Hot Swampy Gig

      Yay, it’s Thursday! I have to remind myself because this week’s been a little tricky. It started off a week or two ago, when the Calvins’ singer let us know, he was going to Chicago for a wedding, so we wouldn’t be able to practice on Tuesday of this week. We have a show coming up on Saturday, and I cancelled practice last week to spend time with my daughter, so we need the practice. We all agreed that Wednesday would work the best. However, last Thursday at Hustlers’ practice, I was informed that they don’t like practicing the day after a gig. And, since we had a gig last Saturday, and normally practice on Sunday, that Sunday practice was not going to happen. Hence, we needed to find another day to practice because we have another gig coming up this Saturday, and we need the practice. We’d been doing Sundays and Thursdays, but we were informed that our acoustic guitarist’s wife is no longer cool with practice on Thursdays. Which initially made me happy, because I am ready to get back to practicing with the Eruption. Come to find out, the only day that would work for everyone was Wednesday. I’m not a fan of multiple practice changes, but I asked the Calvins to switch to Thursday, and they obliged. So, I had Hustlers’ practice last night, and I’m having Calvins’ practice tonight. That, along with having already written to you once this week, it’s becoming difficult to know what day it is. On top of that, my sister-in-law, and her family are in town, so my wife’s been spending time with them. If that weren’t enough, for the past 2 days they have been repaving the street outside our home, so I’ve been stuck indoors for two days, breathing noxious fumes. Not that I ever go anywhere during the day anyway, but it’s more the principle. My wife had to park around the corner, because we weren’t allowed to drive on our road! Needless to say, the past two weeks have been eventful.

     The Hustlers’ gig last Saturday was, as the kids say these days, fire. We got there at 6:30 for sound check, and the venue must have already been 90 degrees. It was like a jungle. Then, come to find out, the big-name acts had already set up and done their sound check, and we were not to touch their stuff. We had to set up in front of their stuff, and we were not being mic’d. So, it was basically like a big hot practice. In front of people. We played well, except for one small moment where we basically went right off the tracks. There’s a little bit of confusion over what actually happened, but we’ll let it go, there’s no point in bringing up drama, it doesn’t matter who did what, as long as “we” don’t do it again. After practice last night, I think we’re good. Anyway: We played well, and people responded positively. We had a lot of people there. I was surprised. It was our first gig, and people showed up. That was awesome! Some of us said that was the best first show they’ve ever played. I guess most people don’t get their first gig with an internationally touring band. The touring bands were being really weird about us being added to the bill. At first. They were being all tight with the schedule, and kind of threatening us to not play if we couldn’t stick to the program. It felt like we were being treated like stepchildren. As opposed to the pseudo-professionals we really are. After we played though, the attitudes started to change. Not only did we annihilate our set, we did so in time, and with grace. They seemed surprised that we were good, and brought people. The show was good, but it was so hot in there, people were griping. There were no dry bodies, it was like a sauna. A loud, crowded, sauna. It must’ve been 100! I’m glad I was there, but I don’t need to see those acts again.

     I checked Yelp the next day to see if anyone complained about the venue. They did not. I was a little surprised, everyone was complaining. But I guess they didn’t care that much. I would have Yelped, but the owner is kind of my friend, so I don’t want to muck it up for him. Although, I will be shocked if the production company ever goes back there. People were not happy. Plus, they ran out of some beer. The beer people were drinking! This was not the first time. Actually, I think every time I play there, they run out of whatever the people like. It’s kind of embarrassing. If I was him, I would have been embarrassed. I’ll be interested to see if they get anymore “big” shows there. Speaking of “big” shows, this Saturday should be a good one. It’s all locals, except for one band from Orange County, so it doesn't really count as a “big” show, but it is for us. This was intended to be the Hustlers’ debut, and for a lot of people, it will be. I was going to be there all day anyway, but I think it’s a little jacked that the Hustlers are first, and the Calvins are last! I usually prefer getting my sets out of the way, instead of having to be “careful” for several hours. I also usually prefer my sets back-to-back, so I don’t have to worry about my gear. Now I have to set up, break down, then in a couple of hours, set up, and break down. That’s a bummer. But I get it, they think the Calvins have a draw. And we might, although probably not as big as Inciting Riots, who go on just before us. Also, they want to mix up the punk bands and the Punktry bands, I get it. I’m just glad to be getting to play. Last time it was packed, this might be better. I’m just a little curious to see if I’ll have more friends come early, or later

