The following year I was stoked to see if I could outdo my classmate. While trying to come up with an idea I had a spark hit me one day. I was thinking about Robert Plant and how fun it would be to draw a cartoon plant named Bob. That would be the clue to the artists name.

While growing up I had always loved those Six Flags maps you could buy at the park. They were cartoon designs and had hundreds of little rides, buildings and people all over the map. You could spend hours looking at the map and find something new every time. That sparked another idea.

I decided to combine both ideas into my calendar design. I would draw cartoon clues to the names of 100 rock artists or groups. I would make the design look similar to those Six Flags maps.

I first came up with a list of 100 names that would lend themselves to cartoon clues. I then started drawing. Back in that day there were no computers to draw on or scan the design in so I was working on a single illustration board. I penciled all 100 clues and then inked the entire design.

After inking I colored the illustration with watercolor paint. Each clue was individually painted. The original design has the KATT character in a Sherlock Holmes outfit with a magnifying glass in the middle of the design. Once all of that was complete I covered all of the designs with a Frisket material leaving only the background.

To finish the background and make it look like dirt I mixed different brown colors of paint. I then dipped a toothbrush into the paint and flicked it onto the illustration. I then changed the color slightly and flicked another coat. This was repeated until the background was filled in.

After drying I pealed all of the Frisket off and was left with a complete illustration. Throughout the calendar I added a few clues that meant nothing and also hid a few names and initials.

My plan was for the KATT to sell the calendars and have people try to name all 100 bands and artists. Listeners could then send in their guesses and the radio station would pick a winner for some big prize. I submitted the whole package and waited.

A few weeks later I got a call from the station manager and he had lots of questions for me. I got the feeling that he did not believe I had come up with the idea on my own and had done the design. Once I explained to him where all of the design ideas came from he felt confident enough to tell me that I had won! It was a pretty big deal because they were the top station in Oklahoma City.

They sent the design to the graphic design company to add the actual calendar and wording on the design. They made a decision to pull my KATT character out of the middle because he was covered in the Sherlock Holmes cape and hat. They wanted their artist to draw a regular KATT in the bottom of the calendar with the dates.

The graphic art studio was having problems figuring out how to pull my KATT out of the design without leaving a big blank hole. They were working with the only copy of the design on a piece of illustration board. There was no way at that time to scan the design into a computer and manipulate it in some graphics software.

I was then contacted to come in and see if I could figure out what to do. I placed a sheet of tracing paper over the middle of the design and drew a line all of the way around my KATT character. My line followed the edge of elements that would be on the outside of this new are I was creating. No clue could straddle the line.

I then took that outline and transferred it to a new illustration board. I drew some new clues inside that area and filled it with other objects. I inked those and painted them. The big hurdle was how to do the background so it matched the original because it had been done randomly with a toothbrush. I was able to match everything pretty good. The design studio then put an overlay of the new middle on top of the original design while shooting film for printing.

If you look really, really close you can see the outlined area in just a few spots. Find the Scorpions clue and look at the tail. You can see a darker area on one side and a lighter area on the other. If I hadn’t mentioned it most people would never know I had spliced the two designs together.

The entire design was wrapped up and sent to the printer. The radio station sold the calendars through local Arby’s restaurants. I believe they were $2 each. I still remember finding a local Arby’s and seeing the design for the first time. It was so awesome!

That calendar ended being the best selling design they had up until that time. The popular morning show Rick and Max spent several shows trying to figure out the clues. The station decided not to do the contest. One morning I even called into the show to help them solve a few of the names.

The next year I submitted another design and ended up with a third place finish. My design and the winning design both had a brick wall with the letters K-A-T-T spray painted on it. I thought that was a little weird. That was the 1990 design.

I won again in 1991 with a part two version of my first win. I drew another 100 clues to more band and artist names. That one was not as exciting as the first but was fun to create. As far as I know that was the last calendar contest that they did.

I am including closeup photos of the ’89 poster to see if you all can find the clues. I have never released all 100 names and don’t know if anyone ever found them all. Look for Robert Plant, he started it all. There’s also Talking Heads, Cheap Trick, Canned Heat, Iron Butterfly, The Doors, Genesis, Meatloaf, Bread, ZZ Top, April Wine, Rolling Stones and more.

I will post the complete list soon. Enjoy!

