Kirk's Resume'

Kirk Folk has made his living as a professional musician since before the discovery of fire.

His influences include Kurt Vonnegut, Budweiser, "To Kill a Mockingbird", and every musician he's ever heard. He's a seasoned performer (Old Bay, Tabasco and way too much garlic), and like the mighty cockroach, he sure does persevere. He arrives on time with his P.A. system, acoustic guitar, microphone, loop and distortion pedal and a hefty arsenal of songs, snappy repartee and spirited self-deprecation.

If you are a club owner; hire this man. If you are the president of a record label; sign this man. If you are a music lover and enjoy the odd drink in a club or bar; seek him out. What's the worst that can happen? You may just leave with a smile on your face.

CONTACT

E-mail: kirkfolk@gmail.com
Phone: (717) 843-7612
OR USE TELEPATHY

GIGS!

Wednesday, February 28th- FenderZ Grill & Pub- 6 to 9

Friday, March 1st- Holy Hound Taproom- 8 to 11

Saturday, March 2nd- Fat Bat Brewing- 7 to 10

Sunday, March 3rd- Racehorse Tavern- 3 to 6

Thursday, March 7th- Tourist Inn- 7 to 10

Saturday, March 9th- Viking Club- 9 to Midnight

Tuesday, March 12th- Fall's Crab Shack- 6 to 8

Friday, March 15th- The Gettysburger Co.- 8:30 to 11:30

Saturday, March 16th- Gimmesome Roy Rock The Westgate Restaurant and Lounge- 8 to 11

Wednesday, March 20th- Northeastern Senior Center- 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.

Friday, March 22nd- Gift Horse Brewing Co.- 7 to 10

Saturday, March 23rd- Alley Oops Sports Bar & Grill- 7:30 to 10:30

Wednesday, March 27th- FenderZ Grill & Pub - 6 to 9

Friday, March 29th- The Doyle Hotel- 7 to 10

Saturday, March 30th- Jimmy Jaxx Shine Shack- 7 to 10

VIDEOS

Since the videos that people take of me on their cellphones are usually blurry, noisy & incomplete, I decided to film these in my living room. Background noise was provided by my refrigerator and the traffic outside my windows. Thanks for watching!

(then there's) You and I

Whiskey and You

Yer My Blues

You Got Lucky

A Day in the Life

Every Breath You Take

Baba O'Riley (aka Teenage Wasteland)

Sparks Through a Shotglass

Scars

Daniel

One

Happy Xmas (War is Over)

If You're Gone

Wild Horses

Quarantine Party 2020

Pandemic Party Deux

Social Distancing Sunday School

"Can You Spare A Square" Pandemic Party Four

Prisoners of Your Own Domain

Project Jody!

Social Distancing Desperados

Happy Mother's Day!

Chapter Nine: CoronaBologna Diaries

Blame It On Linda Ronstadt!

I Awoke One Day (A Song for Skylar)

SONGS I MAY OR MAY NOT KNOW

AC/DC - T.N.T.

BRYAN ADAMS - Summer of 69

AEROSMITH - Seasons of Wither, Walkin' the Dog

ALICE IN CHAINS - No Excuses, Nutshell

ALLMAN BROTHERS - Midnight Rider, Whipping Post, Melissa, Please Call Home

THE ANIMALS - House of the Rising Sun

BAD COMPANY - Ready for Love, Shooting Star

THE BAND - The Weight

JAMES BAY - Scars

THE BEATLES - A Day in the Life, Here Comes the Sun, Lucy in the Sky, Ticket to Ride, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, In my Life, Revolution, Blackbird, Something, Yesterday, I Saw Her Standing There, Across the Universe, Norwegian Wood, Let It Be, Eight Days a Week

