The Moody Blues Meet the Smothers Brothers: The Story of the Dazzling Weasel Faces

Dave Barnes and Marty Floyd met while attending Baylor University in the mid 1970’s. Marty had been playing acoustic guitar since his high school days, and Dave began playing while in college. Marty performed some in local venues in Waco during that period, and often they would get together with friends and play recreationally. There was a long (13 year) stretch when neither performed in public, but in 1990 Marty (still living in the Waco area) realized he missed live performing, and began to pursue the hobby again. He called Dave (by now living in Plano), who also enjoyed performing, to sit in with him at some of the local private venues.

For a while the band went by the name Strings and Pipes, which referred to the acoustic sounds and vocal harmonies which characterize their music. Marty wasn’t wild about the name, but couldn’t think of anything else. Dave, not always one to be particularly subtle in his expressions of his opinions, hated it. Then one publication, upon hearing the name, described them as Acoustic Guitars and Pipe Music, and another similarly described them as Acoustic Guitars and Bagpipes.

Sensing that a change might be warranted, Marty whimsically came up with the Dazzling Weasel Faces. When he suggested the name change to Dave, it was entirely intended as a joke, and Marty had no intention of using it. But Dave, needless to say, was in favor of the change.

Despite what may have been implied above, they weren’t getting nearly as many gigs as they would have preferred. Enter long-time acquaintance Kelly Jenkins (also of Waco), who was familiar with their music and began to make some local inquiries, and convinced several local public venues to consider booking performances by the duo. The first such gig was scheduled in July of 1994 (see the performance history).

Since that time they have performed over 300 shows, primarily in the Waco and Austin areas (Dave has since moved to Round Rock), and they have also made several trips to the Texas Gulf Coast, northeast Texas, the Dallas Ft. Worth metroplex, and finally, a couple of really, really long weekend treks to Kenosha, Wisconsin.

So what is the music like? Most of the songs are Good Time Rock ‘N Roll, Folk Rock, or Ballads from the 60’s and early 70’s, but selections are also included from the 50’s, 80’s, and 90’s. Just for variety, they also play a few country tunes, as well as a few original tunes composed by themselves and/or their musical colleague Jay “Redd Granite” Tracy of Dallas. Some of the artists whose songs are covered include the Beatles, John Denver, Dan Fogelberg, Gordon Lightfoot, and the Moody Blues, to name just a few. (See the play list.) They joke about being a Rock ‘N Roll Band, but that’s tongue-in-cheek humor; with both of them playing acoustic guitars, they freely acknowledge that they probably sound more like the Kingston Trio than the Rolling Stones, although their repertoire includes songs from both bands. Additionally, on any given performance they may have one or more musician friends sitting in with them (most notably, the aforementioned Jay “Redd Granite” Tracy). And if that’s not enough, they often set up an extra microphone and invite audience members to join them on stage, thus giving new meaning to the phrase “audience participation.”

One of the most enjoyable aspects of their performances is their practice of putting copies of play lists on the tables in the venues where they perform and inviting the audience members to peruse the list and submit their requests regarding what songs they would like to hear. There have been numerous occasions when the audience has dictated the entire content of the show for three solid hours. (With rare exceptions, the Dazzling Weasel Faces don’t take breaks during their performances.) Audiences are also encouraged to play “Stump the Band,” but they are warned when they do so that the ante goes up in the tip jar! Another enjoyable aspect of their performances is the constant ad-libbed banter going back and forth between both themselves and the audience. When people ask Marty what their performances are like, he says, “Think of it as “The Moody Blues meet the Smothers Brothers.’”

Since that first performance back in 1994, the Dazzling Weasel Faces are deeply gratified to have been honored on several occasions by the Music Association of Central Texas (MACT). They were finalists for “Band of the Year – All Other Types” for 2001-07 consectively, and won the award in both 2006 and 2007. And in 2008, they were named “Small Act” of the year by the MACT. Likewise, Marty was named “Male Vocalist of the Year” in 2001, and was nominated again in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006, and 2008. (Marty doesn’t know what happened in 2007 or 2009. Also, he wishes to emphasize that the fact that he sat on the Board of Directors of the Music Association of Central Texas during several of those years has in no way influenced either his or DWF being nominated or named the winner, relative to any of these awards . . .)

In their day jobs, Dave works in Austin for the Employees Retirement System of Texas, while Marty is an Adult Education Teacher with McLennan Community College in Waco.

Finally, the Dazzling Weasel Faces encourage all their fans to join in the fight against the senseless abuse of weasels which is taking place even now as these evolutionary and genetically sensitive and gentle creatures are being trained as predatory animals in the remote subtropical jungles of southern Antarctica. For more information, see Save The Weasels (WARNING – GRAPHIC PHOTO CONTENT; MAY BE TOO INTENSE FOR YOUNGER VIEWERS).

BE KIND TO ANIMALS – HUG A WEASEL!

 

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