Where did YOU get your Ten-Thousand Hours?

So I am watching a documentary about Frieda, the Beatles secretary for 11 years, and I learned that the group played The Cavern Club far more than I had believed. My impression had always been "the lads" had mainly cut there teeth in Germany.

Frieda had said they performed there something like 192 times, and she had been there for 158 of those shows. Pretty impressive for all of them.

The whole thing got me to thinking of MY Cavern Club, The Carousel Club in Houston Texas.
I started there in early February 1974 just as I was turning 21. I worked with the band  Bittersweet 6 nights a week until October of that year. Let's do the math: That is 54 nights of shows, each night being 4 sets. Not quite on par with the Fab Four, but the idea is the same.

The Carousel; A very interesting place.
The first time I went to check it out, was to answer an ad at the local music store. "Band seeks keyboard player". I made a call, the guy told me where they were, and invited me to drop in.
I went incognito, so that I could leave if it was terrible and no one would be the wiser.
What I found was a band that could draw the crowd in to what they were doing, but sometimes seemed unsure of what they WERE doing. I saw potential, and (most importantly) a gig.

Some snippets of life at the Carousel; Characters abound. on the stage and in the audience. Chili Willy, Earl the Squirrel, Duke of Earl, Jeneane, OMG they all even had there own catch phrases like;
first person: Watcha doing Earl?
Earl: Workin'

That was Duke of Earl, he was a longshoreman union guy. Clocked in 89 hours a week,

A friend of my sisters came out in a big group, and talked with me on a break said "I can't figure out if this is a high class joint or a low class nightclub". Best not to strain yourself thinking about it. Just have fun.

We had groups show up having their wedding reception with us, greasy guys just getting off work, the whole nine yards. Streaking became a national past time so we started a skinny dipping feature on Saturday nights by encouraging people to jump naked in the pool. Many did, including me.

We worked up an oldies show there that took us up and out. It was fun for everybody. 6 weeks after we left the Carousel were were installed at the Galleria Roof, the #1 nightclub in Texas. A tremendous success there led to bookings all over the country. Not the Beatles, but a pretty good way to spend my early 20's.