Oooof! Our first really bad review...OUCH! Damn...that's it..We quit! We are gonna take our ball and GO HOME...boo hoo hoo...<sniff>

Translation we requested from below...
http://www.altcountry.nl
Gin Palace Jesters (2 1/2 stars out of 5)
You can reward almost every cd a with four stars, but the spoiled listener will not be convinced any longer. It´s getting even worse when the reviewer wants to make good friend with the record industry and bands. Or a reviewer who takes the easy way and write a dull review without any critical note. I read such kind of review somewhere on the net about Gin Palace Jesters, een sympathic combo from Chicago around singer/guitarplayer Dave Sisson, who plays original honkytonk and hillbilly music. They mix that style with some western swing. Honkytonk Fools is the appropriate title of their cd. About the music I told you already, the word Fool we can translate into love sorrow, like the old days of Hank Williams it´s still the best inspiration for a catching country song. The problem a bit with Honkytonk Fools is that after a sparkling start, the band starts sounding quite ordinary and you can count the crackling highlights on the fingers of one hand. Irritating is that the pedal steel plays not in key all the time. These minus points make that in the end Gin Palace Jesters can not prove their expectations. (Bart Ebisch)

Thanks to Cuzin' Dave of Cleveland's WRUW-FM 91.1 for keeping on the sunnyside and playing some Gin Palace Jesters music.

There is a push on by the family of the late Redd Stewart to get him admitted to the Country Music Hall of Fame. Redd penned many songs in his country music career but the most notable is his co-write of "Tennessee Waltz" with Pee Wee King. That alone ought to be enough but in case it isn't, click here to sign an email petition for Redd. DO IT!

Happy friggin New YEAR!!! There is a new cd review courtesy of Americana-UK online music magazine which we have posted on our cd reviews page.

Since the sad demise of the Ray Price clock we as an organization will soon be revealing a brand new stage gag. That is all we can say for now as it is very top secret-hush-hush and on the QT.

Our sympathies go to the families of two Gin Palace Jesters' influences who have recently passed on to the land beyond the sunset: Hank "Sugarfoot" Garland and Mack Vickery. RIP

Attention Springfield, IL...The Gin Palace Jesters show has been cancelled. We will not be there and are rescheduling for March some time. Kenneth Brian will still be playing on January 15 but we will not. Rest assured we will be back soon however.

Thanks to Kam Loops Radio in British Columbia, Canada for spinning our music!

There are some NEW photos from our December gig at the Big C Jamboree up to view on our photos page.

Thanks to Oscar Hox for broadcasting Gin Palace Jesters' music from the KFJC 500 watt transmitter located on Black Mountain, in the Montebello Open Space Preserve, south of Los Altos, California.

Thanks also to Third Coast Music Network for declaring our music fit for public consumption and giving it some air time in the ether above San Antonio, Texas.

The Gin Palace Jesters had some new publicity photos taken and we promise to put the non-embarrassing ones up in our photos section soon including a higher resolution file that will be of printable quality. We also thank all who came out to see us play with Wayne Hancock this past Thursday evening. We will soon have some photos to post of that event as well.

The Gin Palace Jesters' are NOW providing several COMPLETE tracks on sound wave files from our debut CD "Honkytonk Fools" for you to hear free of charge! Thasssright! We're GIVING THEM AWAY...Well, not giving them away exactly. In a shrewd and risky business move, we are allowing you to hear them on this website only, right now, for free on our Music Page. Just like Kenny Rogers , from top to bottom, the Gin Palace Jesters' corporate machine are gamblers right to the end!!!

The Gin Palace Jesters have invaded the airwaves of the Italian "boot" thanks to Massimo Ferro and his Highway 61 radio program playing Americana Roots music. Thank you Massimo!

Gin Palace Jesters-Album of the week in Ireland

Sounds from the New West
Joe Vincent
E-Mail JR_Radio@HotMail.com
Post Box 39,
Waterford. IRELAND.

JRRI is a free radio station.
Sounds from the New West features C&W, Folk, Gospel,blues, rock, Irish
Album of the week
GIN PALACE JESTERS
Honkytonk Fools
Rhythm Bomb Records

Thanks to Radio Faroe Islands - Petur Rouch for giving us some spins as well as James Pearson from Scotland's BBC Radio Shetland for the same. We sure do appreciate it. Also to whom ever is broadcasting our music in Iceland. Yeah...that's right. Iceland!

