Wow. Nice to finally relax and breathe a bit, last few days have been crazy.

Went down to Corpus for Tues-Thurs, to see family and go to the beach for a mini-vacation. Mission accomplished, felt immediately better. Will post pics soon. But called in to play Friends that night with Tessmer last minute, figured what the hell?

Make it back into town in the rain with just enough time to change clothes and grab my bass before heading straight to the venue. Thought I got to Friends late but luckily had a little time to set up and stretch out a bit. Very slow night. Broke my low e-string mid set (old strings). Realized tho I have a box of strings at the house, I had absolutely no spares with me. And we still had to play another hour. Well shit.

Tessmer said they sell strings at a nearby T-shirt shop. They did, but only guitar strings and not bass strings. So paced up and down 6th Street waiting for one of the bands at Thirsty Nickel, Maggie Mae's or Chuggin Monkey to finish a song so I could ask their bassist if they had any spares. Finally catch Maggie Mae's band, explain the situation and ask guitarist to ask bassist (far end of stage). He wasn't sure, but said I could have the one on his bass now when they were done, heh. Told him I might be back. But before bassist could check for spares the harp player told me to come back in 15 minutes when they were done. Gee thanks.

Ask band at Thirsty Nickel and they have none but were really cool about it. Finally catch Carson Alexander band between songs and ask their guy. He was super fuckin cool and dug into his gig bag and fumbled out an entire set of used strings. But as he is handing them to me, rest of the band starts the next song. Come on guys. Offered money but bassist smiled waved it off. Never caught his name, but will look for him so I can thank him proper for saving my ass. Walked back to Friends looking like one of those religious snake handlers. Replaced the string and finished the show.

And all that bullshit (hurrying back to town, broken string) for $30 at the end of the night. Livin the dream. Already talking to Tessmer about this. I hate 6th Street and a lot of these gigs are a little money in our pockets but not worth our time, and not building a fanbase either.

Anyway. Then have to run to Dallas on Friday to tech for King's X at the Dallas Guitar Festival. Jrab and the truck running late, so I get there early and try to get a drop on everything by procuring our credentials and looking into parking/hotel. Confusion as I expected, credentials picked up but someone who's name I couldn't identify (turns out was Chris Norch from Guildord Guitars, who build Ty's axes and provided our hotel rooms). Promoter says we are running late, Stage Manager says we're fine on time. Playing outside stage... no, inside stage... no, outside stage.

But everything turned out great and King's X knocked em dead. Dug of course got everyone on their feet and up front which tripled the already good energy. One drunk asshole started throwing beer around, which was fun for 2 seconds but when Dug had to stop "Dogman" cause he got splashed in the face mid-verse, Trent (stand-in bass tech) was already onstage talking to the guy, and I was right behind 3 security guys bum rushing the stage. The gentleman in question was moved to the back but not asked to leave, and behaved after that.

All in all fun tho I was exhausted. And had to run right back to Austin to play with ETB at Friends again. Last night was much better despite the early PM thunderstorms. Good crowd once weather cleared up, filling up fast right before the end. Then we had to stop so a DJ could play CDs and talk over it. By the time I left there still weren't as many people as ETB had. And the clientele went from zero to douche in under 5 minutes.

If it was another $30 night I would be forced to take a vacation from playing 6th Street, temporarily or maybe permanently. I need work as a musician and I absolutely LOVE playing with Eric Tessmer Band and enjoy the music, but playing on 6th Street is turning into a job I am thinking of quitting. The Texas Country act has contacted me again and we spoke while on my way back to Austin. Def worth looking into, tho not necessarily my style of music. But too good an opportunity to pass on so I will check it the fuck out for sure.

Will call Josh and Teal today, sounds like the Truckers album is just about done! Been to busy to even go by the studio and hang out. But looks like TMT is planning 2 regional tours (TX/OK/KS/AR) for July, a West Coast run in August and the Europe tour has expanded to 9/4 thru 9/18 with a festival in Switzerland with Roseanne Cash. Awesome.

Good to know things are rapidly piling up on my calendar.