Who is John Galt?

What a great start to the year 2011 for the SHB! KUDZU, our best record yet, was released in January and we’re getting a lot of radio play including satellite radio now on XM! We had a great time playing on the Mando Blues Show in Nashville earlier this year (www.radiofreenashville.org), what a blast! Great leg of touring just finished with two nights in Moscow ID. John’s Alley is becoming a favorite place to play, thanks to Dave and the staff there as well as the great fans that come out and see us. Great shows in Minneapolis, Fort Dodge, IA., Sioux Falls, Billings and our first ever show in Vancouver! Just an awesome leg of our never ending tour. Buff and I heard That Girl on XM radio over the weekend and it was a big thrill for me to hear our music played on the radio, (that will never get old). It was really important that Buff and I heard it together for the first time. Check out XM channel 74/B.B. King’s Bluesville and request our music!

 Last Saturday was National Record Store Day. Hope you supported your local record stores! Jack White, a Nashville resident and newly named musical ambassador for Nashville, hosted a concert by Jerry Lee Lewis. I’m grateful to artists like Jack who use their influence to protect the best parts of our industry. Thanks Jack!

 I’m looking forward to getting out and seeing more of ya’ll this spring/summer. We’ve got some cool festivals in the lineup and some interesting gigs. I’ll be in NYC in May as part of a tribute to the late Rory Gallagher. We’re doing the Windsor International Blues Fest this year as well as a bunch of other gigs that we’re looking forward to like Stoogefest in Jackson MO for our Jackson friends. We’ve been in the studio working on some new music and hopefully we’ll get some of that out in the next few months, stay tuned!

P.S. If you wondered about the title of this blog, yes I am reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Amazing Book!