BETTER THAN EZRA - Good

BLACK CROWES - She Talks to Angels

BLACKBERRY SMOKE - One Horse Town

BLIND FAITH - Can't Find My Way Home

BON JOVI - Wanted Dead or Alive

DAVID BOWIE - Ziggy Stardust, Moonage Daydream, Space Oddity

BOX TOPS - The Letter

GARTH BROOKS - The Dance, Friends in Low Places

BROTHER CANE - And Fools Shine On

JACKSON BROWNE - Doctor My Eyes, These Days

BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD - For What It's Worth

CAGE THE ELEPHANT - Ready to Let Go, Ain't No Rest for the Wicked

GLENN CAMPBELL - Witchita Lineman

THE CARS - Just What I Needed

JOHNNY CASH - Folsom Prison Blues, Walk the Line

CHEAP TRICK - Surrender

ERIC CLAPTON - Layla, I Shot the Sheriff

THE CLASH - Should I Stay or Should I Go

DAVID ALLAN COE - You Never Even Called Me by My Name

MARK COHN - Walking in Memphis

COLDPLAY - Fix You

COLLECTIVE SOUL - Shine, The World I Know

ALICE COOPER - Generation Landslide

CHRIS CORNELL - I Am the Highway

CREDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL - Bad Moon Rising, Down on the Corner, Lodi, Looking out my Back Door

CROSBY, STILLS & NASH - Love the One You're With

CROWDED HOUSE - Don't Dream it's Over

CHARLIE DANIELS - Long-haired Country Boy

DEF LEPPARD - Hysteria

GAVIN DeGRAW - Chemical Party

JOHN DENVER - Leavin' on a Jet Plane, Country Roads

DEREK AND THE DOMINOS - Bell Bottom Blues

NEIL DIAMOND - Sweet Caroline, Red, Red Wine, Cracklin' Rosie

DISHWALLA - Counting Blue Cars

DOOBIE BROTHERS - Black Water

THE DOORS - Love me Two Times, People are Strange

DURAN DURAN - Hungry Like the Wolf

BOB DYLAN - Rainy Day Women #12 & #35, Knockin' on Heaven's Door

EAGLES - Desperado, Hotel California

STEVE EARLE - Copperhead Road

EMERSON, LAKE AND PALMER - From the Beginning

JACE EVERETT - Bad Things

EVERCLEAR - Santa Monica

FASTBALL - The Way

FIVE MAN ELECTRICAL BAND - Signs

FLEETWOOD MAC - Oh Well, Landslide, Gold Dust Woman

KIRK FOLK - Yer My Blues, (I Ain't Goin' to) Poughkeepsie, When Love Turns Green, Clap, Pretty Beasts, (then there's) You and I, At the Blue Bird Inn, House Divided, Carolyn, Not Get Me Down, Beer Pocket, Watchin' the Clock, Blue Ruin, Sparks Through a Shotglass, Silver Lining, I Awoke One Day, Blame it on Love, Two Birds, Outamymind, Fountain Blues

FOO FIGHTERS - Everlong

FUEL - Bad Day

GRAND FUNK RAILROAD - Some Kind of Wonderful

GRATEFUL DEAD - Me and My Uncle, Friend of the Devil, Casey Jones

GREEN DAY - Time of Your Life, Novocaine, Wake Me Up When September Ends

GUESS WHO - These Eyes

GUNS 'N' ROSES - Mr. Brownstone, Patience

GLEN HANSARD - Falling Slowly

JIMI HENDRIX - Foxey Lady, Hey Joe

BILLY IDOL - Rebel Yell, Eyes Without a Face

INCUBUS - Drive

INXS - Never Tear Us Apart

CHRIS ISAAK - Wicked Game

TOMMY JAMES - Draggin' the Line

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE - White Rabbit

JETHRO TULL - Locomotive Breath

ELTON JOHN - Daniel, Bennie and the Jets, Rocket Man

JACK JOHNSON - Bubbletoes

TOM JONES - It's Not Unusual

KANSAS - Dust in the Wind

KID ROCK - Only God Knows Why

LED ZEPPELIN - What Is and What Should Never Be, Ramble On, Dancin' Days, Tangerine, Going to California, Thank You, Hey, Hey What Can I Do, Over the Hills and Far Away, D'yer Maker, Your Time is Gonna Come

