Looking Back: Sleeper Agent, The Former Indie-Rock Band From Bowling Green, Ky., Part 1

The Former Sleeper Agent Band From Bowling Green, Ky.

Sleeper Agent is a former alternative/indie rock band who was based out of Bowling Green, Ky., and they were originally signed with Mom + Pop Music of New York City, NY., but later signed with RCA Records. Members included Alex Kandel, lead vocals, Tony Smith, songwriter, guitar and vocals, Scott Gardner, keyboards, Lee Williams, bass, Josh Martin, lead guitar and Justin Wilson, drums. Their debut album, "Celabrasion," came out Sept. 27, 2011 and they toured with another Bowling Green national touring indie rock band, "Cage The Elephant," all over the United States in 2011. Sleeper Agent started 2012 off with a bang in Chicago with a New Years Eve concert with Cage The Elephant, Company of Thieves and Morning Teleportation at the Argon Ballroom. Also, in January of 2012, Sleeper Agent went on the Weezer Cruise from Miami to Mexico and back. They were the supporting act with Ben Kweller for several months during 2012. On their second album, Sleeper Agent's RCA Records, "About Last Night" was released March 25, 2014. The first single, "Waves" came off the new album in December of 2013. Sleeper Agent made national television appearances on the Jimmy Fallon Show during the first album tours and The David Letterman Show on their second album tours and had their first headlining tour during their second album in the Winter and Spring of 2014. They also toured on the second leg of the Summer 2014 Warped Tour. Sleeper Agent played shows with other well known bands across the country, Manchester Orchestra, Young The Giant, Grouplove, Awalnation, Weezer and New Politics just to name a few. After, lead vocalist, Alex Kandell appeared on NBC's The Voice in the Fall of 2015, Tony Smith released a brief statement on his Twitter account that Sleeper Agent had broken up and they were was no longer a band.

FROM THE 'HISTORY' OF SLEEPER AGENT'S WIKIPEDIA PAGE:

Tony Smith and Alex Kandell

"After a few "unremarkable gigs" as a musical duo, guitarist Tony Smith and drummer Justin Wilson recruited the young Alex Kandel as a vocalist after discovering her working as a barista and, "doing Adele covers on open mic nights." The band gained their current lineup after recruiting Williams, Gardner, and Martin. A short time later they were discovered by producer Jay Joyce, who prompted them to record their debut LP Celabrasion,[1] which was released through iTunes on August 2, 2011, followed by a physical release on September 27 the same year. The first single from the album, "Get It Daddy", was featured as iTunes' "Free Single of the Week" in late July/early August of that year. Sleeper Agent went on to tour with Cage the Elephant in late 2011. They were invited to play The Weezer Cruise in January 2012 pairing them with musical acts such as Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh, and Wavves.Sleeper Agent went on to support Fun. from February 29 through March 11 of 2012. Their tour continued through early May with the Texas wunderkind Ben Kweller. The band was featured on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on March 23, 2012. Sleeper Agent played the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., on April 15 and 22, 2012. They also played The Hangout Music Festival in late May of the same year. After a few intermittent shows throughout June and July the band played Forecastle Festival in Louisville, KY and then opened for Weezer at two shows in late July. Sleeper Agent also played Starry Nights Music Festival (hosted by Cage the Elephant) outside of Bowling Green, KY in late September 2012. That same month, singer Alex Kandel was nominated for the Women who Rock competition for a spot on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine.
The band appeared on Doug Benson's podcast "Doug Loves Movies", with guest Graham Elwood.
Their second album "About Last Night" was released on March 25, 2014.
After the band toured their way through 2014 even playing on The Late Show With David Letterman on July 9, 2014 and had set up tour dates in early 2014 with the band New Politics. The band had become inactive on social media and Sleeper Agent had not played any shows for the majority of 2015 with the only news to come out from the members was news of side projects and Alex Kandel being a possible contestant for the show The Voice, although she had once tweeted about the band possibly having new material back in May 2015.
On September 29, 2015 Tony Smith had posted a picture of the band on Sleeper Agents Facebook and Twitter reading "2010-2015". Tony had posted with the picture "The 5 best years of my life... so far." - Lurve, @tnysmth". He had also stated in another post on twitter "Cat's officially out of the bag. Sleeper Agent aren't together anymore. There's no bad blood and we're all still friends.‪#‎neversaynever‬" officially stating that the band had broken up. Finally Alex stated as well that the band "hit this plateau and we decided to part ways and try other things." She talked about the band in the past tense and said her time in Sleeper Agent is over.
As of September 29, 2015, Alex had appeared on NBC's The Voice as a contestant choosing to work with Gwen Stefani."

