Michael Jackson/Ted Kennedy conspiracy revealed!

So it’s been a while and a lot of stuff’s going on so here’s a little catch up. Richard decided to come off the road after 8 years as my bass player and it’s a good thing for him but still very sad. We’re still in touch and he’s really getting into writing and hopefully we’ll be doing some recording together in the near future. Most of you know Richard and he’s been such a big part of the band for so long that I know we’ll all miss him on the gig, but as he gets projects out, I know you’ll all support him and his work!
We’re working on a bunch of new stuff for the future and I’ll talk more about it as it comes up, but rest assured that we are headed to a whole ‘nother level! Last week, I had a chance to spend some time hanging out with my MF brother CMFL, Buddy Guy and BB King in Westbury NY. It’s always a blast to get to see BG, my mentor/friend and catch up. Buddy recently celebrated his 73 birthday and he’s in great shape and playing his butt off! He was nice enough to invite me up to jam and we played Slippin’ In together (haven’t been able to find it on You Tube tho!). I haven’t played that song in a while and I was nervous as a cat! Buddy’s band is a great bunch of guys and they always make me feel welcome. After the show, we hung out with BB on his bus for a little bit and I got him to autograph a picture for my daughter.
Looking forward to seeing our friends in London ON in a couple of weeks and getting some new music together. I’ve been digging on Pandora thanks to my MF brother KMFP. Merle Haggard, Buddy Guy and Ratt all on one radio station! We live in a great age! I’ve been listening to some cool stuff lately that’s really helping me open up musically. Tinariwen, Tom Waits, lots and lots of Miles, The Replacements, David Lindley…just finding new areas of the garden to explore. I’m really excited about the future. I want to work harder at creating work that is uplifting, inspiring and entertaining. Music is a tremendous force of healing and I want to use it for that purpose! Yesterday I was listening to Aubrey Ghent’s version of Amazing Grace. The soul and joy in that performance left me speechless!

See The World On A Greyhound!

Here we are in the Great White North! I really do love playing in Canada. The people here are invariably friendly and very supportive of our music and it’s always a joy to perform for them. A lot has been going on, but the way we’ve been traveling, I haven’t had a chance to really put it down. So, while I have a few minutes, we’ll start from the beginning.
Our merch guy, many of you know, is Milburn. Great young man, enthusiastic and a truly good person. If Milburn has a weakness, it would be his inability to realize the time frame that we operate under in this organization. This is the world of RIGHT NOW. Not tomorrow, later, at your earliest convenience, but RIGHT NOW!! Months ago, when this tour was planned, I advised Milburn to get a passport. The law has become stricter concerning travel to and from Canada from the US and now a passport is required (in the past a drivers license and a birth certificate would work.). When I suggested this to Milburn, I immediately forgot about it, assuming that the task was now firmly on his plate and I could move on to other issues. A passport is a rather lengthy and involved process that can take up to a month to go through. In the meantime, back at SHB HQ, work documents are being filed and personnel are being recorded for the trip. Milburn, not understanding ‘right now’, doesn’t get his passport. Weeks go by and I ask him, with only 2 weeks to go until we leave for the tour, if he has his passport. Nope. I won’t bore you with the details of what we went through to get him a passport, but it involved multiple trips to Nashville, visits to very official buildings and finally ended with the hope that his passport would be processed and expedited to us on the road before we had to enter Canada. It kind of went like this; 1. Passport gets to his house and is overnighted to the last US gig that we’re playing at. 2. Wrong address has it sent back to Tennessee. 3. We leave Milburn in Great Falls MT with instructions to get his passport (resent from Tennessee) the next day and catch a bus to catch up with us in Canada. 4. We drive the 5 hours to the first Canadian gig. 5. Milburn gets on bus & drives for 40 hours!! From Great Falls to Butte to Seattle to Vancouver… (Check this route on a map, or go to www.greyhound.com and check out the route for Great Falls MT to Red Deer AB, it’s insane!). 6. Misses 2 towns and 3 shows, covers over 1600 miles but rejoins us and had a great time and a learning experience. Valuable lesson learned; do what you gotta do RIGHT NOW!!
Shows are going good and we’re seeing a new area of Canada that we haven’t been to before. I’m introducing Richard to some interesting new foods; Greek, Japanese and today Vietnamese! True Texan, he’s game for anything!
Still getting over the shock of Michael Jackson’s death (and Steve McNair's for that matter!!) Now the investigations and allegations start and we are hearing everyday that Michael’s body hasn’t been buried, who will raise his kids?, he was on drugs, he was in terrible shape, he was in great shape, who has his brain?, it just goes on and on. I think that when you die, you should be allowed to die, be given the dignity in death that often your not given in life, be remembered for your good works and the world should just move on. If you don’t buy the argument that as an entertainer you make calculated choices to increase the mystique of your celebrity, (i.e. Wear masks, buy the elephant man’s bones, sleep in an oxygen tank, etc.) then at least grant the argument that as humans, we all screw up and if you’re a rich, international superstar with endless bucks and plenty of people willing to allow you a pass for any and everything you want, your mistakes will be ten-fold, hell, a thousand-fold what the rest of us do. The dirt and negativity serves no purpose. If we learn that Michael Jackson was a raging drug addict, it won’t stop people from abusing drugs, it won’t help in the reform of the pharmaceutical industry, or the general practice of over medicating, it won’t make people more sympathetic to how the world’s criticism can weigh on a performer and make a fragile human being turn to any sort of ‘self medicating’ protective devices. Most importantly, I think, it won’t help his kids. It won’t give them peace of mind or fond memories of their father, it won’t help them make sense of the loss of the only parent they’ve ever known. Same goes for Steve McNair; all of the sordid allegations of infidelity don’t help the family that he’s left behind to cope with their loss. We all do dumb things that we regret, we all make bad choices that come back and bite us, if you’re reading this and you haven’t made a poor choice in the last 24 hours, congratulations, I’d like your autograph!
I guess all this ties into the down side of having this insatiable hunger for the next piece of celebrity dirt. We like to build up our celebrities, tear them down, give them forgiveness and then tear ‘em down again if they make it back up. I’m not saying this from a position of “I know it all” but just working it out as I type it. What makes us like that? Is it some kind of, “well at least I’m not as bad as so and so.” thing? I remember when Elvis died, the first day it was all shock and sadness over his passing and then the drug stories started coming out and the eating stories started coming out and for a long time Elvis was the punch line to a fat, drugged out joke. If you ever go to Graceland, in the trophy room there is a frame with about 20 canceled checks to 20 different charities for $1,000.00 each, from like 1959 or something, anyway a LOT of money, just given away to help people. No framed headline from any newspaper saying, “Look what Elvis did!” just the checks framed long after he passed. You gotta admit though that that story isn’t as interesting as how much bacon he could consume at breakfast. At least now it seems like he’s finally being recognized (or at least debated)more for his contributions to popular music than for how many peanut butter and Demerol sandwiches he could consume in one sitting, but it sure is an interesting phenomenon. If you care, just watch the Michael Jackson story unfold; we’ll hear sordid tales of drugs and assorted mischief, his work will be over-shadowed and pushed to the back and then in 10 years or so when the dust has settled and some other poor soul has blasted off into outer space and become the new sensation, some new artist will do a cover of Thriller or name check Michael as their biggest influence and all of the sudden it will become cool to like Michael Jackson the entertainer again. I’m reminded of the tag line to a show that used to come on the E channel (yes I realize the irony of this sentence!) “Fame, ain’t it a bitch?”.