JOHN LENNON - Imagine, Instant Karma

GORDON LIGHTFOOT - If You Could Read My Mind

LITTLE FEAT - Willin', Dixie Chicken

DAVE LOGGINS - Please Come to Boston

LOGGINS & MESSINA - Danny's Song

LOOKING GLASS - Brandy

LYNYRD SKYNYRD - Sweet Home Alabama, Freebird, Simple Man

MAD SEASON - River of Deceit

MARCY PLAYGROUND - Sex and Candy

MARSHALL TUCKER BAND - Fire on the Mountain, Can't You See

DAVE MASON - We Just Disagree

MATCHBOX TWENTY - 3 a.m., If You're Gone

JOHN MAYER - Gravity, Edge of Desire

EDWIN McCAIN - I'll Be

ROGER MILLER - King of the Road, Dang Me

STEVE MILLER - Mercury Blues

THE MONKEES - I'm a Believer, Daydream Believer

THE MOODY BLUES - Story in Your Eyes

VAN MORRISON - Brown Eyed Girl, Domino, Into the Mystic

MOTLEY CRUE - Home Sweet Home

MR. BIG - To Be with You

JOHNNY NASH - I Can See Clearly Now

WILLIE NELSON - On the Road Again, Always On My Mind

NICKELBACK - Figured You Out

NIRVANA - The Man Who Sold the World, On a Plain, All Apologies, Heart Shaped Box

OASIS - Wonderwall, Champagne Supernova

OLD 97'S - Timebomb, Question

PEARL JAM - Last Kiss, Black , Betterman

TOM PETTY - American Girl, Runnin' Down a Dream, Mary Jane's Last Dance, Here Comes My Girl, Learning to Fly, Yer So Bad, Free Fallin', It's Good to Be King, You Got Lucky

THE POLICE - Every Breath You Take

PINK FLOYD - Wish You Were Here, Money, Have a Cigar, Comfortably Numb, Time

ELVIS PRESLEY - Suspicious Minds

PRINCE - Purple Rain, Little Red Corvette

JOHN PRINE - Angel from Montgomery

PROCOL HARUM - A Whiter Shade of Pale

PURE PRAIRIE LEAGUE - Amie

QUEEN - Crazy Little Thing Called Love

QUEENSRYCHE - Silent Lucidity

RADIOHEAD - Creep, Karma Police

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS - Under the Bridge

REO SPEEDWAGON - Time for Me to Fly

ROLLING STONES - Paint it Black, Heartbreaker, Angie, Wild Horses, Sympathy for the Devil

SCORPIONS - The Zoo

BOB SEGER - Turn the Page, Night Moves

SEVEN MARY THREE - Cumbersome

SHOCKING BLUE - Venus

PAUL SIMON - Me and Julio, Homeward Bound

SIMON AND GARFUNKEL - Mrs. Robinson

SISTER HAZEL - All For You

SOCIAL DISTORTION - Ball and Chain

SOUL ASYLUM - Runaway Train

SPIRIT - Nature's Way

SPONGE - Plowed, Molly

CHRIS STAPLETON - Tennessee Whiskey, Whiskey and You, Either Way, Arkansas, Starting Over

STEELY DAN - Dirty Work

STEPPENWOLF - Magic Carpet Ride

CAT STEVENS - Wild World

ROD STEWART - First Cut is the Deepest

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS - Plush, Big Empty, Interstate Love Song

STRAY CATS - Stray Cat Strut

STYX - Sweet Madame Blue

SUBLIME - Santeria, What I Got, Badfish

SUPERTRAMP - Give a Little Bit

THE TEMPTATIONS - My Girl

TEN YEARS AFTER - I'd Love to Change the World

THREE DOG NIGHT - Shambala, Pieces of April

TOADIES - Possum Kingdom

TONIC - If You Could Only See

TRAIN - Meet Virginia

TRAVIS - Hit Me Baby One More Time

THE TURTLES - Happy Together

TOMMY TUTONE - Jenny (867-5309)

