John McCain is really Old Man Withers from the haunted amusement park!

Now that the Western leg of our 2008 tour is done, I’m finally able to find some semi-fond memories of our time in Sturgis! The heat, the flies (they bite!!), the rain, the dust, no showers for 3 days, 4 guys sleeping in a van for 3 days…ahh what a time! I was recently reading a music magazine, and they were interviewing some rock bands about touring during the summer, doing festivals. Basically, it came down to this; they get paid a lot of money, play short sets, tour on nice buses and play to huge crowds…and, according to them, it’s a pain in the ass!
Here’s the other side of the coin, (not bragging by any means, just putting some muthaf***in’ perspective on things!) We started our last tour leg in Jackson MO, played 4 hours, and drove overnight, straight through to Sturgis (14 hours). Due to the bike rally, there were no hotel rooms being provided by the gigs (…umm riiiight…) We finally find and check into a room at the Motel 6 in Rapid City (30 miles from Sturgis), paying double what we normally pay for a Motel 6 room, (remember, 4 guys, one room) effectively taking our entire motel budget for the week. This will be the last bed, last shower, last real comfort we have for the next 4 days. We proceed, over the course of the next 4 days to play 4 outdoor shows, in varying weather conditions (one night’s super hot, the next night has a rain storm with 80 mile an hour winds…)to sometimes less than enthusiastic crowds. Actually, while there were some small crowds, (one night very small!) there was only one sort of less than enthusiastic crowd on the last night, and that’s just because we were too loud…at a motorcycle rally…outside…too loud…bike rally…get it? The way the average day (if there is such a thing) works is this; you load-in in the afternoon, working up a decent sweat, play the gig (usually four hours), load out at the end of the night, get in the van and drive to a parking lot somewhere to go to sleep, sleep until you run out of positions that aren’t so numb you can’t fall asleep, get up, trying to get out of the van by crawling over everyone else and try not wake them up (although they’re not really asleep either), brush your teeth with a bottle of water in said parking lot, change shirts in said parking lot, find coffee and try to get through the next several hours before the next load-in. In the warm weather, you seek out places to loiter that are air-conditioned; malls, coffee shops, libraries, gun stores, etc. At one point Marshal and I went to the movies essentially to “buy” 3 hours of air-conditioning! After the last show, we drive 8 hours, overnight to the next gig in Nebraska, where we had to wait for the hotel rooms because of a mix-up in the reservations! We did make it into the rooms eventually and let me tell you showers never felt so good! Remember, that’s just the first week! We still had 2 more to go. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, we were threatened with jail (!)by a club owner (hereafter known as jack “Q” ass) when we asked to be paid after playing an extra 2 hours at his request ( I will write about this creature in a future blog when I can figure out how to fully describe his repugnance without revealing his true identity, but trust me this guy was a real piece of work…he’s probably in jail as we speak!), we had the rear view mirror knocked of the van in a hit and run situation in Denver, we played multiple gigs some days, at one gig we loaded in, came back to the gig that night and had to tear down and move all of the stuff to another room, had another 22 hour drive…I could go on, but the point is during the entire 3 ½ weeks, no one complained. No one bitched about the lack of rooms, the lack of showers, the long drives, the little money, and the long nights of playing whether people were listening or not, nobody in the SHB whined at all! This isn’t acceptance of the situation, none of us, (me included), doesn’t want more of everything, more comfort, more money, more guitars, more attention, better shows, more people, etc. This is very much the art of being a warrior in a campaign. You get up every morning, prepare for battle and go to war. When you lay your head down at night, you know you were true to yourself, your art and your fans. Duct tape and Krazy Glue become your best friends. You learn to live on 4 or 5 hours of sleep per night (sometimes not all in a row!). You learn that while three square meals a day is great, you can live on one (or sometimes none!). Sometimes, you don’t get a motel for the night and you might think, “Any motel is better than no motel!”, then you get a motel that blows that theory out of the water!
I know that everything is relative and I’ve been in the “tour bus/four star hotel” situation and I definitely cried about the bad catering, bad view from the terrace of my suite or that the water in the dressing room wasn’t chilled, but having been there and then been truly blessed by God to have the reality check of having all of that taken away and find that none of that was why I do what I do, and that not only could I live without that stuff, in some ways I’m better off! That’s not to say I’m not trying to work my ass off to get it all back and then some, but it’s important to me to know that my aim is true. I know for a fact that there are plenty of musicians out there on the road, leaving blood on the stage every night doing what they believe in, whether they’re being rewarded financially or materially or not, they are being rewarded spiritually. My supreme respect is given to those fellow warriors for the love of Music. We didn’t invent this life, we just live it.
Life on the road, in any capacity, is life in a bubble. You are surrounded at all times by an almost static environment and whatever that environment is becomes your reality. Things make a sort of bizarre sense, because it’s all your really know. I learned from Buddy Guy who in his career has traveled, with a full band, in a car to the deep south on bald tires, had guns pulled on him, been cheated out of his pay, been pulled over and hauled before the judge by Mississippi cops in the middle of the night, seen people killed while he was playing and had to keep playing! I learned from his stories about legends like Earl Hooker, who while trying to entice workers in a field to come to that night’s performance, was ordered at gunpoint to, “pick up a hoe!” The road is littered with cautionary tales that transcend success. Elvis, Hank Williams and Robert Johnson all died basically scared and alone. Those are just three names that you might have heard of. There are plenty who didn’t gain that kind of notoriety who met similar fates. So to the new breed, I say, “what’s the matter, your Xbox 360 not working right? iPhone got you down? Are your free guitars not showing up in tune?” Shut the hell up and play!
As I finish this, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a few of the “excellent” things that happened on tour; My friend Chuck MF Lanza and his lovely wife met up with us in Denver, I got to hang out with Buddy for an hour or so one night, my friend Kempf MF Poole came out and traveled with us for 10 days or so, we ate at the original Chipotle’s twice, met a bunch of our old friends across the country and made some new ones, discovered a new favorite beer in Salt Lake City, saw The Dark Knight for a fourth time in Denver on the IMAX screen, I finally found Jason & The Scorchers first album on CD at Twist & Shout, went hiking, made amazing music with two very dear friends, got to play loud at least 92% of the time, I even got to play my “big amp” on the last day of the tour, and then got to come home to my girls! I am truly truly blessed!

Phil Guy

I first met Phil Guy on Buddy Guy’s record, Stone Crazy. Stone Crazy is one of my favorite records. It has Ray “Killer” Allison playing drums, and it has Phil Guy playing rhythm guitar. For guitar players that want to under stand accompaniment, Phil’s performance on this record alone, is a text book for what to play. During the ten years that I was with Buddy, I crossed paths with Phil a lot of times. Particularly during the January shows at Legends when he would come up near the end of the night and jam with the band. I will always associate Turn On Your Love Light with Phil Guy! I love Buddy with all my heart and, having a brother myself, I can’t imagine what he’s going through right now, but I know that while none of us are here forever, we are blessed to have had Phil for the short time that we did. My prayers go out to Buddy and his family and I know that the music in heaven is a little sweeter (and a lot funkier!) now.

Nude photos of Karl Rove

Today is Saturday, August 16, 2008. This is the 31st anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley. When I found out about Elvis dying, I was at home, after school, watching Gilligan’s Island on television. In the old days, TV stations only ran a scroll across the bottom of the screen when something really momentous was happening; like a man walking on the moon, or to announce the death of the King of Rock and Roll. (Yeah that’s right I said the King!) These days, it seems like every channel has a scroll going 24/7. Looks kind of like:…AP/Senator John McCain says he will reduce taxes by 1,000% in his first six months as President…AP/ Senator Barak Obama has 2 eggs for breakfast…AP/Filmmaker Oliver Stone has not died today, he was just napping…AP/ AAA predicts gas prices will level off as we near November…AP/ “The Dark Knight is the greatest movie of all time, or at least 2008!”, says guitarist Scott Holt… We live in a world of 24 hour a day information overload. Look at Fox or CNN and you see at least one or two talking heads, a scroll across the bottom of the screen, text to the left or right of the screen recapping whatever you missed while you were trying to read the stuff at the bottom, and you’re still not sure exactly what the hell’s going on. When I was a kid, my dad would come home from work, read the evening papers (we had two; The Nashville Banner and the Daily Herald) and watch the news at 6:00pm and 10:00pm. And that was it! Anything else that might happen just had to wait for the one morning paper, (The Tennessean) to come out. I think it’s good to have a 24 hour news channel when something major happens, like war or some crisis that we need to be made aware of, but a couple of days ago in the hotel room we had CNN on and at least 6 hours that it was on were devoted to John Edwards affair. Not exactly the same in my book as the war in Iraq, Oil prices, the election, Darfur or the Russian/Georgia conflict! I don’t agree with people having affairs, but I really think that’s between him, his mistress, his wife and the very large fancy couch that I’m sure he’s sleeping on now! They only had about 45 seconds on about the Bigfoot those guys killed in Georgia. I knew that was a bunch of crap. If it had really been a Bigfoot, why would they kill it? They could just make friends with it and get their own reality show. I believe in Bigfoot. Why not? It could happen. I also believe in the Loch Ness Monster, Yeti’s, I believe that aliens created the pyramids in Egypt, and the animal drawings in Central America. I believe Oswald was framed and Jim Morrison faked his death. Why not? If none of that stuff is true, it doesn’t hurt anybody, so who cares?

Scott Holt in the house

Sturgis...the final chapter

Today is the 4th and last gig for us in Sturgis and we decided to come over to one of our old haunts Deadwood for the day. We haven’t been here since we used to play at Saloon #10 back a hundred years or more. I’ve always liked this town. Too bad it’s so freaking far away from the rest of the known world! We came here for years until HBO started the series and then we never came back! It was frustrating to be seeing a show about a town that we’d spent so much time in and not be able to go see the actual sites. Yes, I know, you say, “Well why don’t you just go there on vacation or something?” The answer is simple, I travel for a living…not for fun…neither driving nor flying nor taking the train makes a difference. I’m also funny about going places that I play at when I’m not working there. It feels weird…like you’re trying to come back to the home of a party the next day to hang out. That would be pretty funny though. Go to a party, stay late and then just show up the next day at 9:30 or so and just say you had so much fun last night you just wanted to come over and hang out. If you don’t think that sounds funny in an awkward way, you are too young or socially retarded and you may be reading this from the person’s computer that you’re hanging out with today after you partied there last night!
Sight Seeing in Deadwood; Went with Marshal and Milburn to revisit John Wayne’s pickup truck (Marshal’s favorite landmark!) and the resting place of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. I didn’t make it up to Seth Bullock’s grave because he’s too far up the hill…and it was real hot. If you’ve never been here, the cemetery is at Mount Moriah and it’s a pretty healthy climb. Yes we walked it. I loved the show Deadwood. Best show on television at the time. Now it’s Lost, but then it was Deadwood. Cool to be in the town that the shows about. Have you ever noticed that some people treat bookstores like libraries? I notice this now because I’m in a library, (with no flies, thank God!) but some times when we hit a Barnes & Noble or a Borders, it always seems like everyone is being a little more quiet than they are at Best Buy or Target. I like to shush people in Barnes & Noble. For a moment they’re not sure if you’re right or not and they stand there in a sort of confused silence trying to figure it out. Then you smile and say, “Oh I’m sorry, I thought you were someone else!” Then I wander away whistling a wistful tune.