This is my illustration with the 100 clues. I did not draw this KATT character. The actual months at the bottom have been cutoff.

Upper left.

Upper right.

Lower left.

Lower right.

Original Drawing

The post I Won The KATT Calendar Contest… Twice! appeared first on Curtis Tucker.

I also remember my mom recording the Elvis comeback special in 1968. I was six years old and my dad was still living with us. We lived on the Clinton-Sherman Air Force base near Burns Flat, Oklahoma. My mom used a reel-to-reel recorder with the microphone up to the TV.

Elvis died on August 16, 1977 while we were living in a rent house on W. Broadway in Enid, Oklahoma. My mom’s best friend Dottie called to tell my mom that Elvis had passed. My mom wasn’t home at the time so I got the message, this was before answering machines were in every home. I don’t think I really thought that much of it at the time because Elvis had faded from the spotlight for us kids.

Later in life, as an adult, I made a trek to Graceland on my way to the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics. Going to Memphis was a little out of the way but I thought it would be pretty cool to go see the Elvis mansion. In your mind you have visions of a huge place surrounded by all kinds of cool things. Upon arriving I was surprised to find that the mansion wasn’t all that big and it sat in a very busy, populated area.

There was a tourist area with restaurant and gift shop set up across the street. That’s where you purchased tickets to board a small bus which took you through the Graceland gates and dropped you off at the front of Graceland. There are multiple tours going on and each one has a very strict tour guide.

Much of the interior of the home is blocked off and protected by ropes. You are taken from room to room but cannot get near the furnishings. The guide explains what is in each room which is fun to see because they’ve left all of the rooms exactly like they were when Elvis died in 1977. It’s like a very 70s time capsule.

For some reason during the tour I felt the need to grab a tiny memento of the King. On the tour there were signs posted about not touching anything and cameras were watching our every step. It wasn’t like I could just nab a book or something from his library. I would have taken a light bulb from a lamp if I could have reached one. Everything that could be taken was kept pretty much out of arms reach.

As the tour began to wind down my urge to find a souvenir was almost out of control. I knew my chances were running out and I would have to leave without a part of Elvis lore and history. That’s about the time I saw a glimmer of hope. Something caught my eye that would save the day.

What I saw was the grooviest, greenest, lushest shag carpet I had ever laid eyes on! It was like there was a mile of it covering the famous Jungle Room. I’ll have you know that green is my favorite color and I immediately wanted some of that green shag carpet! Of course there were ropes keeping us away and dozens of people blocking my reach.

As the tour was about to end and enter the last leg of the home I noticed that the carpet actually went all the way up the walls near the stairs to leave the mansion! Wow! What luck. As we were about to exit the jungle room area, I backed up and stuck my hand behind me. As I began to break out in a sweat I plucked one single strand of green shag carpet from one of the jungle room walls. From the looks of the missing areas near my strand I knew I wasn’t the only that had pilfered a small part of Elvis memorabilia.

We exited Graceland out a back door to the Elvis museum. I prayed that a surveillance camera had not picked up on my dastardly deed. I slipped the green strand into my pocket and left quickly. I now possessed a tiny part of pop culture history and a fragment of the most iconic 70s room on the planet.

I left the tour feeling on top of the world. I had a very small part of the Elvis legend and a part of the famous Jungle Room. I still have that strand today and if you feel the need to be close to Elvis, just give me a call and we’ll break it out and watch Jail House Rock together.

The post My Small Piece Of Graceland & Elvis Lore appeared first on Curtis Tucker.

BRAMAN, OK – Legendary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame KISS members, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, made their way from the Ponca City Airport to the small community of Braman, Oklahoma on a blustery and cold Thursday afternoon. Organizers of the event had a heated tent constructed next to the Southwind Casino Kanza just off of I-35. A Rock & Brews catering van welcomed invitees as they entered the venue.

BuzzHead Media made its way up I-35 to cover the announcement of the Casino Resort that will be located only 70 miles from Enid. A casino, hotel and destination resort with an event center that close could be a big draw for local residents but could also pull sales tax and entertainment away from the Enid community.

Media members received media passes, free food catered by Rock & Brews and drinks. The event began with Kaw tribal members getting a quick meet and greet that kicked off as soon as the rockers arrived in Braman.

