Monday Moanings (Vol. 1): I CAN’T HANDLE IT! Also: PURPLE!!!

Monday Moanings (Vol. 1): I CAN’T HANDLE IT! Also: PURPLE!!!

COME ON, ALREADY!

All I want is for people to do their jobs, for the systems to function as they are designed, and for everything else to get out of the fucking way. Is that too much to ask?

Yes, Brian. It’s way too much to ask. That’s not how things work at all. You’re like that lady in the insurance ad with all the pictures tacked to her wall and her friend comes over and tells her, “that’s not how this works…that’s not how any of this works…!”

That is me.

Of course, not really, because I’m fully cognitively aware of the fact that most things are beyond my control and thus not worth fussing over. But that doesn’t stop my dumb-dumb lizard brain from getting all mad about it.

This isn’t actually going to be a series, by the way. I just happened to be sitting at my computer and thought it might be fun to write something about how today went for me. I should be over the moon of course, since I managed to score a new guitar over the weekend that I like A LOT. TIME TO SHARE THE PURPLEY GOODNESS!

The Musical Schizo Holds a Line 6 Variax Standard Guitar
It’s PURPLE, people!
Looks super purple here because I used a bright light. It’s much more subtle.
Needs a wipe-down, but it’s purpley!
This was a limited edition from 2017 that I’ve been lusting after for years. A super nice dude named Randy sold it to me for a good deal.

So now I feel better sharing the purpley goodness with you and I can get back to normal. I have to change a poop diaper now. See y’all tomorrow or so when I do my regular musing.

TMS

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 49): Revisiting Things

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 49): Revisiting Things

Growing up is interesting. All people do it. Even individual aspects of our lives grow at different rates and in different ways. I know that my tastes in music evolved much faster when I was a teenager and through my twenties as I discovered new things and “old” things sort of fell to the side. Now, I’m not as fickle as many people who consume music, so I still did love the stuff that I was sort of letting go for a while for the shiny new things, but often I just never listened to it again. And there were plenty of things got heard and cast aside because they didn’t hook me.

I find it a nice experiment sometimes to go back and listen to things that were lost or hated for whatever reason and see if the current version of me, removed from whatever cultural prejudice (it was/wasn’t cool to like it) existed at the time.

I’ve actually gotten a lot of joy finding things I missed over the years, and it’s almost more fun to rediscover something that used to be on my radar when I was younger. There’s a lot of stuff I just didn’t “get” that I now understand. Even three of my favorite bands didn’t hook me when I first heard them. Rush, Led Zeppelin, and Muse – all three I kind of either hated or was sort of “meh” on until years after I first heard their music, and now all three are constant musical companions and teachers.

Going back and listening to the albums I wore out as a kid has been almost universally fun. The recent death of Producer/Writer/Rapper/Piano Man Gregory Jacobs (aka “Shock G” and “Humpty Hump”) reminded me how amazing his group Digital Underground’s album “Sex Packets” is – truly one of the greatest concept albums not by a prog- or art-rock band, and one of the best I’ve ever heard in Hip Hop. It ain’t just “The Humpty Dance” – although that’s definitely there for you to enjoy.

Another great example I hadn’t really heard since I was about 14 but now pops back into the regular rotation is INXS’ album “Kick”. It doesn’t have a bad song on it. De La Soul’s “3 Feet High and Rising” is another landmark that I listened to OVER AND OVER and that I appreciate even more as my musical tastes and experience have grown over the years. There are a few albums that I remember listening to a lot that I can’t really get through these days (Starship’s “Knee Deep In The Hoopla” is an EXCELLENT example – that thing is dreadful), but the adventure of listening to stuff that was sort of ubiquitous at one time in my life, long before my “musician ears” kicked in, allows me to appreciate them on a different level, which is mostly good.