Gin Palace Jesters-GONE (Dave Sisson-Keystone Cowboy Songs-BMI) listed at #376 most played country song by European Country Music Association playlist for July 17, 2004. That's only 10 spots behind the Cherokee Cowboy, Ray Price! How cool is that? What...not impressed? HEY it's a list of TWO THOUSAND songs people...Jeez.

Thanks to the DJ's who are playing the music they WANT to play not the music they HAVE to play especially when it happens to be the Gin Palace Jesters! We say THANKS to:

-Sean Burns-Sangamon Valley Roots Revival-WQNA in Springfield, IL
-Lucien Knapen (Prof. Silvester) Radio Ariane-Belgium
-Gerd Stassen in the "Hillbilly Rockhouse" RADIO "EMS-VECHTE-WELLE", GERMANY
-Radio Winschoten- The Netherlands
-Bert van der Wijst-Peelstar Country Club-Netherlands
-Alain Demers-Frequence Mutine ( Country World )-Brest, France
-Erwin & Diny Schapendonk-(Country Style)-Helmond, The Netherlands
-Rolf Hierath-Radio RheinWelle-Germany
and all the other DJ's we don't know about. Thanks a heap!

We are going to be teaming up with the pride of Milwaukee for a few gigs this summer. Many fans of honkytonk and hillbilly around these parts already know who Hank Thomas is but for those that don't it'll be a special treat for you to find out. He's gonna be helping us out with some of our gigs and we are gonna be helping him out with some of his. You can hear him sing some of the great classics of the Country and Western Hit Parade on June 25th at the California Clipper.

We hear our CD is getting some European Radio Airplay and we thank those Disc Jockeys for giving our songs some spins. We sure do appreciate it. Here are the shows we know about and we are grateful!

Lots of news acruing this spring. First of all, the Gin Palace Jesters' debut CD "Honkytonk Fools" is OUT in Europe. We have been informed of some brisk sales out of the gate (like, not Brittney Spears sales figures big but... THANK GOD for that!!!). Anyway, like 350 in the first 10 days. That seems like a modestly good number for this little hillbilly band. So 350 people can't be wrong can they??? Well...can they? So maybe they can but believe us, this time they AIN'T damnit!

All this "success" is really too much for Mike Medina and he has decided to pursue his FAA/FCC mechanics job full tilt which as many of you know has made his drumming availability pretty scarce for Jestering with us... We really love Mike though we don't understand why he needs the comforts a "real" job will win him such as piles of money, food and lodging not to mention all the free air travel a human could ever want. He has decided to leave the group. Mike Medina had really hoped to play his very last show in Springfield, IL with us (as had the ladies of Springfield) and we wanted to make a big "ta-doo" about it. Unfortunately this was not meant to be as the airlines have switched his schedule on us all AGAIN and Mike won't be able to make it out. We will miss you Mike and we thank you for everything most specifically your sense of humor. Good luck Mike.

Enter drumming sensation Rick Murawski. Many might remember Rick as that low key guy drumming and singing that sweet third harmony in the wheelhouse of the DuValls a few years back though he has done much more than that. He is an old friend and a big fan of Western Swing, Honkytonk and Hillbilly music so he is already fitting right in with us. We are VERY excited to have his enthusiastic positive attitude and talents in our group. He makes his debut with us in Springfield May 22. When we can arrange it we will get his mug up on our website...and hey, don't call him Moose!

Finally, the "Mayor of Springfield" Mister Andon T. Davis will be sitting in with us at the Sangamon Valley Roots Revival in Springfield May 22nd as well. Andon is a GREAT guitar and mandolin picker and singer and his talents played a key role in the recent rising stardom of Anna Fermin's Trigger Gospel as well as The Riptones a few years before that. He also has performed and recorded with a TON of hillbilly and country outfits (Kelly Kessler, Sally Timms, Mars Arizona among others) and has been a behind the scene player in alot of this "insurgent country" stuff we all hear about. We hope some of you Springfielders will be out to see one of your own and a really talented great guy play with us. Ok he's not REALLY the mayor...that's just a phrase that pays.

