“It all began as an effort to help a friend AJ promote his bar and BBQ joint on Main Street in historic downtown Grapevine, TX” according to Darrell Chumley, more commonly known as “DC.” Within a few days, the two retired cop’s initial conversation happened over beers and shots of bourbon and tequila at AJ’s Place on Main Street. DC came up with the idea of the duo hosting a talk show sitting at the bar chatting. After a couple of days of thought and remembering the conversation at the bar, DC decided on a name, Barside Jive.
Their goal was to attract more customers to the downtown business when tourist traffic was low through the week in Grapevine. They began interviewing local tribute/cover musicians, artists, and authors in the area. DC went out on a limb and sent out a few emails to some of his favorite original musicians and Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick was the first to respond. He flew up to Chicago, rented a car and drove into Rockford, Illinois. They had an hour scheduled and many hours later they found themselves still recording. DC then knew he could be onto something with Barside Jive. On a roll, DC has interviewed: Roger Earl of Foghat, Buddy Whittington of John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers , Jim Suhler of George Thororgood & The Destroyers, Chris Holt of the Don Henley Band, Share Ross of Vixen and Jimmy Vaughan. While he continues to interview new artists, DC has moved his Barside Jive Live show on Facebook to Rick Fairless’ Strokers Dallas, located at 9324 Harry Hines Blvd, who sponsors his show on Vokal. The live show is broadcast at 1:00PM CST every Wednesday afternoon at Strokers Ice House.
Vokal Media CEO John Ritchie called just before Thanksgiving of 2017 as Barside Jive was gaining major attention. He wanted to develop Barside Jive into a solo rock & roll show gig for DC on Vokal Media’s platform alongside the 1970’s and 1980’s FM 98 radio station known as KZEW. I asked DC if he ever dreamed about a career in radio and his success with Barside Jive. “I was a criminal justice major and never even thought about studying Journalism. Although, I did spend a career interviewing victims, witnesses, and suspects as a cop,” DC laughingly replied. “I’ve been blessed with opportunities that would make most people cry with envy. You just never know where life will take you. I feel like I just hit the second big drop on the roller coaster of my life,” said DC.
Catch DC on his rock & roll show, “Barside Jive” on the Vokal Media platform alongside “The Zoo” at http://www.vokalnow.com. He’s got some great content coming your way as he sits down for a chat in his thirty-minute weekly show, with some of rock & roll’s greatest musicians. You can also follow DC and sign-up for exclusive behind the scenes stuff at https://www.barsidejive.com.
-Michelle Graves, Dallas Observer
