Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Woke up yesterday feeling like something was about to happen, more a sense of foreboding than of excitement.

Turns out my gut was right. May be facing some tough career decisions, and whether those decisions will be made by me or by others remains to be seen. It's all good and will be all good. Just being in limbo the next few days will be tough. It's not the *not knowing* part of it, it's the fact that I can't really act right now.

Nothing I can do except sit tight, see what happens, and decide on the next course of action from there.


Friday at Maggie Mae's with ETB was pretty goddam epic! Our first Friday downstairs, played after the mighty Allen Haynes who already had a great crowd for an early set.

Lot going on that weekend: UT game, Pecan Street Festival, etc. Place was packed and STAYED packed all night. Awesome! Got up and played for almost 4 hours straight, no break. Didn't want to lose any of the energy or any of the crowd. Played til close and felt understandably spent. Great effing night tho! Made a very nice chunk of change that night between the guarantee, tips and the cut of bar sales.

ETB Saturday in San Angelo at the Steel Penny was a bit of a mixed bag. Hot as all hell when we first got into the van in Jonestown, then drove thru a cool front and the fact that Boss Hoss has a rather questionable A/C system became moot. Stopped at Cooper's BBQ in Llano again, glad we did cause it was great. Wasn't pouring down rain when we loaded in like last time, that was nice. Hotels provided by venue so we had a place to chill after soundcheck and didn't have to drive 3.5 hours home in the middle of the night.

Sets were good, crowd was decent. Eric and I went offstage for the crowdwalk, and didn't even make it to the bar before shots started appearing. Was on my second beer by then, but after 4 shots of Jager and whiskey (wasn't going to be rude and turn them down, heh!) went back onstage drunk. Another shot of Kamikaze something or other waiting for me as well. Then more shots. Just, wow. I remember having fun but really having to focus (if that was physically possible, think I pulled it off). Forgot we went to eat after the show til I saw Richard's Whataburger bag next morning. Only feeling of a hangover after such rampant (and mixed) alcohol consumption was a bit of a headache. Not sure if I should be worried or proud... Made a good chunk of change on this one too.

Good feeling to work 2 days and make rent.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Tuesday with Adrian and the Vaccines at Headhunters for the HAAM benefit was a BLAST but will get to that.

Europe (well, Denmark and Germany) was AMAZING. Talk about an expanded world view. Everyone who is able needs to travel abroad, especially us isolated Americans. And yes, we DO have an accent. If you can tell where someone is from by the way they speak, that is an accent. Shows were awesome, venues were great, the promoters and everyone involved were all good people. Bent (our tour manager) was great as well.

Got back in Monday night. Woke up early Tuesday morning and dove immediately into TCB. Paying bills, depositing my hard earned money, running errands, getting caught back up on life. Did not even have time to take a nap before heading to Headhunters with my roommates to play with Adrian and the Vaccines.

The show: Yeah, we practiced 2 weeks ago. Yeah, I was late getting there and had to load in, park my van, then immediately set up and play. Yeah I was playing my beater bass which feels like a toy. But it was still AWESOME tho I was admittedly struggling with the bass and backing vox parts (not used to playing so FAST heh!) Had lots of overwhelmingly positive feedback. Best comment was from Leon of Trash Rockets: "I loved your OH SHIT fills!!! You know, when ya know you got a change coming up and have to somehow segue into it... you did great!" Saw lots of old and new friends and was a great night of music all around. Thank you Kristin Crowfire from Sabbath Crow for orchestrating such a great shindig.

Picked up my bass at the airport yesterday, was a low key reunion betwixt myself and my beloved Cate Blanchett. Strung her back up and was like YES, THIS BASS IS AMAZING AND I AM GLAD TO HAVE HER BACK. Got to play her with Eric Tessmer Band at Maggie Mae's to get reacquainted.