WE are proud and excited to announce the good news that we have come to an agreement and signed up with the Hamburg, Germany based Rhythm Bomb Records label to release our debut CD!!! We are joining a fine family of talented European, American AND Australian country, rockabilly and hillbilly artists on the Rhythm Bomb label and we honestly do hope to get the opportunity to meet and play with every single one of the fine talents on the Rhythm Bomb label. Whatever happens, it's for sure we just took our first step toward having some more interesting stories to tell our grand-chilluns and we are THAT much closer to having our music get out to the people. It is now all in the hands of Rhythm Bomb. Email them and let 'em know how you feel!

OK, no...we haven't really been hibernating for winter although we wish that was the case. The real story of our inactivity of the fall and winter is actually alot more grim. Dave Sisson's mother Helene F. Sisson recently passed away from Cancer and he spent the fall and winter helping his sisters take care of her. Sorry the truth couldn't be more "fun" and naturally family turmoil takes precedence to music and the CD project had all been put on a holding pattern. Dave thanks everyone who sent their thoughts and prayers to his family during that rough time. The individual members have all kept busy playing for other musical acts around town and further afield with Casey playing with numerous Jazz and Bluegrass bands including the Grassland Quintet, Vernon Tonges, and let's not forget the cute as a bug Nicolle Wood, and Buddy sitting in with the Hushpuppies, Lone Star State and the Hoyle Brothers on occasion. Mike Medina remains a mystery wrapped inside of a riddle inside of an enigma but rumors have placed him on the West Coast playing music with Chris Sprague and Deke Dickerson and then seen in New York City drinking martinis at Les Paul's weekly gig. Dave has also been twanging with his old pals Three Blue Teardrops once in a while and acting as a hired gun for Andre Williams band and spends part of his time as one of Ken Mottet's "Western Casuals." Things are settling down now and the band is gearing up for hopefully a busy spring and summer.

Let's talk CD. The Gin Palace Jester's end of it is all done. It's recorded, mixed, mastered and the artwork is done. Last we knew the Hamburg, Germany based hillbilly label Rhythm Bomb Records still wanted to release it. We await the finalizing of that deal and all that is mostly being held up by the postal system as far as we can tell. It sounds pretty darn good we think and has 15 original songs, 12 penned by Dave Sisson, 2 by steel man Buddy Carter and 1 song by our pal of notoriety Ken Mottet. The disc has many notable guest stars and musicians such as "The Rockabilly Philly" Rosie Flores, Jason Carter from the Del McCoury Band, "Colonol" JD Wilkes from Those Legendary Shackshakers and Sean Mencher among others. When it is finally released we think you fans of Hillbilly and Honkytonk music will all will be pleased and we are very anxious to have it see the light of day.

We are in the process of putting the final touches on our latest recording session for our debut CD. We at first were a bit apprehensive these recordings (done here in our home base of Chicago) might not hold up to the stuff we recorded in Nashville back in April but those fears were quickly put to rest under the capable audio engineering care of Mr. Michael Sharp. Mr. Sharp really IS sharp at the helm of that board and many folks know Mike as the number one blonde soundman at what is generally regarded as possibly the greatest roadhouse for American Music in the entire United States of America, Fitzgerald's.We are very pleased to be working with Mike on our latest studio venture and we are very excited to put a CD of all original music out.

In further news, we originally intended on just self releasing our debut disc but in a surprise twist have been in talks with German based Rhythm Bomb Records to release it. Rhythm Bomb specializes in and has a passion for classic country, hillbilly, honkytonk and rockabilly music and we are pleased as punch to be associated with such a fine, musically passionate and upcoming label such as Rhythm Bomb Records. Things are still in developement but everything is looking pretty darn good from where we are sitting.

Thanks for all you fine folks that came out to our California Clipper gig and helped us pay tribute to some recently gone but not forgotten Country Music heroes. We did many many songs from the Johnny Cash catalog and payed homage to Floyd Tillman by doing a version of "Slippin' Around" that seemed to get the dancers moving pretty good. We also did the somber Tex Ritter tune "High Noon" to acknowlege the surprising loss of his son John Ritter. We didn't see that one coming. Thanks to Perry LaFine for sitting in on drums with us and covering for Mike "the mechanic" Medina and thanks also to Rick Veras for adding some great musical energy and fiddle to the evening. Boy howdy do we like playing with that guy. If anyone took pictures of the evening, email us some photos and we'll post 'em. Dave brought a camera but it just sat on his amp the entire night! Alot of good that does huh?