When Simmons arrived he took to the microphone and told the audience, “We are proud to be in a band that is America’s number one gold record award winning group of all time, in all categories.” He also stressed, “Rock & Brews really ain’t about us, it really is about right here, right now about the Kaw Nation, about Kaw Gaming, Inc.”

Simmons and Stanley then took questions and conducted interviews with the media. Asked about locating in Braman, Simmons answered, “You don’t know how big … this is going to become. You’ve got to remember, Las Vegas was desert once upon a time. Now 44 million people come into Las Vegas every year. If we get 1/100th of that coming here, it’s going to be an explosion.”

I asked about how the partnership began. Simmons explained to me that the Kaw Nation had been guests at the San Manuel casino, where there was a Rock & Brews restaurant and saw the way that everyone was treated. This led to a meeting between the two entities.

Simmons told me, “We just connected as people first. First you connect as people, great business has to do with great people wanting to be with each other then the business takes care of itself. So it started with people and it should. It’ll always begin and end with people.”

Braman, Oklahoma is located northwest of Ponca City about 15 miles south of the Kansas state line on Interstate 35. It is located in Kay County and had a population of 217 in 2010.

Rock & Brews is a one-of-a-kind restaurant and entertainment concept designed to engage people of all ages with quality comfort food, a broad selection of international and craft beers and an energized, family friendly, concert environment.

The post Interviewing Gene Simmons appeared first on Curtis Tucker.

Todd and Stayton could sing and Todd played piano. We all fell in love with the rock and roll band Kansas after “Carry On Wayward Son” came out. That was the spark that got us to thinking about forming our own rock band.

In the fall of 1978 we made our way to high school. In Enid, Oklahoma, there were three junior high’s which all fed into Enid High School. Stayton, Todd and I came from Waller Junior High. At the beginning of the year we started to meet guys from the other junior high schools.

Enid High had a swimming pool in the basement at that time and we had to go swimming as part of gym class. That’s were I met Alan. Alan was from Longfellow Junior High and he played bass guitar. We started hanging out around school and talked about rock bands.

As we got to know each other better I found out that his buddy from Longfellow played drums. His name was Kyle. It didn’t take long before we were all hanging out after school and started to talk about forming a band.

That year we started hanging out in garages and living rooms testing our ability to play rock and roll. I believe Mr. PettyJohn let us use his garage for our first practice. Of course the first song we wanted to tackle was “Carry On Wayward Son.” We weren’t going to sign any record deals but we weren’t horrible either.

Since we started taking things a little more serious I found a brand new, black, Ventura Les Paul copy and put it on layaway. I also bought a huge Custom amp from one of my old buddies. Todd bought a Rhodes electronic organ and we bought mics and a sound system. We even got fancy enough to build a lighting system.

At the time we were taking those odd classes you have to take in high school. One of the classes was literature and Alan was reading Don Quixote. Rocinante was Don Quixote’s horse in the novel. Alan thought it sounded cool and proposed that we use that for the name of the band. I don’t remember there being much argument at the time so that is what we went with.

We played some Kansas, Thin Lizzie, Fleetwood Mac, Ted Nugent, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Eagles, Bad Company, Rolling Stones and others. Thin Lizzie songs seemed to be the ones we performed the best, especially Jail Break.

I wrote a couple of original songs and we collaborated on a few others. I believe I wrote the music to “Midnight Dreamin” and “Train To Reality” while Stayton and Todd helped with lyrics. Although we were very garage famous we did venture out one year to enter the high school talent show.

We performed our original “Midnight Dreamin” in the high school auditorium. Back in that day there was a group of teachers that auditioned us and scored the acts that would make the talent show. When the results came out we did not make the show.

Looking at our scores and comments it came down to Mrs. Hoad, the teacher of Greek Mythology. Her score for us was so low it bumped us out of the contest. Although we were upset it was her comment that made us feel a little better. She said in her comments that we were too loud!! That’s something any 70’s rock band wanted to hear.

Somewhere during the next year we discovered that nobody knew how to pronounce our band name and having to explain that it was the name of a horse fell a little flat. We decided to change our name to Reality based on our song “Train To Reality.” The change also had to do with the phrase, “reality is for people who can’t handle drugs”  because we weren’t high school druggies.

We played plenty of garages and even played a keg party one time. It was outdoors and of course it started to mist. We were getting shocked so that gig didn’t last long. We spent many hours in Todd’s parents living room practicing and recording ourselves on cassette tapes.