Don't seek the pigman!

So here we are in Idaho (capitol; Boise, entered the Union on July 3, 1890, also known as the Gem State.) Day 8. So far a very good tour. My definition of a good tour is #1; a musically rewarding gig.  After that, no breakdowns, arrests or bodily injury and that we’re not being yelled at for being too loud. That, of course, isn’t Webster’s definition of a good tour. They don’t have one! They define ‘tour’ as an intransitive verb. Boring! Touring is nothing of the kind. It is equal parts traveling circus, school fieldtrip and spiritual vision quest. This might be the double setup & teardown tour. After tearing down early in Eureka Springs a couple of weeks ago and having to set back up! (Our fault), we played in Sheridan WY (plotted as a town by John D. Loucks in 1882 on the back of a sheet of wrapping paper. Named after one of John Loucks' civil war officers, General Sheridan. The town was approved and incorporated in 1884.) last week and it was supposed to be an outside gig. We setup under a beautiful blue sky. By show time, black clouds were on the horizon. We started the show and got maybe 3 songs out before the rain started to hit and we had to tear down and move the whole thing inside, set back up and finish the gig! My guys did it flawlessly. Thanks to the help of the great security staff at My Buddy’s Place in Sheridan! We stopped at the Little Bighorn Battlefield on Sunday, (a place I’ve always wanted to go) and toured the battlefield. Yes, it’s more than just a big field and a bunch of tombstones. We did comment on the irony of walking the battlefield while on our cell phones, taking pictures with our digital cameras and drinking bottled water. Sometimes you can’t NOT be a tourist no matter how respectful you are. It is an amazing place though and they do a great job of giving you the information of the battle and the layout of the thing without letting it seem to “Disneyesque”…until you get to the gift shop anyway!

 Marshal and I drove from our current secret location to Idaho Falls yesterday and saw the movie The Hangover http://hangovermovie.warnerbros.com/. Great movie that I will see again with Buffy and the MFThroneberrys I’m sure. Came out of the movies and discovered that I had locked the keys in the van and the nearest extra set (in Richard’s pocket) was 75 miles away! Thanks to AAA, we got hooked up quickly though. Although I am still a little concerned that the guy who opened the door didn’t even ask to see my ID! He just popped the lock and split! I gotta get me one of them slimjim things!

 Just finished reading The Secret at my wife’s urging. What a great book and brilliant concept. As an armchair physics fan, (…well I am! Armchair just means I’m fascinated by the concepts and that I’ve read Brian Greene and Stephen Hawking…don’t ask me to explain the single string theory to you though.) I really liked the relation of Quantum Physics to our relationship to the universe as well as the biblical implications. Now I’m reading a great book on the Delta Blues by Ted Gioia. Called…Delta Blues. Very well researched and informative, if not exactly the most clever title. Finally watched the movie Taken this morning and now I am a Liam Neeson fan (I was already actually) but I still needed to forgive him for trying to kill Batman. Now I do!

 I did not pack for Idaho weather! My home state is currently going through a brutal heat wave that was just starting to warm-up when we left to come on tour. Idaho is having no such heat wave and I don’t really like it! I did however pack 5 guitars for this tour. After 6 shows, I played 1 guitar 99% of the time. So maybe I didn’t even pack my guitars correctly!

 Happy belated father’s Day to all you Dads. Mine was a good day but not a good Father’s Day as I was away from home. Worst part of my job. I did get an awesome card from my girl and a great call from my wife and daughter!

Why does the USA Today paper machine say that you can use any combination of coins but it will only work with 4 quarters?

 I’m off now to hug on my guitar and get through the rest of this off day!

What's for dinner Grandpa?

