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A catalog of my Tuesday (“Museday”) posts that are about whatever’s on my mind that week.

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 78): Life Living You

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 78): Life Living You

I think I’ve addressed this before here on the blog, but I think sometimes you live life, and sometimes life lives you.

You feel like you have choices when you’re living life.

You feel like you’re just following a to-do list if life is living you.

Right now, it really does feel like life is living me instead of the other way around.

To be clear – some of the most fantastic things have been happening the past few months, from my 50th Birthday with surprise visits from my parents and a cousin I hadn’t seen in years to a couple of wonderful trips to North Carolina and Atlanta to see friends and band reunions. And reuniting with my best friend from high school who I hadn’t seen in over 20 years and finally meeting his wife and wonderful boys. SO MUCH LOVE!

But even as it’s been great, everything’s been SCHEDULED. My wife and I haven’t really had good alone time because we have a little kid and no good sitters. Work has been relentless for both of us, and SUPER STRESSFUL for my wife. Gigs have been very sporadic (which serve as a nice salve for my psyche, so that’s not good).

Some days I feel like I’m just driving people places and then sitting in a room for hours on a computer cutting up voiceovers I’m not particularly pleased with and mixing with music that’s ALMOST right for the commercials while periodically being interrupted by questions that have often already been answered.

I’m sure a lot of people go through this stuff, and honestly, I’m usually fairly good at forcing myself to be present and not just muddle through. But right now? It’s not going great. So I’m writing this at 1:41am to kind of put it out there so I can move on from it and take more action in my life.

Recently for the day job I had to create a jingle out of some really questionable a cappella singing, so I threw that pitchy mess into Melodyne (a wonderful software for naturally removing pitchiness), and wrote and recorded music to match the flow of the melody (which was a VERY atypical arrangement). Shockingly, it turned out fairly decent. I had polished the turd to a fine sheen (and they ended up going with the original a cappella…go figure).

The good part about that was discovering how quickly I can throw together music that is a full arrangement (the cleaned-up voice, along with guitar, bass, and drums I played on my Korg X50 keyboard). It really inspired me to possibly use those same techniques to get my songs done and start using my DistroKid account to make them available for people to listen and/or buy on all the streaming services.

So I know I’ve said it before, but I really do think that I’ll actually be finishing some songs in the coming months, and probably releasing them in chunks as EPs on Spotify and stuff like that.

That is, if I can manage to stop letting life live me and turn that shit around so I’m living life.

Wish me luck!

And if you also feel like life has been living you, I feel you. And I’m hoping for your sake you can turn that shit around as well.

Take care, and Peace be the journey!
TMS

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 77) – LITERAL MUSEDAY

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 77) – LITERAL MUSEDAY

It’s Tuesday. It’s a Museday. And it’s literally MUSE day!

My hetero life mate Ned (the Roman Holiday fella) and I are going to see Muse tonight (thanks to Heather for giving up her tickets).

They are one of the best live bands in the world. Their shows push the limits of live show technology and they really throw a LOT of money into the presentation. AND it’s at the brand-spanking-new, designed-to-sound-good Moody Center here in Austin. So it should be an epic experience. I’m very excited.

Speaking of being excited, the next seven weekends in a row I get to play some live music!

March 4th I’m with those Chandler and The Bings fellas up in College Station, TX at Brookshire Brothers. Yes. The supermarket – they have an awesome live music venue there. We’re stoked to be part of their concert series. Then a solo show on March 11th at 360 Uno (thanks to Mandy Prater for swapping with me). Then, more Bings shows, including St. Patrick’s Day at Picks Bar in San Antonio, a private event for the owners of Picks Bar on Sunday the 26th, then back at 360 Uno solo April 1st (I have to figure out if I’m doing some sort of April Fool – maybe I’ll just learn the Soul Asylum song), back at Picks Bar on April 8th, and then a triumphant return to Joker’s Ice House in Killeen on April 15th. Damn. We’re all over the place!