How to see Sturgis on $20.00 a day!

Well here we are, one more day on the road, one more mall! Free internet for me and my men! We are in Sturgis or as Milburn continues to refer to it “stooges”. This is a tricky part of the tour. We are in the middle of the Sturgis Bike Rally and there are no hotels, motels, or empty homes to stay in and we are forced to recharge at an “undisclosed location”. The shows are going great, the band sounds fantastic and while we miss Tyler very much, Marshal is doing a great job. Tonight we hit the Drag pipe Saloon. Sounds very “motorcycle-like”. Yesterday we hung out at the Rapid City Mall all day and today we’re back (free internet!) This mall’s cool except for the flies! There are flies everywhere around where we’re sitting…I wonder if it’s just us…or if it’s always like this!
RANDOM OBSERVATIONS: Lynyrd Skynyrd is playing in Sturgis this week and the paper is advertising them with a photo of the original band! There are only two of the original members left! John McCain was in town yesterday…so was Kenny Chesney…you figure out what I’m saying for yourself. I just finished reading All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. Brilliant book! Thanks to Dino for the free books! There are no Chipotle’s in South Dakota! Of course, there aren’t any in Tennessee either…yet! Colorado, here we come! The flies in this place are terrible! Listening to Jesse Johnson’s Bare My Naked Soul. Brilliant, underrated guitarist. I’m really into Eddie Hazel lately. Original Funkadelic guitarist and another incredible guitarist that doesn’t get enough props. Funkadelic is the band we’re teaching Milburn about on this trip. We’re thinking about seeing the Dark Knight today (3rd time for me!) Best movie I’ve seen all year. I’d write more, but the flies win, I’m getting the hell out of here!

Tyler Crowell

I wrote the first sentence of this blog 3 times before I figured out how to say, “Our drummer, Tyler Crowell, is leaving.” It’s not an easy thing for me to write, much less digest. Tyler has been and is a part of the SHB family and will remain so, but due to some medical issues, he can’t tour with us anymore. I’ve watched Tyler grow as a musician and as a human being for a long while now and I can tell you that the hole that he leaves in our organization will be impossible to fill. He is now, and always will be, a member in good standing of the SHB and an honorary MF brother, but, until his medical situation changes, we have to move forward. It’s with his knowledge and blessing that I announce that we are officially looking for a new drummer. Some of you have already contacted me through MySpace and email, and I will be getting in touch with you soon. We are looking for a solid drummer, good human being, drug free, preferably Nashville based, who wants to ride the SHB train with us as a partner and see where we go. I’m grateful to say that SHB alumni Marshal Weaver has agreed to fill in until we can find a replacement for Tyler. Marshal is, and always has been, one of my favorite drummers and having him back is an honor and a rare privilege. We will blow some shit up, I guarantee it!
Tyler is one of those people that I really don’t remember when we met. He’s just always been there. He’s a cousin of my best friend Keith, but I’m not sure if we knew each other from before that or not. I do know that I have always respected and been fond of Tyler. He’s a genuinely good person. We have a similar sense of humor. He’s smart, funny, apparently good looking… (I wouldn’t know about such things but I try to stay well informed)! I do know that no drummer has ever tried harder to get and maintain this gig than Tyler. His tenacity is one of my favorite things about him. He has worked hard to be the best drummer that he can be. As drummers go, I always look for hard hitters, (I’ve had a few!). As musicians go, I always look for those that “swing for the fence”, so to speak. Tyler has never once let me down in either regard. I am a man of faith and I know that Tyler will see his potential reached. His purpose in this world is yet to be revealed. My selfish self hopes it’s with us, but my unselfish soul knows that God’s will, will place him in the exact right time and place just like always. Tyler’s request and admonition is that we find a permanent replacement, so that’s what we’re doing. If you are the person that wants/needs/feels this gig, contact us through MySpace (www.myspace.com/scottholt ), by email (scottholtband@gmail.com) or the SHB website (www.scottholt.com). We will be arranging open auditions in the coming weeks and look forward to finding a suitable replacement for the drum chair in the SHB. If you do contact us, be sure…and come with grit teeth! This ain’t no rehearsal…this is IT!

Heath Ledger deserves an Oscar.

KMFT and I just went to see The Dark Knight at the IMAX theatre in Nashville…We had to sit on the front row…The movie was great, I highly recommend it…I do not, however, recommend sitting on the front row for any IMAX movies…EVER

Words to live by;

I started thinking about the philosophies that I’ve been exposed to in my life and the words of others that have influenced the way I see life and approach this journey. These are some of my favorite quotes and words I try to live by;
Be Formless, shapeless like water. Now if you put water into a cup it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle, you put it into a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash, be water my friend.
Bruce Lee
More self-respect, more respect for fellow man. Respect for fellow students and instructors. Respect for all styles and techniques. Body conditioning, mental conditioning, meditation for calming and stilling of the mind and body. Sharpen your skills, increase mental awareness, for all those that might choose a new outlook and personal philosophy. Freedom from constipation.
Elvis Presley’s TCB Oath

I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people and I expect the same from them."
John Wayne as J.B. Books in The Shootist

When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.
Jimi Hendrix

Do not stand in the middle; go to the right or to the left.
Johnny Rotten


I saw the light, I saw the light, No more darkness, no more night. Now I'm so happy, no sorrow in sight. Praise the Lord, I saw the light.”
Hank Williams

I know where I'm going and I know the truth, and I don't have to be what you want me to be. I'm free to be what I want.
Muhammed Ali

Listen to the lyrics - we're singing about everyday life: rich people trying to keep money, poor people tying to get it, and everyone having trouble with their husband or wife!
Buddy Guy

I pay no attention whatever to anybody's praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Success is how high you bounce when you hit the bottom.”
General George S. Patton

“The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important
Martin Luther King Jr.

'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
Jesus

Sportspage - 012009

Why I love playing at home; 1. My wife gets to see me play, which is an all too rare event. 2. it's a chance to play for all of the family members…some of whom might think I need to find a day job…3. It's close to my house! 4. For some reason, people I don't even know, seem to act much sluttier!
We had a ball last weekend. I really don't like playing at home too much, because it has the danger of becoming "ho-hum" and that would harm our benefit. I'm always extra nervous about hometown gigs, just because I want to do well and don't want the hometown folks to think that we ain't bringing it always! As a result, I always like to spice things up with something different, like when we had Criss Angel show up unannounced last year!..If you were there, you'd know if it's true or not!
When I became a musician, there were two local players that I looked up to. One was my guitar teacher, Doug Thurman, (one of the best guitarists in the world…period!) and the other was Hodge Cook. Hodge is one of those "pure musicians". He can play anything, sight read anything, and come up with something on the fly that's better than what you come up with after years of introspection. He's the type of musician that I aspire to be. Having him sit in with us was for me the ultimate gift. I don't want to downplay Mike Webber, Andy Jones and the consummate Keith Kenyon, not to mention my brother Keith MF Throneberry. It was an honor and a privilege to share a stage with all of them, but the little kid in me that worked in the music store and took lessons there and fantasized about someday being in a band will always feel like that kid when I'm on stage with Hodge. Apparently, he doesn't play out much anymore, and that's a shame. I know too many musicians who fall in that category and it makes me sad. I know it's an incredibly difficult path to follow, and I know that the "soul-wages" are tremendous but I also know how hard it is to acquire any kind of proficiency on an instrument and I meet too many people that want it and will never get it. I don't preach, because every path is different, but I hope that he decides to play more…that goes for you too Doug, and Derek, and Drew…(in my best Scott Holt voice…"What?! Ya'll want the world to be overrun with Kenny Wayne Sheppards' and Hannah Montanas'??!!!)
We had a great time, and it was worth every minute of it and if you didn't come…and you didn't hear Keith MF Throneberry…you…make…me…sad!!!