From Last Friday

       I can’t believe I missed last week. I feel like such a turd. I was busy though, but I could have, or should have, found the time. So, now I’m in a pickle where I have to write 2 in the same week. I’m not sure how that’s going to go. If I tell you everything today, it won’t leave much for Thursday, since I’m not really doing anything exciting in the next two days. At least I don’t think so. I suppose I’ll try to write this as if it were last Thursday and see how it goes. Otherwise, Thursday might be more boring than usual. I wouldn’t have had, nor did I have, time last Thursday, so we’ll pretend it’s last Friday, when this probably should have been done. So, in your mind, picture that it’s 7/19/24: Pretty tight squeezing this one in today. (Insert juvenile joke here.) This was the week we took our daughter out of town for her 25th birthday. Originally, we were going to take her to Laughlin, with my family, but my mom had to have a medical procedure done. It was scheduled for the 16^th, and she did not want to reschedule. I can’t blame her. It seems that sometimes, when dealing with the hospital, you have to take what you can get, as soon as you can get it. Sometimes she has to wait months for an appointment. I don’t really understand how they can expect all of this money from us, and then seemingly not want to see us. Does it really make sense that someone in pain, and afraid, should have to wait months to find out what’s wrong? I don’t think so. I know they get backed up, and I know there aren’t enough doctors, but still, it seems like there could be some kind of better screening system, to calm people’s nerves and ease their discomfort. It doesn’t always have to be a doctor. My sister notified me that my mother’s angioscopy went well, now they just need to fix the problem.

     Instead of Laughlin we took our daughter to Pala. It’s far enough north of here, that it felt like a destination. It has a really nice pool area, and that was the main point: Chilling out. Pala is in enough of an isolated surrounding, that we felt like we could be anywhere, it was as if we were on a different planet. I wish it had been all inclusive, but that’s neither here, nor there. I was a little bummed because the buffet was closed. We went there once to see a concert. That’s how we found out about it. My wife and I thought the food at the buffet was awesome. Some time after that, on Thanksgiving, my wife and her family all went to northern California to one of her sister’s for Thanksgiving. I decided not to go. So, it was just 4 of us and I suggested Pala. It was great! The food was awesome, and ever since then, I’ve had a favorable idea of Pala. That was years ago. They no longer have a buffet, and the rest of the food I tried there this week was nothing to tell you about. I’m not going to complain about Pala, we had a good time, but I’m not much into gambling, so food is a big draw, and when I have nothing to say, you can take that for what you will. We got up there Tuesday afternoon. We got there before we could check in, to beat traffic. We had lunch when we got there, and that’s when we found out that our plans for dinner Wednesday would need altered. We spent pretty much all day Wednesday in the pool. It was windy, and not quite as hot as we expected, but it was nice. I thought it was interesting that our daughter just wanted to sit there and read, but hey, if that’s what she wants to do with her vacation, then that’s what she gets. Oh well, everyone gets to chill in their own way.

     Thursday, we got back with just enough time to unload, unpack, unwind, and then get to practice. Our first show is happening tomorrow, so we needed more practice. I had already told the Eruption, only one of them seemed to care. I’m not sure what that means. Practice went pretty well, I’ll keep my fingers crossed for tomorrow. The songs are starting to sound pretty good, it just seems strange that people are trying to change the songs at the last minute. It feels like maybe we can change them later, let’s just get through these next two shows! The show last week was awesome. The Calvins played the Jim Rao Fan Club show at the Casbah. The JRFC show is the one to be on if you’re in the punk rock community. We were so glad to be invited. Plus, the Casbah is like “The” place to play, and getting to play there was awesome. We went on first, and I think we killed it. There were people as far as the eye could see. It seemed like we were a really good fit to kick the show off. People seemed genuinely pleased. All of the other bands I wanted to see played after us, close to the beginning, which I was glad about, so I didn’t have to wait around all day to see them. People kept coming in waves. Every once in a while, I was like: “Did the bus just drop some people off?” I got to see people I haven’t seen in 30 years! It really felt like old times. I was stoked. I’m still stoked. Once it turned night, and the venue was filling up, the singer of Kid Galahad decided to stage dive. Nobody was ready. Some people think he jumped, some think he tripped, but either way, he launched off the stage and fell directly on his head. Blood was everywhere. They had to clear the floor and wait for the EMTs. It really put a damper on the whole vibe. We decided to leave at that point. Which was probably best.

