Kenny B. Morpoplar

Oui Oui Music Newsletter

February 23, 2023

Greetings Slimmest of All People!

I went to Dick’s Halfway Inn and sat next to a guy with a squirrel monkey on his shoulder.

The bartender brought me a beer and asked if I’d sing a song, so I went to the piano and started playing.

That’s when the guy’s monkey dipped his butt in my glass of suds.

The bartender came over and asked, “Do you know the monkey’s nuts are in your beer?”

I said, “No…”

“But if you hum a few bars, I’m sure I could fake it!”

Slim People!

How are we? I’m just checking in with the Slim Folks. I hope everyone is peachy.

Before I get into the NEW NEWS, I gotta tell ya about some stuff.

We got shows coming up! You'd be nuts not to come to one!

We’ve got the Slim Man Band at Vicky’s every Tuesday. Make reservations! It’s been pleasantly packed lately.

The Slim Man Chase Huna Rat Pack Duo plays every Wednesday at the Larkspur Grill in Hotel Paseo. I sing. Chase plays sax. And he has been killing it!

A little Frank. A little Dino. A little Nat. A lotta fun!

Humphrey’s in San Diego on Sunday February 26 is SRO! That doesn't stand for Slim Rocks On…but maybe it should!

It means Standing Room Only! But the SRO section at Humphrey's is really cool.

SRO is where my friends Shauna Aguirre (who runs the place) and Kelly Cole (legendary DJ) like to hobnob. And they know where to hang!

Get SRO tickets here.

Looking ahead to March…on Saturday, March 4th, we’ve got a big show at El Paseo Gardens. It’s a benefit and it’s a very cool outdoor venue...

right in front of Saks Fifth Avenue!

So go buy some Jimmy Choo’s and stroll on over to the Slim Show. March forth on March 4th!

Proceeds go to the Coachella Valley Volunteers in Medicine. They offer medical and dental services to folks with no insurance.

So let's party down for a good cause, Slim People!

Get Tickets Here.

San Antonio? Are you ready for some Slimness? I’m playing the Leon Valley Jazz Fest on Saturday, March 25th. Mark the date. Deets are on the way! The band is slammalammin’!

And let’s not forget the new cookbook. Slim Man Cooks Volume 2! Lots of ravishing recipes and funny stories. And hundreds of glorious photos.

Fortunately, most of them are of food and not of me!

We’re always keeping the website updated with merch and concerts and videos and photos.

Take a stroll around.

You might like it!

https://www.slimman.com

AND NOW THE REAL NEW REAL NEWS FROM SLIM'S SHADY TRAILER PARK

Here at the semi-fictitious Slim’s Shady Trailer Park, we have a somewhat imaginary staff.

Our Head of Merchandise is Selma Krapoff.

Our Resident Proctologist is Dr. Benjamin Dover. We call him Ben.

Our new Head of Dentistry is Philip McAvity. We call him Phil.

Our Head of Security is Barbara Dwyer. We call her Barb.

To keep hanky-panky here at Slim’s Shady Trailer Park to a minimum, we have a Minister of Misconduct. Patricia Myaz. We call her Pat.

They're all wonderful. But the star shining quite brightly at SSTP lately is our Head of Marketing…

Kenny B. Morpoplar. Kenny B. has been brilliant!

However, there was a time when the Slim Man Band wasn’t very…poplar out here in Palm Springs. I know, hard to believe!

When we played back then, not very many folks would show up.

We were so unpoplar that we considered letting Kenny B. go.

For instance, there were a lot of empty tables at our first Vicky's gigs. I’d seen more people waiting at a bus stop.

Vicky's is the coolest club around and we just weren't packing them in. I thought it might be because we were doing original music. It's a challenge to get folks to listen to new stuff.

As a matter of fact, most people prefer listening to tunes they're familiar with.

YouTube is the second largest search engine for music. And 76% of those searches are for songs folks have already heard.

Plus, there's a lot of new music out there. A whole lot.

How much? Glad you asked.

It's a well-known fact that about 60,000 songs are uploaded to Spotify per day.

That's right. Every. Single. Day. That's almost 20 million songs per year. On Spotify alone.

So how do you stand out?

There was a performance artist back in the 1980s who filmed himself getting shot in the arm with a rifle to increase awareness of his artwork.

That might be a painful way to bring attention to a new Slim Man single.

So how do you get people to listen to music they haven't heard before?

Well, for those early Vicky's gigs, I gave (gave!) away Slim Man CDs to familiarize folks with our original songs.

I put mailing list cards on tables to get people to sign up for this newsletter…

To hopefully draw them into the Slim Fold.

A while ago, someone turned in one of those cards at the end of a well-UNattended night at Vicky's. On the back it said…

SLIM MAN BAND! You are fabulous! But you would be expotentially more popular if you sang songs we knew!!! Thank you!

Ouch. That note bugged me, Slim People. Not because they misspelled "exponentially."

It was because they were saying that doing our own songs made us less poplar. It hurt my feelings. I’m a sensitive guy!

I was thinking of giving in, maybe doing a Village People medley, or perhaps a MC Hammer tribute.

I might look good in parachute pants. Hammer Time!

But nope. I decided to stick with the Slimoriginals. And eventually…gradually...

Things started to take off! People became familiar with our music.

Plus, there was a certain magic happening onstage. The band was playing every week, month after month. We were sounding better and better. Tighter and tighter.

And we started drawing a larger crowd.

We recorded a double CD. LIVE at Vicky's. 28 songs, most of them originals. It won Album of the Year at the Coachella Music Awards in 2021.

Yes, it took a while. And yes, we’ve incorporated some cover songs into our set list.

But we’re becoming known for doing original material. And it seems to be working since Vicky's is now packed every Tuesday.

I'm not bragging! Well...maybe a little...

Sometimes the owners (Marc and Marc!) add extra tables on the dance floor to accommodate the overflow. Like in Goodfellas when they bring in a table for Ray Liotta and Lorraine Bracco at the crowded Copacabana.

We’ve become morpoplar! So we've extended the contract of our Head of Marketing, Kenny B. Morpoplar. Thanks, Kenny B!

And Big Thanks to the Slim People. You Slim Boys and Girls have hung in there with us, and things are popping!

Things are going so well we had to hire a tax adviser here at Slim's Shady Trailer Park. His name is Lou...

Lou Pohl.

Keep smiling, Slim People. And keep in touch.

I love hearing from you.

It’s all about love!

Who loves ya?

Uncle Slimmy