So recently my wife gave me a great idea (most of my great ideas come from her…and the rest are inspired by her!) to start writing about some of the places we eat at on the road. When you travel, food is one of the most important aspects of your journey, (because without it, you would eventually die.) Okay, gas and guitar strings are also very important, but this blog is about food. Obviously Starbucks is a big part of our rolling diet, but we also tend to seek out BBQ joints, funky local places, Chipotle or Red Robin for lunch. I am a big fan of BBQ and the band will usually indulge me unless we’ve had BBQ four or five days in a row, in which case I can usually smell the mutiny over the smoked sweat smell! When I was with Buddy, BBQ was a ritual, especially in Texas. We did the Iron Works, Stubb’s, County Line or Sam’s in Austin, we did Virgil’s in NYC, as well as a bunch of places that are gone or that I just can’t remember now! That’s where I learned the difference between good BBQ and bad BBQ. My BBQ policy is simple; no chains, no b******t! I do make an occasional exception to the chain rule, but only if the chain is consistent. I eat at Whole Hog in Little Rock AR and Dreamland in Birmingham, but the original Dreamland in Tuscaloosa has let me down a couple of times, so now we go to Archibald’s in Tuscaloosa (the original location). I will not eat at Tony Roma’s, etc. In the past few months we’ve eaten at some crazy good places (and had some crazy great food!) Like Takashi Sushi in Salt Lake City UT, Central BBQ in Memphis TN, Snappy Lunch in Mt Airy NC where we had the pork chop sandwich to end all pork chop sandwiches, or Exxon Gas Station BBQ pork ribs in Jackson MS (thanks KMFP), Blues City Café in Memphis for catfish and tamales, Stage Deli in NYC for the GIANT (and expensive) Rueben, Leatha’s BBQ in Hattiesburg MS. The best resource I’ve found for food on the road is a book called Roadfood by Jane and Michael Stern. This book has yet to let us down. We’ve found killer Mexican food in Denver, Lobster Rolls in Maine, Breakfast in Louisville, Hot Dogs in Portland OR and the list goes on and on.
Today, we are in St Louis and we had to go to Goody Goody Diner www.goodygoodydiner.com I had the BBQ Burger with slaw, fries and a side of chili - $10.00 (diet’s going great, thanks for asking!) This place is the bomb! In business since 1948, they do all the old style diner food you would expect. Burgers, Breakfast stuff, they even do chicken and waffles (don’t knock it until you try it!) Their hours, during the week, are 6:00 am – 2:00 pm. We got there at 1:45 pm and the place was packed! The hostess seated us and she even liked my Chuck Taylors! (How ‘bout that Kempf!) The chili was great, spicy and meaty (oyster crackers and Tabasco on the side!). The burger was exactly what you want from something called the BBQ Slaw Burger, it was a delicious mess (4 napkins!)! They’ve had everyone from Al Gore to Cedric the Entertainer as guests and I can guarantee I’ll be back. Next time I’m getting the fried chicken though, because it looked awesome!
As for Chipotle www.chipotle.com it’s a burrito restaurant chain from Denver CO. I discovered them a couple of years ago and when Tyler was in the band, we we’re eating there at least 3 or 4 times a week! For one thing, the food is great, fresh and mostly organically raised fresh guacamole, salsa and chips. For another thing, when you’re on a budget (who’s not on a budget these days, but if you are a musician, it’s a given that you are on a BUDGET!), a huge burrito fills you up for the whole day, so you don’t have to spend all your money on food (especially when you’re in Denver and you need to go to Twist and Shout www.twistandshout.com an amazing independent record store!)! We’ve eaten at the original a couple of times on 1600 East Evans (got the t-shirt too!!) Chipotle is always good. My favorite stuff is either the Carnitas Burrito or the Barbacoa Burrito, chips with the guacamole and the hot salsa and then douse the whole thing in Chipotle Tabasco! $10.00 - $12.00 for that and a drink and you’re good to go.

How to create special glasses to look at the sun.

A snapshot of life on the road finds us all piled up in a single motel room, watching a General George S Patton Jr. marathon on the History Channel. Since I’m currently reading a book about Patton, I am neglecting to tell the guys that we’ve already seen this episode earlier today…I don’t think they really care. For a guy who hates off days, this tour has had more than it’s fair share (7!!) Even Marshal commented today at sound check that it felt weird to actually be playing! At least we do 5 shows in a row starting today and then home! Lunch today at the diner in Tilton was surreal. I bet Buffy $100.00 that she couldn’t guess what I had for lunch and she guessed it immediately (hotdogs). I now owe her $100.00. How could she have known?!!?
Random thoughts from today that lead nowhere; I changed the working title of the new record today, I’m curious to hear how my friend Chris Duarte’s gig at the Tugboat in Steamboat Springs goes considering we got yelled at for 2 days about volume at that same gig and Chris plays pretty loud, I just read a face book entry from a popular guitarist who was complaining about his 18 hour BUS ride and how it just sucks the life out of him, I then read that entry to my band who are no strangers to 20 hour VAN rides (playing a gig first then driving 20 hours and then playing another gig before finding a bed) they thought he was very funny and very sad. I seem to have plenty of clean clothes left in my suitcase, but I wonder if I have enough to finish the tour without doing laundry? It’s a really beautiful day outside and I am thankful for that. I feel sorry for people who are pissed off and negative all the time, I have bouts of that from time to time and when it’s over I’m ashamed and embarrassed to be so blessed and manage to forget it to feel sorry for myself. I doubt if the people that I’m referring to will read that and realize that I’m referring to them! For 3 days we were frequenting an independent coffee shop in Rockland ME. They offered a different organic coffee each day. One day the coffee of the day was called Organic Mexican…I was required to order a large Mexican. The next day, it was Organic Ethiopian… I was required to order a large Ethiopian. I felt very international but very uncomfortable. At least at Starbucks you are ordering a Grande Pike or a Grande Komodo Dragon which sounds very exotic and not quite so “18th century slave trader”! Yes, I could have ordered a small Mexican or a small Ethiopian but I find them less stimulating or satisfying. They also had great cookies. So far on this tour, I’ve read On the Road by Jack Kerouac, Unforgivable Blackness by Geoffrey C. Ward and now I’m reading Gen. Patton by Stanley P. Hirshson. I bought a hard back copy of Alana Nash’s book about Colonel Tom Parker yesterday for $3.00 so that will probably be next. Colonel Parker was never in the military, he wasn’t an American citizen, he WAS supposedly an illegal alien, he enjoyed elephants and he managed the entire career of Elvis Presley which, by the way, was only really 20 years long! That might be an interesting argument for immigration; If Colonel Parker had been deported before guiding Elvis’ career, might we have never had rock and roll?

If you are going to eat corned beef in NYC, you are going to pay...oh yes, you are going to pay!