Saving Sentiments

      Man, things are getting exciting! It’s starting to make me appreciate this more. As much as I “say” that this is not supposed to be a chronology, it often makes me think about what’s going on. I actually have to think about what has happened since I wrote you last. If I ever do go back and read any of these, I’ll have a pretty good representation of what was going on, what was on my mind. I imagine it may be fun, someday.  I used to journal a lot when I was in the Navy. I thought it’d be a good way to give me something to do, and basically do what I’m writing to you about now. I’ve been out for 24 years! I usually only journaled when I was on deployment. My last deployment was 30 years ago! I still have never read what I wrote. I know where they are, I have them. But I have never looked at them. I suppose I will someday. But if it hasn’t happened in 30 years!? I’m not sure what insight I could get from them. It’s weird to think that I might read these again. I’m not even sure if I have another 30 years. Before I started using the program I’m using now, I wrote all of these on Myspace. I printed them all out before it went down. So, I have years of those too, that I’ll probably never read again. That’s a lot of information. Well, if you can call it that. Who knows, I may get an itch one day. When I was trying to put my book together, I went back over all the iterations I had done as I put them into digital form. From my first draft to my latest draft is a span of 13 years. Unfortunately, my first draft is now 25 years old. I need to get back at it. But, when I was re-reading it, I could sense the newness of the idea. A lot of the sentiment was the same, but I could feel it’s incompleteness.

     I guess I’d probably feel the same way if I listened to my first few recordings, which I almost never do. As I write this, I find myself wondering: “Then what the hell am I saving all of this for?” I’ve got boxes of tapes, boxes of notebooks, boxes of printed pages, for what!? If I’m not going to look at them, it sure is taking up a lot of space. I’ll probably look. Someday. I don’t know if I’ll still have a cassette player by then! I thought about digitizing it, but again, for what? That’d be a time-consuming process, just to hear a bunch of “junk.” Plus, I already took on a project like that, and I’m still working on it! Which actually just gave me a little boost. I am working on it! I’ve only got 15 discs left to go. It’s weird how often I feel that I’m not doing anything, then I get reminded that I am. It’s just weird because it seems these days that I’m pivoting a lot. I find myself working on what’s important at the time. Some things get pushed. I finally worked on one of my games yesterday, and it felt like forever since I had. Plus, I usually listen to one of the Jams Discs while I’m playing, a 2 birds kind of thing, so it’s been a minute. But, luckily, it’s because I’ve been busy with other stuff. That’s the exciting part! I’m learning all these new songs for the cow-punk band. It’s coming along rather nicely. Our first gig was supposed to be on the 27^th, but we got a new gig offer for the 20^th, so our debut got moved up by a week. I’ve only been with them for 5 weeks! This is crazy. We’re going from 0 to 25 minutes in 6 weeks! I can’t believe it. Especially since the Calvins take a year and a half to write 1 song. One 2-minute song. So, this pace is a little bit different. I like it. It’s a little scary, but we’re doing it.

     Tomorrow the Calvins are playing the Jim Rao Fan Club Show. I’m not exactly sure who that is. I tried looking him up online, but it wasn’t that helpful. Maybe, hopefully, I’ll find out tomorrow. Word on the street is that he might be there! People seem pretty excited. I’m pretty excited! It’s at the Casbah, which is awesome! And, in case you don’t know, it’s one of the biggest punk rock shows of the year. Getting on the bill is a big deal! We’re second out of 18 bands. I hope some people get there early. This is killer. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to stay for the whole 10 hours. That’s a lot. Plus, with our habit, that’s expensive! Luckily most of the bands I’m looking forward to seeing play near the beginning. One of them is right after us. There are 2 stages, we start at 3:30 and the band I want to see starts at 4! We’re only playing 25 minutes. Just enough time to put my bass in the case and get to the other stage. This is going to be nuts! I hope we get to see some fresh faces. I’m not bragging, but usually, when people see us for the first time, we get their attention. I like it. It’s getting a little weird trying to advertise for all of these shows coming up. The promoter for the show on the 27^th wants us to start advertising, but I want people to come tomorrow! So, I’m waiting. I hope it’s not a big deal. But then, the cow-punk band is playing on the 20^th, and the 27^th. There’s no way not to overlap that. Tickets for the 20^th are $30! Why would people spend that when they can see us a week later, for free, during the day, with their kids? Although the band we’re playing with on the 20^th is awesome. They probably should come check it out. I know I’m glad I’ve heard of them. They’re great!