My Gateway Drug

Riding down the road today, my mind started wandering about how I got here (with a GPS! Hahahahaa...sorry I couldn’t resist!). I love my job. I love making music and performing, I love recording and working with other musicians to create something bigger than ourselves. I have grown up being a musician. From my earliest memories, music was always around and I look at those times as an indoctrination of sorts that enabled me to become who I am. Music has always been there. I started playing music seriously (I think that‘s an oxymoron) late in respect to years, but I think I was studying lessons that would serve me in that regard all along. Church, my parents record collection, television, radio and later MTV, all of these factors contributed to my education. I can still sing the words to Gilligan’s Island, Love Boat, The Brady Bunch and Green Acres (back when TV theme songs had lyrics and cool melodies!). Little did I know that I was practicing remembering lyrics!
So what was my ‘tipping point’? My ‘gateway drug’, so to speak. James Marshall Hendrix. I distinctly remember the first time I came across his name; it was at school. We had these wooden desks that prior classes had carved into. Pot leaves, call letters for the local rock radio station (WKDF in Nashville, now a country station, my how things change!), girls’ names, boys’ names, band names (Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Deep Purple, etc.) and on one desk that I sat at, I can remember seeing the name Jimi Hendrix. That’s it, just the name. No explanation or even a clue as to who he was or what he did. I remember asking a classmate who Jimi Hendrix was and they said, “I’m not sure, I think he’s a guitar player or something.”
My local record store was called Sound Shop. It was in the local Mall. I came up during the cassette era and they had a good sized selection of rock and country. I bought my copy of Rebel Yell by Billy Idol, my copy of Heartbeat City by The Cars, the Footloose soundtrack, I could never manage to buy the .38 Special tape Wild Eyed Southern Boys, because it was never ever on sale... NEVER! I grew up with 5 really close friends. At some point, for some reason that I’m sure made sense in my youth, my friends and I decided to get really heavy into “60’s” music. I doubt if we even really knew exactly what that was or why we should even care, but we decided that The Doors would be a good place to start. Probably thanks to the fact that we were watching Apocalypse Now about twice a week, (I had that soundtrack on VINYL thank you very much). The Doors were cool and spooky and no one else at school was listening to them, so we liked them even more! I remember going in the store alone one day and seeing a white cassette that said ‘Jimi Hendrix: Soundtrack to the Motion Picture’. It looked interesting, guy in a cowboy hat sitting on a stool on an otherwise white cover. I wish I could remember what I paid for it, $7.99 probably, but I do remember the thin, plastic yellow bag that said Sound Shop in bold black letters on the outside. I remember walking out of the Mall past the video arcade (Pirates Cove!) and getting in my truck, tearing the plastic off my new purchase and cranking the old Pioneer (with an additional booster with graphic equalizer in the glove box!). I remember all these details because they would forever be marked in my life as the before part, as in ‘before and after’.I had never heard any of these songs before and I had never heard any songs like them. The songs were interspersed with interview clips from Little Richard, Jimi’s dad and some others I can’t remember. The acoustic version of Hear My Train A’Comin” with Jimi asking “did you think I’d do that?” at the end, The Star Spangled Banner, Johnny B. Goode was ferociously cool but the song that really stands out in my memory was Purple Haze. It was my first time hearing that song and it sounded huge! Metallic. I have since become a devoted student of Jimi’s music and I have probably heard every version of Purple Haze, from live versions to every studio take of the song, but it never hits you like the first time. I currently have 135 different versions on my iTunes alone!
I think it’s interesting how past memories seem to condense. I’m trying to remember how things happened sequentially after that, but it really seems like a blur. I do know that I immediately fell in love with Jimi Hendrix’ music and had to find and hear all of it that I could. My next purchase was Kiss The Sky a compilation tape that Warner Brothers put out in the 80’s (probably in response to my interest!). That’s the first time I heard Are You Experienced?. Again, I was hooked. It’s hard to relate to now, but I had no real resource for my interest in Jimi. There was no internet, no YouTube, none of my friends knew who the hell he was, much less the best way to approach learning his music and his story. I’ve always been that way, if I find an artist or an actor or a writer that I like, I tend to devour their work and learn as much as I possibly can about them. In the case of Jimi, I had no idea what albums came first, where he was now, or anything. This is the time before DVD and music videos were in their infancy. I had probably heard all three studio albums (Are You Experienced?, Axis: Bold As Love and Electric Ladyland) before I had even seen any video footage of Jimi. I found a book about Jimi by Jerry Hopkins in the school library (the only thing I think I ever stole) and then I could get the discography together, understand when he died and how, and try to gain some initial idea of why he was significant. I was blessed with parents who gave me confidence and self value so that I was able to appreciate the music that I liked because I liked it instead of being told ‘this is good, you should like this.’. I liked Elvis long before I found out he was the King of Rock and Roll and still liked him when it was no longer cool to like him. I loved Jimi Hendrix. He could have just as easily been some kind of cult figure in music and I would have still devoured his every note.
Around the time that I acquired the soundtrack and heard Purple Haze for the first time, a voice I had never really heard in my head told me that the time had come for me to learn how to play the guitar. It wasn’t the voice that told me that it might be time for some fish sticks and ketchup after school, or the voice that told me algebra was a waste of time, it was a new, confident, clear voice that left no doubt that I would do what it said. Get a guitar, learn how to play it like Jimi Hendrix, simple! I asked for an electric guitar for Christmas and my parents, God bless them, got it for me. I doubt if they ever dreamed that that act would lead to the tattoos, ear rings, loaded passports and closets full of guitars and amps that followed, but they knew that their child wanted something and they figured out how to pay for it. That didn’t always happen, we didn’t have a lot of money growing up, but my parents broke their backs to give me and my brother everything they could. Along with the guitar, I got a Mel Bay Chord book. A big Mel Bay chord book with thousands of chords that I had no idea how to play. I didn’t know how to tune my guitar or even where to start. It was a catastrophe! My dad loved to tell this story, especially the part where he said “either you’re going to take lessons or I’m throwing that thing out in the yard!” he said it with a smile and with love (like he said everything to me) but he meant it! The short version of this part is that I found the best teacher in the world, Doug Thurman, and he had me bring in a song I wanted to learn and he showed me how to learn it from the cassette. That song was Voodoo Chile (Slight Return), (from my Kiss The Sky tape!!) and I was off! That was a long time ago, I went on to work with and become friends with one of Jimi’s biggest influences Buddy Guy, I recorded with his final rhythm section Mitch Mitchell and Billy Cox, I became friends with Band Of Gypsys drummer Buddy Miles, met Jimi’s dad before he passed. I can’t believe the path my life has taken, but i still put on my Jimi Hendrix records (or Cds or MP3 files) and search them for some new hidden treasures. I am never disappointed, Jimi never lets me down!
We just passed the exit for Clear Lake IA and the Surf Ballroom where another Strat player played his last gig, now about Buddy Holly...