So that’s my next few months. Work making fun audio things for clients for the day job. Learning new songs for the solo project. Trying to manage my blood pressure and lose some weight, still. And spending as much time as possible enjoying the wife and family.

I hope you get to do the things you love. I’m grateful for all of it.

And I’m grateful for you. Thanks for reading and peace be the journey!

TMS

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 76) – A Case of The Musedays

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 76) – A Case of The Musedays

Well, it’s a Museday. The last time I posted was in late September. Clearly life is having its way with me right now, as I’m not particularly inspired to even blather on here on the blog.

This series was meant to be almost a meditation – every Tuesday (or so) I’d post about some topic, whether it be musical or otherwise (but mostly musical), and it would keep me creating and creative. But a few things happened over the last year or so that really messed with my desire to share much of what’s going on with me publicly. People who are too sensitive. Beloved friends slightly younger than me who died suddenly. The tennis match-like back-and-forth of worthiness and worthlessness that is being a sensitive artist.

I desperately want to WANT to create. I desperately want to FEEL like people I depend on for music-related things are all on the same page. But time creates distance, distance increases anxiety, anxiety breeds worry, worry breeds resentment. I’m not saying anything is REAL about how I feel about the various things I’m doing or my relationships with music stuff, but it’s definitely making me feel less motivated in general, and kind of depressing me (and thus keeping me from working on stuff).

But let’s take stock. Let’s have ourselves one of them certified, Erin-phrase-coined “Gratitude Adjustments”:

In 2022, I played a PILE of wonderful shows with my boys in Chandler and The Bings. And I played my roles as bassist and singer well in the vast majority of them, which makes me very proud. We had a great bonding experience with our trip to Laredo that was only sullied by a bad stomach bug which led to the very first time I’ve ever left the stage to vomit…and then vomited off the side of the stage out of the view of the crowd. It’s quite a story that’s quite gross, and if you’d like to hear it, I’m happy to tell it in person.

My solo shows were mostly pretty good, and I was VERY consistent this year, basically playing every first Saturday except for July. I love the venue, the staff is wonderful, people tip very well, and I really need to grow this side of my musicianship. I think it would be good for my development to have some bigger crowds to play to, though. So I’m going to work towards that in 2023, stacking up the wonderful venue I already play and maybe even finding some more…

I got some very cool new gear and some of my existing gear got an AMAZING update that inspires me to play more, which is good. I keep meaning to make videos about the guitar and little amp, but that’s another casualty of life in general. Just hasn’t happened yet.

My body has held up pretty well considering I packed on an extra 15 lbs this year. Going to do my best to get that off in triplicate this year, hopefully by my birthday in September. That might be too tall an order, but progress toward healthy living is most important. My health is paramount and I need to stick around for my kiddos.

To close this out:

I am thankful that I can still do this music stuff.

I am grateful that my health so far has remained pretty good (gotta figure out the heart flutter, but…)

I am hopeful that I can stay disciplined and make the necessary changes to lead a more healthy lifestyle.

Now that this is turning into a “Goals” post – completely unrelated to the fact that it’s a new year, mind you – my goals are now to get healthy, get better at playing the songs I perform, get working on my ear training and theory knowledge, get the worthy songs I’ve written recorded, mix the old ones that were already recorded better (and improve the performances if necessary), get some new songs together, release some new music (having one song on the streaming platforms seems kind of sad), get my goddamn ass in gear in general, and get some MONEY.

That’d be nice, right? Rent is EXPENSIVE. Shit, everything is.

Anyway, thanks for reading and I plan to get back in this Museday Mumblings habit again. Have a happy day whenever you see this, and may you stay healthy and safe.

Peace be the journey!
TMS

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 75): TALK TO PEOPLE

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 75): TALK TO PEOPLE

So I lost an ex-bandmate and sort-of-friend back in August, and I had no idea he passed.

I knew he had ALS and had returned to Austin from Georgia, where he’d moved in the late 2010s, to be closer to people who could manage his care.