So it’s no secret that my major musical influence is Jimi Hendrix. He’s my “Big Bang”. My Elvis…actually, Elvis is my Elvis, but you get the idea. So we’re in New York City to play a gig at The Ace of Clubs. What’s that you say? Never heard of it? Don’t feel bad, apparently no one else has either! Anyway, we get through playing the gig and we’re hanging out with Chuck MF Lanza, the MF Mafia’s prime minister of our Northeastern Operations. We decide to go over to Electric Lady Studios to touch the door. Yes I am that “fan boy” about Jimi!) Just in case you don’t know, (and if you do, just bear with me or feel free to skip ahead to the next paragraph!)In 1970, Jimi Hendrix wanted to build a night club in NYC as a place to hang out and jam with his musician friends. This turned into deciding to put a small studio in the back of the club and then finally deciding to build the most state of the art studio in the world. 13 months of construction later, the grand opening of the studio was held on August 26, 1970. Hendrix recorded his last studio recording there and left the country fro his final European tour. He died on September 18, 1970. Given his transient lifestyle for most of his career, Electric Lady was as much of a home as he ever had and as such it’s the Hendrix version of Graceland!
We get to the studio, in the pouring rain at midnight. I mean pouring rain! Biblical rain! The front door is actually a false front and then the original door in just inside (the one I wanted to touch!) We open the door and start shooting pictures when a voice comes over the intercom; “Can I help you?” Someone’s inside! Richard answers, “We just want to come in a get a photo.” No dice. “You can take all the pictures you want…from outside.” Once I realize that someone’s home, I decide that the only acceptable end to the evening is a look inside. After 30 futile minutes of begging and cajoling and shameless name dropping (most of it accurate…most of it…) we decide to call it a night and go to the hotel. Those of you that know me well know that giving up isn’t something I’m particularly good at, so my night was spent formulating my strategy for getting in! I asked CMFL to use his contacts (he has many) and I would hit mine and between the two of us we should be able to find some kind of way inside. Yes I realize in the grand scheme of things this seems like a lot of effort for something so …so…ehh! Anyway, it’s a challenge and as I said before, I don’t do ‘give up’ very well. I won’t name drop in this part of the narrative, but CMFL reached out to the likable manager of a very famous guitarist. A person who has spent a lot of time recording in Electric Lady and should be able to pull off a private tour. “Good luck” was the response from this person (who’s identity I cannot reveal!) “You won’t get in.” Now the gauntlet has been dropped! Telling me I can’t do something is like calling Marty McFly a chicken! (You know what movie I’m referring to!). I call a record label owner in Nashville that I’ve worked with in the past (name withheld to treat all participants equally…even though HE was able to come through better than the manager for the famous guitarist, from the 1970’s rock band…I can’t tell!!!) Lo and behold, we get an invitation from the studio manager (super nice guy! From Tennessee!! Lee Foster! His name is on the website, so figure it’ ok to say his name since he was so gracious.) We go back to the studio with CMFL and the SHB in full force and get to see studio A, the wall mural in the hallway and both restrooms, all still in the original condition from when Jimi was here! Because of a recording session, we couldn’t do more than just peek our heads into the studio, but it was enough for me…for now! The original plaque bearing the name of the studio, the VIBE!!! The list of musicians that have recorded in this place is endless. Billy Idol, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, even famous 1970’s rock band KISS, whose original guitarist was ACE FREHLEY! It's an endless list to be sure. I was so awestruck by finally getting the chance to check out a place that I’ve always wanted to see. I just wish Buff had been with me (of course, I know my baby, she would have been looking at me going, “yeah babe, that’s nice.” and thinking, “How much longer are we going to have to be here?”) Now I’ve got to figure out how to record there…hmmmmm.

Why you always pack long pants.

One week into the North East leg of the tour and things are going good. Except of course that no one here got the memo that winter is over!!! 41 degrees today and rain! We’ve had some really great shows, especially in some of the new areas like Mount Airy NC (birthplace of the Andy Griffith Show & home of Snappy Lunch and the greatest pork chop sandwich in the world!)). I could do without the land of toll booths. In DC, we went (at 11:00pm) to see the White House. My first time ever in 20 years of touring! We walked around the entire perimeter and Milburn got yelled at by the White House police for his “street gymnastics”, apparently not a welcome addition to the stately environs of our nation’s capitol! We also, earlier in the day visited the graveside of Roy Buchanan, one of the best guitarists I’ve ever heard (no you can’t find his grave without asking, so don’t bother trying.). Really enjoyed the gig at Bangkok Blues and hope we get invited back! This is a great job to have, I highly recommend it! Our needs are simple; electricity (to power Tim Obrien’s monstrous red beauty of course), room to set up and just stand back! Tonight is Red Bank NJ and it’s Cinco de Mayo so, even though it’s an acoustic show (…shhhhh…), gird your collective loins Jersey! Special thanks to Andy Jones for a stellar new fret job on #1! (I will call you soon to brag Andy, I promise!)
Tour Fuel (so far): Jeff Beck @ Ronnie Scott’s DVD, Motley Crue (Shout at the Devil and Dr. Feelgood), Aerosmith’s first record, Miles Davis’ Tribute To Jack Johnson (the boxer not the surfer), Jane’s Addiction DVD, Frank’s Pizza, Doyle Bramhall II live at the Great Wall Of China, Pearl Jam’s Ten, Krazy Glue, always Jimi, and the ‘bucks of course (yeah caffeine!!!) I am living on Starbuck’s oatmeal and dreams at the moment!

Pork, the other white meat

So, sitting at a traffic light today, in my hometown, I notice a gas station that has raised their price of regular unleaded gas to $2.05. On the same sign, they are advertising a sausage and biscuit for $1.99. If you ride a bicycle, the biscuit would probably energize you for a couple of hours and you could get exercise as you make your way. $.06 stands between your choice of a gallon of gas or a nourishing meal.

The sword and the saucer

This tour has been like a screaming rollercoaster! One of those rollercoaster’s that they have in horror movies, with flaming skulls painted on the sides of the cars and barbed wire for seat belts and the operator is an old disfigured man with a maniacal laugh that haunts you in your nightmares for years after you’ve escaped…sorry, I got carried away. I haven’t time to really sit still, much less blog, so I’ve got a lot to tell. We started in Rogers AR about 30 years ago…(or at least 2 weeks ago). Great shows in Rogers, we saw Jeff and Trina and got our traditional post show photo in front of the van (different drummer every time!). Then we drove 19 hours to Salt Lake City UT. As a side note, did you know that the Starbucks in Rock Springs WY closes at 6:00pm!?! Great shows at The Sun & Moon Café, always a pleasure to play there. We visited Steamboat Springs and discovered that sometimes we’re just too loud…sometimes…nah! Paonia CO was another unexpected surprise. Great Mexican food and the gig, while a small turnout, proved to be a real fun experience. So much so that, since we were off the next day, they invited us to play the next night also. We went for a hike in the hills during the day and tried to kill the band with thin air and long climbs! Jake’s Roadhouse in Arvada was the best time we’ve EVER had there. A couple of days hanging out in Boulder CO, and then it was off to The Buckhorn Bar in Laramie WY, another favorite place of the SHB. Cunningham Journal in Kearney NE was a blast, Blues on Grand in Des Moines is always a fantastic place to play, thanks Jeff! Sioux City and Davenport IA were a couple of wonderful stops. On our way to Minneapolis, we stopped of in Clearlake IA and paid our respects at the crash site of Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper and Buddy Holly. 40 mile an hour winds and really cold temperature made it a short visit, but we decided to drive by the Surf Ballroom, where the last gig of the Winter Dance Party was played, and get a picture. We got there and discovered that the place was open and we got to go in and look around. Checked out the dressing room, the stage and all the memorabilia. Richard ran into a really nice guy named Wayne that worked there and after explaining who we were, he gave us a great tour that included a piano played by Duke Ellington, the Pepsi machine that Waylon Jennings used and the phone booth that Buddy used on that fateful night to call his wife. An awesome stop and a great treat.
So now we’re in Minneapolis. Last night we went to Shaw’s, Bunker’s and Nick & Eddie. Some of our favorite places to hang and listen to music. So to sum up the trip so far, it’s been play music, Mexican food, drive, play music, Mexican food, drive, play music, breakfast at Starbucks, drive, play music, pizza, drive, sleep, play music, record store, Mexican food, play music, drive. Seems easy when you say it like that…

