd Durston was the Creative Director. If you’re in the South, Southwest and West Coast you’re probably already seeing it airing!

MINI BABY BEL. A Sales Video for Celebrity Cheese? Really? Is it even necessary? Doug had no complaints working with team of creatives from Y&R Chicago and Dave Gerbosi at Another Country!

FINGERS ARE CROSSED! Doug would describe this as one of those VO jobs that you relish working on. A demo for a 2017 car campaign. All we can say is it was with a great team of guys from DDB Chicago.

DOUG’S ACTING HIS AGE? Yes, he did an AARP On Camera commercial with Lindsay Seltzer of GMMB. Fellow BOSS acting chum John Hoogenakker had the lead in this one!

 HAMMER TIME. DJ worked on an Internet Starburst Candy campaign with Alison Reeck and Audio Tech wizard Nick Papaleo from DDB Chicago. The spot featured MC Hammer doin’ a Juicy Rain Dance!

IT’S HANA HOU TIME TOO. Doug says Mahalo to Susie Kim and the creative team of Sean and Bryan at MVNP on the Big Island! He’s the voice for the McDonald’s McTeri Deluxe for the 2nd year in a row!

RESPIRATORY HEALTH ASSOCIATION.
This will be the last time Doug will have to fly back to Announce for Hustle Up the Hancock! The plan is to stick around in 2017 and work! Hope it’s a mild winter!!

MONOPOLY IS ALIIVVEE! Thanks to Steve Zoloto from Scientific Games. Big Shout out to everyone who plays the one armed Bandit in Casinos all over the world.

A PARTING THOUGHT… 
This Labor Day, resolve to do work that you love.

                                                  SEPTEMBER HAPPENINGS

SEPTEMBER 5     LABOR DAY

SEPTEMBER 22   AUTUMN BEGINS

SEPTEMBER 23   DJP PLAYS MAC’S ON SLADE

We Have A Solution, Houston!

The Buzz!

Worked with Producer/Writer Houston Howell from Evoke Productions on yet another Craftsman project. Gotta shout out to co-writer Michael Lewis too! The 90 second online infomercial highlighted the new Craftsman 12 AMP Reciprocating Saw! This has all of the right stuff for everything from demolition to rebuilding a bigger better MAN CAVE with no problem! From the push and pull default setting to full orbital action to the Vibra-Shield comfort grip with two built-in shock absorbers, this Tool Time man toy is just part of the new lineup of Craftsman Reciprocating Saws! WOOF WOOF!!

The Beat Goes On

The Buzz!

I did a radio spot for Northwestern Medicine recently for the Laughlin Constable agency. Producer Phil Smith & his creative team put together a series of commercials with individuals from all walks of life battling life threatening illnesses. In my spot I played a drummer who’d just completed an adaptive hybrid surgery to remove a brain tumor.  NM’s experts took the lead to help me regain my life’s rhythm.

OLD JOKE ALERT, What do you call someone who hangs around with musicians? A DRUMMER! (rim shot) By the way, that couldn’t be further from the truth!

Doc ‘O’ Rock Rolls

The Buzz!

Ari ‘Doc O Rock’ Mintz is a man of many hats! Besides being a friend he is a real Doctor, a Songwriter, Producer and a helluva bass player! I’ve been blessed the past couple of years to be his first choice to sing with his incredibly talented band, Vat of Chocolate. I was also on Ari’s last album Signifying Monkeys (available on iTunes) and he even let me grace the cover of the CD with him.

One of my personal highlights this summer was going back into the studio and performing on his latest CD Baribari. This time, with the amazing Yvonne Gage! This is a woman who can sing anything!! But to watch her work in the studio with Ari and engineer Rob Ruccia at the controls was pure joy.

The CD will be out sometime in the Spring, and I’ll be sure to let you know exactly when!

 

Joe Cocker Tribute

Mad Dog Tribute Band, Music

When I put this show together for the 40th Anniversary of The Mad Dogs & Englishmen Concert from the Live album at the Fillmore East, I wanted to capture the essence of that deliriously great summer of 1970. Cocker had KILLED it at Woodstock in August of 1969, and when Leon Russell and Joe’s manager put the Mad Dog Band together with a cast of future superstars backing up Joe well, it was magic! For us, the summer of 2010 was a lot of fun and I can honestly say we made some great music.

Now, 5 years later after his untimely death, I brought back the show with a few from the old cast and some new top notch players!