We are now preparing to go back into the studio to record some more original songs for our debut CD. This will be happening in the next few weeks through the latter part of September. We also have some MP3 samples of our Nashville sessions coming SOON to this website. We think VERY soon. Uh...as SOON as we can figure that out! <fingers crossed>

Word just came to GPJ-HQ about the passing of country music legend Johnny Cash. We mourn his loss to the music world and are grateful for his great songs which will undoubtedly live on. We will dress all in black to pay homage to this man at our show at Chicago's California Clipper tomorrow evening-Saturday September 13th. We hope to see many old and new faces there and will dip into the Man In Black's song catalog more than once. Our condolences go out to surviving Cash family members for the loss of their patriarch.

Not going unnoticed by us was also the recent passing of Honkytonk Pioneer Floyd Tillman. He drove that final nail and we better sing a coupla his tunes too. RIP Mr. Tillman.

To those of you that saw us play at the Abbey Pub with the Legendary Shackshakers, we hope you didn't get any ketchup on your duds! How 'bout them boys huh? If that Colonel J.D. ain't careful he's gonna end up dying on stage like Onie Wheeler.Thanks to Donnie Briggs and his hot guitar rounding out the Jester's sound that night. We were in sort of a pickle there what with Mike's new schedule and all and did what we had to do on short notice. Donnie did a helluva job on Hawkshaw Hawkins' "Ain't Goin' Honkytonkin' Anymore" didn't he? Now if Dave could only remember all 49 verses!

We are slowly but surely plodding toward our goal of finishing our CD. See...things got a bit complicated due to circumstances beyond our control and our sessions in Nashville resulted in 10 good songs for us to release. The tracks are done and they sound great but we just don't think that's enough for a full length CD so are therefore going BACK into the studio here in our home base of Chicago to record some more to add to the Nashville tracks. This time we have the double threat Rick Veras on our team to add some fiddle and mandolin where needed so we are expecting some good results from that. We hope to release it before Armageddon comes!

Speaking of Rick Veras, he will be joining us for our next two shows at Foodlife and the California Clipper so come on out and check out the Gin Palace Jesters. Check the shows page for more info.

Fate has dealt us a cruel blow! As many of you know Mike Medina is a mild mannered FAA and FCC airline mechanic by day and recently started working out at O'Hare Airport which operates "Twenty Four-Seven". Unfortunately for Mike and for the Gin Palace Jesters, he has no seniority and drew a very unlucky shift working for the next 3 months from 2:00pm-12:30am Saturdays-Wednesdays, obviously a schedule that is not very conducive to a musical lifestyle, but hey...a guy's gotta eat! This means he won't be able to play any afternoon or evening gigs with us other than Thursday or Friday for a while (we think) so we will have to find some replacements on a few gigs coming up this fall. He will however remain a member of the band practicing with us, gigging on a limited basis and we'll all keep our fingers crossed his schedule clears up soon. We plan on using this time creatively to learn some new tunes and to do some more recording. We will however continue to play out locally as this here town of Chicago is ripe with some seriously ass kickin' musicians. Original Gin Palace Jester drummer Perry LaFine (1999-2000) will be joining us as Mike's fill in for our California Clipper show on September 13th. You can find out about Perry's credentials on the Riptones website.

For those of you that came out and saw us at our Navy Pier show you might have noticed a bit of a "different" looking and sounding Gin Palace Jesters. Mike Medina was a beatin' on the skins at that show and really did a bang up job (pun intended) as drums are an instrument Mike is noted for playing. What happened to James Ventrella you ask? James is doing fine but in the interest of pursuing other passions has parted ways with the Gin Palace Jesters. It is our sincere hope he will restart his Ventrella record label and somehow find time to get the Leslie Smith Combo back together as we all miss seeing that group together and hearing that gal belt out a few numbers.

Also of note was the addition of fiddle and mandolin player Rick Veras at the Navy Pier show. We invited Rick to sit in with us and Rick did a fantastic job playing all them Tommy Jackson fiddle parts on the shuffles and then turned around and did some killer Western Swing fiddle that had people stopped in their tracks at the Pier. As if that weren't enough he added some hot mandolin pickin' when Dave decided to sing the somewhat obscure Johnny Horton historical saga "Jim Bridger" and then Rick made the folks listening get all misty eyed adding some nice moods on the old heartbreaking Ernest Tubb waltz "Warm Red Wine."