01/20/09 Amabo

Blogs are like the show for me, they’re supposed to entertain, inspire & make you think. Or as I say “make you thank!” Anyway, I like writing them, but sometimes the demands of the road, the lack of internet, etc. make it hard to get them out in a timely manner. This blog is a case in point. I’m warning you up front that it’s going to be long! Some names are abbreviated to protect identities! I go all the way back to my birthday.
On my birthday we played in Westbury NY. Miles away from home and family. Nature of the game as it was. I knew that my wife wouldn’t be able to make it out to the show, and I was bummed to be so far away from my girls. At least, I thought, my buddy CMFL. will be at the show. Then I give him a call only to hear that he’s got to have a surgical procedure and can’t make the show. Oh well I think, I guess it’s just another day at the office. We did our usual routine for the afternoon; Chipotle, Starbucks, Bookstore, Mall, etc. and then I fell asleep in the van for about an hour. Somebody wakes me up…”Hey!” I look and see my best bro Keith MFT and CMFL!!! Awwwww Shhhhhhiiiii…it’s on ya’ll! What a tremendous surprise and birthday gift to have my dear friends show up just to hang for the night and be with me on my birthday! Keith brought a care package from home that my wife had put together with cards and stuff that I love and I had recordings of my wife and daughter saying happy birthday. I just wanted to crawl in the cards and go home!!! We had a great show, all the folks at Mirelles and Lori Productions made us feel so at home and welcome, that I can’t wait to get back there soon! So after the gig, Keith has to go to the airport. He’d only come up for the day! Literally! CMFL was going to drive him out there, but he actually had had the surgery and it was 30 miles in the opposite direction from his house, so I said we’ll take him. Go home and get some rest, but first let me give you a back cracking hug!!! So here we go to take Keith to the airport. Now remember, it’s 30 miles in the wrong direction for us too. Not that it matters when it’s your friend, but it just makes the story funnier to understand the geography. As we are heading towards Islip airport, I get a call from my friend and advisor, Arnie Goodman who tells me that the CDs we ordered are at his house. Cool I say, since it’s closing in on 3:00am, we’ll come to you first and get the CDs so you don’t have to stay up all night…Arnie lives in the opposite direction from the airport…we turn around and head to his house. When we get there, I realize we’re now almost to Manhattan! 50 miles from Islip! We get the CDs and Arnie says “why don’t you drop Keith off at Penn Station. You have to drive right by it on your way out of town and he can catch a train out to Islip. Makes sense, so we head to Manhattan. Penn Station is under Madison Square Garden…middle of Manhattan…3:30am. We get downstairs and see a carpet of humanity lying on the floor, leaned up against posts, waiting for the ticket office to open at 6:30am. Keith’s flight is at 8:00 and we start to vibe that if we wait, he might miss it going this way. Let’s go! Back to Islip!! We get to Islip at dawn and say good bye to my friend. Then head back, same road, to our next gig NJ! Hit the next town at around 10:30 am. I didn’t care, what a great birthday! Second best ever! Almost perfect, except my best best friend Buffy wasn’t there. My Yoko from Tennessee!! My Posh Spice! My Eva Longoria! My own personal Penthouse Pet!!! Ohhhh I could go on and on! Thank you Buff! Keith! Chuck!
Somers Point was a fun gig, after the rain storm blew through! My pedal board had an ocean’s worth of sand on it the next day though! Blue 5 in VA and then home...right? My wife’s family is scheduled to go on vacation on Sunday. We play Blue 5 on Saturday, hen we’re supposed to drive over night (9 hours), so I can get in the car and drive to Gulf Shores (6 ½ hours away). No big deal, we’ve done it before. Sleep is something you use to recharge the batteries; I don’t do it for pleasure or as a hobby (like some people we’ve known!) We start driving…an hour outside of town…BOOM!!! The rear axle breaks! Lucky we’re on the side of the road at an exit, but its 3:30 am…pitch black dark…hmmmm. I don’t have a flashlight!!! (I do now!) Can’t see the amount of damage, can’t find the tire, what do you do? I call Uncle Wayne and Keith MFT. Nobody answers!! 3 calls each and I finally wake them both up…Thanks Scott! No sleep for anybody! Keith gets up, hooks his trailer and drives 9 hours to pick us up and haul the van and the trailer back to Columbia!!! 4 hours of winching and pushing and sweating, we get the van on the trailer. Vans have 4 wheels. They roll fine. When you take away one of the wheels, they don’t roll at all. Vans are very heavy. They slide like the rocks from Stonehenge! The caravan was over 54 feet long…I’m sure we broke laws, but we got it home. 9:00 pm, shower, pack, jump in the car and head to vacation. Get there at 4:30 am Monday morning. I’m not complaining, it IS vacation. If you can’t be happy at the beach, something’s wrong with your mind grapes. Keith has the van at his shop, I have insurance to repair it, and so I call the insurance co. Monday morning and start the process. When I feel like its all in play and rolling smooth, I start my vacation. First time in 5 years or more, I put my cell phone on the night stand and walk away! No cell phone! That night when we get back I have 9 missed calls, 40 text messages, 9 voicemails; U ain’t out of the woods yet cowboy! The van is “F”ed up. Don’t be offended, if you know me, that’s how I talk and in this case, that’s a very accurate description of what’s up with the van. The rest of my vacation is cool, but it includes about an hour of phone calls a day every morning getting the latest updates and figuring out how I’m getting to Ohio on Saturday. That’s right; the back end of my vacation also includes a drive back to home and then get in another vehicle and roll overnight (71/2 hours) to Huron Ohio. Remember; Sleep is just a tool to recharge, it’s not a pastime! Fast forward, through all the boring details, Enterprise rents me the van and we get there and back. We did lock the keys in the rental van, but by this point I’m just glad the thing didn’t explode!!! Thank God for all of my blessings! Friends and safe travels! I am blessed!

What would Bill say?

I have never liked days off on the road. Ever. Even when I was with Buddy, days off were the worst. Every day I like having a purpose and a goal. I like knowing where I’m going, when I’m going to get there and that I’m going to get to play my guitar loud. Days off are the antithesis of that philosophy. When we’re on the road, everyday is planned out in advance. We’ll be leaving at this time, we’ll arrive at this time, we load in, we play, we sleep (maybe), we go to the next town. Yesterday, (the only day off on this leg…thank God), I spent 2 hours shopping for shoe laces, doing laundry, working out, updating the tour schedule, and just generally pacing the floor. BOOOOOORRRRRRIIIIINNNNGGGG!!! Today, however, we ROLL! Good day!
I might call the next record “No Sleep ‘Til Nashville”. Sorry Motorhead.
We got Milburn out here on the road with us and he’s a great guy. Best merch guy ever. Hype man extraordinaire. He is, however, hungering for a musical education, which we are happily giving him. Right now he has to learn about…Bo Diddley! Is Milburn an example of the lack of musical knowledge of his generation? What kind of country is this when young people don’t know the Sex Pistols, Miles Davis, BO F*#%^N’ DIDDLEY?! I’m scared to ask about Buddy Guy, John Coltrane, BB King, Howlin’ Wolf, etc. People, if you have kids, if you know kids, if you just see some kids, you gotta teach ‘em about music! Music is the stuff in the air that lives between the words. It’s all birds do. Well, they fly, but like musicians, they’re probably just going to the next gig. Tell kids about Elvis, Ray Charles, The Stones, Little Walter, Lightnin’ Hopkins… I remember several years ago when Blues was more popular than it is now, thinking that people would probably always know about BB King, now I wonder if he’ll even be remembered in a few generations if we don’t start caring more about the history of music. What if we get to the point where people think that Kenny Wayne Sheppard created the licks he plays instead of getting them all from Stevie Ray Vaughan? Yes it’s important and not just to musicians. Think about it this way; when WWIII comes down and we’re blown back to the stone age, all we’re going to have to do all day is take a bone and tap out a song.
If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again! It had a dying fall:
O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing and giving odour!
William Shakespeare, "Twelfth Night", Act 1 scene 1

Today

Today is Ellicottville NY. Cool little village so far. Richard discovered a new brand of smokes today. He’s reading Here, There and Everywhere by Geoff Emerick. We had terrible Chinese food. Milburn bought Never Mind the Bollocks by the Sex Pistols and he’s reading John Lydon’s autobiography! Tyler is working his mind muscles. I am spending all of my time being me…it’s a full time job.

Toast!

So here we are in Bridgeville PA for the 5th show of the North East leg. Shows have been going great so far and the bands playing at 100% slamming. We did an acoustic show in Cleveland and had a ball. My excellent Obrien amplifier is singing and #1 is getting a pounding every night. We have a new merch/tech guy, Milburn. So far he’s learning about; The Sex Pistols, Miles Davis, the Northeastern US, how to properly catch/clean& cook a groundhog, the correct fork to use when eating soup, what gravity is, why it’s important to be in the van before it drives away, what kind of cigarettes Richard likes and when to light them, who to vote for, when to ask for more, when to ask for less, how to tell if Tyler is asleep (without asking him), “trailer surfing”, and why you shouldn’t fear vampires. That’s just the first week!

...where the sun shines every day...

The Florida tour was a blast. First of all, I’d like to thank everyone who expressed their condolences about Jake. It’s good to meet so many of our fans & friends who understand that a pet is a family member. The band is sounding better every time we play. We had a chance to play new venues in Bradenton, Sanford, Sebastian and Destin. Kicking much booty with the SHB’s patented SoulSuckerPunch! Just like George say’s, “If you’ll suck my soul, I’ll lick your funky emotions.” This tour was perfect; we had a chance to play our show every night without censorship (some of you know what I’m talking about!) Ending up at the Tiki Torch Bar in Eureka Springs was the perfect last night. We tried to leave everything on that stage as a thank you to the gods of the everlasting groove. Richard perspired, so you know it was a night! If you were there and keeping score, yes that was Bridge Of Sighs being quoted in the middle of Voodoo Chile, and yes it’s always different.
Some observations; The Peace Maker Sandwich at the Acme Oyster Bar in Destin (which is advertised as being voted #4 best sandwich) isn’t #4 or even #444 in my book. My friend Will used to make us Swiss cheese sandwiches on white bread (no condiments)when we were kids and that blew these expensive ass things away! The Exxon station in Jackson MS is still serving the consistently best ribs I’ve had, and they keep in the back of the trailer for at least 2 days and still taste great! Oh don’t start saying “gross!” we had ‘em in a cooler! My advice to all bands on the road is to be sure and pack a Nerf football. You never know when the opportunity to move will strike you. Kempf Poole reminded me to play the blues! Richard and Tyler are two of the finest, warmest human beings I’ve ever had the pleasure to know.

Jake Holt - 1997 - 2008

Today is a hard day for me and my family. We lost a member of the family. His name is Jake. He has lived with us for 11 years. He’s never helped around the house, helped me mow the yard, cooked supper, or even fixed his own dinner. But I can’t imagine what it will be like without him here. Jake and I first met in the parking lot of a Ruby Tuesday’s while I was on lunch break from working at a music store. He bit me. He was excited, but it still hurt like hell! For 11 years, he has been with me and Buffy through our marriage. He welcomed us when our daughter came into our lives; he’s been through all of our hard times, all of our moves and our triumphs. When my dad died, Jake licked my face. It was all he knew to do, but it was better than some people could come up with! He never learned to warn us when strangers came around, so when he sounded an alarm, we new it meant nothing but that he was feeling good! I always wanted him to wear a sombrero, but he never did. It would have been hilarious! His toenails were incredibly long, he preferred “bones” over real food, he could crap in the floor after being outside for hours, he could shed an amount of hair the quantity of which seemed like biblical locust!, the list could go on and on. But he never judged, he never harmed, he loved and only wished to be loved. More than that, he simply expected love because he never thought of any other scenario. Love was all there is. He was always a better friend to me than I was to him. His last months were hard ones physically, but he tried to ignore it. Steps were the hardest, but he would hide his embarrassment when I would pick him up to help him up them. He never let us down. I’ve spent the day mourning, holding my wife and helping my daughter process the situation. Jake’s under a tree, with a perpetual amount of shade. It’s been a hard day.