T-REX - Jeepster

U2 - Where the Streets Have No Name, Until the End of the World, One, Angel of Harlem

KEITH URBAN - Blue Ain't Your Color

URGE OVERKILL - Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon

URIAH HEEP - The Wizard

VAN HALEN - Ice Cream Man

VANILLA FUDGE - Keep Me Hangin' On

STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN - Life by the Drop, Cold Shot

VELVET REVOLVER - Fall to Pieces

THE VERVE PIPE - The Freshman

WHITESNAKE - Here I Go Again

THE WHO - Behind Blue Eyes, Squeezebox, Baba O'Riley, I'm One

BILL WITHERS - Ain't No Sunshine

DWIGHT YOAKUM - Fast as You

NEIL YOUNG - The Needle and the Damage Done, Old Man, Cinnamon Girl, Harvest Moon, Southern Man, Heart of Gold, Out on the Weekend

ZZ TOP - Thank You


Published and Available NOW!

Published and Available NOW!
Click on the big picture to visit my Amazon Author page!

Gimmesome Roy

Gimmesome Roy
Unapologetic Hard Rock from the '70's through Today: Bob Rigel- Guitar & Vocals-- John Schlosser-- Drums-- Kirk Folk- Bass & Vocals--For more info please visit our website: www.gimmesomeroy.com

How I Became an Idiot ™

     

     Somewhere during the mid to late 1980’s I began toying with the idea of performing in an acoustic duo.
     I was originally a bass player, but became a singer by default. No one else would take the job. I played bass and sang in a band in high school, then in a band in college, and then with 1/2 of the band from high school after graduation from college. Distressed by the nodules I was convinced were growing on my vocal chords from over singing songs that weren’t in my range, nor any humans not equipped with the larynx of a porpoise, I planned to return to my home town of Phoenix, Arizona and become a writer.     
     Instead, I was shanghaied into a popular local band whose new lead singer, Sean Contres could assimilate the screaming porpoise style so prevalent during that era. Originally the band’s bass player, Sean now supplanted their former singer. I in turn took over Sean’s duties on the bass. All I had to do was jump around and froth at the mouth like a rabid dog and every once in a while use both hands to play. Oh…and sing maybe four or five songs that Sean felt were beneath him.
     Not long after we began to gig at least three times a week, the inevitable happened. Sean shredded his vocal chords. As he was already a gifted bassist, I was shoved into the spotlight without my blankie. For someone who has had a shield for all of these years, this is tantamount to being stripped naked. I became a “lead singer”.
     True to rock’n’roll cliché, various members were replaced or deported, and tragedy befell us. Soon, Sean was the only original member left standing. It was time for a name change. We settled on “Back Talk” as it was the one name no one really cared about. Suddenly, we began writing songs! Lots and lots of songs. Before we knew it we were a 99% original act. This was a godsend for me. Now, I could sing in my own unwashed, untrained voice and not have to attempt to be an impersonator. Yippee!
     After I was (rightfully) evicted by the girlfriend I was mooching off of at the time, I finagled residence above the local nightclub, Swizzles.
     If you were of legal age during the ‘80’s you will understand that if you live above a bar; particularly a bar that hosts live bands (and strippers), there will be a party in your room EVERY night. This is the law, and I do not enjoy breaking the law. In short time I became Swizzle’s doorman, then d.j., and ultimately bar manager, radio spokesman and owner of the smallest colony of brain cells on the planet.
     I’d been noodling with the acoustic guitar for a few years, and used it as a tool for writing songs. Notice, I don’t claim to have learned how to play it. Still don’t. Mostly, it is propped in my lap or substitutes as a table for drinks. When the inevitable party began, someone might ask me to play. A slew of dirty, slurry, random songs coalesced and became staples of my late night set list.
     During this period, it took about four hours for our road crew (and me) to set up for a Back Talk show. This does not include the painful hours of tearing it all down again. As lead singer you would think I would NOT be involved. Have I mentioned that I owned our $10,000 light show? I can’t say that I didn’t wander off from time to time after a gig, but I’m pretty damn sure I was always there for the hated setup.
     That’s when a seed germinated in my soggy mind. “What if” I wondered, “I was to start playing acoustic shows on the side to augment my income?”
     This was pre-MTV-Unplugged and there weren’t many people in this region doing the “stripped down” thing. As I’ve always enjoyed hearing solo performers or duos hammering away on acoustic guitars, I counted myself “in”.
     As someone who prefers a good “B-side” to a hit single, I mused to myself “What if we play a variety of rock songs, that people may not be familiar with?”
     You'll notice that I didn’t say acoustic songs. Nope. We left poor James Taylor, Jim Croce, Jimmy Buffet and all of the other James, Jim’s and Jimmy’s alone! I’m positive that if they had known, they would have been eternally grateful!


