Van, 11:16am

Library closed on Fridays, no biggie. Nice day out.

Yesterday spent some hours with Triniti Young at Book People looking at music photography books and art books, taking mental and written notes. Me taking down publisher information, page #, price, etc etc etc and she getting layout ideas. Checked out some really cool books, nice way to spend an afternoon. She bought an awesome Led Zeppelin book. I almost bought the new Cliff Burton bio, but at $20 I will shop for it online. Walking to get lunch at Waterloo Icehouse we were talking about how we need to do this NOW because the city and RR are changing so much so fast. Case in point, we get to Lamar and see that Waterloo Icehouse is no more, being turned into something else. Case in fucking point.

Took an afternoon nap to rest up for Antone's. In Johnny Cash's bio his main piece of advice for any musician: if you are playing that night, take a nap that day. Words to live by. Been hitting the new Tessmer tunes hard and was ready for them. Before leaving the house re-strung my old Mexican Fender 1995 pawn shop P-bass so I wouldn't have to tune down for "Taildragger." We tune to Eb but that song is in D Standard. Why, Eric... why?!?

Driving to the venue in passed Friends on 6th Street and saw Tessmer and Erin Jaimes onstage. Nice! Will have to swing by there after dropping off my gear. After stowing my gear the Gods of Parking were merciful and I found a spot at 6th and Lavaca a block from Antone's.

Walked down to Friends and stayed for an hour. Guess it was a one-off show with Los Armadillos. Wes Cargill on drums. Tessmer behind the bar pouring drinks while soloing. Talked to Mike from White Rhino outside, he came to watch Wes play (White Rhino drummer). Nice guy. Went inside just in time to get a shot of whiskey from Tessmer. Set it down and pulled out my camera as he climbed onto the bar. Got some great shots which I will post later. I sat in for Erin as she passed around the tip tub, playing "Little Wing" and "Red House." Damn Erin's rig feels weird. Flatwounds kill me. I don't like them and can't use them. Her amp also pops when driven too hard, she cam up between songs and said the popping was from the bottom speaker. Sounds to me like her head clipping out. But you gotta make do with what you have, Erin said it sounded good from the crowd. Cool!







Hoofed it back to Antone's to catch the opening band. Was Meaghan Tubb and Shady People. Cool. She is beautiful, sings like a bird and can play the fucking guitar, that's for sure. Her songs are good and her band are all good players. But there was a lack of passion that took away from everything. She plays some really tasty licks, but you don't really feel the notes that she's playing. Not trying to shit-talk in away way shape or form. Had I talked to her after the show I would have told her that, player-to-player. But would have had to fight my way thru all the guys trying to get her number, heh. (Joke. No crowd)

Turn out was kinda light, which sucked. I'd been preparing for this one all week, even rescheduled my weekly dinner meet-up with my estranged wife to not have to deal with the heaviness of that then go play a very respected and established venue, performing a bunch of songs I was still learning. If that sounds like an asshole move, then fuck you. This is how seriously I take what I do. I do NOT fuck around when it comes to Antone's shows. If you understand that, awesome. If not, get bent.

With our truncated set we only played like 3 of those 8 new songs. Well shit. And in my preparation for them I neglected to refresh the existing material. So that with a few drinks over my 2-drink regimen for starting a set, I was a little loose in the opener "Blues Bullets." But I rallied and hunkered down and kept everything else pretty tight. Hell, it fely REALY good last night. Despite the thin crowd I was able to not give a fuck about anything other than just PLAYING and losing myself in the music. Jumped offstage for my bass solo even, always a sign that I am feeling it that night (and have room to jump off/get back on, heh). The few new tunes we played definitely felt in the pocket and overall I give myself an A- for the night. The people that came up and talked were all really cool and very complimentary about the band and also my own performance. Had a good converstion with a coupla guys out front while smoking a cig during Richard's drum solo.

All in all it was a good night. Until we got paid at the end.

Made $25 for the evening. Shit shit shit. Hopefully the ones tonight and tomorrow are more profitable. They usually are. I am living gig to gig at this point. No updates from 2 bands looking to hire me for session work. No worthwhile projects on Craigslist. Have not heard back from Mark Monaco, tho his timetable isn't very narrow. But I need to eat, Goldie Hawn (van) needs an oil change and the brakes just added a new sound to their already cacophonous chorus of squeaks. Still feeling a slight gravitational pull towards LA to seek high profile projects. But also need to hunker down and get crackin on the Room 710 book. In the meantime I need paying projects that will put me back on the road cause I already miss traveling. Still waiting to hear about studio time with Ty Tabor for the RRDC material. I also miss playing on Red River and staying visible there. Suddenly there are many more directions in which to swim, and until I know which way the current is moving I will have to tread water and be patient.



Van, 3:28pm

Been scanning old b&w prints and contact sheets of 710. I have a cooler full of boxes of old b&w prints from Red River and countless bands through the year. Awesome looking back through all that stuff, so many great memories. Glad I brought my camera.

Will play some bass then take a nap, maybe go for a run. I think load in at Friends is 6:30 but not sure yet. Thought about using my rackmount Fender TB-600 instead of the SVT, but goddamn it sounded so good at Antone's last night. Such a great sounding amp, has such a great response. Felt like I had complete control over my volume with my pick fingers, even when playing very softly you could still hear every note.