But I hadn’t really interacted with him much since his diagnosis – we were always more like friendly acquaintances, and hadn’t really talked since he moved to Georgia other than a few comment threads on Facebook. I was worried about him, and thought about him often, wishing him well (which is my secular form of praying), but I hadn’t reached out. Once the pandemic hit (a few months after he came back), I wasn’t really seeing anyone, and got completely out of the habit of hanging out. So even though he was just a few miles away here on the southern edge of Austin, I didn’t make time to go see him. I now regret that, but I also look back on the times we had when we were closer to each other’s orbit. They were…interesting.

Like when he joined our band Roman Holiday, and even though we initially had a great time talking to him and hanging out – with lots in common, including sharing the Pennsylvania connection – he proceeded to make it very difficult for Ned and I to enjoy the band experience. An excerpt from an old unpublished blog:

We hired one of them (a bassist-keyboardist), the one we liked the most personally. I moved over to guitar and lead vocals. He started learning the tunes, but ignored us when we said, “focus on bass, then come up with keyboard parts for the songs that need them.” Because of this, he hadn’t learned our whole set in time for our next show, three weeks later. I suppose we’re spoiled, because I learn songs very quickly (and so did the drummer we had at the time), but the next show we played he played just two sets (I played bass on the last one). We didn’t mind much at the time, but pressed on. All the while, he was bitching about learning songs, and procrastinating on the ones he didn’t like, in a passive-aggressive way trying to force us to tailor the set to him, which didn’t work because I already knew everything on bass, so anything he didn’t learn, I’d play. We had already done a successful gig as a three-piece in the interim, so we knew it was possible. Right around this time, the drummer got a new job and had to quit, effective within a month.

The bitching from the new guy continued. Finally, we got tired of it and fired him before the auditions – no sense introducing a new drummer to a band that was in turmoil. We decided to continue as a trio, so long as we could find a good drummer.

So, needless to say, it was a rough go, at least for the early part of the relationship. Ned played bad cop in that scenario (and as a result, he thought Ned was a dick), but truth be told he was pissing us both off and had to leave. So much potential there, but it just didn’t work out. Despite this, he and I remained friendly and would talk often about putting together a band more like the band he wanted Roman Holiday to be. Ironically, with the next drummer we found for Roman Holiday (Rob), we pushed the band in basically the direction that would have pleased the fired guy had he just followed instructions and been patient. We got along great for years, but we never ended up playing together again – it was never the right time.

Bringing up the uglier stuff may seem sort of harsh, but I’m not a fan of the whole “don’t speak ill of the dead” bullshit because I think knowing and remembering the complete person honors who they were more completely than sugar-coating it. And I’m very sad that I didn’t get a chance to play more music, spend more time, or to even talk to him again (even if his responses would have been a computer voice).

ALS fucking sucks, but at least he’s free from the prison that was that cruel, cruel existence.

Rest in peace, Luis. I hope wherever you are has Starions and Motorcycles for you to drive uncomfortably fast, and all the basses and synths you can get your hands on.

The moral of the story: Social media connections aren’t really real. If they matter to you, get their number. Text them. Call Them. Hang out. Don’t just watch them through the window and see how their life is progressing. Be PRESENT in it. Share love.

Peace be the journey!
TMS

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 74): BACK OFF THE BOAT!

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 74): BACK OFF THE BOAT!

I am no longer in Yacht Z.

Nothing but love to the members of the band.

There was a personality clash with one member of the band, and it was just easier for life in general for me to disembark. Interpersonal relationships are often the hardest thing about making an ensemble come together. I am so thankful that I’ve been in SO MANY bands where we all got along and had each other’s backs without any ego trips or bickering. Makes the music that much easier, and the shows that much more fun.

The best result of this little development is I have more time for everything else in my life, because these songs were HARD and TIME-CONSUMING TO LEARN. My solo show will benefit from this extra time, so you should come check me out at 360 Uno every first Saturday of the month! I’ll have at least FOUR new songs at the next show, and probably more because I want to shake it up some.

