Rock And Roll Story From Playing A Chinese Restaurant
Benny Huie's In Sheridan, Oregon
Posted by Charlie Recksieck
on 2026-02-17
I was just thinking about Shay and reminiscing in my mind about gigs and occasionally going on the road.
And thought of one of my favorite gigs of ours.
It wasn’t playing in a large or prestigious venue.
It wasn’t for a ton of money.
But it was just pure Bigfellas; meaning it was odd and a blast.
Every band has that gig - and this one involved us playing original music at a Chinese restaurant in Sheridan, Oregon.
The Place
It’s called Benny Huie’s.
Here’s a 3-star review from Yelp summing it up nicely (I trust 3-star Yelp reviews, they have no agenda):
First, there are two sides to this restaurant. The restaurant side is largely closed off with only 3 available tables and zero ambiance. The sports bar side had a small Sunday crowd watching the game and it felt friendly and warm. We ate at one of the three empty restaurant tables.
Sheridan is a small town, like a one-stoplight town.
I found it charming.
It might be the last restaurant I’ve been in where I’ve been allowed to smoke a cigarette.
We love playing small head-scratching venues in small towns; I feel like people are more appreciative.
And if you think we didn’t load up on their Chinese food, you’re out of your mind.
The Tour
Even though The Bigfellas have always been a San Diego joint, Oregon has been our second home.
Shay was living up there for the last several years of his life with his wife Pam.
We became a commuter band; Shay would come to San Diego for live show stretches, or I would go up there for Pacific Northwest jaunts.
We had a couple of bass players on the depth chart for Oregon.
And on this particular tour, our engineer and studio guitarist Andy Machin came up there with us.
That meant extra fun.
Andy is a terrific guy; he loved playing with The Bigfellas and loved the hang.
On top of that, I don’t want to put words in his mouth, but I think he always marvelled at how nuts Shay and I could be.
If I close my eyes, I can picture this pre-show exchange which happened more than once: Shay reaches into his pocket and pulls out a loose pill and hands it to Andy, "What’s that?" "Just take it", Andy swallows a pill, "Andy, it was a Vicodin.
Have a great show."
On this tour, we hit a few nice spots: Portland State University, the University of Oregon, Tease in Ashland, The Screening Room in Portland, Anderson’s General Store on Guemes Island, Washington, which really was The Bigfellas’ insanely most popular venue.
Our night in Sheridan at Benny Huie’s was the last one of the tour before Andy would fly back to San Diego the next morning.
Here’s a couple of recordings from a show earlier in the week
The Show
There’s a restaurant half there, which is pretty traditional, then a great open space bar with a stage.
We had our Portland friends, Jokers & Jacks, open for us.
Their dad, Kevin May, was somewhere between a fan and a publicist for us.
He’s a hale fellow well met, and loves hanging and bullshitting.
A real mensch, and we miss seeing him.
And we also had another Oregon performer come join us on the bill.
Lennox Fleary was/is a sweet singer and good guy I met at a music conference a couple of years before.
He’s seriously a legit act.
In retrospect, I think the big winners were the people in town just grabbing a beer and seeing three touring acts at their watering hole.
The room had a nice buzz going, and we played a damn good set (setlist is below).
Any time you’re playing 5 nights out of 6, you are musically tight.
Which is a rare state for The Bigfellas.
I can’t tell you much about any particular song; I just remember there was some toastiness there.
Andy
What makes me remember this show so well is Andy being there with us, and it was his last night.
Shay and I are the two constants in The Bigfellas.
But having Andy on the road as our third partner in crime really made it a true band experience.
Also, let it be noted that Andy does try to live healthy.
Healthier than Shay and I, which isn’t saying much.
But his wife Margaret is a great influence on Andy with health, yoga and eating right.
Andy isn’t the kind of musician who gets hammered at gigs, or very road rock-and-roll; he’s a great guy and more sensible and even-keeled than most musicians.
Which is what made it special that we got Andy hammered that night.
Shay and I made it a mission to have drunk Andy for the last show.
He didn’t stand a chance.
When the evening wrapped up and they paid us and sent us home with an insane amount of Chinese food, we took it back to our hotel while watching TV.
Drinky Andy was letting his hair down food-wise and wanted leftovers.
That led to this priceless picture - priceless to Shay and me at least.
Why Am I Writing About This?
I was wondering why I felt this was such a special night, and I think I have it figured out.
When you’re a hyper-indie, obscure band, music can be a struggle.
Even great local bands are barely a break-even proposition.
Touring to areas where people don’t know who you are is pretty out of the question; how can you get enough strangers to come see you in another state where it makes money for the venue?
I used to work my ass off to book, promote, and find credible ways for us to be on the road.
And this wasn’t just a hobby to play pretend musician; we made a profit on a tour.
That doesn’t sound impressive, but believe me, it is.
This week, thank god for the college gigs - nice $, for sure.
We could only do that a couple of weeks per year, to live out not the fantasy of being a band on the road but the reality of being a weird little band on the road playing in strange places to open-minded and/or available music fans.
It was fun as hell.
We didn’t always have Andy with us on these excursions, and now, here in 2026, Shay is dead, so this is all obviously in the past.
So, I’m feeling very nostalgic and remembering the last night of a very, very fun week with my friends.
Setlist
California King
Black Friday
Amsterdam
Reinventing The Wheel
Where It’s At
Vous Ne Parlez Francais
Moving Day
Bennie And The Jets