The Long and Winding Road

The road that we travel is unusual in some ways and very similar in others to everyone else in the world. A musician’s life is like a traveling salesman’s in that we “go to the customer” we’re away from home and hotels/motels and restaurants are the major lifelines to our existence. We’re like doctors on call, our hours are screwy and usually the opposite of our families. Same thing with truck drivers and the aspect of many, many miles on the road. As a musician, you are bound to “go where the work is”. This means that you travel thousands of miles to play shows, you go North in the winter or South in the summer, you play in Minneapolis MN on a Friday night and then you play Jonesboro AR on Saturday. You play till 2:00 am and then load out and still make a 7:00 am lobby call to hit the road again. Your loved ones are cell phone calls and emails rather than flesh and blood too much of the time. We just played for two weeks in Northwestern Canada and were continually asked, “why did you come up here this time of year!?!” The answer is simple; “because that’s when and where we were hired to work.” After the 50th time of being asked that question I can’t promise that one of us isn’t mumbling “F.O.” under our breath :) but from that person’s perspective it must seem like we just decided to come at the most unfavorable time of year and maybe they think that “No” is something that we actually have the ability to say. By ability, I mean the fiscal ability more that the Physical ability. The reality is that we are constantly working to get that next job. It’s rare that a musician has the time or opportunity to sit back and truly enjoy where he is because the foot has to stay firmly on the gas and tomorrow’s gotta be made for. All musicians deal with this regardless of where the decimal point lands in the discussion. Eric Clapton knows where and when his next gig is!
Having described this, I have to say I love my job. I would do it for no money (I have actually!!) and it’s something that is in my blood. Hard wired into my psyche. I tell young prospective musicians every day; “Don’t do this unless you have to.” Actually what I tell them is; “Don’t do this. Just don’t do it. If you can live with that answer then you have nothing to worry about, but if it’s impossible for you to accept, maybe you might can try it. Maybe.”It’s not something that you can learn to love or teach yourself to deal with, it’s something that you do because there simply is nothing else. You don’t do it for wealth. The ones that do always end up unfulfilled. There’s just not enough money in the world to make this life bearable if it’s not in you. As far as financial “rock star” success the odds aren’t just ‘not in your favor’, they are stacked against you.
The point of this ramble is we recently lost a great musician, Lil’ Dave Thompson. Dave was killed driving home, overnight, from a gig in South Carolina. Maybe it’s the fact that we’re in SC right now, having driven here overnight (actually 17 hours, all day and night) and the fact that the gig he had just played is one we’ve played as well, or maybe it’s the wreck that we had two weeks ago in Alberta at 3:00 am that left us stranded on the side of a slick and busy interstate for 3 hours, but the truth is everyone in the band reacted the same way upon hearing the news; “That could have easily been us.” That’s not a selfish thought by any means, our prayers go to Dave, his family, loved ones and band members. The point of this is more about the conditions that all musicians work under on the road. For every episode of Behind The Music that you watch with private jets, limo’s, even tour buses, there are tons of guys out there doing what Dave did; get in the van and hammer the miles out. Just as a small example, our current van was purchased about 18 months ago with 100,000 miles on it, today it has 276,678. That’s just gig miles. When I joined Buddy Guy in 1989, that’s what we were doing. The miles are there and you just get after it. I’m determined not to infer any blame in this blog so I won’t speculate on the details of why they were rolling overnight and in the end it’s a tragedy that blame could never undo. I only met Dave once at a gig that we were playing together, but he was a classy guy, great musician and I remember hoping that we’d cross paths again. The point is the risks are real and they’re always there. Yes they’re there for airline pilots, bus drivers, lion tamers, soldiers, etc., but I’m a musician, I’ve seen my contracts with hotels crossed out to save $100.00, I’ve had agents tell me that “you’ll just have to run it over night, but it’s an important gig.” I’ve also been so ready to get home to my girls that I’ve left perfectly good, paid for beds empty to get back to Nashville, so as I said, I don’t know the details so I’m not casting any blame. If you’re in the music business and reading this, remember Dave. If your a promoter or a club owner, try and remember Dave before you cancel the rooms on a contract to squeeze an extra $80 - $100 bucks out of the gig. If you’re an agent think about Dave and remember that the artist is supposed to be your first responsibility and fight for the safest conditions possible, even if it makes you $100.00 instead of $150.00. Finally and most important if you are a musician/band leader making the deals think of Dave remember that no gig is ever going to pay you enough money to make it worth risking your life. EVER.