American Idol cancels season!

So far the tour’s going good, we’ve done 5 shows so far and the first one, in Rogers AR, seems like a million years ago. That’s one thing about the road; time just absolutely stops making any kind of sense. One day feels like a year and a week can seem like 20 minutes. We did a radio show a little while ago. Check it out at www.kvnf.org I’m in a really nice room right now, with internet for only the second time on the whole trip and I’m looking at a fake mustache. It was here when we got here, but it’s disturbing nonetheless.
What’s the deal with fake mustaches anyway? Does anyone ever really wear them with the intention of trying to make you think that they’ve actually grown a mustache? I think most actors these days actually grow whatever facial hair is required for the role. I bet that was really Kurt Russell’s mustache in Tombstone. I was in a major motion picture once and I didn’t wear a fake mustache. Of course, my character was; “Scott Holt, guitarist with Buddy Guy” and in my research for the role, I learned that “Scott Holt” didn’t have a mustache; just an unfortunate shaggy haircut that I thought looked fine at the time. I don’t know for sure, but this particular fake mustache doesn’t look real. Of course it’s not in its natural habitat (on some guy’s lip…or unfortunate woman’s lip for that matter); it’s just lying on the table. Mocking me with its faux importance. As if to say, “I am a fake mustache! I might have come here from Hollywood for all you know!” What if the last person who stayed in this room was a spy of some sort and the mustache was part of their disguise? Maybe this was the room for their stakeout and when the mission was over, they forgot to pack the fake mustache away in its special spy carrying case. Usually when you see someone in a movie using a fake mustache, they have a case with all sorts of fake facial hair pieces. I think a good disguise would be to completely cover your whole head in fake hair. Then no matter who you came in contact with, they wouldn’t be able to tell it was you! Like cousin It on The Addams Family. I once saw a guy wearing a Darth Vader helmet and it was impossible to tell who it was. No, before you ask yourself out loud, that wasn’t all he was wearing, he had clothes on but he was wearing the Darth Vader helmet…on his head. It could have been anybody! Jerry Lewis, Elvis, Barbara Stanwick, the guy that plays Benjamin Linus on Lost, Pat Sajak or Nipsey Russell, (I’m not sure if Nipsey Russell is still alive or not, but he was always great on game shows with Paul Lynde and Charles Nelson Reilly). Match Game, Cross Wits, What’s My Line. I’m not to sure that The Darth Vader helmet would be a good disguise though, unless you were at a Star Wars convention. The only one in my band that doesn’t have facial hair is Marshal. I think I’m going to ask him to try on the fake mustache and see if I can still recognize him. I bet I can.

If you'll suck my soul, I'll lick your funky emotions

So Saturday night, we’re driving back from Gulf Port Mississippi. The temp there is 65 degrees. Buff keeps telling me that there are winter storm warnings for our area (about 7 hours north) and a 30 degree difference in temperature. We get to Tuscaloosa AL and there’s no precipitation or anything, just really cold. Tuscaloosa is about 3 ½ hours from home so I figure we have this ride just about licked. Marshal takes over driving and I’m in the front seat riding shotgun. I fall asleep around 2:00 am and wake up at about 4:00. When I open my eyes, I see what looks like low hanging limbs coming over the side of the road and it looks like we’re drifting into them! My mind, which is still pretty groggy, thinks that Marshal’s fallen asleep and we’re about to wreck. I don’t even turn to check if this is the case, I just grab his shoulder and start yelling, “AAAHHHHHHH!!!” Marshal, who is NOT asleep, starts yelling back “AAHHHH! Shut Up! Shut Up! Shut Up!” For a good 5 or 10 seconds, we’re both yelling at the same time “AAAHHHHH!”
What I didn’t realize in my groggy condition was that it had been snowing HARD for about the last 2 hours and the road was invisible. The snow was coming down so hard that if you looked straight out the windshield you’d become disoriented from the golf ball sized snowflakes coming directly at you. Marshal had been driving in this crap for 2 hours with a death grip on the steering wheel with everyone in the van asleep. Then out of nowhere, I wake up, grab his arm and start yelling “AAAAHHHHHHH!” While it wasn’t funny at the time, I’m cracking up right now as I type this! It was like a scene from Planes, Trains & Automobiles or something.

Springsteen attacks camera with crotch at Super Bowl!

