Wednesday, July 27, 1988/The Battalion/Page 3
State and Local
ishes: Applying ‘let’s see what happens’ theory
ems,
By Andrea Halbert
Reporter
crowd gathers at a nightclub in
an. Fans, mostly Texas A&M stu-
, are coming to hear the Dishes,
ck ’n’ roll band from Houston.
:er all the seats are full, people
d around on the dance floor
ting for the show to start.
few fans chant, “Di-shes, Di-
s,” and before long, an unlikely
ing group of four musicians
11s onto the bandstand,
hey are: Jimmy Raycraft (lead
tar and band leader), Dickie Ma-
e (bass guitar and band man-
r), Barbara Donaho (keyboards)
^anh Pete Falcone (drums).
^Blaycraft,• the wildest looking one
irfihe group, comes complete with a
short-sleeved print shirt, wild-pat-
.hitemed Bermuda shorts, unmatched
0,*; socks, and hand-painted canvas
• sKoes called Wackies.
After the applause dies down,
Raycraft responds with a reserved,
it “H< y — thanks a whole lot.”
■1 his was a familiar scene for de
ed Dishes fans, but now the band
is(Jn summer vacation.
Jut Raycraft will be here this sum-
:.u«r with his new project. Jimmy
’ t Raycraft and the Thin Men, a rock-
^a-billy trio, with a different sound
n the Dishes.
he trio will play at Brazos Land-
Saturday.
aycraft has a style all his own.
His wild appearance is not a product
tl, of flamboyance, but rather a con
scious effort not to be a “typical rock
Hr." If such a creature exists, then
1 he[s succeeded.
nidl^Blaycraft is an example of some-
)le. one who just wants to play his music
S p anid entertain people. Drawing at
tention to himself is the by-product
of his performance, not the obiec-
wndH
tontHn fact, he said, he’s really very
ila! quiet in everyday life.
■Raycraft described himself as “the
kind of guy who’s invisible walking
Wn the aisles of Kroger.”
[he:; 11 e said a lot of his stage personal
ity came from being nervous.
herever it came from, his style is
jue.
aycraft said he likes being un-
iventional and creative, but he
Photo by Jay Janner
The Dishes are on summer vacation and won’t be months, but band leader Jimmy Raycraft (and the
performing together for the next three or four 1 hin Men) will be playing in town on Saturday.
mostly just likes to entertain. He is
serious about what he does without
taking himself too seriously while he
does it. Part of his charm is his ability
to be silly.
Raycraft is a talented musician,
but he doesn’t let music get in the
way of entertainment. If people like
it when he breaks into the
Flintstones theme in the middle of a
serious song, he’ll do it. If that
doesn’t work, he’ll try something
else.
One thing that’s certain about
Raycraft: he’s not afraid to “try
something else.” He has his fingers
in a lot of pies.
He writes most of the music for
the Dishes; he paints (the style is abs
tract, of course); he runs a business
with Falcone’s wife, Jannelle, mak
ing and selling the hand-painted
shoes he wears; and now he’s playing
with Jimmy Raycraft and the Thin
Men.
Raycraft said he focuses most of
his creative energy on music because
music gets an immediate response
from people. This has been true in
his personal life as well as on stage.
The response he got at home, how
ever, was not always favorable.
He comes from a non-musical
family and he said he had to Fight to
be a professional musician. Raycraft
said his parents are supportive now,
but they weren’t always in favor of
his career choice.
Although he’s been a professional
musician all his adult life, Raycraft
said, “It’s still kinda weird to tell peo
ple I play electric guitar for a living.”
When he started out, he didn’t
think he’d still be doing that at 35.
“When I was 19, I thought 27-
year-old musicians who played
nightclubs were grandpas,” he said.
“I never thought I’d be in music af
ter 30.”
At 35, Raycraft subscribes to the
“let’s see what happens” theory of
career planning.