     I enlisted our sound man, Mike Couch as my partner in crime. Mike is an incredible, versatile guitar player who at the time owned and operated a studio where we recorded.  He had just recently joined “Once Fish”, an original jam band who still perform locally under the name “Hexbelt”. I figured that if we kept our gigs to off nights, neither one of us would have to worry about butting heads with the schedules of our respective bands.
     My goal was to keep the show as simple as possible. Since Back Talk had a light show of 100+ par cans and rain lights, and fog machines and a drum riser with a strobe light built into it, I decided to use a tree lamp of mine that had three bulbs as our lighting. Depending on the tone and “weight” of the song, I would refer to it as “One”, “Two” or “Three bulb” and turn the knob for the desired effect. I know: Genius. And just like that I had our name: Two Idiots and a Lamp.
     Mike is much younger than I, and at that time suffered from “stress”. Is it necessary for me to stress how often my antics “stressed him out”? I remember one fateful evening where he got so pissed off at me that he smashed his guitar on the wall of the bar where we were playing. To add insult to injury, I laughed at him and told him that if he wanted to get my attention, he should have smashed my guitar! (Disclaimer: I wasn’t being mean, just making a point. If you want to hurt someone, don’t bust your own stuff. That’s like punching a wall, when you really want to send someone’s teeth down their throat. Now, you’ve got a broken hand, dummy!!!!! You’re welcome.)
     For “Two Idiots and a Lamp” inaugural gig we opened for Back Talk in my downstairs living room, Swizzles. Scroll back up a few paragraphs. Remember when I said I wanted to keep the show “simple”? Temporary amnesia must have set in. At the time, comedic songwriter Martin Mull was touring the country with living room furniture. I thought that sounded like a great way to debut the “Idiots”. We drug a couch, coffee table complete with magazines, end table furnished with a black and white television that was on, with the sound turned off, and “the lamp” from my upstairs “apartment” onto the stage in front of the drum riser.
     Showtime! Mike and I ambled onto the stage with our guitars, propped our feet up on the end table and basically said “Whassup?” to the packed room full of puzzled faces. We then careened shakily into our set. Uncle Igor from Starview 92.7 taped the gig and aired pieces of it over the years. Somewhere, languishing amid cobwebs I believe I have a cassette copy. I’m scared to search, on the chance that I may find it.
     Before long, Back Talk and Once Fish were playing more and more week day shows, and it was difficult for me to schedule “Idiot” gigs without double-booking. Or… maybe Mike grew tired of pulling his hair out. Either way, the torch was passed.