You'll shoot your eye out!....

Random Thoughts;
The iPhone is one of man’s greatest inventions! Right up there with the internal combustion engine and the pyramids!
MOJO is the best music magazine in print today.
A RANDOM SELECTION OF STUFF I’M THANKFUL FOR: (My Wife, Family & Friends are beyond this category!)My Bible, My #1 Fender Stratocaster, Obrien amps, My Grind Fuzz pedal, My Tube Screamer, Wah Wah pedals, Buddy Guy, iPods, Nashville, John Wayne, The MF Mafia, Jimi Hendrix, Ernie Ball Strings, Xbox 360, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Converse Chuck Taylors, Andy Griffith, Ford vans and trucks, B.B. King, Rumi, Dunlop picks and every pedal they make, Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Chicago, Elvis, Bugs Bunny, Prince, Gas station ribs from Jackson MS., Sinatra Live at the Sands, Fried Okra, Aretha Franklin, Football, Album liner notes, Austin TX, Miles Davis, Junior Wells, True Grit by Charles Portis, Catfish, Sponge Bob Square Pants, Independent record stores, Bob Marley, Vincent Van Gough, Chipotle, Minneapolis, Jerry Lee Lewis Live at the Star Club, Earl Hooker, John Coltrane, Timberland boots, PEZ candy, Muhammed Ali, Socks, Starbucks, Mahatma Gandhi, Canada, the Blues, Pandora radio, Sirius radio, Buffy’s Macaroni & Cheese, Carlos Santana, iPhones, The Sex Pistols, Freddie King, Guitar Player magazine, Albert King, Garlic, Paul Reed Smith guitars, Pee Wee Herman, Sweet Potato Pie, Frank’s Red Hot hot sauce, Thai Food, Sushi, Dr. Mambo’s Combo, Fried Turkey, AC/DC, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Donny Hathaway, Mozart, All Music Guide, P-Funk, Stockhausen, Peanut Butter, Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Muffins, My Peavey HP Special guitar, Rolling Stone Magazine, Grosh pickups, Smith & Wesson .357’s, Frank Sinatra, Mad Anthony’s XXX Private Reserve hot sauce, Jeff Beck, Michigan J. Frog, Jerry Lee Lewis, Led Zeppelin, Floyd Rose Tremolo systems, Eric Clapton, Blue Diamond Wasabi & Soy Almonds, Van Halen, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Dilbert, Star Wars, Bone Fish’s Bang Bang Shrimp, Fuji apples, Wired magazine, AquaFina water, Pro-Tools, iTunes, Yellow Labs, My Leather Jacket, Italian Food, Bernie Mac, Al Green, Memphis, Beale Street, Ghirardelli Chocolate, Sonny Sharrock, Eminence Speakers, James Burton, T-Bone Walker, Mitch Mitchell, Marvin the Martian, Black Duct Tape, Mexican Food, Krazy Glue, WD-40, Robben Ford, Ted Greene, The Three Stooges, Peter Green, Little Walter, Cheese Burgers, Woodstock, Road Food (the book), Annie Lennox, James Brown, The Clash, Robert Nighthawk, Electric Lady Studios, the Bacon app for iPhone, BIG TV’s, HD TV, DVR, Las Vegas, Tattoos, John Lee Hooker, Motorhead, LARA bars, Zen Guitar, Nitrocellulose lacquer, Fender guitars, Living Colour, Peach Cobbler, Tabasco, Ruger firearms, Peace, Go-Jo hand cleaner, GPS, Wi-Fi, John Bonham, I-65, Hank Williams, Jim Marshall, You Tube, Nag Champa, Bob Dylan, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Snoopy, dirt roads, kudzu, IMAX movies, 3D, Soul, Harmony, Love.
A public thank-you to my MF brothers for an awesome Christmas gift!! You guys rock!!
As always a HUGE thank you to my wife…for putting up with me and making every Christmas the best Christmas yet!!