As for other things, I’m doing more tinkering to the studio setup to integrate more things and make everything work together better, so once that’s all done I’ll take some photos and post them here. Should be about a month or two. I still haven’t edited the livestream from the 360 Uno show, but it really wasn’t that great a show anyway, so I’m not going to share it. I have the show prior to that one which was a barn burner, so I’ll probably put that one together with the super-clean audio I recorded and release some clips from that.

And the aforementioned BeatBuddy Mini 2 went back. It just wasn’t for me. It’s cool, though. The full-size BeatBuddy is probably more my speed, but it’s too much for me. I should just learn how to use Ableton.

Take care, stay cool, and stay healthy out there…
TMS

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 73): Monthly Mumblings

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 73): Monthly Mumblings

So this page has devolved into about a monthly thing, which I guess is okay for now. Things are progressing slowly but surely with Yacht Z, getting my “sea legs” again, trying to decide what guitar I’m going to use (not fully happy with any of them, unfortunately), trying to learn the music, trying to figure out how to play live as a guitarist and balance my levels and stuff. It’s been frustrating, to be honest, but I need to figure it out. We had a fun-if-super-raga rehearsal last weekend and I loved it. I think Matt (Yacht Z drummer/vocals) is going to be my best friend now because his favorite baseball team is the Mets and he loves Sloan.

On to other things – much of everything is the same. Monthly shows at 360 Uno have been going great. I recorded the May show and the April one was livestreamed so I’ll post those videos here pretty soon hopefully – I have some finessing to do on them.

Chandler and The Bings has been plugging along doing well. Sadly no Austin gigs in June, but we’ve had some really fun ones recently, including a two-fer at Speakeasy and Blind Pig the last weekend of May.

Got a Singular Sound BeatBuddy MINI 2 to play with. So far it’s a lot of fun. It’s basically a drum machine in a pedal format. So that is likely to make its way into my next 360 Uno show, which unfortunately won’t be until August unless I pick up a cancellation somewhere.

Watch the George Carlin miniseries on HBO Max – it’s excellent.

And that’s about it for now. Try not to be a fucking asshole, please.

Peace be the journey.
TMS

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 72): BACK ON THE BOAT!

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 72): BACK ON THE BOAT!

The rumors are true – I am setting sail again…back on the Yacht Z crew!

If you reference the reasons I left (from this previous blog post) – it had nothing to do with personalities or anything musical. It had everything to do with ME. And I’m in a different place now, mentally and physically. Rehearsal is easier now that we have good mitigating strategies for COVID. I’m still a little rusty, but I’ve been playing more guitar because of the solo stuff, and I’m hearing better and singing better, so I’m confident things will come together more easily for me this time, which will allow for proper time with family, too.

A couple of other cool things…got a super deal on a “previously loved” Elgato Stream Deck that is definitely making my work life easier (and looks super cool to have on the desk). I’m going to make some custom earpieces for my in-ear monitors like I did for my old ones (using the custom earplug material from Radians), to hopefully make wearing them a little more consistent and pleasant at shows.

And a comment on America: If your religion pollutes your ability to be rational and use reason, you have no business making decisions for other people or about settled law. Resign.

Peace be the journey.
TMS

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 71): Taylor Hawkins, Mastery, Confidence, BIG NEWS!

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 71): Taylor Hawkins, Mastery, Confidence, BIG NEWS!

First, Taylor Hawkins.

I thought he was rad from his time in Alanis’ band, fell in love with him when he joined Foo Fighters and he and Dave clearly became hetero life mates (a la Jay & Silent Bob), and always respected him as a musician and singer.

Foo Fighters were an okay band when he joined, then Taylor asked the question, “But what if we were a GREAT band?” (People who know me know I relate to this “join the band and push them to be awesome” sort of mentality) And he kicked all their asses into shape and gave us one of the greatest live rock bands this country has ever produced. Foo Fighters only became a great band because of Taylor Hawkins.

The world of music is a lesser place without him in it. He was a kind and generous person and musician who carried the same exuberance and love for music as his best pal Dave, and they together kept rock on people’s minds by playing great arena rock shows and being ambassadors for the music and musicians they loved.