In the age of Spotify, I’ve had a lot of fun creating playlists that include the radio songs of my childhood – some of which I hadn’t really heard since then. Stuff like “Heart Attack” by Olivia Newton-John. Or “You Should Hear How She Talks About You” by Melissa Manchester. “You Are” by Lionel Richie. “Self Control” by Laura Branigan. These are often “other hit” songs that people forgot that really have no home except on the weird “Jack” or “Bob” or other single-name, catch-all playlist radio stations, and even still, they don’t always show up there. There are a lot of songs that had similar chart positions to stuff that has endured like “Jessie’s Girl” or “867-5309/Jenny” but never really made it past 1984 in terms of being something people talk about or listen to. And a lot of them were pretty big hits! Sure, fans know the stuff, but in terms of the general population, most of it is lost to time. And I don’t know that it’s a good thing. But it doesn’t matter – because the journey to rediscovering stuff is a pleasure.

I’m generally not super open to a lot of current music, for a variety of reasons – many of them tied to the production styles (trap hats, autotune) and what I see as a general lack of excellence in writing and performing. The people who do impress me generally are special talents as singers or MCs, write their own stuff, and have a broader appreciation of music. Or sometimes it’s just an excellent song. But all of these feel rare to me right now, so it doesn’t encourage the searching. It is entirely possible that I’ll revisit this stuff in a few years and go, “damn, I like this – why did I think it sucked?” and that’s cool. That’s the beauty of having access to basically everything.

Think about stuff you liked as a kid – think about the last time you heard it. Maybe grab a few of those old albums that meant something to you that you stopped listening to for whatever reason, or stuff you hated and never really gave a chance, and and go back and give them a try. Hate them, love them, or “meh” them, it’s worth it for the nostalgia kick. I mean, even fucking Gerardo was fun to go back and check out for me. Color Me Badd, even. I still kind of hate them, but it was fun hearing them again, especially with my current ears.

Have a great rest of your week – go get your jab if you haven’t (it’s time – plenty of availability in most areas now), and take care of yourself.

Peace be the journey!
TMS

Sick. And more CATB and Adam S. Stuff.

Sick. And more CATB and Adam S. Stuff.

It’s weird to be sick. I haven’t been sick in a long time. But whatever’s going on with me right now is…well, it just sucks.

I assume it’s not COVID, being that I’m all vaccinated and stuff and I’ve been Mr. Careful. It’s like my body has a cold. I don’t have a runny nose or anything, but I’m just – weak and hurting.

I felt alright for band practice yesterday, which was SUPER FUN even though it was kind of hard work, and we’re super excited to play our first big show back on May 1st (assuming the rain that’s supposed to happen all week is gone by the weekend, like the forecasts are saying). So, YAY Chandler and The Bings!

I watched a great tribute to Adam Schlesinger that Rachel Bloom posted on her YouTube. Makes me want to go back and do a actually good recording of my tribute song to him.

If you have time to kill, check the tribute out and maybe it’ll help you understand why I loved this guy so much…

Back to the couch. Have a wonderful day. I’ll have a Museday Mumbling for you tomorrow, probably. As usual, I’m not even sure what the topic is going to be, but hopefully I’ll come up with something interesting.

Peace be the journey!
TMS

Quick Chandler and The Bings Update

Quick Chandler and The Bings Update

For anyone who follows my band or likes a group of people in their 30s and 40s turning boy band and pop tart songs from the late-90s into exciting, sing-along, fun live rock music shows, we have confirmed that we are back to performing. Shows begin on May 1st!

Literally, it’s gonna be MAY… (as the song sort of goes?)

First show back is at Bouldin Acres on South Lamar Boulevard in Austin on May 1st, then we have two shows in San Antonio – one at our favorite, Picks Bar, on May 8th, and then we’re at a new venue for us, The Amp Room, on May 15th.

Info for all this stuff is available on our Facebook page.

If you’re around and healthy, COME SING WITH US.

And thanks for being patient. We’re having a lot of fun getting ready and reconnecting, and our show is getting better and better, and will continue to improve as we refine everything.

It will make you want to dance and sing, and feel all the 90s warm and fuzzies.

