Dan Hicks, His Hot Licks and Me…

My music is kind of a blending. We have acoustic instruments. It starts out with kind of a folk music sound, and we add a jazz beat and solos and singing. We have the two girls that sing, and jazz violin, and all that, so it's kind of light in nature, it's not loud. And, it's sort of, in a way, kinda carefree. Most of the songs are, I wouldn't say funny, but kinda maybe a little humorous. We all like jazz, so we like to play in a jazzy way, with a swing sound you know, so I call it "folk swing". There are a lot of original tunes that I've been writing through the years, so that has its personal touch on it.
Dan Hicks

Where’s The Money? (1971) signed by Dan

I didn't say I wanted to end the group, what I said was, 'I don't care if this group ever works again. I just got off the stage in Columbus one day feeling really drug and I said, 'I don't want to do this anymore.' It'd become a big business trip; it wasn't a fun music trip anymore. I wasn't in love with it the way I used to be. So then everybody started runnin' around acting like I meant the end of the group. That wasn't my idea. I'm gonna be makin' a slow comeback, because I'm just blown out. Because I don't think I have the confidence to even get back up on the stage. Can you comprehend a human mind, a state of mind, where everything bothers you? Yeah, there were pressures of touring and hassles in the band. But that ain't it. It's also, ah, the inner demons that possess me. Small, minuscule aliens from another planet.
Dan Hicks on disbanding The Hot Licks, Rolling Stone 1973

Original Recordings (1969) signed by Dan

Dan Hicks seemed to be everywhere in the thriving San Francisco music scene. He began as a singer-songwriter in coffee houses in the late 1950s-early 1960s among the beats and folkies, then he played drums in The Charlatans, arguably the first San Francisco psychedelic band. The Charlatans had an unimpressive recording career (only one album was released in 1969 after the band had dissolved), but they were influential. The first psychedelic poster heralded their gig at the Red Dog Saloon in Virginia City, Nevada in June 1965. Among collectors, this poster has been dubbed "The Seed" (a mint copy sells for almost $20,000!), and all the great Avalon/Carousel/Fillmore poster psychedelia from the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane et al. derive from this humble illustration. After three years, Dan left The Charlatans to pursue music world domination with Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks. He nearly succeeded.

”The Seed” The Charlatans Red Dog Saloon 1965

Carousel Ballroom 4/24/68 with Johnny Cash signed by Dan

Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks melded the Texas swing of Bob Wills with the hot jazz of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli, and layered in the humor of Spike Jones. Their first album, Original Recordings (1969) features Dan's songwriting and acerbic wit on "How Can I Miss You When You Won't Go Away?", a send off to a jilted lover, and "I Scare Myself", a romantic ode to obsession. Dan explains:

"I’m not exactly sure when I wrote ‘I Scare Myself,’ but I have a story in my mind of how I started the whole idea of it. I was living in the Haight and I went over to Sausalito to visit Nick and Joan Reynolds—Joan had a club in North Beach I used to play [in the late ’60s] called the F.W. Kuh Memorial Auditorium. I wasn’t much of a doper or a drinker at that time; that came later. During this period I mostly drank coffee and wrote songs and played gigs. But [the Reynolds] had some kind of hash or marijuana cookie, and I had a bite of that and I remember getting in the car and driving back to the city over the Golden Gate Bridge, and the phrase came to me: ‘I scare myself,’ because that’s how I was feeling—a little paranoid and uncomfortable."

The Diplomat (live recordings in LA, 1978)

Three critically acclaimed albums followed: Where's The Money? (1971), Striking It Rich(1972), and Last Train To Hicksville (1973). Where's The Money? was recorded live at the fabled Troubadour in Los Angeles, and includes some between-song banter from Hicks which is almost as good as the songs. As he deadpans in the introduction to "Is This My Happy Home?", "This is a song...you know they're all songs, I mean, what else are we gonna do?" Striking It Rich and Last Train To Hicksville were studio recordings and showcase the tight three part harmony vocals of Naomi Eisenberg, Maryann Price and Dan with the furious jazz guitar licks of John Girton and the swinging violin of "Symphony" Sid Page. Their music didn't sound like anybody else, then or now. And it ended almost as soon as it began. The aptly titled Last Train To Hicksville signs off with "It's Not My Time To Go", a compelling and fitting denouement like Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel's "Two Headed Boy Part 2" twenty five years later. Both songs signaled an end amid unsure and tenuous new beginnings.