Gratitude

This is my favorite time of year. It always has been. Typically, this time of year from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day is the time when my traveling slows down and I get to spend real time with my family. Of course, it’s also the holiday season, so we get to see a lot of the extended family, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. that we miss through out the year. I love the coolness in the air, the Christmas music in the stores, the lights going up around town, and the food of course! It’s the time of year when I like to look back and consider all of the things in this world that I am grateful for. I can tell you without any embarrassment that I am a rich man. I don’t have a million dollars in the bank and if you saw the truck I drive you might think that my statement about being rich was just some kind of hypothermic insanity. I do have a bunch of “stuff”, but that’s not what I value and consider as the thing that makes me rich. I am rich in family, friends and loved ones.
Don’t get me wrong, I like “stuff”. I could survive with one guitar in my life but I’ve got…a bunch! The thing is, my guitars never miss me, they never say they love me, they don’t worry about me when I’m gone and they show no emotion when I come home. Selfish bitches! (I’m just joking!!)
I am seriously grateful for my beautiful wife Buffy. She’s been my partner for the last 18+ years. What she and I have been through could be a book AND a movie AND a mini-series! I don’t know what I’d do without her, nor do I care to find out. I’m grateful for our daughter Olivia. I am amazed and surprised by her every day. She’s taught me more than almost anyone without even realizing or trying. (I’m grateful that she likes Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy and Motorhead in equal measure!) I’m grateful for my family; my mom who is the strongest most amazing person I’ve ever known and one of my heroes. My dad, he is responsible for getting my career going. He passed away in 1997 and didn’t get to see me go solo or hear any of the original music that I created, but I know he’s always with me and I’m grateful for his teaching, his wisdom, his life and his memory. I’m grateful for my brother Shane. We were a small family, it was just Mom and Dad and me and Shane. We moved around a lot when I was young and Shane and I were often the only friends we had. I’m grateful that we’re still friends! (Especially after all the things older brothers do to younger brothers!) I’m grateful for my MF brothers; Keith, Kempf and Chuck. I’ve been so blessed to have not just one but three amazing friends that support each other and make each other laugh and I know that all four of us would “help bury the body, no questions asked”. I’m grateful for Buddy Guy and his belief in me, his friendship and guidance. He gave me a career and taught me what to do with it. I’m grateful for the amazing group of musicians that have played with me, teaching me through the expression of their talent and allowing me to grow as musician by the example of their gifts. My band has a long alumni list so I’m afraid to try and name them all, lest I accidentally forget someone. Just know that there’s not one person that has played with me for a long time or a short time that I don’t feel I learned something from and I am grateful to all of them. I blessed to say that my list of friends is also long and continues to grow. A list too long to try and include here, but suffice it to say that I am ridiculously rich in friends. I am a very rich, grateful and blessed man.

Michael Jackson/Ted Kennedy conspiracy revealed!

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

What's for dinner Grandpa?

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

How to create special glasses to look at the sun.

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

Feral pigs create buzz at awards show!

Almost 20 years ago, I formed the first version of the SHB. It was right around the time I got with Buddy Guy and I had my band on the side to play shows in and around Nashville when I was off the road with Buddy. That first band; Derek and Drew Wiseman and Chris Kent were augmented by our dear friend Bobby Inman. In the early days, Bobby was the guitar tech, comic foil and all around SHB utility man. Bobby went on the road with me in the early days of my solo career, after I left Buddy and created the role of SHB guitar tech basically from scratch. When Bobby decided to leave the road for good, I asked him to write out a summary of all the things he thought our new guitar tech might need to know. I just thought he’d write down a few ideas to help with the transition. What I got back was 3 legal sheets, front and back! I’ve since lost that precious document, but recently my Uncle Wayne was going through some old files and found a typed copy of Bobby’s original list. Some of you know Bobby and will appreciate this more than those of you that haven’t had the chance to meet him yet. He is truly one of a kind and we’ve had some great crew guys since Bobby, but there’s never been anyone like Bobby. Bobby doesn’t have a computer, so if you know him, let him know “Scotty” (the only people who call me that are Bobby and our friends in Canada!) put a tribute to him on the blog! Here’s what Bobby did for me, unedited;
Load In
1. Help take all gear to stage. Once all gear is in club consontrate on guitar stuff only.
2. Setup amps left side of stage, behind Gene O. Bassman, Marshall on right close to Tom, Super Reverb on left, on outside. Plexiglass shield in front of both.
3. Small silver splitter box, 3-3ft cables, thick shielded cable from bassman speaker to marshall cab. 1 from bassman 2nd channel 1st input to split box. 1 from 2nd channel 1st input superreverb to split box.
4. Pedal board, when power cord is plugged in, pedalboard is on, take other cable plug into input on split box.
5. Straighten out cables on board – (1-25ft – 1 – 150ft.) before each show & during breaks. Check all wires & pedals.
6. Incense in front of plexi, keep burning whole show.
7. Picks on mic stand.
8. Turn amps on standby 1 hour before showtime to let warmup.
9. Check all setting on amps & pb, before show turn on amps hookup gtr check all pedals 1 at a time.
10. Make sure band has towels on stage and water.
11. For SCOTTY only water little ice.
12. For SCOTTY, before show redwine cabernet, during show water, during break Heinekin.
13. Make friends with soundman, bartender, barmaids, ask them for things you may need towels-water etc!!
14. Keep plenty of picks in pocket at all times, also Carefree peppermint gum (yellow pack) & van –trailer keys, & cig lighter for incense.
15. During show keep constant eye on SCOTTY, other band members may need help sometimes.
16. Watch for broke strings, mostly breaks (high E or 10) does break others though.
17. Try to get old broke strings off stage, can cause bad mess, around cables etc.
18. BE ready for (long cable) hookup, the song at the time or the next 1 or 2 he is going into the crowd, keep cable from getting knotted, follow Scotty through the crowd, don’t mind asking people to move or get off the cable, just ask nicely.
19. After show break down gear pack up, load out. Make plenty of dummy checks, better safe than sorrow.
20. Check to see if mic is grounded, plug in gtr cut on amps back of right hand across gtr strings, back of left hand touch mic, to see if it shocks.
21. Before show make sure plenty of walk room on stage, no tangled cords in path way, no old beer bottles, no glasses, no trash in way on stage.
22. NO bottles, glasses, or drinks on GTR AMPS!!!!
23. BEST place for GTR TECH WORK STATION is on same side of stage as the amps, usually the side SCOTTY enters from, plus you can listen to the amps if something is wrong, and everything is there together.
24. ON stage 1 mic only, vocals tad of reverb, in monitors.