Independence Weekend

      It’s always weird when there’s a major holiday in the middle of the week. It kind of throws everyone off, not knowing what day it actually is. It causes people to take off more days than they probably would. I imagine it causes at least 1, if not 2, very unproductive workdays. Wednesday people want a half day, then people are groggy on Friday. I think it should be more fluid. Sure, we celebrate July the 4^th. But I’ve heard freedom was actually declared on July 2^nd. And I don’t think it matters. We were already free in our minds long before a declaration was made. And, we weren’t actually free for a long time after that. I’m sure we could be just as proud of our freedom if we celebrated the first weekend of July. You’d still get an extra day off, but it’d be planned in. Happy Independence Weekend! I think people would get used to it. Doesn’t independence deserve more than just 1 day!? I don’t know if you consider Halloween a major holiday, but I have a similar feeling about it. Does the 31^st really matter?! Most of us don’t do the All-Saints Day anyway, so does it really matter what day it happens? The last Saturday in October seems fine to me. I think it would to a lot of other people too. Most people are waiting until “Halloween Weekend” anyway, why not just make it that? We live in this country that has at its core, one of the most fundamental and amazing values, the ability to change it. Sometimes it feels like we’re trying to keep things “as they were,” while at the same time, a lot of other people are trying to shake things up. It’s a very interesting time to be alive. And I feel, that while we’re trying to shake things up, lets change a few things that might make a difference to all of our lives. I think doing so would put the emphasis back on the idea of independence, not what the date happens to be.

     Oh well, having said all of that, my 4^th was good. Although it is a little weird, because I am not that patriotic. Sorry if you didn’t know that until now. I appreciate the idea that we’re trying to work with, I’m happy to live in a place that is trying to fuse things, I’m glad to be in a country that affords me the freedoms we do have, but there’s still a lot of work to do. And sometimes, looking around, it doesn’t seem like we’re all in this together. Those feelings make it hard to feel this unity idea that I think some of us are looking for. People seem very glad to have an extra day off, but it all felt much more about that extra day off than it did celebrating independence. Which is fine with me. I’m sure we’re all glad to be “free.” And I’m sure most of us at least took a little bit of time to think about what the whole thing means, even if we didn’t really talk about it with anyone. To me it’s also a little funny hanging out with people who are “extra day off happy.” It reminds me of a line from one of my favorite songs: “Funny thing about weekends when you’re unemployed, they don’t mean quite so much, except you get to hang out with your working friends.” That’s kind of how I felt. But, at the same time, I kind of feel that I did have to work because… I had band practice! The new cow punk band decided they wanted to practice! We’ve got a pretty big show coming up on the 20^th. We are kind of almost ready. We decided to double up on practices, and since everyone was available yesterday it became a good day to practice, and have people over for a barbeque so they could hear what we’ve been up to. So, I had a pool party at 1 with the Bessone Group, and then practice/party with the Hustler Group at 6!

     I must say, I paced myself very well. I’ve still got 7 beers left of an 18 pack. And that was for both of us! I didn’t want to practice sloppy, and I was scared of driving UI, so I was just good:) Well I’m sure some wouldn’t call it “good,” but I was not UI. The pool felt great! It’s been 90 here all week. The next 2 days might get close to 100! Yikes. Oh well, at least it only lasts for a month or two. We’re going to another pool party on Sunday, so that’ll be nice. Except I have band practice! From 2-5! That’s prime swimming time! I’m not even sure if I’ll get to go. I tried to have practice early, so I can go swim, but it didn’t work out for everybody. Dang it! I can’t imagine people still swimming at 5:30, on a Sunday. Maybe I’ll just jump in. I’ll have to go pick Susan up anyway. Oh well, the pressure of being in multiple bands. We played pretty well yesterday. This was most people’s first chance to hear us. They seemed genuinely excited. I hope we have the same effect in front of people we don’t know. Speaking of people we don’t know: The show on Sunday kicked ass! Holy crap! We tore it up! The venue was packed, and I don’t know if that lit a spark or what, but we killed it. I’ve watched the videos, and our front man was on fire. We all were. In our own way. There were so many people there to see us, it was insane! People we don’t know! Full house! Sold out! Unbelievable! The headliner’s bass broke halfway through their set, and asked to borrow mine. I had to run to the car to get it. It was so weird seeing some other dude up on stage playing my bass. I had never seen it in anyone else’s hand before, it was a little weird. But, at the same time, it was awesome getting to hear it from the audience perspective. I was almost like a proud dad, my boy was up there, and he sounded great!