DOKKEN/TED NUGENT Bassist BARRY SPARKS: Have Guitar, Will Play

November 15, 2005

Bassist Barry Sparks (DOKKEN, TED NUGENT) has posted the following message on his official web site:

"My band and I had an interesting little adventure out in California. First off, we left Tucson around 8 in the morning in my brothers truck complete with a Uhaul trailer full of gear. Everything ran smooth until I saw flashing sirens behind me.....Damn! 'Hello sir, do you know how fast you were going?' '65?' I replied. 'The law is 55 when pulling a trailer and I clocked you at well over 85.' I then gave him my 'New York City Police Officers Association Card' Ted Nugent had given me. Ted said, 'Next time you get pulled over just show him this, he will let ya go.' Well, this guy didn't (damn again). Oh, well. Anyhow, onward we went. We arrived in L.A just in time to pick up my brother Kevin from the airport. Perfect timing. Later at the gig, typical story...the first band playing too late, we ended up going on around 11pm, no biggie. We played like badass muthers that night, so although the crowd was a little small, we killed.

"Onward to the next morning, we got up, pigged out at Denny's then headed to San Diego. I needed to go to Carvin, my guitar company's factory, to do a few things. We got to around Laguna Hills when my brothers truck started to sputter a bit then stall. We waited a bit and it started, but only for a bit, we were in trouble, but we made it to a gas station. The bad news was it was his fuel pump $800.00. Damn again. So we all went next door to 'It's A Grind Coffee Shop.' Good coffee, by the way. I then asked someone working if he would mind if we played acoustic guitars inside the coffee shop. He said, 'Sure, go for it.' So there we were jamming away, everyone was really digging it, so I said to my band, 'Hey lets get all the gear and set up outside and play. We ended up playing for a good 5 or 6 hours! What a blast! And we made a good chunk of money as well. I realized something very important that day. 2 years ago I was in japan playing for 55,000 people a night and here I was playing for sometimes 2 people and I loved it just as much. Hmmm... maybe I do really really love this whole guitar thing? Hello!! Of course I do!"

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