No wonder Bobby decided he didn’t want to go on the road anymore!! Since Bobby, we’ve had 17 guitar tech/crew guys! I wonder why the turnover’s so high?.....

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

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

Possums and the Stimulus Package

Sometimes I get asked about what it’s like to live in Nashville, here’s a snapshot of an average day; Buff and I are running errands on Sunday. We stop at Best Buy to pick up a new hard drive and as I’m stopped in the parking lot, waiting on a car to back out of an extremely good spot (near the door, first row, you know the kind of spot you find and it just makes you want to stay all day!), a SUV is crowding behind me, trying to pass me on the INSIDE! In other words, between me and the space I’m waiting to turn into. I look in the rearview and it’s an older guy. I give him the ‘look’ and speak to him like you do when you’re driving, as though he can hear me, and I tell Buff, “That old guy’s trying to run over us! He looks like George Jones.” We get parked, get out and start to make our way to the front door. The SUV is now almost on the sidewalk right in front of the store!! (better spot than I got) Buff looks at the driver and says, “It is George Jones!” tag on the car was NOSHOW4!! If you have to get run over, it might as well be by a legend I always say. Just another day in Nashville.

Springsteen attacks camera with crotch at Super Bowl!

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

Obama legalizes Facebook!

I like Kat Williams. I miss Bernie Mac. I despise negativity. I think that most of us focus too much on stuff. I think that the Great Depression was much worse than what we’ll ever go through. I think that music is powerful and underappreciated as an art form by the American culture at large. Stratocasters will always be the sexiest guitars in the world. One of my favorite sayings from my grandmother; “Can’t never could do nothing!” I hate quitters. I hate racism and I feel sorry for people who suffer from the rampant ignorance that fosters it. I love God. I love America. I love my family. I love music. I love my friends. I think dogs are important. I think we worry too much about getting “screwed” and it blocks us from being true bearers of light. I think Ricky Nelson is underrated. There is no “greatest guitarist in the world” …but Jimi Hendrix is!!! I think it’s ok to say “I love you” to people that you love. I think it’s important to be still. I think Michael Jackson is musically brilliant. In addition, I think that sometimes crazy and talent goes hand in hand. Our generation still hasn’t figured out how rock and roll is supposed to age. Robert Johnson would be freaked out by his success. Additionally, his lawyers would be filthy rich!! John Grisham could well prove to be our generation’s Ernest Hemingway. Cormac McCarthy should be our Hemingway. I wish rehab as we know it now, had existed during Elvis’ lifetime. My top five favorite concerts ever:
1. Elvis Presley at MTSU’s Murphy Center / Murfreesboro TN
2. Buddy Guy and Junior Wells at The London Victory Club / Tampa FL
3. Prince at Thompson Bowling Arena / Knoxville TN
4. P-Funk at 328 Performance Hall / Nashville TN
5. Miles Davis at The North Sea Jazz Festival / The Hague, Holland