Guitar Lesson

If I was allowed to give advice to beginning musicians, it would be, “be you”. That’s what we need more in music. Individuality. As the music business continues to spiral into oblivion, it’s like a giant snake feeding on itself. One successful artist begets 1,000,000,000 carbon copies. It’s one thing to be influenced by an artist but it’s a whole ‘nother ball of wax to try and steal the clothes out his (or her) closet! I’ve seen some musicians who have done that and I’m not sure what they feel like they’re contributing. Unless it’s just to be famous. In our culture, fame is a big one. Maybe that’s why music doesn’t seem to have the same cultural significance that it’s had in the past. When Bob Dylan went electric, people were so angry that they became violent! If some popular artist these days changed style that drastically, I doubt if anyone would even care!
If you pick up an instrument or choose to create music (or any other art, for that matter). Remember that you have a responsibility to contribute your soul to the equation. I’m not just talking about being a professional musician, when you pick up an instrument for your own enjoyment, remember to be you. Embrace that part of you that’s different. It’s fine to learn that Gun’s & Roses or John Mayer song, but at some point as you play it you are adding your DNA to it and embracing that aspect is what making music should be about. As a guitar player, I’m very influenced by Jimi Hendrix, but if all I did was try and copy his licks note for note without ever putting “me” into it, I’m disrespecting the most important aspect of his legacy which is his originality! Just remember “be you!” God only made one of those!
My second piece of advice would be to recognize that Guitar Hero is not the same as playing guitar!

My Head N Mississippi

I had an amazing time this Thursday at the Blues Music Awards. Keith M.F. T. and I met Kempf M.F. P. in Tunica and went to the awards show together. I saw and hung out with Denis & Lucy Burns (my favorite Canadians!) Hubert Sumlin, my old friends Arnie Goodman, Rueben Williams, Tab Benoit and even Marty Salzman who was Buddy’s manager when I first joined the band! It was a great time. Even when the casino took my money! I got to say hi to Buddy’s guitar tech Gilbert, Big James (from The Chicago Playboys-a smoking band you should hear!!), Nick Moss, Magic Slim, Pinetop Perkins, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith and especially Hubert Sumlin. Hubert’s one of those gifted musicians that inspired all of us that pickup a guitar and want to play the blues. He’s also one of the kindest most uplifting people I’ve ever met. I’m so glad that he and Koko Taylor won awards! Roots!!! May they both live forever.
When we got to Tunica, Keith, Kempf & I had some BBQ and then we went down to Clarksdale and saw the Delta Blues Museum and Ground Zero. Then we headed up to Tunica and hit the reception before the awards show. After we left the casino, they might have had all of mine and Keith’s money, but we had all of their Heineken! I saw great performances by The Holmes Brothers and Bobby Rush. It was a great time. If my wife had been there, it would have been perfect. I’m blessed by good friends.
The next morning, Keith and I stopped off in Memphis to hang out on Beale Street and eat BBQ at Cozy Corner, (best ribs in Memphis!!) before heading home. I am blessed. I am blessed. I am blessed.

New Days

Another quick little run in the books. We hit Hickory NC, Winder GA and Charleston SC on this trip. We got o see and visit with a bunch of our friends including Robb and the crew in Winder, Chip and Sara and all our friends in Charleston and we were happily surprised to see Mark and Libby from Tuscaloosa in Winder. It always amazes me when our friends make a long trip to come and see us. Makes it all the more worthwhile.
I try not to say too much about the negative stuff that goes on on the road, but this is too funny to keep to myself. At a recent gig, (I won’t say where, or even which tour it’s from to try and protect the parties involved), I was getting the very familiar speech about the volume. In the space of about 3 minutes, I was told by 2 different management type people that “we needed to turn down...” It’s a speech that I’m all too familiar with and the reasons why are so varied and boring that I won’t go into them here. Anyway, keep in mind, this is all happening on the break, so I’m told to turn down 3 times (one person tells me twice! Like maybe I’m hard of hearing or something!) Before we’ve even started playing again…very strange. When the first person comes back to tell me again for the second time, this is the exact quote; “I just want to make sure that you guys remember to turn down a little bit, it’s not too loud up front near the stage but in the back… and it’s not so much loud, it’s just the energy…”) I’ve been criticized for a lot of things in my career, but being too energetic was a new one even for me!
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about where I’m at musically/spiritually/philosophically and I’ve been feeling the need to “recalibrate” my self and get back on the point. I’ve kind of dipped my foot into some pretty murky waters at times over the last year or so and it hasn’t made me a better anything. I believe what I’ve always believed; that God put me here to make music and reach people through that music. My passion for the blues, loud guitars and playing from the heart is stronger now than ever and I hope as we hit the road this summer, you can hear a difference in what we’re trying to do. It won’t be anything drastic from the outside, so don’t look for me to wear robes or a beanie or start talking about the cosmos (anymore than I already do!) but the soul of my playing, my interaction with the music and the musicians, the way we present all of that to you, I hope it creates a more positive experience when you are kind enough to come see us.
One last note, I’d like to hip ya’ll to a friend of mine who is writing some amazingly insightful blogs. His name is Chris Kent and he’s one of the best musicians I’ve ever heard. I was blessed to get the chance to play with Chris for some years in the original version of the SHB (for some reason, he didn’t think that starving and going permanently sleepless were that appealing, so he’s since played with a who’s who of great musicians and entertainers). Anyway, he’s listed in my friends section on MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/ckbass) and if he’s not your friend yet, add him and subscribe to his blogs. This cat has his soul tuner dialed in so tight its ridiculous!

The Wonder and The Why

So I’m thinking about things I don’t understand…of which there are many! I don’t understand things on a wide variety of subjects. Everything from why Hot Dogs are sold in packs of ten and hot dog buns are sold in packs of eight, to why a nation as rich and powerful as ours can’t do more to heal the world and eradicate hunger and injustice. Why gas is so high and no one’s connecting the dots on who’s actually making money! Why aren’t there more shows like Lost on television? Why did we actually go to the moon? Why can’t we find Bin Laden. Why hasn’t someone come up with a foolproof way of keeping two socks together in the dryer? Why, with all of our advances in technology, can’t we have a voting system that’s based on the popular vote? Why aren’t there more memorable television theme songs? Gilligan’s Island, Andy Griffith, Bewitched, Love Boat, Dallas, Family Ties, Good Times, the Jeffersons, etc.
These are just some of the “why’s” that I have. I also have some “I wonder if’s”. I wonder if Guitar Hero really makes kids want to learn how to play an instrument or is it like all other video games and just sucks them in deeper. I play video games, but playing Madden Football never made me try to get a gig as a walk on with the Titans (although sometimes I think I could make the team!!) I wonder if our next president will be the candidate I’m voting for …or John McCain. And in a related question, I wonder how many presidents have had sex in the Oval Office? My guess is 4, counting Lincoln of course. I always have to relate it to sex somehow. If I was president, that’s the first thing I’d do. Just to say I did. I wonder if anyone will ever win a million dollars on Deal or No Deal. I wonder if universal peace is really possible. I wonder if we’ll ever have jet packs to fly around with. I wonder if I could take a punch from Mike Tyson. I wonder if I could out run Mike Tyson if I hit him first? I wonder if Prince could beat Michael Jackson in a wrestling match. I wonder how many romantic comedies Owen Wilson and Kate Hudson will actually make before the idea seems just a little bit old??? I wonder if any guitar will ever be built that is a sexy as a Fender Stratocaster? I wonder if we’ll ever realize that we’re all more alike than different. I wonder if the Martin Scorsese movie about The Rolling Stones is as good as I thought it was on Saturday (I say yes…probably better!) I wonder how many kids can name the most recent winner of the Nobel Peace Prize...can you???...want a hint...no recount was needed! I wonder how many kids can name the winning quarterback in the last Super Bowl.

Messing With The Kid

I realized today as I was updating the music on my space, that this year is the 10Th anniversary of my first record Messing With The Kid! Time flies! No really, it flies!! I remember recording that record like it was yesterday. My band at that time consisted of Chris Kent on bass, Derek Wiseman on drums and Derek's brother Drew on keys. We also had Bobby Inman as our road crew/spiritual advisor. We did the record at a place in Nashville called Fireside Studios and the engineer was actually named George Clinton! We had been playing together for probably 4 or 5 years by this point. I was with Buddy Guy and when we would come home from the road, I would book gigs around Nashville with my band. These guys were ferocious!
If I remember right, the record was done in about 4 days. 2 days of basic tracks followed by a day of vocals and overdubs and a day to mix. Pretty fast even by the standards we work under today! We'd start in the evening, (Derek and Drew had day gigs) and finish around 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning. Then Bobby and I would go to Mary's BBQ on Jefferson St and get a BBQ sandwich from the walkup window. I wish I could stll eat like that!
We had a littl circuit of local clubs that we played; 3rd & Lindsley, The Bunganut Pig, The Big Apple, The Boardwalk, 12th & Porter, we even played at The End one night for all you Nashvegas rockers. The songs were half things we were doing live and half new songs that I had written. Listening back to it today, (not something I usually do with my own music), I hear plenty of things I'd change in my own performances of course, but I hear a lot of things that I really love. There was an energy and a total sense of adventure in that band. We never rehearsed, we rarely discussed any specific aspects of the songs, we just played and listened to each other and it just poured out. Effortless. Some nights, we'd play 4 hours straight, without a break.
I remember we were doing He Stopped Loving Her Today as sort of a joke in our live show, but I played it one night with Buddy and he liked it so much that some nights he'd make me do it at his shows! The whammy bar stuff in it was sort of what we did with it live, just louder and longer! The only song I wish I could take back or at least re-do, would be Who Knows. I am such a card carrying Hendrix freak that I have a lot of trouble listening to that song without cringing! It was the very last thing we did and the guy who was producing the project and financing it (his name escapes me)wanted us to do a Hendrix cover. I was being a little hard headed and didn't want to do it, so I thought if we did it poorly, it would just be left off the record. If I could go back and visit that little smart ass guitar player that I was, I'd smack him in the head!
I remember the photo shoot for the artwork to the record was done on a hot summer day by a creek that was almost dried up but they wanted me to wear my leather jacket for the cover! If you look real close to the inside photos, you can see we're all sweating! Except of course for Bobby!
I haven't seen the guys from that original band in ages. I see Bobby some, I communicate with Chris through my space sometimes and I just recently heard from Drew, but I haven't heard from Derek in forever. I know the phone works both ways, it just sad when I think about the people that I've been blessed to have in my life and how we drift away from each other.
Just as I learned from Buddy, I learned from Chris, Derek, Drew and Bobby. They were some great teachers and I'm better for knowing all of them.
I'm blessed to be surrounded by great people/musicians now like Richard and Tyler, but when I think back to how it started I realize just how blessed I've truly been.