Stuff like this…

See you out there – hopefully you’ve got your shot and are healthy and safe.

TMS

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 48): In Honor of 4-20…The Drugs Post

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 48): In Honor of 4-20…The Drugs Post

So, I’m a pretty atypical musician, I think.

I didn’t get into it for approval from women or anyone, I am not too precious to basically do anything related to music, and I’ve never done drugs.

Yes – you read that correctly. I’VE NEVER DONE DRUGS. Not even weed. (Sorry, 4:20 crowd…)

Now, you might think that it’s because I have some sort of puritanical attitude about them, but that’s definitely not it. I’m super cool with people doing drugs. Whatever gets you through. Just don’t let it screw up your life or your performance. Don’t kill yourself, don’t hurt anyone else, and don’t fuck up my show. Outside of that, have fun.

I’ve had my share of alcohol over the years, but since I kind of hate wine and hard alcohol and my body doesn’t metabolize it correctly anyway, it’s like I have a built-in regulator to prevent me from being a regular drunk.

As far as all the other drugs go, though, for years I’d say “I’m weird enough without them – no need to add to my craziness.” Then I had kids, and it was “I’m a dad – it’s not about me anymore, so I shouldn’t.” The truth was, I was afraid of the drugs not being exactly what they were supposed to be (being cut with something else in some way), and afraid of being caught with them and having that mark on my record. So I had cute excuses, but the truth was, I was just scared.

When my big kids were old enough, I started to warm to the idea of at least trying marijuana, but many years ago I made a promise to my brother Rob that if I was going to get high, the first time had to be with him. So I didn’t and haven’t yet.

I guess time will tell if I ever do get high, but at my age it kind of seems a little pathetic to take the risk, what with my just-barely-three-year-old running around.

So me and drugs might have to wait until I need them for glaucoma or something…

I still find it hilarious that most people simply can’t believe I’ve never done drugs, looking the way I do, but it’s true. I may present as a bearded Jesusy hippie guy, but that’s just a love and peace thing for me – no chemical modification required.

Sidestepping into current events:
– I hope that fucker rots for the murder and the sentence is stiff. Black Lives Matter.
– Don’t abandon precautions when it comes to coronavirus – we’re not out of the weeds yet. Get a goddamn jab and help protect everyone and prevent nasty variants.
– Be kind to each other, and get the facts before you state an opinion.

Peace be the journey and don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know.”

TMS

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 47): Small Bits of Kindness

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 47): Small Bits of Kindness

The stage is set. The gear’s all loaded and set up. Soundcheck is done. Guitars are tuned, mixes tweaked. Now, we wait for downbeat. And here come our fans, streaming in, amped up, happy to see us play. They order drinks and food, get settled at their VIP tables or whatever, and are ready. Sometimes they’ll come say hello. Most of the time they’ll just stare at us, with an expression that says (to my brain), “Well, when are you going to start?” Even though we always advertise our start times. And even though they might not be thinking that at all.

For regulars or long-time fans, I will always tamp down my introversion and pretend to be super friendly and outgoing and greet them warmly when they approach or head over to say hello if they don’t. I try very hard to remember everyone’s name if I talk to them at a show. Having the luxury problem of being in a well-liked band means that usually there are too many people to remember. But I try. (Oh my god, do I try… #onbrand)

My feeling is that part of the reason our silly band works is our dedication to being interesting and putting on a fun show, but it’s also being approachable and very kind. People are not only excited to spend time with you singing along, but they love the fact that you care about THEM as individuals. And we honestly do, because we appreciate them more than they even realize. We know none of the energy or fun happens without them throwing it all back at us. The small kindness of spending time with your fans (or at least the people who are at the show that night that are checking you out – don’t want to jump the gun and call them fans without earning it) is one of the best things a band can do to build relationships and engender loyalty.