Taylor Hawkins was truly one of the greats, and I’m glad he and Foo Fighters got into the Rock Hall when they did so Taylor could feel the love and respect from his peers he so richly deserved.

Rest in peace, timekeeper. Thanks for all the music and laughs over the years.

On to more typical things…because of Taylor Hawkins’ untimely passing I had a hilarious thing happen at the Picks Bar show on March 26th. A “lady” came up mid-song and held up a napkin with “FOO FIGHTERS FOR TAYLOR” written on it, and stood there holding it until the song was over and I talked to her. I explained very earnestly how much I was sad about Taylor’s passing and how we didn’t play any Foo Fighters songs and we didn’t want to mess them up in tribute. And this asshole walked away like I farted in her face. Cut to the end of the next song (which I was singing lead on), and she walked (alcoholically) by me and flipped me off very enthusiastically as she left the bar in a huff, the man with her pulling her hand down trying to keep her from embarrassing herself. It was crazy and ultimately hilarious, though it’s always unnerving when someone has real anger toward you, even if it comes from them being a drunk dipshit.

I’ve been overdosing on Foo Fighters music, deciding that Chandler and The Bings needs to add one of their songs, “My Hero” being the leading candidate (“Everlong” being a close second, but losing out because it’s in Drop-D). So I basically went through and learned all the parts on bass, guitar, and vocals so I could make sure we do it justice (teaching guitar parts as necessary). And at our private party last night, we did just that during soundcheck. All we need now is to go through some of the stops and for Jay to nail down the drum parts and it’ll be ready for prime time (and is likely to appear at the Speakeasy show on May 6th). Mastering the parts really made me feel good, and reminded me that when I focus, I’m pretty dang good at this stuff.

Of course the soundcheck lesson and my overall satisfaction with my bass tone and in-ear monitors at last night’s show really made me confident. Things just fell where they were supposed to – I played very accurately and my notes were generally very strong and true – more than normal. That level of connection with what I’m doing on stage just fosters even more confidence, and I kept getting better and more determined to rock faces off as the night progressed. It was lovely.

Well, cool shit is definitely on the horizon now, because I’ve started to realize that I need to get off my ass in life in general. So more live streaming, more Bathroom Schizo videos (this time I’m serious) and more content in general.

On the gig front, more Bings stuff is coming, and the BIG NEWS (buried the shit out of the lede here): I have the first of hopefully a LOT of First Saturday shows at 360 Uno coming up on May 7th, and I plan on really taking those up a notch. I might even add some tracks and stuff…we shall see. (Of course they’ll be tracks of me playing other parts live…)

So every first Saturday of the month, I’m playing 360 Uno. How cool is that? I love regular gigs! (thanks to Mandy for getting me in there and Jamie for booking me and Laurel for being, well, awesome always)

Headed to bed. Peace be the journey!
TMS

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 70): Vacation, Mental Health, Loss

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 70): Vacation, Mental Health, Loss

So since the last one, life’s been A LOT.

I dragged the family to Florida to see the parents and my bro and his wife and my nieces (and I managed to squeeze in a couple of friends in the process), and though I wouldn’t call it a vacation, it certainly was a trip. I drove straight through both there and back, stopping only for gas, food, and naps. I don’t know that it was a smart thing to do, but I did it.

We stayed at a cool AirBnB that had a little FARM attached to it, so we got to hang around with goats, a big fat pig named Petunia, and some kitties. It’s on a street in Middleburg called Brickyard Road where Ronnie Van Zant from Lynyrd Skynyrd once lived. His little brother Johnny immortalized it in a song that was a minor hit around 1990 or so, and that song has always stuck in my head for some reason, so it was a trip staying on the actual street.

An even BIGGER trip was sitting at the light at College Avenue and 220 and seeing the actual Johnny Van Zant right next to me in his big-ass black pickup. We exchanged nods. It was pretty cool.