Word!

Man it's been so long since the last blog that I don't know where to start! Last weekend, for the first time probably ever, Buff and I went with our best friends the MFThroneberry's to Chicago just to hang out. Chicago is one of mine and Buff's favorite cities and it was so great to get a chance to just hang out and walk around revisiting some of our favorite spots. After a mixup at the hotel where a young man named Victor proved that you don't have to be smart, kind, caring or basically human to work at a Hilton Hotel, we got into some great rooms and hit the town wide open. It went sort of like this; Weber Grill, Jazz Record Mart, Water Tower, House of Blues, Harry Carey's, Hard Rock Hotel, Legend's, Starbucks, Portillo's, more shopping, Frontera Grill (GREAT Mexican food), hot tub, HOME! I left out a lot of details so no one gets offended!
This trip out has been a blast . Thursday night we played Minneapolis and jammed with some of our very talented friends; Jellybean Johnson, Truth, Mike Shaw, Allen Kirk and the one and only Tim Obrien. Last night and tonight we're staying with our old friend and honorary SHB member Dino Corvino. He and his mom have been so gracious and opened their home to us. It's always such a joy to hang out with Dino and we're having a blast. We are truly blessed with great family and friends.

Buddy Miles

Just as I was finishing writing about Jeff Healey, a friend of mine sent me an email about the passing of Buddy Miles! I had the chance to meet and "sort of" know Buddy when I was with Buddy Guy. For a time in the early 90's, Buddy Miles was in Chicago. I don't know if he was living there or what, but he would come to Legends sometimes where I had a chance to jam with him a couple of times and for some reason he remembered me. My best memory of Buddy Miles is crossing the street in Chicago one night going from one blues club to another and hearing somebody call out my name. It was Buddy Miles sitting in the drivers seat of a Lincoln. He had a cassette tape of some new music he was working on and was jamming it out on the car stereo and letting me hear it! Buddy was a pretty big guy at that point and he was dancing in the car and the whole car was rocking from side to side. I was more astounded that Buddy Miles knew my name and was letting me hear his music! If anybody doesn't know Buddy Miles' history, check it out. He was not only a friend and musical foil for one of my favorite Jimi Hendrix records, but also a seasoned veteran of the 50's and 60's "chitlin" circuit. He played with Wilson Pickett and went on to form Electric Flag with Mike Bloomfield. Like with all the great artists we've lost, his voice might be stilled, but his legacy exists for us to remember him by. Go buy Them Changes and turn it up loud!

Jeff Healey

Jeff Healey passed away after a long battle with cancer. I became aware of Jeff around the time I started playing guitar. His record See The Light was (and still is) a favorite of mine. Often times in the music business, people tend to reduce thing to the lowest common denominator to make it easily digestible for the public, (I could go off for hours on how the record industry thinks that music fans are too ignorant to understand music) in Jeff's case, his technique of playing the guitar in his lap and being blind were both factors that brought him attention from the public, but in some ways it distracted from the fact that he was a truly brilliant musician with a deep understanding and appreciation for the roots of blues and jazz. Jeff made some great records, toured the world, played with the legends of Blues, starred in movies and even had a couple of popular radio shows. He had a collection of over 30,000 jazz 78's (those are records, kiddies). Beyond all that though, and probably most importantly he was a husband and a father with a wife and two children. I was lucky to get a chance to meet and jam with Jeff and honored to play at his club in Toronto on a few occasions. Our prayers go to his family and friends.

Chicago and den sum

Chicago was a blast as always. Ate at Heaven On Seven!! Official first stop of the SHB. Hung out with Buddy and a pack of my dear friends. Kempf Poole, Randy Z, drummer Chuck (just to establish that it wasn't Chuck M.F. Lanza), Uncle Wayne and, of course, Keith M.F.T. Jamming was great. Mr.CJ Vaughan helped hold it together and even Zekester got in the mix! Always thanks to Harvey and the crew at Legends for making it always feel like home.

I'm a philosopher and I'm okay!

I just saw a story on the Today show (I enjoy the Today show) about how Americans are getting dumber. Not less intelligent, but dumber. For examples they used the footage of that beauty contestant who tried to explain why Americans couldn’t find Iraq on a map. You know the one I’m talking about, she says, “such as” about 9,000 times. Then they showed Kellie Pickler (I think she was an American Idol contestant) on the show Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader…she wasn’t. She didn’t know France was a country! 40% of Americans under 44 didn’t read one book last year! 1 in 4 college students can’t find Iraq on a map. This is the nation that formed the Declaration Of Independence, sent men to the moon, invented sausage gravy, developed the Fender Stratocaster, birthed great minds like Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali, B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis and even Albert Einstein! Oh okay, Einstein was actually born in Ulm, Wurttemberg, Germany. The point, however, is that according to this report many Americans would’ve thought that Einstein was born here! Not you kind reader. I know that all of you who read these blogs are among the intellectual elite. I think it was Sir Francis Bacon who said, “Knowledge is power.” Bacon wasn’t only the namesake of a favorite breakfast food, he was also an English philosopher and statesman. He was knighted in 1603,before many of you were even born! Philosopher must be a pretty good gig. Just sit around and think about the questions of the day. Guys like Plato and Descartes must have had plenty of time to just hang out. Can’t you just see their wives coming home from the fields and asking, “How was your day dear?” “Oh pretty good, I thought about ‘Is an idea a true copy of the real thing that it represents?’ and then I thought about ‘How can physical objects such as chairs and tables, or even physiological processes in the brain, give rise to mental items such as ideas?’ then I thought about ‘If all the contents of awareness are ideas, how can we know that anything exists apart from ideas?’” “After that I made a sandwich and watched TV for a while.
I’d like a gig like that! I think another good gig is a theoretician. Or someone who theorizes. I have a theory that theoreticians are just lazy philosophers. The theoretician just hangs out and doesn’t even make a stand, just a theory. If someone comes along and proves something different, he has the perfect out, “well it was just a theory!” “Hi honey how was your day?” “I didn’t do anything but lay on the couch and form a theory that if I don’t eat a sandwhich, I’ll just get hungrier!” How much could that have paid? Do you think that a theorist would get hired by an even lazier person to form a theory for him? “Hey man, I need a theory about why my paper sometimes ends up in shrubs in front of my house instead of on the porch.” Three hours later, the theorist charges $4.79 for a theory that sometimes the paperboy just doesn’t throw the paper as hard. Niccolò Machiavelli was a theorist. He was also Italian. He probably said “Ciao!” a lot, which I think is pretty cool...if you’re Italian. If you’re not Italian and you say ‘Ciao”, you’re just a jackass. Machiavelli was also a musican and he wrote The Prince. In those days, I guess you had to have more than one gig just to stay afloat. Maybe people worked harder then. That’s probably what made them less dumb than we are today. They probably made fun of guys who only had one job. “Here comes Ned, he’s just a blacksmith!” “I’m a blacksmith/philosopher/writer/musician/camp counselor!” Just remember that no matter what your job is, tonight when your wife asks how was your day, just say, “I worked harder than Machiavelli, I’ll tell you that!”

A Love Story

So it's Valentine's day and I shall now tell the story of my valentine. My wife Buffy is the most incredible woman in the world. Not only is she beautiful, smart, funny, challenging and the most truly genuine person I've ever met, but she also likes me! (at least she seems to!)

I met my wife for the first time when I was 16 (I actually sort of met her a few years before at a KOA swimming pool, but we didn't actually meet then, we just bobbed.) She walked into a high school art class (Mrs. Hall!) that I was taking for an easy credit and I fell in love. I don't mean that in a figurative sense, or a poetic sense, but in a literal sense. I fell hopelessly, head over heels in love. The kind of "in love" that has you thinking up funny things to say, days in advance so you'll be ready. The kind of love that has you throwing up everyday in anticipation of seeing her. The kind of love that makes every song on the radio about your life. (thanks Billy Joel). You drive by her house, sit in he parking lot of her job, threaten her boyfriend with some sort of pain, LOVE! She was (and still is) like no one I'd ever seen before. The way she moved, the light in her eyes, her spirit, she was (and is) the most amazing person I'd ever experienced. See also has an incredible backside, but this is a "love" story, not a "lust" story! I'd love (at least my ego would love) to say that the feeling was mutual, but since this is a true story, I have to say that it took me several years to convince her that I wasn't insane,or horribly disfigured, or mentally off, or just generally creepy. I don't blame her for thinking that since I pretty much started telling her that we would marry about a month after I met her, (I thought that was plenty of warning!) I drove my family, my friends, her family, her friends, complete strangers, mall security guards and other people completely crazy. We've been married for 16 years (17 this year). We've known each other for 25 years. The day I married her was the best day of my life, because it was the smartest thing I ever did. Maybe the only smart thing...except for our daughter...who I could and should write a love letter to for her supreme gift of just being in my life. We have been blessed with an almost flawless marriage. I say almost flawless, because I'm not perfect and I've made incredible, legendary, grande, epic, king sized mistakes that if I went into them, you'd also say I was an idiot. I'll save you the trouble...I know I'm an idiot! I do, however, have one small saving grace...I have been blessed with the ablity to learn from my mistakes, and in doing so have learned that, as much as I thought I loved my wife when I married her, I've discovered that I love her more. More than I ever dreamed. More than I would've thought possible. From the birth of our child, to the loss of my father, to the rising and falling and rising of our life fortunes, I've learned that the greatest gift that God gives a man is someone to share his life with and someone to love more than anything. God gave me Buffy. God gave me a friend, lover, companion, confidant, challenger, cheerleader, guide, supporter, fantasy and a smack in the back of the head if I get too "rockstar" around the house! Some of you have met Buffy and I know that you find the same person I see; a loving, caring, senstive, "real" person. When she listens to your story, she hears every word. She thinks about what you've said, and whatever you're going through, you have her prayers. I must admit that I don't talk about my wife very much in this forum. I consider you all friends, but this is a private, special, "just for me" part of my life. On this one day, however, I wanted to "shout from the rooftops" how much I love, cherish, respect, adore, admire, and just generally lust after, my wife Mrs. Buffy Holt. Happy Valentine's Day baby.