I always think about being a fan, and my interactions with artists. There are two things I always remember – people who are dicks or indifferent, and people who are kind and friendly. And it doesn’t take much to fall into the latter category. I will always adore Kelsea Ballerini because when she came to visit our radio station (my day job is as a commercial production director for radio), she made it a point to pop in and introduce herself and talk to me. It was very sweet, very genuine (she wanted to know what I did for the station), and she’s always been awesome when she’s come back, remembering me and having a nice little chat. And basically all she did was acknowledge my existence. Dicky Barrett from Mighty Mighty BossTones was at their merch table at the Warped Tour in 2000 or something and we had a LONG conversation about music and stuff – he was AWESOME to me and my friend. I have many more stories like this, both bad and good. Working in radio means I have met a lot of artists on promo tours and stuff – the new ones are in “full charm offensive” mode and it’s kind of adorable how nice they are…and even funnier when they become international superstars like Katy Perry and Justin Bieber (met both in 2008 – both were very nice, and so I still root for them…). Others have been kind of meh, but most are pretty good, because they have to be – they have a song or show to sell. The sincere ones are my favorites, though – the ones that are nice without there being much of a benefit for them.

So take this to heart – no matter how you feel in those non-music-playing times, remember that every interaction is a chance to make someone love you and thus love your band and support you. So be awesome if you can. Learn their name. Interact with them on social media (to a healthy extent – don’t be a creepy weirdo, overly intrusive/intimate, or salesy). Make the interactions about THEM not about you. They’re important. You seem important because you’re the one on stage. But if 2020 has taught me anything, there’s no show without an audience.

So, spread love. Acknowledge your audience members’ existence as fellow humans who are special and deserving of kindness and love. And remember how good you felt the time that guy or gal from that band was cool to you at the merch table or whatever. Give that love back all you can. Find ways to make them feel special without embarrassing them – so learn to read the situations right and don’t overdo it. (And watch out for psychos. They’re out there…)

I appreciate every awesome person who comes to see the band. And I look forward to seeing them all again soon. Yay vaccination!

Thanks for reading!
TMS

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 46): I Don’t Ask For Much…

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 46): I Don’t Ask For Much…

You know, I’ve had quite a journey with my issues with rage in my life. Through therapy and a lot of work and introspection, I’ve conquered them. Explosions of sudden anger are no longer a part of my life.

But let me tell you, if there’s anything that drives me back down that road of rage, it’s shit not working.

I always take precautions with my gear, making sure I have extra cables, batteries, adapters, lots of redundancy. So it’s not like I set myself up for failure. But sometimes, things just don’t cooperate. In those moments, I am tested.

Windows 10 notoriously lags when you have a lot of network drives mapped. Of course, I HAVE to have them mapped for work, so I’m stuck. And I never know if it’s going to work, or it’s going to lag and make me wait to see the folder. It sometimes takes more than a minute for it to respond. In those moments, I am tested.

We use a great system for our in-ear monitoring that generally works perfectly. Except when the iPhone (or perhaps the app) decides it doesn’t know how to handle the fact that there’s a wireless network I’m attached to that doesn’t have internet access, and makes my mixer disappear right in the middle of needing to change a setting in my in-ear mix. In those moments, I am tested.

I’ve never gigged with my Les Paul because it’s always had a wonky pickup selector – it’s like if you breathe on it wrong, the pickup you’ve selected doesn’t work. I even changed it out and got precisely the same result. So now I have to run it in the middle position all the time and just adjust the volumes of the two pickups to pick what sort of tone I want out of it. But if I bump the switch, I lose a pickup. In those moments, I am tested. I’ve often thought of completely rewiring that guitar just because it seems like it might be good to start over. Of course, since it’s never been a primary gigging guitar, the priority is low, and even though I do love playing it, I’ve never been able to justify the expense.