ETB sounded good, sure didn't feel like I haven't even touched any of that music in 2 weeks. Show was still a bit of a kick in the teeth. Now there is NO soundguy at Maggie's until they hire a new one, and I didn't know what til end of 1st set. Levels were set, then we were on our own. Add to that the distraction of spilling a cup of ice water all over my Phase 90 right before we started. People filing in during first few songs, had a good crowd. But for all we know we could have sounded terrible. And no one present seemed to know how to get the ETB logo to go full screen, so there was the annoying toolbar and border and didn't look as cool. Well shit. Hit the wall second set and had to get a slice of pizza from across the street.

Today spent FINALLY cleaning and organizing my room, as well as finally unpacking. Been so busy in TCB mode that my room has been a disaster area for most of the summer, traveling with just enough time to come home and repack before heading out again. But by tonight I should finally have my bed back...

Monday, September 13, 2010

Greetings from Copenhagen DK!

Haven't had enough consistent internet access to keep up on this blog. The trip has been amazing so far, the show in Hannover was awesome, and we now start the 6-date run in Denmark tonight in Copenhagen.

On a sad note, my bass disappeared after the Houston flight to London-Heathrow. It is insured, but godfuckindammit this fucking sucks. That bass (Cate Blanchett) was one of a kind and I could tell you when/where every nick, ding and scrape came from. She was a special instrument that will be sorely missed. Already filing claim thru my insurance (music pro) and have to wait 21 days to take up with British Airways.

Have been walking like crazy last several days. All over Copenhagen, then all over Hamburg Germany, then all over Copenhagen again last night. Europe is amazing. I want to live here.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Doing the mad dash to get ready and packed for the flight to Europe.


Still have to drive in the traffic and rain to sign some paperwork for the house. Dammit. And turns out the 2 wall plug adapters my parents got me for my birthday only allow you to plug your electrical devices INTO the wall but don';t convert the actual power. Thanks Mom and Dad, I love you guys... but FUCK!


To everyone else, see you in Europe or see you in Heck!!!

Monday, September 6, 2010

The Adrian and the Sickness full band rehearsal went awesome!

Felt good, pretty tight considering the lack of time to prep. Fun as hell to jam with Adrian and Furley. Attempted a lot of the backing vocals and they sounded pretty good. Can't wait til the 21st!

Had a good weekend in Corpus with family and friends. Glad I took time to do that before heading to Europe.

Speaking of which, today is the mad dash to TCB before I play with ETB tonight at Friends. Running errands, packing, doing what I need to do around the house and around town. Sucks that it is a holiday so will have to hit the bank tomorrow before heading to the airport. Hope Academy or some equivalent clothing/etc store will be open, need socks and boxers. Yeah, livin the dream \m/,

Guess I should start researching Germany and Denmark online today if I have time.

Either way, not sure what my internet access will be like next 2 weeks so not sure how much updating I will get to do.

See you across the pond!

Thursday, September 2, 2010

The sit-down jam with Adrian Conner went great yesterday, going over the Adrian and the Sickness music for the Sept 21 HAAM benefit.

Full band rehearsal tonight with Ric Furley on drums, can't wait! This is gonna be awesome. Been a fan of AatS since Adrian and Velvet Brick shared a bill in Dallas prolly 5 years ago. Was walking to grab my beer off a nearby table when something went barreling past me. It was Adrian, running full speed around the bar while soloing. She then slid on her knees (and falling over sideways) into Jason and D2 (VB guitarists). Without missing a note she got back up and ran full speed back to the stage. It is still one of the coolest things I've ever seen \m/,

So yes, very exited about the rehearsal tonight and gig in a few weeks!

And finally getting excited about Europe next week, have barely had time to think about it. But been calling my credit card, bank and phone company, giving a travel heads up and seeing if my phone will even work across the pond (it wont). Trying to TCB as much as I can now, going down to Corupus Christi this weekend to see my family.

Last night ETB @ Maggie Mae's was a mixed bag. Crowd was horrible most of the night tho it did pack out for a bit, then mainly stragglers rest of the night. Good for them sticking around, I thought we played awesome!!! heh. Wish we would have had tape running for most of second set. Tho I was dead tired by then, some of the tunes like "Green Diamond II" and "Little Wing" just felt great, and "Voodoo Child" blew the doors off. Good times.