Oh Canada...

It is always such a pleasure and honor for us to get a chance to play for our friends in Canada. We had the chance again this weekend, in London, and what a time we had! It's always great to see our friends, especially Denis and Lucy Burns, but everyone there has always been so supportive and welcoming of us that it really feels like a hometown gig in a lot of ways. The audience always has such an energy coming from them that it's impossible for us not to reflect it right back at them. I could have truly played all night! My first Canadian gigs after going solo were in London and Windsor. I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to be an audience for a very nervous kid from Tennessee! They'll always have a special place in my heart.
Another cool suprise was seeing some old friends. Lurrie Bell was the headliner, and he has Willie Hayes playing drums for him. Willie and I started together with Buddy Guy way back in 1989! I'm not sure what year Willie left, but I hadn't seen him in several years. His playing always brings a smile to my face and it was great hearing Lurrie and all the guys playing some really great, musically inspirational music.
We got home Sunday in time for me and Buff to catch the Grammy's (we actually Tivo'd them and watched them last night!). I though overall it wasa pretty good show. I've been on a big Sinatra kick lately, so it was cool to have him featured prominently up front in his "duet" with Alicia Keys (a very talented artist in her own right). I wish Prince had performed, but at least he was there. I was glad to see Tina Turner, and I liked her song with Beyonce but is Beyonce going to become the official "duetess" of he Grammys? Last year Prince and now Tina, next year Miley Cyrus! The Time were great as always and I like the Foo Fighters, straight up rock and roll. I was a little confused by the award for Contemporary Blues Album, I love Eric Clapton and JJ Cale is a legend, but "Contemporary Blues"? Betty LaVette should have won. I've only heard rough mixes of Buddy's next record, but I predict next year's grammy will go to BG!
Last time I was talking about James Burton, and a good friend of mine Shannon Dew wrote to remind me that James Burton also played on Merle Haggard's song Working Man Blues. You are correct sir! Did you also know that he played on the following records?
Barbara Mandrell - Moods
Arlo Guthrie - Running Down the Road
Billy Joe Shaver - Gypsy Boy
Bobby Darin - Golden Folk Hits
Buck Owens - Open Up Your Heart
Buffalo Springfield - Buffalo Springfield Again
And these artists as well; Carl Perkins, Carlene Carter, Charlie Rich, Dale Hawkins, David Cassidy, Dean Martin, Del Shannon, Delaney & Bonnie, Dennis Weaver, Doug Kershaw, Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris, George Jones, Glen Campbell, Henry Mancini, Hank Williams Jr., Jerry Lee Lewis, John Denver, Johnny Cash, Joni Mitchell,Kenny Rogers, Kim Carnes, Mae West, The Monkees, The Wiggles, Tina Turner, Kanye West.
Oh ok not Kanye West. I figured you probably wouldn't read the whole list, so I'd just throw that in there. Maybe someday he will play with Kanye. It could be a really cool idea. Kanye could sample some real chicken pickin' guitar and do a cover of Viva Las Vegas. Maybe call it Vegas 2009! Maybe do a record with Kanye, 50 cent and JayZ and call it Vegas 2009: Return of the Pack! Do hip-hop versions of some of those classic Sinatra era songs. Fly Me To The Moon with a sample from Steve Miller's Fly Like An Eagle in it. VH1 could do a reality show about the making of the album...while the three artists share a condo in Vegas!...with Ted Nugent as their producer!
Ahhh Vh1! The ground zero for the decline of western civilization reflected for us as a culture through our television screens! First, my disclaimer. I watch VH1 all the time. I watch Rock Of Love, Flavor Of Love, Scott Baio's 58 and a jackass, My Fair(ly annoying) Brady, and my current favorite show Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. If you don't think musicals can be a bad thing, look what Grease did to Jeff Conway! I'm not making light of substance abuse. I have very dear people in my life who have struggled or who are struggling with what I truly believe is a disease. It is most definitley not a funny situation. However, if you put yourself on VH1 in a "reality show" situation, you are fair game for mockery. They shouldmake a new show, combining the elements of some of these shows. Here's my idea; Remember SuperGroup? With Ted Nugent, Scott Ian, Jason Bonham and the guy from BioHazard? How about a show called SuperRealityShow with Scott Baio, Christopher Knight and Jeff Conway, living in a condo (all reality shows should make the participants live in a condo. Not a house, but a condo. It's just better.) together in El Paso TX. Baio and Knight have to keep Conway off drugs while Conway trys to make men out of two poster boys for Men With Vaginas Of America. Special guest Gary Busey could come by and beat the crap out of them periodically. Oh yeah, and the whole thing's in Mandarin Chinese with subtitles! I think all shows should be in Mandarin Chinese. It's just a really cool sounding language. Bruce Lee spoke Mandarin Chinese. George Bush doesn't speak Mandarin Chinese. I think the president should be multilingual. Otherwise, you're just taking some translator's word for what the other person is saying. This election season, I will base my vote for the candidate who speaks the most languages, other than english. That's all I've really got at this point. I've noticed that no matter who we elect, my lot in life rarely changes too much...other than gas prices...and the war...and the other war...and the potential third war...and the fact that we as a nation are fairly disliked around the globe...and no healthcare...and the recession...and gas prices...I know I said gas twice, but it really bothers me!

Storm Clouds On The Horizon...

First of all, on the serious tip, I want to let everybody know that the SHB and all of our families are safe and secure. Our prayers are with all of the people who were affected by the storms that came through our area this week. The footage that they're showing on TV is truly incredible. I thank everyone who called and emailed to check on us. We have amazing friends.
Speaking of amazing friends, special shout out to our buddy Chip from South Carolina. Chip hooked us up with some shrimp for Buffy and my private little Super Bowl party. We had a shrimp boil in the house and almost choked to death, but oh how good that shrimp was! Thanks so much Chip! Then the Giants won and my Super Bowl was completely happy!
If you've been to any of our shows lately, you've seen our latest crew addition, Zeke. Zeke is our new merch guy. If you come to a show and see Zeke sitting behind a table of SHB swag, please go upand talk to him. Don't be afraid...he's big...really big...but he's a really great funny guy that has been a lot of fun to have on the road with us. He doesn't say much. I have had maybe 2 conversations with him in the past month. That's not because he's quiet, I just have nothing to say to him! I'm joking of course!..no really, what would I say to him?..JOKING! it's just jokes!..no seriously we have nothing in common...ah this could go on forever!
Tyler's doing great in his role as drummer. He got him some bigger drums! I'm so proud! Little Tyler wants to be louder! Our boy's growing up! Richard, of course is up to his old crazy tricks, one time I look and he's got 5 strings on his bass, the next time he's got 4! It's like he's some sort of bass playing Houdini! Richard is a smoker, I wonder if he can do any of those "smoker tricks" like blow smoke rings or make smoke come out of his ears. I saw an episode of The Andy Griffith show once where a guy made smoke signals with his hands from a cigar. I always thought that was really cool! So did Opie. What a great show! I think that in the history of television you'd be hard pressed to make an argument against the Andy Griffith Show as one of the very best shows ever. It was (and still is in reruns) a perfect snapshot of the idyllic American South. If the south looked like California (where the exterior shots were filmed) but you can't deny that the characters are memorable and charming. Who else could make alcoholism funny but Otis Campbell? Andy was a bastion of patience and understanding. Who else could have a deputy who was constantly screwing up like Barney (and later Warren, who was the nephew of Floyd the Barber) and not take him out near Myers Lake and hit him in the head with a shovel? Or at least make him eat an entire jar of Aunt Bea's Kerosene Cucumbers? One of my favorite episodes is the one with the guitar player, obviously, Jim Lindsey! He got the gig with Freddie Fleet and His Band with a Beat. He drove that cool little convertible full of guitars...but he never had any girls or played anywhere but in the courthouse with Andy. Kind of like Ricky Nelson on Ozzie and Harriet, he mostly played in the living room, but he did have James Burton playing guitar for him! James Burton is one of my favorite guitar players. He played with Elvis from 1969 until Elvis died in 1977. Before that he played with Ricky Nelson of course, but he also played the guitar solo on the original version of Suzy Q by Dale Hawkins and he was also the house guitarist on the dance show Shindig. The Rolling Stones appeared on Shidig once and brought Howlin' Wolf to be their guest! Big up's to the Stones! Wolf was a big guy too, like Zeke, but he looked a lot more terrifying! You might joke and say that Zeke looks like he might eat you, but Wolf really does look like he's going to eat you! I wonder what all those little rockstars thought when they got to meet their heroes and they really were giants? Clapton hung with Sonny Boy 2, Wolf, Muddy, Freddie King, BB and Buddy. The Stones were hanging with all of them too. I've been next to those guys and not one of 'em is 6 feet tall so it must have been like visiting the Lilliputians! Yes the Lilliputians. Those wee little rascals from that great book Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift. The actual title of the book is: Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of several Ships. Swift is probably the foremost prose satirist in the English language, and is less well known for his poetry. Swift published all of his works under pseudonyms — such as Lemuel Gulliver, Isaac Bickerstaff, M.B. Drapier — or anonymously. He is also known for being a master of two styles of satire; the Horatian and Juvenalian styles. That guy was CRAAAAZY! See the picture above. Sort of the Robert Plant of his day. Although it would be remiss of me not to mention that Robert Plant was more influenced by J.R.R. Tolkien. Specifically his book The Hobbit. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien! One of the coolest names in literature! Tolkien was also a philologist, or someone with an affinity toward the learning of the backgrounds as well as the current usages of spoken or written methods of human communication. I think that's awesome! The fact that there's a term for anything you might wonder about. I, for example, am something of a musicologist. I study music. This isn't to be confused with the great Prince record Musicology. A great record, but Prince is the rare artist that sues his fans when they mention his name or show his picture on the internet without his permission. I find this attitude equally disturbing and interesting. On the one hand it's a total slap in the face to your fans who have given you your career and basically paid for everything that you have by purchasing your art and supporting you career. At the same time, however, no matter how much he sues them or threatens them, they don't desert him! He is Prince afterall and even if he's a little crazy (and aren't we all?) he still a tremendous musician. Maybe by suing people for posting his picture, he's really just trying to reach out and make some sort of connection with his fans. I'm certainly a Prince fan. I met him once, but I was so nervous I couldn't even tell him my name! Maybe he's just like you and me, (except for the high heels and lace) maybe he's nervous about meeting people too so he just sues them or threatens to to get their attention. I'd like to meet Prince again and ask him that.