To become a member of Sleeper Agent's Facebook Fan Page click on this link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/192104947473887/

Alex and Tony

Margaritaville Beach Hotel, Pensacola Beach, Fla.: The Hotel With A "Million Dollar View"

Early Morning Sunrise at the Beach

   
It was one of the first things that caught my eye when I walked into the  beautiful and spacious lobby of the Margaritaville Hotel at Pensacola Beach, Fla., earlier this month when Patty and I made our annual short vacation trip down to the Gulf of Mexico from Kentucky. This hotel which is only five years-old, in my opinion, has a "Million Dollar View" of the Emerald Coast with its very white sandy beaches just below your feet as you stand at the glass panel windows looking out into vast blue, green waters of the ocean. You can see for miles and miles. This type of view of the ocean always stirs an awesome feeling inside me-a feeling of relaxation and inspiration.  I noticed that the hotel also had a very nice gift shop in the lobby with lots of Jimmy Buffett merchandise and Jimmy Buffett and reggae music was constantly playing in the background in the lobby at a very decent low level volume. The staff at the front desk were really nice and helpful. They gave us good directions on how to get to our room and where to park. And when we checked into our room in which we did on the very top floor, the seventh floor, we experienced a even more incredible breathtaking view of the Gulf of Mexico.

Patty standing in front of the hotel beachside

I loved the balcony with its two chairs and little table. It's a non-smoking hotel, so you don't have smell any cigarette smoke blowing up towards you from guests down below. I am an early riser so I really enjoyed getting up before dawn and watch the sunrise while drinking a cup of coffee from the Keurig Coffee Maker in the bathroom and sitting in the waffle cloth spa robe that the hotel provides for you during your stay. Patty always loves to sleep in especially in the wonderful king size bed that was in the room with its fantastically soft, white linens and duvets. The towels and wash clothes were super soft too and smelled very fresh! The first night we walked around the hotel and out to the pool and out on a long boardwalk from the hotel to the beach. The sun was setting and we took some awesome pics. Very romantic! We had dinner in the hotel's full service restaurant in the lobby called, "Frank & Lolas Pensacola Cafe" and it was really good. Not too

The front of the hotel bayside

Our room with the million dollar view

overpriced with a friendly and attentive staff. I had their delicious blackened grouper Fish Sandwich and fries and Patty had the House Sirloin steak dinner. I also tried some of their local brewed beer and I went with the Fairhope beer brewed just down the road in Mobile, Ala., which is a classic American pale ale, brewed with a combination of American-made Falconer's Flight hops and German hops. The next morning I woke up early and did my early sunrise thing and snapped a few pics. We spent about a half of a day at the hotel's awesome pool and Tiki bar and then went to the beach of course. Patty thought the weather was a little too cool but I thought it was perfect. Of course, I was in and out of the water several times also. I loved the fact, the hotel gives you two free Landshark beers coupons when you check in and I used those at the Tiki bar. Earlier in the day, we had walked the boardwalk area of the beach hitting a few gift shops and had lunch at Sidelines, our all-time favorite sports-bar and grill. Later on that evening, we drove over to Flounders Chowder House for some of our annual favorite seafood with a couple of Pina Coladas. We even purchased the really cool glasses that they came in and brought them home with us.