“I’ll always want to play guitar, but
I may not want to play nightclubs at
45 — I don’t know, maybe if it’s still
fun,” he said.
The “let’s see what happens” atti
tude has also been adopted by the
rest of-the Dishes. The band doesn’t
lose any sleep the night before a
show trying to decide how to ap
proach an audience, Malone said.
Malone said they look for a com
mon denominator in the audience
once they’re on stage and try to ap
peal to that.
“When we’re playing for a bunch
of grandmothers,” he said, “we may
play a swing version of a rock ’n’ roll
song, or whatever else.”
Malone said the band never plans
their shows ahead of time, and they
don’t write comedy.
“We do things on stage that we
think are funny and it usually gets a
good response from people,” he
said.
But not always. There have been
some failures. Trial and error just
naturally seem to go together.
Raycraft said the Dishes had a
particularly bad experience playing
at a high school reunion in Galves
ton.
He said it was “real weird” to have
a room full of people just stare at the
stage for three hours. Wedding re
ceptions can be “weird” like that,
too, he said.
On the whole, the band seems
unscathed by these traumatic experi
ences. The members seem comfort
able with their audience and with
each other. There can be no doubt
that the Dishes have fun perform
ing. In fact, fun is the only underly
ing theme that is evident in Dishes
music and they said they’ll keep it
that way.
“We try not to be political, social,
sexual or serious in our music,” Ma
lone said, “but we’re serious about
what we do.
“We used to call it ‘polite rock,’
but then we gave up trying to label
it.”
The Dishes are indeed polite.
They don’t play anything you
couldn’t bring Mom to hear. For ex
ample, the Dishes’ version of Eric
Clapton’s rock ’n’ roll classic, “Cocai
ne,” is called “Spokane,” as in Wash
ington.
Malone said the Dishes like their
“G-rated, white toast” image and
don’t want to push ideas on their au
dience.
Avoiding controversy has helped
the Dishes appeal to a diverse audi
ence. They play for virtually every
type of crowd all over Texas.
Raycraft’s favorite audience is
“college kids” because it’s easy to win
them over. College crowds come into
the show thinking, “Yeah,” while a
lot of other crowds come in thinking,
“No,” he said, and then it’s up to the
band to turn them around.
Getting audiences to respond,
even one of the “no” crowds, is
something the Dishes do remarkably
well. They’ve had a lot of time to re
fine their ad lib style since the band
formed in 1982.
It all started when Raycraft and
Donaho met backstage at a concert.
Donaho was there to see the Shake
Russell Band. Raycraft was playing
with the Michael Marcoulier Group,
another band performing that night.
Before long, they talked about
starting a new project.
Raycraft and Donaho got in touch
with Malone, who had played with
Raycraft in the 70s in a band called
Spatz.
And the Dishes were born. On
June 4, 1982, the Dishes opened at a
college hangout in Huntsville called
Touch of Texas. Raycraft said it
went pretty well for a first show.
They didn’t have a drummer so
they hired on the spot until they
found Falcone in July.
The Dishes have performed three
or four times a week ever since they
started. Raycraft said it took a while
to get jobs at places like Fitzgerald’s
and Rockefeller’s in Houston.
They released their first album,
“Hot Diggety Dog,” in 1985. In
1986, they recorded another album,
“Midnight Pizza Party,” but it has yet
to be released. Malone said the al
bum is tied up in legal problems, but
hopefully may be released “someti
me”.
Raycraft said the band has
changed its sound during the last six
years.
“We started off with a kind of ‘ga
rage surf sound,” he said. “We’ve
kept that garage kind of sound but
we’ve gotten slicker. Now it’s sort of
‘techno-billy.’”
Whatever you call it, the Dishes
have a sound that people like. They
may not be the next Fab Four, but
you can bet A&M students will flock
to see the Dishes when they’re in
town to hear Raycraft say, “Hey —
thanks a whole lot.”
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