Home

Well we got 2008 started right with 2 weeks of gigs that took us from KC to Vegas and back through Mississippi. The last 2 days of the tour, we were the guests of SHB family member Kempf Poole and his family. This is an amazing family! They opened their home to me and the guys as well as to my Uncle Wayne (the legendary Uncle Wayne!) and Bobby Inman. When I say they opened their home to us, I mean they made us feel absolutely warm and welcome. Kempf's wife Sandra is an incredible cook and, for a guitar player that usually eats about one meal a day on the road, it was like a weekend of Thanksgiving dinners every 3 hours! Not only were we served a multi-course breakfast and an amazing dinner that even had Richard loving cheese grits for the first time in his life, but Kempf also had to hip me to some ribs from a local joint that are now in my top 5 (pending a thorough and stringent consistency test). On top of all of that, we played two nights at Schimmels, the best restaurant in Jackson. The owner Jay, a truly class act, made the best shrimp and grits I've had and the bread pudding was to good to even talk about (I'm drooling on the keyboard as I type this!) All this and sweet potato pie lets me know that trips to Jackson will have to be limited to once a year or else I'll be buying all my clothes in the real fat guitar player section of Sears!
The show Saturday night at the Subway Lounge as awesome! We had a lot of fun and I hope the audience did too. One thing I need to address, for those in attendance, was a derogatory comment I made about Kenny Chesney. Often times when I'm onstage, I'll say something completely outrageous just to get a laugh from the audience. I mean no harm when I say these things, it's just jokes...however...I meant what I said about Kenny Chesney. I do not like him Sam I am! I will not like him on a train, I will not like him on a plane. I do not like the way he sings, I do not like him...anything! Listen to Jimmy Buffet, he first and better! Listen to George Jones, he's way better! Listen to a dentist's drill, it's better! My favorite Kenny Chesney CD is any one that's still in the wrapper, That way it can't hurt anyone! If Satan has a jukebox, I bet it's full of Kenny Chesney. Not that Satan likes him either, it's just good to torture souls with! I shouldn't be so hard on really short people, but as my daughter used to say, "me no yiking him!" I actually hope that Kenny makes tons of money this year...and retires to an island far away. Like maybe where Lost is supposed to take place! Not Hawaii, where they actually film, but somewhere in Micronesia where he can play his ukulele in peace and torment only the cannibals that inhabit the island! Sure, someday I might change my mind and learn to like him, then again, I might learn to like skin rashes and the sound of fingernails on chalkboards.

2008 / Tour Leg Numero Uno!

The holidays behind us and a new years worth of work in front of us. It all started in Kansas City on the 10th and we haven't slowed down or looked back since! I haven't had a lot of Internet so this is the first blog of the new year! Like I said, we started in KC with our traditional trip to Arthur Bryant's (Official SHB Top 10 BBQ). Had a great time at Knuckleheads and can't wait to get back there soon. KC was followed by 2 nights in Topeka hanging out with our friends Jeff and Trina. We were glad to see them as always and here's a shout out to Richard another friend of ours from Topeka and owner of a killer Les Paul! Jake's Roadhouse in Arvada CO was next and we watched some really painful playoff games on the set breaks. 2 nights at another favorite spot of ours followed at the Tugboat in Steamboat Springs CO. Here we found enough snow and cold to last us for the rest of the year! Our old friend JaBeaux was next up in Grand Junction CO where we had an absolute ball playing for the great crowd at the Blue Moon. Then it was on to my favorite city in the universe (top 5 anyway) VEGAS BABY! We had a great time at the Railhead in the Boulder Station Casino. After the gig, Tyler and I headed down to the strip where we spent the night at the crap tables in The Luxor, The Excalibur and The Mandalay Bay before I had probably the best BLT ever at 4:00 am and we made our way back to the guys. A venti Starbucks and I was good to drive for the next 5 1/2 hours, (I did sleep for a couple of hours in the van before we pulled out of Vegas). We made our way to Tucson and the great folks at the Nimbus Brewing Co. makers of some really good micro-brew beer (SHB favors Old Monkeyshines!) get on line and order a case! Next it was on to Prescott AZ and The Bird Cage. We always have a great time here. It such a great town and even though we're coming through"out of season" it still good place to hang and regroup. Tonight we leave for Lubbock TX, then Gruene TX and finally 2 nights with SHB family members Kempf Poole and the legendary duo of Uncle Wayne and Bobby! If you don't have a good road trip planned for this coming weekend, I highly recommend a trip to Jackson MS where we will be blowing it up real good!

Merry Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas Eve and all through the house, Olivia was in bed, I'm at the computer and Buff's asleep on the couch! The guitars are scattered all over the house and no one's stirring or creeping about! Jeff Beck's on my iTunes playing with care and I can't wait until St. Nick gets here!...oh hell, I could go on for ever with my poetic ramblings!...lost cousin of Dr. Seuss! This has been a weird Christmas for me. I'm usually the biggest kid in the room, but for some reason this year has been all about just getting through it...until tonight. I've decided, at the 11 hour, I know, to remember that this is a time for giving and gratitude...for family and friends. Buff, Olivia and I visited with our best friends tonight and then drove around looking at Christmas Lights. We came home and chilled out until everybody fell asleep and I put Olivia to bed and came in the office to write. If you read this, I'm praying for you tonight. I pray that God blesses you and protects you, that he fills your life with love and joy and that you are able to then express that love and joy in turn to others. Tomorrow's Christmas Eve. '07's only got a week or so left. Let's all be good to each other. Better than we have been. As good as our intentions are when we start the day. Love the people around you and then love the one's just outside that circle and try to keep going, one circle at a time. Forgive the person that cut you off on the road today, then forgive the person that flipped you off today when you did the same thing...and the next one that cuts you off, remember the person that you cut off before you respond!!! We don't have to be perfect, or even close, just better. Better than we were yesterday. Better to the people that we share this world with and better to ourselves. When ever I leave a place, somebody always says "take care", we should do just that; take care of each other and take care of ourselves. It sounds so simple and kind of "tree-huggy", but if we all did just that much, that simple thing, think about how different the world we live in would be. When I was in the first grade, I gave my favorite teacher, Mrs. May, a marble with the Golden Rule (Do unto others as you would have them do unto you) inscribed on it. I can't lie and say that I've always followed that philosophy, I'm real, real human! I've made the kinds of mistakes that they write movies about, but when I think of how simple that idea is and how hard it is for us to put it into practice, I realize that we're our own wall...our own roadblock. We decide whether we'll be better or worse. No one else gets to make that call for us. We make it for ourselves everyday. Sometimes, it's easier for me to lash out at someone who's wronged me than to forgive them and move on. For a split second, when that person cuts me off in traffic, I think I'll feel better if I get on their tail and give them the finger...every single time I've actually done it, I've haven't felt any better afterwards. In fact, I just feel like the universe was giving me a test and I failed again! Every time I write one of these "preachy" blogs, I feel like I should apologise! I don't mean to be heavy, I'm just feeling the season and the end of the year and a chance to, at least psychologically start fresh in '08 with a clean slate, and I, for one, am tired of war, strife, hunger, hatred, bigotry, disrespect, deceit, greed, terrorism and violence in the name of God ( my God, your God, their God). I'm tired of this politician telling me why I shouldn't vote for that politician, etc...If you know me personally, you know that I'm far from some kind of "holier-than-thou" type person, the sacred and the profane show up in me all too often in equal measures. I pray every night and read my bible everyday, then again, I also use the term M**********r as my symbol of supreme affection, but I also love God and pray to him every night for my family and all of you. Not just those of you that I know, but for the entire world. For the peace that most of us desire. For the love that all of us have within us. My bible tells me that we're all created in the image of God. So I take that mean all of us. Whether you believe in God or not. So if I insult you, I'm insulting the image of God. Now, before you get all hot, I know we live in excruciatingly politically correct times that generally preclude someone from invoking the name of any deity, lest you offend someone!...but then again, I'm not telling you to believe what I believe, all I'm saying is that I'm going to try and love you more and that I wish you would try to love others more. My philosophy is based on this simple principle; " I love you because I see you and I as fellow creations of God. If you don't agree with that, go f**k yourself, I love you anyway!" (see I told you, sacred and profane!)
This is the time of year when many religions have special times. The time when most of us have some sort of celebration that involves gift giving or reflection or something. I wish this time of year to be a time of peace and happiness for you and your love ones. My family says "Merry Christmas". If you're Jewish, just read it as Happy Hanukkah. If you celebrate Kwanzaa, read it as Happy Kwanzaa. Whatever you follow or believe, all I'm giving out is love...can you dig it?