The awesome pool

Patty and I at breakfast

The next day we had a late lunch at Peg Leg Pete's another one of our favorite seafood restaurants on the beach. Apparently we ate so much seafood we totally skipped dinner. We also drove down to Casino Beach pier and paid a $1.25 each to see dolphins, sharks, jelly fish and fishermen fishing-everything you'd see while walking out on the pier.  I've always enjoyed the pier because you never know what you're going to see. Earlier that day, we had gone downstairs to the lobby and had breakfast at Frank and Lola's. We sat outside on the deck and the food and coffee was out of this world. We had a super nice and friendly server by the name of Belinda. She did a great job! She said she has been working there pretty much ever since the hotel opened. Patty later asked at the front desk if they had laundry service because she had dropped some food on her sweater and they said they did but it had already gone out. However, Constance, the Executive Housekeeper, happened to be there and she said would be glad to help out with a friendly smile.  She personally laundered Patty's sweater and brought it back to the room and hung it up in the closet and would not even take a tip that we tried to give her! Now that's first-class, elegant personal service. We really appreciated this type of service when employees at a hotel or restaurant go above the call of duty while on vacation and it shows that this hotel really cares about their guests experience and stay.
Our stay at Margaritaville Beach Hotel, Pensacola Beach, was way beyond our imaginations of how nice of an experience that we would have even though we had read all of the reviews and watched the videos on YouTube about the hotel before we left Kentucky. If you want a hotel with a "Million Dollar View" and you enjoy beautiful sunrises like I do, make sure you get a king gulf view room facing the Gulf of Mexico. You won't regret it. You'll probably find awe and inspiration like I did and your stay at Margaritaville Hotel might even help you forget life's problems for a moment like it did for me in this hectic, face paced world that we live in. http://www.margaritavillehotel.com/

"You Are Not Your Job. Your Job Is Just How You Get Your Money"-Dr. Wayne Dyer. R.I.P. Dr. Dyer, 1940-2015

"Sad to hear about self-help guru, Dr. Wayne Dyer's passing on Saturday. By listening to his self-help tapes in a pick-up truck while driving down the roads and highways in the mid-90's, he helped me get passed my ego issues of working in the service industry. Being a former newsroom employee and Ole Miss alumni, I thought I was too good to be working in the pest management industry at the time. He made me realize that we are not our jobs. It's just what we do to get our money and that the real person is on the inside. That's really who we are. He also helped me to understand the concept of metaphysics. In the late 90's, I wrote him a personal letter and explained to him about how he had helped me to be very successful in my pest management career. He then sent me a free autographed book and tape set in return. Dr. Dyer was a super nice man and extremely intelligent! R.I.P. Dr. Dyer. You will be greatly missed by your millions of fans."-Galen A. Smith Sr.

Remembering Those 70's Hit Songs As If It Was Yesterday

Time and space may change things, but on the inside (your conscienceness and awareness) you're always the same.

      That's why I think God gave us a memory so that we can reflect on those past seasons of our lives in retrospect in order to remember the good times. And I think one way that we can achieve activating those good memories is through listening those happy songs from the 70's especially for us "Baby-Boomers."  Listening to those happy songs from the 70's always brings back good memories for me.  Especially those songs of my youthful days of those endless summers when school used to start after Labor Day growing up in East Memphis, Tenn., and North Mississippi.  Nowadays with the event of the internet age, it's easy to go back in time. We are able to tap into those songs by jogging our memory with such internet tools such as YouTube, Spotify or Pandora.  I recently created a new Facebook page geared to our generation (Baby-Boomers) called, "Those 70's Hit Songs That You Can't Resist." https://www.facebook.com/pages/Those-70s-Hit-Songs-That-You-Cant-Resist/1518065575150089

    So if you want to take a walk down memory lane, just go on the internet and do a little research on one of favorite songs or videos and look for your top 70's favorite hit and post it on my new Facebook page.  Thanks and enjoy!