Even though we weren’t playing anywhere we decided we wanted some promotional band photos. Go figure. So we hired a photographer that was in our class. Joe met us in a field near Kyle’s house and he took some great photographs. We ended up with some smaller color pics and larger back and whites. The field we were in looked a bit like “weed” in the black and whites so we thought that added to our cred.

Looking back at the photos makes me smile. Not only for the memories of hanging out with those guys but because of our “look”. We all had the 70’s long hair going on and I even had bangs! It was a fun experience being in the band and kept us out of lots of trouble.

During our junior year we were still just goofing around with the band and Alan wanted to take it more serious. He decided to quit the band to play with another band that actually had paying gigs. Rob joined our band as the bass player at that point. He was the younger brother of one of our classmates.

At the end of our junior year we decided to rent a facility and have our own dance. We pooled our money, rented the Enid Activity Center and had flyers printed. I designed the flyers and we went around town sticking them everywhere we could.

We charged $2.50 per person and $4.00 per couple. The biggest part of the crowd was our parents and close friends. I think a few strangers wandered in but it was not a stadium sized crowd. We did make enough to pay for the venue I think.

We ended up having a falling out with Alan about our PA equipment when we were seniors that eventually led to a fight between Kyle and Alan. That was the biggest regret of the band. We did make amends but were never together as a group after that.

And after high school that was it! We pretty much let the band fade away as Kyle and I went off to college in Tonkawa. Todd went to work for his dad, Stayton went to a local university, Alan went to work for the city and Rob went on to play with several other bands in high school.

Listen to our podcast below as we get back together to talk about the band. Alan was not in on the call.

Listen to “Our 1970’s Garage Band Experience” on Spreaker.

The post Our Rock N Roll Garage Band appeared first on Curtis Tucker.

The photo with this post is me in 1978. My mom bought me the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band soundtrack. I was listening to it on my console stereo/8-track player. Gotta love the bean bag chair, 45’s, cement weight set, genie lamp, yarn slippers and super cool headphones.

Many songs take me back to a moment in time while others just make me smile. Some of these I can’t even put my finger on, I just enjoy them. These are NOT the songs I think are the best of all time, just songs I’d listen to over and over again or ones that transport me immediately to a happy time in my life.

Imagine you’re going to be a castaway on a deserted island and you luckily have a music player with unlimited batteries. You could be marooned on this island for years. Which 100 songs would you load onto your device knowing they would be the only ones you’d listen to for the rest of your life? Which songs inspire you? Which ones motivate you? Are there songs that make you sad?

Here are the top 100 songs that I’d put on the play list of my life. There are definitely many more but these are the ones that seem to mean something to me at this stage of life. I will most likely update this list as the years go by. These are in no particular order.