Have A Blues Christmas - Episode III / Return of the Christmas Jedi

Well, the 3rd annual Christmas Benefit is in the books and the level of generosity displayed by everyone in the community and by the SHB friends-at-large never ceases to amaze me! First of all the event was a sellout. We had all 300 tickets sold by Thanksgiving and had the extremely unpleasant task of telling people who wanted to come, "no". As usual, my partner in crime, MF Mafia consigliere, Un-official mayor of Columbia and DJ emeritus of the SHB, Keith MF Throneberry had to say no more than me. He is the work horse of the event every year. He spends more time and energy working on, worrying about and just general doing more than anybody else involved. It's not enough for me to say that I couldn't do this without him, it's more like the event wouldn't exist without him. So much props to KMFT!! Every year, Natalie Stovall and her great band have donated their performance for free and this year was no exception. In this business you sometimes see musicians playing based on the "pay scale" in other words, if there's little or no money, they don't break a sweat. This is never the case with Natalie and her group. They bring it every year and it's an honor and a pleasure to share the stage with them. The Xtreme 4X4 club is the engine of the event. They not only donate their time and energy, but they bring a heavy dose of joy and good will into the room. They move every table, chair, (and person if necessary) and they do it in a flawlessly classy way that always amazes me. Describing them as "just" a 4X4 club sells them very short. They are an example of what we should all be; a group of friends who help each other and work together for a common good without any reservations. I'm lucky to know each and every one of them and can't thank them enough for the amazing job they do every year. This list of gratitude isn't in any order, but I have to shout about my boys, cause they flat brung it again this year! Richard and Tyler have been amazing all along and this night was no exception. They played with the same intensity and passion that they display every night and it's an honor and a privilege to be a member of their band. This year, however, we ramped it up some! The SHB was augmented by a mass of doppelgangers! We had 2 bassists, 2 drummers, 2 guitarists, 2 vocalists! It was the year of 2's!! I enlisted my dear friend Davis Mitchell, an extremely talented singer/songwriter/guitarist/entertainer, to play guitar in the SHB Big Banging Band. This was a real dream come true for me and something that we've needed to do for a long time but this was the right time. He played and sang great as always and gave his own individual energy and flair to the show. He is definitely someone who deserves more attention, and we will definitely be doing more stuff in the future. The next person was bassist/producer Keith Kenyon. Keith played bass for a number of years in the SHB and recorded Angels In Exile with me. After retiring from the road, (yeah riiiiight...), he has gone on to co-produce and engineer Revelator, From Lettsworth To Legend and our next record tentatively titled Sex & Violets! I've never been in a band with 2 bassists, but Keith's ability and style made it sound like the best freakin' idea in the world! He is a truly amazing musician and friend and I'm proud to know him. His beautiful and talented wife Janet lent her amazing voice to the proceedings as did Kellie Wolford. Having these 2 amazing women singing behind me for part of the show was daunting to say the least! Kind of like having Tiger Woods for your caddy! Until of course like Tiger, they both in turn stepped to the front of the stage and reminded me that I'm now and forever a singing guitar player, not a guitar playing singer! On percussion and drums was Derrick Wolford. Derrick has been involved in plenty of SHB shenanigans. In the studio, he played all drums and percussion on Revelator. Live, he's been the go to guy on several occasions early on when our drum chair was "revolving" to say the least! He's an amazing drummer as well as a kind and gracious person. I'm grateful to him for continuing to share his talent with me. Of course, what show would be complete without the madness of Bobby? His cowbell solos are now so legendary that people rarely ask what we're going to play, they just want to know if Bobby's coming (right Kempf??) No only did Bobby donate his cowbell expertise, he also donated 5!!! of his original paintings for our silent auction. Which brings me to the auction. Every year we try and add something new to the proceedings so that this years crowd gets something that they didn't get last year. This year we added a silent auction and once again the generosity flowed! Our MF Mafia Don, Chuck MF Lanza, went into his memorabilia vault and sent a care package of stuff to put in the auction. This included not one, but 2 signed guitars, various signed CDs, posters and handbills. He was still getting stuff signed by some of his legendary friends well into November!If you ever get to meet Chuck, you'll understand why when he says' "here man, sign this" you just do it. Just ask Mitch Mitchell!! We also had a jersey from Major League Baseball star Dan Uggla, and a winch that actually sold TWICE!! the same night!As I mentioned before, Bobby Inman is a very talented artist. His paintings of which I'm lucky enough to have 3! Sold for big money despite the fact that the artist was onstage banging a cowbell! Not only did people spend money at the event, but we had some of our longtime SHB friends send money from Canada (Thanks Denis & Lucy Burns!), Iowa (Thanks Duane and Audora Smith!!) and elsewhere! Because of all of you, this event as the best ever and all the encouragement we needed to begin planning next year's event. So the totals go like this; we had approximately 400 people, played music for 5 hours, served 6 kegs of beer, 700 chicken wings, enough ham and small hot dogs to make an entire village of pigs, and raised a total of $15,000.00 for the children of our community. Thanks to all of you.God bless you and I hope that your holidays are as warm as the one you've given me by your continued friendship and support. Peace,Scott

Yule log! Not that I have a log...in the way you think I meant it...

Here we are in the midst of the holiday season. The season of giving.When the air's filled with a little more love and brotherhood. Except of course at the mall on the day after Thanksgiving when the ravenous packs of glazed eyed bargain hunting shoppers attack the displays with their sharpened credit cards and reinforced shopping carts. Driving through the parking lot like Jeff Gordon so that they can get that great parking spot before you do! The same Playstation that has been on that shelf for the last year is now worth slashing the throat of the person in front of you to get at! Even the mall Santa looks a little worried as he sits paitienly waiting for the youngsters to reveal their Christmas wishes to him. "Did that mother have a sharpened candy cane in her purse? Why's this kid looking at me like I'm a giant turkey leg? Did he just pee on me?" Ah, Christmas! Whatever this season means to you, do you think that our ancestors had this in mind? "Let's create a holiday to celebrate a season of giving and thanks, but let's really make it an orgy of consumption!" Well...maybe the ancient Romans would've come up with that idea, but they probably would have tied sex into it more somehow. The herd of humanity that storm through the Best Buy's and Circuit City's grabbing that flat screen television as though it were the cure for cancer. You can almost hear them muttering, "must have this...must have this now..." as they paw through the aisles searching for that combination video game/food processor that they saw on 60 minutes that simply everyone's getting this year. If you feel this fever overtaking you this holiday season, just remember, on December 26, while you're taking all the boxes and wrappers to the dump, all sated on turkey and dressing, that the person you cut off in line to get that Disco Elmo, still lives in your town and you'll probably cross paths with them again at the returns counter while taking back the corduroy gaucho pants that your Aunt Eloise got you.

Krazy Glue

I love Krazy Glue. It's one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century. Yes kiddies, I come from the 20th century. Before the internet and iPods. Before Guitar Hero and Global warming. For video games we had Pong! Pong! the most boring and lame of all video games, but when it was all you had as a child, you played that motherfucker like there was no tomorrow! We bought our music on an "album", made of vinyl, or at least a "cassette". When digital refered to your fingers. When David Lee Roth singing with Van Halen was just the way life was. VCR's were giant things that only really rich families had. I heard about them, but never actually saw one! The first time I heard of "Home Box Office" I thought the people who had it really had a movie theatre and they were just calling it their "Home Box Office"! My first vehicle (1969 GMC pickup truck, yeah!!!) had an 8-track tape player in it! On 8-track, if you wanted to hear "Hold On Loosely" by .38 Special, you had to wait until the end of track 1 and then hit it again! We were poor. We didn't even have MTV, we had Nighttracks on TBS! I saw Elton John's video for "I'm Still Standing" about 1,000 times! I used to like the video of that guy Taco doing "Putting On The Ritz", although it kind of scared me! I've seen Flock Of Seagulls, Dexy's Midnight Runners and Madness videos way too many times to count! I always liked Adam and The Ants doing "Goody Two Shoes". I had a friend who was really into punk. His name is Will and he doesn't read my blogs so I can talk freely about him. He turned me on to Billy Idol, The Go-Go's, and even Prince! He had The J. Geils Band's Love Stinks album. I thought Will was crazy to like the Dead Kennedys and The Sex Pistols, but I was intrigued by his passion for music even if we didn't have the same taste. I was listening to Elvis, Willie Nelson and Hank Willimas Jr. but we met at AC/DC. Back in Black was a favorite of both of ours. When I found the blues, Will was into hip-hop and rap. He liked Whodini and Run-Dmc. I liked Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters, but we always managed to meet at Jimi Hendrix and the Doors. That's the cool thing about friends; no matter what you're in to, with a friend, you can always find some common ground. I don't have a lot of friends,maybe I'm not easy to be friends with. Or maybe I have too many expectations of my friends, but I know that the people I call friends are there for me no matter what. My test is to show up at their house at 3:00am with blood on my hands and ask to borrow a shovel. If they ask any questions, we're just aquaintences, but if they just go to the garage, we're friends forever! That's a joke, by the way, I'd never use a shovel. I'm also old enough to have buried friends and that's one of the hardest things I've ever done. I don't keep track of age. I really believe that you're as old as you feel...or something like that, but I know that when you lose a friend, it wakes you up to the fact that we're not guaranteed the next 5 minutes, much less the next 50 years. Somehow, that's made life and friendship more precious and important to me. I really love my friends...even though I don't tell them...I think they know. Friends are like Krazy Glue. I've used Krazy Glue for years. I fix my guitars with it. I repair my finger nails with it. I fix my daughter's toys with it. It's wonderful stuff.

Mr. Larry Lee - Mar. 7, 1943 - Oct. 30, 2007

I was saddened to learn of the death of Mr. Larry Lee tonight. Mr. Lee was a guitarist. As a backing musician, he worked with The Impressions, as well as being a part of the Gypsy, Sun & Rainbows at Woodstock. A group led by none other than Jimi Hendrix. I learned a very valuable lesson from Mr. Lee and never had an opportunity to tell him about it, so I’ll tell it here publicly. When I played with Buddy Guy, we did a New Year’s Eve concert one year with Al Green and Santana. I was thrilled to be on the show, because I’ve always loved and been influenced by Carlos Santana, and I was excited to be seeing Al Green for the first time. We played first, and after we finished, an older gentleman approached me and said he was with Al Green, but didn’t have a guitar, and could he borrow mine. I had had some bad experiences with people using and abusing my guitars in the past (Mr. Adrian Belew!) and I was very gun-shy about putting my guitar into a strangers hands. I was young and inexperienced, and this man’s story didn’t make sense to me. “You play with Al Green and you don’t have a guitar?!” I told him no and said we were leaving before the end of the gig which was just barely true and left him to borrow someone else’s guitar, (I think he actually ended up with one of Carlos’ guitars, but that doesn’t make it better for me.) I learned the next day that the man was Larry Lee and, being the Hendrix fanatic that I am, I was stunned and wished that I’d loaned him my guitar. Then I stopped and studied my reaction and realized that it wasn’t that I regretted not loaning my guitar so much as I regretted not rubbing elbows with someone who knew Jimi Hendrix. Even a young idiot like me realized what a selfish idea this was! This realization made me rethink my entire approach to life. This one event made me realize that regardless of our particular station or situation, at the end of the day, we are all human beings, riding he same big rock through the universe and not only do we need each other, we are intrinsically connected. I have held a regret ever since that I never had the chance to apologize to Mr. Lee and explain the valuable lesson that I learned from him. I don’t know that he would remember or care, but it was a significant event in my life and if I’m a better person for it now, (I’m not saying that I am, I’m just saying if I am.), he is to thank for teaching me that when your brother asks for help, you help. You don’t turn your back and justify your refusal with a bunch of rationalizations. Now, am I perfect now? No! Do I still make the wrong decisions when it comes to my fellow man? All the time! What I do, however, is what I hope we all do; I try harder, to be better. That’s really the mandate that we have to follow. Just try harder to be better. Thank you Mr. Larry Lee and God Bless You. My heart and prayers go to your family.