There's Always Room For Improvement And I'm Still Trying To Perfect It

"I am not offended by gay people, gay couples, gay marriages, the gay pride flag, people of other races and other nations nor the Rebel flag, Southern heritage, the American flag, American heritage, traditional couples and traditional marriages. I am also not offended by religious people, religious couples, religious families and homes, churches and other places of worship. I treat others as they treat me. I don't always turn the other cheek and I have been known to stand my ground and take people to task. But on the other hand, I can be kind to people and accept them for who they are. In most cases, I do. But I do have a problem with dangerous, drug addicted criminals, mental and disturbed violent people who want to hurt or kill other people just for the hell of it or steal from them for their  addiction problems. Or people who abuse children. And I have a problem with people who want to kill Christian Americans because they have an extreme religious belief system. However, I view myself as a child of God and a Catholic who is a sinner just as much as my fellow man. There's always room for improvement and I'm still trying to perfect

it."-Galen A. Smith Sr.

White Squirrel Brewery in Bowling Green, Ky., Is The Da' Bomb!

     I've been meaning to get over to Broadway Avenue across the street from the Firestone Tire store in Bowling Green and try the new White Squirrel Brewery http://www.whitesquirrelbrewery.com/ every since it opened almost three weeks ago.  Apparently, word of mouth has spread like wildfire and this place is hot! Finally, Patty (my wife) and I got a chance make it over there last night for dinner.  After all its target audience marketing and hype build-up on the social media sites and in our local newspapers and the publicity on our local television station beforehand, it's true-this place is Da' Bomb!

The White Squirrel Logo

The Very Cool Bar Area

     When Patty and I walked in around 5 p.m., fortunately there was no waiting in line for a table.  We immediately saw Sean Stevens, one of the owners and "Hop Hustler" and Joe Imel, Director of Media Operations of the Bowling Green Daily News and who has his own Twitter account called "@Joeimel" with over 26,000 followers where he reports what he hears on the police scanner.  Sean is a super friendly guy with a very charismatic personality. I went over said, "Hello" to Sean and Joe and shook their hands.  Then the hostess showed us our table right up front in the room next to the bar.  Patty sat on a long, high back wood bench with a pillow behind her. And I sat at a chair on the other side of the table.  Our server's name was Josh, a very nice and cool guy. Josh brought us two separate food and craft beer/wine menus.  He asked what we would like to have to drink and I ordered one of their own micro-brewed beers called the "White Squirrel Pale Ale - Nuts, We're Out!" which was a "IPA/APA hybrid that owns a good balance of malt and hops, fruity esters, hop bitterness is moderate with a floral nose. ABV: 6.1%."  Patty ordered a white wine of "Woodwork Chardonnay."  As we were waiting for our drinks, I noticed that the atmosphere was very warm and cozy with light lighting and music in the background with light blue wood panels on the walls with black ceilings and some cool concrete floors.  Also, there's a very nicely decorated and private patio area with metal tables and chairs and another dining in a lower area with big windows where you can look out onto the patio. The energetic vibe is very trendy and the bar has a lot of fancy wood and metal work with very nice, cool lighting above. Also, you can see the White Squirrel emblem or logo in several places throughout the brewery restaurant. Besides their own micro brews, there's several other beers on taps such Southern Tier, Tin Man-Overlord, Blue Point-Blueberry Ale and Carson's Red Dawn - Amber Wheat.  Of course, there's an assortment of bottled and can beer also.  One of my favorite things about the bar is the stuffed white squirrel in a cage hanging in the corner.  You can turn a knob at the bar that's attached to an antique truck horn via the ropes and pulleys on the ceiling causes the cage door to open and close while making a a cool, squeaking noise.

