The last line-up of WIDOWMAKER, was also the first line-up of WHYTE WIDOW. The band consisted of DK on guitar, Jeff Hansen on bass, Ed Sabota on drums and Jim "Jaime" Garrett on vocals. After only a few practices, we played a 4th of July gig at Oats Park in Fallon, We were late to the gig and we had no where to dress...I remember we all scattered to different houses around the park, thankful for the generosity of strangers. We made it onto the stage just in time! I remember it was so hot! I remember walking off of the stage after our show and throwing up because I was suffering from a heat stroke. I was laying on the grass in the shade behind the stage trying to cool off when my then girlfriend walked up to me and said she wanted to break up. "OK", I said and threw up again. |
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 WIDOWMAKER- July 4th, 1984. (L to R) Jamie Garett (blue), Jeff Hansen in yellow, DK, unknown person, Ed Sabota on drums, another unknown and Verne Steers, bassist from another band. |
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COTTONWOOD PARK - FIRST RENO GIG Not too long after this gig, (actually that night) Jim quit the band over a girl, another band member, a practical joke and a case of 'bad judgment'...and that's all I'll say about that one! Soon after that, John Forbes joined the band as our new vocalist. He owned his own PA and that was good enough for me. The first time we played in Reno, Nevada as Whyte Widow was the day we played a multi-band concert at Cottonwood Park. We showed up at the gig completely hungover from the night before but we were supposed to be the opening act for a five band show. We arrived at the gig to find out that one of the bands had dropped out, one of the bands was gonna play even though one of their members was missing and that our old singer, Jaime Garrett, was now the singer for one of the headlining bands, Wild Child. The Headliner would be Hard Count. We heard that they kicked-ass but we were just there to open...so, no pressure. Someone decided to let the other band open the show so we stood around using our drink tokes (10 each for everyone of us) to recover from our hangovers. The opening band took forever to sound check and then they played and then it was our turn. We decided we would be quick setting up so we had all the drums ready to go onstage. I had a little peavey amp and I just put it on a milk crate, put a mic up to it and turned it on. I was ready...no sound check! We were pumped! We rocked through our set. When we got done...the whole park, thousands of people, all stood up and cheered. Our first gig and we got a standing ovation! Awesome!!!
DK Nihoa - Ed Sabota - John Forbes - Jeff Hansen
John and Jeff
John Lee Forbes - Working it as the Lead Singer for Whyte Widow. |
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There are a lot of pictures and stories I would like to post here but time and space will decide what I eventually put up here. Whyte Widow lasted from 1984 until 1987 when my son Jordan was born. Maybe even up until 1988, here are some pictures to show you what our life was like! These were taken at my townhouse condo that I lived at in Carson City.
FALLON BEER PARTY Not sure of the date but we drove from Reno to Fallon to play this gig. I think it was Alfred Hirchmugel's house out on Soda Lake Road. I think the house burned down...but not because of us! I think it's the only time I used hairspray. I let Jeff mess with my hair...I hated it!
This is a video clip of us playing a Battle of the Bands in Fallon, Nevada at the Dry Gulch Sallon at the Fallon Fair Grounds. There were four or five bands set to play. For whatever reason three bands didn't make it. It was just us and another band (that's where I got this video from). They played and then it was our turn. We were ready but we had no singer. John was still doing his hair when it was time for us to play so we played the first song "Red Hot" without him. He then showed up and we started into "Looks That Kill". The video also shows us playing "Rock n Roll Crazy Nights". We played more songs but this is all that was recorded. I'm grateful for this video. Thanks to Tom Grishok.
4TH STREET JAM STUDIO We has a great place to practice for awhile. It was an old office building down on 4th. It had one big room with three smaller offices and a 'real' bathroom. It was really cool. We had some great times there. Here's a look...
WHYTE WIDOW PHOTO SHOOT While we were living the rock n roll lifestyle we all knew we had to pay the bills, so we had 'normal' jobs. I worked as a laser tech, Jeff worked in a furniture shop, John did various jobs and Ed...well, he slept on his mom's couch. We didn't care, that is, we didn't care up until it started to affect the band. Ed never had money so we always had to feed him. He didn't have a car so we always had to drive him. He couldn't pay for party essentials so we always had to cover for him. After awhile it got really old. One day we had a really cool gig at this five-story house on Reno's skyline. We rented lights so we would look really good. We got to the gig. We set up our equipment and about an hour before we're supposed to start, Ed says to me, "Dude, I forgot to tell you I have a hole in my snare drum...and I need some drumsticks...mine are all broken." I went through the roof! That was the straw that broke the camel's back. I fired Ed right after that. NEW DRUMMER John said he knew a guy that was really good so we auditioned him and he WAS really good. So Greg Sample joined the band. He was with us about four weeks when we recorded our 4-trak demo called "Rock n Roll Killers", named after one of our songs. The bass, drums and basic guitar were recorded at some house in Washoe Valley by Jeff Lehman who would later go on to play in Rayge. After that we did some promo pictures of the band. Greg said he could get it done for $800 dollars. I said I could do it for $8. We dyed a sheet black, hung it up in John's bedroom, plugged in a red light and a blue light and proceeded to take pictures with my 35mm camera. Like any photo shoot, some pictures came out better than others...here are some of those...
SUNSHINE LANE PARTY One gig that I remember was for a girl that really liked our band. Her dad wanted to throw her a big party so he cleared out his business warehouse so that we could have a concert in it for her. It was somewherre on Sunshine Lane so we called it 'The Sunshine Gig'. It was a really great party right up until the cops showed up. It was the first gig where we started using TMF (Too Much Fun) Productions. Doug on sound and his buddy on lights and pyro...explosions...cool!! Here's some pics from that...
DK and Greg Sample hanging out backstage after the show.
NEVADA STATE FAIR Somehow we ended up playing the Nevada State Fair at the outdoor stage at the Reno Fair Grounds. Below are two pictures of us, all dressed and ready to head over to the fair. Hmm, well, actually the first picture shows everybody but John. He was ALWAYS the last guy ready because it took him so friggin' long to do his hair.
Ahh...here he is...finally. Now we can head to the show...
Here we are goofing around backstage waiting to hit the stage. DK, Jeff, Greg & John.
There was another "Battle of the Bands" in Sparks, Nevada. It was a two day event with the winners from the first day coming back to play the next day. For some reason they said we didn't have to play the first day so we showed up the second to play. We were the first band to play and we kick some ass. The crowd loved us but only two of the six judges were there to see u play so while we had two votes for us the other judges didn't even see us. Whatever... The songs we played in order were:
...And that was the story of...
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