My favorite guitar is sunburst. My second favorite is white. I love to feel. My wife is the sexiest woman in the world. If I could spend an hour talking to anyone, living or dead, I think it would be John Wayne. If I could arm wrestle anyone, it would be Eddie Van Halen. I’d like to play miniature golf with Jimi Hendrix. My top five events to witness if I had a time machine:
1. The Sermon on the Mount
2. The recording of That’s Alright Mama
3. A play written and directed by William Shakespeare
4. The opening night of Don Giovanni conducted by Mozart
5. Ringside for Ali – Foreman in Kinshasa
If there is a better film, top to bottom, than True Grit, I’ve never seen it! My wife is a brilliant artist, even if she doesn’t know it yet. God has blessed me with amazing friends in spite of myself! I’d rather be respected than liked. Most of my dreams are in some way related to my work. All of my dreams are in colour. I believe that the body we have is just a vessel to hold the light/soul that is actually us and that when we die we’re released from the body and able to travel on the eternal plane. I hope the last thing I do on this earth is significant. I also hope that it happens in Vegas!!!!!!

Old timey tales

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

A New Dawn...

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

4th Annual Have a Blue Christmas

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

Happy Thanksgiving!

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

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

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

Sarah Palin Sex Tape!!

I have to say, I hate chain letters. You know the ones I’m talking about; the “pass this on to 10 of your closest friends or you’ll die” type letters that we all receive every day in our emails. Some of you are lucky and have a good spam detector that weeds them out, but alas, I do not! So I bring you news from the Forbidden City! You will not die! Your children will not be born with pig’s noses! You don’t have to cow down to the edicts of some faceless (probably unemployed) imbecile, with nothing better to do than torment all of us hardworking folk with their mindless, chickenlittle-esq minutiae! I also hate political emails. You don’t know my political affiliation and if you do and send them to me anyway, then you’re just an a**hole! I will vote for who I vote for and it won’t be based on some email with flags and soldiers and the twin towers in flames. It will be based on an intelligent and thoughtful examination of the policies of the candidates…and who Tina Fey is good at making fun of! My third least favorite emails are cute babies dressed as animals. What the f**k is that all about?!! “Oh the little baby dressed as a lion!” Are you kidding me?!! I have a child. A beautiful child. When she was born, I never once thought, “Oh she would look so much cuter as a llama!” The internet is a wonderful thing. I believe in all of the good it is capable of. I am not a Luddite. I do think that much like the rest of life, there is good and bad all around us. We are an intelligent, discerning species. I offer you the following reply written by a dear friend. It is written with a loving tone that simply implies “you d**head” use it and help make the world a better place.

“Hi friends.....first I want you to know that I appreciate you thinking of me at all.....and I want you to know that no one hates chain mail or "chain email" more than me! I know, I know...either it's funny or there is some sort of promise of a rapid blessing if you just send it to 10 of your closest friends in the next 10 seconds. Well folks....I don't have 10 closest friends and if I did, I wouldn't forward another chain letter to them. I know you are all busy with your lives and families and jobs...and any computer time or correspondence has to be quick. Forwarding some anonymous email is a quick way to let someone know you are thinking about them. rather than hitting "forward", how about a word or two from your own sweet heart.....now that really means something and is precious....and FYI, sometimes I get a little shaky when I just delete those chain letters too! I need all the blessing I can get, but I don't think those chain emails have too much promise of anything but clogging up our in boxes.......................love Shasta”

Full Disclosure; No her name is not ‘Shasta’. I wouldn’t reveal that much of our private life, but I did give her a really cool stripper name, so Doris, if you read this, I gave you a cool stripper name!...no her name isn’t Doris either…that was just to make her and Buffy laugh! Yes her name is Buffy…no she’s not a vampire slayer…no you’re not the first one to say that…no you’re not the 1,000,000,000 person to say that…yes I do think you’re hitting on my wife when you say that…yes I do own a gun…and a shovel…and a truck…and hefty bags…and I do know lonesome country areas where you’ll never be found…

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!