So the last time I posted on this little web log I talked about playing regularly and how weird that felt. Taking a break after that run of shows was weird (but good), and when we played our “return” show on the 16th at Carlos N Charlie’s it was great. We got some great video of the band with a packed dance floor (which I will post when I can). In my “non-band” life, the band’s guitarist is my best friend here in town, and we try to hang outside of band stuff when we can. Now that he has a wonderful girlfriend who is encouraging to both of us and about the band, and who really wants to get us all together more, we’ve been meaning to all get together and hang out. So that happened last Saturday evening, and it was really fun and wonderful. First date for me and the wife in what seems like forever. As we were winding down from dinner, my guitar-playing friend got a text from a local venue looking for a band to play that night. Turns out it’s (in my opinion) the best venue on East 6th Street, “The Stage On Sixth”. It’s a country-focused club that has a history on Broadway in Nashville – this is their Austin version of that club. We’ve talked frequently about trying to get in that place, but it’s never worked out for whatever reason. It turns out that the fact that we aren’t a country band really didn’t matter to the crowd…they hung out and sang along and danced and it really went well other than a few technical glitches. Bonus? Great pay. Bonus? No lugging PA. I think we can really do well there, and I’m excited that they seemed to really enjoy us as well. Hopefully it will become a staple of our calendar. We deserve it because we know we can make those crowds happy and keep them hanging around…and that building has a lot of happy history for the band, too…it used to be Bourbon Rocks, where we had some of our best early shows in the four-piece version of the band.

On the original front, my buddy (and former Slaphappy bandmate) Dennis and I were working on a true collaboration – he sent me some music and I tried really hard to come up with something decent for it. I labored over ideas until I had something that kind of inspired me, and then I sent it (along with some bass and second guitar ideas) and haven’t heard anything. I’m not very creative these days…there’s a lot going on in my personal life. Maybe my ideas just sucked and he doesn’t have the heart to tell me…

So that’s la vida del Schizo for the past month or so. More to come. 🙂

Peace and love and good happiness stuff…
TMS