Who was beatin' on acoustic guitar then you ask? Well...Dave was jumping back and forth from acoustic to electric at that show and for the most part it worked pretty well. I guess all this change really reinforces the fact that change is a certainty and this band is no exeption. What hasn't changed however is the Gin Palace Jester's commitment to provide high quality hard hitting hillbilly honkytonk music no matter who is up there wearing that Jester plaid. Come on out and see us at the Abbey Pub when we play with the Legendary Shackshakers and the Hoyle Brothers on Saturday August 23. We have invited original Gin Palace Jester (1999-2000) Donnie Briggs and his hot guitar to sit in on that one so it should be interesting.

First off, let's start with what you've all been waiting for...the record. You all will be as thrilled as we are to hear that Dave and Buddy will be heading back down to Nashville for a trip to Roswell East Studios to put some finishing touches on our record. They'll be down there over the weekend of July 25th, so if you're in Nashville and feel like drinking with some Chicago honky-tonk fools, let 'em know!

The Jesters just got back from our state's capitol, Springfield, IL where we played for Sean and Jamie Burns' Rooftop RootsFestival. Man, what a gas! The Burnses, who are just about the nicest folks you'd ever want to meet, put on this show of their own accord way up on the rooftop of the Springfield Hilton's parking garage! We rubbed elbows and guitars with the likes of the Tarbox Ramblers , RogerWallace, Big Al Downing and Junior Brown. A show like this had our collective honky-tonk hearts a-beating like crazy. There was music, barbeque, beer, honky-tonk angels and a warm star-lit night...what more could we ask for?

Well, after the rooftop portion of the evening ended (11:30pm), the Gin Palace Jesters were called upon to regale the still-partying crowd to even more honky-tonk hillbilly good times until 3:00am in the Underground Lounge, the lower-level hotel tavern. It sure looked like a packed house to us, so we tried our darndest and we think it worked out pretty well. Our good friend, the incredibly talented Bradley Scott Ber, played upright bass with us that night and it went off without a hitch. He even played the bass upside down, and after the set was over in the wee hours, treated the crowd to his freestyle rap skillz under his infamous alter ego M.C. Bootyslappa, with Dave thumping the old-school bass and Mike laying down the phat beatbox sounds. Roger Wallace and his band got up to do a couple of numbers and damn near blew us back to Chicago. Thanks, Roger, for showing us how to do it right! We had way too much fun and would love to do it again!

After the 3-hour ride home on Sunday, Dave and Mike filled in for Torturing Elvis (which features our old singer Remi Gits) over at their weekly SmokeDaddy gig, beating their heads together to come up with three hours of music, unrehearsed! Two guitars, two mics, one mic stand, two high and lonesome voices, three hours of sleep and absolutely no set list...we hope it wasn't TOO bad, folks! Our local friends were there along with an old pal of ours, Mr. Stuart Sanders, in from Nashville. If you were down in Indianapolis for the Rockabilly Rebel Weekender , you'll know Stu as "The Sound Man." We got him up to do a few numbers and he brought the house down! Legendary Chicago musician and luthier Rockin' Billy Harndin was also in attendence and he sure helped out a lot singin' and pickin' while Dave and Mike tried to remember words, chords, and what the hell the next song was supposed to be.

By the way, it's quite hard to take photos of yourself while you're on stage playing, so if you have any photos and want to share, e-mail them to us. Thanks a million to everyone who's done so thus far!

So we all drove back to Chicago just in time to soundcheck and tune for our appearance at the Chicago Country Music Fest in Grant Park. The weather couldn't have been nicer, and the crowd there was big and appreciative, too. Thanks to the two steppers for entertaining us. Add to that the smell of food drifting over from the Taste Of Chicago and you've got the makings of one good day in the park.

Thanks to David Loehr for having us play in Indy, and thanks to the Mayors Office of Special Events and Rank Entertainment for arranging for us play in Grant Park. We had a great time.

By the way, if you've got photos from this weekend you want to share with us on the
website, you can e-mail them to us and we'd love to put them up. We forgot our dang camera! Drop by and say hello on our guestbook too.