But back to the trip – I got to spend time with my friend Joe who has become quite the ukulele aficionado, with several beautiful, handcrafted Hawaiian ukuleles at his place (and I got to play a LOT of them, so I was happy). And my old pal Dennis and I did the standard “Chilis in Mandarin and talk for four hours” hang. I love those guys so much and wish I was still close.

After having a minor mental breakdown one evening, I needed some solitude. Instead of going to a park by the river and staring at the water like I typically would in those situations, I decided to say “fuck it” and go out. I saw on social media that an old bandmate of mine (who I hadn’t seen since I moved to Texas, and hadn’t talked to in YEARS) was playing there with his new-ish band that night. Though the venue itself was sort of dead for a Saturday, they had Yuengling on tap there and the band’s song list was awesome (though to be honest, the music tyrant in me had some issues with the singer). Once they finished a set I went up to the stage and yelled to my old friend T.J.. I guess I was mildly concerned he’d be like, “uh, what? who?” Thankfully for my mental health, he was blown away that I was there…we had a great chat, they played another set, and I hung around for the rest of the show, gabbing with him (and trying to avoid being a nuisance) as they were tearing down. It was great. Getting out on my own and being randomly social definitely helped me deal with the issues I’d been dealing with earlier in the evening.

There was one thing about the trip I didn’t like – I really didn’t see many of my friends. The previously-mentioned Joe and Dennis are basically brothers, so there was no way I wasn’t going to see them, but I have a lot of other friends there I care about, and no one reached out when I shared I was coming to town.

I realize that people have lives. I realize that not all posts reach all people on social media, so it’s entirely possible that was why. But I guess I felt that more of my friends would have made an effort to reach out and try to hang with me while I was around. But maybe I’m nuts, you know? I left Florida in 2006. That was almost 16 years ago!

I have a serious issue with always feeling like the one who tries too hard to maintain relationships. Like Melissa Joan Hart’s character in “Can’t Hardly Wait” – I just want everyone to sign my yearbook. I mean, cognitively I know that it’s fine – when I see people, we’ll have a great time and it’ll be like no time has passed – but I still feel like I’m the one making the effort with most people. I don’t love feeling that way, because it reminds me of having my closest friend move away after 8th grade and entering high school with basically no friends who really made me feel like they gave a shit. It did a number on my self-worth – pretty much poisoned my self-confidence for the rest of my life, actually. Which is silly, but it’s just what happens sometimes if you don’t address the issues. I did a lot of great therapy for my self-worth issues years ago, and I’m actually MUCH better in that department, but every now and then stuff happens that puts me right back there.

I had been kind of blue the past few months, so that made it kind of worse, but seeing my mom and dad and brother and his family was definitely restorative and set the sads aside. So ultimately it was a good trip, just too short. I cut it short because Chandler and The Bings had a St. Patrick’s Day show.

I got back to Austin on the 16th and promptly passed out. I woke St. Patrick’s Day morning to the horrible news that a super great guy and awesome guitarist who played with Alon in our brother band “More Cowbell” had passed. He was beloved by all who knew him. Just a smart, quiet, kind, talented cat. Loved that guy. Rest in peace, Ed Martinez. My love to his family and his friends (including his fellow founding member of More Cowbell and my friend and bandmate Alon Bernstein).

Despite our melancholy, Chandler and The Bings had a good show on St. Patrick’s Day (Ed was in our hearts the whole time), and then we played Saturday and it went great AGAIN, so we pulled it together. It’s nice to know we can have big gaps and still sound like us. It’s so good when you can get a band and a repertoire to that point.

I’m in the process of (once again) moving the studio around for better workflow, and I think this time my plan is going to work great – keeping all the music and video creating stuff at the ready at all times, so I’ll probably start livestreaming more often. I might even do the previously-threatened regular weekly livestream that I talked about before. We shall see.

Got another Bings gig Saturday night and a solo 360 UNO gig on April 2nd, so I’m plugging along.

Take care, stay healthy, and be kind.