Saying goodbye to Pat Smillie who’d performed as Joe Cocker in the show was not easy! But Pat moved back home to Detroit and so the search was on for someone who could bring back the “sound and soul” of Joe Cocker! That’s when I turned to an old friend and asked the amazing Derrick Procell to sing “Sheffield’s Blueeyed Soul Man’s” music! Derrick is a seasoned veteran of the music scene and is well known throughout Chicago as a first call jingle singer. He’s also an accomplished songwriter having written for several TV shows.

It’s pretty cool that we now also have Iron Mike Bogart playing trumpet in the band! Mike’s resume is about as impressive as it gets, having played with Tower of Power for 9 years!! You’ll find him on 3 albums and he’ll be the guy with all the slick moves even when he’s NOT blowin’ the roof off!!

Another new and I’m proud to say world renowned player joining MDE is Percussionist Kalyan ‘Johnny Bongo’ Pathak! When he’s not playing with Aretha Franklin or other heavy hitters when they come to Chicago, Kalyan brings  his global presence to MDE!!

The rest of the Mad Dog Tribute band includes;

Ken Johnson & Jay Martini on Keys, Scott Leff-Guitar, Rick Demski-Bass, Dave Harris-Drums, JB Bustillos-Sax and our backing vocalists Bonnie Brenner, Heather Wood, Deb Petritsch & yours truly.

We’ve added a second set to the show! In between Sides 1 and 2 of the Live album, we perform songs from Joe Cocker’s library of great music. Including Grammy winner You Can Leave Your Hat On and his hits, You Are So Beautiful and his only #1 song and Grammy winning, Up Where We Belong. It is powerful and moving and clearly shows why Joe Cocker was such a force in music for decades.

Below, our poster from the Taste of Lincolnshire performed earlier this summer.

Mad Dog TOL

 

Summer Time ROCKED!

Doug James and The Pocket, Mad Dog Tribute Band, Music, Solo, The Buzz!

How can I put this…Summertime 2015 is just a blur in the rearview mirror! Man!! Maybe it’s a combo of growing older and stuffing 20 lbs. of fun into a 5 lb. bag!! But it was here and now it’s gone. Blues, Rock n’ Soul is my mistress and she didn’t disappoint me these past three months!

It started out with spending a day with the good folks at the Windy City Blues Society during Chicago Bluesfest! Working the tent and meeting people from all over THE WORLD was great! Needless to say, I re-upped my membership!

There were solo singing gigs like hosting the Jam at The Wooden Nickel in Highwood, singing and playing with Lovehouse at Taste of Glen Ellyn, plus the Mad Dog Tribute Band at Taste of  Lincolnshire but that only scratches the surface!

Taste of Park Ridge, and Sweetcorn Fest out in Iowa kept DJP Runnin’! As well as FUSION, The Rock n’ Roll Marathon, Abbey Pub, Reggies & multiple jams! We had a little disappointment when the first Abbey Pub gig was postponed due to a personal family matter. Then guitarist Dave Steffen ripped 3 tendons in his shoulder. He gritted through a few gigs but we had to pull out of the Taste of Wisconsin which disappointed not only the fans we’ve gathered over the past 4 years but also the band because we finally had made it as the headliner. Hell or highwater won’t keep us from doing it next year!!

Thanks to everyone who came out this summer to party with me and my cohorts! LOVE YOU ALL!

What is Pactose Intolerant?

The Buzz!

It’s an allergy known mostly to Chicago Bears fans. Although I won’t say it doesn’t exist in Minnesota or Detroit either! Doug James and the Pocket will be playing to a packed Pactose Intolerant house @ Reggies Music joint Sunday September 13th at the Post Bears/Packers game PARTY!!  It’s a $12 Pig Roast before and after the game! Join us immediately following the Noon game at Soldier Field if you can! Rumor is there’s a contingency of BEARS fans from Iowa coming just to hear DJP ROCK DA HAUS!!

Another Chicago Triathlon Has Come and Gone!

The Buzz!

Man am I glad the super hot humid weather waited a day! Although I didn’t announce at the Sunday Triathlon, my main man Dave Kappas called me up to announce at the finish line for the 19th Annual Chicago Triathlon Super Sprint and 25th Life Time Kids Tri Chicago Saturday August 29th! It’s always gratifying to see so many dedicated & determined athletes no matter their age! I especially would like to give props to the Para Tri Division of athletes who swim, bike and ride the distance!! Their fortitude is an inspiration! Here’s hoping the Pro’s run next year and I can be busy the entire weekend!!