My original and very nice guitar, a 1990 Fender HM Strat Ultra, has had a messed-up output jack for over 20 years. It’s also a guitar with a Kahler Licensed Floyd Rose trem system with a locking nut. Between the sketchiness of using a Floyd with a locking nut and merely moving an inch and losing signal if the cable shifts in the output jack wrong, the guitar has never been a major part of my gigging life. I played it in the college days because it was all I had, but the output jack worked, and the trem seemed less temperamental for some reason. Probably just my lack of tuning perception. I try to play it at home a lot now, because I do love the way it plays – it’s a total shred machine – but if you move wrong…BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. In those moments, I am tested.

One of my favorite basses is a 2003 Ibanez BTB515 with Bartolini pickups. It’s a monster with the best B string of any 5-string I’ve ever played…but it has a wonky volume knob, so if you don’t get it set just right, the pickups sound super weird, almost as if you have a high pass filter on them. Not exactly the best thing for a bass. Turn up the volume too much, and you lose all the bass’ booty. In those moments, I am tested.

I guess operating as someone that usually sets himself up for success, preparing, planning, making sure I have everything I need in case of a catastrophe, it feels unfair to me when things don’t work. And it’s so frequently little things like laggy software or a wonky pickup selector, tremolo system, volume knob, or output jack. Small things have always been the biggest triggers for my rage – in large-scale meltdowns, I’m incredibly calm. In fact, it almost makes me calmer.

So, if it’s not too much to ask, universe, can things just work, please? I really don’t enjoy seeing red, and you’re really pushing me in that direction every time you unleash some digital or analog gremlin on me when I just need to get some work done.

And before anyone mentions it – yes, I realize that I need to fix the things I described before that are broken. But the point is they never should have broken in the first place. They didn’t break after a long time or a lot of wear – they just decided to stop working all that well one day. I’m likely to fix the Ibanez and gut the Les Paul (probably convert it to FilterTrons or maybe go crazy and get some P-Rails and have lots of tonal options) – but I’m not sure how easy it is to find the right sort of output jack to use with my HM Strat Ultra (it’s one of those barrel types). And the software issues? Well, that’s probably not something I can fix, so I just have to cope better.

Perhaps you have had the same sort of frustrations – probably without the underlying rage/anger issues threatening to send you off the deep end – if so, hit me up with a comment about your technological pet peeves or some piece of gear that just manages to fail you, however inconsistently.

Thanks for reading, and peace be the journey (a mantra for this particular topic…).
TMS

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 45): Camaraderie

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 45): Camaraderie

One of my favorite things about being a musician is “the hang”.

A good hang can determine whether you play with someone even more than their level of ability sometimes. Seems kind of silly, but it’s true. Any time I’ve been in a band situation where the hang was awkward or just wrong is more jarring than someone always coming in on the 5 or something. I’ve actually not joined bands specifically because the energy of spending time with people was just wrong. And I’ve quit them when every gig has either been isolating or just uncomfortable.

All my best band experiences come from the majority of band members being a good hang. Roman Holiday – in the majority of its configurations – was a wonderful experience, and that was partially because most of the incarnations, and basically ALL of the trio versions of the band were true fun. Yeah, we were there to work and put on a great show, but load-in, set-up, tear-down, and load-out were always quality times. Endless jokes. And different ones depending on the lineup. It was always Ned and me, and in the trios, we always had drummers who were great people to spend time with – even when musically things were iffy. Sure, everyone had their bad days or whatever, and some people bitched more than others, but in general, it was a team – beyond that – a crew, a family. And I think we always were happy when we were together, even if we sometimes had issues when we weren’t. Chandler and The Bings has become one of the best hangs ever. Every single member of this band is what most musicians would call “a good hang” – we’re generally not pretentious or precious, we love to laugh, no one has any real hangups or any relationship drama, and we’re all pretty willing to try just about anything when it comes to the music.

That willingness to consider others’ ideas, feelings, whatever, is fundamental to being a good hang, and for creating one in your ensemble. Knowing you have each others’ back allows for a healthy discussion and level of criticism between the players, and ensures that you can all make the music and the show better and still have a lot of fun in the process.

