Pretty genius. I thought I bombed mine, as I was a chatterbox up until the recorder came out. But she was holding off on releasing it until there was something with which to cross-promote. That event was a rare Adrian and the Sickness show at Hole in the Wall last week Thursday.
But holy cow, I don't remember saying 75% of the stuff I said hahaha! Came out pretty damn good, if you'll excuse my Kermit the Frog voice haha... :/
Here's the clip, courtesy Austin.com
The Adrian and the Sickness show went pretty well tho it was a Thursday night. Great to play with Adrian and Armando again! The Surleys, who I haven't seen yet, were fun and I dug them. FEA from San Antonio was also a blast. Fun night all around!
Friday was a rare night off from gigging, tho I did have offers I couldn't accept and a residency gig I walked away from for my own reasons, which I'll get to. Instead went to Amber Saxon (Hell's Belle's/BugGirl) and Heather Webb's (BugGirl, ex-Adrian and the Sickness) place in South Austin for Amber's going away party. She is moving to San Diego, and will be missed.
The party was a blast tho my allergies flared up something fierce shortly before heading over there. Lots of friends and musical family. She will be back to visit in a few months, so that's good.
Saturday night Adrian and the Sickness took Vincent Van Go to San Antonio for a gig.
Turns out my "allergies" were really a cold. Shit. We were playing all night, two long sets. I'd get through them, but would be clearing my schedule Sunday to recover...
So Adrian is piloting her 22' Sprinter van on I-35 at speed just coming into San Antonio.
There is a loud BAM!!! and an impact. Did we just lose a tire?!?
No, a 4-door sedan comes barreling past us, skidding, with obvious damage now to the driver's side. We watch in muted shock as he continues forward at high speed, muscling between two cars each in respective lanes. We were to busy watching out for the inevitable accident he was going to cause (which surprisingly and thankfully didn't happen) to get a make or license #. And it was night as well.
So we pull over to survey the damage, not really sure what to do. This was the sight that greeted us:
Fuck.
Tail lights and housing are toast, door hinge damaged. Most of what is pictured fell off when I touched it with my finger. Fuckin people.
We get back on the road and head to venue where Adrian would call the cops to at least file a report for insurance people. We also expected to see either a wreck or flashing cop lights where the guy was pulled over, so we could pull in and say THIS IS THE FUCKER THAT HIT US. But there was nothing.
Hopefully wherever he had to go was so important that he had to risk the lives of who knows how many. Fuckin people.
The cop was nice tho, and not much he could do. He gave Adrian his card in case we got pulled over for the busted tail light, as an indicator that yes this just happened and no there is currently anything we can do about it. But we managed to get the top light working, just had to put the bulb back in as it had popped out. Made it home without incident.
Gig was fun, even tho I was battling the aforementioned cold. Adrenaline kept me going, with the inevitable crash as soon as we went on break or were done. The venue was great and the people there really dug it!
Anyway.
My schedule this next two weeks is rather light, which will allow me to fully recover from the cold (already turned the hump last night) and get caught up on Ocean of Stars booking and business, and various other business related things.
OoS is convening on Thursday to rehearse and start bringing two new songs to the set, which would give us an hour of material and more to offer for gigs.
Lately my schedule has been so hectic we've been on another unintended hiatus.
One last minute thing that came to pass was an album session with Chet Himes at The Ranch.
Awesome place, good to be back. Jason Patten has another albums worth of music we have been working up with drummer Derek Hensley. Chet was able to squeeze us in for a day to track, before Derek moved back to New York state.
Went quickly and smoothly. With as intentionally sparse as the music was, there was much more space for me to fill out as a bass player. So I spared no expense in uncorking, going really OUT THERE quite a bit. That was fun! Can't wait to hear it!
Chet, Landis, Jason, Derek, myself (and a Jimi Hendrix photobomb):
In other news, I will no longer be doing the Sean Evan and Very Handsome Band Wednesday and Friday residencies at a bar downtown which will go un-named. I finally hit the wall with that place 2 Fridays ago.
My reasons are my own, but involve the noise ordinance, the fact that we are still told to set up right next to the goddamn front door, and the antagonistic attitude of the person in charge. The money was decent at best, and it was in no way a career-making opportunity. Sean, Johnny and Bruce were all VERY understanding and very supportive of my decision. And I will continue to play with them, just not at this particular locale.
I'm 40 now, and am having a lower and lower tolerance for bullshit. There will be other opportunities.
