Calm before the storm...

It's just a few days before we hit the road for the summer with Royal Southern Brotherhood.
I've been lucky enough to have a few weeks at home with my wife and kids for some quality time
before I never see them again! I'm certainly not complaining and lucky enough to have been used to this routine for some time now. When I cleaned up and was ready to become a productive member of society I began touring hard thanks to Craig Neilsen, owner of the Ameristar Casinos. His father was a partial owner in the 1960's of Cactus Pete's in Jackpot, Nv. Craig became sole proprietor in 1984. In 1985, Craig was in a horrible auto accident and was left a quadriplegic. He ran the company from a wheelchair/bed.
He expanded the one casino to 5 across the country by 2006. They have a huge Ameristar Casino in Saint Louis, though I had never played there before. Because of his disability, he didn't travel much. He had camera's and computers installed in his home where he could watch over all of the properties 24 hours a day. In 2006, his board of directors told him they were needing to put an end to most of the entertainment in the casinos. It was just too much money and they needed to cut costs. Craig loved the entertainment facet of his business and was determined to prove them wrong. He set out to visit each casino and see first hand what he could do to continue the entertainment in his businesses. He had not been to most of the properties in years. I had just begun playing Cactus Pete's in Jackpot, Nevada. They had 2 bands a night.
One band on the showroom floor of Cactus Pete's and another band at the Horshu Casino across the street. If you have never been to Jackpot, Nv.....then you have no idea what I mean when I say, it's a very small town. There are 4 casino's, a Post Office, a gas station, some apartments for employee's of the casinos, a golf course, a small school for children of the employees of the casinos and one road that goes through town, Hwy 93. Jackpot, Nv. is on the northeast Nevada border with Idaho. You can walk out of Cactus Pete's Casino and walk into Idaho in minutes. Jackpot is in the middle of the high plains desert.
It is extremely dry and windy. There is nothing else around for 60 miles or more in each direction.
I began playing in Nevada in smaller towns casinos where they would put you up for 2 weeks at time. It was the only possible way for a guy like me, with 3 kids at the time, to tour and make money. I would take the one or two nights we had off and go to Reno, or Vegas or Boise or Salt Lake and find the Blues Society and offer to do a show for free or sit in at their Blues Jams. My group was the exception to the rule in these casinos. They were used to cover bands and dance bands....certainly not "Blues" bands!
We played our fair share of cover songs, but blues and old standards that we could make our own.
I'd always play 3-4 original songs in each set and sell my cd's on break. For the most part it worked pretty well. The customers were getting something different, something more original. They were diggin the blues or the band jamming and buying my cd's. But, their were customers and employees alike that thought I was arrogant to come in and play my own music at these places. They expected us to play "Their" favorites, not mine! It took about 2 years to get the gig at Cactus Pete's. It was a step up in the casino gig world. It paid well and fed the band for 2 weeks  straight. The manager of Cactus Pete's and entertainment director took a liking to me right away. They could see I was working hard and doing something different. One day the manager saw me walking through the casino and told me he was going to put in a good word to see about me getting into some of the other properties.
We then quickly got booked at the Ameristar Casino in Vicksburg, Ms.
This was much closer to home than Jackpot and was a little more "happening".
They had a main stage their called the Bottleneck Blues Bar.
They had real national touring blues acts like Johnny Lang, Kenny Wayne Sheppard, Tinsley Ellis and so on. They had another stage on the first floor and thats where I started.
The second time I played at the Vicksburg property, the owner, Craig Neilsen showed up to check on entertainment. He had not been to Vicksburg in 8 years.
We were performing on Friday night around 11pm when his handlers began getting off the elevators.
I mean, it looked like the President of the US was coming in to play the penny slots. Dudes with headsets in black suits all combed the floor and set up positions at least 15 minutes before he even showed up. We were in the middle of ending the set with a Jimi Hendrix jam when they rolled his bed out onto the floor. I was midway through the Star Spangled Banner with my eyes closed when I heard one of the guys say "He's here!". I opened my eyes and this man in a wheelchair bed is right in front of the stage with all this security and entourage around him. It was really strange. We finished and took a break. I thought for sure they all thought it was noise. We came back the next night to play and he showed up again, this time before we started the second set. He sat right in front of me and listened to the entire set. As I walked off stage, a handler came and got me and told me that Mr. Neilsen wanted to see me. I thought I was probably going to be fired on site for being to loud or not playing appropriate "Casino" music! I met him in the Bottleneck Blues Bar. He was very quiet and polite. He told he loved my voice and mu music. He asked how long had I been playing guitar? He wanted to buy a cd from me! He asked me if I was interested in playing at all of his properties full time?
I said YES! He said he would take care of everything. He told me this was what he was hoping to find.
Some real entertainment in his casinos. The next day I received a call from the corporate office and they offered to fill up my calendar for the year. This was the break I was looking for, a chance to begin touring full time and get my music out there across the country, and the pay to make it worthwhile.
Most touring original acts do not do it this way. They play for the door every night, share motel rooms every night, eat cheese sandwiches..... At 34 years old and with 3 kids, one on the way, I could not afford to chase my dreams in the usual manner. This was a dream come true.
Because of Mr. Neilsen, I met David Hughes at the Vicksburg Ameristar who told me about a friend of his that had a record label, Delta Groove Records and was starting a new division, Eclecto Groove.
He told me I should send him my new cd "Superman" and he would put in a good word for me.
Rand Chortkoff was looking for new artists, but they needed to be touring full time to be considered.
Because of Mr. Neilsen I was touring full time. Maybe just casinos at first, but we began booking the blues clubs around our casino engagements. I thank God for Craig Neilsen giving me that break.
I believe it was his efforts that help me to land my first recording contract with Eclecto Groove Records.
Within months after meeting Craig, he passed away unexpectedly on November 19th, 2006.....
my birthday.
So, I am not complaining about touring all summer with my new band Royal Southern Brotherhood.
It's a dream come true, something I've worked for all my life.
Yes, I will miss my family, but they understand and are very supportive.
I am truly blessed to be able to take care of my responsibilities while doing something I love.
Thank you Mr. Neilsen.
Peace, Love, Zito