A Very Nice Patio Area

A Stuffed White Squirrel In A Cage

     But wow, the food!  You should see the menu.  They offer "Kick Starters" or appetizers such as Nut Brown Beer Cheese, Crispy Kale Chips, Pork Belly, Smoked Wings and Edamame among other offerings.  However, Patty and I just settled for the main course.  I had a Beef & Brat Burger with house sauerkraut, Dijon mayo, Swiss cheese served on an English muffin with Crispy Kale Chips and some awesome Kale Chip sauce.  Patty had the Fried Chicken Tender Salad with mixed greens, apples, bacon, onion, toasted pecans and honey Dijon dressing.  You can request grilled chicken and that's what she did.  Another interesting burger that I thought about trying was the "Beer Belly," which is pork belly, pickled green tomatoes, leaf lettuce, smoked paprika mayo and sourdough. Besides burgers and salads they also offer pizza and a section called, "Harvest." In the Harvest section you find items like Duck Fried Poutine which is duck fat fries, bacon mozzarella cheese, shredded duck confit and apple gravy or the Southern favorite that's especially popular in Nashville where it was created called "Hot Chicken" which is cayenne rubbed chicken, toasted sourdough and house-made sour pickles.  As far as desserts goes, Josh had offered us something that was very sweet and tempting but we declined because we were stuffed already.  They offer a Fudge Brownie salted with caramel and apple-wood smoked bacon or a Stout Beer Float with a seasonal stout and vanilla bean ice cream.  And oh, by the way, underneath it states of the menu, you must be at least 21.  Not one for the the kiddos, parents. lol.

Hops Waiting To Be Brewed

    If you ever are in Bowling Green, the White Squirrell Brewery is a must stop and eat and drink destination for their awesome brews, food and atmosphere.  Make sure you get there early because by the time Patty and I left around 6:30 p.m. on a Friday night this place was hopping with guests waiting outside. Bowling Green was ready for a micro-brewery/restaurant and now the White Squirrel has arrived!
White Squirrel Brewery, 871 Broadway, Bowling Green, Ky., 42101
Open – Tuesday-Saturday – 4 pm-?
Indoor Seating/Bar Seating
Patio Seating – Weather Permitting
Three Local Taps – Kolsch, Brown Ale, and Pale Ale

Wha Bah's Steakhouse In Bowling Green, Ky., Closed For Remodeling After Being Featured On "Restaurant Impossible"

I hate to admit this but I only dined at Wha Bah's Steakhouse in Bowling Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XliBdscCSQk only once in the nine years that it was opened.  Now, sadly I probably won't get a chance anytime soon since it is closed for remodeling according to a banner hanging over the front door and several pieces of paper stating the same thing on the windows.  I've known about Wha Bah's for a long time ever since it's been open and the restaurant was recently featured on the Food Network's "Restaurant Impossible" starring Robert Irvine.

    According to Irvine, Wah Bah's with over 4,000 square feet was the biggest restaurant he'd ever tried to help revive and one of the most expensive too, sinking in over $10,000 in just two days.  I was finally able to watch the episode on Youtube the other day.  I know the show is somewhat scripted but it looks like Irvine did go in there and kick some ass embarrassing and shaming the owner, Donnie Perrquette and his staff in order to try to help them.  I remember the Restaurant Impossible press conference that was shown on the local news and on the social media sites.  Perrquette looked like he had been beaten up by Irvine-in a "non-physical" way of course. Irvine had found a lot of grease and dirt and found that there was a lack of respect of management from the staff with Perrquette taking all the blame just to name a couple of things.  The show also told how the restaurant had a biker theme originally and made over a million dollars the first year it was open. Then eventually they got to featuring local music and bands with a full-blown stage in the dining area.  But as the story unfolded, Irvine talks about Perrquette being depressed and was heavily in debt.  Perrquette even had to mortgaged his own home to try to help save his restaurant. I probably would eaten there again to give them new menu and decor a chance since it so close to my house but when you are married you always have to consider your spouse's desires on where to eat too. Her's are always on the other side town towards the interstate it seems.

    Not long after the restaurant was remodeled by Irvine and featured on the show, I saw an ad in our local newspaper, the Bowling Green Daily News, that the restaurant was for sale.  So at this point, I don't know if the restaurant has been sold to a new owner or what.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see.  And I certainly hope Perrquette is able to pull things together and get through this.  He seems like a very intelligent, strong willed man with many talents and skills.  I am pulling for him and I'm hoping he'll get through this or maybe he already has. I don't know.  But there are people in the community like me who do like see people pull themselves up by the bootstraps and get through tough times. Again, I think he can do it.