     My songwriting partner, Back Talk guitarist Eric “Todd” Wisniewski seemed like the obvious replacement. We certainly weren’t going to interfere with the other’s schedule. This way we also incorporated unplugged Back Talk material into the mix along with many of my original acoustic songs which we didn’t play with the band.
     We started playing a gig every Sunday night at 55 West in downtown York. Hot wings had just become the big thing, and 55 West served five cent wings every Sunday. Read that again: five cent wings! Prior to the Wing Craze you couldn’t give those things away! Now, you can’t buy them for much less than a dollar a piece.
     The Sunday night gig took off and a new phenomenon began to develop. People began to gift us lamps. Not Granny’s sixty year old gummed up lamp with a frilly shade, but vintage lamps, Disney character lamps and crazy decorator lamps. The pinnacle was finally reached when a young lady bequeathed us a giant ceramic bust of Elvis lamp. The damn thing had to have weighed fifty pounds. A new stage of evolution began: people began to accessorize Elvis. On a good night, Elvis might be wearing purple sunglasses with a lit cigarette taped to his mouth, while sporting a fright wig and bow tie that lit up with blinking red lights. Just like in real life!
     One fateful Sunday, a good friend of ours who may have been drinking (wasted) bum rushed the “stage” in an effort to tell us some sort of vital information that couldn’t wait for the song to end. You can see where this is going. He knocked poor Elvis right off of his perch. Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Heartbreak Hotel. Elvis wasn’t just all shook up. He was spread across the floor in a million shards of ceramic sequins and scarves.
     I made an executive decision. From now on: No LAMPS. We became “Two Idiots”, or more commonly “the” Two Idiots.
     It was also at this juncture where I decided to test my mettle and perform every Thursday at First Capital Dispensing Co. as a solo performer. I was the day bartender at First Cap, and Terry, the owner wanted to try something new on Thursdays. I volunteered to pop my “solo” cherry and give it a shot.
     This also continued the serendipitous connection between yours truly and hot wings. Terry decided to make the Thursday night special a dozen (!) wings for a dollar. The reason that this special deserves an exclamation point is because most places cut their wings in half; severing wing from drumstick. This way they charge you for one wing, when in reality it is only half of a wing. Terry gave you the whole wing and he bought the largest damn chicken wings I’ve ever seen in my life. They had to have been raised on steroids, or incorrectly labelled “chicken” when they were actually turkeys. Wingzillas! He marinated and breaded them overnight and they were the best damn wings I’ve ever had! They weren’t “hot”, but they were tasty, and you could add as much sauce as you wanted to them for no extra charge.
     One of the original caveats to me performing on Thursdays, was that I would also deep fry the wings to order. Picture this for a moment. I am playing for an audience, and you decide you want wings. I now interrupt the song, put the guitar down, go upstairs, cook your wings, then deliver them to your table piping hot. Hmmmm. That lasted one week.
     This new gig presented a new quandary. What name would I go by? I wanted to remind people who had heard of, or followed “Two Idiots” that I was indeed one of the two, and yet stand alone. My dear friend and drinking buddy, Gina London from Starview 92.7 had given me an ugly framed black velvet portrait of Elvis. I don’t know why, other than it was so splendidly tacky that she knew I would love it. Hello, Inspiration! I billed myself as “One Idiot and a Bad Black Velvet Elvis”. Once again, I was forced to carry around a prop, and once again that didn’t last long before I rechristened myself “Kirk the Idiot”.


     People seem to forget that I willingly labelled myself an idiot. I gave MYSELF that name! It wasn’t a childhood nickname that stuck or a misprint on my birth certificate.
     Flash Forward: I became a father. Around the time my son, Skylar was five, a good friend of mine and her son spent the day with us at the the York Fair. We were wandering along the thoroughfare, when a voice over the loudspeaker said “There have been a lot of idiots here today, but now we have the biggest idiot of them all: Please give a round of applause for “Kirk the Idiot”!”


