Jack Blades talks KLOL auction on AXS TV

August 18, 2021

Jack Blades, bassist and singer of Night Ranger, tells a 101 KLOL story on AXS TV’s “Rock & Tell” with Katie Daryl.

The 101 KLOL Blades story is about a bass that he got back after donating it to KLOL’s Rock and Roll Auction decades ago.

Based on past KLOL mentions in the media, it appears Blades is talking about the 7th annual rock auction happening in 1990 at The Summit. That year the auction benefited The S.E.A.R.C.H. Homeless Project.

You might call it the year of RoboCop since that movie series was shooting its sequel in Houston at the time. The Houston Chronicle reported RoboCop 2 stunt double Russell Towery (in the robotic OCP officer’s suit) opened the KLOL event with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Blades, who at the time was in Damn Yankees, was at the 101 KLOL Rock and Roll Auction with bandmate Tommy Shaw (Styx). His Night Ranger band members, Brad Gillis and Jeff Watson, were also in attendance.

In the AXS interview, Blades said he donated his SD Curlee bass to the KLOL Rock and Roll Auction. Blades played this SD Curlee bass on Night Ranger’s first record, “Dawn Patrol.” The album, released in 1982, features the hit song “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me.” Blades also played this bass when Night Ranger toured with Sammy Hagar.

For KLOL super fan trivia purposes, “Dawn Patrol” was also the name the station used for its morning show prior to the arrival of Stevens and Pruett.

Blades tells Daryl, that his wife tracked down the bass years later and gave it to him for his birthday in 2019!

Here is more of what Blades said about his SC Curlee bass:

“Still got the tape on the back of it. I mean these guys never did anything with it. The batteries are still in it. Everything was still on it. You know, I signed it back then and, and stuff like that. But it’s all…it’s exactly, exactly how I left it. Everything. They didn’t do anything, they ever played it. They didn’t do anything. Just stuck it on a wall, you know, and hung up on a wall for all these years. So it’s like frozen in time. And I finally got the old baby back.”

Jack Blades on AXS TV;s “Rock & Tell”

Blades also talked about his KLOL bass and Dayna Steele in a Houston Press article by Bob Ruggiero.

Make sure to watch the full 12 minutes video above which features other great Jack Blades story, including a great ZZ Top Billy Gibbons one!

Below is home video from the 1990 KLOL Rock and Roll Auction that is available on YouTube from user Mark Bowman Images for your viewing pleasure.