My first band (Magic Garden) was pretty much the polar opposite of a good hang. In fact, the attitudes of the other people in the band are what made me leave – I actually was really enjoying playing the music and learning how to be a proper bassist in an ensemble (up to that point I’d only ever played guitar with other people – I actually paid my little brother half my take from every gig to borrow his bass and amp). Basically, this was the configuration: One dude had a massive ego. One dude was older and thought he knew absolutely everything. The other guy was nice but liked drugs (pot, mushrooms, LSD) a whole lot, so he was…inconsistent. I was completely new to playing bass – greener than Ireland. There were always random strangers there hanging around with the druggie guy, which made me uncomfortable, because I was pretty new to being in a band.

Basically all through the 90s I was mostly a good hang, except when my Musical Asshole™ came out. I’ve covered that part many times on this blog, and my growth over the years. It’s not much a part of who or how I am as a bandmate these days, but it definitely tainted a lot of otherwise excellent situations, and I’m ashamed of it. So, yeah…enough of that.

So my advice to anyone who wants to play a lot as a musician – be a PERSON. Be kind to your bandmates. Don’t expect everyone to want what you want. Be a good laugh. Make it light and make it fun…but not so much that you’re not matching the level of seriousness for the situation, because that can make you an obstacle as well. It’s a balance, and the best musicians you can play with strike that balance in most situations.

Thanks to all the “good hangs” I’ve played with over the years. And also thanks to the ones who sucked at it, because you taught me to be a better hang by showing me how I never wanted to be.

Sorry for the late one. Another one’s coming in a few days. Since last week was zero Musedays, this week will be two! YEE HAW.

Thanks for reading.

Get a jab, call your mom. If you’re fully vaccinated and they are, too, go SEE your Mom and Dad and give them a hug. I guess unless they’re miserable assholes, then you don’t have to do that, although it probably couldn’t hurt. We need more hugs in this world. It’s been too fucking long.

Love you – see you soon out slappin’ da bass…
TMS

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 44): Ears

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 44): Ears

Since we’re getting close to Easter, and I’ve been seeing goddamn rabbits all over the place, I’ve been thinking about ears. So let’s talk about it – in a musical way.

I was blessed with a fairly good ear for pitch and timbre. I could tell instruments apart by their individual sound, and once I learned how to operate musical instruments, I started to be able to pick out melodies. This definitely made teaching myself to play a lot easier, since I could just try and emulate the things in music that I liked, but having a good ear early can be a bit of a curse for a few reasons.

First, it makes it too easy to get around learning to properly sight-read music, since if you have a good ear and decent musical memory, you memorize the music rather quickly and you’re not actually sight-reading anymore. When you’re a kid and you just want to be able to do the thing (play the music), having to concentrate and read isn’t exactly all that fun and it’s not as quick. And if you’re a little lazy, well, you’re going to do the easiest-to-you thing. It’s definitely part of the reason I’m so bad at reading rhythms in sheet music – once we went through the piece a few times, I’d memorize the note durations, rests, and rhythms and the parts where I was supposed to come in, so I wasn’t following it.

Second, when you are blessed with a good ear at an early age it’s kind of like being intellectually precocious – I was very smart very young, and thus didn’t learn good study habits because studying wasn’t actually necessary for me. Of course everyone caught up and most passed me because I sucked at studying. I’m still not great at it, though I definitely try harder to have discipline about things than I did. The early sense of being able to pick things out well is made worse when you’re not around a lot of people who have that same skill – you come to think your ability is actually greater than it is. I fell victim to this mentality for a long time, and then I got over myself when I met someone with excellent relative pitch and I about lost my mind. It showed me everything that was lacking from my understanding of pitch perception – especially being able to hear chords and harmony. I knew I needed work, and I then knew how much I needed to learn. Which is a wonderful thing once you get past how soul- and ego-crushing it can be at first. I’m happy that I now have a better sense of my limitations, because it has enabled me to work past them and improve.