1. I Melt For You – Modern English
2. If You Leave – OMD
3. Carry On Wayward Son – Kansas
4. Jurassic Park Theme – John Williams
5. One Headlight – Wallflowers
6. Go Your Own Way – Fleetwood Mac
7. Love You ‘Till the End – The Pogues
8. Werewolves of London – Warren Zevon
9. Roll With The Changes – REO Speedwagon
10. Time of Your Life – Greenday
11. I Was Wrong – Social Distortion
12. Get Right Back – Army Navy
13. Somewhere Over The Rainbow – Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
14. I Will Survive – Cake
15. Stand By Me – Ben E. King
16. Shame on You – Indigo Girls
17. Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd
18. Praan – Garry Schyman
19. Soak Up The Sun – Sheryl Crow
20. Bohemian Like You – The Dandy Warhols
21. There’s No Goodbye… Only Love – James Horner
22. Dog Days Are Over – Florence + The Machine
23. Feeling That Way – Journey
24. Come Sail Away – Styx
25. No Rain – Blind Melon
26. Tainted Love – Soft Cell
27. Waltzing Along – James
28. Goodbye Girl – David Gates
29. Come Clean – Hilary Duff
30. 3AM – Matchbox 20
31. More Than A Feeling – Boston
32. Be Somebody – Boyce Avenue
33. Unwritten – Natasha Bedingfield
34. Don’t You Forget About Me – Simple Minds
35. Suspicious Minds – Dwight Yoakum
36. Baker Street – Gerry Rafferty
37. End Credits from Cast Away – Alan Silvestri
38. Against All Odds – Phil Collins
39. Keep Pushin’ – REO Speedwagon
40. Fox On The Run – Sweet
41. Our Lives – The Calling
42. I Want You To Want Me – Cheap Trick
43. Girlfriend – Matthew Sweet
44. Blinded By The Light – Manfred Mann
45. If I Ever Leave This World Alive – Flogging Molly
46. Pretty In Pink (Acoustic) – Psychedelic Furs
47. Sorry – Nothing But Thieves
48. California Dreamin – Shaw Blades
49. Laid – James
50. What’s Up – 4 Non Blondes
51. Sympathy For The Devil – Rolling Stones
52. You Shook Me All Night Long – AC/DC
53. Thank You For Being A Friend – Andrew Gold
54. Stayin’ Alive – Bee Gees
55. Taking Care Of Business – BTO
56. Sunshine On My Shoulders – John Denver
57. She Sells Sanctuary – The Cult
58. American Pie – Don Mclean
59. Years From Now – Dr. Hook
60. Hotel California – The Eagles
61. Stairway To Heaven – Led Zepplin
62. Telephone Line – ELO
63. Harden My Heart – Quarterflash
64. Missing You – John Waite
65. Monkey Wrench – Foo Fighters
66. December, 1963 – Four Seasons
67. Bakers Street – Gerry Rafferty
68. Some Kind Of Wonderful – Grand Funk Railroad
69. I Can See Clearly Now – Jimmy Cliff
70. Happy Days Theme – Pratt & McClain
71. I Came For You – Manford Mann
72. Can’t Let You Go – Rainbow
73. Suicide Is Painless – Mandel and Altman
74. Canon D – Pachelbel
75. Like A Rolling Stone – Michael Hedges
76. Halloween Theme – John Carpenter
77. Want You Bad – The Offspring
78. Bad Romance – On The Rocks
79. Still The One – Orleans
80. Time In A Bottle – Jim Croce
81. Can’t Help Falling In Love – Elvis
82. She Sheila – Producers
83. Round and Round – Rat
84. Tell Me What You Want – Zebra
85. Stupid People – The Refreshments
86. Ridin’ The Storm Out – REO Speedwagon
87. Take Your Mama – Scissor Sisters
88. All For You – Sister Hazel
89. When Angels Sing – Social Distortion
90. Time Warp – Rocky Horror Picture Show
91. Santeria – Sublime
92. Friends In Low Places – Garth Brooks
93. Panama – Van Halen
94. Dust In The Wind – Kansas
95. The Warrior Theme – Barry De Vorzon
96. Phantasm Theme – Myrow and Seagrave
97. The Sound Of Silence – Simon and Garfunkel
98. Rock’n Roll All Night – KISS
99. Foreplay/Long Time – Boston
100. Coming…

The post Shaggs Playlist appeared first on Curtis Tucker.

TULSA, OK – The BuzzHead Media crew got an Enid exclusive interview with Brooks on Friday, January 9, 2015 in Tulsa. The press conference, interview and concert highlights are in the video above.

I have to say that Garth and Trisha were the most down to earth, easy going celebs I have ever seen. The lady news anchors in the room came with bigger egos. By the time the news conference was complete and I was in line to interview Brooks, all nerves had been erased and I ended up doing an interview with someone that felt like an old friend.

The selfie at the top of the page was taken at the end of the interview with Brooks. I held my iPhone up and the camera was set to take a photo looking the other way. Brooks quickly reached up to my phone and hit the button to flip the camera like he had done it a million times, which I’m guessing he had. He grabbed my shoulders and let me snap as many pics as I wanted.

The news conference was very casual. Brooks took questions from everyone and nothing seemed to be off limits. He and Yearwood took turns answering questions and joked with each other throughout the event.

This photo, taken by the iMuze crew, was during my actual interview. The guy to the right of me is Aron, who was the PR guy for the news conference and kept things moving. He’s the one that poked me in the back after my third question letting me know I needed to move along.

During our interview an alarm went off in the building. This was Garth’s reaction to the noise. We waited a few seconds for it to stop and began talking again. Another alarm sound went off and we decided to just push through the noise and continue with the interview.

The post My First Real Interview Was Garth Brooks appeared first on Curtis Tucker.