Butch Whacks and the Glass Packs return to Bimbo's 365 in San Francisco!! Tickets go on Sale May 12th, 2008!
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Butch Whacks celebrates 25th annual farewell performance
Butch Whacks and the Glass Packs was started in 1971 as a way for a bunch of St. Mary's undergrads to impress girls. That didn't happen, but somehow the band went on to open for the likes of Tower of Power, Boz Scaggs, the Doobie Brothers and Ike and Tina Turner before breaking up in 1976 to get on with such mundane details as making a living. After individually achieving success in such fields as stand-up comedy, television and movies, the travel industry, law, real estate, etc., the Glass Packs got together for a one-time reunion in 1983. They sold out three nights, they decided to do it again and then again... and now their annual farewell performance has become one of most anticipated weekends of the San Francisco summer entertainment scene. No one has delivered more laughs per minute than the Glass Packs who will be putting on their 25th annual farewell performance this June 25, 26 and 27th at Bimbo's 365 Club in San Francisco. This is the only Glass Packs performances of the year where all the former band members get back together.
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Need a BW fix? Find out more than you ever wanted to know about the band at www.butchwhacks.com
When a band has 37 years of history and bad jokes, you have to store it somewhere. And a lot of it is at www.butchwhacks.com. Learn a little bit about band members, a skewed history of the band, see some old photos we probably should burn, and even see some of our old bits. We're actually learning how to do much of this ourselves, so we'll even do a better job of keeping you posted on what's happening (although bear with us -- sometimes we have to have our teen-age kids shows us all these internet tricks.).
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Long time band member Craig Martin passes on;
Friends rally around Whacks sax Morey G
One of the unfortunate things about being around a long time is that the harsh realities of life invariably catch up to you. Sadly, they have caught up to the Glass Packs in two ways over the last 15 months - first with the passing of original Glass Pack Craig Martin after a long struggle with liver problems, and most recently with the the illness of our tenor sax man Morey Goldstein, who is is slipping each week from the debilitating
effects of brain cancer.
 Despite his passing last Spring, there is definitely no shortage of Craig-o stories to keep some good memories alive -- from growing up in the city, his days at SI and St. Marys, at too many jobs to his long run with the Glass Packs and the crazy but incredibly fun times be it at local clubs, or even Guatemala. We want
to thank those of you who shared your many many nice thoughts about
Craig with us, and for those who would like another look at the Craig
we all remember, you can view two of his performances on Youtube.
Click here for Pretty Woman and for Make Believe.
 While not an original Glass Pack, Morey G has fit into our group like he was custom-fitted for it. He sat in with the Glass Packs on many past occasions before joining us permanently five years ago, but he has been part of the
San Francisco music scene since the late 70's, most notably with the Zasu Pitts Memorial Orchestra and later Big Bang Beat, along
with with his wife, vocalist Katie Guthorn. He also compiled an impressive discography as a producer of local talent, including Sylvester (with future American idol judge Randy Jackson playing bass.)
Offstage, Morey was a calm, quiet presence, even amidst the impending chaos of show time, but onstage the former Long Islander was a live crackling wire arcing through his kinetic sax solos, as ecidenced by this rendition of "You Can't Sit Down" from our 2006 show.. His discipline and attention to detail made us all lift our game, and made us a better band.
Unfortunately, Morey's family and many friends were devastated to learn a few months ago of the diagnosis of advanced stage brain cancer. Right now, Morey's needs are many and
expensive, and his friends and extended musical family are doing what we can to
help. If you are able and so inclined to join the effort, you
may reach out to Morey by clicking here or going to the link below. http://www.bigbangbeat.com/moreyg.html
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Link of the Week - Jerry Lee Lewis, Ray Charles & Fats Domino -- together!!
We figured that it might be good to share with you some of the fascinating or offbeat or even fascinatingly offbeat weblinks that our friends and fans have shared with us. To start it off off, here's something you
don't see every day: three of the greatest rock and roll piano players -- Jerry Lee Lewis, Ray Charles, and Fats Domino -- aka the Killer, the Genius and the Fatman -- all playing pianos on the same stage at the same time.
FYI: That's Ron Wood
of the Rolling Stones, among others, backing them up on guitar! And the man keeping the whole thing moving is David Letterman's music director, Paul
Schaeffer.
www.dailymotion.com/video/xe5w0_ray-charles-jerry-lee-lewis
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Show Times
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