     My son wanted to know why the man with the microphone was calling me a mean name. Lucy- you got some ‘splainin’ to do! For quite sometime after this revelation, Skylar would respond to a scolding with “Well, at least I’m NOT an idiot!” Touche’ and well-played, sir. I worried that fights during recess would become part of Skylar’s daily routine. "But Dad! His dad said that YOU are an idiot!!" I’m happy to report that as of this moment, they have not. Another bullet dodged…and enough digression. Back to the story in progress:
     Another unforeseen wrinkle of the every Thursday, First Cap gig was that people would respond to my heckling by whipping masticated wing bones at me. On Friday mornings, with a searing, cross eyed hangover, I would often run into Terry when I opened the bar. He would be grumpily mopping the floor from the night before.
     “Why the f*** are there chicken bones everywhere?” he would ask in an agitated bar owner tone. “Huh! I don’t know, that’s weird...isn't it?” I would mumble while stealthily plucking bones from the top shelf liquor bottles and the light above the bar. It wasn’t long before he showed up on a Thursday to see what the hell was going on. I’m pretty sure he pelted me with more than his share of wing carcasses.
     In the meantime, Eric married another d.j. friend from Starview 92.7 and followed her to her new job in Toronto, Canada. I don’t remember why or how he knew that this job was only going to last a few months, but he threatened to return, and warned me not to dismantle the band or give away his spot as an “Idiot”!
     During this interim, my buddy, Don Carn volunteered to be Eric’s replacement. Don is a high school music teacher and jazz musician. He’s been a staple on the local music scene since before fire was discovered and was known for his fantastic bass playing with the band “Extremity”. But Don had other ideas. He began to carry a violin around like a third arm and sit in with anyone who would let him. I was one of the anyone's, and it wasn’t unusual to find Don killing cats with his violin with one or both Idiots on a Thursday or Sunday night. With bowstrings snapping and fraying, Chile Don Carne' became an Idiot...until Eric returned from the Great White North. I thought there might be a duel between pick and bow, but I reminded Don that he knew his reign as an Idiot was only temporary, and he would always be welcome to sit in and wow the crowd with his frenetic guitfiddle. And he has, and continues to do so on a whim to this day.


     Time travel ahead a few years: Back Talk dissolved. Right before the implosion, Johnny “Star” Stauffer had begun playing bass with us. A longtime friend, and gifted musician, Johnny sidled right into the Idiot lead guitar slot without a stutter. This was by far the most gratifying and prolific period for me as an Idiot. We gigged an average of seven nights a week (often with two gigs a day on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays) and learned a ton of “new” cover material while writing originals. During Johnny’s tenure, I watched him transform from a good guitarist to an exceptional one and his melodic playing and choice of notes elevated every one of my original songs and made them complete. We formed, disbanded and put out CD’s with both “Duck Butter” and “Cotton” and were together so much we were like an old vaudeville team bouncing off of each other’s wit and providing a foil to the other’s warped sense of humor, tics and pecadilloes. Even during our worst moments, I had a perma-smile.


     With “Cotton”, we were fortunate enough to have our world class bassist and inspirational friend, Ralph Weyant Jr. frequently join us as the third Idiot. After Ralph’s tragic, devastating death from cancer, Johnny and I parted company, and I didn’t have the heart, desire nor ability to replace either of them.
     I continued playing solo gigs for years, until I reunited with Back Talk drummer Alan White, and connived Linda Kopp into anchoring the “Rhythm Junkies” with her sassy bass playing. As a woman, and for fear of bodily harm, I knew better than to ask her to be an “idiot”. We perform as a duo under the wildly imaginative moniker “Kirk and Linda”.




     Over the years “Two Idiots” have opened for classic rock legends “Blue Oyster Cult”, “Robin Trower”, “Molly Hatchet”, “The Romantics”, “Blackfoot”, “New Riders of the Purple Sage”, “Pat Travers Band”, “Foghat”, and “Black Oak Arkansas” to name a few.
     In hindsight, dubbing oneself an idiot provides it’s own set of complications. To this day, it is extremely rare that I don’t hear “Hyuk, yuk, there’s an idiot!” when I walk into a room. These are the same people who ask me (while I’m lugging in my guitar, speakers and amplifier) “Are you playing tonight?” I often answer with “No; just practicing setting up”. This is usually met with a dull, blank stare before a dust mote captures their attention and leaves me free to continue prepping for my gig. Who be the Idot now, eh?