This weekend we played a great gig at Darwin’s in Marietta GA. The highlight for me was seeing my friend and former band mate, Drew Wiseman. I’ve been thinking a lot about that band lately; Chris Kent, Derek Wiseman & Drew Wiseman. Along with Bobby Inman, they were my first real version of the SHB and truly a musical force of nature. Chris is still playing. Having played with Take 6 and Larry Carlton, he’s currently on the road with Lorrie Morgan. I think he and Derek occasionally play gigs together in and around Nashville. Drew moved from Nashville, where we were all based, to Marietta and it’s just a shame that we didn’t get to let more people hear how great they were. I was truly the weakest musician in that band and I’ve always preferred that, because that’s how you learn, grow and elevate. I just had to keep up! If you check out the tracks I’ve posted on MySpace, you’ll get a small idea of what we were up to in those days. That particular show (August 16, 1998 at 3rd & Lindsley Bar & Grill) was a record release party for my first record, “Messing With The Kid” and was being broadcast live on the radio. With a limited amount of time to play, we were playing the songs pretty straight. If, however, you were ever at one of our Nashville gigs, you know that the songs were just launching pads for some incredible jams. Sets could stretch to 4 hours! It was an incredible ride to be on. These weren’t rehearsed gigs, I was touring with Buddy Guy and the rest of the guys were gigging or doing day gigs and the only time we really even saw each other was maybe 30 minutes before the gig. A rehearsal might go something like this;
Me: “hey Derek, have you ever heard that Stevie Wonder song I Wish?”
Derek: “Sure”
And then we’d hit the stage and open with it. Everything was head cues and nods and those guys were such amazing talents that they smiled all the time and everything seemed effortless. I’ve been blessed to know and play with some incredible musicians in my career, but it’s only after time passes that I’ve realized how incredibly blessed I was to have those guys for my first band. This year marks my 20th year in the business, you’d think that kind of anniversary might merit some sort of special gig or something huh?...stay tuned!

Old timey tales

You know how sometimes you remember something from you past and you wonder if it was really as good as you remember or if you’re sugar coating it in some way? A friend of mine gave us a recording of the original SHB (Derek Wiseman, Drew Wiseman and Chris Kent) and you know what? It was better than I remember. Stay tuned…

Death from Above!

Just something for us to ponder while the glow of a new administration takes charge. There are still horrifying events taking place in the world daily. As a case in point, I reprint this excerpt from a newspaper in Hudson County NJ;

Flaming squirrel ignites car in Bayonne
by N. Clark Judd
Thursday October 18, 2007, 7:29 PM
It's Rocky the Frying Squirrel!
A kamikaze squirrel fell from the sky and detonated a Bayonne woman's car yesterday, police said today.
Lindsey Millar, 23, and her brother, Tony, 22, were both home Wednesday at about 12:45 p.m. when Lindsey's car suddenly started burning outside their 42nd Street home.
Tony Millar said firefighters told them it was the work of a buck-toothed saboteur that had been gnawing on overhead power lines connected to a transformer directly above the 2006 Toyota Camry.
"The squirrel chewed through the wire, was set on fire, fell down directly to where the car was," Tony Millar said. "The squirrel, on fire, slid into the engine compartment and blew up the car."They're always coming around here, chewing through the garbage," he added.
Tony Millar says his sister was fully insured.

Mr. President, I ask you, when will America’s skies be free from the tyranny of these dreaded flaming beasts of prey? At least she was fully insured!

A New Dawn...

What a weekend! On Thursday, we got to open for Buddy Guy at Legends (first time I have ever done that). My band played great. Full of fire and just pounding out that always wicked groove. We had some of our fans/friends in the audience flying the SHB colors and even calling out some of our songs! The standing ovation at the end was an amazing gift to me and the guys. The only drag part was that everyone was so excited that they forgot to mention the merch we had for sale! We’ve got new hats by the way, guaranteed to fit your head. After our set I got to introduce the man himself. I tried to channel my inner Steve Harvey from the Kings of Comedy film. Two of my MF brothers Keith and Kempf came up with us and we spent the weekend in Chicago hanging out and watching Buddy’s shows. What a treat to get to see a legend, on his home turf, just tearing it up every night. Buddy was kind enough to let me jam on Friday and Saturday night and just getting to hang out in the dressing room with him before the shows and hang out at the bar afterwards was worth the trip. As always, everyone at Legends and everybody in the Buddy Guy band and crew was just completely awesome with their kindness and hospitality. During the day, Keith, Kempf and I hit Jazz Record Mart, Chess studios and did our best to eat way too much; Heaven on Seven, Frontera Grill, Carmine’s, Hugo’s Frog Bar, House of Blues and Giordano’s for pizza before we caught the flight home.
Like every trip I ever make, the best part was seeing Buffy on the porch and hugging her and my daughter. I’m never home until that happens.

The best way to sharpen your Samurai sword!

The holidays are over now and the time has come to get back into the saddle! 2008 was a great year for us here at the SHB; we played more shows this year than ever before thanks to the hard work and supreme effort of Road Dawg Touring and Doug Tackett. This year we set some kind of record by going through 3 drummers in 18 months! Our friend and SHB family member, Tom Larson, left us in September of last year. He was followed by the very capable drumming of our friend and fellow SHB family member Tyler Crowell. When a medical situation forced him to step down, we were lucky enough to reach out to our old friend Marshal Weaver who has been holding it down for us ever since. We are so grateful to all of our fans and friends who have continued to support us and allow us to do what we love to do. I’m grateful that even with all of the great outpouring of offers from drummers all over the world who wanted to audition for the gig, we have alumni who are willing to comeback and plug back in!
So what’s coming in ’09? Everything will change and everything will stay the same! We are working on a new studio record tentatively titled “Sex and Violets”, a live “bootleg” (tentatively titled “Loud Is Good Vol.1”) that will be available at shows and eventually via download, and a DVD project that we’ve been working on for the better part of the last two years. We are focusing this year on a newer, better show for the fans and a more focused approach to doing what we do to try and inspire a sense of peace and harmony through music. The world is in a state of change that we are all a part of. Our choice as citizens of the world is whether we’ll be ‘pro-active’ or‘re-active’. Either way, it’s coming!
On the live tip, we start the year opening for my old boss Buddy Guy in Chicago on Jan.15 at Legends. If you haven’t made plans to attend, I hope you can make it out to see us. It will be something! I’m looking forward to the gig and can’t wait for the bell to ring so we can get started on 2009. We’ll be covering most of the US this year, doing some long awaited East Coast dates, and making it back out to the West Coast before the year is through. On behalf of Richard, Marshal, Milburn and myself, we look forward to seeing you all soon!