Last Train To Hicksville (1973) signed by Dan

I got exposed to Dan Hicks' music in the mid-1970s when I was living with my parents. Like most confused adolescent boys, I was listening to a steady diet of Black Sabbath Jimi Hendrix, and Led Zeppelin, and a neighbor, an old hippie, (all right, he was probably ten years older than me!) suggested I should listen to Big Brother & The Holding Company's Cheap Thrills, The Grateful Dead's Skull And Roses, Fairport Convention's Rosie, and anything by Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks. I bought the records, listened carefully, and my life changed. When I went to college in Boston years later, I brought my expanding tastes and eclectic record collection with me.

It Happened One Bite (1978) signed by Dan

In 1979, I was working at a summer job on Cape Cod and a college friend, "Joe the Burnout", told me about an upcoming Dan Hicks' show at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston. I was very surprised. Dan had been on hiatus for about six years and he had recently released a new album, It Happened One Bite. I took the day off, drove to Boston and Joe The Burnout and I went to the show together. Unfortunately, I was going through a "White Russian" drinking phase that (always) ended poorly. Kahlua, vodka and milk was a combustible mix for me, especially when served ten or more. We were sitting in the row that lined the back wall of the club closest to the stage. I took the first seat, Joe The Burnout was next to me, and twelve or fifteen audience members were behind us. Halfway through the set, the band was cooking, Dan was singing great and everyone was leaning in. Until I threw up. Milky, viscous "White Russian" everywhere. Everyone leaned back to give me the required space I did not deserve. Strike one.

***Beaton’ The Heat (2000) signed by Dan***

Beatin’ The Heat (2000) signed by Dan

The next time I saw Dan Hicks was in the early 1980s at the Cellar Door in Washington, DC. The Cellar Door was a famous (now shuttered) club in Georgetown. Miles Davis, Richie Havens, and Neil Young have all released live albums from this storied club. Erin and I were visited by a college friend who was recently employed by a defense contractor, and we met at the club and began to drink. Heavily. When the show started, the only person drunker than I was Dan Hicks. He was in rough shape, slurring his words and, at one point, he fell off the stage. When we left the show, we poured our friend into a cab and he lisped repeatedly to the driver, "Take me to Christmas City." The driver had no idea where that was, nor did I, so Erin translated: "The Hyatt in Crystal City, Virginia." Strike two.

Striking It Rich (1972) signed by Daniel Ivan Hicks copyright

Many years later, I saw Dan Hicks again. Not surprisingly, Erin declined my gracious invitation to attend. Some memories even time cannot erase. However, I was sober now and so was Dan. There would not be a strike three. After the show, I told Dan how much I loved his music and, for the first time, I was actually looking forward to remembering the concert. He laughed, signed a bunch of albums, and he handed me a tour card that he had designed for the brief East Coast 1995 tour. Dan loved the Johnny Cash poster from the Carousel Ballroom in 1968. What was it like opening for Johnny Cash? I asked. "It was cool. We played with a lot of great artists and Johnny was certainly one of them." $3 admission?! "Yes, we weren't getting paid a lot of money back then", he admitted. As he looked at the Striking It Rich album, Dan said, "I don't usually do this, but I'm going to sign it with my full name. And don't worry, I'm going to put a copyright on it. I will still own my name." I was somewhat bemused as he scrawled out "Daniel Ivan Hicks" with a "c" as a copyright.

Dan Hicks once sang, "Oh no, it's not my time to go. Before I go, I've got to show.....something." Indeed, he did. He was an original and compelling artist with a great sense of humor and swing.

***Striking It Rich insert (1972) signed by Dan***

Striking It Rich sleeve signed by Dan

Choice Dan Hicks Cuts (by BK's request!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBGeQ0zSifc

“By Hook Or By Crook” Live Flip Wilson Show 1972

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f95Y1YSs6eo

I Scare Myself - Live: Austin City Limits 1989

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW9-FOLG-iA&list=PLaKRLw54DY1DxaBTQuLJRrJyeZ-2lL3S9&index=2

“How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away” Original Recordings 1969

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTh3jE1aqyk

“The Piano Has Been Drinkin” Dan Hicks Sings Tom Waits!!! My two favorite worlds collide...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCw-LVOiCkA

Is This My Happy Home? - Where's The Money 1971

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5Pg154PCLE

I Feel Like Singing - Where’s The Money 1971

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XydTlNeaGUI

“Payday Blues” Last Train To Hicksville 1973

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4KA2An7u4Y

“I Scare Myself” live with Jorma Kaukonen 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNfO99QQeqU

“I’ll Tell You Why That Is” with Tom Waits Beatin’ The Heat 2000

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwT0otqu9q8

It's Not My Time To Go - Last Train To Hicksville 1973

***Selected Shorts (2004) signed by Dan***

Selected Shorts (2004) CD signed by Dan

Where’s The Money? (1970) CD signed by Dan