VinhoVines2

  After many years of writing and playing to nobody but myself, I formed a band called The Badinoffs, with a carpenter I was working with. We became an excellent cover band, and performed at many local venues, or “townie bars”. While this was keeping my other bandmates content, I noticed myself becoming increasingly bored with playing and singing the same songs at each and every gig. I kept pushing for an all-original band, but we only ended up playing two original songs. Mine. One of which “Ain’t Got Much Money” will be in the movie Run Grammie Run. But back then I got discouraged; I had to break away from the “cover band” scene. I continued writing and performing by myself for a few more years. This has not been a magic overnight gig, has it?

  I finally decided to have some songs recorded professionally so that I’d have a demo CD. I had them recorded by Jay Fernandes at Saucer Sound. Yes, we are related. We’re like third cousins or something like that. Anyhow, one day while browsing through some classified ads, I found a publishing company, BMI, that was looking for original music to be put on a compilation CD. I could only afford to put one of my songs, “Dead Roses”, on it though; they wanted like $250.00 per song. Although I was very excited at the beginning of the agreement, I knew that my song was just a needle in the haystack. So, after realizing that my song probably wouldn’t find the ears of any record companies, I did what any aspiring artist should do; keep jammin’ mon!!!

  One night, after a few doses of liquid courage, I ended up playing “Ain’t Got Much Money” at a bar/tavern. The place went nuts!!! I was totally overwhelmed. There I was, onstage by myself with just an acoustic guitar, and everyone was singing my song and dancing around. What a natural high, I thought. The waitress rushed over, bought our table a round of drinks, and asked me if I would play a full night. “Sure”, I said, “ I’d love to.” Vinho Vines was born. I delivered a reggae/rock/blues sandwich on the night before Thanksgiving and the night after. Both nights were packed. I played about twice a month for a while, at more of those great townie joints, and then I decided to take a break from it all. Why? I don’t know. Everyone seemed to enjoy my music. I think I just needed time to figure out how I would keep the music thing going while busting my hump every day as a carpenter.