4th Annual Have a Blue Christmas

The 4th annual Have a Blues Christmas was a great success. We had a great night thanks to the hard work and effort of Keith MF Throneberry. I could write an entire blog about how much effort and energy he puts into making this thing run perfectly. It’s frustrating not to be able to let people see what all goes into this thing but suffice to say the planning starts in January for the gig in December!
This year in addition to Ms. Natalie Stovall and my band with special guest Hodge Cook, we had Civil Service open the show. Xtreme 4X4, as always organized and staffed the event. What a great group of people! Everyone donates their time and talent for free to make sure that all of the money raised makes it to the charity. The food was BBQ by Scott Simms. It was, without a doubt, the best BBQ I have ever had. That includes 20 years of trips to Texas, KC, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and everywhere else that creates my smoky drug of choice! The silent auction was filled with contributions from local artists including my wife, who has recently picked up painting again after not doing it for a long time. Her work is amazing and I hope that you all get a chance to see it at some point. (First I have to stop claiming all her paintings as mine before see has a chance to show them publicly!) We also had guitars signed by Hubert Sumlin as well as members of The Time, Gov’t Mule, Susan Tedeschi, New York Dolls, The Band, Chris Duarte and others. Thanks for the guitars go to Tim O’Brien and the MF Mafia’s Renaissance man Chuck MF Lanza. The total raised was $11,000.00! That’s amazing considering the state of our economy, but don’t get me started!
We had friends from all over come in for the gig. We were thrilled and surprised to see our dear friends Jeff and Trina from Kansas, better people don’t exist. Roger from Chattanooga was there, Uncle Wayne and a host of Holts, Kempf MF Poole and most special for me was my mom who gets to see me play about once every 4 years! Everybody who came out was special and important and I deeply appreciate everyone who contributed and donated time, money, effort, energy and prayers.
As with every year that we’ve done this, I wish I’d played better, I wish the night had gone a little slower so that I could enjoy seeing everyone and visiting with everyone. This thing builds like a snowball going down the side of mountain and by the time we hit it’s roaring so fast and furious that there’s nothing to do but hang on. My thing aside though, we raised money for kids who otherwise might not get a Christmas present this year. Our local newspaper, The Daily Herald, raises the money through a Community Christmas Card fund that collects money from donations and then sends vouchers out to families for kids to buy a toy. The vouchers can only be used for the kids, so it guarantees that they’ll have something for Christmas. Keith and I chose this as our charity 4 years ago when we decided to do something at Christmas to benefit the community. I read in the paper this morning that, even with our contribution the goal for the charity is going to fall about $9,000.00 short of the $50,000.00 total that they were hoping for. I wish we could’ve gotten them closer, but I am so proud of what everyone gave that it’s impossible to have that as a regret. Thank you to everyone that gave, worked, attended or just sent up prayers for us this year. We literally couldn’t have done without you. We are all truly blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving!

So Thanksgiving…I love the holiday. Not my favorite, that would be Christmas! It’s my wife’s favorite holiday and that would be enough for me, but I truly do love the concept. A day that is designated to give thanks. No gifts, no cards, no forced salutations, just thanks. I have so much to be thankful for. First the obvious; my wife of 17 years, she’s the most beautiful, sexy, desirable, intelligent, artistic, inspiring person I’ve ever known and I’m blessed to be in her presence. 17 years! My God! That’s a long time!! With her, it seems like a day. My daughter, (my daughter!!!!!) an amazing entity of such incredible light and soul, she is an endless well of knowledge and eternal learning for me. My friends; Keith, Kempf, Chuck, Richard, Jeff, Will, Phil, Cody, Tim, Dino, Marshal, Tyler, Mark…the list goes on for an embarrassingly long time. I’m rich with friends. My band, our fans, and an entire constellation of people that have no idea how important they are to our very being… to my very being.
We spent the last 2 days in one of my favorite cities; Minneapolis. Why do I love Minneapolis? Sub-zero temperatures? NO! 1,000 miles away from Tennessee? NO! Second greatest record store on the planet? Maybe... but, I truly love Minneapolis because they’ve adopted me. They’ve adopted us. They’ve adopted the SHB. We have so many great friends there and every time I see a Minneapolis gig on the books, I’m excited. My friend/amp builder Tim O’Brien lives there. I say “friend/amp builder” only because I want the world to know about O’Brien amps!!! It’s always a blast to hang out with him. I get to see and jam with my friend Jellybean Johnson. Here’s a little inside scoop, I’m a big fan of Jellybean’s. I grew up knowing who he was as the drummer for the Time, one of my favorite bands. I saw Purple Rain in the theatre like 4 times! You should see it at least twice. He produced Black Cat for Janet Jackson. That’s one of the greatest guitar riffs of all time. To think that I would ever reach a point in my life where someone I admired actually knew who I was is amazing…oh wait, I’m friends with Buddy Guy! Another amazing blessing! This trip was our second visit to a new friend’s Nick & Eddie. What a place! Amazing food, an amazing environment, an amazing jukebox, an amazing proprietor, what more could you ask for? Doug is a great guy with a passion for and knowledge of music. We have a ball at his establishment and I know that any band would be fortunate to play there. To make it even better, my dear friend Dino made the drive from Wausau and hung with us for the show. Wise one that he is, he left before Marshal and I tested Tim’s rock & roll legs by keeping him out until 5:00 am. Thanks to Joe and Heather’s lovely hospitality, we were eating spaghetti and s'mores at 4:00am! That’s rock and roll!! In the moment, you’re rarely aware. I find this true in almost every situation. It takes being on the road for me to appreciate how immaculately important my time with my girls is. It takes time off to realize how imperative and intrinsic making music is to me. I am grateful for every second that God see’s fit to keep me here. I try every day to remind myself not to take a second for granted. That is hard! We’re all the same, we get irritated, or petulant, but it’s all so small. The person that ‘cut you off’ isn’t of the devil, the one that takes up your space or encroaches on your territory isn’t the evil one, and they’re just us at another point. This Thanksgiving I will visit with family that I don’t see nearly enough. The food will be amazing, the conversation will, at points, be “interesting”, and yet I’ll find it hard to say, in the moment, “I truly love all of you and I love this moment”. What a shame that I can know that short-coming in advance. My friends and family are my most treasured blessings. I truly love them all and value each moment that I’m with them. Thanksgiving…thank you God for all of your blessings…even the ones I’m too embarrassed to say out loud!