Peace be the journey! (Yes. PEACE. I’m talking to you, Vladmir, you murderous piece of shit.)
TMS

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 69 – nice): Stuff Since The Last One

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 69 – nice): Stuff Since The Last One

I guess that’s a weird way of saying this is more of a status update than anything, but I’d just like to muse a little about what the past month’s been for me.

Like I mentioned in my last post, I had some really good band shows in January (the solo gig was more iffy). After that, kind of nothing whatsoever was happening with the band for a variety of reasons, which was kind of weird but ultimately very okay. There’s a lot brewing in the other band Pat and Jay are working on, so I kind of knew that was the deal. Which is fine.

I did a setup-cleanup-restringing of the new bass and got it sounding great and in tune all the way up the neck, and I was very excited to play it at the band shows this past weekend. So I strapped it on for the second set…

…and I hated it. Seriously. HATED IT.

I don’t know if it was the choice of strings, the non-maple fingerboard, or the fact that I didn’t adjust the truss rod when I did the setup because things seemed fine, but it played like garbage for me at the show and just didn’t have the right presence sonically. I played maybe four songs and swapped back for the other one. What a disappointment. I was really digging it at home. Maybe it’s just better as a sit-down, studio bass. Not sure. I’ll figure it out, or if not, I’ll let it go. No big deal – there’s no real emotional attachment to this one yet.

The Speakeasy show with Chandler and The Bings went SPLENDIDLY – lots of energy and fun – and a packed house, which included my lovely wife Erin! I was so excited to have her there and seeing her face always makes me feel happy and loved. (Thanks to her friend Christopher for being on toddler duty so she could come.)

The solo show at 360 UNO was just as much fun as the CATB show – Using a “new old gear” setup I brought my Line 6 X3 Live pedalboard back into the fray, designed a patch that ran my vocals and guitar, and it made setup even faster. And I added a Bluetooth page turner footswitch so that I never have to reach up and scroll on my iPad.

I also recorded the show. I was trying to get a decent video of the show to share, but the video looked like total garbage, so I’m sharing the audio with you, if you’d like to have an idea of what my shows are like. It’s pretty good. Some clearly iffy vocal moments (just had a gig the night before, which usually makes things dodgy) and enough guitar clams to make a chowder, but I was happy with it and the crowd really seemed to enjoy it.

Here it is in its entirety:

I didn’t take a break, so it’s two solid hours. Feel free to skip around. Comments are welcome.

Here’s a list of the songs I played (with timecode, for the aforementioned skipping around…):

0:00:24 Hurts So Good
0:03:52 Bad Moon Rising
0:06:02 Learn To Fly
0:09:57 Bus Stop
0:13:14 Lodi
0:15:58 Daydream Believer
0:19:12 Just Like Heaven
0:21:52 Ain’t No Sunshine
0:24:13 Stray Cat Strut
0:27:07 Hold Me Now
0:31:27 Happy Together
0:35:12 What’s Going On
0:38:48 The Way
0:43:16 Every Rose Has Its Thorn
0:47:34 Wanted Dead Or Alive
0:52:42 Can’t Buy Me Love
0:54:52 Santeria
0:58:19 Plush
1:03:30 Wonderwall
1:07:39 Drift Away
1:11:43 Crazy Little Thing Called Love
1:15:03 Hey Jealousy
1:18:42 The Middle
1:21:59 No Such Thing
1:25:31 Always Something There To Remind Me
1:29:01 Tainted Love
1:32:08 I’m A Believer
1:35:22 I Melt With You
1:39:52 Interstate Love Song
1:43:33 Get Back
1:46:56 Out Of My Head
1:50:34 Walking On A Thin Line
1:55:47 Blitzkrieg Bop
1:58:14 Baby One More Time

More Bings stuff coming up, then a Florida trip – hoping to coordinate seeing a lot of my Jax friends. Have to figure out a venue to be hanging around in on Friday or Saturday night or something for when I’m in town.

Enough from me for now. I was going to rant on some big concept, and I still have a few ideas I’m going to explore in the coming months, but for now, just an update.

Take care, have a great week, and thanks for reading!

Peace be the journey.
TMS