Tricks History 1991

January 4, 5, 1991 - Tricks at Stan's in Dorr
January 11, 12, 1991 - Tricks at Stan's in Dorr
January 18, 19, 1991 - Tricks at Stan's in Dorr
January 25, 26, 1991 - Tricks at Stan's in Dorr

March 1, 2, 1991 - Tricks at Lena Lou in Ada
March 8, 9, 1991 - Tricks at Lena Lou in Ada

April 10, 1991 - Krys & Rick attend Spyro Gyra concert

April 26, 1991 - Krys & Rick attend Duke Tomato concert at Club Soda

April 27, 1991 - Ann calls and tells Rick that she would like to play keyboards for Tricks
Rick gets a phone call from Ann Erwood, explaining that she is tired of being in short-term bands. She wants a band that she can call home.
RICK COMMENTS: "Ann went on about how she was tired of jumping from band to band. She also went on and on about how she would 'even play 38 Special', in other words, she would not fuss about doing southern rock songs that she disliked. I told Ann that we don't do songs in Tricks that anyone has a serious dislike for. She still went on and on explaining that she would be the 'hired hand', and that she would do whatever was demanded of her - so great was Ann's need to be in a stable band relationship."
"The next day, Tom Huitt called and talked to me about joining Tricks with Ann. When Steve, Dale, and I talked this over, we were very hesitant about firing Tom Hudson. We loved the thought of having a great keyboardist like Ann in the band. But Tom Hudson was our band friend for many years, going back 10 years with Rick and Steve in Tricks, and many more years with Dale in Opus. The next time I talked with Ann, she had a new demand that Tom Huitt be allowed to join Tricks, or else she wouldn't be interested in joining Tricks."

April 28, 1991 - Steve, Tammy, Dave, Rich, Krys & Rick attend Todd Rundgren concert

May 1, 1991 - Yes concert

May 10, 11, 1991 - Tricks at Stan's in Dorr
May 17, 18, 1991 - Tricks at Stan's in Dorr
May 24, 25, 1991 - Tricks at Stan's in Dorr
May 31, June 1, 1991 - Tricks at Stan's in Dorr

June 7, 8, 1991 - Tricks at Lena Lou in Ada
June 14, 15, 1991 - Tricks at Lena Lou in Ada - bye bye Tom Hudson
At the end of this Saturday gig at Lena Lou, Rick has the unglamorous job of telling Tom Hudson about our plans to hire Tom Huitt to take his place, because we want Ann to play keyboards, and she stipulated that she would only join Tricks if we also hired Tom Huitt on bass.

June 20, 1991 - Tricks, The Next Generation, first rehearsal
Rick, Steve, and Dale are very excited about the possibility of doing some very fun songs with this new powerhouse band. Dale is a hot lead guitarist. Tom is a hot bass player. Steve can play most any drum part we ask him to play. Rick will play guitar, but can double on keyboards when needed. Ann will play keyboards, but can double on guitar when needed. We have 5 singers, with Ann and Rick especially good at doing difficult harmony parts. Everyone could sing lead. Where do we begin? We need to find some songs that are worthy of this mighty musical force. We are flying high thinking of the limitless possibilities.

July 2, 1991 - Steve, Tammy, Dave, Rich, Krys & Rick attend Kansas concert

July 5, 1991 - Rick and Krys sing at the Dorr pageant

July 9, 1991 - Steve, Tammy, Dave, Rich, Krys & Rick attend Stu Hamm concert

August 31 - Tricks, The Next Generation, No Dale tonight
Tricks plays at Lori and Tom's wedding at the Elk's Club in Allegan. Dale is out of town on business. We consider it a paid practice. Small reception, but long equipment haul up the back steps of the Elk's. Good Cake! Tom and Lori break up within a week; Tricks, TNG lasts just little longer...

September 20, 21, 1991 - Tricks at Stan's in Dorr - Gig #1
It's the premiere of Tricks, The Next Generation at Stan's in Dorr. Trendway's company picnic is on Saturday, the 21st, and many of Rick's work friends come out to Dorr, to get their first taste of Tricks. Great crowd; more watching than dancing. Better performance than we expected after so few rehearsals.
September 27, 28, 1991 - Tricks at Stan's in Dorr
Very good crowds for the debut of the new Tricks at Stan's. Excellent craziness. Steve Raab runs lights this weekend.

October 4, 5, 1991 - Tricks at Lena Lou in Ada
Great crowds in Ada both on Friday and Saturday. Excellent performance by the new band. The new songs are really coming together.

October 26, 27, 1991 - Tricks at The Swamp Fox in Middleville
Tricks plays at the Swamp Fox in Middleville. The Swamp Fox is a restaurant, and they don't normally have bands. But this is Halloween, so they want a band on Saturday for their big costume party. The bar is packed and crazy wild for Halloween on Saturday. Steve Raab runs lights.

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The bar is owned by the former owners of the Hilliards Royal Knight. In order to get their money's worth, they want Tricks to also play on Sunday night. On Sunday, there are only a dozen people in the bar. This is the night that we pick to videotape the band. We know it will be a slow, night, perfect for videotaping. It is the first and last video taping of Tricks, TNG.
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November 6, 1991 - Tricks auditions at The Loop, in downtown Grand Rapids
Long, long day. Work 8 hours, set up at the Loop, play 4 hours, tear down, die!

November 16, 1991 - Rick sings in the Miss Allegan pageant at the Griswald in Allegan

November 23, 1991 - Tom Baird, founding member of Tricks, visits from California

November 27, 1991 - Steve, Tammy, Dave, Rich, Krys & Rick attend Jethro Tull's Thick As A Brick 20 year anniversary tour at Devos Hall

December 20, 21, 1991 - Tricks at Stan's in Dorr
December 27, 28, 1991 - Tricks at Stan's in Dorr
This is Steve Raab's last night running lights for Tricks. 15 years of lightshow support from Steve Raab.
December 31, 1991 - Tricks at Stan's in Dorr - New Year's Eve Party


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