Mitch Mitchell

Wednesday night is date night. It’s a sacred night between me and Buffy that never gets disturbed. Tonight, I got a voicemail from my dear friend Chuck. It said, simply, “I’m sure you’ve heard, give me a call tomorrow“. That is a signal that something major has happened. I hit the MSN homepage and discover the Mitch Mitchell has passed. Time seemed to stop. Mitch is an intrinsic part of me and my career. The music that made want to play guitar was a song by Jimi Hendrix. Mitch played on that song, and on most of the songs I heard after that. The song was Purple Haze from the soundtrack to the documentary , “Jimi Hendrix”, it was from the1969 Royal Albert Hall concert and Mitch was the drummer. From that point on he had an indelible effect on my life. Flash-forward to 1998, I’m offered the chance to record with Billy Cox and Mitch Mitchell with Eddie Kramer producing. I leap at it and we record Dark Of The Night. We were scheduled to rehearse at SIR in Nashville and I was warned not mention Hendrix around Mitch. “He’ll go crazy and probably refuse to play!” was the description I got. We met for the first time and started to play a very, very mundane, bland, blues groove that had as much soul as a jar of mayonnaise. We played for a few minutes and in my mind I was wondering if it wouldn’t be better to just give up on this idea! We stopped and as I was tuning my guitar, Mitch played the drum intro to Spanish Castle Magic. I fell in at the appropriate spot and Billy was right there. 8 bars later, I’m horrified! I’ve screwed up! Mitch will storm off the set now! I turned to the drum riser, and there’s Mitch, peeking from behind his glasses, “ I was testing you!” From that point on we were mates. I knew that he knew that I loved the music. After that period, Mitch stayed in Nashville for a time and when I would play in town, he’d peak around the door of the dressing room, periodically “Hello Scott! How are you mate?” For me, that’s the price of admission right there!
Mitch and I lost track of each other for a few years. I kept up with him in the news, but we just didn’t cross paths musically.
This last month, Keith MF Throneberry and I went to Louisville KY to see the Experience Hendrix tour. We spent the whole afternoon trying to find a bottle of Knob Creek for Mitch! (Now ya know Mitch!)I was looking forward to seeing Buddy, but our MF friend Chuck had been hanging out with Mitch and had told me that he was looking forward to seeing me, so it gave me an extra amount of excitement to think that my old friend might remember me! Mitch was amazing. I’ve shaved my head and lost 40 pounds since we last saw each other, and the first encounter, he had no idea who I was, but when I said, “ Mitch, it’s me Scott.” his eyes lit up and he hugged me and made me feel so awesome! He turned and whispered something to Eric Gales. Eric’s eyes grew wide and he said, “ He just paid you a very high compliment!“ I have no idea what Mitch said, (probably something about how cool my scarf looked!), but it was enough to know that Mitch thought of me at all! That night, he made the whole show about his joy and I felt it. He danced and shimmied across the stage and I know from reports that that had been a common theme for the whole tour, so maybe in some way, that was his farewell tour. I don’t know, I wish he was still here! He was the rock and roll Elvin Jones (look it up kids, it’ll do ya good!!) What a guy! I miss him so much already! I never met his family, but my prayers go out to them and for what it’s worth, their fathers art and soul will live in me and my playing. If you’re a drummer and you don’t know Mitch Mitchell, you don’t know shit.

George W. Bush says, "Screw it, I'm not leaving!"

Well Buff and I early voted yesterday! I am so glad. My civic duty and constitutional rights were exercised to their fullest. I am one proud motherf***in’ American baby! Now all of you can stop sending me your emails proclaiming the “opponent of who you think I’m voting for” to be the anti-Christ. Make no mistake, my collection of friends comes from both sides of the aisle, from Wall Street and Main Street (I am so tired of hearing that phrase, aren’t you?) and I get emails from both sides. I don’t like any of them (the emails I mean, I love my friends very much). Friends, loved ones, strangers who have had their emails forwarded to me, you are not going to change my vote, as I make my decision based on information not gathered exclusively from the internet. As a side note, I’d like to point out that just because something appears on the internet, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s true. Just a quick skim of the recent internet headlines that are obviously false; Keith Richards snorts his dad’s ashes, the whole Joe the plumber thing (who cares if he’s a real plumber?) the story that Tina Fey has actually been briefed by the Secret Service in the event that McCain/Palin wins the election to serve as a decoy and of course the whole Jennifer Aniston/John Mayer thing, like that could be real, (for obvious reasons)!
One of our wisest speakers and voices of conscience, Mr. Bernie Mac, in reference to the Y2K scare once said; “Ya’ll was scared like a muthaf****r! Ya’ll thought ya’ll was sure enough gonna be dead come 12:00. Buying all the sardines, potted meat, and water. Stop believing everything you read! Believe in yourself! I don’t believe in s**t until s**t happens.”
In this election year, just remember that every candidate is telling you what they’ll do for you to get your vote. Every candidate is telling you what’s wrong with the other side and why if you vote for them it will be the total destruction of our civilization. I recommend you use my proven vetting system. Go into your local Republican headquarters and your local Democratic headquarters. Ask for a McCain/Palin t-shirt and an Obama/Biden t-shirt. When they start to charge you for them, tell them that if they give it to you for free, you’ll vote for their candidate. Best case scenario; both headquarters say “no” (because that would be wrong) and you find a small glimmer of honesty in politics. Worst case scenario; you get one or two free t-shirts that you can sell on eBay, to help cover your share of the 700 billion dollar bailout!
I will say on a slightly serious tip, that I do have one dear friend on the opposite side of the fence that I discuss politics with. He’s the only person that I’m able to talk about it without him getting upset or angry or him making me angry, (although I have said some outlandish things trying to get him off his game!) The discussion is important. We don’t do enough of it in this country. Everybody (me included) says, “I’m not going to discuss my political or my religious beliefs because it’s no one’s business but mine.” True enough, but dialogue (not ranting but debate) is the most ancient and honorable way we humans have to communicate and try to enlighten each other. The other person may not ever see things your way, but at least they might gain a better understanding of who you are as person and understanding makes love more possible, not less. I realize now having written this that this is the point of this whole blog and I wish I had opened with it, because I know some of you will see the first few lines about politics and immediately delete this! At least that what somebody wrote recently. I hope not. Every blog that comes from my two fingers, (I took typing in high school! But you should see my wife type man! That girl can go! All her fingers baby! And they’re sexy fingers too!) Is about love. Postivity. We need more of it everywhere. If you laugh when you read something from here, forward it to a friend you haven’t talked to in a while and just say, “Just thought about you and thought this would make you smile! Love, ….” What’s it gonna hurt? God bless each of you and may God continue to bless America!