The Dick Ourada Band ready to rock out again

Dude, I’m tellin’ ya………

I’m moving a little slow this morning after having gone to the Blackhawks game last night. The team is looking freakin’ good. Every time I watch a game these days, it seems like the other team doesn’t even put twenty shots on goal. Our defensive effort has been pretty good despite the easy goals that our new starting goalie, Christobal Huet, allows like he’s throwing the damn game. But our back-up goaltender, Antti Niemi, was in the net last night. The Hawks won 4-3.

Even with the great season the Hawks had last year, one of my chief complaints was that they didn’t put the puck on the net enough. It always seemed like they were trying to make one pass too many. They would pass up a nice scoring opportunity to try and make that one last pass. This is certainly not the case this year. Every game I watch, there are long stretches where we are peppering the other team’s goalie with shots. I’m not sure what the final shot total was last night, but at one point the Hawks had a 37-17 advantage. The poor guy on the receiving end for Edmonton last night happened to be our own starting goalie from last year, Nikolai Khabibulin. He let up a goal 51 seconds into the game and was under fire all night.

So I’m off to a slow start today after enjoying the game last night with a friend and several beers and Mai Tai(s).

But…….I wanted to give an early shout out to everyone about another wild, raucous evening coming up with the legendary Dick Ourada Band.

They are playing their annual Thanksgiving extravaganza at Rolling Lanes in Countryside, IL on Saturday, November 28, 2009 at 9pm.

Dick and the boys were joined by several dozen loyal “Dickheads” recently for a benefit show they played for an animal shelter. The Rolling Lanes show is often their biggest gig of the year and the joint is usually packed for the boys. Last year, the line to get in looked like a Who concert from Cincinnati circa 1979. Thankfully, there were no injuries like in Cincy that year. Hopefully Rolling Lanes has the forethought this year to at least put another bartender on duty to handle the huge crowd.

Last year I had to go down to the nearby liquor store and buy a 6-pak because you just couldn’t seem to get a bartender’s attention. I would go out to my  truck and smuggle two bottles back in at a time. It saved me mucho bucks and a TON of time to watch/listen to the band rather than hold my money out to a bartender and try to make eye contact for 20 minutes. 

For those not too familiar with the Dick Ourada Band (DOB), it’s a group of guys who have been playing together since high school with a catalog of over 250 songs that they have played live. Known as “The Greatest Band in the Western Suburbs of Chicago” by their thousands of fans, the band is fronted by one of the true kings of entertainment, Dick Ourada. Ever the showman, Dick is a major Elvis fan, heavily influenced by Brian Wilson, and is known for his numerous costume changes over the course of a show. He adds rhythm guitar to his wide-ranging vocals. His brother Randy plays some thumping drums, and another set of brothers rock out on lead guitar and bass. Ron and Russ Rydin are a couple of virtuosos that keep the train on track while Dick is out in the audience thrilling the Dickheads.

They actually have two drummers in the band—-much like the Dead had for so many years. They throw in a little saxophone to some of their songs and even have a jammin’ regular opening act. Andy “The Big Deal” Plzak is the youngest member of the traveling show, but probably has the brightest future. I mean……the other guys are spry, but they’re as old as me for Chrissakes and I’m wiped out from a damn Hawks game. Andy has been rumored to carry the band into the next century when Dick’s, Ron, and Russ’ bodies are in a cryonic freeze sitting next to Ted Williams battered head. {Did y’all hear about that travesty? Jesus freakin’ Christ ! What is this world coming to?}

If you have a chance on 11/28, come on out and see these guys. The show starts at 9pm and runs until the bar has to tell them to stop playing. Dick is the consummate showman with on-the-spot lyric deviations from classic songs and poignant original tunes. Don’t miss the slide show that they put up showing shots from prior gigs, some of their most rabid fans, and various pics of the band when they’re not on-stage. Great stuff.

They usually have a couple of VIP guests as well who sometimes join them on stage for a song or two. Rumor has it there will be at least one—-maybe even two this year.

Once again, the gig is at:

Rolling Lanes on Joliet Road in Countryside, IL 
9:00pm on Saturday, November 28, 2009

Check out the band’s website at:  www.thedickouradaband.com

Tomorrow when I am fully recovered physically and mentally………OK, probably just physically……I’ll review tonite’s episode of Survivor. We’ll see if ol’ Russell can make it thru another week without being voted off.