I spend an inappropriate amount of time watching YouTube these days, and I have some specific favorite music YouTubers – most of whom have amazing relative pitch. Rick Beato has forgotten more about music than I can ever learn, and his ear is amazing – I’m so impressed with his teaching and techniques. Charles Cornell is fun to watch as he figures out songs as he’s hearing them for the first time – he’s so quick, it’s really quite impressive!

So that’s my aspiration. Getting to the point where I can just hear something and know where it is on whatever instrument I’m playing. It’s going to take work on my musical memory, my pitch perception, especially to identify chords/harmonies, and devoting the time to break it down and start from the basics with ear training to build it up to what I want.

The most important thing you can do as a musician is improve your ear. So I’m going to. And I encourage you to as well.

There are tons of free apps for you to download that can teach certain ear training concepts, but a truly great course to get started is available for purchase at beatoeartraining.com.

Take care, get your shots, and stay safe out there.
TMS

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 43): The Slow Walk Back To Performing

Museday Mumblings (Vol. 43): The Slow Walk Back To Performing

If there’s anything that I sort of expected from this pandemic was that we’d lose a bunch of gigs. I didn’t anticipate we’d lose over a YEAR of shows, but I am happy that people are getting vaccinated and things are slowly getting safer out there, so we’re getting closer to playing some shows (closer – nothing is final yet – and we’re definitely not show-ready, in terms of rust or stamina at this point).

I could go on a forty-page rant about how paranoid, stupid, shitty, and selfish so many people are in this country, but what would be the point? George Carlin said it best, “Think about how stupid the average person is, and realize – half of them are stupider than that!” I did my best to make sure I wasn’t passing around this shit, and thankfully, my precautions and care helped make it so no one I am close to got COVID-19. I’ve heard tales of many friends of friends, and some casual acquaintances suffering through it or losing friends and family to it, but I was fortunate to not know anyone who passed from it (that I know of).

My heart goes out to everyone who suffered loss as a result of this. And my heart goes out to all my fellow musicians and all the wonderful people we rely on (sound and lighting professionals, techs, venue ownership and staff) who suffered HARD as a result of the lockdowns – lockdowns that could have been avoided had we put a system like many other countries had in place, with widespread testing and contact tracing and strict quarantines for the exposed. Things basically every epidemiologist was saying were the way to handle this back in February. Every single one of those countries fared far better than we did through this bullshit. And basically, what it comes down to is that our leadership failed us completely. I’m not saying anything partisan here – Biden might have screwed this up just as bad at first for sure. But let’s get off this for a second and go into happier thoughts.

Like there’s this weird thing that I haven’t experienced for a long time – it’s called “hope”. People are excited about getting their vaccines. People are still wearing masks and practicing social distancing until enough people get the jabs. Everything is going the way it should.

3/4ths of the band (the vulnerable ones) are halfway to being fully vaccinated and we’re already talking to venues about future plans, possibly starting with outdoor shows. This is good. I’m excited to go out and make people happy while I do one of my favorite things – play music with my friends.

We’ve been having rehearsals, planning for the future, refining our show to allow for future expansion of the “show” aspect of it, and honestly, it’s gone GREAT so far. We’re already starting to sound like ourselves again.

It’s going to take some time to build up to our three- or four-hour extravaganzas, but I am very hopeful.

I’m happy about the way attitudes in leadership on the federal level have changed regarding this pandemic.
I’m proud of my efforts to do my small part in helping prevent the spread.
I’m excited for what the future holds, because I think happy times are just around the corner and we can stop losing so many people to this nonsense.
The math with vaccinations looks good. Here’s hoping it stays that way even with all the efforts of the toxic dipshits that hold certain government positions on the state level that keep trying to make it worse.

Stay safe, get a shot if you can, help the elderly and vulnerable get their shots if you can, and don’t lose hope.

Once we’re out there again, I hope to see some smiling faces singing along and dancing to our silliness.

Time to keep putting in my work so that live show experience is the best for everyone present.

Peace and love and good happiness stuff…and peace be the journey!
TMS